Now Reading in the New New New Year

[nalafej]

Just finished it! Loved it! As a nerd growing up in the 1980s, this hit home for me quite a bit.

 

I'll third that. Fun book for those of us born i the 70's 80's.

[kidsmoke]

That book looks like a fun read!

 

I've just finished this brilliant book:

 

 

...which I can't recommend highly enough. This saga of the Roman attack on the Judean refugees living in the remains of King Herod's mountaintop fortress at Masada is fiction based on what known facts there are of the attack. Of 900 living at Masada, the ancient historian Josephus tells us that only 2 women and 5 children survived...this is the imagined story of those women and how they came to be at Masada. Alice Hoffman is at her pinnacle with this book. Utterly absorbing.

 

Now I'm on to a Tom Perotta..."The Leftovers" about the world's response to a Rapture-like event which seems not to actually be the Rapture...no apparent religious sense to it...but more of a random rapture!  I'm thoroughly enjoying it so far, about 100 pages in. A fascinating premise, to be sure...suddenly people are simply GONE. In the book's world, people refer to it as the Sudden Departure. I can't wait to see where Perotta goes with this.

[Fritz]

[mpolak21]

[Oil Can Boyd]

Now I'm on to a Tom Perotta..."The Leftovers" about the world's response to a Rapture-like event which seems not to actually be the Rapture...no apparent religious sense to it...but more of a random rapture!  I'm thoroughly enjoying it so far, about 100 pages in. A fascinating premise, to be sure...suddenly people are simply GONE. In the book's world, people refer to it as the Sudden Departure. I can't wait to see where Perotta goes with this.

 

I like Perotta in general but I really liked that book. 

[kidsmoke]

I'm loving it. Having a hard time tearing myself away from it!

[NoJ]

"The Power and The Glory" by G. Greene

[Moss]

Just found this on my book shelf and realized I never read it:

 

[Fritz]

Deep in John Fante territory and loving it:

 

[NoJ]

"True Hallucinations" by T. McKenna

 

WHOA!!

[PopTodd]

[Fritz]

I've fallen into this habit where I read me a bit of James Lee Burke every January through the holidays here. It's easy going but enjoyable.

 

This time:

 

[NoJ]

"The Yellow Birds" Kevin Powers. Yet another novel re: the Iraq War....

[NoJ]

Just finished "Kings of Cool" by WInslow, now starting "Savages". I saw the film recently, thought it was pretty meh, hopefully the book will be better.

[jff]

 

Just finished this one.  This would probably have made a great feature length magazine article, but as a book it was maddeningly repetitive.  I was hoping for some interesting sociological analysis, but it was mostly the author and a bunch of other people talking about how they've been treated like crap to varying degrees.

[GtrPlyr]

 

Just finished reading this and thoroughly enjoyed the ride. Thanks to the folks here that got me onto this in the first place.

[NoJ]

Just finished "The Dawn Patrol" by WInslow. Interesting intro into Surf culture. Lite reading though, kinda trashy.

[Fritz]

[GtrPlyr]

[jcroach]

 

Just finished reading this and thoroughly enjoyed the ride. Thanks to the folks here that got me onto this in the first place.

 

I recommend this one also. It's a lot of fun. Read this then watch the episode of "Community" called "Digital Estate Planning."

[PopTodd]

Gonna give this one another shot and try to get back into it:

[NoJ]

"California Life & Fire" Another Winslow book, probably the most interesting one of his I've read so far. The science of fire and arson investigation is fascinating.

[Mr. Heartbreak]

Maitre Cornelius - Honoré de Balzac

[NoJ]

"Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk" by B Fountain

 

Excellent book, now I have to read more of Fountain's work.

[Fritz]

Standing in a bookstore the other day I picked up a copy of Henry Miller's Sexus which I have not read. I could've stayed there all afternoon. The first paragraph sunk its claws in and I was floored.

 

I then thought it might be interesting to hear of anyone who has been drawn to a book by what they've read immediately upon opening it. What are the great first paragraphs of literature?

 

Here's the opening from Sexus:

 

"It must have been a Thursday night when I met her for the first time—at the dance hall. I reported to work in the morning, after an hour or two's sleep, looking like a somnambulist. The day passed like a dream. After dinner I fell asleep on the couch and awoke fully dressed about six the next morning. I felt thoroughly refreshed, pure at heart, and obsessed with one idea—to have her at any cost. Walking through the park I debated what sort of flowers to send with the book I had promised her (Winesburg, Ohio). I was approaching my thirty−third year, the age of Christ crucified. A wholly new life lay before me, had I the courage to risk all. Actually there was nothing to risk: I was at the bottom rung of the ladder, a failure in every sense of the word."