What Are YOU Reading?

[Phoenix]

pulpmariachi said:

iamthesmitty said:

Who the Hell is Harold Bloom?

He's considered one of the foremost literary critics in the United States...maybe even the world.... So I guess you could consider him the Roger Ebert of books. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Bloom

Yikes! That pic of of Mr. Bloom is not that flattering from that link, lol. He looks just like an over-stuffy literature critic would look like. zzzzzzzzzzzz..........

[Pulpmariachi]

Recently finished:

His Dark Materials(Philip Pullman):

a) The Golden Compass -- a great fantastic adventure, pretty dark, especially for something marketed towards children, but easily the best of the series. A-.

b) The Subtle Knife -- it's just as intense and provoking as the previous one, except some of the action, especially towards the end, feels a bit more empty. B.

c) The Amber Spyglass -- the conclusion is a satisfacotry one but what's it with most British authors and having excruciatingly long endings (Tolkien, Lewis, Fleming). The final action doesn't build as well as it has been built up and some of the sequences, though cool, are jumped into too fast. Still a great read. Thought-provoking. B+.

Being There (Jerzy Kosinski) -- a quiet little tale about a man suddenly launched into fame. It's consisitantly hilarious and a pretty quick read. The ending was a bit too open, but you can't not help but love that last image. B.

[Bartwald]

I just finished Richard Bachman's "Blaze" - and think it's one of his best books. Not as gripping as "The Long Walk", sure, but much better than "Rage" or "Roadworks" - or the latest King's novels, for that matter.

[LivingDeadGirl]

I've been thinking about picking that one up, but I always talk myself out of it. (I have 3 books here that I haven't read yet), but I may have to get it soon, based on your opinion of it.

[frankenjohn]

Intensity by Dean Koontz

[Quorthon]

Communion by Whitley Strieber

[LivingDeadGirl]

Just started on Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult. Different from the stuff I usually read, but was a recommendation by my sis-in-law.

[ZapRowsdower]

Just finished (took me long enough)

Rant by Chuck Palahniuk

Very different storytelling technique, and probably not one of his stronger works, but still a good read.

And I'm ordering from Amazon.com

The Children of Hurin by J.R.R. and Christopher Tolkien

[LivingDeadGirl]

iamthesmitty said:

The Children of Hurin by J.R.R. and Christopher Tolkien

Is this the one that's the continuation of the LOTR series? My brother was asking me about it.

[ZapRowsdower]

Well... seems to me like it happens way before Lord of the Rings... like post-Silmarillion or something.

[Phoenix]

The Road by C. McCarthy - absorbing, engaging read (I couldn't put it down!) but very, very sad.

[Quorthon]

Transformers "graphic novella" "Aspects of Evil."

[ZapRowsdower]

Just finished reading Tolkien's Children of Hurin. Not an easy read - lots of characters to keep track of - and some have the annoying tendency of changing their names. But overall, it's a good read. Definitely prefer the Rings trilogy, but it's good to get further insight into the history of Middle Earth.

Just ordered from Amazon.com, Stephen Colbert's "I Am America (And So Can You)". Looking forward to reading it.

[Pulpmariachi]

Realize that I haven't been keeping tabs on what I've been reading lately, bragging about it and everything. Unless I go check my notebook, I can't even remember some of the books I've read since "His Dark Materials."

SPECTACULAR BOOKS:

Little, Big (John Crowley) -- there is no other fantasy in America, much less existence, that touches this. Though it really doesn't fit into that definition of fantasy commonly associated with fantasy, so I guess we should call it fantastic fiction. Anyway, it's intoxicating, beautiful, profound, far more people need to read it and I think that if you tore out the pages and ate them, they'd taste like the finest wine. John Crowley is probably among the best, if not the best of living American authors; he ranks up with the dead ones, too. A+.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (Michael Chabon) -- sprawling, epic, sweeping, and fascinating. Highly recommended for comic book lovers, notably those of the Golden Age, but there's plenty in there to appeal to a wider majority. A+.

Boy Meets Boy/The Realm of Possibility (David Levithan) -- two spectacular young adult novels. They're enjoyable, amazing, and I nearly cried at the end of the latter one. A's all the way.

umm....

Others...in no particular order:

The Solitudes (Aegypt Part I)--John Crowley
The Yiddish Policemen's Union--Michael Chabon
Wonder Boys -- " "
A Model World and Other Stories -- " "
The Mysteries of Pittsburgh -- " "
The Final Solution -- " "
Gentlemen of the Road -- " "
The General in his Labyrinth -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez
...Or Not -- Brian Mandabach
The Traitor King -- Todd Mitchell
Pale Fire -- Vladmir Nabokov
The Perks of Being a Wallflower -- Stephen Chboski
The Diary of Anne Frank
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao -- Junet Diaz
Speak -- Laren Anderson
The Freedom Writer's Diary (real manipulative shit, incidentally)
Waiting for Godot -- Beckett
The Pillowman -- Martin McDonagh
The Balcony -- Jean Genet
Madman and Specialists -- Wole Soyinka
Art
The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat As Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of The Marquis de Sade -- Peter Weiss
Frozen -- Byrony Lavery
A Doll's House -- Ibsen
Top Girls -- Caryl Churchill
How I Live Now -- Meg Rosoff
Ordinary People -- Judith Guest
The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants -- Ann Brashares
On the Road -- Jack Kerouac (real shit, too)
King Dork -- Frank Portman
A Wrinkle in Time -- Madeline L'Engle
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler -- E. L. Koingsburg
The Invention of Hugo Cabret -- Brian Selznik
Nada -- Carmen Laforet
Chuck Dugan's AWOL -- Eric Chase Anderson
The Sound and the Fury -- William Faulkner
Feed -- M. T. Anderson
The House on Mango Street -- Susan Cisneros
Moby-Dick -- Herman Melvelle
Blood Meridian -- Cormac McCarthy (if you thought "The Road" was violent...you might not be ready for this)
In the Penny Arcade -- Steven Millhauser
The Metamorphisis -- Franz Kafka
Playing from Memory -- David Milofsky
Therapy -- Steven Schwartz

Then I swear there's another couple I read but don't remember them off the top of my head.

And let's not mention all the books I started but never finished.

[frankenjohn]

I just finished "The Ruins" by Scott Smith. Good, intense book. Looking forward to seeing the movie, while it looks very different.