What Are You Reading Now?

[Doug Irvine]

I thought it would be nice to have a thread where we could discuss the books we are reading. It doesn't have to be about Jack The Ripper or serial killers, just whatever book you happen to be reading. I picture this thread as an informal book club sort of thing.
The book I'm reading right now is William Faulkner's Light In August. I really enjoyed A Rose for Emily when I read it High School. I just never got around to reading any of his novels till now.

[Supe]

Doug,

Interesting question. I usually read several at once in bed before sleep. Right now they are the mystery The Widow's Cruise by Nicholas Blake (C. Day Lewis); Shakespeare Without Tears by Margaret Webster (rereading for third or fourth time), and The Age of the Picts by W.A. Cummins.

Don.

[mariab]

Haven't re-read Faulkner's A rose for Emily in years. Right now I'm so behind in my work (and in my reading list for Ripperology) that I don't have time at all to read non work-related stuff. Unless I get a book as a gift, which is gonna be very specific, as my friends know what I like.
The only time I'm gonna be caught (re)reading lit is when I'm sick in bed or depressed and semi-catatonic. LOL. In that case I'd be (re)reading either some classic or one of my favorites. When I'm procrastinating from work I often read new stuff (for free) at the amazon site, from serious books to the silliest stuff.

What's funny is, a couple years ago when I started as a lurker on casebook, I was using Ripperology to chill when procrastinating from work. However, nowadays it doesn't work anymore, Ripperology has become work and I need something “faraway from home“ to chill when procrastinating. LOL. But I still chill reading criminology related stuff online (which might appear weird to some people).

[kensei]

I find pure fantasy escapism to be a great distraction from some of the stresses I have going on in real life at the moment, and I'm a 40-something comic book geek, currently reading the graphic novel "Green Lantern- The Sinestro Corps War." Superhero action combined with very trippy science fiction.

[John Bennett]

HG Wells' The War of the Worlds.

First read it over 30 years ago and have just finished it for the 5th time. It's a book I never seem to tire of.

[Carol]

HG Wells' The War of the Worlds.

First read it over 30 years ago and have just finished it for the 5th time. It's a book I never seem to tire of.

Hi John,

I agree with you - what a book! I first read it in June 1963 when I was supposed to be revising English Literature for the GCE's. The suspense at the end was unbelieveable I thought.

At the moment I'm reading Martin Fido's 'The Crimes, Detection and Death of Jack the Ripper'. I'm really enjoying it and it has a great map of Whitechapel and environs which I am finding very helpful. The map is looking very Christmassy now with me using yellow, red and blue marker pens and making corresponding notes in the same colours! I found the book in almost brand-new condition complete with its dust cover, in a second-hand book shop in Dunster, Somerset, when we were on holiday in England last summer.

Carol

[DVV]

Currently re-reading "Die Wolfshaut" by (genius) Austrian novelist Hans Lebert (1919-93), published 1960.

Sordid and mysterious murders occur in a remote Austrian village, some years after WW II, as a resurgence of its nazi past (collective crimes).

Never translated into English, although considered the most important Austrian novel of its time, said to have influenced prominent Austrian writers (Jelinek, Ramsmayr, Haslinger, etc).

[DVV]

...have ordered 3 Evelyn Waugh for X-mas : Decline and Fall, A Handful of Dust, Brideshead Revisited.

[Rob Clack]

HG Wells' The War of the Worlds.

First read it over 30 years ago and have just finished it for the 5th time. It's a book I never seem to tire of.

Can't really go wrong with H G Wellls. I read some of his books in the late 80s. The Invisible Man, The Time Machine, The Island of Doctor Moreau as well as The War of the Worlds. All Classics, have a fondness for The Time Machine which I have read several times.

Rob

[DVV]

I consider The Island of Dr Moreau as his best work, and it has inspired many a great book - such as The Invention of Morel by Bioy Casares, and more recently Mo Hayder excellent Pig Island.

[Tom_Wescott]

I'm currently reading the Dutton diaries and the lost Ripper suspect files, kindly lent to me by the Cartel.

Actually, I have a number of books going - Stephen King's 'Full Dark, No Stars', John Bennett's 'JTR: Making of a Myth', Keven McQueen's 'The Axman Came From Hell', a recent authorship question book, 'Will Contested', and the latest issue of Famous Monsters magazine.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[mariab]

Currently re-reading "Die Wolfshaut" by (genius) Austrian novelist Hans Lebert (1919-93), published 1960. {...} said to have influenced prominent Austrian writers (Jelinek, Ramsmayr, Haslinger, etc).

I find Elfriede Jelinek very entertaining, David. ;-) And loved the movie with Isabelle Huppert. Priceless.
When I end up re-reading one of my favorite classics, it'll be either something by the sisters Bronte, or some Dickens, or maybe a play by Tennessee Williams. My Dostoievsky I don't have it here (it's at my mom's) and all my Shakespeare is packed in a box. Non classic favorites would be either travel reports/memoirs or some obscure books about my favorite sports and bios of my favorite athletes. Oh, and I love re-reading my favorite childrens' books, but here at my place I only have Hector Malot's En famille and M.K. Rawlings' The Yearling, which I adore as books. When I get at my parents' house in Athens, there's tons of cool stuff to re-read, from Dostoievsky to childrens' books to obscure pulp fiction (which my dad used to collect). I hardly ever sleep at night when I'm at my mom's, LOL.

Ripperology-wise I'm (re)reading stuff about the WVC, and workwise I'm about to start “reading“ all Rossini scores/materials for my second book, which is still not completely structured.

[The Grave Maurice]

I've just started re-reading all the Sherlock Holmes stories. I try to do that every few years, and I always find something new in them. Another author I try to re-read every decade or so is Proust. Fortunately I've got a couple of years before I have to tackle his work again. I seem to be doing a lot of re-reading lately.

[DVV]

Hi Maria & Maurice, all

there are many authors I re-read regularly. Some for all their works, some for one book.
It sure means I'm getting old, as Maurice suggested, but that's a good part of it.

I believe there is a need for re-reading certain authors and be somewhat in constant touch with them, and I believe this need is normal.

[mariab]

Same here David, and one doesn't even need to read them constantly to be "carrying them around" in onesself.
I sure hope I'm not getting old though, at least not for a couple decades yet. ;-) (If I live that long, that is.)