What Are You Reading

[Trenchfriend]

John Katzenbachs "In the heat of the summer" is really nice. Now, I'm already on page 392 and the final is very near.

And I enjoyed the imagination of sunburned Miami in the summertime of 1975.

 

[Harp]

Found a Penguin Whitefriars Press edition of Plutarch's Fall Of The Roman Republic.

 

[Trenchfriend]

I'm finished.

John Katzenbach "In the heat of the summer" (1982):

Recommendable crime-story!

 

[Fading Fast]

"Inheritance from Mother" by Minae Mizumura

I try to read a few of the "Best of" books each year, this year I chose "Compass" by Mathias Enard - which I found boring and pretentious, in part, maybe, because I didn't get all the inside-baseball Middle East references - and "Inheritance from Mother" which I, surprisingly, enjoyed as I thought the subject - a middle aged Japanese woman simultaneously dealing with the death of her mother and husband's extra-marital affair - would be another long lamenting screed about life, which it is in part, but it also rises above itself when it exposes the basic human challenges of life in a Tolsty manner - every unhappy family....

Away from the "universal condition of life" value, "Inheritance from Mother" provides a wonderful window into the nuances and subtlety of Japanese culture, which, on the surface, looks similar to all developed countries' middle-class cultures, but has a distinction all its own. It's a way, for me anyway, to travel without leaving my house - while reading it, I was "living in" Japan.

That said, IMHO, there's a tick (a meme - blah) where today's "serious" novels aren't happy (or, maybe, won't be seen as serious) unless they take us into the gritty details and smells (always the smells) of human sickness and aging (once you are aware of this, you'll see it in all these types of novels). Gone are the days when a few sentences referencing an illness or the challenges of caring for an aging bed-ridden parent would be enough to convey the message; now, all must be written about in excruciating detail. Hopefully, this phase soon will pass.



"Life at the Dakota: New York's Most Unusual Address" by Stephen Birmingham

Another entry in the "famous apartment building biography" genre. If you like reading a surfacey account of a noted residential building - its history, architecture, famous and interesting residents - mixed in with a little history of the city during its existence - then this will work for you. Famous for being John and Yoko's NYC home - and considered by many to be the first NYC luxury apartment building - the building does deserve a good book, but this one is only okay. It skims everything, but rarely gets into thoughtful analysis before it moves on to a new topic or anecdote about one of its many "eccentric" residents. I'm a NYC guy, so I read it - and it's fine for what it is - but I had hoped for more than a glorified "fan" book of the building.

 

[Just Jim]

Just finished with Powers' The Killing of Crazy Horse. I would have been finished weeks ago if I could stop yielding to the temptation to consult other references so often! I've heard the stories for most of my life, in many cases from the children and grandchildren of those involved or from people who knew them. Like the folks who told me the of other great mysteries of my childhood, they're all gone now and I'm still trying to understand.

No smoking gun, but Powers did a good job of bringing together the possible reasons for the killing, and the people involved.

 

[HadleyH1]

I have been too much on the internet latelty....shame.....shame on me....

Having so many good biographies in my library to read....


my God! what's wrong with me???

 

[LizzieMaine]

With a tip of the hat to Brother Fading, I've just finished Pete Hamill's "North River."

I agree with pretty much everything Fading had to say about this evocative novel -- there is at present no one on the grey cracked concrete earth who is more New York than Pete Hamill, and the book really is a hymn to everyday life on the more run-down side of 1930s Manhattan. But more than that it's also the closest thing you'll find in novel form to a 1930s Warner Bros. social-realism drama -- read the book and imagine James Cagney and Loretta Young in the lead roles, with Dickie Moore as the child at the center of the story, and you'll find that the casting works perfectly with every scene.

The book is by no means a comedy, but there are some really subtle, amusing character bits. In one fleeting scene, our hero Dr. Delaney is looking for some childrens' books, and does business with a gruff lefty bookseller, of a type very common in Depression-era Manhattan. In wrapping up the Doc's purchases, the bookseller observes out of the side of his mouth, "y'know, that Babar is just colonialist propaganda. I'm just tellin' ya." I laughed out loud at that line, I'm still laughing just thinking about it, and I can't help but hear it in my mind in the voice of Allen Jenkins.

Excellent book, and highly recommended. A little grit, a little schmaltz, and isn't that what New York is all about?

