What are you reading?

[jawofboston]

Re-reading The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Kundera, and all of Flannery O'Connor.

[Ken Gargett]

Ken,

L.A. Noir is by John Buntin.

Probably not what you are thinking

i was thinking of the quartet by james ellroy ('LA Confidential' etc) which i have heard described as LA Noir, so definitely something different.

[aes8]

L.A. Noir is all about Los Angeles, the Mob, and the Police Chief in the 40's, 50's and 60's. So its the stuff the L.A. Confidential was based on. Sounds similar.

[Ken Gargett]

L.A. Noir is all about Los Angeles, the Mob, and the Police Chief in the 40's, 50's and 60's. So its the stuff the L.A. Confidential was based on. Sounds similar.

ellroy's stuff is fiction but has the factual basis of events of the day behind it. i really enjoyed it. apparently his mother was murdered back in that time and it sparked the interest. i suspect he is a strange man.

[aes8]

Ken,

If you'd like to read it send me your address. Its not exactly a page turner because its all factual information, and alot of it. But it is very portable and you can put it down and pick it back up later without losing anything.

[Ken Gargett]

Ken,

If you'd like to read it send me your address. Its not exactly a page turner because its all factual information, and alot of it. But it is very portable and you can put it down and pick it back up later without losing anything.

ta for that. will get on it.

[Warren]

I just finished Jugs a Poppin and I must say I couldn't put it down.

No really, it got stuck to my right hand for some reason.

[maalouly]

I read Open, Autobiography by Andrew Agassi, I am not sure if he was that open about it, I still believe he left out alot about his personal life, especially the fact that he was so casual about using amphetamine as if he tried it few times and just stopped. I am sure there is alot more to it, but all around it was a very intersting book, funny and kept me intersted, could not put the book down.

I also just finished reading The two of me, by Andrew Johns, if you love league this book is a must buy. I enjoyed it alot, gives you a great inside story about the players and what they go through, especially what joey's life was like.

I am now reading Shantaram, amazing book, mixing a true story with a novel, bringing the best of the two worlds in one book. I am on page 550 now and I can't put it down, to the ones who read it I am sure you know what I mean. Funny enough I heard about this book when I was reading Andrew Johns' book, he mentioned that it was a book he read.

[bolivr]

Helen Garner's Monkey Grip. A junky love story. For me it was just a ramble of them stumbling through life, how hopeless love for a junky is but at the end of it all there was only a glimmer that there was any growth or learning gained from the 'journey' (such as it was)

Anyone else who's read this please feel free to enlighten me if I have the wrong impression of this classic of Aus literature...

Also recently read 'Our Man in Havana' by Graeme Greene since it was recommended elsewhere on FoH. Thanks folks! A good light read which was ideal for me at the time as I needed a distraction from some heavy stuff happening elsewhere in life.

[thechenman]

Finished Min Ron Nee yesterday and have cracked open and began reading Yquem by Richard Olney.

[Ken Gargett]

Finished Min Ron Nee yesterday and have cracked open and began reading Yquem by Richard Olney.

yquem is a wonderful book. not sure when the latest edition was and if it is still there, but in the first one, they mention a massive tasting in brizzy in '85. it was run by a mate of mine and one of the first serious big tastings i ever attended. unbelievable day. we did 51 vintages and i remember the comte, who'd flown out from france for it, at the end of the night as the final wine, the 1900 was served. he got up and said that there are certain twin vntages like 75 and 76 etc. one should never drink one without the other. 1900 is twinned with 1899 so we must drink it as well. and promptly pulled out a bottle.

[Ken Gargett]

i was thinking of the quartet by james ellroy ('LA Confidential' etc) which i have heard described as LA Noir, so definitely something different.

sorry, i've got to correct this. i tend to think of the quartet as that sort of style but ellroy also did a book, with three stories, that is actually called 'LA Noir'. good but not as good as the quartet.

[OZCUBAN]

Friends of Habanos

[Stalebread]

E.L. Doctorow: The Book of Daniel (his first novel). Intense.

John Burdett: The Godfather of Kathmandu (crime fiction, the fourth in a series)

David S. Whitley: Cave Paintings and the Human Spirit: The Origin of Creativity and Belief

Umberto Eco: The Infinity of Lists.

Peter Watson: Ideas: A History From Fire To Freud. (been working on this one for about four years, off-and-on)

[sfordham]

How to Brew - John Palmer. Going to try home brew this spring.

[thechenman]

yquem is a wonderful book. not sure when the latest edition was and if it is still there, but in the first one, they mention a massive tasting in brizzy in '85. it was run by a mate of mine and one of the first serious big tastings i ever attended. unbelievable day. we did 51 vintages and i remember the comte, who'd flown out from france for it, at the end of the night as the final wine, the 1900 was served. he got up and said that there are certain twin vntages like 75 and 76 etc. one should never drink one without the other. 1900 is twinned with 1899 so we must drink it as well. and promptly pulled out a bottle.

Ken thanks for the background on Yquem...makes the reading all the more enjoyable. Should finish it sometime tonight, or tomorrow night. Fascinating book...while most prefer the reds of Bordeaux...Yquem would be my top choice. I's a shame that sweet wines are not as popular these days, but I guess it just makes building a flight of Yquem cheaper for me.

[puros71]

Right now Im reading 5 books.

Parallel Worlds by Michio Kaku

How Did You Get to Be Mexican? by Kevin R. Johnson

Dying to Live by Joseph Nevins

Politics of Immigration by J. Guskin

Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know by Julia Sweig

[BigGuns]

True Blue by David Baldacci

Finished "True Blue". Not one of Baldacci's best, but still decent and entertaining. Now back to another genre - "Liberty and Tyranny" by Mark Levin. I want to get this one out of the way before Hannity's new book comes out...

[reigndrop]

Too Big to Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin

[rudechuck]

I just can't get through that book. I love zombie movies and horror, and I can't deny that "World War Z" is imaginative and well-written, but it feels like reading a bunch of news reports to me. The lack of a through-story is a huge negative for me, and believe me, I've tried numerous times to get through this book and I'm just not getting it. I know it's a hugely popular book with zombie/horror fans and that I'm in the minority on my thumbs down with this one.

Yeah, I finished it. I didn't hate it, but for the most part is was soulless, with the exception of maybe two chapters. The best I can say is that it was a "quick" read.

[Torontonian]

At the moment, I'm reading (or rereading) the following:

• Ontology, Identity, and Modality by Peter Van Inwagen
  Poetic Diction by Owen Barfield
  Joseph in Egypt by Thomas Mann
  Human, All Too Human by Friedrich Nietzsche
  Eighteen Upbuilding Discourses by Søren Kierkegaard
  The Oxford History of Western Music (volume III) by Richard Taruskin
  Introduction to the Theory of Heinrich Schenker by Oswald Jonas
  And others . . .
  

[Torontonian]

Brothers Karamazov - by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Dostoevsky is my favourite of the Russians. Which translation are you reading?

[stargazer14]

Rolling Stone Interviews.

[Ken Gargett]

Ken thanks for the background on Yquem...makes the reading all the more enjoyable. Should finish it sometime tonight, or tomorrow night. Fascinating book...while most prefer the reds of Bordeaux...Yquem would be my top choice. I's a shame that sweet wines are not as popular these days, but I guess it just makes building a flight of Yquem cheaper for me.

you're a very lucky man if you find cheap yquem. i've tried to buy a bottle here and there but not easy. mind you, i would sell my soul for the 01.

just bought the 'Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know by Julia Sweig', so be keen to know what you think.

[Colt45]

mad magazine.