What Are You Reading Now?

[jeffrey.wilson.1481]

If you like horror books read anything by Jonathan Mayberry.

[Flystripper]

minds

[MarkGrace]

If you like horror books read anything by Jonathan Mayberry.

First post?

[Harriet]

Dang it, I can't keep up with you guys.

Same here. That's ameliorated by the fact that I've enjoyed all the books I've read based on recommendations here, though, so my thanks to those who have added suggestions. The only book that rated a meh from me recently was Redeployment.

[BigPiney]

Dang it, I can't keep up with you guys.

I am way behind Steel, but I always have a book on tape going in the car along with what I am reading. That was how I did Gilead, which was a great book on tape, and I have listened to 1/2 of Band of Brothers during commutes and ferrying kids around this week.

[SteelBlue]

Finishing up Murakami's Kafka on the Shore. I'm really liking it.

I'm really excited to get to my next read though, as it's getting a ton of buzz and I want in on it: A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James.
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Fiction, set in 1976 Jamaica and at its center is the assassination attempt on Bob Marley.

A couple of reviews to peruse:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/22/bo...-killings.html

How to describe Marlon James’s monumental new novel “A Brief History of Seven Killings”?

It’s like a Tarantino remake of “The Harder They Come” but with a soundtrack by Bob Marley and a script by Oliver Stone and William Faulkner, with maybe a little creative boost from some primo ganja. It’s epic in every sense of that word: sweeping, mythic, over-the-top, colossal and dizzyingly complex. It’s also raw, dense, violent, scalding, darkly comic, exhilarating and exhausting — a testament to Mr. James’s vaulting ambition and prodigious talent.


Marlon James’s New Novel, ‘A Brief History of Seven Killings’ uses the story of the 1976 assassination attempt on Marley as a kind of trampoline, bouncing off that terrible event into a multilayered, choral inquiry into Jamaican politics and poverty, into race and class, and into the volatile relationship between the United States and the Caribbean. Spanning several decades, the novel attempts to trace connections between the gang wars in the Kingston ghettos, C.I.A. efforts to destabilize a left-wing Jamaican government in the 1970s and even the crack epidemic in America in the 1980s.

Another NYT review:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/02/bo...ings.html?_r=0

The plot of “Seven Killings” revolves around the assassination attempt on Bob Marley a few days before he was to give a free concert in Kingston in December 1976, and required the novelist to dig deep into his creative toolbox. Marley, called simply the Singer in the novel, so dominated that period, Mr. James said, that his persona risked overwhelming the novel, which clocks in at just under 700 pages.

“I needed him more to hover over the book, as opposed to being in the middle of it,” he explained.

Hoping to get to it by Wednesday.

[SteelBlue]

Just a warning to anyone thinking of taking up A Brief History of Seven Killings, it is a very, very violent and graphic book. I am nevertheless enjoying it, finding such moments appropriate to the story, and am quite impressed with Mr. Marlon James; what a talent. However, this thing is graphic enough that Tarantino might squirm a bit. Just wanted to give appropriate warning.

Thought I might share a brief bit of James' prose. I thought this description of Trenchtown was excellent (the Singer is Bob Marley if you haven't read the blurb in the post above):

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[happyone]

My most recent books-


...
And now for the Happy One book club.
The Boys in the Boat. Good book. True story of the 8 man crew that went to the Berlin Olympics.

...

and

A Higher Call: An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II This book was great. Much of the story was from the perspective of a German fighter pilot. I highly recommend this one.
...

Both of them are on my TBR, I just got to get around to them

[SteelBlue]

Finished A Brief History of Seven Killings. A well written, very complicated novel that left me feeling uncomfortable from start to finish. It's dark, and you spend a lot of time with hopeless people in hopeless situations and there never is much relief from it for the reader. I can't say that I enjoyed it, but I can say that I appreciated James' talent, and the novel's complexity. I don't recall having read a more graphically violent and sexual novel in quite some time. If any of you have read Philip Meyers' The Son, that's probably the closest comparison.

Sidenote: Probably the most satisfying part of this reading experience was being exposed to the 70's Trenchtown ghetto patois. This initially slowed my reading speed to a crawl, but by the novel's end, I felt like I had picked it up pretty well. I'm still speaking it in my head.

[SteelBlue]

The Last Kind Words Saloon by Larry McMurtry: It's McMurtry, so it's worth reading, but it's about as barren as the plains upon which most of the story takes place. Still, when Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp are involved, I'm in, even if they are essentially reduced to Beavis and Butthead roam the west. A very quick read at <200 double spaced pages.

Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle: This was on the NBA longlist, a debut novel by the lead singer of The Mountain Goats (I've never heard of them). A very interesting structure that I really enjoyed. You know from the book's first pages that the protagonist has had an "accident" at 17 that has left him horribly disfigured. While in the hospital recovering he invents a fantasy role playing game in which players take their turn by mail. The book slowly works its way backward through his memories and ruminations on the game and some of its players until his whole life changing backstory is revealed. A contemplative read, somewhat in the style of Robinson and Harding.
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[SteelBlue]

Just finished Us, by David Nicholls. I highly recommend this one, especially to those of you who've been married a long time and have kids who have left home, or are nearing that age. Us is a comedy, but is at times so profound that it ends up being something more meaningful. Briefly, it's narrated by a 54 year old man, Douglas, a Londoner, who, on the novel's first page is awakened by his wife and told that she thinks their marriage (nearing 25 years) may be over. Douglas is a biochemist and his wife an artist (a contrast which provides much of the book's comedy), and they have one child, a son, with whom Douglas has had much difficulty getting along, and who is just about to leave for college. Douglas, in an effort to save his marriage and try and repair his relationship with his son, plans a grand tour of Europe for the 3 of them.

Part of the appeal of this novel for me was that they were in places where I have lived, and I always find that enjoyable. If you've spent time in Europe, I think you'll feel the same way, but it's certainly not required to enjoy the book. Anyway, the vacation proceeds and Douglas (whose humor frequently reminded me of our own PAC) takes turns reminiscing about the past, beginning at the time that he meets his wife, and describing the grand tour that is their vacation, until, toward the end of the novel, his reminiscences have caught up to the present. The novel is funny, profound and at times quite touching. Do I realize this sounds a lot like a chick flick/romantic comedy? Yes, but I came away feeling that it was something more than that. Again, I think it would be particularly enjoyed by readers nearing 20 years of marriage themselves. It was longlisted for the Man Booker prize, a list that has been a goldmine for good reads this year.

[Topper]

I just started the Soho Murders, Books 1-3 by Mark Dawson. It takes place in 1940 in Soho during WWII of course. The characters are complex with a rich dialogue in a who-dunnit that is at least compelling during the first hundred pages.

[CardiacCoug]

I finally got around to reading The Goldfinch. I don't read a ton of fiction but despite the 700+ pages I wish I had read this one sooner. What a great epic novel. I loved the Russian stuff and the descriptions of drug use and addiction -- just have loved the entire book actually.

[SteelBlue]

Phil Klay's Redeployment wins the National Book Award for fiction.

[fusnik]

Capital in the 21st Century.

The greatest show on earth, the evidence for evolution.

Ready for a Hardy Boys book.