books: what are you currently reading?

Started by Caleb, June 21, 2006, 11:58:08 PM

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"LIFE"     the autobiography of Keith Richards.   It's quite a story as you can well imagine.   :whistling:

I've got a few going:

If You Want To Write - Brenda Ueland
My annual reading of The Lord of the Rings
A Mind Awake (Anthology of CS Lewis quotes)
The Narnian - Alan Jacobs
A Dish or Orts - George MacDonald
Lots of poetry by the bedside...

Desert Solitaire-- Edward Abbey

It was a bit tedious to get through, but worth it for the strong opinions about preserving wilderness as wilderness rather than pavement.

DAVE
-Larrivee LSV11e (sadly sold))
-Lowden S10c
-Taylor 455ce L7
-Guild D40 (donated to science due to terminal      Onthevergeofimplosionitis)
-Brian Fry Custim 000 in the works

   Been sick for about a week and a half with "Cedar Fever". If you live in central Texas you know what that is. It developed into a respiratory infection so I'm at the end of 10 days of antibiotics. Anyway it gave me some time to read a little more, when my eyes weren't too blurry.

   
So I finished an excellent novel based on letters and documents about the battle of Gettysburg.
   
The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara

As I read this book I found myself remembering a movie about Gettysburg. Somewhere close to the end I did a search and discovered that this book is what the movie "Gettysburg" with Jeff Daniels, Martin Sheen etc. is based on. I highly recommend this one for its factual closeness and the fleshing out of the characters. As well as the overview of philosophical thought on both sides of the struggle.

  I am about to finish a Hemingway book now "The sun also rises" I almost stopped reading it after a few pages and aside from trout fishing and descriptions of the countryside this seems to be a summation of a decadent lifestyle that Hemingway himself lived. I don't think this novel is worth the time to read it. Though I will at least start on another Hemingway book and give it a chance.

Quote from: dependan on February 01, 2011, 11:11:46 AM


  I am about to finish a Hemingway book now "The sun also rises" I almost stopped reading it after a few pages and aside from trout fishing and descriptions of the countryside this seems to be a summation of a decadent lifestyle that Hemingway himself lived. I don't think this novel is worth the time to read it. Though I will at least start on another Hemingway book and give it a chance.
Sorry to hear of your sickness, Danny.  I've only read one Hemingway book, The Old Man and the Sea.  I liked it.  It was back in my getting-into-reading days and it spoke to me deeply, though his existentialism shines through pretty bright.  No harm there for me, but I have to do that stuff in small doses as stuff from the light-hearted fare is more my leaning.  The man surely had a way with the pen, no denying that. 

I just started The Princess and Curdie by George MacDonald and am on the final stretch of the LOTR books.  Man, once the ring is destroyed and they head back to the Shire it's pure magic to me.  Sign me up for a ticket to the Shire!

Of the modern American masters Hemmingway is, to me, much more difficult to digest than Steinbeck.   Just my personal observation.   

I finished "Life" by Keith Richards and I'm now well into "The Inner Circle" by Brad Meltzer.    Seems like it will be a "DaVinci Code" type of story:  Secret gov't shenanigans and the like.   Pretty good read so far.

   The Old Man and the Sea is a good one and I agree about Steinbeck.

I like Steinbeck's style a lot better than Hemingway, though, as I've said, my exposure to him is minimal.  But Steinbeck really appeals for some reason. 

Quote from: the creature on February 01, 2011, 11:41:44 AM
I like Steinbeck's style a lot better than Hemingway, though, as I've said, my exposure to him is minimal.  But Steinbeck really appeals for some reason. 

I guess I've read all the Steinbeck material now.   For a change of pace, try "Travels With Charley".   It's not a novel but rather a travelogue about crossing the country in a pickup truck and camper with his poodle (Charley)   No plot at all.  Just relating what he saw and who he met along the way.  A great snapshot of America of that time period.

Yup, Hemmingway's "the old man and the sea" is excellent.   The movie was good too.

Quote from: tuffythepug on February 01, 2011, 12:28:06 PM
I guess I've read all the Steinbeck material now.   For a change of pace, try "Travels With Charley".   It's not a novel but rather a travelogue about crossing the country in a pickup truck and camper with his poodle (Charley)   No plot at all.  Just relating what he saw and who he met along the way.  A great snapshot of America of that time period.

Yup, Hemmingway's "the old man and the sea" is excellent.   The movie was good too.
Travels is one of my favorite books. 

Quote from: the creature on February 01, 2011, 11:41:44 AM
I like Steinbeck's style a lot better than Hemingway, though, as I've said, my exposure to him is minimal.  But Steinbeck really appeals for some reason. 

Steinbeck is my all time favorite.  Hemingway's Old Man and the Sea was excellent, but like Danny I can't relate to his decadence and egocentricity in his other novels which is the same reason that F Scott Fitzgerald's stuff turns me off.

