BOOKS THREAD

halfmiler -- couldn't agree more with you about Light in August. The opening sentence to chapter five ("Memory believes before knowing remembers.") is my favorite in american literature. have to disagree with you tho on ellroy -- altho there is a definite saturation point. but when i first read "White Jazz" his prose was like a punch in the face. and given his history, freakishly compelling i think.

 

Funny, I am right in the middle of reading "Little Children" right now. I picked it up on a whim off the bargain shelf at B&N. So far, I am enjoying the hell out of it.

 

Read "102 Minutes" this past weekend. Wow -- unreal reporting and great writing. The type of book where you want to put it down but can't.

 

I am a big fan of Faulkner. Don't think he is long-winded at all. Purposely challenging, maybe. I especially like a Southern writer who has some characters that you aren't sure whether they are black or white, in As I Lay Dying in particular.

Recently been taking a bit of a break and reading George R.R. Martin's series. It's Tolkien-esque fantasy stuff that I saw had a good review so I gave it a shot. Liked it because few characters are all good or all bad. Most are just out for themselves.

 

I found a book I was talking about in another thread, if anyone gives a shit.



"The Bathroom" (1966, second publication in 1975) by Alexander Kira, a professor of architecture at Cornell. Essentially a sociological examination of the lavatory and how humans use it. With as much toilet talk as there is on the board, it might be worth a gander.

A good review can be found at http://www.chiprowe.com/bookrev/bathroom.html

 

Or "Next Man Up"??...I'm about to start that one after just finishing an excellent memoir (which I think was mentioned several pages ago) "The Tender Bar" by J.R. Moehringer.

 

I finished Next Man Up a couple of weeks ago. It's OK, nothing special IMO.

 

In the past several weeks I have read:

--"Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee," by Dee Brown: It'll make you feel real proud to be a white man. Geez

--"The Great American Novel," by Philip Roth: Read my first Roth last year and "The Plot Against America" was frighteningly realistic. I literally put it down a couple nights because it scared me so much how easily that stuff could happen. This pokes the American Pasttime with a sharp, funny stick. Good read.

Not a complete list of what I've read (won't bore you with Civil War submarine histories), but two worth mentioning.

 

I read "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" about 25 years ago, and it inspired me to read a lot of other similar books. Compelling. And yes, Del Boca Vista, I agree with your take.

 

Finished it in a couple of days. Some really solid parts to it, but don't read the jacket notes. The book is more final four history than what happened at the 05 final four. I've always liked Feinstein talking about things happening live (Last Amateurs is my favorite from him) vs. him waxing historic.

The parts about the officials, him talking with Wooden about his final game, are great. The rest of it I either already knew or wasn't so interested in. I'd give it a B. But he's done plenty better.

 

Can someone explain how Feinstein had both this book and the Baltimore Ravens come out within six months of each other? Does he have a writer under him?