What BOOK are you reading right now?

Fear The Worst Linwood Barclay if u like thrillers

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@ossobuco,

ossobuco wrote:

I got the 1000 autumns by the kindness of Pemerson - and I will send it along if an a2ker is interested.

I just finished Freedom by Jonathan Franzen. Everyone can find themselves somewhere in this story of family, love and marriage and all its twists & turns, and everything that hangs on that. The ending is good and perfect where the characters are set free from their various troubles and problems.

Have you read Freedom? If not, I can send it to you. Still have the box, jacket too.

I have another new book published this year, Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova. It is about art and artists, love and last love, over centuries. Passion, creaivity, secrets, madness. What more does a good novel need?

Do you want either or both of these books? (Freedom and Swan Thieves). Still have the boxes. Let me know. Why were you and dys discussing this book, Freedom?

1 Reply

I'm reading 'The Human Chain'
The mature Heaney at his best
Jude

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@Lash,

"Fury" pissed me off.

It was just a tossed-off love note to Miss Padma.

Salman Rushdie is one of my very favorite authors though. So even tossed-off stuff has its moments, it was just so very tossed-off.

I started with "Midnight's Children," then took a class on Indian History, then read "Satanic Verses." Not sure how much the first two bits had to do with my enjoyment of SV, but I enjoyed it a great deal.

Rushdie tends to be dense, and I find I can't read it lightly (a chapter a day at bedtime), need to really immerse.

No time for immersion these days though, seems like. Sad

"Enchantress of Florence" is still languishing. Probably will get this latest one as a Christmas present though and hope to get to both soon.

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@sozobe,

Probably will go down to Barnes and Noble and get a copy of Watership Down to keep myself occupied during these windy December days.

Any other rabbit or hamster related books could any you dear readers can suggest for me to keep me occupied until spring arrives?

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@Pemerson,

Quote:

I just finished Freedom by Jonathan Franzen. Everyone can find themselves somewhere in this story of family, love and marriage and all its twists & turns, and everything that hangs on that. The ending is good and perfect where the characters are set free from their various troubles and problems.

Here's an quite a lengthy (Oz) interview with Jonathan Franzen discussing Freedom & also his writing in general.

I found it really interesting, though you US folk might see interviews with him all the time, for all I know.

Quote:

VIDEO: Jonathan Franzen discusses his new book
Source: Lateline
Published: Tuesday, November 30, 2010 10:37 AEDT
Expires: Monday, February 28, 2011 10:37 AEDT

Best-selling author Jonathan Franzen discusses his long-awaited fourth novel Freedom.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/video/2010/11/30/3081008.htm

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I'm about 1/3 the way through Ghosts of Spain, travels through Spain and its silent past, by Giles Tremlett, a Guardian reporter. Interesting in the details, some - well, a lot - that I didn't know before.

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Reading my National Geographics - then, who knows?

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I've been reading adolescent fiction again. I needed a break, so on a whim I picked up The 13 1⁄2 Lives of Captain Bluebear a bookstore warehouse sale. The synopsis below is from Wiki.

Quote:

[It] is a 1999 fantasy novel by German writer and cartoonist Walter Moers which details the numerous lives of a human-sized bear with blue fur. The novel was originally written in German, but an English translation was published in the United Kingdom in 2000 and in the United States in 2005.

It has been one of the best $7.00 I've spent recently.

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The Miracle of Mindfulness
Thich Nhat Hanh

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@ehBeth,

Quote:

I clearly don't "get" Bryson.

I dont understand? Whats to "Get" in "Walk in the WOdds"? Its all layed out in front about two losers who, on approaching middle age, decide to do something "guy like".
Walking the Appalchian trail is like climbing K-2. Its on several thousands bucket list.
"Walk..."as abpout as clear a tale of how one can compose a journal of an event like a hike. As far as getting it, Nyah Yevyiem.

Juswt finished Simon Winchester's "Atlantic" I read it twice, it was that good a narration (IMHO).

WInchester bears one of the noticeable penchants that set much British writing apart, that is, it often takes the aiuthor several chapters to even get to a point.

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@farmerman,

farmerman wrote:

Quote:
I clearly don't "get" Bryson.
I dont understand? Whats to "Get" in "Walk in the WOdds"?

the reviews are all about how wildly funny Bryson is.

he's not.

1 Reply

@farmerman,

I never read Bryson either but you description Farmerman does places the book into a light that makes it easier/more difficult to get.

Quote:

Whats to "Get" in "Walk in the WOdds"? Its all layed out in front about two losers who, on approaching middle age, decide to do something "guy like".

It sounds like a guy-thing about a guy going through a midlife crisis. Since I went through a quarterlife crisis after I left the army in the 1990's I kind of get it but since I'm on the doorstep of middle age and I am unable to afford a midlife crisis I don't get it. Since it is a guy thing I do understand why ehBeth is a little befuddled herself.

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@tsarstepan,

Not just a guy thing. I enjoyed it, too. I also enjoyed other books by him. But Bryson gets a bit shmarmy sometimes which can grate on my nerves. I can't remember which books did that.

Not wildly funny, but consistently amusing, perhaps?

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@Swimpy,

His book that involved a US trip that took him for a short unobservant time through Iowa really annoyed me.

1 Reply

@tsarstepan,

tsarstepan wrote:

Since it is a guy thing

nah, I know a bunch of guys who don't find him funny or amusing either

there are sometimes interesting factoids in between his annoying bits of writing

the upside is that he's an author you don't mind leaving behind if your knapsack is full

1 Reply

@ehBeth,

Sorry mi lady. I hope I nay sounded a tad too dismissive. Confused

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@ossobuco,

When I left Canberra a close friend gave me a t-shirt with a quote from Bryson's book on Australia:

Canberra - why wait for death?

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@hingehead,

I really liked his short history of everything.

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Need a good book to read - a historical epic, Michener style would be nice. Last suggestion I received was a 9 volume late 1700's series, which I am just not into starting at this time - HELP!

1 Reply

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