What Are You Reading

[LizzieMaine]

"The Lady and the Panda," written in 1937 by Ruth Harkness. If you've never heard of Mrs. H, you should be ashamed of yourself -- she's a quintessential Golden Era figure, a real-life cross between Myrna Loy and Indiana Jones. A hard-drinking New York fashion designer, she became obsessed after the death of her explorer husband with becoming the first person to bring a live giant panda back to the West. And despite having no experience in the wilds -- she'd never even been to Brooklyn, let alone the wilds of Szechuan Province in China -- she proceeded to do exactly that, leading an expedition deep into a mountain forest, where she found a six-week old baby panda whose mother had been slain by hunters. Despite having no training with animals besides her cats, she successfully hand-raised the cub, brought it back to the US, and became the toast of the nation. This book is her first-hand account of an adventure that the most brilliant screenwriter couldn't make up.

(A few years ago, a biography of Harkness came out, also called "The Lady And The Panda", and if you can't her original book, it's the next best thing.)

 

[Harp]

... Interesting story, though I loathed every single character bar Heathcliff, and evne he annoyed me at times due to his devotion to that abominable Cathy woman.

"The soul to feel the flesh, and the flesh to feel the chain...

Emily Bronte, The Prisoner


Heathcliff lost his heart and life to Catherine.
Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter tears my heart to pieces too. :cry:

 

[John Boyer]

Let Us Now Praise Famous Men: The American Classic, in Words and Photographs, of Three Tenant Families in the Deep South by James Agee and Walker Evans. "Published in 1939, it was one of the most brutally revealing records of an America that was ignored by society--a class of people whose level of poverty left them as spiritually, mentally, and physically worn as the land on which they toiled." Highly recommended. John

 

[gwold]

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Ignoring the noise about its success, which I admit drew me to it, I'm enjoying it. It's a bit of a slow read, and has some cliche phrases, but it's an interesting story so far, and reasonably well written. My thought is it might benefit from a different interpreter. I'm about a quarter of the way through at this point, looking forward to the rest.

 

[Harp]

Let Us Now Praise Famous Men: The American Classic, in Words and Photographs, of Three Tenant Families in the Deep South by James Agee and Walker Evans. Highly recommended. John

John: Agee, compelling and enigmatic. Simone would have liked him.

Started Mariani"s Hopkins,
Thou knowest the walls, altar and hour and night:
The swoon of the heart that the sweep and the hurl of thee trod
Hard down with a horror of height:
And the midriff astrain with leaning of, laced with fire of stress.

Hopkins followed Newman; another whom I admire, and delved within
himself as did Milton, and is still regarded with doubt, though is doubtless
a poetic genius. Miss Weil would have found him a bright star.

 

[vitanola]

I'm currently about a quarter through "The Democratic Roosevelt", by Rexford Guy Tugwell. Tugwell was one of FDR's original "Brains Trusters". He was in the cabinet during FDR's first term and was an advocate of plannig to cure society's ills. The book focuses on Roosevelt's political career and is extremely well written and very analytical and insightful. FDR was an enigma to even people who were very close to him. He never really let anyone know what he was thinking. The book is full of insights about the political, economic and social environment of the times. Plus it is not lacking in drama, to say the least. Highly recommended.

I often joke about leaving my estate to Hillsdale College to endow the "Rexford Guy Tugwell Institute of New Deal Studies", for the history and economics departments of that august institution are woefully misinformed regarding the events of the Roosevelt era, to the extent of frequently falsifying data and quotations.

 

[ThesFlishThngs]

Still working on "Zelda: Her Voice in Paradise", which is one of my scores from the library sale, $1. I'm enjoying the difference of perspective and interpretation from my other Zelda/Scott reads.
After our brunch, at a jaunt to the bookshop, Tony discovered "Bright Young People - The Lost Generation of London's Jazz Age", which, of course, I had to then purchase. It's next on the reading list.

 

[John Boyer]

John: Agee, compelling and enigmatic. Simone would have liked him.

Started Mariani"s Hopkins,
Thou knowest the walls, altar and hour and night:
The swoon of the heart that the sweep and the hurl of thee trod
Hard down with a horror of height:
And the midriff astrain with leaning of, laced with fire of stress.

