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BOOKS THREAD

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by Moderator1, Apr 22, 2005.

  1. Bubbler

    Bubbler Well-Known Member

    I have nothing to add aside from, "I'm koo koo for Cocoa Puffs!"
     
  2. zosopsu

    zosopsu Guest

    I'm pretty sure it hasn't been mentioned, but it's a good short read: Don DeLillo's novella "Pafko at the Wall". I couldn't find the damn thing in print anywhere, but it's also the prologue to his tome "Underworld", which I rented from the library. It could be widely read and not needing recommendation, but it's a good tale of the Shot Heard 'Round the World. It's a good read because it's about ancillary events at the game, and each of the subplots comes to a head as Thomson hits the homer. it's only 60 pages, so it's worth a couple hours of your time
     
  3. n8wilk

    n8wilk Guest

    I recently finished Generation Kill and enjoyed it. It was an interesting look at the characters inside the Iraq war but it did slow down a bit at times. Worth reading though. I just started 102 minutes last night, a book about the WTC towers and the fight to survive inside. Pretty heart-wrenching, gut-busting stuff as you might expect.
     
  4. trounced

    trounced Active Member

    Fiction

    Joel Rosenbeg, who wrote The Last Jihad, has just released the Ezekiel Option. Good read.
     
  5. Webster

    Webster Well-Known Member

    Just finished The Miracle of St. Anthony. Excellent book and an even better ssubject. It's amazing that Bob Hurley can turn out that kind of talent every year.
     
  6. Double Down

    Double Down Well-Known Member

    We could never reach a concensus on what book to pick between Generation Kill and Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty, so we'll see how this works...


    This month's SportsJournalists.com Book Selection is: A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby.

    Here is the reveiw from Booklist:


    In his trademark warm and witty prose, Hornby follows four depressed people from their aborted suicide attempts on New Years Eve through the surprising developments that occur over the following three months. Middle-aged Maureen has been caring for her profoundly disabled son for decades; Martin is a celebrity-turned-has-been after sleeping with a 15-year-old girl; teenage Jess, trash-talker extraordinaire, is still haunted by the mysterious disappearance of her older sister years before; and JJ is upset by the collapse of his band and his breakup with his longtime girlfriend. The four meet while scoping out a tower rooftop looking for the best exit point. Inhibited by the idea of having an audience, they agree instead to form a support group of sorts. But rather than indulging in sappy therapy-speak, they frequently direct lacerating, bitingly funny comments at each other--and the bracing mix of complete candor and endless complaining seems to work as a kind of tonic. Hornby funnels the perceptive music and cultural references he is known for through the character of JJ, but he also expands far beyond his usual territory, exploring the changes in perspective that can suddenly make a life seem worth living and adroitly shifting the tone from sad to happy and back again. The true revelation of this funny and moving novel is its realistic, all-too-human characters, who stumble frequently, moving along their redemptive path only by increments.

    Here is the link on Amazon:

    http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1573223026/ref=pd_sxp_f/102-8744303-1772911?v=glance&s=books

    The book just came out a few days ago. You can get it on Amazon for $16. I bought it in the store yesterday for $17.

    Discussion will begin July 6, so you'll have the whole holiday weekend to finish up. I will continue to bully this thread to the top of the heap to generate more discussion.

    And in case you're interested in July's selection, it's already been made as well:

    Chuck Klosterman's Killing Yourself to Live, 85 Percent of a True Story.

    http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0743264452/qid=1118251566/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/102-8744303-1772911?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
     
  7. TheSportsPredictor

    TheSportsPredictor Well-Known Member

    Perfect. That's sitting on my desk. Now I have a reason to read it!
     
  8. Buck

    Buck Well-Known Member

    Just started Umberto Eco's 'Baudolino.' Very good.
     
  9. three_bags_full

    three_bags_full Well-Known Member

    Without wading through all these pages to see if it's been covered, I just finished John Grisham's latest, The Broker.

    Darn good book. I'd never read one of his thrillers, but I liked it so much, I'm reviewing it for the paper.

    I'll post it here (if that's allowed) when I'm done.
     
  10. Moderator1

    Moderator1 Moderator Staff Member

    It is allowed.

    Grisham's best is the one he did before he got famous, the one he'd sell out of the trunk of his car. Damn name escapes me now. Like a lot of popular writers (hello Patricia Cornwell), he wrote better hungry. He's always been a better story teller than writer, which is a good thing in my book. For a while, he thought it had to be 400 pages to be good. The past few books, where he got word that long isn't always strong, were much better.

    A Time To Kill, that's it. Knew it would come to me. They re-released it after The Firm and The Pelican Brief did so well.
     
  11. Huggy

    Huggy Well-Known Member

    I loved A Time To Kill, it's one of my fave Grisham books.

    I'm almost through So What, The Life of Miles Davis by John Szwed. Not a completely scholarly look at Davis's work (those books can be a tough read unless you're a real jazz technician) but it's a thorough look at his work and his life. Solid companion to Davis's autobiography which is a great read.

    Up next is Montville's Williams bio.
     
  12. zosopsu

    zosopsu Guest

    I recently blasted through Steve Martin's "The Pleasure of My Company"...its literary quality probably surprised me because I'd never considered Martin outside of the visual comedy media; however, what humor it does have did not shock me at all. The timing of the phrases and cadence of the language helps usher along his liberal sprinkling of unusual and silver-dollar word choices. His OCD-riddled main character is convincing and geniune enough to be believable, and one gets the feeling that martin might have some tendencies not far off from the character's. the story is a bit short on resolution, and motives don't runneth the cup over. however, the trip to get to the end is out of the ordinary and a real adventure; i'd definitely recommend it.
     
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