What Are You Reading

[Feraud]

Picked up The Lost City of Z, a Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon last weekend. It's one of those man versus nature tales. A well written story so far.
This should hold me until I get the Peter Lorre bio.

 

[Jennifer Lynn]

Picked up The Lost City of Z, a Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon last weekend. It's one of those man versus nature tales. A well written story so far.

May pick this book up as well, as fellow Indy (Jones) enthusiasts got me interested in this story a while ago. I wonder how development is going for the movie. [huh]

I'm about to start Ragtime, by E.L. Doctorow. Will aim for the movie after that.

 

[AmateisGal]

The Postmistress by Sarah Blake

 

[railroad detect]

Reading

Alan Furst has a new book out titled, "The Spys of Warsaw". Plan to pick it up tomorrow. He is one of the most descriptive writers I have encountered.
When he writes about being on a train in Poland at 3o am, you can feel the wheels move beneath the floor.

 

[cco23i]

My wife just bought me "Forever Amber" dated 1944 and I can't wait to read it! I will have it "sent" to me as a mail call item for our Midland Odessa show!

Scott

 

[Wally_Hood]

Ah yes I recall! At the moment I think Shadows of Ecstasy is my favourite Williams so far. As for modern authors, that is a tricky one and nothing currently springs to mind - I'd like to find something though.

I have noticed that JK Rowling's books seemed to have been influenced by William's worths there are too many similarities with the plot devices to be coincidental. That said they are not really the same kind of book.

Interesting note, EB. I have only started the first Rowling book, but put it down about a year ago. My goal is to re-start and finish it this summer.

 

[BinkieBaumont]

"Noblesse Oblige"

"Nancy Mitford, the last verse reads;"


Milk and then just as it comes, dear?
I'm afraid the preserve's full of stones;
Beg pardon I'm soiling the doilies
With afternoon tea-cakes and scones.

 

[Feraud]

May pick this book up as well, as fellow Indy (Jones) enthusiasts got me interested in this story a while ago. I wonder how development is going for the movie. [huh]

So they are attempting a movie of Fawcett's disappearance?
I wish someone would do a serious treatment of R.F. Burton's life and explorations. Mountains of the Moon was o.k. but lacked something..

 

[LizzieMaine]

Leafing thru "Women Are Here To Stay: The Durable Se In Its Infinite Variety Through Half a Century of American Life," by journalist Agnes Rogers, a coffee-table compendium from 1949 of distinguished women in every possible field of endeavor -- authors, scientists, artists, athletes, adventurers, politicians, provocateurs, you name it. (Of course, this whole volume must be an elaborate fraud, since we all know from TV that no woman ever did anything interesting before 1965.)

Pretty entertaining volume -- but I'm rather miffed that there's no mention of my personal role model, Dorothy Kilgallen. Bad form, Aggie.

 

[Jennifer Lynn]

So they are attempting a movie of Fawcett's disappearance?

Indeed, there've been talks of a movie since 2008 I think. Brad Pitt is slated as the lead and may be the producer as well. I haven't found much current news on it (not even imdb) as it's still in development, and hasn't ventured into pre-production yet.

 

[Jennifer Lynn]

"Noblesse Oblige"

"Nancy Mitford, the last verse reads;"


Milk and then just as it comes, dear?
I'm afraid the preserve's full of stones;
Beg pardon I'm soiling the doilies
With afternoon tea-cakes and scones.

Interesting; I have a book by the same name (quite common, it seems), but by Helen Argers. I found it in my home when I moved in (it was a model, and someone was bored enough to come in from the sales office, sit down and have a read.)

 

[skyvue]

I'm reading and very much enjoying Neil Steinberg's Hatless Jack: The President, the Fedora, and the History of an American Style, which I know many here have read before me.

It inspired me to buy a copy of In Your Hat, a 1932 memoir filled with celebrity gossip that was written by Renee Carroll, a hat-check girl at Sardi's, and illustrated by Alex Gard.

I'm very much looking forward to read that one next. Sadly, it will be arriving without the charming cover pictured below.