Harp,

Oddly enough, I picked up Mariani's Hopkins last week, hoping to learn more about the life and
style of Hopkins poetry; I am particularly fond of his introduction of sprung rhyme and his poetry,
particularly Windhover.


I CAUGHT this morning morning’s minion, king-
dom of daylight’s dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding
Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding
High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing
In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing,
As a skate’s heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and gliding
Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding
Stirred for a bird,—the achieve of; the mastery of the thing!


Also, I have but not yet delved into Newman's Apologia pro Vita Sua
This is another remarkable conversion story.

John

 

[carebear]

Rereading some William Kittridge essays and started in on "The Conscience of a Lawyer".

Which I found completely on my own and totally wasn't suggested to me or anything...

 

[Harp]

Harp,

Oddly enough, I picked up Marian's Hopkins last week, hoping to learn more about the life and
style of Hopkins poetry; I am particularly fond of his introduction of sprung rhyme and his poetry,



Also, I have but not yet delved into Newman's Apologia pro Vita Sua
This is another remarkable conversion story.

John

I find Hopkins most endearing as poet, philosopher, and priest.
Hopkins' critical analysis of Wordsworth is quite telling of his own talent.
Newman's Apologia can be torturous and a struggle to stay with,
remarkable man that he was and all---definitely a pipe and bourbon needed
for the long ride. (Duras' memoir and Frog on the way)

 

[Alex Oviatt]

Scott Berg's biography of the great editor, Max Perkins

 

[Harp]

Rereading some William Kittridge essays and started in on "The Conscience of a Lawyer".

Which I found completely on my own and totally wasn't suggested to me or anything...

Plausible deniability is a scarce commodity counselor.

Charles Phillips was a most admirable lawyer, to whom we all owe a debt of gratitude.

 

[RetroPat]

Hello from a lurker!

I'm almost finished reading "City of Dragons" by Kelli Stanley. It's a P.I. Noir thriller set in 1940 San Francisco. The book came out in February and the author loves the era (says she's visited FL) and incorporates so many wonderful details of a Golden Era. A really great read so far.

 

[LordBest]

Le Guide Culinaire by Auguste Escoffier, English translation. The foundation tome of classic French cuisine. A wonderful book, once one gets over the initial shock at being instructed to produce 10 litres (2.5 gallons) of veal (etc) stock.
Escoffier, known as the 'king of chefs and chef of kings' was one of the greatest chefs of the modern era. He was responsible for many famous dishes including Peach Melba and was head chef at the Ritz and Savoy hotels.

 

[BinkieBaumont]

"Not so much reading as looking at the pictures, A book of rather splendid early photographs from The Goldfields of Western Australia taken by the eccentric (He cut his own hair!) John Joseph Dwyer

[

 

[Wally_Hood]

Harp,

Oddly enough, I picked up Mariani's Hopkins last week, hoping to learn more about the life and
style of Hopkins poetry; I am particularly fond of his introduction of sprung rhyme and his poetry,
particularly Windhover.


I CAUGHT this morning morning’s minion, king-
dom of daylight’s dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding
Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding
High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing
In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing,
As a skate’s heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and gliding
Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding
Stirred for a bird,—the achieve of; the mastery of the thing!


Also, I have but not yet delved into Newman's Apologia pro Vita Sua
This is another remarkable conversion story.

John

Hopkins' poetry can tumble out like a waterfall of image and syllable and rhyme. It is wonderful to read. Windhover is a personal favorite, along with Pied Beauty.

GLORY be to God for dappled things—
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough; 5
And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change: 10
Praise him.

 

[Antje]

I'm halfway Wuthering Heights, again

 

[Avalon]

I'm halfway Wuthering Heights, again

Ah, the Brontës. Have you ever read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall?

 

[Feraud]

The Queen of the Ring: Sex, Muscles, Diamonds, and the Making of an American Legend by Jeff Leen.

 

[Big Man]

The Grapes of Wrath

We had a spell of rainy weather last week and I picked up a copy of John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath" that had been at the house for years. I thought I'd pass the time on a rainy day reading a bit. However, the book was so compelling that I haven't been able to put it down. I'm about three quarters of the way through and spent most of a nice sunny day today reading (when I should have been outside working).