Now Reading in the New New Year

[isadorah]

[Oil Can Boyd]

[The Inside of Outside]

So entertaining I feel guilty reading it....

[MattZ]

I saw that David Markson passed away this weekend. Certainly worthy of a mention in this thread. Wittgenstein's Mistress was one of those books that turned my world upside down.

 

To the castle, a sign must have said.

 

RIP.

[mpolak21]

I saw that David Markson passed away this weekend. Certainly worthy of a mention in this thread. Wittgenstein's Mistress was one of those books that turned my world upside down.

 

To the castle, a sign must have said.

 

RIP.

 

Damn, I hadn't heard. Loved Wittgenstein's Mistress as well.

 

--Mike

[MattZ]

Damn, I hadn't heard. Loved Wittgenstein's Mistress as well.

 

--Mike

 

One of these days, I am going to buy you a beer.

[Preferred B]

Wow, I haven't checked this thread in way too long!

Just picked up this. Haven't started it yet, but will on the train ride home tonight.

If anyone else is interested, I highly recommend the audiobook version. There are so many side jokes and random comments that Cross throws in (including plenty of snide comments about the laziness of people listening to this who can't manage to pick up a book and read) and it includes bonuses like one of his lists in the chapter of lists put to music and performed by Les Savy Fav.

 

 

Just abandoned A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore ( ); I was over halfway through it, too. She lost me at... well, a certain plot twist, though she'd begun to lose me well before that.

I read A Gate at the Stairs and enjoyed it, but I can see where you're coming from. I recently read a story from her Birds of America, (part of a collection edited by David Sedaris, Children Standing Before a Statue of Hercules) and it's definitely made me want to pick that one up. Moore is a professor at UW-Madison, and I've seen her speak - it adds something that so many of her references are familiar to me, I think.

 

 

The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York Deborah Blum

I'm in the middle of this right now, and it's an absorbing read. (No poison joke intended.)

 

 

 

 

Not at all (and since when do you apologize for sounding like a twat! ) - I actually wondered as I was reading what I'd think of it if I was more familiar with his stuff (past say, The Dark Half, chronologically).

Oh, I love Stephen King. I'm another person who thinks the quality of his books has gone down in the past 10 years or so, but I still read everything and almost always enjoy it. I second many of the recommendations that have already been made, and have to add another of my favorites: The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. It's actually fairly recent, as the King catalog goes. It's a quick read, and well worth your time. Especially if you like baseball. Or have ever been a big fan of just about anything. Or have ever been a kid.

 

There's also Hearts in Atlantis, which I know some people like my sister have found boring, but I adore. It's a book of stories that are kind of about the Vietnam War, but mostly he writes about it by writing around it. If that makes any sense. It's very long, though I flew through it the first time. Incidentally, the movie version was completely horrible and not at all representative of the book.

[jimmyjimmy]

[Analogman]

Wow, I haven't checked this thread in way too long!

 

If anyone else is interested, I highly recommend the audiobook version. There are so many side jokes and random comments that Cross throws in (including plenty of snide comments about the laziness of people listening to this who can't manage to pick up a book and read) and it includes bonuses like one of his lists in the chapter of lists put to music and performed by Les Savy Fav.

 

 

 

I read A Gate at the Stairs and enjoyed it, but I can see where you're coming from. I recently read a story from her Birds of America, (part of a collection edited by David Sedaris, Children Standing Before a Statue of Hercules) and it's definitely made me want to pick that one up. Moore is a professor at UW-Madison, and I've seen her speak - it adds something that so many of her references are familiar to me, I think.

 

 

 

I'm in the middle of this right now, and it's an absorbing read. (No poison joke intended.)

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, I love Stephen King. I'm another person who thinks the quality of his books has gone down in the past 10 years or so, but I still read everything and almost always enjoy it. I second many of the recommendations that have already been made, and have to add another of my favorites: The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. It's actually fairly recent, as the King catalog goes. It's a quick read, and well worth your time. Especially if you like baseball. Or have ever been a big fan of just about anything. Or have ever been a kid.

 

There's also Hearts in Atlantis, which I know some people like my sister have found boring, but I adore. It's a book of stories that are kind of about the Vietnam War, but mostly he writes about it by writing around it. If that makes any sense. It's very long, though I flew through it the first time. Incidentally, the movie version was completely horrible and not at all representative of the book.

