Does anyone read? Part II

[jmfryar]

Someone handed me "Fluke: Or I know why the Caged Whale Sings" by Christopher Moore and I'm addicted.

As funny and fast paced as "Hitchhikers" and as visual as any of Neil Gaiman's stuff.

Apparently he has more out there...

[Rudy2toot]

jmfryar,
Thanks for that. I'm an old Hitchikers fan.

[jmfryar]

Welcome - I have one of the compendiums with all the novels and the short story - it makes for great beach reading...with towel, of course...

[monkeymd2b]

I miss reading normal books. Right now I'm attempting to read "Obstetrics and Gynecology" What fun! I usually pass out after every 3 or 4 paragraphs which I think disturbs the other students when they walk past my table in the library and see my head on the book with b&w female body parts...thank god I don't drool when I sleep!

Otherwise, the last books I've read are "Screwtape letters", CS Lewis' space trilogy, "Cannery Row" (steinbeck is always a quick read), "In god we trust, all others pay cash," and now I'm deciding what to read next when I'm on the stationary bike...I figure that I need to exercise and I want to read so I'll read and sit on the bike and kill 2 leisure birds with 1 stone...man, this sucks. Well, soon I must go back to the hospital for afternoon rounds...I currently have no patients so I'm basically going to make an appearance. Oh and I delivered my first baby on tuesday...very cool! Okay, okay, I wasn't doing the hard work but someone has to help pull it out and then catch it - and that was my job. Ugh...the textbooks call to me.

[treebeau]

Originally posted by monkeymd2b:
"In god we trust, all others pay cash"

Ahhh, Jean Shepherd ! Now there's a (late) great humorist !

(I wonder if barfle used to sit around watching him on the radio )

Regards,
Tim B.

[monkeymd2b]

You mean listen right? JK I read the book because I love The Christmas Story movie and the stories come from this book and from his other book "Wanda Hicky's Night of Golden Memories," which I guess I should read next before I go buy more books.

[barfle]

Originally posted by treebeau:

(I wonder if barfle used to sit around watching him on the radio )

Regards,
Tim B.

Only occasionally, but I read his column in, as I recall, Hot Rod magazine.

[paulecook]

As an interesting point of woman's hystory might I suggest "Radical Spirits" and the Autobiography of Emma Hardrige Britton. A little victorian but interesting as to the times and what a woman can acomplish.

Paul

[paulecook]

As a point of interest you might try "radical Spirits" and the "Autobiography of Emma Hartridge Britton." A little on the Victorian side but the content and times show what a woman is really capable of doing.

Paul

[Rudy2toot]

Thanks for the tip Paul. Sounds great.

[John McLaughlin]

Originally posted by Nicole Marie:
I'm determined to get people reading...

I'm re-reading Lenny Bruce's How to Talk Dirty and Influence People for the 17th time. Has anyone else read it? What do you think? Also I'd love some other suggestions on Bruce. I heard the movie of Bruce, I think it was Hoffman who played him, is amazing. Has anyone seen it?

Haven't seen that yet, Ratso Tizzo would be alright as Lenny dying on the terlet. There's at least one of Lenny's LP's around, very funny bits, some of them paraphrased in the book or vice versa - the used car saleesman offering for sale a Volkswagen that had been used for taking people to the gas chambers, sort of torn upholstery from people clawing it, another car last used for a suicide pact, a little lipstick around the exhaust pipe? Bad man, that Lenny. Wonder what he'd think of Howard Stern. Prolly defend his exercise of freee speech. So would those of us who've seen Howard go after George Bush.

[Ajax]

I am reading "The 12 Caesars"....


Anyone read it?

[Shapley]

Ajax,

Is that the book by Michael Grant? I read that one years ago, but don't recall much about it now.

V/R
Shapley

[The Great Carouser]

The Lenny Bruce movie referred to in the above posts is Lenny ,circa 1974(?)directed by Bob Fosse and with Dustin Hoffman and Valerie Perrine both giving fine performances. Probably available on VHS if not on DVD.

I just finished a recent Spenser novel Back Story . Not one of his better ones IMO but when you've kept something up and running well as long as Parker has a fan has to accept the occasional mediocrity as a warmup for another tour de force . I understand Lawrence Block has a new one out in paperback about the 9/11 aftermath. Not one of his usual characters headlining but he's generally diverting. I'm hoping for something by James Lee Burke soon too.

Anyone read a book by the late Anthony Burgess called Earthly Powers ? It's an old favorite and well worth a visit if you're unfamiliar with it. Burgess was something of a Rennaisance man. He taught himself composing (his father and mother were music hall performers in England.) and has written a great deal of popular (genre) as well as classical music. I quote from an article by Paul Phillips
"Burgess's music covers a wide range of genres, including symphony, concerto, opera, ballet, and chamber music. His eclectic and ebullient style draws upon classical as well as jazz and popular music. Grounded in the tradition of tonality that spans the Baroque period through late 19th-century Romanticism and early 20th-century French Impressionism, Burgess's music is strongly influenced by the works of Debussy and the English school of Elgar, Delius, Holst, Walton, and Vaughan Williams. Although the majority of his music is what might be termed "serious", he wrote numerous works based on popular styles; sometimes jazz and blues-inflected harmonies reminiscent of Gershwin emerge unexpectedly in Burgess's symphonic compositions."

Here's a link to the article in full;

Anthony Burgess, composer

It seems not much of the music has been performed or recorded. If anybody's familiar with it I'd appreciate hearing your opinions.

[Ajax]

Yes, Shapley. The author is Micheal Grant. For me, it is fascinating insight on the Roman culture.

Glad to hear someone out there has read it!

[Shapley]

Ajax,

I read it after seeing "I Claudius" on PBS so many years ago I can't even remember them well. I also read "I Claudius" and "Claudius, the God" around the same time. I still remember them fairly well, since they were backed up by the visual images from the TV Show.

I started reading Tacitus' "Annals of Imperial Rome" a few years back, but didn't get far. I found it in the basement about six months ago, and brought it upstairs to try reading it again, but so far haven't tackled it. I think the Michael Grant book will cover most of the info in it, and in a more readable fashion.

Enjoy your reading!

V/R
Shapley

[Ajax]

Which of the Caesars do you find most interesting?

Reading history for me is such an addiction. Especially from Greek/Roman times.

[Shapley]

I've always been partial to Augustus, based more on his character as portrayed in the books and TV series "I Claudius" than anything else. Claudius himself was impressive because of the engineering achievements that took place under his reign.

None of the later Ceasers left much impression upon me. Nero's rebuilding of Rome after the fire was impressive, but offered little in the way of new technology. At least that is my recollection of what I've read.

V/R
Shapley

[Ajax]

As I read, Augustus was surely my favorite but then again, look at what we have to pick from. This book is certainly changing my view of the Roman culture of that era. I have read world history books, but they never provide the detail and quirks of daily life found in this book.

[Nicole Marie]

I'm reading Drop City right now by T. Coraghessan Boyle. Wacky, fun book. It's about a commune in CA that decides to move to Alaska. But when they get there they find the area already inhabited. That's when the craziness starts. It's wild the way the current inhabitants deal with pot, smoking, free lovin' people from CA. (Side note: If you have issues with nudity, drugs and sex don't buy the book or look at the cover of it, naked bodies!!! Rumsfeld)