I went through a short Haruki Murakami phase with Norwegian Wood, After Dark and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle interested me the most. The war stories from Lt. Mamiya and Honda, those odd Kano sisters and especially May Kasahara. Hurakami has a knack for writing female character and giving them distinctive personalities, unlike most male authors I've read. I didn't feel all that concerned for Kumiko throughout the story, mainly cause she was a bitch to Taru. I lost some interested in the story during some of the interactions between the tw because of Kumiko's attitude toward Taru and I really wanted him to just leave.

I can go on forever about that book but ill stop here. Ill just say that Norwegian Wood is a fantastic book as well (and I really connected with Taru since my life eerily mirrors his) and After Dark was just alright. Now I'm checking "A Farewell To Arms" by Hemmingway which I'm really enjoy so far, then I'm returning to "2666" by Roberto Bolaño so I can finally read it all, "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and "Lucinella" by Lore Segal (read first chapter in the bookstore and throughly enjoyed it so far.

so, what the hell are you reading?

Absolutely fantastic so far.

I finally built up a head of steam plowing through that a few nights ago. I imagine that I might be able to finish it by the end of the weekend.

After that, I'm going to knock off "The Road." I actually started it a few weekends ago, got about 80 pages into it, and put it down so I could work my way through "Blood is a Rover." I figured that I could put it down and pick it back up pretty easy, without fear of forgetting who's who or the plot-line or whatever.

How do you like "Blood is a Rover" so far? I read the whole LA Quartet and American Tabloid and have been meaning to knock out The Cold Six Thousand and Blood is a Rover.

at this point. It's a continuing of the themes and characters from the previous two. The plot unfolds similarly, characters do the same type of things, and everyone talks in the same voice. The latter especially apparent in this one, because, for the first time, Ellroy uses diary/personal journal excerpts in-between chapters (like the news articles he's used before).

For me, this book started off good, dragged a little after about 100 pages, but then picked up for the last 150. I do find one the central characters in this particularly annoying, if for no other reason that he seems like a blatant stand-in for Ellroy himself, making it an exercise of fan-fiction in one of his own novels. However, I do hear this particular character is really based on a real person who isn't Ellroy, so I'll kind of let it slide.

felt all too real.

I'm at about 50% "why the hell did I waste time reading that?" with the last bunch of books I've read, but this seems ok so far. Dude is taking great pains to distinguish existing capitalism from market-based systems, which he's an advocate for, so it'll be interesting to see where he takes this

I somehow missed Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men. I don't know how since I have always had a massive library and voracious reading habit.

The book is so beautifully written and I smile while I read it thinking how fantastic the writing itself is.

>The book is so beautifully written and I smile while I read it
>thinking how fantastic the writing itself is.

i felt that way also about War and Peace and CS Lewis's Mere Christianity

The latter has been sitting on my bookshelf for years. I like everything I've read by Stienbeck ("Mice and Men", "In Dubious Battle," "Cannery Row," and "Sweet Thrusday"), but now I really should find some time to work my way through his tours de force.

and with lofty themes and all but it really doesn't feel like a chore. The reading goes by smoothly and quickly.

Grapes is long but easy to ready. Still have to read east of eden.

Tortilla Flat is better than cannery row imo. but i read tortilla flat first, and they are so similar that reading order may have influenced my appreciation for cannery row.

i have heard the pearl is on of his best as well.

East of Eden is, to me, his master work.

~ ~ ~
All meetings end in separation
All acquisition ends in dispersion
All life ends in death
- The Buddha

|\_/|
='_'=

Achak Deng

It wasn't an easy read, I liked it though.

before that I read

"Essays In Love" by Alain De Botton

& "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran Foer

I think I'm going to start reading "Cloud Atlas" today,
some OKplayers recommend it, so I'm curious.

