What have you read lately?

[nebo113]

Is that about Acoma?

I did a comps on that and two other colonial churches....

M.

No...but "Haunted Mesa" might be a good title for a work set there!

I bet you loved Willa Cather's Death Comes to the Archbishop.

I loved it!!!

[apl68]

Is that about Acoma?

I did a comps on that and two other colonial churches....

M.

No...but "Haunted Mesa" might be a good title for a work set there!

I bet you loved Willa Cather's Death Comes to the Archbishop.

I loved it!!!

Wonderful novel.  I had the good fortune to read it in an edition that had Harold von Schmidt's pen-and-ink illustrations.  Then I made sure my mother, a New Mexico native, had a chance to read it.  She loved it too.

[Myword]

Death Without Tenure by Dobson. A mystery, and satire of affirmative action and multicultural education. Humorous with a cast of unlikable characters. Author is an English professor.

[Parasaurolophus]

I haven't re-read it recently, but the viral apocalypse sure seems like a good time to revisit Mira Grant's Feed, which, if memory serves, features a world that's been reorganized very much along the same lines we're currently contemplating.

[ab_grp]

We finally finished Anathem again last night.  I definitely enjoyed it more than I did the first time, although I still don't think it's as good as Cryptonomicon.  There are some really interesting ideas and great characters, but he does go on and on at times.  Good gravy.  And, also similar to Cryptonomicon, it seems to me that he dwells and dwells on the most basic stuff and then waves his hands at the more complicated aspects. It's good and thought provoking but a bit arduous to go through at times. When he's on he's really on, and then there are those other times.  Still, I'm glad we reread it.  I have no idea what we'll read next, but hopefully something just as distracting.

[delsur]

Long Bright River by Liz Moore. Highly recommend!

[apl68]

Just read Footprints:  In Search of Future Fossils, by David Farrier.  We've been hearing a lot in recent years about how human impact upon the Earth's environment has become so great that it now constitutes a new geological age--the Antropocene."  Farrier describes just how much that is now the case.  It's mind-boggling how much STUFF humans have made/transformed/relocated in recent decades.  No matter what happens next, what we as a species have done in recent generations will be a fact of life in the world for a very, very long time to come.  Assuming there is that much time left.

It's a fascinating subject, but I wish that the author's personal meditations on the subject hadn't spent quite so many pages out on center stage.

[ergative]

I've been listening to a Librivox recording of The Three Clerks, by Anthony Trollope. It's fine. Trollope is prolific and reliable, and sometimes you just want to slip into those days. Also, one of the young rakes is an aspiring writer, and there's a hilarious scene where he describes a story he's working on, and explains his decisions about pacing and plotting in terms of what the editor says, and it's very funny.

(I am making a conscious decision not to be annoyed by the wife-husbandry in the plot.)

[polly_mer]

I'm reading Richard Rhodes The Making of the Atomic Bomb.  It would be better in many places so far if Rhodes would pick a one storyline and go with it. 

Are we being told the history of the field of nuclear physics? 

Doing flashbacks to follow the making of a physics Nobel prize winner who had a very interesting life due to being in the wrong place at the wrong time until middle age?

Following the development of the political changes in the early 20th century in Europe that led to WWII?

Learning how literature influenced the development of modern physics?

Following various schools of thought regarding the philosophy and history of science?


Right now, it's reading a lot like the index cards that were used to make notes on every idea that Rhodes encountered were tossed on the floor and picked up randomly to be incorporated as a new paragraph for every card.

Perhaps it's a meta experience regarding the chaos of war or how one doesn't know how a scientific field will develop until a good 20 years into publications and discussions in the new field.

[archaeo42]

I'm working my way through the Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante. I'm on book 3 (Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay). I'm enjoying them and find her writing style compelling but I'm not loving them like so many of the people who have raved about them to me have. Maybe I need to read the entire set or maybe it's just not connecting to me.

The setting (post-WWII Italy) is exactly what my father grew up in outside of Naples. It makes me want to ask him more about his childhood - he hasn't told us stories in quite awhile.

[ab_grp]

We started on Straight Man (Russo) last night.  The recommendation was a good one.  We are already drawn into and appreciate the humor right now!

[bioteacher]

Smoke Bitten by Patricia Briggs. Bioette is reading it now. I love the authentic marriage portrayed by Adam and Mercy. The Mercy Thompson series hits all my buttons for werewolves, vampires, urban fantasy and fantastic characters. Now I can read it again to savor it.

[Puget]

We started on Straight Man (Russo) last night.  The recommendation was a good one.  We are already drawn into and appreciate the humor right now!

One of my favorites-- Maybe I should re-read it now. Seems like just the thing. Can't remember if I already recommended it down thread, but I'd also recommend That Old Cape Magic as another one of his on the funny side (though with some pathos as well).

I've been checking out lots of audiobooks from the library. I started listing to After the Flood -- it was good but I decided post-apocalyptic fiction was NOT what I needed right now. Instead I now have a David Sedaris (Dress your Family in Corduroy and Denim) and a Walter Moseley PI novel (Down the River Unto the Sea).

[mamselle]

What's Moseley's work like?

M.

[ab_grp]

We started on Straight Man (Russo) last night.  The recommendation was a good one.  We are already drawn into and appreciate the humor right now!

One of my favorites-- Maybe I should re-read it now. Seems like just the thing. Can't remember if I already recommended it down thread, but I'd also recommend That Old Cape Magic as another one of his on the funny side (though with some pathos as well).

I didn't recall who had recommended it, but it is keeping us entertained.  We had read a bunch of his other books and also picked up That Old Cape Magic based on a recommendation here.  I hope you can get back to it if you enjoyed it, and thank you if you had recommended it! I also agree that post-apocalyptic stories are not so great to read right now.  We've read quite a few, and I'm not sure if it's possibly making things worse for me (or better? better prepared?).  I am really heartened by all the folks posting videos reading aloud for kids right now.  I would like to do that.