After reading the thread about the Fall TV Season, I think I'll be watching even less TV than I do now. Thank God for great books. So what are y'all reading right now, and what would you recommend?

Over the summer, I read "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay" -- destined to be a classic.

Also read (and loved) three books by Chaim Potok (best known for his novel "The Chosen"): "My Name is Asher Lev," "The Gift of Asher Lev" and "I Am the Clay." I was in the middle of "The Gift..." when Potok up and died. He was in his eighties.

A few other worthwhile books from the summer: "Bel Canto" by Ann Patchett; "Small Wonder (Essays)" by Barbara Kingsolver; and finally, admittedly an odd choice for me, "O Pioneers!" by Willa Cather.

asher

'Kavalier & Clay' was good. I have to recommend 'Empire Falls' by Richard Russo. Excellent. Also 'Bee Season' is an excellent first novel about a family whose daughter enters the world of academic spelling bees while the son becomes involved with Hara Krishna. Hilarious. Anything by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, esp. 'Love In The Time Of Cholera' or Wallace Stegner's 'Angle Of Repose'.

I also read "...Kavalier and Clay" this summer, as well as Michael Thomas Ford's four essay collections in the "My Queer Life" series, "The Night Listener" by Armistead Maupin and "Federal Fag" by Fred Hunter. Next up: "Buddy Babylon--The Autobiography of Buddy Cole" by Scott Thompson and Paul Bellini.

Well, I'm totally weird but I like to read biographies of famous composers/musicians. One great one is "Shakey" which is an authorized biography of Neil Young by Jimmy McDonough, a very well respected rock journalist. Opened my eyes to the world of Niel Young.

Try: Fury -- Salman Rushdie, & It's Not About the Bike -- Lance Armstrong.

"You Cannot Be Serious" by McEnroe.
Can't wait for Tatum's book though.

Also just read "Home" by Evonne Goolagong Cawley, published in Australia in the early 90's. Great read.

I'm still wending my way through Pramoedya Ananta Toer's "Buru Quartet" -- I'm on the third volume "Footsteps"

"April 1865 - The Month that Saved America"

Isak Dinesen's "Seven Gothic Tales" -- I do better with short stories -- must be my TV-hindered attention span!

Wide is The Water- a history of christianity

A biography of Ravel

Maryland Place Names - Their Meanings and Origins

Normally I'm reading about five different books off and on. I'm cutting down to save my vision a little. I read without glasses but wear them for distance vision.

I'm reading, "In Search of Schrodinger's Cat: Quantum Physics and Reality"

It's awesome.

"Me talk pretty one day" and "Naked"by David sedaris.

The Harry Potter series.

Of course being in school, I don't have much free time to read, what I want but, American Gods by Neil Gaimen, The Mark Bingham story, and The Snow Garden by Christopher Rice. This summer I completed the Harry Potter series...my complete recommendations. There is more to it than the kiddie story. Try it, it is really good, and an underlying message about diversity.

On my nightstand now are "Runaway Slaves: Rebels on the Plantation" (about midway through--excellent), "The Sunne in Splendour" which I am rereading, and "Middlemarch" which somehow I never got around to in school.

For what it's worth, of the books mentiopned previously on this thread, "Empire Falls" was terrific and "April 1865" is a fascinating account of that month in US history. I particularly liked the sections focusing on Washington DC.

Over the summer, I did reread two novels I often return to: "The Radiance of the King" about a poor European in Africa who becomes a stud to a king's harem, and "The Odd Sea" an intimate family novel.


~Adam

[ September 30, 2002: Message edited by: Adam ]

Well I'm finally getting around to reading the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. It took awhile, but between the movies coming out and my bf's urging, I took the plunge. They're great. I'm part way through the second one, and I can't put it down.

Also, I was curious about "The Snow Garden" by C. Rice. I loved "Density of Souls". What's your opinion, Jason?

In addition to my obsessive re-reading of the entire Jane Austen collection (she is a goddess!), I am currently reading "The Killing of Karen Silkwood," a fascinating account of the accident that took her life and the investigation afterwards. I actually got it becuase it was in the "Muckrakers" section at City Lights in SF, and I thought any bookstore with a "Muckrakers" section deserved my business.

My boyfriend is pissed that I haven't got any further in it. He does not understand how much more reading you do in a graduate program versus his current undergraduate program. HE absolutely loved the book. I loved "A Density of Souls." I cried! I am a big baby. Christopher Rice is awesome. I had hoped to make it to Dupont when he was signing books at Phoenix Rising.

I'm reading Jocks 2, great book, I highly recommend every gay sports fan read it.

