What swanky things are you reading?

[FEJ]

I'm reading Cryptonomicon and Learning Perl...

[lindyhop]

Originally Posted by tracilicious

I just finished reading Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. Amazing book. It's about a hermaphrodite. He's the author of Virgin Suicides.

I tried to read Middlesex a while back but only got about halfway through it...

Currently I'm not reading much but I've got The Final Solution by Michael Chabon and The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith sitting by the bed. Both were Christmas gifts.

[Not Afraid]

Middlesex is still on the bedside to-read pile.

[flippyshark]

How's this for swanky? I've been reading a bunch of Doc Savage novels - pulp action adventure from the thirties and forties, in lovely paperback reprints from the sixties. I found a stack of 'em at work in a "please take these old books for free" box. Each one is about 95 to 110 pages long, full of breathtaking action, incredibly absurd twists, nefarious villains, gadgets galore, and Doc is just such a manly man, too.

There was a completely awful Doc Savage movie back in the Seventies, which fans of the novels repudiate, but which I saw when I was about 12 and really enjoyed at the time. (Later viewing proved that they were right - it's dreadful, though I would still get it if it came out on DVD.)

If you find yourself in a used bookstore, look for one or two of these. They are written by Kenneth Robeson (a ghost name for numerous authors, but the majority of Doc Savage books were written by a guy named Lester Dent - you won't find that name on the cover though. It'll say Kenneth Robeson.) The artwork on the sixties Bantam paperbacks is worth the buck or two it'll cost you. (Beautiful photorealistic paintings by Steve Bama- always featuring Doc bursting brawnily out of his shirt.)

Still in pulpy mode, I am now trying to read the original Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs, but it's rough going. There are some jaw-dropping passages that come off as horribly racist today, and much of the story is hard to swallow, even allowing for the fact that it is a fantasy. For example, Tarzan, without ever meeting another person, learns how to read and write English all by himself, by looking at some books in his parents' old hut. Yeah, that'll happen.

Just so no one thinks I'm all about silly escapism (though I love that) I've also recently read or re-read Nabokov's Pale Fire and Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose - both tricky but rewarding. Next I'm attacking Mark Danielewski's House of Leaves.

But really, check out Doc Savage.

[€uroMeinke]

Originally Posted by flippyshark

There was a completely awful Doc Savage movie back in the Seventies, which fans of the novels repudiate, but which I saw when I was about 12 and really enjoyed at the time. (Later viewing proved that they were right - it's dreadful, though I would still get it if it came out on DVD.)

OMG - I loved that movie, made me read the books. Thanks for the warning to let that one rest - uh, but let me know if it comes out on DVD okay?

[Not Afraid]

And just when I beginning to think that Flippyshark and € are NOT separated at birth, € yells out "YES! Doc Savage Movie!"

[MickeyD]

So, yesterday, after I had a dream in Latin (I don't actually speak Latin it was basically a piecing together of all the Latin phrases I know), I decided that I had been reading way too many Vatican II documents and decided to treat myself to something I haven't done in way too many months, and I went to Borders!

I bought Rosie Dunne by Cecelia Ahern which I am about halfway done with, and so far has been the perfect fluff to purge my head of all that Latin, State of Fear by Michael Crichton, and I Am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe.

Of course, realistically, I won't have time to get to the Crichton or Wolfe books before I have to get back to the Vatican II documents....but I know they'll be waiting for me come summer!

[mousepod]

Hey flippyshark, if you dig Doc Savage, you might want to check out the "Justice, Inc" series. I admit I was introduced to it in '75 through the DC comic, but the pulps do rock.

While I was in Hawaii, I finally got around to reading "The Unlimited Dream Company" by JG Ballard - it's pretty good for one of his "minor" works. I also made another attempt at Neal Stephenson (the first book in the Baroque Cycle) - I started to drift after the first 100 pages...

Now that I'm back, I'm reading "Walt's Revolution By The Numbers" by Harrison "Buzz" Price. Expect a MousePod review in the next couple of shows.

[Mousey Girl]

Since I have found myself with extra time on my hands (and Heaven forbid I do anything productive), I have started to read again. It isn't so much reading as consuming the written word. I started with 3 books last Friday. I am now on my final book (the first 2 were gone in 2 days). After taking a few days off I picked up Angels & Demons today and am on page 100. After it is done I will be off to the book store for the DaVinci Code.

[mhrc4]

i just finished Angels and Demons, and the Da Vinci code over christmas, then just finished Deception Point a few weeks ago, all from Dan Brown.

Just picked up one of Grisham's latest to read now....