What are you reading now?

[BillDoran]

Just finished Notes from the Underground. While enjoyable, I think I've finally sated my Dostoevsky appetite.

Onto some more Henry Miller and The Air-Conditioned Nightmare.

[Roy Tucker]

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

[redsmetz]

Originally Posted by izzy's dad

For me "The Art of Fielding" was mediocre at best. It starts out so promising, but about 1/3 of the way through it stops being a good baseball book and becomes something else. Some of the themes in the story are very "adult." Not that I couldn't deal with it, or even disagree with some of the things that occur, but they feel so forced. I also found that, by the end of the book I hated the main character. Others may feel differently, but my opinion is that 1/3 of the book is an above average baseball story, and the other 2/3 of the book is an overly complicated, and poorly written love story.

I'm slogging through the thing. My wife's brother sent her his copy and she loved it, as did our oldest daughter. An old neighbor, not a baseball fan, loved it too. I've seen the mixed reviews and can see where they're coming from, but I'll concur (so far) with those who aren't thrilled with it. I was put off at one point when the narrator's voice suddenly changed (wait? whose point of view is this?). And while I am usually all for finding gender neutral terms for some people & their jobs (e.g. police officer, fire fighter, councilmember, etc.), the writer's use of "freshperson" is so wooden and clunky, it falls with a thud from the page (a point a number of reviewers mentioned). I'm going to try to finish the thing, but I doubt I even give it a C.

[pedro]

Tortilla Curtain by TC Boyle.

He's always a treat.

[Sweetstop]

recently finished ian brown's "the boy in the moon", which is heartwrenching..

ibook reading cheryl strayed's "wild".

[BillDoran]

Originally Posted by pedro

Tortilla Curtain by TC Boyle.

He's always a treat.

Can't go wrong with Boyle, though I think he's a better short story writer than novelist. He seems to lose some creativity (his strongest attribute as a writer) when plot building.

Tortilla Curtain is a little heavy-handed on immigrant/alien story IMO. I'd be interested to hear your opinion once you finish.

And just for the hell of it, here's my favorite Boyle short story: Swept Away.

[Cooper]

Just finished Steve Jobs biography. It reads like a greatest hits album- hits the high points and it felt patched together. If i had to rate it -i'd give it a C-.

[WMR]

How many of you Nancy's are reading/have read 50 Shades of Grey?

[marcshoe]

Having heard it called mom-porn, I'll pass. My sister at Amazon says old ladies are calling up with questions about their orders but are embarrassed to say just what they ordered.

I'm going the other direction. After finishing Phil Rickman's last Merrily Watkins book, I'm going back to Neil Gaiman's Graveyard Book, which I've been meaning to read for months.

I'm also reading/editing the sequel to the book linked in my sig. That was a subtle plug, btw.

[Roy Tucker]

Calico Joe by John Grisham. A nice story but awfully short. More of a novella.

[pedro]

Originally Posted by WMR

How many of you Nancy's are reading/have read 50 Shades of Grey?

My GF is on the 3rd one now. Judging by what I've read over her shoulder and what she's read to me it's 7th grade level drivel. It's cracking her up though.

[pedro]

Originally Posted by BillDoran

Can't go wrong with Boyle, though I think he's a better short story writer than novelist. He seems to lose some creativity (his strongest attribute as a writer) when plot building.

Tortilla Curtain is a little heavy-handed on immigrant/alien story IMO. I'd be interested to hear your opinion once you finish.

And just for the hell of it, here's my favorite Boyle short story: Swept Away.

I'd agree about Tortilla Curtain. It was bit of a button pusher but I liked it. Not up to the standards of Drop City or Friend of the Earth but still a good read.

[WMR]

Originally Posted by pedro

My GF is on the 3rd one now. Judging by what I've read over her shoulder and what she's read to me it's 7th grade level drivel. It's cracking her up though.

I read about half of it in a couple hours at my sister's house one day, I would guess 7th grade level is about right. It made me LOL out loud quite a bit as well. Hopefully no actual seventh graders are reading it, however...

edit: Although by what you hear middle schoolers are up to these days, perhaps it wouldn't matter.

[WMR]

Originally Posted by tixe

Having heard it called mom-porn, I'll pass. My sister at Amazon says old ladies are calling up with questions about their orders but are embarrassed to say just what they ordered.

I'm going the other direction. After finishing Phil Rickman's last Merrily Watkins book, I'm going back to Neil Gaiman's Graveyard Book, which I've been meaning to read for months.

I'm also reading/editing the sequel to the book linked in my sig. That was a subtle plug, btw.

Jeez, old ladies, get a kindle or nook like the rest of us literary pervs.

Pretty sweet you've written a book, something I've always wanted to try.

[BillDoran]

Robert Musil's "The Man Without Qualities". I'm in Vienna for the summer and frequent a cafe where he supposedly did a fair amount of his writing. It feels appropriate.