Fritz Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 I've read this book, along with Cannery Row, likely 20 times and will read it again.... Yeah, they're like that. Pure, beautiful writing. Now reading: The last time I read Jane Austen was 25 years ago in high school (Pride and Prejudice). I wanted to try another one. A few chapters in and I'm enjoying it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
The Inside of Outside Posted October 18, 2015 Share Posted October 18, 2015 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kidsmoke Posted October 21, 2015 Author Share Posted October 21, 2015 Yeah, they're like that. Pure, beautiful writing. Now reading: The last time I read Jane Austen was 25 years ago in high school (Pride and Prejudice). I wanted to try another one. A few chapters in and I'm enjoying it. Austen always has a soothing effect on me...once you're well into a book, it's as if you've been transported back to her time, isn't it? The humor is quite witty but you are allowed to pick it up on your own...she, as an author, doesn't beat you over the head with a point she's trying to make. I love reading Austen. Let us know how this is! Looks like good history. I'm unfamiliar with this author. What's the book about? Good? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rwrkb Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 It's a collection of stories. Definitely good so far, I'm three stories in. But BJC is one of my favorite modern writers. She was nominated for a National Book Award for her last collection, and her novels are pretty badass, too. Kind of a modern Michigan equivalent of Flannery O'Connor. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kidsmoke Posted October 21, 2015 Author Share Posted October 21, 2015 I'll have to look into her books! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rwrkb Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 I'll have to look into her books! Totally should, she's fantastic. I'm supposed to be interviewing her soon, I'll shoot you a link when it's up if you're interested. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kidsmoke Posted October 21, 2015 Author Share Posted October 21, 2015 Sounds good! Thanks! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Oil Can Boyd Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
The Inside of Outside Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 I learned a ton from reading this. Not a "great" book from a writing standpoint (repetitive, style is just ok), but so much history that I did not know. I had not heard the name Monroe Trotter since an African-American History class I took back in 1987 at UConn. It was interesting to see some of the same protest strategies used in 1915 that were used in the 50s and 60s. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rwrkb Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 just finished the audiobook of this & starting this one Quote Link to post Share on other sites
NoJ Posted October 26, 2015 Share Posted October 26, 2015 Read "American Pain" by J Temple over the weekend. An amazing look into the rise of the pill mills in Florida and use of oxycodone aka hillbilly heroin. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Robby Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 Just started Elvis Costello's autobiography, Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink Quote Link to post Share on other sites
NoJ Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 Started Michael Lewis's "The Big Short" which is about the subprime mortgage lending meltdown. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rwrkb Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 Starting the audiobook of this. It's 18 hours which is longer than I usually like to listen to, but Costello reads it, so there's that. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
calvino Posted October 29, 2015 Share Posted October 29, 2015 Just read the C.K. Williams died last month. Saw him do couple of readings, once in the early 90s while in school and more recently around 2008.Both times I was able to speak with him - great man and poet. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
smells like flowers Posted October 29, 2015 Share Posted October 29, 2015 I'm reading Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle (The Mountain Goats). It's dark and eloquent, like his lyrics. His singing voice is hard for me to enjoy, but the man can write. Fans of Willy Vlautin would enjoy this.Next up, M Train by Patti Smith. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Magnetized Posted October 29, 2015 Share Posted October 29, 2015 Next up, M Train by Patti Smith.I just got the audiobooks of M Train and also a couple others, coincidentally all female-centric: Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl by Carrie Brownstein, largely based on a recent Fresh Air interviewMy Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem, also because my interest was piqed by a Fresh Air interview I guess Terry Gross is doing her usual excellent job of bringing interesting people to our attention. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rwrkb Posted October 29, 2015 Share Posted October 29, 2015 Just read the C.K. Williams died last month. Saw him do couple of readings, once in the early 90s while in school and more recently around 2008.Both times I was able to speak with him - great man and poet. I love CKW, I was so bummed when he passed. I need to get his new book that came out last month, too. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
The Inside of Outside Posted October 29, 2015 Share Posted October 29, 2015 History buffs take note of this brilliant new book from James Bradley. Bradley is the author of "Flags of our Fathers" and the son of John Bradley, one of the men who raised the American flag on Iwo Jima. "Mirage" is capably written and deeply researched, and details how the American view of China created the history of the past several decades, reaching back to Teddy Roosevelt's administration and beyond. It deftly shows how our misperceptions and yearning to believe in a China that aspired to be both Westernized and Christianized (an American mirage) created policies which led to repeated fumbles in China and Japan, and set up a historical path that culminated in wars in Korea and Vietnam that need never have occurred. Powerful as hell and engagingly written. It will change your worldview about many "facts" you thought you knew. I hope this will be widely read! Fascinating.Just started this. Intriguing beginning. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kidsmoke Posted October 29, 2015 Author Share Posted October 29, 2015 I love CKW, I was so bummed when he passed. I need to get his new book that came out last month, too. I need to, as well. Just started this. Intriguing beginning. I hope you find it as fascinating and eye-opening as I did. I look at our current interactions with that part of the world in a very different way since reading "Mirage". Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Albert Tatlock Posted October 30, 2015 Share Posted October 30, 2015 Well, an hour ago I was leafing through original copies of the NME from the late 70s and early 80s for sale at a market stall in Spitalfields. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
smells like flowers Posted October 30, 2015 Share Posted October 30, 2015 I just got the audiobooks of M Train and also a couple others, coincidentally all female-centric:Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl by Carrie Brownstein, largely based on a recent Fresh Air interviewMy Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem, also because my interest was piqed by a Fresh Air interviewI guess Terry Gross is doing her usual excellent job of bringing interesting people to our attention.Chrissie Hynde has a memoir just out, too! So many books, so little time... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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