I spent the summer reading all of James Ellroy's novels, i.e. "L.A. Confidential". I was in the middle of "The Cold Six Thousand" when I had to stop because of the overload. My strongest reccomendation of his work goes to "American Tabloid" where I fell in love with Pete Bondurant, a French Canadian tough guy. So good.

I am waiting for Zadie Smith's newest novel to be released on the first of October. Some of you may have read "White Teeth". I am so excited to read the new works.

This past spring, I read through "Kavalier and Clay" by Chabon and "The Corrections" by Frazen with my good buddy bridgeportjake. It was great to discuss it amongst ourselves.

Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin...

I recently read _American G-ds_ by Neil Gaiman. I tried to start _Neverwhere_, but can't quite get into it. As a fellow creative writing student once said during a critique, it doesn't fondle me in all the right places. I'm a big _Sandman_ fan and _American G-ds_ was a fantastic read, so I suppose I'll force myself.
I also read _Good Omens_ by Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. So now I'm methodically going through Pratchett's Discworld series. Currently I'm reading _Hogfather_. Hopefully, I'll be entirely caught up before the next one, _Night Watch_, comes out later this year.
I'm trying to work through the collected works of Oscar Wilde, but more interesting things keep distracting me.
I tried reading the beginning of the _Sovreign Stone_ series by Margret Weiss and Tracey Hickman, but the magic seems to have gone out of their writing partnership.

"Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris. Uneven, but totally hilarious when it's on.

As a kid I loved Agatha Christie novels, and now I've gotten this urge to reread them all. So I've been doing that. She has some great ones, most of which can be found for a buck or two at used book stores. Of course "Murder on the Orient Express" and "Death on the Nile" are excellent, and I like all the Miss Marple books. I just finished "The ABC Murders," which was wonderful.

I'm waiting, though, for the new Christopher Buckley book, "No Way to Treat a First Lady." It's about a first lady who kills her husband, the Pres, after he has a tryst in the Lincoln Bedroom. She hires a former lover to get her off. The hook, I mean. Magic Eight Ball says it will be a riot . . .

I love all the Sedaris books, although some of his fiction stories can be offputting.

I saw Sarah Vowell on The Daily Show and thought she was great so I bought her newest book, The Partly Cloudy Patriot. it's a series of essays about her life and her nerdiness on all things history and politic. It's a good, fast read, similar to Sedaris, but much more innocent.

"Me Talk Pretty One Day" is hilarious and had me laughing out loud. Now I see where the family sense of humor lies, I always thought "Strangers with Candy" was pretty out there, but Amy Sedaris is a lot like her brother.

Hey William1865, a subject on which we can agree - Agatha Christie - she's great. Personal favorite, for those who have read her more famous stuff, is The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - perhaps the best mystery ending ever!

I'm reading the new darkly comic novel by Chuck "Fight Club" Palahniuk, "Lullaby" ... only 40 pages in, but the two concepts of a real-estate agent who specializes in selling the same haunted houses 3x a year AND a lullaby that kills when you read it aloud makes for a great start...

slogging through "Glue" by Irvine Welsh (of Trainspotting fame). Enough with the Scottish dialect already!!! Still, has some good characters and if I ever do finish it, I'll feel real prood ah muhself.

Surprised with all the "Kavalier & Clay" fans out there that nobody seems to be reading "Summerland" (yeah, I know it's written for young adults). It even has a baseball theme.

Just finished Paul Taylor's autobiography "Private Domain" and am almost through Robert Graves' "King Jesus". Hoping perhaps to move on to either "Gould's Book of Fish" or "Middlesex".

As a side note, lemme suggest ANOTHER young adult book. Got Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, & The Amber Spyglass) for our grandson two Christmases ago & found it one of the most imaginative & satisfying fantasy novels I've ever read (right up there with "Lord of the Rings" and Mark Helprin's "Winter's Tale").

[quote]Originally posted by patterson:
Surprised with all the "Kavalier & Clay" fans out there that nobody seems to be reading "Summerland" (yeah, I know it's written for young adults). It even has a baseball theme.

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I just read about this in Entertainment Weekly. Might be something to consider. It was the comic book angle that got me to read "Kavalier & Clay."

Since Agatha Christie was mentioned, I'll throw in a plug for the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I read them in high school and have re-read them twice more over the years.

E. Lynn Harris, readings on the advent of biotech and its social implications, Turkish history, language, economics, and culture.

Also, like to relax with creative, ambitious love poems.

[ October 01, 2002: Message edited by: bluebird48234 ]

thanks, guys - i've now got a short list to take to my book store (an independent with an always refreshed sales table)...

Me:

"The Broken Estate" by James Wood - Essays on Literature and Belief.

