What are you reading?

[Michael H]

Yeah, Shantaram was a page-turner, although it got a bit too long-winded towards the end. Definitely worth reading though, especially if one has been to India.

 

PW, I loved that book! The way Roberts portrays his characters through their speech patterns is so deft I quickly fell into the rhythm of each one.

Here, as promised is the excerpt I mentioned before.

Background: Didier a gay man now late in life is recounting his involvement with a much older man when he, Didier was a young teen. He sits a bar in Bombay drinking with the main character.

 

“He loved me, and I loved him, it was true, but he made an error of judgment. He gave my love a test. He allowed me to discover where he kept a large sum of cash. I could not resist the temptation that he offered me. I took the money and ran away. I loved him, but I took his money and ran away. For all his wisdom, he did not know there is no test for love. Fifteen years later in Genoa [my insert]. I walked the same boulevard of sand where he had taught me to read Rimbaud and Verlaine. And then I saw him. He was sitting with a group of men his own age—he was more than sixty then—and they were watching two elderly gentlemen play chess. He wore a grey cardigan and a black velvet scarf, although the day was not cold. His hair was almost gone.

That silver crown of hair was…gone. …I walked on past him, averting my gaze, so that he should not recognize me. I even pretended a strange, stooping walk to disguise myself. I glanced back at him, watching him as he coughed violently into a white handkerchief. There was blood, I think, staining that white handkerchief. I walked faster and faster until I ran with the haste of a man in terror. …I have lived what many—or most—would call a wicked life. I have done things that could put me in prison, and things that, in some nations, could see me executed. There are many things I have done that I can say, I’m not proud. But there is one act that I can say I am truly ashamed of it. I hurried past that great man, and I had money enough and time enough and good health enough to help him. I hurried past him, not because I felt guilty, or about his sickness, or the commitment it might cost me. I hurried past that good and brilliant man who had loved me, and taught me how to love, simply because he was old—because he was no longer beautiful any more.” ~SHANTARAM by Gregory David Roberts

 

M

Edited March 21, 2008 by Michael Halfhill

[moonwolf]

I'm reading The art of war by Sun Tzu. just a great book on war tactics and on how it can still be applied today in general life

[S.L. Lewis]

So many fasinating books and stories that we've been told about. Wow.

Let's see. I'm now reading 'Queen of the Damned.' A bit long winded and you get a lot of information, but still good. Better then the movie in any case.

[Michael H]

I'm reading The art of war by Sun Tzu. just a great book on war tactics and on how it can still be applied today in general life

 

MW, I read The Art Of War when I had a major conflict with a work colleague. This could have been a career breaker had I not employed Tzu's wisdom in dealing with some one determined to push me out of my laboratory and ultimately my job.

 

IMO, The Art Of War is a must read for anyone who finds himself at odds in any serious situation.

 

M

Edited March 21, 2008 by Michael Halfhill

[Procyon]

PW, I loved that book! The way Roberts portrays his characters through their speech patterns is so deft I quickly fell into the rhythm of each one.

Here, as promised is the excerpt I mentioned before.

Background: Didier a gay man now late in life is recounting his involvement with a much older man when he, Didier was a young teen. He sits a bar in Bombay drinking with the main character.

 

 

[BitterEpiphany]

At the moment, re-reading The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, and also reading The Children's Bach by Helen Garner. Latter being read for an English class, but it's still nice. Into it more for the prose and style than the story itself, though that's not bad too. And gotta love Margaret Atwood.

[Michael H]

At the moment, re-reading The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, and also reading The Children's Bach by Helen Garner. Latter being read for an English class, but it's still nice. Into it more for the prose and style than the story itself, though that's not bad too. And gotta love Margaret Atwood.

 

So many books I have yet to read! After I begin a project I stop reading. It soon becomes clear that I fall behind, but that's how I operate when I'm in write mode.

 

M

[sat8997]

Drawing Blood, by Poppy Z. Brite

 

I've been wanting to read that one for a loooooong time now, and it's great so far. I'm also reading the fourth book in the Wheel of Time series, The Shadow Rising.

 

Excellent choice Jamie, I have it myself and think Poppy Z. Brite is brilliant.

 

 

I'm currently reading the first of two books by Josh Aterovis. He writes the Killian Kendall Mystery Series.

