What are you reading now?

[KDFINE]

I just finished, while on vacation, Michael Crichton's "The Great Train Robbery." It is about the robbery of the payroll train for the English troops during the Crimean War. As an American I confess to have never learned much, if anything, about the Crimean War while in school. It was pretty good read. Now I can finally see the movie. The book gives so much background information about the war and about living conditions at the time that it could have used footnotes.
Prior to that I read "Comrades and Chicken Ranchers" by Kenneth Kann. I picked it up one Sunday while walking with my son's family in Brooklyn. Folks put books out on their stoops for anyone to take, an interesting practice, and it looked interesting. (I hate the idea of throwing books out.) Its an oral history of the Jewish chicken ranchers and radicals of Petaluma, California who migrated there in the early 20th century, and how the community evolved and devolved since then.

[gh]

Does it mention that while you can pet a dog or pet a cat you can't petaluma?

[Marlow]

you can't petaluma?

But you can petulance.

[KDFINE]

If a luma is a type of cat I'm probably allergic anyway!

[26mi235]

I picked it up one Sunday while walking with my son's family in Brooklyn. Folks put books out on their stoops for anyone to take, an interesting practice, and it looked interesting. (I hate the idea of throwing books out.) Its an oral history of the Jewish chicken ranchers and radicals of Petaluma, California who migrated there in the early 20th century, and how the community evolved and devolved since then.

In my general neighborhood that are a relatively large (30 total?) locations where people have a little 'house' with a glass door front (to protect the books) with typically 10-20 books for taking/replacing with others. First there were one or two, then five then ... not certain of the total number.


As for Petaluma, my sister has lived in Point Reyes Station for more than 30 years and her husband was a teacher at the elementary school there, then the principal, then the assistant superintendent. In the process they have gotten to know the real mix of people in that area close to San Fransisco but not so close. Unlike places along 101 it is harder to commute in to SF.

[Daisy]

my sister has lived in Point Reyes Station

Have you ever been to Vladimir's Czech Restaurant? It's on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard on the west side of Tomales Bay. We often went their for food when we lived in SF. It's a little hit and miss but I do remember getting a good rabbit once. You can always skip the food and drink the draft pilsner.

[26mi235]

Yes, I have gone there, but not for a number of years. My sister and brother-in-law know pretty much all of the long-term families (there are not that many). There is also Mankas (spelling, or is that the name of the restaurant). Over the last 20 years or so most of my stays were family gatherings so we did not eat out.

I did study for Quals there for the last three weeks before the exams. They were building their house at the time and Jim would teach come back from teaching in the early afternoon and then we would work on the house throughout the afternoon, eat dinner and I would go back to studying. It seemed to be the perfect, low-stress preparation.

[DrJay]

Is "The Godfather" worth reading if one has seen the entire movie two or three times and probably nine or ten times if you splice together all the partial views I've had while lazing about channel surfing, stretching on the carpet, etc?

[kuha]

Just finished Alex Ross's "The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century" (2007), a remarkably detailed history of modern "classical" music. It's not a subject I am very familiar with, but I thought this account was very rich and interesting.

[dukehjsteve]

Is "The Godfather" worth reading if one has seen the entire movie two or three times and probably nine or ten times if you splice together all the partial views I've had while lazing about channel surfing, stretching on the carpet, etc?

Quite readable and entertaining. It's interesting to see how the movie differs from the book. Not a drastic difference however.

[dukehjsteve]

Churning through the third book in William Manchester's Churchill trilogy, " Defender of the Realm 1940-1965. " He did not have it quite done before his health failed, but prior to his death he worked out a deal with Paul Reid to finish it for him.

I've read every book Manchester wrote.

[kuha]

I've read every book Manchester wrote.

He lived and taught very close to where I grew up, so he was probably the first "name" historian I was aware of. I remember reading "The Glory and the Dream" very intently when it first came out (ca. 1974?).

Edit: Just found this book on the shelf and was surprised to find it autographed. At some point, I guess, I met him or went to a book signing. I read this book to death--its value as a collectable is minimal.

[kuha]

Another airline flight...just finished David Byrne's "How Music Works." Very interesting overview of music and the biz, from a personal & insider's perspective. Will probably be of more interest to those who followed his great band Talking Heads in the old days...

[gh]

Churning through the third book in William Manchester's Churchill trilogy, " Defender of the Realm 1940-1965. " He did not have it quite done before his health failed, but prior to his death he worked out a deal with Paul Reid to finish it for him.

I've read every book Manchester wrote.

Oh, this is awesome news! I've read the first two books twice, and every once in a while went looking to see if anybody else had picked up the torch for him, but I guess it has been a while since I did that. Question is, do I slog through the other two yet again first?!

[DrJay]

Is "The Godfather" worth reading if one has seen the entire movie two or three times and probably nine or ten times if you splice together all the partial views I've had while lazing about channel surfing, stretching on the carpet, etc?

Quite readable and entertaining. It's interesting to see how the movie differs from the book. Not a drastic difference however.

Halfway through it, enjoyable vacation read. About as easy as scratching one's bum. Fills in the movie material well.

[mump boy]

I was given a copy of Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe for xmas. I'm not going to pretend it's a page turner but it a beautifully written and observed book from an african perspective which is very refreshing

I've only read the first part because Judge Judy keeps interrupting but i'll get there

[gh]

Is "The Godfather" worth reading if one has seen the entire movie two or three times and probably nine or ten times if you splice together all the partial views I've had while lazing about channel surfing, stretching on the carpet, etc?

Quite readable and entertaining. It's interesting to see how the movie differs from the book. Not a drastic difference however.