As far as non-fiction, I think I'll start in Naomi Klein's "The Shock Doctrine", I liked "No Logo"...so I'm familiar with the author, I guess I will like this book also.

http://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=6&topic_id=494334&mesg_id=494334&listing_type=search#494488

probably you did

~ ~ ~
All meetings end in separation
All acquisition ends in dispersion
All life ends in death
- The Buddha

|\_/|
='_'=

>http://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=6&topic_id=494334&mesg_id=494334&listing_type=search#494488
>
>probably you did


And I found myself agreeing with this:

'I felt that Valentino's voice was too distant, like he would describe events and I wouldn't *feel* them.'

I've been looking for "We Regret To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families?"

but I'll have to order it.

I bought "Cloud Atlas" on the strenght of your praise for it.

If I may, I also have a recommendation you might like, this being

"Tonguecat" by Peter Verhelst
http://www.amazon.com/Tonguecat-Novel-Peter-Verhelst/dp/0374278431/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264097563&sr=1-1

He's one of my favorite writers.

it sounds really great

~ ~ ~
All meetings end in separation
All acquisition ends in dispersion
All life ends in death
- The Buddha

|\_/|
='_'=

I'm really enjoying it thus far. I think it has to do more with his writing style. What did you guys think of that novel?

then, while it remains entertaining, the story pretty much devolves. But there's a descrption of a funeral near the end of the book that makes reading the rest of the book worthwhile. But really, as he says at the beginning, you can stop at page 120 and not miss much.

~ ~ ~
All meetings end in separation
All acquisition ends in dispersion
All life ends in death
- The Buddha

|\_/|
='_'=

This and There Will be Blood are REALLY different.

I told myself I'd read it after seeing There Will Be Blood and still haven't got around to it.

How is it so far?

>I told myself I'd read it after seeing There Will Be Blood
>and still haven't got around to it.
>
>How is it so far?

i may have given it up if i weren't interested in studying the differences between the movie and book. so if you're into that(and there ARE a lot of differences) then i'd give it a read. just know it's very long and it goes into detail about everything. i know more about drilling than i ever wanted to.

>just know it's very long and it goes into detail about
>everything. i know more about drilling than i ever wanted to.

That's his specialty. Read "The Jungle" and you'll know more about the meat packing industry than you'll ever what to. Like waaaaaaaaay more than you'll ever want to. And you'll be happy that you didn't eat meat in the '20/'30s.

>
>>just know it's very long and it goes into detail about
>>everything. i know more about drilling than i ever wanted
>to.
>
>That's his specialty. Read "The Jungle" and you'll know more
>about the meat packing industry than you'll ever what to. Like
>waaaaaaaaay more than you'll ever want to. And you'll be happy
>that you didn't eat meat in the '20/'30s.

my friend gave me that impression.

It was required reading for some of my class in 10th grade. Fortunately, not in my history class. I don't think I could make it through it, even now.

i've read book before that have gone into hyper-detail about so it shouldn't be too bad. Plus, like you, I'm interested in what he took out of the book to create the movie.

the good thing is the chapters are broken down into MUCH smaller sections, like 2-5 pages, which is perfect for how often i have time to read.

Just started reading Libra by Don DeLillo. Historical fiction at its best.

The Royal Family by William T. Vollmann is on deck.

you should bear in mind that DeLillo didn't make up a single word that comes out of the mouth of Oswald's mother. Improbable as it seems at times, everything he has her saying is quoted from her testimony at the Warren Commission hearings.

I love that book for many reasons, not least of which is the backwards/forwards storytelling device and the convergence of time.



~ ~ ~
All meetings end in separation
All acquisition ends in dispersion
All life ends in death
- The Buddha

|\_/|
='_'=

PEACE

DeLillo is difficult but so rewarding...

(BK sidewalks = the best library ever) The book is a short-story collection that centers around "geek culture." So you've got the West Side Storyish tale of a Klingon chick hooking up with a Jedi trainee at a scifi Con. A story about a cheerleader hiring "geeks" to help her learn about "their" stuff for the team QB, who's got a passing interest in it.

Good stuff so far.

