What BOOK are you reading right now?

Ain't that the truth

just finished Mister Abbott by George Abbott

the first half is just a wonderful history of growing up in northern New York State in the late 1800's. then it's on to his life as a Broadway director. Quite a marvellous book, even for the comments that point out how much social norms have changed in many circles.

Terry Pratchett's latest, Unseen Academicals.

Finishing up Evelyn Waugh's A Hanful of Dust. Mr. Waugh again proves himself a worthy member of the sextet I consider my Greatest Influences.

Up next, Not the End of the World by Kate Atkinson. Anyone read this short story collection?

I'm keeping a list of unfamiliar words, phrases and expressions to look up as
I read. I'm way behind . . .

Big Umberto Eco fan here.

Of his novels, I rate:
The Name of the Rose: 10
Baudolino: 10
The Island of the Day Before: 8
Foucault's Pendulum: 7 (it's the hardest one to read, but worth it).

I don't know if his "Minimal Diaries" are translated into English. They're certainly worth a lot of laughs and a lot of afterthoughts. "La Bustina di Minerva" and his essays on literature are very good. His book "how to write a thesis" is better than most teachers.

... and then there are his famous writing on philosophy and mass communication.

...

On 1976 I went to a few of his classes at the University of Bologna, fascinating... but I didn't do the readings and found myself often lost, as other teachers used to pass by and engage with Eco in bizantine (to me) discussions about Plato or the hidden meaning in the Middle Ages idea that the blood of a male goat could cut diamonds.

G, I enjoyed Handful of Dust. He is one of my favorite authors...I reread his Sword of Honour trilogy when life leaves me casting about for solace.

I've read almost everything Kate Atkinson has written but not this collection of short stories. I'll be interested in your review.

I just finished Andre Dubus'....Garden of Worldly Delights, or something like that. Unusual book....page turner. A prequel to 9-11.

Now beginning David Lodge's Deaf Sentence.

I would be interested in hearing what you have to think about Deaf Sentence. I read a couple of reviews and it sounds kind of funny.

An annoying book named "Mendocino" by Ann Packer. From my point of view, she stops the stories when she is tired. This happens with trained writers.. the whole let the readers flail in the morass routine, letting that resonate meaning, or negate it, whatever.

Perhaps Packer paled with a Monica Ali book I just finished, Alentejo Blue.

Israel's Occupation --Neve Gordon

TsarS, I am well into Deaf Sentence but the jury's still out. I've read everything Lodge wrote and enjoyed it very much over the years -- I loved his riffs on the politics of academia -- but either he has aged/changed or I have. This book is a bit tedious. But even in his wordiness, Lodge remains a witty and articulate writer so I'll finish the book.

jjorge, give us a judgment. Are you well into the book?

Hi Kara,
long time no 'see'. Hope you are well and happy!

It is too soon for me to make an overall judgement per se on the book as I have only read a small portion of it. Thus far however, I am very impressed with Neve Gordon's scholarship. He uses 'a mountain' of documents and first hand experience to review and analyse Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza from its inception. When one reads of the multitude of mechanisms of control (miltary decrees; permits for EVERYTHING down to herd animals, and types of crops; the onerous and ubiquitous checkpoints; the blatant enabling of settlements etc.) It is hard not to empathize with a certain impotent rage that the Palestinian population must feel, and have felt for forty-two years.
It mirrors a similar picture I got at the J Street Conference (which I attended last month in D.C.) in a presentation from the director of 'Settlement Watch'.

Knockout by Suzanne Sommers
I had long dismissed this woman as being irrelevant, from the times I viewed her TV series, through the TV ads I had seen. Knockout changed that for me. The first chapter, which I just finished less than an hour ago, is riveting. It tells of an ordeal in a hospital, where she was misdiagnosed with full-blown cancer. I hope to resume reading sometime today.

This guy was a total **** up and incomptetent . His failed March set up the possibility for a revolutionary war . Crocker is a good writer as well.

Looks interesting, farmerman.

It DOES look interesting.

Dys, I'm reading this weeks later. Not sure what you are quoting from in your Amazon review. Tell me.