What are you reading?

[fauxpaxfauxreal]

I'm reading _The Pale King_ by David Foster Wallace.


I love the writing.  However, it is very lacking when it comes to any type of "narrative" or story.

I'm reading DFW too - my first time reading his work.  "Consider the Lobster" is the name of the collection of essays I'm reading.

You should probably just go ahead and jump in and read "Infinite Jest".  "Consider the Lobster" is a good collection, but I don't know if I woulda gotten nearly as much out of it without having read "Infinite Jest".  The McCain piece is very sweet, tho.  Reading this was part of the reason I was such a McCain defender during the 2008 election.  (Even though he had obviously changed since 2000...)

[Hicks]

Infinite Jest is probably the best book I've ever read. 

Broom of the System is good too.

I remember that McCain piece, it was great, doesn't change the fact that he was replaced by a cylon in 2004.

[gah]

Infinite Jest is probably the best book I've ever read. 

Broom of the System is good too.

I remember that McCain piece, it was great, doesn't change the fact that he was replaced by a cylon in 2004.

:-o Might have to add that to my queue...

[whyweigh5.0]

Decided to go with this one

http://www.randomhouse.com/crown/devilinthewhitecity/home.html

[phuzzyfish12]

Decided to go with this one

http://www.randomhouse.com/crown/devilinthewhitecity/home.html

I was thinking about picking this one up also, love to hear what you think about it once you finish reading it.

[whyweigh5.0]

I just got it yesterday.  I was in town and had some time to kill so I walked into the bookstore.  Walked out with a book, even though I have 4-5 here that I haven't read yet.  I'm only two chapters in so far.  Once I get a little more into it I will post my thoughts

[fauxpaxfauxreal]

Infinite Jest is probably the best book I've ever read. 

Broom of the System is good too.

I remember that McCain piece, it was great, doesn't change the fact that he was replaced by a cylon in 2004.

:-o Might have to add that to my queue...

Yeah.  It's pretty mandatory.  Probably the greatest novel in the last 30 years.

[Multibeast12]

I've never read any Wallace but maybe i'll check it out.

just finished this

Really cool, good book.

[ytowndan]

I've never read any Wallace but maybe i'll check it out.

just finished this

Really cool, good book.

I watched a speech of his on (what he calls) "stupid design".  I'd highly recommend it.  Pretty sure you can find it on youtube.

[Multibeast12]

I've never read any Wallace but maybe i'll check it out.

just finished this

Really cool, good book.

I watched a speech of his on (what he calls) "stupid design".  I'd highly recommend it.  Pretty sure you can find it on youtube.

Awesome. I'll watch it tonight. Also, Dr. Tyson is one of my hero's and his books are incredible. He makes all the complexities of space nice and easy for somebody to understand.

[thechad]

Decided to go with this one

http://www.randomhouse.com/crown/devilinthewhitecity/home.html

I was thinking about picking this one up also, love to hear what you think about it once you finish reading it.

I've been thinking about getting this as well.  I've read another book about H. H. Holmes that was written in 1986 called "The Scarlett Castle."

[mbw]

Infinite Jest is probably the best book I've ever read. 

Broom of the System is good too.

I remember that McCain piece, it was great, doesn't change the fact that he was replaced by a cylon in 2004.

:-o Might have to add that to my queue...

def.  thanks for the recommendation faux and hicks!  ordered the ink on paper version.

[phuzzyfish12]

Book Club Pick:

I suggested the below 5 books for my book club this month (we picked the one in bold):

Little Bee: A Novel – By: Chris Cleave
Life of Pi – By: Yann Martel
The Dressmaker of Khair Khana: Five Sisters, One Remarkable Family and the Woman Who Risked Everything to Keep Them Safe – By: Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
Half Broke Horses – By: Jeannette Walls
Sarah's Key – By: Tatian de Rosany



De Rosnay's U.S. debut fictionalizes the 1942 Paris roundups and deportations, in which thousands of Jewish families were arrested, held at the Vélodrome d'Hiver outside the city, then transported to Auschwitz. Forty-five-year-old Julia Jarmond, American by birth, moved to Paris when she was 20 and is married to the arrogant, unfaithful Bertrand Tézac, with whom she has an 11-year-old daughter. Julia writes for an American magazine and her editor assigns her to cover the 60th anniversary of the Vél' d'Hiv' roundups. Julia soon learns that the apartment she and Bertrand plan to move into was acquired by Bertrand's family when its Jewish occupants were dispossessed and deported 60 years before. She resolves to find out what happened to the former occupants: Wladyslaw and Rywka Starzynski, parents of 10-year-old Sarah and four-year-old Michel. The more Julia discovers—especially about Sarah, the only member of the Starzynski family to survive—the more she uncovers about Bertrand's family, about France and, finally, herself. Already translated into 15 languages, the novel is De Rosnay's 10th (but her first written in English, her first language). It beautifully conveys Julia's conflicting loyalties, and makes Sarah's trials so riveting, her innocence so absorbing, that the book is hard to put down.


Personal Pick of the moment:
2030: The Real Story of What Happens to America – By: Albert Brooks



Comedian and filmmaker Brooks welcomes the reader to the year 2030 in his smart and surprisingly serious debut. Cancer has been cured, global warming is an acknowledged reality, people have robot companions, and the president is a Jew--and oy vey does he have his hands full with an earthquake-leveled Los Angeles and a growing movement by the young to exterminate the elderly. And when the Chinese offer to rebuild L.A. in exchange for a half-ownership stake in Southern California, President Bernstein is faced with a decision that will alter the future of America. Brooks's sweeping narrative encompasses a diverse cast of characters, including an 80-year-old Angelino left homeless by the earthquake, a trust fund brat with a grudge against the elderly, and a teenage girl saddled with debt after her father's death, all of whom get brought together just in time for a climactic hostage crisis. Brooks's mordant vision encompasses the future of politics, medicine, entertainment, and daily living, resulting in a novel as entertaining as it is thought provoking, like something from the imagination of a borscht belt H.G. Wells.

[birdman]

Decided to go with this one

http://www.randomhouse.com/crown/devilinthewhitecity/home.html

I was thinking about picking this one up also, love to hear what you think about it once you finish reading it.

I've been thinking about getting this as well.  I've read another book about H. H. Holmes that was written in 1986 called "The Scarlett Castle."

Read "Devil" a few years back. Great story plus I share the Holmes name. The World's Fair sections of the book are a bit long winded but overall it was worth the read. Im surprised how few people are aware of what went down during those years surrounding the World's Fair. Pretty remarkable.

[cactusfan]

A Void by George Perec

this was originally a french novel written entirely without using the letter e.
years later some madman translated it into english. also without using e.
it's a weird book so far. good, though.