What are You Reading?

[TonyDown]

On 8/14/2023 at 11:22 AM, Simon Suraci said:

Thanks for your comment. I’ve had it in my list for many years thinking I might like it as much as I did The Persian Boy, by Mary Renault, due to the ancient historical context and subject matters. I might still read it one day, just placing it further down my already long list.

I had similar thoughts, how it would compare. 

Renault wrote a number of books.  I'd recommend her The Last of the Wine instead of The Song of Achilles.

[ceej]

I just finished 3 by J Ryan Stradal: Kitchens of the Great Midwest, The Lager Queen of Minnesota, and Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club.  All set in the midwest, centered around the food/beverage/restaurant industry, and all the life story/stories of generations of family.  Good stories, nothing too bleak the characters face their share of struggle.  The second was my favorite of the 3.

[Ali Gator]

Colleen Hoover has become a very popular author the past year, with her novels 'It Starts With Us' and 'It Ends With Us' topping the best-seller lists. I just finished "Verity' (from 2018) and I have to say, it really caught me by surprise on how good it was ! A very easy read, flows pretty quickly, and a satisfying ending. Great read for a getaway weekend.

[Ali Gator]

On 4/30/2023 at 11:54 AM, Rod Hagen said:

I just read the description, sounds batshit, and therefore interesting :-)

 

My friend and I both picked this up at the library last week so we could read it at the same time ( 2 different copies, 2 different libraries). We both quit the book after Chapter 2 - it was just blah. Good story there somewhere, but terrible writing. 

[Guest]

At the moment I'm reading Hamilton 

[adunn1992]

9 hours ago, Vin_Marco said:

At the moment I'm reading Hamilton 

I am not surprised one bit @Vin_Marco You were always a well-rounded bibliophile and intellect need to add to my reading list now that I'm done with school

[Guest]

9 minutes ago, adunn1992 said:

I am not surprised one bit @Vin_Marco You were always a well-rounded bibliophile and intellect need to add to my reading list now that I'm done with school

🫂 I can't wait to see you.... thank you for your kind words. 🙂

[Brock O]

On 9/12/2023 at 2:44 PM, Vin_Marco said:

At the moment I'm reading Hamilton 

I see the Captain Cook book at the bottom of the pile. The cottage where he grew up in England was dismantled and reassembled in the park across from our apartment in Australia...stop by and see it!

[Guest]

Well you know my deep and long..... fascination with the South Pacific 😜 @Brock O

[adunn1992]

Honestly, I would love to get a list of the literary classics. I had an English professor in undergrad, share her recommendations of literary classics everyone should read.  Any feedback on some classics you all have enjoyed?

[+ poolboy48220]

one of my best English teachers left a recommended reading list at the end of the term.  "The Importance of Being Earnest" was on it.  Years later I found an audio version of it and bought it, it's one of my favorites.  

[mike carey]

6 minutes ago, poolboy48220 said:

one of my best English teachers left a recommended reading list at the end of the term.  "The Importance of Being Earnest" was on it.  Years later I found an audio version of it and bought it, it's one of my favorites.  

An inspired recommendation!

[Mr.E]

I really enjoyed A Tale of Two Cities. You gotta love details though.

Also recommend Les Miserables. You find out how much Fantine really suffers. Not a feel-good read though. 😏

Edited September 28, 2023 by Mr.E

[Guest]

On 9/26/2023 at 1:53 PM, adunn1992 said:

Honestly, I would love to get a list of the literary classics. I had an English professor in undergrad, share her recommendations of literary classics everyone should read.  Any feedback on some classics you all have enjoyed?

Walden spoke to me and even though written in 1854, it's relevance in todays world 🌎 left me baffled 😯 

[adunn1992]

56 minutes ago, Vin_Marco said:

Walden spoke to me and even though written in 1854, it's relevance in todays world 🌎 left me baffled 😯 

"Books are the treasured wealth of the world and the fit inheritance of generations and nations." 😁

[+ poolboy48220]

23 hours ago, Mr.E said:

I really enjoyed A Tale of Two Cities. You gotta love details though.

Also recommend Les Miserables. You find out how much Fantine really suffers. Not a feel-good read though. 😏

Another high school teacher, not the great one who recommended "The Importance of Being Earnest", ruined Dickens and Les Miserables for me.  She made reading them into a chore.

[Mr.E]

19 minutes ago, poolboy48220 said:

Another high school teacher, not the great one who recommended "The Importance of Being Earnest", ruined Dickens and Les Miserables for me.  She made reading them into a chore.

