And....
The author, Canadian, criss-crosses Canada with various members of his family, rediscovering the places he used to live in. Plenty of rather lively historical information too... and polar bears.
Well, I must say, both of those have nice titles.
Having just finished The Tortilla Curtain, by T C Boyle, I felt compelled to read more. Just came back with a collection of short stories by the same author: Descent of Man. The first story was pretty good, but not in the same class with Tortilla Curtain.
I've liked some of his stories... haven't read one of his books.
The Tortilla Curtain is a very well told tale of illegal immigrants and an affluent community in the hills near Los Angeles. The two males of the story meet on page one and their lives move around each other on a collision course at novel's end. Their wives play equally prominent parts. I don't like giving away stories for those who haven't read them. This one ranks in my heart with The Grapes of Wrath and Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.
OK, ok, I'll go for that, Edgar.
Last thing I read of him was not by him but about him, a piece in the LA Times about he and his wife and their home - which is neither here nor there re the book.
I am still liking Corelli's Mandolin. Long, too many sentences, too many words. But which would I take out? Various people rant in a few places in the book. But if I take the rants apart, I appreciate each sentence - many of those sentences are small parcels of information, are a highly condensed version of things I've read in older books, without at all being pedantic. Sort of like a shortlist of things you could look up... but working as a whole stance of someone in the book's place and time, and believable as that character's just thinking on an early morning walk.
Well, that all interests me. But what I think has grabbed many are the near comic scenes that ebb and flow, again, all working within the book context.
I never finished "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee", I kept crying and couldn't see the pages.
Just started "The Long Emergency" by Knustler
Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond, on CD.
Just finished 'Heart of a Soldier' by James B. Stewart, was amazing, I recommend highly...
Am currently reading The Republic by Plato, I've been putting it off long enough.
The House of Flowers by Charlotte Bingham.
Just read Compulsion by Shaun Hutson. Very good but a bit Gory.
Ben
I loved Captain Corelli's Mandolin (as it was called here, the original title) - the contrast between the light hearted humour and the underlying menace and sheer horror of the war scenes was brilliant.
I liked his Red Dog as well - a very very different book and very funny - set in Oz - has Msolga read it I wonder? A feelgood read
I'd like to read more of his work now that I've finally read Corelli's Mandolin...
"Collapse: Why human societies choose to fail or succeed" by Jared Diamond.
Such a good book.
Anton Chekhov's Short Stories. Norton edition.
The short story was still such a new form in his day. His early stories are just frickin' bizarre! I love it.
Just finished From the corner of his eye by Dean Koontz. Love that guy.
Etruscia wrote:"Collapse: Why human societies choose to fail or succeed" by Jared Diamond.
Such a good book.
I'm finishing up Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel on CD. I like this guy.
I have Guns, Steel, and so on, but haven't read it yet. Packed now.
Osso, I went to the bookstore to buy the book after hearing about it on the radio. I hefted the tome and decided I would never stick to it long enough to read the whole thing. So, I bought it on CD. Problem is that I listen while driving and miss the parts where I'm busy swearing at other drivers.
Well, this and another book by him are on my to-read list.
I am sitting in general despond, my way once in a while, tonight, about my understanding that many books, much information, is not available to lots around the world, including us. We in the US may not be denied something by some edic - more out of practical tvq reasons.
Most people get information through various filters...
I just finished The Shipping News. Thought it was beautiful, touching, and appropriately uplifting at that. Proulx's striking metaphors are probably going to seem a rather tiresome mannerism come reading a second book, so I'm probably not going to go there. But I liked this one.
