What Are You Reading

[Flicka]

Now 1/2 through, I'm finding it in many ways more compelling than Three Musketeers. Much darker, more nuanced politically, less of a fencing romp, more of a mature story of intrigue and drama. By all accounts this book was as popular at the time as the first. The next one in the trilogy, not so much.

To be honest, I think it has to do with the fact that I always pretty much loathed the musketeers, Athos and d'Artagnan especially. Heroic musketeers, my behind. Bullies and toadies, more like it. I suppose I had convinced myself they got their comeuppance somehow, and this book just didn't deliver. I think I failed to sympathise with pretty much anyone in that book.

Mind you, I am toying with the idea of writing Mylady's story one day. I always felt she was horribly maligned and I think it'd be fun to write a story of one of the great villains of literature and turn things upside down (or rather, calling them by their proper names).

 

[Flicka]

oops, double post

 

[Tomasso]

'Lost Stories' by Dashiell Hammett

 

[HadleyH]

I'd go for the Cocteau bio because I'm listening to him right now.

Jean Cocteau et L'orchestre Dan Parrish -- La Toison D'or (1929)
(The Golden Fleece)
Columbia LFX-3

Sorry for the late reply... at the end I went for Jeffrey Meyers - Modigliani: A Life.

I finished reading another bio of Cocteau not long ago, I got another one (I like to read several bios of a person, it gives me a wider view) and I will leave this for later.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Mount Lowe: The Railway in the Clouds by Charles Seims
(San Marino, CA: Golden West Books, 1976)
http://www.thefedoralounge.com/show...e-Golden-Era&p=1488852&highlight=#post1488852

 

[Harp]

Pollock's "Spinoza"

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Yes, they are really quite awful characters. d'Artagnan, somehow even worse in the sequel than in the first. Still, no reason for a good book to have likeable characters! (tbh, I don't like most people I meet in real life so I see this in characters as mere reality.)

To be honest, I think it has to do with the fact that I always pretty much loathed the musketeers, Athos and d'Artagnan especially. Heroic musketeers, my behind. Bullies and toadies, more like it. I suppose I had convinced myself they got their comeuppance somehow, and this book just didn't deliver. I think I failed to sympathise with pretty much anyone in that book.

Mind you, I am toying with the idea of writing Mylady's story one day. I always felt she was horribly maligned and I think it'd be fun to write a story of one of the great villains of literature and turn things upside down (or rather, calling them by their proper names).

 

[jamespowers]

Finished Cicero yesterday and I thought I would just about cry. Death to Tyrants!

 

[Two Types]

'Twopence Coloured' by Patrick Hamilton. One of his long out-of-print early novels. It has been republished in the series 'Faber Finds' - a fantastic series of titles aimed at reviving obscure works. Their motto is 'Bringing Great Writing back Into Print'. http://www.faber.co.uk/faberfinds/
Other authors they have republished include the war poet Keith Douglas, John Cowper Powys, Rex Warner, Arthur Morrison and Robert Aickman.

 

[Hobart Arms]

I just picked up a 1943 pocket book of Raymond Chandler's "Farewell, My Lovely" in great shape! I think I have found my new travel companion.

 

[cw3pa]

I just finished "Busman's Honeymoon" by Dorothy Sayers. It was like reading a romance with a murder mystery as an aside. It seemed like Wimsey could have been a lost love, perhaps during The Great War and Harriet Vane was her surrogate.

 

[Feraud]

I got on this classic movie story kick and purchased Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Murphy's War, and The African Queen.

Started Treasure and am enjoying it. The novel was written by the mysterious B. Traven provides additional character depth and motivation. Once I finish the story I'll re-watch Huston's excellent film for any new perspective.

 

[ThemThereEyes]

I'm currently reading The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. I am enjoying it very much.

 

[Miss Golightly]

The Diamond as Big as The Ritz & Other Stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald

 

[Chasseur]

The Diamond as Big as The Ritz & Other Stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald

That is a great short story, I think it would make a great dieselpunk children's film actually.

 

[Derek Cavin]

The Fist of God by Frederick Forsyth

 

[Miss Golightly]

That is a great short story, I think it would make a great dieselpunk children's film actually.

I haven't got to that one just yet - I started May Day last night - really enjoying the collection so far! I also have Flappers and Philosophers which I might read after this book.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Proust's Within a Budding Grove, the 2nd installment of Remembrance of Things Past, which I have neglected for too many years.

 

[Mario]

James Elory, The Black Dahlia.

 

[Chasseur]

James Elory, The Black Dahlia.

How do you find it? I found that one and the last one (White Jazz) to be my least favorites of the LA Quartet. The two middle ones were my favorites.