~ ~ ~
All meetings end in separation
All acquisition ends in dispersion
All life ends in death
- The Buddha

|\_/|
='_'=

and they're blasts. The Klingon/Jedi one is in alternating voice and really well written.

Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci
Tracy Lynn
Scott Westerfeld
Cassandra Clare
M.T. Anderson
Cynthia Leitich Smith and Greg Leitich Smith
David Levithan
Garth Nix
Lisa Yee
Kelly Link
John Green
Barry Lyga
Sara Zarr
Wendy Mass
Libba Bray

Then Alex Cross Trial
Then Andre Agassi bio
then the last Dennis Lehane book whatever that was

then I may do the Star Wars trilogy

>then I may do the Star Wars trilogy

are you talking about one of the spinoff trilogies or books written after the movies were released? seems strange.

and I never read them. I think they may just be episodes 4-6. Are u saying there would be no point?

books before movies make sense to read to see what the movie dropped, cut or ignored altogether.

reading a book written about a movie after it dropped never made much sense to me, however, i believe the star wars books for 4-6 do provide some new material or stories. not sure though as i haven't read them.

i thought you were originally talking about the Zahn trilogy or some other books.

I got them over 10 years ago, I may not even read them they just came to mind when I was posting

>they just came to mind when I was posting

i have seen the wire, so the book is providing a "real" subtext to the show which only amplifies its greatness.

taking some time, but i am not much of a reader. engrossing, though.

"Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned" by Wells Tower

C

"This brother is free; I'll be what I want to be."

PEACE

http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bw/bw090716wells_tower

~ ~ ~
All meetings end in separation
All acquisition ends in dispersion
All life ends in death
- The Buddha

|\_/|
='_'=

Two stories in. Not blown away yet but it's decent.

C

"This brother is free; I'll be what I want to be."

So then I couldn't decide if I liked it so much because of the period or because of the writing.

So I bought another book by her, and I also bought that Philippa Gregory book, "The Other Boleyn Girl", yes I'm embarrassed to admit it but it's true, I did. I didn't realize until AFTER I had purchased it that Scarlett Johannsen and Natalie Portman are on the cover LOL

So now that I've finished it, I started Wolf Hall again. The Gregory book helped me get straight in my head who some of the characters are and I think now the second time through I'm getting more of the history along with the really great writing.

I'm also about 2 chapters into the new John Burdett book and I would have expected to plow through it really quickly but Henry VIII is so captivating (actually, when you think about how many books and movies and so forth there are on his reign, it *is* kind of fascinating how obsessed we can be about him).

I'm also a few chapters into Atul Gawande's new one, The Checklist Manifesto. He's great, as always, and I saw him talk about it last week.

Also, on the recommendation of someone here, was it Wordman? I have The Epicure's Lament queued up.
~ ~ ~
All meetings end in separation
All acquisition ends in dispersion
All life ends in death
- The Buddha

|\_/|
='_'=

She's a fanatic for anything written about Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth (and pretty much any movie/TV series about the subjects as well). I believe she thoroughly enjoyed it as well.

>So I bought another book by her, and I also bought that
>Philippa Gregory book, "The Other Boleyn Girl", yes I'm
>embarrassed to admit it but it's true, I did. I didn't
>realize until AFTER I had purchased it that Scarlett Johannsen
>and Natalie Portman are on the cover LOL

LOL, yeah that got turned into a shitty movie a few years ago. Eric Bana as Henry VIII. I don't actually know if my mom has read the novel.

>Also, on the recommendation of someone here, was it Wordman? I
>have The Epicure's Lament queued up.

I think it was Walleye who recommended that. Shee-it, I've literally got STACKS of books queued up based on recommendations from that post.

Well, maybe the best way to illustrate it is to tell you that Wolf Hall is the name of the Seymour ancestral estate. The book is about Thomas Cromwell, advisor to Wolsey and later Secretary and Treasurer to the King, which is in itself counterintuitive, and although it talks about Cromwell's early life, too, it focuses on the period in which Katherine is being put aside and Anne Boleyn is coming to power. And we know who usurps Anne Boleyn in the king's affections -- Jane Seymour. So the very title of the book tells you that Mantel is telling the story in a different kind of way, approaching it obliquely.

