What Are You Reading

[Two Types]

Well said. :eusa_clap
Maigret, unlike all the others is not a private-eye. He's a governmental officer, but of a clumsy variety. He's studious and somewhat moody. He likes to take vine for lunch, and he smokes like there's no tomorrow..
Simenon amazes me, how down-to-earth his characters are

Simenon never ceases to amaze. That's the wonder of his work.

And Maigret was such a cultural icon in France that someone even wrote 'Madame Maigret's Cookbook' so that fans could try cooking all his favourite dishes.

P.S. I like the fact that some of France's greatest cultural contributions - that helped define France in the 20th Century - were actually the product of belgians: the books of Simenon and the songs of Jacques Brel. Even France's most beloved pop star Johnny Hallyday is half Belgian.

 

[Harp]

Just finished "The Rum Diary" by Hunter S. Thompson. Started in 1959 and finished somewhat later.

Gonzo's Hell's Angels chronicle is a slice of Americana. His Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is excellent.

 

[Touchofevil]

Not just four, all 75 Maigret books are being re-released in the UK - one per month. They are up to number 4. It makes me very happy.

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/show...man-with-the-pipe-and-overcoat-Ch-Ins-Maigret

That is great news and hopefully applies over here. I have seen at least one through ten mentioned on Amazon. Thanks for the update.

 

[Tomasso]

 

[Touchofevil]

Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan's The Fall: The Strain Trilogy

 

[Harp]

Escape from Davao; The Forgotten Story of the Most Daring Prison Break of the Pacific War by John D. Lukacs.
Passed to me last week on the train by a federal judge and former Marine Corps fighter pilot.
Should be placed on every commanding officer reading list.

 

[esteban68]

just read 'The Photographers Apprentice' on the Kindle, not a bad little book set against the backdrop of the American Civil War....written by Dan Eitreim.

 

[Fading Fast]

Currently in the middle of "Priscilla: The Hidden Life of an English Woman in Wartime France." As a regular reader of WWII fiction and non-fiction ("Priscilla" is non-fiction), I'm enjoying the different angle this story comes at occupied France - the angle of a basically a-political woman from a convoluted and, mainly, dysfunctional family trying to survive. She's no hero, but how much of a villain you think she is depends on your view of what a person should, could, is supposed to do to survive. I am still reading through it and am enjoying having my "fixed" view of right and wrong challenged. Has anyone else read this yet?

 

[Tomasso]

Right this moment? The newspaper; NYT and WSJ.

 

[Hatter4]

I am reading Behind the Scenes at Galileo's Trial , by Richard J.Blackwell

 

[hatguy1]

Finished Raymond Chandler's "The High Window" last night.

But Still working my way thru
"American Caesar, Douglas MacArthur, 1880-1964." (Good, but a very thick book).


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Harp]

Holding on Upside Down; The Life and Work of Marianne Moore, Linda Leavell
------
revisiting Middlemarch, George Eliot; before Rebecca Mead's My Life in Middlemarch

 

[John Boyer]

Ike's Bluff: President Eisenhower's Secret Battle To Save The World by Evan Thomas


Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

 

[countryclubjoe]

The Common Law

Oliver W Holmes

 

[frussell]

"S," by JJ Abrams and Doug Dorst. More of a multimedia experience than an ordinary book, fun to read, but ultimately ambiguous and slightly disappointing, like most of Abram's work. I'm afraid I need a more definitive ending, if not in movies, then certainly when reading a book. Still pretty fun to work your way through this one. Frank.

 

[Smithy]

Roald Dahl's "Going Solo", the second part of his autobiography which covers his going out to Tanganyika to work for Shell and then his career as a fighter pilot in the RAF. I've been meaning to read this for a while now and I'm pleased I finally did. Really wonderful read.

 

[Tomasso]

 

[Smithy]

View attachment 12379

Hi Tomasso, another yachtsman eh

Never seen a Hinckley in the flesh but they look to be beautiful tubs.

Do you have one yourself or do you crew at the local yacht club?

 

[Vilna]

I'm presently reading "The Sleepwalkers. How Europe went to in 1914" by Christopher Clarke. I got it as a gift in December, but nowadays I'm a slow reader so I've only read a little more than half of the book, and archduke Franz Ferdinand has just managed to get himself and his spouse murdered in Sarajevo. This is a great book. I thought I new this stuff, after all I have degree in history, but no. Clarke really goes to the bottom of the complexities of the international and national situations leading up to war. Interesting and funny despite the grim subject, as this book is, it's a bit unnerving read at this point in time, given the state of international affairs at the moment. A strongly recommended reading as the one hundredth anniversary of this particular nasty event is rapidly approaching.

 

[DNO]

They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children by Romeo Dallaire (Lt. Gen. ret'd). Describes the author's campaign against the use of child soldiers. Very disturbing and well worth reading.