What are you reading?
coldcuts
388 Posts
I haven't read something good in awhile. What should I check out? What's everybody reading?
coldcuts
388 Posts
Comments
WORK LUNCHTIME
Roman by Polanski by Roman Polanski
HOME BATHROOM
Granta 57: The Granta Book of India (Paperback) by Ian Jack
BEDTIME
No House Limit by Steve Fisher
And some I've already read:
http://72.47.213.90/user/show/60313-soulmarcosa
Redemption Song: The Ballad of Joe Strummer
into biographies at the moment
That's a good one.
Currently enjoying this:
I don't know if it was the writing, the poor editing & research, or the author's taste in music but I couldn't bring myself to finish this.
Anything by John D McDonald is at least super-solid, if not great, and he gives a lot more food for thought than a lot of serious "literature" I've read.
It's somewhere between a Cliff Notes version of any intellectual conversation piece, quick-witted opinion article and a reminder that the more you know, the more you have to learn. Recommended.
Really good so far.
Totally recommended reading - it's a really impressive treatise on art, taste, music and criticism.
I gotta say i have a high tolerance to weird writing but this takes the cake and to think its over 50 years old. I also just read his other book Junky while waiting for my copy of The Corner to arrive.
Cant recommend this highly enough.
especially to anyone who works with kids or teenagers.
It's been a while, but I recall wrongly attributed quotations, faulty logic, and general conjecture presented as researched fact. If you check out the reviews on Amazon there are specifics which I found to be spot on.
and
The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Chabon
reading both at the moment, Chabon's book is pretty cool and so far I am loving Oscar Wao... only about 160 pages in to both
I read that when the hardback edition came out and was suprised at the poor editing. There's a part in there where they say Bill did something in 1996, but he died in 1993. There's just some glaring mistakes that tripped me up during reading but overall I found the book to be enjoyable. Bill Hicks certainly suffered for his craft.
Yeah I think I lost interest on that ^ one too.
I've been reading this on and off for almost a year, probably mentioned it in the last "what are you reading" thread. I'm really into it again tho, and trying to power through the last 500 pages right now.
It's quite an undertaking, but I can't recommend it enough to anyone interested in NYC history specifically, or urban planning in general...
Chabon did the Escapologist comic-book one, right? Really loved that.
Yiddish Policeman's is flawed, but I loved it.
The Coen brothers have signed on to adapt it as a film.
I love Invisible Man but have heard the same complaints from others who have read it. I think that unless you grew up in the time period it was written or at least have someone to help illuminate certain things that happen it can be really confusing. There's the meeting with the Communists where they never really say that they are commies but you can infer from the way they talk in the book that they are trying to recruit the main character into their club. When I read it I didn't even realize that was what was going on until I discussed it with an older guy who illuminated me. I really liked it but I like books that challenge me as a reader. I guess really, unless you want to read the cliff notes with the book as you read it you should just give up and read a book you like better. Life's too short to read books you don't enjoy.
I just finished this. Damn it's good, can't wait for Wells Tower to write a novel!
I must confess that it's on my list of books to revisit to see which ones that had a massive impact when I was young and angry still hit home now I'm older (and angry). I've been putting it off a bit as it's one that's stayed with me for years and I'm slightly afraid of destroying its power.
lol amen to that! I used to feel so bad for not finishing a book, nomatter how boring, etc. I thought it was.
I picked it up because I didn't have anything lined-up and it was there on the shelf. (Life is not too short to re-read a good book though!!) I am not confused by it, it just feels choppy. I considered the era thing, too, but ehhhh. You know there are books way older that hold up no problem.
Oh wait - should I be posting about this in the "Hasn't Aged Well" thread?
Yeah, I thought the book lost a lot of steam about halfway through, devolving into, more or less, a typical genre book.
But the picture he painted with the run down part of town, the upscale Hasidic neighborhood, the boundary maven and, especially, all the chess stuff was just beautiful.
I am still chipping away at this. Pretty fascinating.