What Are You Reading? Chapter 7

[bluenoter]

(Chapter 6 ends here.)

Kate Wilhelm's latest "legal thriller," Heaven Is High, and for the first time since school days, The Great Gatsby.

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

I always start a new thread after 1,000 posts in the WAYLT thread, but I'd like to reexamine this -- my understanding is that we started doing this because the longer threads took so long to load, but not sure that's still the case

Rita, Lois, anybody clarify this? Is there still a reason to be doing this?

[bluenoter]

Square---

Lois would have to tell us whether this is no longer necessary:

Sticky: Post Limits to 1000

Lois Gilbert
Administrator

I believe I've seen her cut off threads after about 1,000 posts fairly recently.

[Monte Smith]

Alright, alright. I'll throw the interfering Rita a bone and legitimize this new thread by actually posting about a book. I finished Deuteronomy this morning and am thrusting myself right into Joshua. Make of that sentence what you will, oh scamps.

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER

Since that time no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, for all the signs and wonders which the LORD sent him to perform in the land of Egypt against Pharaoh, all his servants, and all his land, and for all the mighty power and for all the great terror which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.

He's gone now. Killed off at the very end.



Holy Moses.

[Sergio Zamora]

Several O'Neill plays: Anna Christie, The Emperor Jones, The Hairy Ape

'Confessions of an English Opium Eater' by Thomas De Quincey.

[Monte Smith]

I went through a big O'Neill read in NYC in 1999 or 2000. Fine stuff. Bleak.

[bluenoter]

Alright, alright. I'll throw the interfering Rita a bone and legitimize this new thread by actually posting about a book.

From #1:

Kate Wilhelm's latest "legal thriller," Heaven Is High, and for the first time since school days, The Great Gatsby.

Do you also perceive the various other posters who likewise follow instructions by starting new threads of a series as "interfering"? You must have quite a low tolerance for "interference."

[Sergio Zamora]

I went through a big O'Neill read in NYC in 1999 or 2000. Fine stuff. Bleak.

He wrote two plays for Marvel Comics, so that's cool.

That's what they're about right?

I'm also assuming that Shaw's 'Man and and Superman' is about what I think it's about.

[Monte Smith]

From #1:You must have quite a low tolerance for "interference."

I do, Rita. You've trod on my last toe and now I must cut you off forever. Silence! I have spoken.

Serge Zam: in addition to Holy Scripture, I am also reading the 1940s adventures of the Green Lama. A Buddhist superhero! Om mani padme hum.

[walto]

I finished Deuteronomy this morning

Bet you were sorry to see that sucker end.

[Pete C]

Deuteronomy would make a great film.

[Monte Smith]

Bet you were sorry to see that sucker end.

Like all the Mosaic material, Deuteronomy is a real challenge for the 21st century general reader. I credit my sticking with it to divine aid. It's like kool aid, I guess.

[steve(thelil)]

Almost finished with My Korean Deli by Ben Ryder. I'm enjoying it. It's mostly about his experiences buying and running a deli with his Korean Mother-In-Law, but also about his experiences working for and with George Plimpton.

Here's a description somebody else wrote for Amazon.

This warm and funny tale of an earnest preppy editor finding himself trapped behind the counter of a Brooklyn convenience store is about family, culture and identity in an age of discombobulation.

It starts with a gift, when Ben Ryder Howe's wife, the daughter of Korean immigrants, decides to repay her parents' self-sacrifice by buying them a store. Howe, an editor at the rarefied Paris Review, agrees to go along. Things soon become a lot more complicated. After the business struggles, Howe finds himself living in the basement of his in-laws' Staten Island home, commuting to the Paris Review offices in George Plimpton's Upper East Side townhouse by day, and heading to Brooklyn at night to slice cold cuts and peddle lottery tickets.

