What BOOK are you reading right now?

Thanks Merry Andrew!

Now I'm off to bed. Will try to find my way to the NYPL tomorrow and pick up immediately!

The Brits are the best source of murder and mayhem that I'm aware of... (literary wise).

Uh.

I read Aerosmith (famously ill reviewed)
and secured my major (which I got over, some time later).

I get your despond.
Snap out of it, a lot of us like you. Gather your wits. Really..
Inch the snail over to the side. I can say this since I understand snaildom.

Nods to MA.

Tsarstepan, I know from many years ago, and remember well, The Quiet American -- book and film " and would like to visit Viet Nam. Why were you drawn to the country as a travel destination?

I agree with your own assessment that consuming books and films about war are not contributing to your dark mood. I like Greene and probably enjoyed Quiet American as much as any of his books. For a different take on war, I recommend Evelyn Waugh’s trilogy, Sword of Honor, which is comprised of men at Arms, Officers and Gentlemen, Unconditional Surrender. Waugh is ironic, witty, knows his stuff…and is a brilliant writer. (I’d recommend any of his books you can get your hands on.)

Have you read Sebastian Barry’s Birdsong? Now, there’s a book about war. And men. And other things.

Do you know the work Lucky Jim, by Kingsley Amis? It is quite a depression lifter. As is a series of books from another time, another war, by J. G. Farrell. Read first: The Siege of Krishnapur. J.G. Farrell " 1973. That is another book I refuse to give up when I work to clear a path through my book collection to get to the outside world.

War is difficult to read about but so are many other tragic happenings and mistakes of history. I didn’t like Denis Johnson’s Tree of Smoke; but I was interested in the subject matter and would have appreciated a different treatment. I haven’t yet read Stone’s Dog Soldiers but it's on my list. He's a writer.

Have you read The Snow Leopard by Peter Mattieson? If you are interested in other people's spiritual quests, that is a fascinating book and not just for the search part of what he writes, which circles around Tibetan Buddhism. I keep that book at the top of the pile by my bed; when I get blackass, I pick up Snow Leopard and open it randomly...usually I'm still reading an hour later, having found a reason to take up space in the world.

I agree with MA about The Third Man.

Realize I misspoke about travel to Viet Nam. It was c.i., of course, who visited there, not tsarstepan

Forgot to suggest Richard Dooling's works: White Man's Grave and Brainstorm, the latter especially if you are a sci-fi or techno freak.

Not particularly well written, but it blew away all my preconceived notions about the Second World War.

*How Poland and Czechoslovakia were sacrificed to stall the beginning of the war

* The disregard for the anti-Nazi movement that could have stopped Hitler and the ultimate price some of these brave plotters paid with their lives.

*The supplying of the Nazi war machine by so called neutral countries like Sweden and Portugal .Even Standard Oil and GM didn't stop helping Germany when war broke out

*An administration that ignored the continuing Holocaust in order not to upset anti semites like Father Caughlin.

*Himmler's offer to trade 10,000 trucks for the safe passage of Jews.

*The looted wealth of Europe and the way it was laundered through Swiss banks in order to feed the Nazi war machine.

Not joyful reading osso, but it gave me a lot to think about.

WOW! I'm pleasantly overwhelmed (the good kind of information submersion ) by the thoughtful and rich nature of your reply. Since I'm going to the library today, I am definitely going to check the catalogue for The Snow Leopard by Peter Mattieson; Lucky Jim by Kingsley Ami; and The Siege of Krishnapur.

I highly recommend "The Sibyl" by Paar Lagerqvist.

Sorry if I made you blush.

Like a goof ball, I went to the library but forgot to write down the titles. Tried to get access to able2know on one of their library computers and couldn't log on due to server issues.

I just place several holds online at their online catalogue [www.nypl.org]...
for The snow leopard and Peter Matthiessen; Lucky Jim by Kingsley Ami; and The Siege of Krishnapur by J.G. Farrell.

I did take out Graham Greene's edition of The Third Man and The Fallen Idol and Iain M. Banks' The Algebraist.

Never heard of it. Just looked it up at the NYPL online catalogue. They only have the audiobook version which I immediately placed on hold just for the kick of it.

You didn't really make me blush...but it was the only suitable emoticon.

Good choices at the NYPL.

The Snow Leopard doesn't really work as a library book. (I'll bet Amazon has a second-hand copy for a few bucks.) It is a bedside companion, and it took me a year to read it in its entirety. The trip that he and the famous wildlife biologist (blanking on his name at the moment) went on together, which was the basis for the book, was beyond imagining...in the wilds of Tibet...and the book takes you there, totally, living each day on the icy steppes, visiting stumpas and lonesome refuges of Buddhist monks holed up in mountain caves, the two men observing wild sheep and seeking the elusive snow leopard. Makes me shiver to think about that book. It is so beautiful.

Dys, I've not heard of that book. Give us a precis.

BERYL COOK - THE BUMBER EDITION
usually sits on my nightstand . even if i don't feel like reading , i like to look ar some of her splendid illustrations .

Last I read that could be called Science Fiction was Vonnegut - I presently forget which ones I'm remembering liking.
The 'get out of war and ****' was loose talk about not putting the despond of war into an already depressed mind, but - I don't really agree with myself on that, so never mind.

What can I say, I read police procedurals when I'm depressed. (Henning Mankel, anyone?)

On Greene, I don't think I've ever not liked a Greene book.. and I too liked the book and movie, The Third Man. Consider his short stories.











I din

from Amazon;
A wondering Jew whose only experience with God being a negative one, was cursed by the son of God for his impatient words on his way to crucifixion. Demonstrating how one instance could change a person's life forever. He begins to believe in the curse and seeks insight from a legendary Pathia, who lives in a cave in the mountains over looking Delphi. The Pathia like himself experienced the wrath of God. She then tells a story of the blissful love to the merciless unsympathetic side which exists in the same God. Unlike the Jew however the Sibyl accepts God. The divine is not just a man on the clouds dictating people's lives but it's the impulses of nature, in animals, in lust, in every emotion humans are faced with.
This book leaves us with one prophecy which is that God is both love and hate and both exist to form a connection with him. The Sibyl dives into the quest for meaning, dealing with terrors and the wonders of existence. Wonderfully written and a truly captivating read.

Osso, I've read most of Henning Mankel's books. He is amazingly prolific.

About finished reading Columbine by Dave Cullen, a journalist who covered the masacre at Columbine High in Littleton Colorado by two seemingly intelligent young men.

These two seniors were not innocents who were "bullied" by jocks. What a shocking, literally stunning account of these two monsters' lives and, of course, the lives of the parents and all students and teachers who were murdered. Feel deeply sorry for the Klebolds.

When I finish this horror book I'll reread Horse Boy by Isaac Newton, true story of a couple who traveled to Siberia and Mongolia to see if shamans could do what nobody else could - heal their son of autism. Tragic, sad, and at the same time hilarious (in the telling). Amazing. Wonder why they thought they would be safe in such extraordinary traveling conditions to such frightening places. But, it worked. Great, wonderful ending. Loved this couple - he is from England, she from CA.

Finished Interview with the Vampire.
Starting Foucault's Pendulum.
Again.
Let's see how far I get this time.

I enjoyed everything of Eco's I've read. But with Foucault's Pendulum, while I understood every individual word and there were some interesting insights, I am quite convinced I didn't latch on to whatever he was trying to say.