"Stories and Poems for Extremely Intelligent Children of All Ages" by Harold Bloom

Every once in a while, I go back and reread some old favorites. Thsi past month was one of those times. I just finished "Ironweed" by William Kennedy. Before that, "A Midnight Clear" by William Wharton, "A Death in the Family" by James Agee and "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee.

Now I'll move on to something new and much lighter. "At Swim, Two Boys" came highly recommended. And then I will read the new book about Saturday Night Live that comes out next month.

[quote]Originally posted by George_vikingfan:
"At Swim, Two Boys" came highly recommended. .

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I heard about this book - I had trouble finding it , I do like E Lynn Harris books -and comic works by David Sedaris and Michael Thomas Ford. ...I also read " Federal Fag " about a gay FBI guy- that someone mentioned above. I'm thinking of writing my story on my life on my suburban police dept- "Local Fag"

[ October 02, 2002: Message edited by: copman ]

[quote]Originally posted by bryan d.:
"Stories and Poems for Extremely Intelligent Children of All Ages" by Harold Bloom

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"Stupid babies need the most attention!"
Welfare agent on "The Simpsons"

[quote]Originally posted by copman:
[QB]

I heard about this book - I had trouble finding it , [QB]

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I found it at buy.com. Its by Jamie O'Neill. I also saw it at Barnes & Noble.

[quote]Originally posted by George_vikingfan:
I found it at buy.com. Its by Jamie O'Neill. I also saw it at Barnes & Noble.

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THANX YA BIG LUG!

A couple recent reads (and an old favorite) that I highly recommend:

Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem
Comic slice-of-life story meets hard-boiled detective novel. The narrator has Tourrette's. 'Nuff said.

The Hours by Michael Cunningham
The intertwining story of three women, from different eras, and how they all relate via Virgnia Woolf's novel, Mrs. Dalloway (by the way - you don't have to have read Mrs. Dalloway to thoroughly enjoy this). See it now before the movie comes out!

If on a winter's night a traveler by Italo Calvino
One of my favorite books of all time. It's about the joy of reading books, essentially. Just get it.

[ October 02, 2002: Message edited by: Jim ]

Currently reading (being the ADD poster boy I am, if it's non-fiction, I have 2 or 3 going at once):

The American Revolution: A History

Gordon Wood's overview of what started it all. (I've taken to reading historical overviews because, though I appreciate my high school and college liberal arts educations, sometimes being in the “specialized” classes meant you missed the basics.) I dare you to read the opening chapter and not start to worry that we're the British Empire and our "enemies" aren't the colonies. The parallels are a whole lot more creepy than that fake Nostradamus stuff people keep forwarding.

From ACT UP to the WTO: Urban Protest and Community Building in the Era of Globalization

There's a lot of politcal activism -- particularly anti-globalism ignorance -- that I can't stand behind, butthere's some good ideas in some of these essays, and some eye-opening tales of activism from the very early days of HIV. I found the stuff dealing with the closing of the baths particularly interesting. And even if you don't agree with some of the author's viewpoints, it's better to argue against them if you're better informed where they're coming from. (Can you tell my latest pet peeves are dumb fellow liberals?)

Instability Rules: The Ten Most Amazing Ideas of Modern Science

The science is pretty simple, but the writing is rich -- explaining not just the principles but why they are so important to society and the future.

[ October 02, 2002: Message edited by: MCMikeNamara ]

A good place to check for rare books is abebooks.com.

Lots of used stuff in varying condition and priced accordingly.

They haven't failed me yet.

Jim and Cyd, maybe you can link them through the Outsports Store.

Big time el cheapo books!!!! half.com I buy my text books here....110.00 dollars or 10 dollars... It is part of e-bay... High recommendations.

RichSF, I just picked up "Me Talked Pretty One Day" as well. You're right - it's very uneven but good when it's good.

[quote]Originally posted by MCMikeNamara:
Currently reading (being the ADD poster boy I am, if it's non-fiction, I have 2 or 3 going at once):

The American Revolution: A History

Gordon Wood's overview of what started it all. (I've taken to reading historical overviews because, though I appreciate my high school and college liberal arts educations, sometimes being in the “specialized” classes meant you missed the basics.) I dare you to read the opening chapter and not start to worry that we're the British Empire and our "enemies" aren't the colonies. The parallels are a whole lot more creepy than that fake Nostradamus stuff people keep forwarding.

From ACT UP to the WTO: Urban Protest and Community Building in the Era of Globalization

There's a lot of politcal activism -- particularly anti-globalism ignorance -- that I can't stand behind, butthere's some good ideas in some of these essays, and some eye-opening tales of activism from the very early days of HIV. I found the stuff dealing with the closing of the baths particularly interesting. And even if you don't agree with some of the author's viewpoints, it's better to argue against them if you're better informed where they're coming from. (Can you tell my latest pet peeves are dumb fellow liberals?)

