Now Reading in the Old Year

[isadorah]

I'm reading Son of a Witch right now, but am having a hard time getting any kind of focus going. So to add to that, I am going to count my new knitting book I got for christmas.

 

--

I have a lot of books at home ready to be read. Must get back into that groove.

[bjorn_skurj]

I am just about to finish Barbara Tuchman's "The Proud Tower," a look at the world in the years leading up to WWI. Good stuff - I found the parts about Anarchism, the Dreyfus affair and Richard Strauss very illuminating.

[gogo]

I'm currently reading this:

 

 

and enjoying it very much.

 

 

Next up, in my on-going DFW binge:

 

 

 

And recently completed, I don't know why I tortured myself by actually dragging my way all the way through to the end:

 

[gogo]

I am just about to finish Barbara Tuchman's "The Proud Tower," a look at the world in the years leading up to WWI. Good stuff - I found the parts about Anarchism, the Dreyfus affair and Richard Strauss very illuminating.

Ooh, that sounds good!

 

 

I'm also hoping to squeeze in a re-read of Wicked before we go see the show next month. There's a third in the series out now as well, A Lion Among Men, I think it's called. I wasn't crazy about Son of a Witch, but I did enjoy his take on the Cinderella story (can't recall the name of that one right now...).

[M. (hristine]

Just finishing this. Really fascinating read. My friend Claudia, a self proclaimed 'scatologist' , is reading it next:

 

 

 

Next:

 

 

My reading habits follow the seasons. I like to read before bed, but the older I get the faster I fall asleep. My favorite reading times are on cold snowy Sunday afternoons when I can gobble a book whole, in the bathtub during an hour salt bath soak, or at the pool. Very little reading gets done during gardening season, however.

[cryptique]

I am just about to finish Barbara Tuchman's "The Proud Tower," a look at the world in the years leading up to WWI. Good stuff - I found the parts about Anarchism, the Dreyfus affair and Richard Strauss very illuminating.

That book sat on my parents' living room bookshelf all through my early childhood (until I was about 9), and I remember thinking it was a cool title and I should really read it someday -- when I was old enough to get something out of it. Maybe I can borrow their copy.

 

Also on that shelf, among dozens of others: Hard Times by Studs Terkel, which might be a good thing to dig into right about now.

[explodo]

I probably read 30 or so books a year and probably read half of 30 more. I'm an avid book quitter. My goal for 2009 is to finish a lot of those books that have marks somewhere in the middle, but I'll probably have to start from the beginning for a lot of them and that discourages me. I mean, something in the first half was obviously a turn off so it's not a great prospect to have to trudge back through it.

 

As for my first book of 2009, a reread:

 

[Calexico]

I am going back to Revolutionary Road once more to enjoy it before Leo and that British bird fuck it up for me.

[Basil II]

Just getting started.......

 

 

"The Foreclosure Of America" --The Inside Story of the rise and fall of Countrywide Home Loans,the Mortgage Crisis,and the Default of the American Dream

 

by Adam Michaelson

 

 

 

--Robert

[Three dollars and 63 cents]

He died the year I was born - ran over by a dune buggy on Fire Island.

 

For the longest time, that was all I could remember about him. The textbook I used for the 20th Century Poetry class I took in college listed how he died as the last line of his biography, and for years I kept picturing this Wiley Coyote-esque scene. I'm glad I finally got around to digging into his work some more.

[kathyp]

Just finished

 

[kathyp]

I am 100 pages into Infinite Jest right now and I could really use a pep talk. It's peppered with bits of genius on every page, clearly, but holy hell if this book isn't a complete mindfuck. I am guessing that I am right at the point where many folks throw in the towel.

 

I made it about that far before I gave up (and had to return it to the library). Finally, I just bought a copy and started over from page one.

 

I think I'm almost 100 pages in -- again. I haven't touched in months, though.

 

(This is, I think, the only book of his I haven't read, and I determined to finish it this year. Um, maybe.)

