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A patriot in Berlin

A patriot in Berlin by Piers Paul Read: It went way beyond my imagination; after finishing the book you will know how tough it was to live in the communistic countries.
 
Just finished 'Blindsighted' by Karin Slaughter. Ok i guess.....no real problem with it.....maybe i'm jaded with crime fiction after reading so much of it recently.
 
Finally finished "Something Wicked This Way Comes". It was a re-read, but took forever because I've been outside raking and cleaning up the yard, which is great, but does put a big dent in my reading time! :cool:
 
Duende by Jason Webster.
Really enjoyed it, a great insight into the Spanish Flamenco culture and the search for 'Duende' which is the emotional state you find yourself in when immersed in the Music and dance.
Having a Spanish family (hence my username) and playing the guitar myself helped to enjoy the book
It had a real feel for the people and the way of life.
Jason Webster writes it like a work of fiction. Recommend it.

Cabrasopa :cool:
 
just finished Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. a take on Bertha's side of things, from Jane Eyre. very interesting book, beautiful to read.
 
I finished Animal Farm by George Orwell. Wow. I suppose I prefer 1984 for the more powerful effect it had on me when I finished it, but it is still very very good.

ds
 
Dress your family in courderoy and denim by David Sedaris
Rumble Fish by S.E. Hinton
That was then, this is now by S.E. Hinton
 
I just finished The Rabbit Factory by Larry Brown and it was almost really good. The characters & story build up were great. I was really getting into it and couldn't wait for what would happen next and then it just sort of fizzed out without any of it ending as I was expecting or hoping for.

Is there a thread for books with good endings? It seems I've been coming across a lot of good books lately with bad endings.
 
Finished A False Sense of Well Bring by Jeanne Braselton last night. Lovely book with a loose ending that worked perfectly. The characters were vivid (and all "real"), and I really enjoyed the silly/touching moments between them.
 
Just finished reading Built To Last: Successful habits of visionary companies by Jim Collins and Jerry I. Porras. I picked it up at the 3 for 20$ section of my favourite bookstore, but I wasn't expecting all that much out of it. Boy was I surprised. One of the best business books I've ever read. Tons of incredibly useful info.
 
Just finished Murakami's "Dance, Dance, Dance".

Always hard to find words to describe the experience of being totally immersed in one of his books, but I enjoyed it alot. Some nice references back to the previous "A Wild Sheep Chase" - this book is a sort-of-sequel and features some of the same people, good characters, (liked Yuki the most) and an interesting ending; you're somewhat left to work it out for yourself.

Recommended, as always.
 
Okay well the other night I just finished reading the book Abbie Hoffman: American Rebel by Mark Jezer, good pretty thorough book about Hoffman's life, I liked it I'd reccomend it for anyone interested in activism or the 60s' culture.
 
moreso to be listed under "I tried reading"...

David Sedaris 'Dress your Family in bla bla...'

From time to time, in my virtual conversations regarding books, some people express curiosity that not only am I not a fan of David Sedaris, but that I haven’t read (or heard much of) him.
Well, I recently reneged on a semi-promise that on my next airplane trip I would tote a Sedaris paperback with me - I abandoned the idea out of sheer fright that if the book wasn’t ‘my thing’, then I’d be trapped on an airplane with nothing to read.
Even thought it was only a 1.5 hour flight.
But I bought a copy of _Dress Your Family…_ on the trip, so recovered from any guilt with little bruising.

So just this very morning I decided to pull it from the To Be Read pile. And read the first essay with the morning coffee.
I don’t think I yawned, but I certainly wasn’t hit by a bolt of anything *even vaguely* amusing, well written, witty, charming or any other word that people love to adorn on this guy.
But, anyone can swing and miss, although one generally tries to open a book well…so I took it with me for my train ride to work. After finishing the second essay without itching and getting about a ¼ of the way into the third, I was thanking deities I don’t believe in that I was not on an airplane.
But I was now trapped on a tram having 10 minutes to work, left with a book that, if it had an immune system, I would have throw from the window to suffer the fate of (yet another) rainy Zurich morning. And then, once it was almost 100% sopping wet, I would have kicked it into a muddy puddle.