I hear you on that. I find that reading a great book without the pressure of having to write a paper about it later makes the experience so much better.

[+ Charlie]

I suspect that there are now so many AI-written papers about the so-called Great Books that giving such an assignment today would be a waste of time, unless it were a very specifically pointed question (e.g., "Why do you believe that Jane Austen decided to give her novel the title Pride and Prejudice instead of All's Well that Ends Well or A Sensible Marriage?").

Edited September 28, 2023 by Charlie

[Rudynate]

When I was in 11th grade - I had a mad crush on my English teacher.  He was very sexy, in an unusual way. The girls swooned over him and I sat in my seat in English class trying to conceal a raging boner nearly every day.  They gave the assignment of having to do a project on a 20th century American author - we got to choose the author.  Of course, half the kids wanted to do Steinbeck and the other half wanted to do Hemingway.  I was going to do Steinbeck, but the teacher said he wanted me to do a particular author - Sherwood Anderson.  His best known work is a book of short stories about people in a fictional town called Winesburg, Ohio and that was the book's title. He told me to start with that book.  In this book, there was a story about a teacher, who had fluttery, expressive hands that made all the men in town nervous.  He ended up getting run out of town after one of his male students developed a mad crush on him.  The boy was so lovesick that he began telling people about his fantasies, and, because they were uncomfortable with him anyway, they believed that the teacher was actually doing improper things with his students. 

I didn't think a thing of it at the time, but many years later, it suddenly dawned on me that he had known how in lust I was with him. 

[+ Just Sayin]

13 minutes ago, Rudynate said:

When I was in 11th grade - I had a mad crush on my English teacher.  He was very sexy, in an unusual way. The girls swooned over him and I sat in my seat in English class trying to conceal a raging boner nearly every day.  They gave the assignment of having to do a project on a 20th century American author - we got to choose the author.  Of course, half the kids wanted to do Steinbeck and the other half wanted to do Hemingway.  I was going to do Steinbeck, but the teacher said he wanted me to do a particular author - Sherwood Anderson.  His best known work is a book of short stories about people in a fictional town called Winesburg, Ohio and that was the book's title. He told me to start with that book.  In this book, there was a story about a teacher, who had fluttery, expressive hands that made all the men in town nervous.  He ended up getting run out of town after one of his male students developed a mad crush on him.  The boy was so lovesick that he began telling people about his fantasies, and, because they were uncomfortable with him anyway, they believed that the teacher was actually doing improper things with his students. 

I didn't think a thing of it at the time, but many years later, it suddenly dawned on me that he had known how in lust I was with him. 

I remember reading that short story; what a wonderful way to tell you that he knows how you felt.

 

[+ Charlie]

15 hours ago, Just Sayin said:

I remember reading that short story; what a wonderful way to tell you that he knows how you felt.

 

It was actually a rather daring thing for the teacher to do, if he was trying to signal that he was aware of @Rudynate's interest in him and was warning him of the possible consequences.

Edited September 29, 2023 by Charlie

[Rod Hagen]

Finished this on the way back from Italy.  Very very funny, and full of love (and Sadness).

 

https://www.amazon.com/Farrell-Covington-Limits-Style-Novel/dp/1668004674

Edited October 5, 2023 by Rod Hagen

[+ Lucky]

On 8/11/2023 at 4:54 PM, Lucky said:

I just finished reading Farrell Covington and the Limits of Style by Paul Rudnick. It is a very likable gay romance novel about a very handsome rich kid and an aspiring young playwright. Lots of history, lots of sex. Pretty good book. Not that it didn't irritate me a time or two.

I liked it too.

[+ Lucky]

I just finished another gay-themed novel, this one about the theater world and New York in the eighties. I enjoyed Up With The Sun a lot. It's by Thomas Mallon. Street hustlers are common in the novel, and a visit to Rounds and the Haymarket are included. (Remember Rounds?)

It's basically a story about Dick Kallman, a gay actor whose career never reached great heights before he and his partner were murdered. The narrator is a musician who played in the theaters of New York.

Check out the reviews on Amazon. The first one says that "Enjoyment may vary greatly with one's knowledge of and interest in the subject matter"

Well, duh! The theater, New York life, hustlers, etc. should get some appeal here!

https://www.amazon.com/Up-Sun-novel-Thomas-Mallon/dp/1524748196/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1696529924&sr=8-1

 

 

 

[+ WilliamM]

The Pope  at War by Daniel Kertiy

Concerning Pope Pius Xii  and World War2

Very sad story