 

[Benzadmiral]

Enjoy your trip through Shute's works! I'm told he was one of my father's favorite authors. I tried reading some of his work when I was a teenager but couldn't force myself to finish. About fifteen years ago I plucked a book (In the Wet) at random out of a box of rummage-sale finds. Ten minutes later I was immersed, and read straight through the book. That was my "adult" introduction to Nevil Shute. I've since made it a point to read one or two "new" books by Shute every year. I dread the day when I don't have that to look forward to.

I recently picked up In the Wet. At first I thought, Oh, no, a story about a climate as bad as the one I live in. Then, suddenly, the story shifted into a science-fiction mode to follow a major character through a world, primarily about Britain and Australia, 30 years after the opening chapters set in the early 1950s (which is when Shute wrote and published the novel). At first, so natural was the transition, I didn't know that part of the novel was set so far in the future -- until the lead pulls out some coins dated 1963, 1972, and 1982. I suppose I should have guessed, too, when Shute tells us about airplanes of that time which take only 6-7 hours to cross the Atlantic from London to Ottawa!

 

[Fading Fast]

Just started Christopher Isherwood's "Mr. Norris Changes Trains -" odd so far, but has kinda engaged me.

Anyone familiar with it?

I'll report back when I finish.

N.B., smart, insightful comments from Lizzie on "North River" in her above post - it's a real "Fedora Lounge" book.

 

[Harp]

Reading Ronald Mann's opinion analysis of Patchak v.Zinke; Opinion analysis: Sharply divided court narrowly approves Congress' power to resolve pending litigation,
SCOTUS blog (Feb 28, 2018).
Chief Justice Roberts in particular upset over arrogation of "judicial power to itself and decides a particular case...
leaving the court no adjudicatory function to perform...exercise of the judicial power"-all beyond congressional authority.
----------

Dictatorships and double standards: Rationalism and reason in politics, Jeane J Kirkpatrick

Kirkpatrick's Columbia PhD thesis, which a recent comment in another thread prompted order.

 

[Tiki Tom]

Reading John le Carre’s autobiography, “The Pigeon Tunnel”. So far it’s about the nuts and bolts work of a junior intelligence officer in the 1950s and early 1960s. Not very glamorous. I didn’t realize that John le Carre’ is just his pen name. During the course of his stories he is often meeting some very high drawer characters (Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, for example), so I’m imagining he’s from an upper crust background himself. Am looking forward to that explanation. So far he has only hinted that his father was a rake and a bounder, but hasn’t fully explained. Also hints at an Oxbridge education, but am awaiting the details. As for the author’s voice, writing at age 84, he is sounding equal parts sophisticated, crotchety, and world weary. To say that he is now cynical about the spy biz is not saying too much. Im enjoying the book for his insights into the period and a peak at his tradecraft.

 

[Fading Fast]

Reading John le Carre’s autobiography, “The Pigeon Tunnel”. So far it’s about the nuts and bolts work of a junior intelligence officer in the 1950s and early 1960s. Not very glamorous. I didn’t realize that John le Carre’ is just his pen name. During the course of his stories he is often meeting some very high drawer characters (Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, for example), so I’m imagining he’s from an upper crust background himself. Am looking forward to that explanation. So far he has only hinted that his father was a rake and a bounder, but hasn’t fully explained. Also hints at an Oxbridge education, but am awaiting the details. As for the author’s voice, writing at age 84, he is sounding equal parts sophisticated, crotchety, and world weary. To say that he is now cynical about the spy biz is not saying too much. Im enjoying the book for his insights into the period and a peak at his tradecraft.

Sounds intriguing. That said, I find myself always struggling to understand his novels. I'm just always flipping back pages and, in general, feeling a bit lost in them. I know they are smartly written (maybe too smartly for me) and I do appreciate them, but I just don't really, truly enjoy reading them.

John le Carre is too good a name to have been his by birth, just like Ian Fleming wasn't named James Bond nor was Archibald Leach named Cary Grant - life is not that kind.

 

[Fading Fast]

Christopher Isherwood's "Mr. Norris Changes Trains"

• Solid 1930s novel set in Berlin that uses the relationship of two expat Englishmen - a young man with all the virtues of the Empire at its best and a middle-aged affable grifter - to subtly (until the last chapter when it is no longer subtle) expose the change in Germany during Hitler's early rise to power

• Another of-the-period novel (see "Mortal Storm" a few pages back in this thread) that gives lie to the claim that no one knew what was going on in Germany in the '30s - the authors and audiences of these well-read books did (and this one was first published in '35!)

