Books?

[caloanwalker]

What book(s) have you been reading lately?

I've been reading American Hoax, by Charles Firth. Has anyone read this? I think it's amazing! :D Really funny!

[rohide]

In the last fortnight I've been reading -
"Plenty - Digressions on Food" by Gay Bilson of Berowra Waters fame - an interesting series of essays of restaurants, food and life plus some recipes.
"55 years in 5 Acts" an autobiography of Wagnerian soprano Astrid Varnay - rather good account of the heyday of Wagnerian singing in 1940-60's.
"Twelve Cities" a snapshot of 12 non-capital cities visited by English Parliamentarian Roy Jenkins.
And just started "The Aftermath" a SF novel by Ben Bova

If you're a foodie I really recommend the Bilson book

[caloanwalker]

In the last fortnight I've been reading -
"Plenty - Digressions on Food" by Gay Bilson of Berowra Waters fame - an interesting series of essays of restaurants, food and life plus some recipes.
"55 years in 5 Acts" an autobiography of Wagnerian soprano Astrid Varnay - rather good account of the heyday of Wagnerian singing in 1940-60's.
"Twelve Cities" a snapshot of 12 non-capital cities visited by English Parliamentarian Roy Jenkins.
And just started "The Aftermath" a SF novel by Ben Bova

If you're a foodie I really recommend the Bilson book

I like cooking, though I don't have much talent for that, but I can cook alright, I suppose! Never heard of any of the other books! That "Twelve Cities" seems nice!

[rohide]

Hi - 12 Cities is a really good read - it's about 12 different cities he's visited and some of the people, buildings etc he's visited - it's not your usual travel book

[caloanwalker]

Hi - 12 Cities is a really good read - it's about 12 different cities he's visited and some of the people, buildings etc he's visited - it's not your usual travel book

Ah how cool! I hope that if he came to Brazil, he didn't go to bloody Rio de Janeiro! :p

[AnthonyB]

Again, sorry for the delayed contribution, but as they say, better late than...

I've recently been reading: "FDR", by Jean Edward Smith, which is a very readable, entertaining yet still scholarly recent biography of America's greatest 20th century president; "Fellow Travellers" by Thomas Mallon, a new gay novel set in 1950s Washington, which I loved - smart, sexy and informative; "The Ardennian Boy" by William Maltese and Wayne Gunn, a VERY erotic gay novelisation of the lives of Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine (not one to read on the tram, unless you're even more brazen than me); and two books about Bobby Kennedy, published for the 40th anniversary of his assassination - "The Last Campaign: Robert F. Kennedy and 82 Days That Inspired America" by Thurston Clarke and "A Time It Was: Bobby Kennedy in the Sixties" by Bill Eppridge - that are both fascinating, inspiring and ultimately heart-breaking. Clarke's is a very detailed but entertaining account of the brief, glorious and tragic 1968 presidential campaign, while Eppridge's is more visual: he was a photographer assigned to the campaign by LIFE magazine and he took the famous picture of the Senator bleeding on the kitchen floor after being shot, his head cradled by a young bellhop.

As you can see, I have more than a passing interest in US politics and the heroes of the Democratic Party, but I'd recommend the Kennedy and FDR books even to a general reader.

Go Obama!

[caloanwalker]

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I've recently been reading "The Castle", by Franz Kafka.

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[AnthonyB]

Since last posting in October 2007 (it seems an eon ago: my trip to Paris and the beginning of the Obama era have both happened since), among the novels I've read are: "]The Conversion" by Joseph Olshan; "Jesus Is Sending You This Message: Stories" by Jim Grimsley; "]The Sorrows of an American" by Siri Hustvedt; and "In the Company of Angels" by N.M Kelby. Of these, I unqualifiedly recommend the Grimsley and Hustvedt works. Both of them are lyrical, moving and technically brilliant: they are two of the greatest contemporary writers in English.
As well, I took volume two of Proust's "A la recherche du temps perdu" with me to Paris, I re-read Barak Obama's "Dreams from my Father" after his election victory (which happened during my last week in Paris) and I have just finished "The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope" by Jonathan Alter. Proust is incomparable of course - especially read while in his own city (on my last day, I visited his grave at Pere Lachaise). Obama's memoir is a truly great book, even for those not obsessed with US politics and Alter's work reinforces the importance of FDR to the history of America and the world in the 20th century. By coincidence, today marks the 100th day of the Obama administration. Comparisons over the span of more than 6 decades are slippery at best, but it seems to me there is reason for great optimism. I'm currently reading Antoni Jach's "Napoleon's Double" and John Shelby Spong's "Why Christianity Must Change or Die". More on these later.