But it's told almost exclusively from Cromwell's perspective, although she uses the third person. But she uses his name only to the extent that she absolutely must for clarity. I'm just really amazed by the quality of the writing, although I shouldn't be, it won the Booker.

I bet your mom loved it :-)

And you're right, it was Walleye. I was going to edit but since you corrected me, I'll just admit my forgetfulness here :-)

~ ~ ~
All meetings end in separation
All acquisition ends in dispersion
All life ends in death
- The Buddha

|\_/|
='_'=

>Well, maybe the best way to illustrate it is to tell you that
>Wolf Hall is the name of the Seymour ancestral estate. The
>book is about Thomas Cromwell, advisor to Wolsey and later
>Secretary and Treasurer to the King, which is in itself
>counterintuitive, and although it talks about Cromwell's early
>life, too, it focuses on the period in which Katherine is
>being put aside and Anne Boleyn is coming to power. And we
>know who usurps Anne Boleyn in the king's affections -- Jane
>Seymour. So the very title of the book tells you that Mantel
>is telling the story in a different kind of way, approaching
>it obliquely.

Yep, my mom alreeady gave me the full breakdown of everything after she finished it.

>I bet your mom loved it :-)

That she did.

>And you're right, it was Walleye. I was going to edit but
>since you corrected me, I'll just admit my forgetfulness here

LOL, it's all good. My memory for shit is kinda fading as well.

I finally gave her the okay to buy me some books-for-fun this year, and though I've enjoyed the early goings of the book it felt a bit odd to a get a bit of 16th century historical fiction for "fun reading" when my un-fun reading has focused on... take a guess... 16th century European history.

Still, it's a fine book. I like this kind of thing done well.

terrific, esp. considering I had a relative who died in it.

getting caught up on a gang of Smithsonian and Nat. Geo issues from the past two years

and got 'Logicomix' out of the library and em really enjoying it more than expected. It's a biography of Bertrand Russell and his attempts to establish the foundation of mathematics. Part biography, part history, part logical expounding, and it works very well as a comic. http://www.logicomix.com/en/

Non-fiction books meant to be ready by professionals on long flights. Quick/Easy reads with lots of fun facts or counter-intuitive ways to look @ things. Most famously pioneered by Malcolm Gladwell.

1) Checklist Manifesto - your boy Awul goes kinda hard on this one. It's a medical, financial, structural engineering, and aviation page turner. Knocked it out in 1 sitting.

Basically it's about doing very very complicated things. The reviews kinda miss the point imo. It's about 2 things.

Taking complex tasks and boiling them down to checklists.
^^All the reviewers seem to get this, and are like, "duh"

But more importantly, communicating that checklist to others.

That's the key insight, imo. That's where the magic happens, when people are accountable to each other and the checklist.

2) Updated 4 Hour Work Week - Tim Ferris outsourced the updated portions of the book, if you ask me. He doesn't really say much new this time around. But since I dl'd the first copy, buying this one for 14 bucks seemed cool.

I kind of check for any book written by a New Yorker staff writer.

But I ran across another one right before Gawande's book was published. It's called Why We Make Mistakes, and although I've just glanced at it, it looks like something you might enjoy and I think it fits together with The Checklist Manifesto well.

~ ~ ~
All meetings end in separation
All acquisition ends in dispersion
All life ends in death
- The Buddha

|\_/|
='_'=

she is a master of the short story.




PEACE

So far, so good
-------------------
<--LEMME AXE YOU SOMETHING!

http://blog.melanism.com
http://twitter.com/Melanism
http://seanlovesthis.tumblr.com
http://www.formspring.me/seanathan

If the themes work for you, Arthur Phillips' last one might suit you as well. "The Song Is You"

They're very different books -- Phillips & Hornby have different voices, and they're I think 20 years apart in age -- but there's the linking theme of music that I think works pretty well in both, in different ways.