Halfway through it, enjoyable vacation read. About as easy as scratching one's bum. Fills in the movie material well.

Sorry, I didn't catch your Q earlier; I would have said go for it. As you say, not a tough read, and a well written book (which this is) always adds some depth and breadth that the movie version can't. I remember sitting for 6-7 hours straight reading to finish it, so enraptured was I (a Sunday in September of '71 if memory serves).

[Conor Dary]

I was given a copy of Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe for xmas. I'm not going to pretend it's a page turner but it a beautifully written and observed book from an african perspective which is very refreshing

I've only read the first part because Judge Judy keeps interrupting but i'll get there

You have reminded me of this fine novel.

http://www.amazon.com/Palm-Wine-Drinkar ... e+drinkard

I've had fresh palm wine. It is very good.

[Daisy]

I'm on Game Of Thrones which is amazing and just bought the next 2 more to come. This could take a while

I got sucked into this series. I'm not sure if I really like the way he crafts the story but his characters are what keeps me riveted.

[mump boy]

I'm on Game Of Thrones which is amazing and just bought the next 2 more to come. This could take a while

I got sucked into this series. I'm not sure if I really like the way he crafts the story but his characters are what keeps me riveted.

There's WAY too much info, people keep going on a journey and you don't come back to them for 2 books !! i wish he's just get on with it

I couldn't put them down but they do become a bit tiresome in the end

[Daisy]

Mump, My feeling exactly. I keep thinking I won't buy the next one but the characters draw me back.

He needs a good editor to keep the storyline on track. Rowling had the same problem with her Harry Potter series.

[deweyward]

I am reading steve Job's Biography and i m loving it

[gh]

What, did we all give up reading over the summer?!

With so much time in hotel rooms/on planes I steered clear of my normal dose of "intellectual" reading and instead went for visceral pleasures that could be grabbed in tiny doses. Spent lots of time catching up on the Elmore Leonard canon. I think I've now read 40 of his 44 books. Came across a great character in The Cool Kid who is a U.S. marshall chasing bank robbers in depression-era Oklahoma. Not sure it wasn't originally sketched out as a Raylan Givens project. Everything fits (which also means it was a great read if you're into that kind of stuff).

And now I just finished Raylan, which to viewers of Justified will seem verrrrry familiar. I thought that old Elmore had gotten lazy and was cribbing from himself, but it turns out (from the notes at the end of the book) that at the behest of the director and Tim Olyphant after the TV show started he wrote another book. And while he was crafting it, he'd send drafts and say "feel free to use this any way you want."

So in the end, the book read rather disjointedly to me, jumping as it seemed from plotlines from multiple threads across a couple of years of the TV show. The TV people had just picked and chose from various chapters and recrafted. If you'd never seen the TV you might have thought it a good book, but it left me pretty cold.

[bambam]

The Battle of Bretton Woods - while on a trip to a meeting in Japan. Tough sledding, but pretty interesting. Its about the international conference of 1944 that set up the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank as a way to set up the post-WW2 economic structure. It was held at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, near Mount Washington. Still about 100 pages to go - I'll let you know how it turns out.

[gh]

we can see how it's turning out, and it ain't good!

[Conor Dary]

I don't think Bretton Woods is the cause of our present day troubles and certainly not the main problem with Europe.

[gh]

We're overdue, with respect to a pandemic.

Here comes H7N9?

http://www.sfgate.com/health/article/H7 ... 446898.php

[26mi235]

We're overdue, with respect to a pandemic.

Here comes H7N9?

http://www.sfgate.com/health/article/H7 ... 446898.php

I'll get worried when the people really know the science get worried ... Opps, that was Daisy posting, now I am worried.

[KDFINE]

I just finished "Flyboys" by James Bradley, whose wrote 'Flags of Our Fathers" and whose father was one of the flag raisers at Iwo Jima. (This was loaned to me by a 90 year old friend who was an aircraft mechanic during WW2 in Europe.) The book is about flyers in the Pacific Theater, concentrating on those unfortunate to be shot down and captured at a place called Chichi Jima. Its not just an account of what happened (I knew about P.O.W.s being beheaded and about the fire bombing of Tokyo), but also goes back to the opening of Japan by Admiral Perry, and some of the background for why governments "thought" it was O.K. to conduct certain policies. Its an eye opener and worthwhile.

[KDFINE]

And I just started "Isaac's Storm," by Erik Larson. It's about the 1900 Hurricane that demolished Galveston, Texas. Larson also wrote "Devil in the White City" and "In the Garden of Beasts". He is one fabulous writer.

[bambam]

And I just started "Isaac's Storm," by Erik Larson. It's about the 1900 Hurricane that demolished Galveston, Texas.

I bet that's good - have to get it. I just bought The Year Without a Summer about the explosion of Mount Tambora circa 1915. Haven't started it yet. Same idea though.

[lonewolf]

And I just started "Isaac's Storm," by Erik Larson. It's about the 1900 Hurricane that demolished Galveston, Texas.

I bet that's good - have to get it. I just bought The Year Without a Summer about the explosion of Mount Tambora circa 1915. Haven't started it yet. Same idea though.

Apropos of nothing, my maternal grandmother was born in Galveston and survived that storm.

[bambam]

About to start The Sleepwalkers - history of how WWI started

[scottmitchell74]

I've been reading Berard Cornwell's Saxon series in a frenzy, and I'm about to start book #6 - Death of Kings.

[KDFINE]

My problem with this Cornwell series is that I started when the first book came out, and it has been too long between books. I liked his three book series from the late 14th century much more: Archers Tale, Heretic and Vagabond. Of course all were already out when I discovered them.