 

These are republished books. The first time around he was self-published. His books received enough critical acclaim, and good enough sales, that he was offered a publishing deal. There was a great deal of rewriting in the second set of books. So even if you read the first set of books I recommend reading the second set of books.

 

I have copies of both books from the first printing and they are signed by the author. I'd love to see the rest of them published.

 

Sharon

[Michael H]

Excellent choice Jamie, I have it myself and think Poppy Z. Brite is brilliant.

 

 

 

 

I have copies of both books from the first printing and they are signed by the author. I'd love to see the rest of them published.

 

Sharon

 

Sharon, Josh lives not far from me. We planned a dinner date last year but couldn't get our schedules aligned. I hadn't heard about the publishing deal. I've read his books. Perhaps the rewrites will be better--maybe not. Have you been to his website? He's a painter too and some of his work is featured there.

M

[sat8997]

I don't know if I want to read the rewrites. I thought the two books were wonderful the way they were. It's been a while since I've been to his site but I have seen his paintings. At the time he signed the books for me we had a nice conversation about Maryland's Eastern Shore. I'm a frequent visitor to that area, have been all my life. We discovered we had been at the same annual event at the same time on several occasions. Small world...

 

Sharon

[S.L. Lewis]

At the moment, re-reading The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, and also reading The Children's Bach by Helen Garner. Latter being read for an English class, but it's still nice. Into it more for the prose and style than the story itself, though that's not bad too. And gotta love Margaret Atwood.

 

 

The handmaid's tale? I remember having to read that one. It's okay and I liked it to a point. It still took me a long time to get through.

The other one, I don't know about. Can you tell us about it? Just a bit mind you.

[BitterEpiphany]

The handmaid's tale? I remember having to read that one. It's okay and I liked it to a point. It still took me a long time to get through.

The other one, I don't know about. Can you tell us about it? Just a bit mind you.

 

Love The Handmaid's Tale! Atwood's style is abundantly quirky, which isn't something you find every day - run-on sentences and truncated ones, verbless ones, etc. etc. It is a dense story, though... But that whole totalitarianistic dystopia thing is so up my alley it isn't funny.

 

As for Garner's novella... centres around two characters named Athena and Dexter. They live a sheltered life, which is disrupted when Elizabeth, a woman from Dexter's past, enters the pictures - Elizabeth brings with her Vicki (her lonely teenager sister), Philip (Elizabeth's husband), and Poppy (Elizabeth and Philip's daughter). The disruption causes chaos, and amongst it all, Athena searches for a way out of the sheltered lifestyle and into the real world without having any idea of its consequences. And the concept of music is central to the story - it signifies something different for each of the characters, and brings someone else into the story that none of them had previously expected.

 

Yeah, okay, that was more than a bit, but eh. I just finished it last night - it was a nice story. Typical with the whole classic contemporary Australian literature image. But it's a nice read.

[S.L. Lewis]

It's fine, Bitter. Gave me just what I wanted. I'll have to go look it up some day soon.

[colinian]

Besides reading for my college courses, I'm reading two short story collections. It's taking a long time to get through them, but that's the advantage of short stories: you can finish one in a sitting, then leave the book for a day or week or month then pick it up and read another story and not have to try to remember what already happened.

 

The first is Drinking Coffee Elsewhere by ZZ Packer. She's a young black woman who is an amazing story teller. Her ability to get you into the mind and personality of her characters is amazing. Her command of dialogue is amazing. I love the way she writes! One of the things I love about her stories is that none of them have a final resolution. It's left up to each reader to imagine a final resolution (or two or three) for themself. You will never finish reading one of her stories and think, "Aw, what a cute story!" Nope, no way, not at all.

 

The second is Best New American Voices 2008 edited by Richard Bausch. The subtitle tells the genesis of these stories: "Fresh Fiction from the Top Writing Programs." These are short stories by young authors from universities and writing programs. The seventeen stories are all professional level, and a great book to have on the shelf to go back to reread a story or two.

 

Colin

[BeaStKid]

Rich Boy 2 : Chapter 9!!

[corvus]

(Sadly I spilled a lot of coffee on it once, like, half a mug, so it looks really ugly now. I just couldn't put it down while I drank my coffee back then, it was too absorbing, lalala.)

 

Just be glad it wasn't into your lap... Sounds like a Seinfeld situation.