~ ~ ~
All meetings end in separation
All acquisition ends in dispersion
All life ends in death
- The Buddha

|\_/|
='_'=

Hornby is the writer who's style I most admire/want to outright steal. However, I haven't read a novel of his sinc e"How to Be Good," which was only okay. I did like that three that have been turned into movies quite a bit.

They couldn't touch High Fidelity or About A Boy. Plus, of course, Slam is young adult fiction.

You know he recently wrote a novella that is part of a series to be used for adult literacy classes? So it doesn't write down to its audience but it may use words that are easier to sound out or whatever and it's shorter. Hornby's is about a porn star and his relationship to his mother, or something. Wide margins and only 85 pages.

~ ~ ~
All meetings end in separation
All acquisition ends in dispersion
All life ends in death
- The Buddha

|\_/|
='_'=

i fell in love with hornby years ago but the relationship got pretty strained after about a boy.

Between the acting, the writing, and the research, I STILL haven't finished this book - and I bought it the week it came out. This book is HUGE! I've started and finished other books in between reading this one.
I just started the second volume (I bought the 3 book slipcase edition) and I will finish this book THIS MONTH (...and this month I mean February).
So if you like heaven and/or earth, I suggest you keep on me to finish this book.
By the way - the book is great.


"Your current frequencies of understanding outweigh that which has been given for you to understand." Saul Williams

makes me feel completely lazy and selfish!!
kidding sort of but what an incredible human being
greg mortensen is..


_______________

<-two races of flavor
living side by side

I need to urge you to read Mountains Beyond Mountains, by Tracy Kidder. It's the biography of Paul Farmer, the founder of www.pih.org and it is fuckin unbelievable. It could definitely make you feel like you've thrown your life away LOL

~ ~ ~
All meetings end in separation
All acquisition ends in dispersion
All life ends in death
- The Buddha

|\_/|
='_'=

Im reading Stones In to Schools after since it's sort of
the follow up to this but ill check for that when Im done..


_______________

I WAS IN THE POOL!

I just started Babbitt, butI can already tell I like the story and it is exceedingly easy to read.

Monkey is a very easy read, but I go back and reread passages constantly cause it makes me giggle. I really want to see this turned into a graphic novel.

.

according to these lists. Those that I haven't read.

http://home.austarnet.com.au/petersykes/topscifi/lists_short_stories.html

http://home.austarnet.com.au/petersykes/topscifi/lists_short_stories2.html


Does anyone have any suggestions on an engaging physics book with a sci fi slant?

>Does anyone have any suggestions on an engaging physics book
>with a sci fi slant?

haven't read it but there's this
http://www.amazon.com/Physics-Impossible-Scientific-Exploration-Teleportation/dp/0385520697

When it came out in the 70's MIT physics students went crazy apparently.
Great sci fi with enough techie shit to keep any physics head engaged.
Can't recommend it enough.

its kinda corny at first, but hilarious and extremely creative once you dig in.

It's boring me

Nerds and computer wonks will probably love it, though

_________________________________________________________________________
http://www.youtube.com/user/punannydiaries

also on Facebook

Like several others I've just started reading 2666, I'm about 50 pages in so far.

Me too. I'm on to the 2nd book. Was really enjoying it. The section I'm on now is very dark and seemingly endless but Bolano always layers stories within stories so you're never bored for long. He really is a writer's writer. I'm curious how others who are not writers feel about his work. It's hard for me to imagine making the investment needed in his sprawling, rambling work if you weren't just constantly marvelling at how he had this many stories to tell.

I'm about 180 pages into Dunces and really don't see what all the hype is about. It's sort of a charming book, but Ignatius' dialogue is so whip-smart, it kind of takes me out of the book. I don't get why people say it was so life changing.

I'm 100 pages into FWTBT, and it seems like a better book. There are a couple things that are weird about it - primarily that any expletives are written as "unspeakable" or "obscenely" or things of that nature which I can't chalk up to being a product of poor translation - but it definitely holds my attention so far better than Dunces is.

