What BOOK are you reading right now?

Thanks for the invitation, Larry, proffered, as always from you, with grace and a genuine interest in sharing ideas.

I just started reading "Wide Open" by Nicola Barker. I recently discovered her, and I devoured "The Behindlings". I'm enjoying this one, too, and would love to hear from anyone who has read her. I gather only two of her novels have been published in the US, and she's published seven books in the UK.

I find her wildly imaginative, funny and offbeat. Her characters tend to be unpredictable until I realize that they obey their own logic. Takes a while for any of it to make sense, but the pieces slowly fall into place. Once I finish "WO" I plan to go on-line and buy her other books from British sources...

D'Artagnan--anyone who, as you do, gratuitously attacks someone without provocation is in no position to criticize anyone else on this thread or any other. And we're all still breathlessly waiting for your DeLillo critique, assuming you actually read COSMOPOLIS.

D'art -- I know nothing about Nicola Barker (Larry probably doesn't either which could account for his tetchy, silly response!). Who is she?

Tartarin, I finally realized what you and d'Artagnan remind me of...a pair of coffee-shop waitresses with bad feet suffering from PMS.

What's all the fuss about DeLillo? I find him dull and droning. Cosmopolis is a predictable read, and it's labored. I found it on a library shelf, took it out, and read it. The returned it.

You're lucky, mamajuana. The waitresses (Tartarin and D'Artagnan) won't attack YOU for your literary opinions but if I say one critical word they use my head for target practice.

Oh, get off the pity pot, larry r. You sound like a little kid. Reading is a very personal thing.

And I'm from Philly, too, and had an excellent education there, which helped developed a tuned ear when it came to my reading.

Tartarin and D'Artagnan are two I respect very much, and also find them at times very funny.

But Don DeLillo? Really!!!!

larry, is this sort of comment really necessary????

LarryRichette- This thread is about BOOKS. If you have any personal matters to discuss with another member, the appropriate place for that sort of discussion is by PM.

Thank you, Phoenix.....

Read the thread, Phoenix. I was attacked personally here. I merely responded in kind. All I'm asking for is a little fairness. Why is it that I get jumped on but the people who start these squabbles don't?

I am really, really tired of being jumped on and then, when I defend myself, being told that I have no right to do so. Therefore I bid you all farewell.

Tartarin, Nicola Barker is a British novelist and short story writer, in her late 30s, who I discovered quite recently. Her latest novel, The Behindlings, was reviewed in the NY Times Book Review, and it sounded like something I might like to try. And I was completely captivated by her! She has a fresh voice and writes about characters who tend to be off-beat, to say the least, but they do obey their own logic. And she's funny! I highly recommend her to anyone who enjoys unconventional plots with quirky characters. In her own way she's an environmentalist, too, I think, though it's hard to pin down whether how serious she is about the subject...

I do like eccentric writers -- a lot. Thanks for the tip about Barker!

Currently reading:

Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis

The White Nile by Alan Moore

Loved Moorehead. I remember reading both "White" and "Blue" one right after the other, but it was a long time ago so maybe it's about time for a reread. Thanks for the reminder!

I'm continuing on my Mario Vargas Llosa kick with THE NOTEBOOKS OF DON RIGOBERTO. It's a playful erotic romp, Llosa having fun with a bizarre family dynamic and milking it for all the laughs and eroticism he can get out of it. What I find remarkable about this novelist is how many-faceted his talent is...he can do a huge historical epic, he can do a comic novel, he can do an erotic romp. It seems as if there is no real limit to his talents. What a contrast to the typical American novelist who gets stuck in a groove and keeps repeating the same book, more or less, over and over throughout an entire career (like Updike or Roth.)

I do realize that mostly this is a serious discussion about serious books, but the question is What book am I reading right now?

I'm just home from the library with a book called "The Gallery of Regrettable Food," by James Lileks. I read cookbooks a lot, because I enjoy them.

But you have to get a lift out of a part that says "Frankfurters take on a new glamor in this gleaming aspic" ....accompanied by a picture of upright franks and cucumber slices and pieces, tastefully put together in an aspic, all done in a tubular mold, and then upended.

Sometimes there's nothing like a book that doesn't demand too much from you and gives you laughs.

I'm also reading Umberto Eco's Baudolino, which is at the opposite end of the spectrum.

Ye gods, Mama!!! I love it! Can Eco compete?

LIsten, Eco demands my full attention, plus. I loved the movie "Name of the Rose," but found the book hard going. I read Eco because it's a challenge, and he does tell a story, and I feel like I've accomplished something when I'm done.

But I do tend to read amost anything put in front of me. All the circulars we get. I'm the one who picks up all that literature in the supermarkets and the libraries, including bus schedules. And my older daughter collects all the catalogs people in her building put on a table set up for that, and brings them out to me. I read each one. Where will it end? With stronger and stronger glasses.