My Korean Deli follows the store's tumultuous life span, and along the way paints the portrait of an extremely unlikely partnership between characters with shoots across society, from the Brooklyn streets to Seoul to Puritan New England. Owning the deli becomes a transformative experience for everyone involved as they struggle to salvage the original gift—and the family—while sorting out issues of values, work, and identity.

[Pete C]

Like all the Mosaic material, Deuteronomy

That's part of the 5-CD box, right?

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

On Whitman's earliest critics:

http://www.newcriterion.com/articles...criticism-7331

in which is mentioned a book by Trollope's mother(!) entitled Domestic Manners of The Americans(!!)

Walter: what do you know of this?

[baksheesh]

Finished this recently (in paperback it's divided into two volumes), and while I think it maintains the very high level of the series I have a few quibbles. Mainly with the level of violence in the book. Now, I'm by no means squeamish but there's a certain degree of monotony to be found here. I lost count of the geldings and flayings, and lavishly detailed burnings at the stake.

Would it have killed him to mix it up with some boiling in oil, deaths of a thousand cuts, and hanging, drawing and quartering?

I jest of course. I just think this much violence is unnecessary and smacks of gratuitous sadism. On all other points it scored very highly though, so on balance I recommend it highly.

[baksheesh]

Currently on the bedside table:

[walto]

On Whitman's earliest critics:

http://www.newcriterion.com/articles...criticism-7331

in which is mentioned a book by Trollope's mother(!) entitled Domestic Manners of The Americans(!!)

Walter: what do you know of this?

Yeah she was an author. I haven't read her though--she's not supposed to be very good. Trollope himself wrote both fiction and non-fiction regarding the U.S.--he was much kinder.

[Pete C]

Holy Moses.

I have been deceived.

[Pete C]

Several O'Neill plays: Anna Christie, The Emperor Jones, The Hairy Ape

Oy.

[Sergio Zamora]

Oy.

Is that oy good or oy bad?

[The Alex]

Good Oi!

[Sergio Zamora]

Good Oi!

Bad Oi: Skrewdriver.

(Ok, I actually never heard them but fuck those fucking nazis anyway)

[Sergio Zamora]

Second book in A Song of Ice and Fire, and the basis for the current season of Game of Thrones. I liked it a lot, but I still think GRRM needs a less indulgent editor. They seem unnecessarily long, but I guess publishers and most readers of the genre prefer them that way.

[baksheesh]

Second book in A Song of Ice and Fire, and the basis for the current season of Game of Thrones. I liked it a lot, but I still think GRRM needs a less indulgent editor. They seem unnecessarily long, but I guess publishers and most readers of the genre prefer them that way.

If it's as well written as this then the longer the better IMO. I'm really looking forward to the end of the current season, so I can download it and guzzle it down in a few epic viewing sessions.

I hope the new season is as strong as the last?

[baksheesh]

Although I really enjoyed this guy's work in the past - The Night's Dawn trilogy, and the 'Commonwealth Saga', but I can't get into this at all. Re Sergio's comments about length in sci-fi/fantasy above, Hamilton is one of the major offenders. All his books suffer from bloat, and this one is no exception. I shan't be continuing to the end of this, nor continuing on to the other books in the trilogy.

[baksheesh]

The perfect antidote to the book I posted above. Excellent, if at times more than a trifle florid, prose. Interesting how much this was drawn on by the author for Full Metal Jacket.

[Sergio Zamora]

I hope the new season is as strong as the last?

So far so good.

[baksheesh]

So far so good.

That's rocking good news! I hope it continues to grow in popularity - I'd hate to see it get cut off at the knees like Rome, Carnivale, Deadwood and so many other fine HBO shows.

[Sergio Zamora]

That's rocking good news! I hope it continues to grow in popularity - I'd hate to see it get cut off at the knees like Rome, Carnivale, Deadwood and so many other fine HBO shows.

It's getting high ratings and has already been renewed for a third season, so it's safe for now. I think HBO learned a lot about producing a large scale big budget show after Rome was cut short. The advent of HBO Go has changed their business model to some extent as well.