I've been reading Dunces for several months. I've been reading FWTBT for three days. I have a feeling that I finish Dunces several months from now, long after I finish FWTBT.

I think it's great but for some reason I can't get through it. I keep saying I'm going to pick it back up. :-(

~ ~ ~
All meetings end in separation
All acquisition ends in dispersion
All life ends in death
- The Buddha

|\_/|
='_'=

'fore i could finish it...but i was surprised how good it was...but damn, if it didnt get a bit ponderous in the middle...sorta like all action stopped and now we're gonna go into tedious detail about the 10324890 minute elements of whaling! not fun

might be my favorite so far. i love that i went in not knowing it was a Derrk Strange prequel

detective fiction can be very hit or miss with me. any recommendations?

I'm in the same boat. Let me know a consensus starting point or sure shot.

I'd recommend "The Big Blowdown." Hard boiled prose, DC setting, some Vietnam vets and crazy Greeks. Still like this better than the Derek Strange novels.

That's one of his best continuing characters and the story line is great. I wouldn't start with his earliest stuff because he sharpened up as a writer later, and if you read the early stuff first you might not go on.

~ ~ ~
All meetings end in separation
All acquisition ends in dispersion
All life ends in death
- The Buddha

|\_/|
='_'=

where would you recommend i go from here?

Night Gardener is the only one I've read outside of those.

It's a pretty simple/straight forward story, but it's quite well-written. And the lead character is very "Cutty"-esque.

>And the lead character is very "Cutty"-esque.

And truth be told, I was sold on it when a fellow PTPer recommended it using the same description (it's an accurate one). I'm just carrying on tradition here.

very good book. First thing I read by Pelecanos.

I read "Shame the Devil" and it was amazing. He's very good at subtly building up the tension in the story and each character has such a distinct personality that the book never falters when it stray from the protagonist.

Damn near all of my free time has been spent catching up on Lost, so I hope to finally get back to IJ this weekend.

After that I've got Before The Storm by Rick Perlstein and the new Klosterman book.

by Don Delillo...

The Art of Dramatic Writing by Lajos Egri...(are you an aspiring screenwriter?...get on this...but then again, if you're serios about the craft, you're already on it)

Asterios Polyp by Dave Mazzucchelli...


Breaking the Spell: Religion As A Natural Phenomenon by Daniel C Dennett

It's a real slow starter though, so I'm having a rough time getting through it.

The first chapter is solid, but then it goes through about three or four slow chapters, then it starts the build to the crescendo.

Just started today. I'm reeeally about to fly thru this book.
---
If you release what is within u, what u release will save you. If you do not release what is within u, what u do not release will destroy u.

yeah I remember it's one of the few nonfic books that gripped me like a good novel. Really easy to get through

Scott Pilgrim series by Bryan Lee O'Malley
Tokyo Vice by Jake Adelstein

The first in a trilogy. Pretty good thus far, will probably read all 3.

and remarkably unknown.

~ ~ ~
All meetings end in separation
All acquisition ends in dispersion
All life ends in death
- The Buddha

|\_/|
='_'=

I'm reading...

The Brief and Wonderous Life of Oscar Woa - Junot Diaz #latepass

and

The Selfish Gene - Richard Dawkins

Dope. Ass. Read.

_________________________________________________________________________
http://www.youtube.com/user/punannydiaries

http://thepunannydiaries.com

also on Facebook

i read 'the sea, the sea' recently and thoroughly enjoyed it. and before that, another of hers, though the title escapes me right now.

her writing reminds me somewhat of the ian mcewan that i've read.

good stuff.

my first Pelecanos....hope it's good

It's about fundamentalist Muslim terrorist ideologies, why they do what they do, and what we can expect in the future.

wild seed by octavia butler

I'm about 70 pages in. It's aight so far.

Outstanding so far.

Hopefully this is the last book I'll read on Iraq.



PEACE