I'm now reading "The Art of Driving in the Rain" by Stein.  It amazes me that a book with a dog as the narrator could be so genuine and credible.  It consistenty has evoked tears and bursts of laughter.

        DAVE
-Larrivee LSV11e (sadly sold))
-Lowden S10c
-Taylor 455ce L7
-Guild D40 (donated to science due to terminal      Onthevergeofimplosionitis)
-Brian Fry Custim 000 in the works

"Compulsion" by Jonathan Kellerman, An LA based detective author who is also a guitar collector. Recently published the coffee-table book "With Strings Attached." I am waiting to get a copy.

PS I enjoy Steinbeck, another great California writer, but also Hemingway, Fitzgerald and Faulkner. Chandler, Coonts, Koontz, Clancy, Hammett, ...yada yada yada.
Chris
Larrivee's '07  L-09 (40th Commemorative); '09 00-03 S.E; '08 P-09
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Voyage-Air '10 VAOM-06
-the nylon string-
Goya (Levin) '58 G-30
-dulcimer-
'11 McSpadden

Quote from: dependan on February 01, 2011, 11:11:46 AM
   I am about to finish a Hemingway book now "The sun also rises" I almost stopped reading it after a few pages and aside from trout fishing and descriptions of the countryside this seems to be a summation of a decadent lifestyle that Hemingway himself lived. I don't think this novel is worth the time to read it. Though I will at least start on another Hemingway book and give it a chance.

I'm a Hemingway fan but I agree with you "The Sun Also Rises" wasn't good. "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and "A Farewell to Arms" were much better. So I wouldn't write him off based on " The Sun Also Rises".

Quote from: jeremy3220 on February 01, 2011, 01:56:14 PM
I'm a Hemingway fan but I agree with you "The Sun Also Rises" wasn't good. "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and "A Farewell to Arms" were much better. So I wouldn't write him off based on " The Sun Also Rises".
"A Farewell to Arms" is the one I will start now.

                 Travels with Charley was a fun read. (Steinbeck)

Quote from: ncognito on February 01, 2011, 01:10:11 PM


... F Scott Fitzgerald's stuff turns me off.

I read Gatsby a couple years ago and thoroughly enjoyed. I have since acquired a volume of his short stories but haven't read any of them yet.  Short stories are not hard to find, but good short stories are in my experience.  I really like Flannery O'Connor's, but many of them drag, to me at least.  I tend to like older ones like Washington Irving's stories.  My reading time has gotten so scarce that I'll not give that Fitzgerald volume very long before moving on if I don't like it.

Quote from: the creature on February 01, 2011, 03:34:07 PM
I read Gatsby a couple years ago and thoroughly enjoyed. I have since acquired a volume of his short stories but haven't read any of them yet.  Short stories are not hard to find, but good short stories are in my experience.  I really like Flannery O'Connor's, but many of them drag, to me at least.  I tend to like older ones like Washington Irving's stories.  My reading time has gotten so scarce that I'll not give that Fitzgerald volume very long before moving on if I don't like it.
The Great Gatsby was a good read.

Just about done reading Cold Mountain with my senior english class -- a terrific read by an author who consistently makes all the right choices.  Highly recommend it.  If you like it, read Cormac McCarthy and hear what had to be one of Charles Frazier's prime inspirations.  Fitzgerald could craft a pretty damn good sentence too, come to mention it. Oh, I'm also a hundred or so pages into Life by Keith Richards . . . looks to be a wild ride (imagine that).
". . . if I only had a brain . . ."
___________________________
'08 L-03 Silver Oak

Quote from: jbrummer on February 01, 2011, 07:54:08 PM
Just about done reading Cold Mountain with my senior english class -- a terrific read by an author who consistently makes all the right choices.  Highly recommend it.  If you like it, read Cormac McCarthy and hear what had to be one of Charles Frazier's prime inspirations.  Fitzgerald could craft a pretty damn good sentence too, come to mention it. Oh, I'm also a hundred or so pages into Life by Keith Richards . . . looks to be a wild ride (imagine that).

I couldn't put the Keith Richards book down.   We're about the same age and experienced some of the same things growing up in the 50's and 60's.    Yes, indeed, it is a quite a wild ride to say the least

Quote from: jbrummer on February 01, 2011, 07:54:08 PM
Just about done reading Cold Mountain with my senior english class -- a terrific read by an author who consistently makes all the right choices.  Highly recommend it.  If you like it, read Cormac McCarthy and hear what had to be one of Charles Frazier's prime inspirations.  Fitzgerald could craft a pretty damn good sentence too, come to mention it. Oh, I'm also a hundred or so pages into Life by Keith Richards . . . looks to be a wild ride (imagine that).
I also read "Cold Mountain" recently and liked it a lot.

Just got done with John Saul's "House of Reckoning" and have started a new one called "The Wrecker" by Clive Cussler.

Old folky
'74 Martin D35S
Larrivee SD 50 TSB
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