What Are You Reading

[Stray Cat]

I know there's a Sean Connery movie, I preferred to read the book:

Umberto Eco "The name of the rose"

 

[Gromulus]

The first time I read "Rise and Fall", I was in middle school. I was a very serious young woman. When I studied WW II later in college, I had to explain to my military history professor that I carried a book like "The Wind in the Willows" as antidote to the misery of it all.

I understand the need to balance out the non-fiction with some lighter material; sort of a "ying and yang" thing!

 

[AmateisGal]

The Soldier's Wife by Margaret Leroy. Incredible book. Her writing is gorgeous.

Here's a brief synopsis:

As World War II draws closer and closer to Guernsey, Vivienne de la Mare knows that there will be sacrifices to be made. Not just for herself, but for her two young daughters and for her mother-in-law, for whom she cares while her husband is away fighting. What she does not expect is that she will fall in love with one of the enigmatic German soldiers who take up residence in the house next door to her home. As their relationship intensifies, so do the pressures on Vivienne. Food and resources grow scant, and the restrictions placed upon the residents of the island grow with each passing week. Though Vivienne knows the perils of her love affair with Gunther, she believes that she can keep their relationship and her family safe. But when she becomes aware of the full brutality of the Occupation, she must decide if she is willing to risk her personal happiness for the life of a stranger.

 

[hatophile]

Just finished Alan Furst's "Spies of the Balkans", now on "Spies of Warsaw". Great WWII books with locations in Europe, especially Paris in the late 30's and post-Occupation. I have read most of his books, and hope he keeps them coming.

 

[Chasseur]

Just finished Alan Furst's "Spies of the Balkans", now on "Spies of Warsaw". Great WWII books with locations in Europe, especially Paris in the late 30's and post-Occupation. I have read most of his books, and hope he keeps them coming.

Those last two were quite good, I really enjoyed them. I've read all his books, but The Polish Officer and The World At Night stand out as the two I enjoyed the most (Dark Voyage was also quite good).

 

[1961MJS]

Hi

I read one of Alan Furst's books, and HATED it. He was a Soviet Secret Policeman in Spain I think. I had absolutely NO empathy for the characters, I hated them all, individually and as a group. I gave up on the book after about 100 pages or so.

I'm reading Lawrence Block's hitman series, and then going back to the Matt Scudder books.

Later

 

[Chasseur]

That was Dark Star and I did like it all either. He wrote a couple that I thought were not great, including that one, the Foreign Corespondent and Kingdom of Shadows. I had similar thoughts as you did to all those three.

If you wanted to give him another shot I'd recommend either the Polish Officer or Dark Voyage those are his closest to "standard" espionage/action books. But if you are looking for Vince Flynn style shoot 'um up spy thrillers, Furst is not your man.

 

[Stray Cat]

I know..
I should probably read it LONG time ago, but I had my priorities.. (Epic fiction.. not much of a priority, but hey...)

So, I've picked up:
D. H. Lawrence " Lady Chatterley's Lover".

..just in case I drop dead somewhere, and all can say: Oh, look, she has read all from the "100 books you must read before you die"

 

[m0nk]

Rex Stout's fifth Nero Wolfe novel: "Too Many Cooks".

 

[Antje]

I finished Met Bonzend Hart "Willem Nijholt" really beautyfull it is in dutch but it was about his life and the war in Indonesia and how he became a dutch actor, I loved it.
Now I'm starting a short version of Max Havelaar "Multatuli" also indonesia!!

 

[topango]

Agent Zig Zag by Ben Macubtyre. True story of Eddie Chapman a criminal and womanizer who became an important double agent for the British during WWII. Two thumbs and two big toes up (this is my highest rating)

 

[Alpinestar]

Master Switch..... Tim Wu.

 

[Mario]

Brendan Behan's autobiographies, 'The Borstal Boy' and 'Confessions Of An Irish Rebel'. What a larger-than-life character he was! Would have loved to go for a couple of jars with him in the old Dublin (or Paris).

 

[AmateisGal]

Agent Zig Zag by Ben Macubtyre. True story of Eddie Chapman a criminal and womanizer who became an important double agent for the British during WWII. Two thumbs and two big toes up (this is my highest rating)

I want to read this one, too!

 

[Cicero]

Ben Sherwood...The survivors club.
In Dutch!

A journalist by trade, Mr. Sherwood drew on his investigative expertise to interview survivors of all shapes and sizes. Essentially, he asked them all one question: What does it take to survive? Their answers are as disparate as their experiences.

 

[Widebrim]

As a follow-up to Sense and Sensibility, I'm now reading Pride and Prejudice. So much more enjoyable than it was in high school!

 

[Mrs Chaddsley_Corbett]

I have not read it yet but a Christmas gift "Around The World in 80 Martinis"

http://www.abebooks.com/Around-World-Martinis-Logbook-Remarkable-Voyage/4787533340/bd

 

[Diamondback]

Osprey's B-17 Flying Fortress Units of the Pacific War.

 

[LizzieMaine]

"Walt And Skeezix -- The Complete Daily Strips, 1929-1930," the fifth volume in the hardbound series reprinting the original "Gasoline Alley," Frank King's brilliant comic strip chronicle of middle-class American life as seen thru the eyes of portly, likable Walt Wallet and his growing adopted son Skeezix. In this volume, Skeezix is eight and nine years old, dealing with the trials of school and neighborhood life, while in the background a complicated plot revolves around a mysterious bequest from his late birth father.

No comic strip ever captured the rhythm of daily life better than King's work, and watching the lives of the Wallet family and their friends slowly unfold is the next best thing to a time machine. This volume includes a wonderful bonus --- a DVD containing selections from Frank King's home movies, showing his working life in Chicago, his home life in the suburbs, and several road trips taken in during the twenties and early thirties. Fascinating footage that points up the many correlations between events in the strip and events in King's own life.

Why aren't there comic strips like this any more? "Gasoline Alley" is still running today, forty years after King's death, but with Walt now 112 years old and Skeezix turning 91 in a few weeks, the magic is long gone.

 

[TimeWarpWife]

How We Lived Then: A History of Everyday Life During the Second World War by Norman Longate and The Winter of Her Disconent by Kathryn Miller Haines. The Winter of Her Discontent is the second in a series of 4 books about an actress named Rosie Winter who's living in NYC during WWII and accidentally becomes a private detective.