It has been a long time since we had a thread like this..as summer comes, we need some beach reads!

As for me I have not found much that has grabbed me and I am searching for good reads...for me and my 89 year old Mom, who loves biographies.

I have some cued up for us to read, mostly about the Kennedy daughters who did not fit the mold, Rosemary and "Kick".

But I crave some fun fiction and have not been paying attention as work has swamped me..

So here we go..what are you reading??

My downstairs books right now is



I bought it because I thought my Mom might like it but...nah..too slow..like a sleepy version of Lake Wobegon..sigh..

It is in the bathroom for quick reads when needed.

I just downloaded this book after reading a review of it in the (sigh!) AARP magazine:

Nothing. I'd like to be reading the TNCR archive to find my introduction thread but I haven't had my coffee. God, there's no time to read everything one might. There's a new (current) variorum edition of Emily Dickinson's poems. Let's pretend I'm reading that under a shade tree.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Miller:
I just downloaded this book after reading a review of it in the (sigh!) AARP magazine:

So what was it like?

quote:

Originally posted by Daniel:

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Miller:
I just downloaded this book after reading a review of it in the (sigh!) AARP magazine:

So what was it like?

Haven't started it yet.

The cover gives me a 'the lights are on but there's no one home' feeling. Lol.

Just finished reading "Paris in the Present Tense," the new Mark Helprin novel. It was a gift from the author. He thought it might be meaningful to me because of the musical themes in it. It is a profound and beautiful book that I am sure I will reread. And I almost never do that.

Thanks to jon (who mentioned a Kindle Amazon sale for George Orwell), I'm reading "Burmese Days". I'm astonished by the quality of his writing - the psychological astuteness re the personalities and the brilliant physical descriptions of the country (one feels the weather, so dramatic), the various ethnicities, his exquisite vocabulary. It's a very sensory book with no incomplete charcters.

(Thanks to Kindle's dictionary feature, I'm gaining words daily. Ones I feel I should have already known as an educated (?) person.) I'm not even counting the many esoteric borrowings from other languages he uses - terms from various SE Asian dialects and languages.

This novel is being read after rereading (of course) "Animal Farm" and "1984". They're brilliant beyond brilliant, but don't begin to serve as vehicles to show his sheer literary genius - why I'm so astounded here. It's not an "idea book" like the other two.

Thanks again, jon.

I've decided if I had to wish a dead writer alive again, not just to make his acquaintance but for romantic purposes, it's Orwell. I say that having read a good bit about him by now.

I might regret it if I had my wish, though, considering the description of his monotone speech and speculation that he had Asperger's Syndrome. He had a fairly sad romantic history - many rebuffs.

But then, perhaps he was like the main chacter in this novel (also a sad, failed Romeo with an unappealing physiognomy) but with a great deal to offer a female partner, if only she could be receptive to listening to him, sharing with him, in his great loneliness.

OTOH it DOES seem that while that was Mr. Flory's claim, in the overview, he was exclusively attracted to pretty young things much his junior. If so of Orwell, I'm probably fortunate my spiritualist fantasy remains unrealised.

(But I WOULD have liked to be friends with him. Poor man, that was very often how he was responded to by females he was attracted to!)

I've been reading "A Land Apart," by Flannery Burke, a social history of the American Southwest (particularly AZ and NM), the history of the various peoples indigenous to that region, and the role it has played in US history. It's fascinating and right on the money from my perspective. I've learned a lot of history along the way.

P*D, you might really enjoy it, given your new casa.

I also have several fiction books going right now, nothing particularly award-winning, but certainly good captivating summer reads.

What are this year's really good fiction titles? I often struggle to find good fiction, since the NYT or other best-seller lists often appear to show only the latest in a series of mysteries. Not that there's anything wrong with that! I enjoy reading those, and one series in particular ( ) as much as anyone else. They just tend to bury some of the gems for people like me, who don't make a habit of reading the NYT Review of Books or similar.

Often the "most popular" lists tend to be only romance novels as well.

I read Burmese Days many years ago while on a camping trip. I couldn't put it down. I found it as political as psychological. A deft criticism of colonialism.


I'm not reading anything at the moment. Not for pleasure, at least. I'm in the thick of re-writing a very important technical document for the NFFMCo, so most of what I'm reading are other technical documents as part of my research.

I'm still working on Relics, but it's in my travel bag, so I only read it while on aeroplanes.

quote:

Originally posted by Nina:
I've been reading "A Land Apart," by Flannery Burke, a social history of the American Southwest (particularly AZ and NM), the history of the various peoples indigenous to that region, and the role it has played in US history. It's fascinating and right on the money from my perspective. I've learned a lot of history along the way.