• Away from the bigger picture stuff above, it's another example of why reading books from the period is so important to understanding the nuances, biases, views and zeitgeist of the time without the modern prejudices that historical fiction brings

• Since movies of that time were pretty restricted by the Hays Code, it's nice to see sex, pornography, homosexuality, etc., presented in a way - one assumes - consistent with how it was viewed back then
  • Thankfully, books then are less arrantly gratuitous than they (and movies) are today, but these things are not hidden or deeply camouflaged in this book as they are in movies of the period
  • We learn that the past was less bias than our modern moral preeners aver; that said, if one brings a hardened set of modern moral judgements, he or she will be angry at the - even liberal - views of the day

 

[AmateisGal]

FF, Mr. Norris Changes Trains sounds delightful. Will add it to my list.

I'm reading Eric Amber's Journey Into Fear (1940) which features an Englishman who unwittingly becomes embroiled in espionage and danger as WW2 begins.

Also reading Deborah Lipstadt's Denying the Holocaust. If you've ever seen the movie Denial with Rachel Weisz as Lipstadt, this is the book she was publicizing during the movie in which Holocaust denier David Irving sues her for libel. It's eye opening. I would like to see her write a new one with the advent of social media and how that's had an impact on Holocaust denial.

 

[belfastboy]

Made the mistake of wandering into Chapters book store yesterday. Came out with Prof Jordan Peterson's "12 Rules" and Yuval's follow up to "Sapiens"......"Homo Deus". Just part way into the "12 Rules" and love it.....his large following instills hope in this cynical heart.

 

[bluesmandan]

Just finished “The Belly Book”. Yes, a cartoony Dr. Suess book with my 3 year old. My wife put in the 1000 Books Before Kindergarten program, so there’s a lot of those types of books. I enjoy “My Little Pony” books much more than I thought I would. “Friendship is magic”, you know. [emoji6]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Just Jim]

Well, if we're going to include the classic literature we read, I got through Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? today. Decent read, good timing, good rhyming, some minor vocabulary problems (that is not the sound a hippopotamus chewing gum would make, Seuss needed to get his onomatopoeia generator tuned up). Actually, the whole episode with the hippo was rather contentious:my audience refused to believe that "hippopotamus" comes from the Greek for "river horse". Dagnabbit, if you don't want to believe where a word came from, don't ask me where it came from!

Still trying to get Possum Come a-Knockin memorized. In my line of work, knowing good stories to tell kids is a handy thing, and Van Laan works better without illustrations than does Seuss.

I'll try to write about grown-up literature, and maybe chapter books, next time. Promise!)

 

[Benzadmiral]

FF, Mr. Norris Changes Trains sounds delightful. Will add it to my list.

I'm reading Eric Amber's Journey Into Fear (1940) which features an Englishman who unwittingly becomes embroiled in espionage and danger as WW2 begins.

Also reading Deborah Lipstadt's Denying the Holocaust. If you've ever seen the movie Denial with Rachel Weisz as Lipstadt, this is the book she was publicizing during the movie in which Holocaust denier David Irving sues her for libel. It's eye opening. I would like to see her write a new one with the advent of social media and how that's had an impact on Holocaust denial.

I picked up JiF (odd how that acronym comes out!) in my high school years, and I think I've re-read it at least once since then. Very enjoyable read, though it did not turn me into an instant Ambler fan. It's the classic example of the spy novel before Ian Fleming changed the genre: an innocent person, i.e., someone who is not a professional spy or intelligence officer, caught up in spy intrigue and danger.

 

[Harp]

Reading John le Carre’s autobiography, “The Pigeon Tunnel”...

Several weeks ago, my radio tuned to WBBM-AM 78* caught a 60 Minutes le Carre interview. Fascinating fellow. Will read TPT thanks.

 

[Tiki Tom]

Several weeks ago, my radio tuned to WBBM-AM 78* caught a 60 Minutes le Carre interview. Fascinating fellow. Will read TPT thanks.

I have to say, the book continues to get more and more interesting. After becoming a successful novelist, he began visiting all the hottest Cold War battle fronts as part of the research for his books. One moment he is hanging out with colorful mercenaries, journalists, and aid workers in some bomb-blasted hell hole; the next he is hobnobbing with former chiefs of intelligence and other insiders. Very interesting stuff... and all the while he is kind of gently questioning the morality of those on both sides of the game. Like I said, he comes off as being a bit world weary, but not in a bad way.