What are you reading the week of Sunday, August 2, 2015?

[hermetic]

Yikes, August already.

Last night I finished The Shipping News by Annie Proulx. While I've been slowly drifting through it, the last 80 some pages were impossible for me to put down. I love the little environmental statements that pop up, considering this was written in '93. The party, oh yeah. I've had Screech; it's just a 40 proof rum. I only tried one shot. Could totally see what happened there, though, as true to life. All those people became near and dear to me, in spite of their little quirks. And then the ending.

SPOILER ALERT!!




How sweet and touching. I shed a few tears. I really liked this book and will read it again some day.

So, what are you reading?

[Enthusiast]

1. Hello, everyone! Thank you for the thread, hermetic.

I am still reading The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill. Ordinarily I would have finished a book of this length but I have had a difficult week with challenging physical issues. I no sooner pick up the book and I'm off to snooze land. That said I am enjoying The Coroner's Lunch and plan to read more of the series. Dr. Siri Paiboun is one of the most interesting and unique characters I have ever encountered. Thank you you calling this series to our attention, scarletwoman.

Mrs. Enthusiast finished At the Water's Edge by Sara Gruen. She liked it very much but not so much as Water For Elephants. After At the Water's Edge she read Galore by Michael Crummey. She just loved Galore and has become a serious Michael Crummey fan. As a matter of fact she is reading another book by Michael Crummey—The Wreckage. Once again she is enjoying this one immensely.

[hermetic]

2. Oops, forgot my needle

Thanks for replying right away, Enthusiast, so I noticed that.

Me, too, I get that falling asleep thing. Once in a great while I find a tale compelling enough to keep my eyes open to the very end.

I love that name, Crummy. No doubt a few critics have had a bit of fun with it. Sounds like he's good enough, though, to just thumb his nose at them. I hope to find some of his books someday soon. They're not in my library.

[pscot]

3. I read that when it came out

and liked it a lot. I have 5 Dashiell Hammett novels one volume. I'm almost done with The Thin Man. I think The Dain Curse will be next.

[shenmue]

4. "The Frozen Dead," Bernard Minier

and "In the King's Service," Katherine Kurtz.

[Enthusiast]

5. I ordered a used copy of The Shipping News.

Sounds too good to miss.

[Curmudgeoness]

6. I guess it is just me.

I am not sure that I like reading what I would call "dark comedy", and that is what I called "The Shipping News". I am glad that you enjoyed the book.

[hermetic]

14. You know,

we all have different tastes and that's why there are so many different books. I enjoy dark comedy, obviously, especially when it has a sweet, happy ending. We all have a dark side and I think it's important to acknowledge that, and laugh at it. That's why I enjoy it so much. But. life is short and everyone should read what they truly enjoy and then share why. We can all learn from others, after all. I appreciate your input here, as I'm sure others do.

[ananda]

7. Collected Poems of W H Auden

I guess I'm a believer now -- Auden is a great poet!

[ananda]

8. I just finished Traitor's Purse ...

... a 1941 Albert Campion thriller by Margery Allingham.

By pure chance, I had started reading a review of it by AS Byatt in The Guardian online and
decided to read the book before I finished the review so it wouldn't be spoiled for me.
It sold for a couple of dollars for the Kindle version, so I got it and it was a very good read.

So I decided to get the next book in the series, Coroner's Pidgin which came out in 1945.
I think that one will be fun too.

Then I went back to Byatt's review and finished it. Wow! It was a great rundown not only
of the book but the whole milieu in which it was written and why Allingham should be
considered a master of the genre.

You might be surprised about the level of writing that came out in those days. Even the
escapist mystery books were quite literate and socially acute. I especially like Dorothy
Sayers for the depth of her minute knowledge in so many areas. She always begins each
chapter with a short epigraph, and I enjoy looking each snippet up to find a whole new
piece of a world to discover or rediscover in a new light.

[hermetic]

13. Thanks for your input

It's great to hear about new old writings that are worth reading. I look forward to being surprised.

[japple]

9. Almost finished with Epitaph by Mary Doria Russell, then will get

back to Medicine Walk by Richard Wagamese. Now I have to go shell more field peas. It's not hard work and we are listening to Clyde Edgerton's Killer Diller while shelling. Pretty funny stuff.

[hermetic]

12. Killer Diller

sounds like something I want to hear. I'll be on the lookout for it. Thanks, japple. I do love audio books.

[japple]

15. Clyde Edgerton is pretty funny. This is a sequel to Walking Across Egypt

and we enjoyed Killer Diller for the most part. The ending was a huge disappointment, however, and the author seemed to have lost his mojo and abandoned the story and characters in a confusing and chaotic way.

[Enthusiast]

16. After I said I ordered a used copy of The Shipping News I discovered that I messed up.

I ordered the audio book version by mistake—on cassette.

I don't believe we even have a functional cassette player. Maybe we do on an old boom box somewhere.

Anyway, I have never listened to an audio book.

[hermetic]

17. Oh dear,

I would never recommend The Shipping News as a first audio book. I suspect Newfie accents will be employed and if you're not familiar with them, you will be lost. If you read the book first, then listened to it, I think it would be much more enjoyable.

If you can't return it then maybe you can find an old boom box at a thrift store. I bought a new one last fall from Amazon since I have lots of music on cassette that I still want to listen to as long as possible.

Well, best of luck with whatever you decide.

[Enthusiast]

18. Thank you, hermetic.

I appreciate your suggestions. I think I'll give it to the local library.

[eissa]

10. Just finished "Conversation in the Cathedral"

Another Mario Vargas Llosa masterpiece (yes, I'm still on my South American writers binge!)

This book has a large cast of characters, and it goes back and forth in time quite a bit. Furthermore, some of the dialogue is written in that impressionistic narrative -- the kind that goes on and on without break, and you're not quite sure who is speaking and with whom. But it clears up rather quickly. At first I feared it would be like his novel "The Green House" which I found completely unreadable, but this one isn't like that at all. It starts off a little slow, but picks up as you get submerged into each character's story and towards the last chapters it became hard to put down.

A really remarkable piece of work outlining the corruption of Peruvian politics (which is not unlike so many others in the region) and how it affects the lives of workers and the privileged class.

[hermetic]

11. Thanks for joining in here

That sounds like a really interesting book.