Instability Rules: The Ten Most Amazing Ideas of Modern Science

The science is pretty simple, but the writing is rich -- explaining not just the principles but why they are so important to society and the future.

[ October 02, 2002: Message edited by: MCMikeNamara ]

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Hey, this is some pretty heavy stuff, Mike!

I'm gonna check the science and American Revolution books.

Thanks.

[ October 04, 2002: Message edited by: bluebird48234 ]

[quote]Originally posted by sportinlife:
A good place to check for rare books is abebooks.com.

Lots of used stuff in varying condition and priced accordingly.

They haven't failed me yet.

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Thanks - always need resources for out-of-print books.

[ October 04, 2002: Message edited by: bluebird48234 ]

[quote]Originally posted by George_vikingfan:
"At Swim, Two Boys" came highly recommended...

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allow me to add to the recommendation for O'Neill's book: I enjoyed reading about the idea of two young boys in Ireland's early 20th century, and found the story to be strangely satisfying. In addition, I wanted to learn more about the Easter Uprising, the IRA, etc..

The entire Captain Underpants series (Dav Pilkey), especially Captain Underpants and the Invasion of the Incredibly Naughty Cafeteria Ladies From Outer Space and Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets. Funny and subversive.

Roy, forget John Updike, the Captain Underpants series is the greatest collection of novels in the 20th century (just ask Dav Pilkey himself). I personally am a big fan of Captain Underpants and the Perilous Plot of Professor Poopypants. I got a framed, signed Capt. Underpants poster for my 30th birthday. Perhaps my most prized possession.

I'm currently reading "Sarum" by Edward Rutherfurd. He's basically the Michener of England. Great book, but it will take me a while to get through it. But I'm a sucker for a good historical epic.

I'm also a huge fan of the Tom & Scott mysteries by Mark Richard Zubro. I finished "Here Comes the Corpse" in just a couple of days. Being a teacher, I can relate to the main character, if only I could have a major league pitcher as my partner. hmmmmm.......

I'm so pleased to see that someone else is reading "Sarum" by Rutherford. I'm currently re-reading it after more than a decade (I think it was published in '87). I'm just at the point where the Romans legions are gone for good and the Saxons, Angles and Jutes are finding new homes in what will become England.

This is one of my favorite novels of all time. Once again, I'm so glad to know someone else is reading it, too. I look forward to your reviews.

Peace, Rick

I have slogging my way through Frédéric Martel's THE RED AND THE BLACK, a history of the modern French gay movement, which has some fascinating parallels with and divergences from the American gay movement.

Earlier in the year I read Howard Norman's THE MUSEUM GUARD at thought it well written but unsatisfying. The treatment of the Holocaust theme felt a bit hollow.

Another focus has been Ricardo Piglia, author of PLATA QUEMADA. I was reading ABSENT CITY, but had to put it down and lost interest. I'm now trying ARTIFICIAL RESPIRATION, which is very historical in focus and quite experimental.

Cunningham's THE HOURS is definitely work checking out, and I suggest following it with Virginia Woolf's much more experimental and difficult MRS. DALLOWAY--the conversation between the two books will make your mind buzz.

A book I highly recommend is Louis Menand's *superb* Pulitzer Prize-winning METAPHYSICAL CLUB, on the brief but highly influential Cambridge club that included the likes of William James, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Charles S. Peirce, and others. Menand, in fairly enthralling prose, demonstrates the importance of their influence and ideas (as well as those of Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Dewey, Louis Agassiz, etc.) and others from the period 1850-1920 on so much of what came after in American history. An exceptional work of intellectual and narrative history.

I know there are some amongst us who enjoy Jasper Fforde's novels featuring the character Thursday Next & wanted to recommend the third in the series, "Well of Lost Plots." It is as inventive, witty, and literate/literary as the first two books &, as a bonus, includes a riotous anger management session for "Wuthering Heights" characters who despise Heathcliff!! Inspired.

~Adam

I just finished reading As I Lay Dying for my Honors English class. I did not like it AT ALL. William Faulkner did a great job writing the book, but I personally didn't like the style (if that makes any sense at all).

Fortunately, the next book we read (Catcher in the Rye) is supposed to be significantly better. Plus we listen to "We Didn't Start the Fire" with it! I'm excited!

Recently read Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, a story told from the point of view of an autistic British teen. I think it would make a good movie.

Speaking of which, read Michael Cunningham's The Hours, which was exactly like the movie (or, I guess, the movie was like the book).

And have now read all the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency books twice over. Love 'em! Can't get enough of Mma Ramotswe.