[Analogman]

For the longest time, that was all I could remember about him. The textbook I used for the 20th Century Poetry class I took in college listed how he died as the last line of his biography, and for years I kept picturing this Wiley Coyote-esque scene. I'm glad I finally got around to digging into his work some more.

 

 

His book, Lunch Poems is often used in college classes - at least it was when I was in school, anyhow. You already knew that, of course.

 

Lana Turner has collapsed!

I was trotting along and suddenly

it started raining and snowing

and you said it was hailing

but hailing hits you on the head

hard so it was really snowing and

raining and I was in such a hurry

to meet you but the traffic

was acting exactly like the sky

and suddenly I see a headline

LANA TURNER HAS COLLAPSED!

there is no snow in Hollywood

there is no rain in California

I have been to lots of parties

and acted perfectly disgraceful

but I never actually collapsed

oh Lana Turner we love you get up

[RainDogToo]

[explodo]

Is this better than Being There? I found that book to be a bit blah. An easy read and entertaining enough, but not much more than that.

[Analogman]

There is also - Steps, Blind Date, and Pinball. I don't think I've read the rest.

[M. (hristine]

Is this better than Being There? I found that book to be a bit blah. An easy read and entertaining enough, but not much more than that.

Painted Bird is tremendous.

[Moe_Syzlak]

In preparation for our year-long travels beginning in September:

 

 

Excellent resource for anyone considering long-term travel!

[IATTBYB]

I just finished Ron Suskind's The Way of the World. All I can say is that Inauguration Day can't come soon enough.

[Three dollars and 63 cents]

There is also - Steps, Blind Date, and Pinball. I don't think I've read the rest.

 

The one thing I don't like about his collected poems is that it's not divided into sections by books and previously unpublished poems. Most collected and selected poems I've read have been divided that way, which makes it easier to go back to individual collections. A friend asked me to suggest some Frank O'Hara, and I had no idea what to tell him, since I wouldn't recommend a 500+ page collection to a casual reader. The Lunch Poems is the collection I hear mentioned most often, though. "The Day Lady Died" and "Why I Am Not a Painter" were the first two poems I ever read by him.

[laurie]

Just finishing this. Really fascinating read. My friend Claudia, a self proclaimed 'scatologist' , is reading it next:

 

 

 

Next:

 

 

My reading habits follow the seasons. I like to read before bed, but the older I get the faster I fall asleep. My favorite reading times are on cold snowy Sunday afternoons when I can gobble a book whole, in the bathtub during an hour salt bath soak, or at the pool. Very little reading gets done during gardening season, however.

 

Hey was looking here re something to read for fun. I have to read so much for work (autism and other deveopmental disabilties and usually technical stuff on psychopharm,b-mod, neuro etc.) and I am sooo longing for a good book that would be distracting. It has been a while but the very best reads for me are are just as ou say! Snow storm, stuck home on a Sunday - wow and we are getting one tonight, I am going to finish up a John Grisham novel, NY Times Crossword, watch football - Life is good! but need something new to read (anything but work stuff).

[Analogman]

The one thing I don't like about his collected poems is that it's not divided into sections by books and previously unpublished poems. Most collected and selected poems I've read have been divided that way, which makes it easier to go back to individual collections. A friend asked me to suggest some Frank O'Hara, and I had no idea what to tell him, since I wouldn't recommend a 500+ page collection to a casual reader. The Lunch Poems is the collection I hear mentioned most often, though. "The Day Lady Died" and "Why I Am Not a Painter" were the first two poems I ever read by him.

 

 

It is a bit much - I recall reading through it several years ago.

[dondoboy]

[laurie]

Hey thanx - Love Tom Waits (Who dpesn't?) and have not seen this before ---- will have to get it.

[dondoboy]

Hey thanx - Love Tom Waits (Who dpesn't?) and have not seen this before ---- will have to get it.

Its a very strange book. I'd rent it to see if you like it before you buy it.