Man! You all have cool houses. I like the asian decor theme, let's keep it as part of the thread!
Just finished 20 Sherlock Holmes Tales, I love short stories and was very impressed
Does anyone know how many stories, novellas and novels Doyle did on Holmes
Getting ready to start the "Last of the Mohicans" after I finish my latest National Geographic. Don't know if I have read this book before or not. Loved the movie, I'll read the book for a second time if I read it before then see the movie again - joy, oh joy
Bill--I read "The Complete Sherlock Holmes" some years back. <doing a bit of research> It was 56 short stories and 4 novels. Some of the stories intertwine. Excellent reading.
Messy den, full of boxes that REALLY need to be hauled off to the Salvation Army so I can finally do something with this room.
Thanks Terry, now I need to get the other 36 - I thought he had some novellas also. Of course, a novel back then is the same as a novella today
At the moment im re reading 'Return of the King'. There was alot i had forgotten about.
I'm currently reading "Vanilla beans and brodo", by Isabella Dusi.
It's one of those - "we sold up our lives and moved to Tuscany" books - but the best I've read (and I've read plenty!). There's very little of the"we did this, then we did this". It is much more about the history and the culture of the town - and it's just fascinating. History has never been a particular interest, but I find I'm absorbing it as I read.
For instance, I could never understand how the communist party was so strong in Italy. After reading the background and history of some of the farmers in this book, I can really understand it.
BillW wrote:Of course, a novel back then is the same as a novella today
Each of the "novels" is under 200 pages. I no longer have the books, but if I remember correctly, they were originally written as serials for
The Strand which is where most of the Holmes stories appeared.
If you enjoy reading about Holmes, you may also like Poe's M. Auguste Dupin. Some people believe that Holmes was actually modeled after Dupin. I'll try to find the titles.
Five books currently half-read:
Ah Mo: Indian Legends from the Northwest - Delightful two-page stories with symbolism, animals, culture, myth. I want to sleep on the beach!
When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management -- A big scandal in the world of finance. Helps me understand investment funds and how phony Wall St. is. Also gives me ideas for patterns and mechanisms to look for.
The Silent Takeover : Global Capitalism and the Death of Democracy - Powerful, concise book about world society turning into corporate kingdoms. Lots of facts and figures to backup anecdotes and scenarios. Fascinating and inspiring, except that I agree with every word of it, been worried about the ruthless and destructive power-grab for years. Profit rules. No country on Earth is anywhere close to being a democracy, yet most sheeple blindly cling to the myth.
Living Deliberately: The Discovery and Development of Avatar - Light reading about creating ones own framework and attitude. Interesting anecdotes, somewhat educational. If I'd never meditated before it might seem radical and exciting.
Adventure Cruising -- A fun and detailed tourbook to daydream about backpacking the seven seas.
Thanks Terry, I remember Poe was considered the creator of the "Detective" genre of fiction. I've always meant to read some of it and now you've proded me - thanks again
Margo, that sounds like a book for me. Hah, tuscana en brodo, I am so sick of expatriates fixing up houses, but I read all of those books. The original one, or original within recent times (late 50's, early 60's), is Chianti, by Raymond Flower. Best history of that region I have read, over long term, re guelphs and ghibilines (sp). A little dry, but I am glad I read it. He was the first guy recently to fix up an old pile...
near Panzano, off of the S222.
Jane Kramer wrote an article on Castellina in Chianti for the NYer a bunch of years ago, re communist party. Yes, they had good reasons. Lots of overlording going on, complicated history of bad rule.....
I have read that the mafia started as a local protection against feudal rule..in that case I think papal feudal rule. No data at hand right this minute.
This has been an active summer (i.e., chores!). My reading time has been compacted into an hour or so in the evening when it's all I can do to get through the paper and maybe a New Yorker article.
So I've gone back to listening to books on tape while doing brain-free work. Just finished Andre Dubus II's House of Sand and Fog, a book built on an interesting plot -- worth sticking around for through the incredible over-writing (where have all the editors gone tra la?) which seems to be fashionable in this decade. And ORFUL sex scenes, repetitive and untruthful, as though they'd been stolen from a bodice-ripper. Still, the events are truthful and heartbreaking as one inevitable act leads to another, all of them stemming from a bureaucratic error in San Mateo County. And the characters are sympathetic.
Next? A Thurow on Tape. Then, when the chores are done, some Amis, some Latin American fiction, and catching up on Harpers and the Nation. My pledge: less A2K and more reading!!
Ok, ok, but don't leave entirely!
Currently reading Harry Potter & Order of Phoenix. Previously reading Prince of the Blood by Raymond E Feist.
I'm more than half way through "Cloud of Sparrows." It's definitely enlightening, entertaining and thought provoking.
Recommend it to anyone who enjoys historical novels.
Bill Bryson DownUnder. Ist book I've read for years
TODAY'S ENGLISH BIBLE
It is easy to read and research, being in
American conversational English.
I just read The Old Man and The Sea by Enrest Hemingway yesterday
I finished reading Chocolat earlier today. It took me a while to get through the first page. There was something a bit awkward-feeling there. Once I got past the first few paragraphs I couldn't put it down. I've got a stack of books out on the porch to work on. I think I'll read a Benny Cooperman mystery next. Then I may get back to Driving Over Lemons - it fell out of bed just after I started it, and I just dug it out from under the bed the other morning.
I just started reading "Island", the collected stories of Alistair MacLeod. Such treasures! The first few are set on Cape Breton Island, where I gather the author grew up. The first stories concern family tensions--the boy grows up and moves away, and the parents feel betrayed. Universal themes set in a unique environment.
