What BOOK are you reading right now?

It has been years since I read it and remember now (for your quote) why I haven't reread it. I remember it is full of a lot of "early" history. I thought I could put everything in better order today. Maybe I still shouldn't attempt it - ha

Cheating a bit here: I've picked up a 13 CD talking book of Peter Carey's The True story of the Kelly Gang at my local library. Will report back later.

msolga, Peter Carey is sainted. He can do no wrong. The best writer on the planet.

I drove from NC to FL today -- 8 plus hours -- and listened to Anne Tyler's Amateur Marriage. It was a good time passer. The hours went unnoticed. For the drive home, I have Pete Dexter's Train.

Wow, Kara, high praise indeed! You've obviously read a lot more of his books than I have. Any recommendations?

msolga, I loved Oscar and Lucinda with a passion that I have rarely felt for another book. His writing is brilliant. I also read The Tax Inspector and Illywacker. Jack Maggs was outstanding. He is one of the great writers of all time. He lives in NY now but was born in Australia, I think.

just finished a biography on Audrey Hepburn....
what a lovely person....

I agree with the raves for Carey. I loved Jack Maggs and Ned Kelly. Thanks for the reminder that I have to get my hands on his new book (the title of which escapes me at the moment). Yes, he's an Australian who now lives in the US.

My nomination for the best book of the last ten years(non-fiction). The very impressive and important tome- "How the Mind Works" by the brilliant Linguist, Stephen Pinker.

Yes, Kara, he's definitely Australian. Grew up in my state (Victoria) & now lives In NYC, but returns often & has a lot to say in the media about all sorts of things. Seems a very gentle & intelligent soul.
After your endorsement I'm convinced I must read more of his books.

bocdaver, is Pinker's book out in PB?

So I got two newbooks (new word for new used books) today from my Booklegger's Used Book Store, yippee..

Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels, as it says on the cover, "the most important, beautifully important book I have read for forty years..." John Berger. John Berger, quite analytic about art as I remember. Well, we'll see, it's apparently quite poetic, which I tend to like in measured doses.

Next -
Murder in the Marais, Cara Black - bought with no thought aforethought because it is from a publisher that I have never not liked a book from - The Soho Crime Series, Soho Press. I can see these books on the shelves easily since they are a little bit bigger than the average paperback in a used book store, and the binding is three colors, one fat strip at the top, the other at the bottom, and a thin one between - very distinctive.

I am almost done with Dec 6, hard to put down, even me with my presently dizzy eyes (don't get me started). I am absolutely glad I have read it, but not sure of my summary yet. Back later on that. Lots of good imagery tucked in completely naturally, not screaming for attention. Just the kind of writing that echoes when you are about a paragraph beyond.

Ok...I'm postponing the Silmarillion for a few days . My grandmother just gave me her copy of the Ya Ya Sisterhood so I am now reading that.

I'm in a tangle with all the book stuff I've got going on simultaneously:

Listening to The True Story of The Kelly Gang - Now up to disc 3 (They can pack a LOT of talk on those CDs). Too early to comment, but a lot of the Ned Kelly (famous Oz outlaw hero) stuff is familiar territory for Australians.

Then I read a book that an old friend wrote, but would rather not comment on my assessment of his writing.

THEN I rediscovered an English writer on my shelves ... Maggie Gee - Where Are the Snows. I read a bit of that, then get a longing for the first of her novels I ever read, which was discovered in a used bookshop while on holiday in Bali, years ago - Light Years. I have have always wanted to read it again but it seems to be out of print & I've had no success finding another copy. Well today I found one in my (recently joined) local library. So now I'm reading that, too. She's a terrific writer. Wonderful. Have any of you read her?

Anyway, this is fun!

No, I haven't Msolga, but I'll keep a lookout for her work.

Yes, Kara, "How The Mind Works" is out in soft cover but it is still expensive- $17.95 but it is worth
every penny. I predict you will read and re-read it.

Some of the early chapters are daunting to say the least( eg. chapters on the structure of the eye--which Pinker uses to make some of his points) but later chapters are pure genius.

Excerpt follows:

"American children are among the worst performers in the industrialized world on tests of mathematical achievement. They are not born dunces: the problem is that the educational establishment is ignorant of evolution"

His analysis of what is needed is superb.

bocdaver, thanks for the info. I am ordering it straight away.

msolga, I laughed out loud at your post. That is so me. I have become rather a dilettante, dipping in and out of various books, as suits my mood. The one thing that will hold me and not let go is science or philosophy. But I can fall under the spell of compelling fiction, too. It just does not happen as often as before. Maybe I have seen and loved fiction and now most of it disappoints. One must suspend disbelief, and that happens less often. I can be 50 pages into a book and set it aside gently, not wanting to harm the author's psyche, but knowing that I cannot get inside the world of that writer's mind. Is this my age? Could be...

Kara- Please let us know what you think of the book and, if I may, let me suggest that you not be daunted by some of the earlier more technical chapters such as the one on the structure of the eye. If you wish, you may begin in the middle- Chapter 5- Good Ideas and go back to the first chapters.

see short review below by Christopher Lehmann-Haupt from the New York Times

Steven Pinker hasn't explained everything in his compelling new book...but he explains a gread deal...as lenghty as it is , it will produce a book in the reader's head that is even longer. FOR IT ALTERS COMPLETELY THE WAY ONE THINKS ABOUT THINKING, AND ITS UNFORSEEN CONSEQUENCES CAN'T BE CONTAINED BY A BOOK.

I cannot imagine that you could have said anything more compelling.

bocdaver, I went to order it from BN and remembered that Pinker wrote the recent book on the Blank Slate, which I had wanted to read and had not yet.

I will be back to report on the book of the Mind.l

Kara- I liked the Blank Slate more than How the Mind Works but they are both GREAT!!!