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What Are You Reading

Hercule

Practically Family
Messages
953
Location
Western Reserve (Cleveland)
Just finished City of Nets: A Portrait of Hollywood in the 1940's by Otto Friedrich. Though the author admits from the beginning that he isn't presenting anything that hasn't already been published, he does pull together from his 500 some sources a wonderful overview of 40s Hollywood. Easy to read, quite detailed, and very engaging.
 
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Hepville

One of the Regulars
Messages
246
Location
Germany
Just finished Dearly Devoted Dexter... was fun to read... so I guess I´ll read some more of those Dexter thrillers.
 

Mr Vim

One Too Many
Messages
1,306
Location
Juneau, Alaska
I discovered in the public library the first volume of Will Eisner's the Spirit Archives. Having never read the original comic, I'm currentely going through it now. He truly was a genius.
 

Hercule

Practically Family
Messages
953
Location
Western Reserve (Cleveland)
Don't You Know There's a War On? The American Home Front, 1941-1945 by Richard R. Lingeman. About half way through it at this point and can't put it down. It's turning out to be quite a definitive look at the home front. It's chock full of stats, anecdodes and data. Though sometimes these aspects can be a bit overwhelming, it is nonetheless an easy and engaging read.
 

davidraphael

Practically Family
Messages
790
Location
Germany & UK
Just finished City of Nets: A Portrait of Hollywood in the 1940's by Otto Friedrich. Though the author admits from the beginning that he isn't presenting anything that hasn't already been published, he does pull together from his 500 some sources a wonderful overview of 40s Hollywood. Easy to read, quite detailed, and very engaging.

yes, great book. A good companion book is The Genius of the System by Thomas Schatz and Steven Bach
 

Chasseur

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,494
Location
Hawaii
Re-reading Chandler's Big Sleep, Farwell my Lovely and the High Window. The first two in particular I can re-read every 3-4 years.
 

Tomasso

Incurably Addicted
Messages
13,719
Location
USA
I'm on an Agatha Christie kick. They're like potato chips;you can't stop reading them. BTW, Guinness Book of World Records has her sales pegged at 2 BILLION copies.....:eusa_doh:
 

Widebrim

I'll Lock Up
After putting it down for a while, just finished An Assembly Such As This, the first of the Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman trilogy. Well done and enjoyable. Just started The Winter Queen, by Boris Akunin, the author who is a living legend in Russia. It's an easy, interesting read, and includes some great vignettes concerning late-19th century Moscow life.
 

Chasseur

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,494
Location
Hawaii
Which do you prefer, Chasseur, if any? I am particularly fond of Farewell, My Lovely, despite its overuse of metaphors/similies...

Both of those two are my favorite of his work, by the High Window and after its not as good. I really like complicated nature of plot and all the craczy characters from Farewell, My Lovely. In particular the sequence where he goes to Amthor and then ends up in the dodgy hospital. Just brillant I thought.
 

Widebrim

I'll Lock Up
Both of those two are my favorite of his work, by the High Window and after its not as good. I really like complicated nature of plot and all the craczy characters from Farewell, My Lovely. In particular the sequence where he goes to Amthor and then ends up in the dodgy hospital. Just brillant I thought.

The film version with Dick Powell does a good job with the segment, too.
 

Chasseur

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,494
Location
Hawaii
Yes I liked the Dick Powell version. I should re-watch the Robert Mitchum one I've not seen it for a long time.
 

skyvue

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,221
Location
New York City
I'm reading Robert Goolrick's Heading Out to Wonderful. It's set in the postwar years in small town Virginia, and a somewhat mysterious young man, Charlie, has chosen to settle in a small town in Virginia, and neither the townspeople nor the reader knows why (at least not 102 pages in, in any case). There's a hint or two that trouble might be brewing, but until it does, I'm enjoy the small-town atmosphere, the author's way with prose and his interesting characters.

One such character, Claudie, is an eccentric woman who lives on the edge of town and is something of a miracle worker when it comes to dressmaking; there's also a striking young women (I imagine her being played by Scarlett Johansson) who was raised deep in the hills and was virtually sold to the richest man in town by her impoverished father. This character, Sylvan, longs to live the life she sees depicted in the movies. To that end, she has lost her hillbilly dialect by listening for hours on end to the radio ("The Loves of Helen Trent" is a particularly strong influence on her).

I suspect Sylvan may prove to be Charlie's downfall (or he hers), but that's only conjecture.

Anyway, there's lots of period detail and the author has a literary (but not overbearingly so) style that is pleasing. I recommend it as at least a library title, and it might even be worth purchasing to some here.

 
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cw3pa

A-List Customer
Messages
336
Location
Kingsport, Tenn.
A C. Auguste Dupin trilogy by Poe. The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Mystery of Marie Roget and The Purloined Letter.
A good primer on ratiocination.
 

AmateisGal

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,126
Location
Nebraska
I'm reading Robert Goolrick's Heading Out to Wonderful. It's set in the postwar years in small town Virginia, and a somewhat mysterious young man, Charlie, has chosen to settle in a small town in Virginia, and neither the townspeople nor the reader knows why (at least not 102 pages in, in any case). There's a hint or two that trouble might be brewing, but until it does, I'm enjoy the small-town atmosphere, the author's way with prose and his interesting characters.

One such character, Claudie, is an eccentric woman who lives on the edge of town and is something of a miracle worker when it comes to dressmaking; there's also a striking young women (I imagine her being played by Scarlett Johansson) who was raised deep in the hills and was virtually sold to the richest man in town by her impoverished father. This character, Sylvan, longs to live the life she sees depicted in the movies. To that end, she has lost her hillbilly dialect by listening for hours on end to the radio ("The Loves of Helen Trent" is a particularly strong influence on her).

I suspect Sylvan may prove to be Charlie's downfall (or he hers), but that's only conjecture.

Anyway, there's lots of period detail and the author has a literary (but not overbearingly so) style that is pleasing. I recommend it as at least a library title, and it might even be worth purchasing to some here.


Thanks for the recommendation! Will put this on my huge to-be-read list.
 

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