"Ward No. 6 and other stories" by Anton Chekhov. He's the only Russian author besides Krzhizhanovsky that I've ever got along with. Obviously I'm reading a translation, but his writing is so simple and flows so well. Reading his stuff is effortless.
Yep, by Naomi. Reading some passages I got strung up, how can some people be that selfish and ignorant by rejecting all other approaches to economy and consequently causing so much harm to people... Thanks for the recommendation.
Nearing the end of McCarthy's The Road and my views and opinions have been up and down like a yo-yo. It's either a work of genius or complete and utter garbage, and I think I will remain undecided for the rest of my years. Certainly not sorry I read it, though.
I just got through a couple of books on writing and the writing life. Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott and Making a Literary Life by Carolyn See. Neither seemed to pertain to me very much. They were too much like personal memoirs by the authors, and the authors were in pain because people close to them had died blah blah blah. I'm looking for something now to rinse my mind out so it's ready for something more clean and pure.
Just picked up The Vorrh, by Brian Catling. Never heard of it, but jacket has favorable reviews from Alan Moore, Terry Gilliam, Michael Moorcock, Phillip Pullman, and others. And Moorock makes a comparison to Peake. So I bought it.
The Worst Hard Time, by Timothy Egan. A really eye-popping factual account of the Dust Bowl years. I knew it was bad, but I didn't realise just HOW bad. And it was caused by humans making gross environmental mistakes. Sound familiar?
I'm rereading one of Robert A. Heinlein's science fiction books for boys: The Rolling Stones. I loved it when I was a kid, and I'm re-loving it now (surprisingly - I find most of his sci-fi doesn't stand up to my adulthood). It's breezy and fun and mostly pointless, kinda like watching an old Bugs Bunny cartoon.
Just started The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger. Actually it's my second time reading it and it's one of those books that gives back on the second read. Details spring from the page that didn't sink in the first time round. I like that. I also like the way he's very skillfully created the story from a huge amount of research and interviews with friends and loved ones of the men who went to sea that day. Hooked from the very first page.
I'm so disappointed by Heinlein as an adult. I still think he deserves a lot of credit, but I'm not always sure why these days.
Currently I am reading Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler. I am only in the first few chapters but they are very engaging.
Finished McCarthy's The Road last night. I need to read a good first-person novel next, to help me along with my own.
Finished The Rolling Stones yesterday. My assessment above hasn't changed. One thing I did notice was that it's full of semicolons! Most people on this forum say we should avoid semicolons, but Heinlein used a ton of them. This is especially notable because it's a book for kids. I guess American kids in the 1950s were expected to be able to take semicolons in stride. Now I'm looking for the next book. Something more adult this time; something more literary. I have a book of James Salter's short stories near the top of my to-read pile. It jostles there with John Fowles' The Magus. Maybe a re-read of some John Steinbeck short novels - Cannery Row or The Pearl. What to read, what to read...
It is very interesting and engaging. Although I am only digesting the early chapters, this book is full of information and history; the following chapters will only get better I'm sure. If you are looking to purchase the book, Amazon does sell it - I have the official Third Reich edition.
A great author! I remember at school reading Of Mice and Men. I must read some more books by this author; does anyone have any suggestions?
Right now, I'm reading a book called Process: The Writing Lives of Great Authors, by Sarah Stodola. It's very, very good! It's not an instruction book on how to write; it's a book about how some famous writers actually wrote. Stodola examines, in separate chapters, how writers like Toni Morrison, George Orwell, Vladimir Nabokov, Salman Rushdie, Ernest Hemingway, Margaret Atwood, and others got their work done. This is a very interesting subject to me and I'd love to see more books like this. In fact, I'd love to see Stodola write a Volume 2, Volume 3, etc. in a Process series, each volume dealing with more writers. It could be a very valuable resource for novice writers. I highly recommend this book.
I'm currently reading two books at the same time, namely The Way of the King, by Sanderson and the whole hitchhiker's collection by Adams. Or rather, I'm listening to Sanderson, and actually reading Adams. I'm really enjoying both, although I've some gripes with them too. Sanderson's clever characters are so incredibly infuriating to read that I struggle to like them. I wouldn't want to hang out with any of them. The book itself is good so far, granted I'm not even close to finishing it. Hitchhiker's is amazing. Fun characters, fun situations, fun jokes. My problem with it is that I fail to pick it up after putting it down. I enjoy every minute of reading it, but I'm not aching to continue afterwards.
@IcyEthics I'm just about to start Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, also by Douglas Adams. I love all the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy books which is what made me want to read more of his works.
Chains of Command by Marko Kloos (Book #4 of The Front line Series) Not normally my cup o' tea, but really like this author. He's great at developing characters, though he could use some work on giving his female characters less masculine characteristics. All males mentally.
Currently reading the titles of the books in my bookcase. The plot's actually more interesting than anything on TV. More depth. And the characters aren't one-dimensional.
