What Are You Reading Now?

[Non Sequitur]

Maybe I'll give it a shot with Train Dreams. So, since you've read it already, any thoughts on the '12 Pulitzer snub? I thought that was very strange. I guess Johnson has good company though. I read somewhere that the last time no prize was awarded, A River Runs Through It was a finalist.

Train Dreams is set in Idaho and River Runs Through It in Montana. Maybe there's an East Coast bias.

[SteelBlue]

Meant to post this bit of dialogue while I was reading The Good Lord Bird. I think it would make a great temple recommend question:

image.jpg

[Donuthole]

Meant to post this bit of dialogue while I was reading The Good Lord Bird. I think it would make a great temple recommend question:

[ATTACH]3705[/ATTACH]

Almost reads like dialogue from ACO.

[oxcoug]

Currently (re)reading Russell Shorto's "The Island at the Center of the World" about the origins and early story of Dutch Manhattan. Fantastic narrative history. Read it about six years ago and decided to reread it now with improved understanding of the dynamics of early Manhattan. Worth the read for anyone generally interested either in American history, the history of exploration or the history of NYC, or hilarious Dutch names like "Van Der Donk". The Dutch were kind of badasses back in the day.

[SteelBlue]

Finished The Plague of Doves by Erdrich. Finally got to the front of the line for The Goldfinch and started it last night.

[Donuthole]

I'm now listening to the Andre Agassi Bio on my commute. A little melodramatic so far, but not bad. I'm only two chapters in, but I already get the sense that Agassi really (really!) needs to convince everyone that he is a tortured genius. :eyeroll:

Gag. I finished it, because I wanted to be able to say I read the entire thing when I say it's the worst biography I've ever read. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You hate tennis. Your father was a tennis slave driver. You hate tennis. Your divorce with Brooke Shields was all her fault. You hate tennis. You think your career was better than Sampras' because you won all four slams. You hate tennis. You were always the victim. You hate tennis.

Even looking past the repetitive grind on Agassi's personal quirks and the ridiculously verbose writing, the book fails as a tennis biography. While claiming to be an open book, this is a concerted effort to minimize the significance of his "rivalry" with Sampras, by hardly addressing it at all. One of the greatest matches of his career (2001 US Open vs. Sampras) didn't get 30 seconds in the book.

[SteelBlue]

Finished The Goldfinch. Five stars from me, but it's definitely not for everyone. I'm well into Bleeding Edge by Pynchon, and so far I hate it. It has come so highly recommended that I will plow on.

[SteelBlue]

Finished Bleeding Edge. Didn't really like it. In six months, I will remember only one thing about it, that there was a strip club named "Joie de Beavre".

Now reading After This, by Alice McDermott.

[RC Vikings]

"Steve Jobs" by Walter Isaacson. I'm enjoying it, it's interesting for me to see the steps or events in one's life that lead them to be the person they are.

[Jacob]

Gag. I finished it, because I wanted to be able to say I read the entire thing when I say it's the worst biography I've ever read. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You hate tennis. Your father was a tennis slave driver. You hate tennis. Your divorce with Brooke Shields was all her fault. You hate tennis. You think your career was better than Sampras' because you won all four slams. You hate tennis. You were always the victim. You hate tennis.

Even looking past the repetitive grind on Agassi's personal quirks and the ridiculously verbose writing, the book fails as a tennis biography. While claiming to be an open book, this is a concerted effort to minimize the significance of his "rivalry" with Sampras, by hardly addressing it at all. One of the greatest matches of his career (2001 US Open vs. Sampras) didn't get 30 seconds in the book.

I mostly enjoyed the book, even though I largely agree with your criticisms.

[Donuthole]

I mostly enjoyed the book, even though I largely agree with your criticisms.

I listened to the audiobook, and I don't think the reader's voice helped. I was never an Agassi fan, but I was never a hater either. I went into this book hoping to come out a bigger Agassi fan. Unfortunately, I didn't.

[SteelBlue]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]3693[/ATTACH]

Loved it!

The audio version narrated by will Patton is phenomenal

Library only had the audio version. I loved it. Will Patton was awesome, thanks for the recommendation.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Finished The Good Lord Bird last night. I cannot recommend it highly enough, (won the National Book Award this year). I had not read any James McBride prior to this, but I will now remedy that situation. The book is a fictional account of John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry that contains a lot more comedy than you'd think could be mustered on such a topic. Think Mark Twain meets Tarantino. I'm sad to be finished with it.

Here's the NYT review of the novel:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/18/bo...bird.html?_r=0

Edit: didn't know the pic would be so big. Can't seem to get rid of it.

Just finished this. Very good.

Coincidentally, I have been researching the abolitionist era recently. This story is surprisingly faithful to actual events.

[LA Ute]

"The Brothers K," by David James Duncan. It's been around for a while so I am sure many of you have read it already. I'm enjoying it a lot.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Brothers-D.../dp/055337849X

[SteelBlue]

Just finished The Son, by Philipp Meyer. A Novel that spans several generations of a Texas family. Probably the most violent book I've read in a while. If you have any interest whatsoever in Texas, and/ or in Westerns, I think you'd enjoy the read.

NY Times review:
http://nytimes.com/2013/06/16/books/...ipp-meyer.html

. Only in the greatest of historical novels do we come to feel both the distance of the past and our own likely complicity in the sins of a former age, had we been a part of it. To that rank, we now add “The Son.”