What was the Vikram Seth book also based on the myth of Orpheus? Can't remember right now.
(Had to look it up, "An Equal Music," right.)
I'm about 2/3 through "Dreams of my Father" by Barack Obama. WOW. I read the more recent one first, ("The Audacity of Hope,") which is very good but politician-y. "Dreams of my Father" reads like a novel. Amazing writing, I keep trying to step back and figure out if I'd like it as much if it wasn't written by y'know Obama and I really think I would.
He had no idea he'd be a presidential candidate when he wrote it, and the candor is amazing. Plus some stuff just whaps you upside the head with the juxtaposition -- what he wrote then (stuff about Harold Washington becoming mayor of Chicago, for example), and what actually seems possible now.
I keep meaning to read that (Obama's 1st), Soz. Sozlet sure is a fast reader!
MsO. It'll be sent off today. I suddenly have a free 1.5 hours!
Okie dokie, k.
But like I said, no rush.
I don't feel rushed, I feel like I have been slack!
I am still in my literature class. So, I will be reading novels and biographies meant for kids and young adults. I'm reading both Eleanor: A Life of Discovery (by Freedman) and Dragonwings (by Yep). They're both good books (too much for Soz - in details, if not reading level). ER was a fascinating woman, alright - and worthy of a bio.
Dragonwings is absolutely beautiful. Its set in the early 1900s and is about a chinese boy and his father (the Lees) who immigrated separately to San Fransisco. The father had left before the boy was born, the boy joined him at 9 or 10. Chinatown was full of organized gangs who washed clothes, for example, for $. The father believed he was a dragon in a previous life (there's a fabulous dragon-world dream) and he behaved like one in this one: strong, fierce, but fair and intelligent. After some blood and guts and peering into the seedier side of Chinatown, they move to a white neighborhood (they call White people Demons). There they live in a renovated stable on the property of a wonderful woman and her young niece who she cares for. The Lees face discrimination and hate crimes, but persevere anyway.
The father is an inventor. He learns how to make the wonderful Demon machines and fix their cars. The book cruises right into the Big One in S.F. - the earthquake that leveled the city. It describes the horror, the struggle, the rebuilding. I haven't finished it yet.......
The Bright Lights.
Autobiography by Marian Seldes. Found it at Strand Bookstore. On Broadway. How appropriate
I read Dragonwings when I was a kid -- one of my all-time favorites. Yep is a wonder.
Hve you read other books by Yep? Are they just as good? For those of you unfamiliar with Yep, Dragonwings doesn't seem juvenile to me. I think anyone with any kind of interest in immigration to and immigrants in the US would like this quick read.
I have also breezed through several short stories by Garry Soto which I enjoyed. He tells stories, with tangentially linked characters, about life as a 'chicano' american. They aren't really about being of immigrant stock, they are also about coming of age. The book of shorts I'm reading now is called "Baseball in April". Good. I'm trying to flex my symbolic interpretation muscles.
Sounds like a great class, littlek.
I read all of Yep's books up until, I dunno, 1987? I think he's published more since. They were all very good.
Just this second finished Executioner:Albert Pierrepoint.About the career of a long serving hangman.Very interesting.
Now, what next!!
ehBeth wrote: Found it at Strand Bookstore. On Broadway.
That's one of the best Bookstores in the US.
Next on the list: Still reading the Eleanor Roosevelt bio. Also "Hatchet" By Garry Paulson
Asian-american author, Lisa See has a new novel coming out on 6/25/07, Peony in Love.
Lisa See is an outstanding new Asian American author, well worth reading and even meeting in person.
For late Summer reading:
Suite francaise
Mayflower
The OverLook
And? Do/did you like it?
(Generally, I don't like reading historical fiction ... because I tend to look at/for the inaccuracies instead of just enjoying the book.)
Yeah, it's a good summertime read. Pretty much fluff, but that's what I like in the summer.
Historical fiction... I like it in general. Leon Uris and James Michener both do a good job of blending history and story lines.
I consider leon Uris more a novel writing historian with all the researches he's done for his books. :wink:
"Dialogues with the Dead" by Reginald Hill. (One of the Dalziel and Pascoe crime fiction series)
I don't usually read whodunnits but this one was recommended by a friend and I must say I'm enjoying it.
Guests by michael dorris - about a wampanoag boy. And, tangentially about what we usually know as the first thanksgiving.
