What are you reading?

Post by **baby tuckoo** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 2:35 am

"The Owl Who Was God" (a brief piece by Thurber) is the first thing I give my sophomores every year.

And I recently read Assasination Vacation by Sarah Vowell.

Post by **narya** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 2:47 am

vison wrote:Jared Diamond. Man, EVERYONE ought to read Jared Diamond. The guy is brilliant and not a bad writer, either.

I second that! Collapse is a thick read, but just right when taken in small doses. Hence, it spent time on the back of my "throne".

Post by **Holbytla** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 3:01 am

Impenitent wrote:I'm re-reading the Dune trilogy at the mo - first time I've revisited it in 10 years.

....

That is something I haven't done in 20 years. I need to do the same.
The second trilogy still confuses me.

Post by **Crucifer** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 2:34 pm

Tom Sharpe is a very witty author.

Post by **Breogán** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 3:08 pm

Re-reading "Shatterpoint" by Matt Stover.
Re-reading "The Shadow of the Wind" - "La Sombra del Viento" - by Carlos Ruíz Zafón, a novel I highly recommend

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/bookse ... 034901&z=y

Post by **Crucifer** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 10:32 pm

The Shadow of the Wind is one I would also highly recommend... Most of it anyway. I don't think I could re-read it, knowing that the end was so boringly clichéd.

Post by **truehobbit** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 12:10 am

At my parents' place, where I am right now for the weekend, I'm reading the first of Giovanni Guareschi's "Don Camillo" books.
I've loved the movies made from the stories since I was a kid, so when I saw this book at a used book sale I had to get it.

It's the story of the hearty hostility between the priest Don Camillo and the communist mayor Peppone in a small Italian community after WWII. It's set against the background of the roughness of the life of the rural society of this area and of the political conflicts of the time, with Communism having become a challenging antagonist to the arch-Catholic traditions.
The writing isn't anything great, but it's a nice read, although watching the movie is much nicer.

I thought I'd mention it, because I'm suspecting few people will have heard of it (or, if they have, that would be so cool to learn

), but it seems that there is at least some knowledge of it in the English speaking world, as I found an English wikipedia site about them, which also mentions a BBC TV series and radio dramatisation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Camillo

I'm finding the book less enjoyable than the movie, because the violent bits seem to me to come out more shockingly in the book, where in the movie they are just funny. Maybe that's my personal reaction to written violence, I don't know, that I'm finding it harder to accept in reading than in watching a movie.
There's no doubt simple people the world round can be a pretty rough set, and I guess that it's exaggerated for the sake of 'slapstick' and I just have trouble with that in writing.

Still, in spite of that (and of a number of references that are hardly comprehensible today), it's quite an enjoyable read, with many laughing-out-loud moments.

(Though I guess it's not so hard to make me laugh.

)

So, if anyone can get a copy of either a movie or a book of Don Camillo and Peppone, I'd recommend it.

Post by **baby tuckoo** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 2:55 am

Yeah, I know what you mean about "Shadow of the Wind", Crucey. I try to read a book in Spanish every year, just to keep up. "The Wind" was last year's. Flawed, but magic and real, in the tradition.

Post by **WampusCat** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 3:42 am

Right now I'm reading "The Game," part of the series of Mary Russell mysteries by Laurie King, and rereading "Mid-Life Spirituality and Jungian Archetypes," which seems more relevant now than it did a decade ago.

It's by Janice Brewi and Anne Brennan.

The two books I read just prior to these were "Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card and "A Grief Observed" by C.S. Lewis.

I'm also dipping sporadically into "Music of the Heart: New Psalms in the Celtic Tradition" by David Adams.

I guess I have a bit of time on my hands for a change.

Post by **Crucifer** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 12:10 pm

Wampy! You read Enders Game!

bt, you read a book in Spanish? I read it in English...

Post by **vison** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 3:54 pm

Hey, truehobbit, I haven't thought of Don Camillo for years and years! I read a couple of them long ago and really enjoyed them. In English, of course.

I am also on another Alice Munro journey. Alice Munro is God. At least as far as writing is concerned. She rulz.

Post by **baby tuckoo** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 6:10 pm

Crucey, "Ender's Game" is one of the standard books we teach to sophomore's (15/16 year olds) at my high school. That happens in the class we call "English" here in the States.

And yes, I teach Spanish too. My BA is in Spanish Lit. I try to read a contemporary book in Spanish every year. Back in college days, I read "The Quixote" through. It took two years. "100 Years of Solitude" took at least 100 days.

Last day of school was yesterday. I need to choose one for this summer. Anyone have a suggestion? Is Pan's Labyrinth a book?

Post by **Crucifer** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 6:27 pm

We have English too, bt. But I can't stand it, because we have to read boring rubbish with no plot, and random things like shopping lists thrown in for no apparent reason. And we have to study at least one Irish poet, who are mostly just whinge bags.

Post by **WampusCat** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 9:11 pm

baby tuckoo wrote:Crucey, "Ender's Game" is one of the standard books we teach to sophomore's (15/16 year olds) at my high school.

I'm a little behind, I see.

Post by **Erunáme** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 9:59 pm

I just finished the 6th Harry Potter book. I decided to reread it to refresh myself for the final book. Good thing I did as I'd forgotten most of what happened! I may go back and read the last bit of book 5 as I don't totally remember what happened in the Ministry either.

I think I'm going to start Wizard of Earthsea next. Problem is, it's not that long. I'm going to finish it way too fast.

Post by **Crucifer** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 10:22 pm

I'm going to finish it way too fast.

That's a good thing. It means you can start another book.

Post by **Erunáme** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 10:34 pm

But I've been spending too much money lately...

Post by **Crucifer** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 10:46 pm

Library...

Post by **Crucifer** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 11:11 pm

I'm about to start 'The Pilgrims Progress'
by John Bunyan.

Post by **baby tuckoo** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 11:28 pm

Crucey, are you reading it because you must or because you want to?

I had to (and was a bit curious) as a grad student in English, but I found it dreadful at length. PP is the sort of thing you can get all off after two or three chapters, I think, and that's all anyone (other than a specialist in Restoration lit) need read.

However, you might consider yourself to be Mr. Worldly-Wiseman who is detoured from the Celestial City by his own vanity. You might feel that you need some additional allegorical references for your journey, and you might want it is a passable imitation of the poetic language of the Anglican Bible.

In which case, carry on.