^ I found that part to be fascinating! It was pretty graphic though.
It was definitely interesting, but I felt so horrible for those little girls!
I bought Gore Vidal's memoir "Palimpsest" after his recent death and am partway through. And I was just given "Butterfly in the Typewriter," a biography about John Kennedy Toole (author of "A Confederacy of Dunces"), which I started reading today.
Now I'm reading Snow Flower and the Secret Fan.
Oh sorry. I said that already.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
Reading WHO GOES THERE?, the novella that the various versions of THE THING were based on. Interesting, speedy read.
Stockard - I'm very curious to hear what you think of Snow Flower. I absolutely loved it. I had such a morbid curiosity about the foot binding, I Google images of it on the internet and it's just unreal. I can't imagine putting myself through that kind of torture.
I loved that book. It was completely absorbing. And a fascinating look into aspects of a culture I knew very little about.
I also read 'Peony in Love' by Lisa See. She's a gifted writer.
I loved it too. I have Peony in Love on my waiting list at the e-library. I swear I posted another post here today. Has anyone read The Third Twin by Ken Follet?
I am reading book three of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series! A very good series with lots of history, romance, suspense, and great characters. If you like "saga-like" historical fiction, I would definitely recommend checking out her books!
Richard Ford's Canada
It's okay. A little dreary, hardly a page-turner, but written beautifully as per usual.
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/4/04
Biggest Brother, by Larry Alexander
Yes, this was prompted by a Band of Brothers rewatch. DON'T JUDGE ME.
I just read a book called Black Out by Lisa Unger. It was a psychological thriller. I'm still a little confused as to what was real and what was only in her head. It was pretty good though.
I found a used, in good condition, hard copy of Pauline Kael's FOR KEEPS. Since it is reviews and some essays, I have been going all over the place looking at her old stuff. I know some of her negative critiques got attention but her rave of The Godfather Part II is sublimely written among other stuff.
Dark Places by Gillian Flynn. Already read Gone Girl & Sharp Objects. She's not my favorite, but she is not bad.
Gone Girl is our book club book for December (we are skipping November because of T-giving)
I always read horror in October. I just finished King's Carrie, I can't believe I have never read it. It's great and still relevant.
Now I am reading Dean Koontz Phantoms. I am not a Koontz fan, but a freind recommended this as a creepy, scary Halloween read. I am 150 pages in and enjoying it so far.
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/13/04
There's so little non-fiction, especially history, mentioned. It's reflected in bookstore and library stacks, too, - very disheartening.
Anyway, my current read, State of Deception, was published by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2009 as a companion piece to the exhibit they were running at the time. It's been surprising in that never before have I seen the Nazis revealed as so calculatingly politically aware and utterly in control of what they were doing during their rise to power and the pre-war years.
It's also apropos of the recent US election cycles where blatant propaganda and media-driven sound bites have dominated to the exclusion of honest discussion and presentation.
State of Deception
Updated On: 10/23/12 at 10:58 PM
Depends--memoirs seem to still be huge sellers. To be honest, I read so much non-fiction for school and work, that a thread like this makes me think of what I read as a break from that--mainly fiction. (I also admit that when I read non-fiction I tend to read it differently--depending of course on how it's written--skipping around or reading a collection of essays in whatever order I want).
State of Deception sounds interesting.
Just before Canada, I read a book full of excerpts from memoirs - ranging from Albert Einstein to Billie Holiday to Stephen Fry...'twas fascinating!
Um, I can't seem to remember the name of it though.
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/4/04
Weirdly, now that I'm out of school I've shifted more towards reading non-fiction on my own rather than just when it was assigned to me. Right now I'm almost done with the Richard Winters biography and have started one of Jo Mielziner.
The new Tom Wolfe novel just came out. Going to B&N today to get a copy!
The new John Grisham came out yesterday, The Rackateers. I'm excited!
I just finished Broadway Nights by Seth Rudetsky. Haven't decided what I'm going to read next.
I leafed through Bill O'Reilly's Killing Kennedy today by way of procrastination, and despite the author being a moron it didn't totally suck. I have no intention of finishing it, though - a flick will suffice. 666 reviews on amazon too, which I thought appropriate.
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