Now I’ve never been one to really have my finger on the pulse of the world (I’d just say “America” here, but I know Sedaris is getting mucho airtime on the BBC and his books were well represented in the London Waterstone’s), in fact I’ve often questioned if this “pulse” isn’t in dire need of some serious defibrillation
(as the overhead speaker cries, “Bradycardia: planet Earth! Code Blue; STAT!”)

OK, fine, I can deal with Sedaris being the new honey of NPR, I mean, Christ, for decades they’ve been running Garrison ‘about as funny as diarrhea’ Keillor’s nonsense with, seemingly, little complaint.
But is this really the modern day voice of the people?
People buys CDs of this pap being read to them?
People actually assemble to Carnegie Hall to listen to him?

If this is the current state of ‘intelligent humour’, we are in a shitload of trouble, people.

So I hereby chalk up David Sedaris as another twat to be tried with Crimes Against Forestry.
Case to follow Joseph K’s…

j
 
Sedaris

Sedaris has been on NPR for 10 years or so--not exactly new.

I don't think his popularity is as generalized as you seem to think. He's particularly popular with gay folks because he's written a lot about growing up, coming out, and being gay without incurring the usual rabid homophobia. To me, his concerns are very small, his focus is very narrow, but he sometimes manages a bit of pathos along with his schtick.

My haircutter idolizes him: I suspect that when he listens to him he can't keep from constantly pressing the tip of his nose with his forefinger, like a guy playing charades saying, "yes, you have GOT IT, David."

Personally, I'll read him in The New Yorker--he has a short piece this week about his boyfriend walking too fast in Paris--, but I don't like his delivery and would never buy his books.
 
Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold.

I heard so much about this book but i'm afraid for me it didn't live up to the hype.

The story was a good idea and well written but there was something missing.

Never mind on to the next one.

Cabrasopa :cool:
 
Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk. Not his best work, I'm still wondering if I like it or not. A lot of parts were confusing and boring to read, but there were some parts where I found myself unable to put down the book. Unlike his other works, I wasn't interested in the characters. I didn't feel for them or cared what happened to them. He had a good plot in the book but needed something more to make it great.
 
novella said:
Sedaris has been on NPR for 10 years or so--not exactly new.
Click to expand...

That long?
I heard something with him around 2001 about being an elf and he left no impact, so I therefore never felt the need to look into him further.

I don't think his popularity is as generalized as you seem to think.
Click to expand...

While I do understand he has a large gay following it is not solely that, like say a Quentin Crisp, otherwise he wouldn’t be selling books by the acre or have the following he has.
The several people that have questioned my, “you haven’t read him??!!” are not homosexual.

me, his concerns are very small, his focus is very narrow, but he sometimes manages a bit of pathos along with his schtick.
Click to expand...

I agree. Cute just makes me itch, so I just didn’t dig it.
I’ve read funnier, wittier and more insightful ‘when I was a kid’ stuff elsewhere and really don’t think the world needs another narcissistic dweeb.

but I don't like his delivery and would never buy his books.
Click to expand...

I never planned on it, but after enough questioning, and as he comes up in ‘conversation’ from time to time, I figured I’d fine-tune my opinion to an informed opinion.
Now with nifty things like bookcrossing.com I don’t necessarily mind buying a book that I don’t want.
Although I do get a bit miffed that I added to the riches of the undeserving.

Anyway, on the same trip I bought the new biography of the late, great Bill Hicks, _Agent of Evolution_.
A fair read, nothing outstanding. If one really wants to learn about Hicks, just pick up _Love All the People_ (a title riddled with sarcasm) which is a collection of some of his letter, lyrics and stand-up routines.

Hicks, for those who don’t know, was a stand-up comedian in the 80s and 90s, a True Voice and one that people should be listening to instead of giggling at some git talking about Halloween candy…but we clearly do not like to think…

Anyway, Hicks was an American but barely appreciated in his country, and hence the 2 books I mention aren’t even, published there. Way to go, people!
He was probably best know for his segment being totally edited off of Letterman’s Late Night and his almost Lenny Brucian, discussions of being censored and lied to in the aftermath.

The people decided to accept the loathsome Dennis Leary, who not only stole Hicks’ material, but also the concept of meshing rock and comedy.
Leary now avoids comedy and stars in movies.
Hicks died of pancreatic cancer at 32.

j

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos...590824/sr=8-3/ref=pd_ka_2/202-4570724-8659063

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos...590824/sr=8-5/ref=pd_ka_4/202-4570724-8659063
 
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