P*D, you might really enjoy it, given your new casa.

I also have several fiction books going right now, nothing particularly award-winning, but certainly good captivating summer reads.

What are this year's really good fiction titles? I often struggle to find good fiction, since the NYT or other best-seller lists often appear to show only the latest in a series of mysteries. Not that there's anything wrong with that! I enjoy reading those, and one series in particular ( ) as much as anyone else. They just tend to bury some of the gems for people like me, who don't make a habit of reading the NYT Review of Books or similar.

Often the "most popular" lists tend to be only romance novels as well.

I’ve been reading a lot of YA lately. I started reading them to make recommendations to my kids, but I’ve read several solid titles that I think hold their own for grown ups as well.

The Night Diary tells the story of Nisha, a half-Hindu, half-Muslim girl whose family decides to flee newly-formed Pakistan. I didn’t know much about the division of India and Pakistan (other than from what I learned watching Gandhi) and this book filled in some gaps, as well as being a heart-wrenching story. https://www.goodreads.com/book...4020-the-night-diary

Scythe tells the story of an utopian (or dystopian) world with no disease, sickness, or natural death. People are selected to act as Scythes - commanded to end human lives to keep the population under control. I loved this story, and am thrilled that it’s part of a series. The first two books have been released, and they were both really enjoyable. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28954189-scythe


Still in the YA category, if you haven’t read The Hate U Give, do. It’s being released as a movie soon, but I think the book is an absolute must-read. https://www.goodreads.com/book...5671-the-hate-u-give

I’ve been slacking on my own reading, but now that school is out hope to get back on track!

quote:

Originally posted by dolmansaxlil:

Still in the YA category, if you haven’t read The Hate U Give, do.

Very controversial in South Carolina

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Miller:

quote:

Originally posted by dolmansaxlil:

Still in the YA category, if you haven’t read The Hate U Give, do.

Very controversial in South Carolina

Even more reason to read it.

I’m not anti-police, but I do think that there are deep rooted problems in the law enforcement system that need to be addressed. It’s not all cops, but it’s hard to deny that there are issues.

The thing that struck me most about THUG is that the way the shooting is treated in the media was so realistic. I’ve heard all of those headlines - and assumed they were truthful - time and time again. Whether the inner city Black experience is accurate isn’t something I can speak to, but the portrayal of the media response was absolutely bang-on, and it definitely gave me something to think about.

quote:

Originally posted by Nina:
I've been reading "A Land Apart," by Flannery Burke, a social history of the American Southwest...

P*D, you might really enjoy it, given your new casa.

PD, Did I miss something - did you finally move??

("Casa" DOES mean house in Spanish, right?)

About "Burmese Days". So glad to hear your response. You're right to add its message re colonialism. And how could it be otherwise, considering his life of political commitment? (In fact, that's one of the main reasons I'm attracted to him - his specific flavor of Socialism which so completely parallels a small modern group who refer to themselves as "Marxist Humanist", headquartered in Detroit. My late dearest friend and I identified with them - me through her (was so preocuppied with my needy kids I couldn't do much but encourage her).

FYI ye of the current "Left", there really ARE Trotskyite organizations around today.

And to return to Orwell, he described himself as did my friend. In fact, he fought in the Spanish Civil War - would have fought in WWII is he'd passed muster medically. Had it not been for his war injuries and other stresses on his fragile physique, he would probably have lived much longer (you probably know he died youngish from TB).

So he was what we'd now call an activist besides being an intellectual. (Interesting that Arthur Koestler with whom he was friends - also well acquainted with the horrors of Stalinism, cf. "Darkness at Noon"- advised Orwell to forget actually "getting involved" in the conflicts of the day. That is, apart from his writing. The opposite of Orwell in that regard.)

quote:

P*D, you might really enjoy it, given your new casa.

I'll have to take a look at it, in all my free time.

quote:

PD, Did I miss something - did you finally move??

Finally? My wife and I have been interested in getting a home in the Santa Fe area for a number of years now. It will be a second home / rental until I retire. Last year was the first time we actually hooked up with a real estate agent and toured some places. We met up again this year to refine our likes and dislikes and came away with a contract on a house...

We close on the beast later this month. And this has nothing to do with "what I'm reading."

On that score, I'm actually going back to Terry Pratchett's old Discworld series. I'm now in book 4 (Mort).