What BOOK are you reading right now?

just picked up "dewdroppers, waldos, and slackers - a decade-by-decade guide to the vanishing vocabulary of the twentieth century" by rosemarieostler. a real fun read. here are some of the lost words and expressions :"fire alarm" - a divorced women, "to give the ozone"- to brush off or dismiss curtly, also "to give the icy mitt", "hoover blankets" - newspapers used to keep warm while sleeping outdoors, and another one with credits to president hoover "hoover hogs" - wild rabbits that rural people caught for food,and the final one (from me) "adam and eve on a raft" - two eggs on toast. i'm having fun with this book. "i'm given yer the ozone" ! hbg

Interesting book, Hamburger!

I've just re-read Johnny Panic and the Bible of dreams, by Plath, and now I'm in the middle of trying to read Finnegans Wake by Joyce.

I just finished the Ya-Ya Sisterhood yesterday...sniff...parts will make you cry .
Now I'm starting Battlefield Earth, I never saw the movie, but I'm willing to give the book a try.

I'm now totally engrossed in LIGHT YEARS - Maggie Gee, after searching high & low for a copy, for ages. It's wonderful. Well worth a 2nd read!

I am currently reading "Prozac Nation" by Elizabeth Wurtzel

Finished "Red Badge of Courage" - it could have been easily written as a short story.

Just started "All Quiet on the Western Front" to be followed with "Sea Wolf". Don't know when I'll ever get back to "War and Peace".

Hamberger, dewdroppers...sounds like a great book. i'm going to look for it.

Ocean, what is Prozac Nation about?

BillW, I think I've seen Red Badge of Courage in anthology of short fiction.

Drom, "Trying to read Finnigan's Wake" is a good way to put it. I love the Dubliners. So far I have not had the patience for his more abstract works (if that's a proper expression).

Hazlitt, it runs about 220 pages, typical for its era. And, also typical for its era. Actually, for the 1850's, it used extensive verbage to augment scenes that would be discarded in contemporary literature. It is a long, short story in 4 scenes.

Thanks Bill, I'm always intending to read that story, but so far i've not gotten to it.

I'm reading The Corrections, after listening to the taped version, kindly sent by an A2K friend last year.
As well, I'm listening to a translated talking book of the Dalai Lama's The Way To a Meaningful Life.

I'm reading Haruki Murakami right now and he has got all the chances to become one of my favorite authors.

What I like about "After the Quake" is that it gives you a freedom of choice to decide what the story is about and interpretate it your own way. Plus, the whole thing is noodle-baking and I like it.

"All Quiet on the Western Front" is so, so gory. How anyone can possibly thing that war is honorable after reading this book has got to have their head examined!

"Blowback" is done. Though the book focused on Asia, I can see a lot of it happening now in the Middle East.

I may make a post to my 'blog on this over the weekend.

On to. . . .
The Koran.

I am reading "The Catcher In The Rye" by J.D. Salinger right now.

I'm in the middle of The Liars' Club by Mary Karr
after having finished the biographies of Peter
O'Toole and Peter Finch....

Shepaints,

The Liar's Club is a wonderful memoir. It was an honest and sad story. She makes wonderful use of metaphor and simile. These things seem to come very naturally to her mind. Often the use of these devices can seem strained and affecting, but I found that her language flowed along very naturally, and all the metaphors and similes seen just a part of her every day speech.

Her second memoir Cherry is good also, but not as good as The Liar's Club.

I wonder if she's written anything else. Guess I'll have to look her up.

I agree on The Liar's Club, and oh, I wonder who I leant my copy to.

Finished "All Quiet on the Western Front", it was a very good book. It was one that was recommended for me to read in High School, but I didn't. In fact, I didn't really read anything then - maybe the reason I'm reading classics now.

Next, Jack London's "The Sea-Wolf"

Olly, I really enjoyed "Catcher in the Rye" - reminded me of Jack Kerouac

Started "Speaks The Nightbird" Robert McCammon on Sunday and really glad to have a new book from him in my hands, have missed him greatly.

Just finished The Corrections tonight. The ending has left me feeling rather melancholy. <sigh>