 

[swinggal]

Currently reading 'A ba***rd of a place' by Peter Brune which is about the Australians in Papua in WW11.

In 1942 and early 1943 Papua New Guinea was 'a ba***rd of a place' to fight a war. Peter Brune gives us the final, all-encompassing story of the five battles that changed Australia forever.

Peter's compelling narrative resonates with the voices of both the well-trained AIF volunteer, and the young Militia conscript who triumphed together. He interviewed hundreds of these soldiers and himself travelled the treacherous terrain and bloody battlegrounds where so many of their mates perished. Peter reveals the inside story of how Generals MacArthur and Blamey sacrificed many of the senior Australian field commanders as scapegoats to protect their own positions.

A ba***rd of a Place restores Milne Bay, Gona, Buna and Sanananda to their rightful place beside Kokoda to what they should collectively be for all Australians sacred ground. - Allen & Unwin

http://rgr-static1.tangentlabs.co.uk/images/ar/97817411/9781741144031/0/0/plain/ba***rd-of-a-place-the-australians-in-papua.jpg

 

[Diamondback]

Swinggal, I'll have to check that one out myself someday as part of my studies--I know MacArthur isn't exactly the most beloved-by-Aussies of historical figures, but I need to see his war from your countrymen's perspective as part of the prep-work if I'm to build an accurate profile.

 

[Jack Scorpion]

YOU KNOW ME, AL by Ring Lardner. If you don't like it then you should jump off a bridge.

Sold!

 

[Smithy]

Currently reading 'A ba***rd of a place' by Peter Brune which is about the Australians in Papua in WW11.



http://rgr-static1.tangentlabs.co.uk/images/ar/97817411/9781741144031/0/0/plain/ba***rd-of-a-place-the-australians-in-papua.jpg

Saw this down at Dymocks the other day. When you finish, post your thoughts as I'm thinking of picking this up as well.

 

[swinggal]

No probs. I got mine second-hand. I like to buy used books as it's like recycling

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Taking another trip down the mean streets of Chandlertown...

The corridor of the sixth floor was narrow and the doors had frosted glass panels. It was older and much dirtier than my own building. It was loaded with doctors, dentists, Christian Science practitioners not doing too good, the kind of lawyers you hope the other fellow has, the kind of doctors and dentists who just scrape along. Not too skillful, not too clean, not too much on the ball, three dollars and please pay the nurse; tired, discouraged men who know just exactly where they stand, what kind of patients they can get and how much money they can be squeezed into paying. Please Do Not Ask For Credit. Doctor is In. Doctor is Out. That is a pretty shaky molar you have there, Mrs. Kazinski. Now if you want this new acrylic filling, every bit as good as a gold inlay, I can do it for you for $14. Novocain will be two dollars extra, if you wish it. Doctor is In, Doctor is Out. That will be Three Dollars. Please pay the Nurse.

...The Long Goodbye

I was as hollow as the spaces between the stars. When I got home I mixed a stiff one and stood by the open window in the living room and sipped it and listened to the groundswell of the traffic on Laurel Canyon Boulevard and looked at the glare of the big angry city hanging over the shoulder of the hills through which the boulevard had been cut. Far off the banshee wail of police and fire sirens rose and fell, never for very long completely silent. Twenty-four hours a day somebody is running, somebody else is trying to catch him. Out there in the night of a thousand crimes people were dying, being maimed, or cut by flying glass, crushed against steering wheels or under heavy tires. People were being beaten, robbed, strangled, raped, and murdered. People were hungry, sick; bored, desperate with loneliness or remorse or fear, angry, cruel, feverish, shaken by sobs. A city no worse than others, a city rich and vigorous and full of pride, a city lost and beaten and full of emptiness.

...The Long Goodbye

 

[Touchofevil]

Unfortunately, Chandler did not produce nearly enough material and as a result, I had to pace myself so that it wasn't over before I knew it. Now if he had produced at the pace of Georges Simenon, I would be exceptionally happy.

 

[Touchofevil]

Reading on my Kindle, "Kitchen Confidential" by Anthony Bourdain. Very entertaining!