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.
I just started JK Rowling's new book for adults, The Casual Vacancy. 19 pages in and I already feel like I need to get a huge wall of post-its with character names and connections, like what I felt I needed to do with the HP series to remember everything.
I just finished The Fun House and am now reading Are You My Mother?.
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/4/04
On the fluffy/ridiculous side of things, I'm rereading a couple of Dresden Files books to tide me over until the Cold Days comes out. I'm also still working on that big Mielziner biography I've been leafing through since Sandy.
I'd love to read a Mileziner bio--had no idea there was one, though I loved the glimpses they had into his life in that beautiful coffee table book of his designs. I'll have to look for it.
To fill up some credits I had to take for school I've been doing a class that compares books to their film adaptations, and is focused on American ideas of masculinity. In the past two weeks I had to finish Deliverance and Revolutionary Road--I loved Rev Road, though it was pretty depressing (a lot of people I talk to in class found it tough going just because it is pretty long, and despite some satire, prtty heavy), and I liked Deliverance--certainly more than the film--but I get why Dickey is considered himself more as a poet than a novelist. Still, I'm glad I read both, and probably wouldn't have without the class.
When I have time right now to read something I want to read I'm still thumbing through Pulp Friction, a collection of excerpts of gay pulp novels. It's really fascinating--often campy, but a number of the excerpts are actually really good and make me want to try to track down the full book--and there's great historical context about each choice.
I am 115 pages into Chris Cleaves' Gold.
About to start reading Outlander. I love time travel books, and I heard it's a great series
double post
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/4/04
Carl Hiaasen's Stormy Weather, which is filled with his usual cast of Florida eccentrics.
I really need to play catch-up in this thread!
I just finished AMBERVILLE by Tim Davys. A cool little book about a town inhabited by stuffed animals. The story follows 4 of them on a quest to find "the death list" for the residents there. Not a kids book. Loved the pill popping, s&m loving stuffed gazelle!
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/13/04
Well, my new (used) car has a CD player so I've been listening to books that I otherwise probably wouldn't have the patience to read. Driving three hours a night allows for a lot more listening time than reading time. One recently finished BOCD was the fantastic Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul. Examining the life of Williams allows a plunge into a historical view of the separation of church and state in Colonial America. It reveals a huge, early chunk of the backstory of an American debate that continues today.
http://www.amazon.com/Roger-Williams-Creation-American-Soul/dp/0670023051
Reading-wise I recently started Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago. "Heat waves in the United States kill more people during a typical year than all other natural disasters combined." In July, 1995, Chicago experienced a week long heat wave that resulted in the deaths of over 700 residents. The author, Eric Klinenberg, looked into the whys of such a high death toll and found that the social breakdowns typical in most large American cities played a major role.
http://www.amazon.com/Heat-Wave-Autopsy-Disaster-Illinois/dp/0226443221
Updated On: 11/25/12 at 02:58 PM
Re-reading one of my all-time faves, Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray - but this time the uncensored version, published for the first time last year. New and improved, now with added homosexual deviancy.
I am currenty reading "Who Stole the American Dream" by Hedrick Smith.
"In Cold Blood" & "The Virgin Suicides" - bit took a break yesterday to read "Daughter of Smoke and Bone" a young adult supernatural fiction series. Pretty entertaining for a YA novel. I didn't want to put it down.
Finishing up Ron Chernow's bio of Alexander Hamilton.
I just finished Patron Saint of Liars. Not sure how I feel about it.
The Twelve, Book Two in the Passages Trilogy.
Basically a bit of the apocalypse and horror related to military experiments gone awry, in one handy dandy book.
Hilary Mantel's Thomas Cromwell books. Finished Wolf Hall, almost through Bring Up the Bodies. Recommend.
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/4/04
Ooh, I tried to pick up Wolf Hall at the library a few weeks back but it's been unexpectedly popular for a book that's a few years old. I'll just have to keep trying.
What I am reading right now is Jim Butcher's Cold Days. Anyone else do Dresden Files?
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/22/03
Jim, why are you comfortable posting the word "faggots" on your personal Twitter account and them coming here posting on a board with so many gay men?
Videos