BOOKS THREAD

[Magic In The Night]

Finally finished the Bruce bio. It had its moments but the definitive bio is yet to be written. Started J.K. Rowling's "A Casual Vacancy." Very good so far.

 

[Mira]

I am eager to read "A Casual Vacancy," and curious if I'd like it. I tried to read a couple Harry Potter books, but couldn't get into them, so I gave up.

"Beautiful Ruins" is one of my top books of the year. Walter was able to jump time periods and keep the story going at a great pace.

 

[Huggy]

Finally finished the Bruce bio. It had its moments but the definitive bio is yet to be written. Started J.K. Rowling's "A Casual Vacancy." Very good so far.

Haven't read the Carlin book yet, but if this and the Marsh books aren't definitive - given the access each had to Bruce and his team - then that book will never be written. I don't see Springsteen writing a Keith Richards/Pete Townshend-type memoir.

 

[I Should Coco]

A couple oldies but goodies ... "All the President's Men" (have previously read it several times) and "The Final Days" (for the first time).

About the latter, it's clear that Woodward started to impose his writing and research style in it. Instead of providing the "stories behind the stories" of their Watergate reporting, "Final Days" switches into retelling behind-the-scenes stuff through the eyes of Nixon's staff, friends, even family.

It's a successful style that Woodward achieves through intense research and hundreds of interviews, and it obviously would serve him well all the way through G.W.'s presidency and beyond.

"Final Days" is a packed with interesting details and an accurate narrative about a paranoid and unstable president, but I still prefer the structure of "All the President's Men."

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Telegraph Avenue by Michael Chabon -- what a brilliant book. Also a chore to read. It's Chabon's attempt at Ulysses. This is a grand book that could be used to teach a literature class.

 

[Beaker]

That's a great description of Telegraph Avenue.

 

[Double Down]

I'm glad you said that TSP, because I'm going to give it another try. I read about 80 pages and like it a lot, but you're right it was a chore. I wimped out and started reading Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain (which is great). But I'll reboot on Chabon, who I typically love.

 

[Greenhorn]

Game Change authors have signed to produce a book about the 2012 campaign......called Double Down.


http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/11/penguin-to-publish-2012-campaign-book-from-authors-of-game-change/

 

[PCLoadLetter]

Also agree on Telegraph Avenue. I've been reading it for more than a month now -- I hardly ever pick it up. I really like it but it just hasn't hooked me.

I've got books backing up on the iPad but I don't want to bail on the Chabon book to move onto something else.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

I'm glad you said that TSP, because I'm going to give it another try. I read about 80 pages and like it a lot, but you're right it was a chore. I wimped out and started reading Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain (which is great). But I'll reboot on Chabon, who I typically love.

I would have quit around then if I weren't reading it for a book club I recently co-started. TA is a complete roller-coaster. Chabon just flings you around with his sentence structure. He doesn't bother slowing it down at all. There will be characters in there, and then 30 pages later he writes about them again and calls them by a different name or description and it's up to you to figure out who he's talking about. This is 100-mile-per-hour writing that you have to slow to the speed limit to read.

Then you get to the 12-page sentence and it's just like WTF. (Ulysses has the eight-sentence closing chapter.) Amazing, amazing imagery in the book. That's what I most looked forward to. Didn't really care what happened.

I also think it has ruined me for other books, at least for a time. I followed it up with a cute little novel called Love Bomb which I kinda skimmed through because Chabon just dunked my head in his book so much I nearly drowned. Needed to catch my breath and didn't even know it til I read something else.

 

[Tarheel316]

Just started reading The Outpost by Jake Tapper.

 

[Magic In The Night]

Finally finished the Bruce bio. It had its moments but the definitive bio is yet to be written. Started J.K. Rowling's "A Casual Vacancy." Very good so far.

Haven't read the Carlin book yet, but if this and the Marsh books aren't definitive - given the access each had to Bruce and his team - then that book will never be written. I don't see Springsteen writing a Keith Richards/Pete Townshend-type memoir.

Well, from what I understand, Carlin only got access to Bruce after talking to a bunch of other people who talked about him (like Mike Appel and Vinny) so I guess Bruce was worried. You can really tell in the quotes from Bruce that he's annoyed with him although I heard he gave him three days access, which is a lot for him. I just think there is a LOT about Bruce that has never been told, especially with the whole failed first marriage and more about the severing of ties with the band. I mean Bruce could tell it all but who knows whether he ever will.

 

[Magic In The Night]

I am eager to read "A Casual Vacancy," and curious if I'd like it. I tried to read a couple Harry Potter books, but couldn't get into them, so I gave up.

"Beautiful Ruins" is one of my top books of the year. Walter was able to jump time periods and keep the story going at a great pace.

I, too, loved "Beautiful Ruins" and it is one of my top books of the year. But "Casual Vacancy" is living up to expectations. It's very funny and realistic.

 

[Small Town Guy]

As a Lee Child/Jack Reacher fanatic, I really liked this piece:

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8766396/lee-child-jim-grant-jack-reacher

 

[Care Bear]

As a Lee Child/Jack Reacher fanatic, I really liked this piece:

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8766396/lee-child-jim-grant-jack-reacher

Yes, thanks for sharing that. 30 cups of coffee in six or seven hours??

 

[PCLoadLetter]

For those who are interested: the Kindle version of Neil Young's "Waging Heavy Peace" is currently $1.99 on Amazon, today only.

 

[accguy]

Just finished the latest Grisham book -- The Racketeer.

It was typical Grisham: Not exactly the greatest literature, but a fun, breezy read. Dude can weave a tale.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Just finished the latest Grisham book -- The Racketeer.

It was typical Grisham: Not exactly the greatest literature, but a fun, breezy read. Dude can weave a tale.

Zipped through 90 pages of that last night. Can't wait to finish it off.

 

[Care Bear]

I love reading Grisham -- you know exactly what you're going to get, and you can get it in 24 hours. Easiest decent recent around.

That being said, I really enjoyed the beginning of The Racketeer.

I really despised the end.

 

[heyabbott]

finished Books 2 & 3 of Hunger Games between Christmas and New Years. Good stuff, quick reading, especially considering that I am about 1/3 of the way through David M. Kennedy's Freedom From Fear. Alot of fun.

I bought The Complete Sherlock Holmes from Kindle for 99 cents or $1.99. Just started the first story/book.

I have Ken Follett's Fall of Giants, the 1st of the trilogy, to look forward to.