I am waiting to check out the second installment of Follett's century trilogy, Winter of the World. I have a few others on hold waiting to check them out. But, I may finally dive into "The Twelve" - book 2 of Justin Cronin's vampire/end of world/science gone wrong trilogy.
About 3/4 of the way through Dickens' LITTLE DORRIT, and enjoying the hell out of it. One of his more restrained novels, there's little of the grotesque or bizarre flights of fancy that can animate BLEAK HOUSE and OUR MUTUAL FRIEND.
"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." Thomas Pynchon, GRAVITY'S RAINBOW
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Philip K. Dick
My blog: http://www.roscoewrites.blogspot.com/
I read an interesting book that was the first in a trilogy called "The Boy in the Suitcase" over Christmas. Now I'm reading the second book. It's called "Invisible Murder."
Read in the last month: Ann Patchett's This is the Story of a Happy Marriage; Alissa Nutting's Tampa; Jim Gaffigan's Dad is Fat; Gary Shytengart's Little Failure; David Sedaris' Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls.
About to start: Rachel Kushner's The Flamethrowers
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
Just finished a collection of three Colette novellas, Gigi (read it and tell me it's sexist, I dare you), Julie de Carneilhan (did nothing for me), and Chance Acquaintances (one of the best stories I've ver read).
Now, considering starting Richard Russo's Straight Man.
Currently reading the new Hercule Poirot mystery, The Monogram Murders. I've only read a few of the original Agatha Christies (when I was about fourteen), so can't really say how true this Sophie Hannah version is to the old ones, but it's a lot of fun and easy to read.
Also on the go, Subtly Worded, a collection of shorts by Teffi - the favorite author of Tsar Nicholas II - and it's fascinating. Real-life accounts of her encounters with the likes of Tolstoy and Rasputin, any Russophile would love it.
Anybody reading any good non-fiction? I'm in the mood for something historical.
Beyoncé is not an ally. Actions speak louder than words, Mrs. Carter. #Dubai #$$$
Jay, have you read Eminent Outlaws: The Gay Writers Who Changed America by Christopher Bram? It's brilliant--it reads almost like a novel, although it will make you want to read nearly every novel it name drops. Bram wrote one of my fave novels, Something Special as well as Frankenstein's Father which became Gods and Monsters. Back when it came out, Bram gave a great interview on gay lit at Salon http://www.salon.com/2012/02/12/is_gay_literature_over/
Just finished The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis as well as Wolf Hall. Recently (in the past 2 weeks) read Gravity's Rainbow, Finnegans Wake, Cheri and the Last of Cheri, and about 10 plays. Starting Just Lucky I Guess today and am slowly making my way through Showtime by Larry Stempel. I have Fun Home which I would like to start reading this week as well as rereading Christopher and His Kind.