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What Are You Reading

MrNewportCustom

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,265
Location
Outer Los Angeles
Just finished several readings (with more to come) of The San Francisco Book by Herb Caen and Max Yavno (1948) and am now starting IN-N-OUT BURGER: A Behind-the-Counter Look at the Fast-Food Chain that Breaks All the Rules by Stacy Perman (2009).

From the back cover: "When fast-food restaurants tried to locate in Fisherman's Wharf, our local merchants were opposed to every one of them - except IN-N-OUT. Because every meal is fresh and made from scratch, IN-N-OUT is in a class by itself." - Gavin Newsome, mayor of San Fracisco.


Lee
__________________

"It's what a hamburger's all about."
 

Harp

I'll Lock Up
Messages
8,508
Location
Chicago, IL US
Aureliano said:
Is "To kill a mocking bird" a how-to book?:p... I guess I'll soon find out.;)


...a prepositional phrase; novel in approach, wrapped inside
The Code of Alabama and set betwixt the heart and soul,
with epigram taken from Charles Lamb and sole writ of Ms H Lee,
a Chicago Cubs fan, no less.

So ya know from the git-go it's gonna be good. ;)
 

Aureliano

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,753
Location
Macondo.
Harp said:
...a prepositional phrase; novel in approach, wrapped inside
The Code of Alabama and set betwixt the heart and soul,
with epigram taken from Charles Lamb and sole writ of Ms H Lee,
a Chicago Cubs fan, no less.

So ya know from the git-go it's gonna be good. ;)

nice!
so you know I'm not a moron, I was trying to be clever with the "how-to book" prank. I've been meaning to read the book for years, now with your blurb I'm ready to take the plunge!;)
 

Rhian

New in Town
Messages
29
Location
London, UK
I'm working my way through a number of fashion history books:

Fifty Years of Fashion: New Look to Now - Valerie Steele
Fashion from the 18th to the 20th Century - Kyoto Costume Institute (Taschen)
The Art of Dress: Clothes and Society 1500-1914 - Jane Ashelford

Of the three, I'd say the last is the most rewarding. It's a National Trust publication and the history is well explained, with some beautifully illustrative photographs and paintings. The Taschen book is mostly photographs, with plenty of detail shots, and the Steele book is a good follow-on to the first. Now I just need a good book about the 30s and 40s, and I'll be sorted! :)
 

Ada Veen

Practically Family
Messages
923
Location
London
Just started Gravity's Rainbow, which seems a bit of a mammoth undertaking at the moment - don't know if I have bitten off more than I can chew.
 

John Boyer

A-List Customer
Messages
372
Location
Kingman, Kansas USA
Ada Veen said:
Just started Gravity's Rainbow, which seems a bit of a mammoth undertaking at the moment - don't know if I have bitten off more than I can chew.

Dear Lady Ada Veen:

Congratulations on your ambition to undertake Gravity's Rainbow.:eusa_clap. I cower from undertaking Pynchon's magnum opus given it's length and complexity, but wish you well. Please keep us updated.

Also, it might be helpful to know, there are a few written commentaries on Gravity's Rainbow should you need an intepretation or help sorting through the nearly 400 characters. A Gravity's Rainbow Companion: Sources and Contexts for Pynchon's Novel by Steven Weisenburger is one of a few.

Good luck!

John
 

December

One of the Regulars
Messages
297
Location
Hampshire, England.
I'm reading Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassin.

I'm about 2/3 of the way through and enjoying it more than I have most books I've read lately!

I stumbledd across the 1001 Books to Read Before you Die and made it my mission to read them all. A lot of them so far have disappointed me though.
 

TheDutchess

One of the Regulars
Messages
209
Location
North Carolina
I've decided I would work my way through the Sookie Stackhouse Novels. The HBO show True Blood is based on these set of novels. I'm Still on the first book Dead Until Dark and so far its fabulous and oh so sexy.
 

Harp

I'll Lock Up
Messages
8,508
Location
Chicago, IL US
Ada Veen said:
Just started Gravity's Rainbow, which seems a bit of a mammoth undertaking at the moment - don't know if I have bitten off more than I can chew.


Give yourself a good year to get over The Rainbow.
And remember, you are not suppose to understand any of it. :)
 

Corky

Practically Family
Messages
507
Location
West Los Angeles
"Gravity's Rainbow" is one of the 20th Century's great works of art...

"Gravity's Rainbow" is one of the 20th Century's great works of art.

Look up the Scientific American review if you have any doubt.

But it should be read only after one has read Pynchon's earlier works, "The Crying of Lot 49" (less than 100 pages, an excellent intro work) and his masterpiece "V".

Then stop reading.

Like James Clavell, who wrote the masterpieces "Shogun", "Tai-pan", and possibly "King Rat" (plus the movie scripts for "The Great Escape", "The Fly", and "To Sir With Love" while his other books & film scripts seem merely dictated or at best delivered in one draft, Pynchon's other work is nearly unreadable.

Try reading anything from Melville other than "Moby Dick" (which is one third of an otherwise unreadable trilogy) or "Billy Budd".

No one knows why or how an artist can produce works of transcendent insight and imagery some times and totally jump the shark at others, but it happens.

See the film career of Orson Welles. Ask any truly committed Harry Potter fan about J.K. Rowling's most recent book for other examples.
 

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