 

 

 

What is the deal where the people are playing with something in a factory - and they begin to fall apart?

 

I could not recall - and I was trying to tell someone about it.

 

Hearts in Atlantis is another book that is connected to The Dark Tower.

 

They only used part of the book in the movie (Low Men in Yellow Coats)

[Preferred B]

What is the deal where the people are playing with something in a factory - and they begin to fall apart?

 

I could not recall - and I was trying to tell someone about it.

 

Stephen King or Poisoner's Handbook?

[Analogman]

Stephen King or Poisoner's Handbook?

 

Doh!

 

Poisoner's Handbook

 

It had something to do with some sort of paint, I think.

[Preferred B]

The paint for the luminous watch dials, that contained radium salts mixed with a zinc compound? The factory workers were mostly young women in their 20's, who were trained to moisten their brushes to a point with their lips. They'd also do cool stuff like painting their nails with the paint, putting some the dust in their hair so their hair would glow, etc. Eventually the radium buildup started to eat holes through their bones and they all died. But the few who lived long enough did win $10,000 each in a lawsuit to go toward medical and funeral expenses!

[anthony]

[Analogman]

The paint for the luminous watch dials, that contained radium salts mixed with a zinc compound? The factory workers were mostly young women in their 20's, who were trained to moisten their brushes to a point with their lips. They'd also do cool stuff like painting their nails with the paint, putting some the dust in their hair so their hair would glow, etc. Eventually the radium buildup started to eat holes through their bones and they all died. But the few who lived long enough did win $10,000 each in a lawsuit to go toward medical and funeral expenses!

 

That's it. They were also rubbing it on their teeth.

[The High Heat]

Just finished:

 

 

 

NR: Killer Mormons

 

[kidsmoke]

Just finished:

 

 

 

NR: Killer Mormons

 

 

That Krakauer is one seriously creepy book, but a fascinating read.

[The High Heat]

That Krakauer is one seriously creepy book, but a fascinating read.

You said it, friend. I'm staying the hell out of Utah.

[kidsmoke]

You said it, friend. I'm staying the hell out of Utah.

 

You and me both! Except maybe for excursions to admire Utah's scenic beauty, which is undeniable. Another person who was fascinated by the whole Mountain Meadows horror is Mark Sasso of the Canadian band Elliott Brood, and their second album is named for it. The album isn't directly about the massacre but is more referencing it in mood. A terrific & sometimes eerie album.

[The High Heat]

You and me both! Except maybe for excursions to admire Utah's scenic beauty, which is undeniable. Another person who was fascinated by the whole Mountain Meadows horror is Mark Sasso of the Canadian band Elliott Brood, and their second album is named for it. The album isn't directly about the massacre but is more referencing it in mood. A terrific & sometimes eerie album.

Thanks! I'll have to check out that album.

Other than the Elizabeth Smart incident I didn't know about any of these things that have happened in Mormondom (Is that a word? It is today anyway!). Maybe this Joseph Smith fellow was an egomaniac charlatan who came up with "revelations from god" everytime he fancied adding a new depravity to his lifestyle. He preyed on the desperate and he certainly had a shady background before he had his "visions." I understand alot of this book focuses on the extreme element of Mormonism, and I'm all for people believing what that they like; but if your religion/lifestyle comes with pride in deception and secrecy, then maybe that's a clue of dysfunction.

[Good Old Neon]

I understand alot of this book focuses on the extreme element of Mormonism, and I'm all for people believing what that they like; but if your religion/lifestyle comes with pride in deception and secrecy, then maybe that's a clue of dysfunction.

 

I don’t know if a religion based on the claims of a convicted huckster could ever viewed as anything less than extreme, even in its mildest forms. It’s just flat out nuts.

[kathyp]

Just picked this up today:

 

 

Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip with David Foster Wallace - David Lipsky

[The Inside of Outside]

[Sir Stewart]

 

Flying through this. As addictive as a season of The Wire on DVD.

[The High Heat]

Dennis Lehane has a new book coming out in early November. I can't wait that long. Can somebody around here with connections hook me up? Thanks.

 

Continuing the Kenzie/Gennaro series:

[The Inside of Outside]