What are you reading?
- Thread starter jennifer75
- Start date
I finished 'Child 44' by Tom Rob Smith.
Great story, amazing research into the Stalin era, but I found the identity of the killer a bit hard to accept.
The book got me to dig into my old Russian courses from years ago, so the book I'm currently reading is 'Apprenons le russe 2' by Nina Potapova - not a work of world literature.
Great story, amazing research into the Stalin era, but I found the identity of the killer a bit hard to accept.
The book got me to dig into my old Russian courses from years ago, so the book I'm currently reading is 'Apprenons le russe 2' by Nina Potapova - not a work of world literature.
Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith. Considering the current economic situation I thought it was best to re-read it.
Right now I'm reading 'Summer', by Karen Kingsbury. I've never read any of her fiction before, just her non-fiction articles on how to write. I like her style of fiction.
Recently I fininshed 'The Rescuer' by Dee Henderson and 'Leave a Candle Burning' by Lori Wick. 'Leave a Candle Burning' was a nice story, but seemed a little cliched. Not really, just in a couple of sections. 'The Rescuer' I loved, because of how it did such a good job exploring the EMS profession (I guess it's my firefighting experience that makes me like that stuff).
Recently I fininshed 'The Rescuer' by Dee Henderson and 'Leave a Candle Burning' by Lori Wick. 'Leave a Candle Burning' was a nice story, but seemed a little cliched. Not really, just in a couple of sections. 'The Rescuer' I loved, because of how it did such a good job exploring the EMS profession (I guess it's my firefighting experience that makes me like that stuff).
A Turn In The South, by V.S. Naipaul
http://www.amazon.com/Turn-South-V-S-Naipaul/dp/0679724885
Naipul was (along the Mailer) on of the writers, who made me think of, and want to, pursue writing as a profession and career.
http://www.eclectica.org/v7n2/skea_naipaul.html
Naipaul rightly describes himself as a discoverer, not a traveller. He wants to do more than say "This is me here," and "This is me doing this; this is me doing that." He is not interested in presenting amusing incidents, amusing characters or (as is more often the case in popular travel-writing) caricatures. He is not interested, in short, in amusing the reader. He wants to understand the people and the society, and he want to pass on to the reader some of that understanding. In no way does this mean that his writing is dull and boring. Quite the contrary. But it does mean that this book is not for readers who want travel-writing which is focused on the author and his or her funny encounters with the strange customs of an alien society.
Naipaul's approach, as he says, is to define a theme and to allow it to develop. And his theme in this case began with a book he knew from his own Trinidad childhood, Up from Slavery, by Booker T Washington. His discoveries began with him accompanying two friends to the home of one of them in a small town called Bowen. "Home"—the identification of "one patch of the earth" as home—is something Naipaul says he does not have, although he frequently refers in this book to the Trinidad of his early life, and to its customs and history.
http://www.amazon.com/Turn-South-V-S-Naipaul/dp/0679724885
Naipul was (along the Mailer) on of the writers, who made me think of, and want to, pursue writing as a profession and career.
http://www.eclectica.org/v7n2/skea_naipaul.html
Naipaul rightly describes himself as a discoverer, not a traveller. He wants to do more than say "This is me here," and "This is me doing this; this is me doing that." He is not interested in presenting amusing incidents, amusing characters or (as is more often the case in popular travel-writing) caricatures. He is not interested, in short, in amusing the reader. He wants to understand the people and the society, and he want to pass on to the reader some of that understanding. In no way does this mean that his writing is dull and boring. Quite the contrary. But it does mean that this book is not for readers who want travel-writing which is focused on the author and his or her funny encounters with the strange customs of an alien society.
Naipaul's approach, as he says, is to define a theme and to allow it to develop. And his theme in this case began with a book he knew from his own Trinidad childhood, Up from Slavery, by Booker T Washington. His discoveries began with him accompanying two friends to the home of one of them in a small town called Bowen. "Home"—the identification of "one patch of the earth" as home—is something Naipaul says he does not have, although he frequently refers in this book to the Trinidad of his early life, and to its customs and history.
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2009
- Messages
- 68
- Reaction score
- 5
- Location
- St. Paul, MN
- Website
- notpaulavery.blogspot.com
Audubon's Elephant, a tale of Audubon's quest to publish The Birds of America.
Very calm, before-bed sort of reading.
Very calm, before-bed sort of reading.
- Joined
- Oct 16, 2005
- Messages
- 6,260
- Reaction score
- 1,358
- Location
- Scotland
- Website
- www.fictionpress.com
The Unlikely Spy by Daniel Silva.
I was looking for a good thriller to read (preferably a spy thriller).
Just started it, but…so far, so good.
I was looking for a good thriller to read (preferably a spy thriller).
Just started it, but…so far, so good.
- Joined
- Mar 4, 2009
- Messages
- 161
- Reaction score
- 12
I hope you enjoy it. That's one of my all-time favorites. I wonder if I would like it as much if I hadn't seen the BBC version with Colin Firth.
One of my favourites. Reading Dao always grounds me somehow.
I read this a few months ago, and I was impressed by the amount of research that must have gone into that book - the different countries, the different eras, religions and art and so on.
Just finished McCarthy's The Road. I've been putting this one off for a while, but I found it lyrical and tough-minded, just to my tastes; dark, honest, and beautifully written. This is one book that I think lives up to its hype: it is a masterpiece. I'm glad I've collected a couple more of his to read.
I've had this one kicking around for decades and never got more than a couple dozen pages into it, though for no good reason. I should dig it out again sometime soon and try again. I always thought Updike's strong suit was his short fiction, though ...archerjoe said:
- Joined
- Oct 16, 2005
- Messages
- 6,260
- Reaction score
- 1,358
- Location
- Scotland
- Website
- www.fictionpress.com
Love this author! I am reading Jews, God and History by Max Dimont, and a Harlequin Blaze, also picked up Imajica by Clive Barker...thought I would give that go. I love to read paperbacks by the pound. Huge fat books with small print.
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2005
- Messages
- 2,764
- Reaction score
- 119
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2008
- Messages
- 1,678
- Reaction score
- 121
- Location
- Apple Valley, MN
- Website
- amandalynb.blogspot.com
I'm reading Zen and the Arts of Vampires By Katie MacAlister. I love her. I love her style. She keeps referencing Buffy and it makes me smile. Lots.
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2005
- Messages
- 39,307
- Reaction score
- 17,490
- Location
- Non carborundum illegitimi
- Website
- www.aliceloweecey.net
The latest Ian Rutledge mystery. These last two were not nearly as good as the others. The author team ("Charles Todd") is spending less and less time on Rutledge and too much on the villain and minor characters.
I just finished reading Schulz and Peanuts (an interesting biography), and have now begun Eragon. I have a feeling this one won't take me long to get through.