 

The second is Best New American Voices 2008 edited by Richard Bausch. The subtitle tells the genesis of these stories: "Fresh Fiction from the Top Writing Programs." These are short stories by young authors from universities and writing programs. The seventeen stories are all professional level, and a great book to have on the shelf to go back to reread a story or two.

 

So how does this guy decide what the Best New American Voices are?

 

I'm reading Colm Toibin's The Master. It's very good, even if it's not as gripping as the only other thing by him that I've read. The book is about Henry James, and deals with being a writer -- the isolation, withdrawal, sacrifice, etc. It's tied into being gay as well. Very fascinating. Every so often I find myself comparing myself to James and feeling uncomfortably close to a fictional character. It gets even more fun because I can feel that comparison reverberating to Toibin himself, so it's like a three-way echo game... :wacko:

[JamesSavik]

On my pile at the moment:

 

Smithsonian Earth

 

Pandemic: the New Killer Plagues

[Procyon]

Just be glad it wasn't into your lap... Sounds like a Seinfeld situation.

 

Where do you suppose the other half of the mug went?! It was pretty hot too... (Gary, do you have a smiley for this?)

[Drewbie]

Moving on By Jack frost

 

Finished: reading living in surreality By Shadowgod

 

Love given up on me by Cody Lane

 

Waiting: Jumping over my mountain By Tiff

[colinian]

So how does this guy decide what the Best New American Voices are?

 

From the preface to New American Voices 2008: "We do not accept submissions from individual writers for the Best New American Voices competition. Each year we invite workshop directors and instructors to nominate stories for consideration."

Stories were submitted by writers who were students of writing programs at the University of Iowa, the University of Massachusetts, NYU, Penn State, the Wesleyan Writers Conference, Sarah Lawrence College, Stanford University, and others. The submissions were judged by John Kulka, Natalie Danford, and Richard Bausch.

 

Colin

[S.L. Lewis]

Wow, such a collectiong of books. And people, remember to add links to stories that are on the net.. It makes it easier for us to find them and saves us some major time. Thank you.

 

Anyways, I'm reading Vorocities stories again. I love them, even if they are long.

[corvus]

I finished Toibin's The Master. Bette Davis once said that Greta Garbo's mastery over the camera was pure witchcraft. The same goes for Toibin's mastery over the page. I don't know how he does it... *shakes head*

 

Right now I'm reading Don Delillo's Mao II, partly for my own enjoyment and partly because Delillo is one of those Important Authors You Should Read (dixit Mr. Harold Bloom). The part of it that's the latter is, sadly, rather high. Delillo is one of those authors who writes things that make you think, 'Oh, so this is the profound part. Mm-hmm.' It's not hopeless, though, and I'm halfway through already.

[Mikie]

So many fasinating books and stories that we've been told about. Wow.

Let's see. I'm now reading 'Queen of the Damned.' A bit long winded and you get a lot of information, but still good. Better then the movie in any case.

I am currently reading the book in the Vampire Chronicles that comes before Queen of the Damned, aka The Vampire Lestat, as I finished reading Interview With The Vampire, which was a pretty amazing read in my opinion. I also appreciate Rice's so very interesting take on vampire life, including sexuality. I agree with any critic who claimed the book was "erotic" because that it was, and not in a dirty or bad way.

[S.L. Lewis]

I am currently reading the book in the Vampire Chronicles that comes before Queen of the Damned, aka The Vampire Lestat, as I finished reading Interview With The Vampire, which was a pretty amazing read in my opinion. I also appreciate Rice's so very interesting take on vampire life, including sexuality. I agree with any critic who claimed the book was "erotic" because that it was, and not in a dirty or bad way.

 

 

I love her books to and I am seriously ticked off that she is using her new found religion to drop her characters and to ban them from ever being discussed with her again. I know plenty of Christians who write all sorts of stories.

 

Anyways, I like the way they are set up. I'm now reading her book Memnoc the devil or something like that...

[JSmith]

This may have already been mentioned, but I didn't read through the thread so if it was, forgive me and ignore this post

 

There's a great site called Literature Map that maps out an author you choose. It will take suggestions on what other people read that also like that author and display them. The closer two authors are, the more likely you are to like both of them.

 

I mapped it out with Vince Flynn one of my all-time favorite authors and found it to be very helpful while searching for a new book to read.

 

So if youre looking for new authors and want to find ones that others suggest, this site gives tons of them.

 

Joe