BOOKS THREAD

Got three new ones in the mail today; trying to decide what to attack first:

Guitar Towns: A Journey to the Crossroads of Rock 'n' Roll by Randy McNutt
The World of Music According to Starker by Janos Starker
The Jazz Fiction Anthology ed. by Sascha Feinstein and David Rife.

 

I finished The Devil in the White City a few days ago. I really enjoyed it and thought it was well-written and well-researched. As an historical novel it's phenomenal and one of the best things I've ever read. As a strictly historical re-telling of Holmes and the events surrounding the World's Fair, I have some issues. Larson tries to get into the heads of his characters a bit too much, for my tastes, for something that's supposed to be strictly factual. He explains that a bit in his notes on the sources but it still bothered me. I would still highly recommend this book to others, but that aspect of it did nag on me a bit. I also wish he would have given more space to the detective retracing Holmes' steps. That comes toward the very end, but was one of the most interesting parts of the book to me.

Right now, I'm reading two books. I'm reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn on my way to and from work and then at night I'm reading "Tears in the Darkness," a book about the Bataan Death March, which my grandfather was a part of. He helped the authors throughout the research phase of the book as he has long been one of the heads of a group called the American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor.

 

Interesting book. I read it a few years ago.
I wish it had been presented as two distinct pieces -the fair and the murders.
Obviously, explaining the vastness and furor surrounding the fair is an integral part of telling the story of the murders, but there was so much about the fair it became like reading two books forced together.
There's two books in there.

 

I don't think "Devil in the White City" is considered a historical novel, which probably means you have bigger issues with it.

 

I honestly wasn't impressed with devil to be honest. I found half the novel interesting (the serial killer portion) and the fair potion not as much. I also thought there would be more overlap which there was not.

I am currently reading Drive, I am not a big Malcolm Gladwell fan but he swears by this book:

http://www.newyorker.com/arts/bookclub/index

and to tell you guys truth its very good, and I recommend it whole-heartedly.

 

I'm aware it's not a novel. I was saying that if it was written as that instead of just as straight fact I would have been much happier with the effort.

 

It was like trying to read a complete book about Robert Moses between the same covers as a complete book about Joel Rifkin.

 

The Yankee Years was really quality stuff, and I have no interest in Torre or the Yankees.

Not as good as Olney's but strong.

 

So far in 2010:
Meat Market by Bruce Feldman
Secretariat: The Making of a Champion (renamed from Big Red of Meadow Stable) By William Nack
The Best American Sports Writing 2009.

Just Started: Going Deep: 20 Classic Sports Stories By Gary Smith

 

Finally finished The Count of Monte Cristo the other day. What an intricate, well thought out story. Every single thing tied together, it was slow moving at first but the reward was worth the big time investment you have to make.

 

Finished Rob Sheffield's Love is a Mix Tape and enjoyed it. Takes you back to the days before CDs. Sigh.

Now, I'm reading the Tillman book (enjoying it, but I'm more interested in Pat Tillman than a lengthy history of Afghanistan) and The Hunger Games, which is absolutely action-packed. Fun read.

I also finished the Benjamin Button short story the other day by F Scott Fitzgerald. I'm now interested in seeing the movie.