What Are You Reading Now?

[DVV]

"The Life and Times of Sir Captain Reginald Hutchinson" by one Melvyn Fairclough.

[The Grave Maurice]

I just finished Patrick deWitt's The Sisters Brothers and I'm not yet sure what to make of it. It was shortlisted for the Mann and Giller prizes and won a Governor General's literary award, so it must be pretty good, but it struck me rather as though Of Mice and Men and Don Quixote had been rewritten by Sam Peckinpah. I thought parts of it were brilliant but I'm not sure the whole thing works. I'll have to think about it for a while and would appreciate hearing any opinions.

[Carol]

I've almost finished Richard Dawkins' book - The God Delusion.

Carol

[Ally]

Good luck. I tried, but couldn't get through the second one. They are just too silly for me...kind of like everything after the Hitchhiker's Guide, which was silly, but one silly book was fine. The rest in that series were irritating.

Mike

Yeah to be honest if I had read the first books first, I never would have begun the series but I read a one-off later written book and it was well done. The first few I believe are pretty weak. Actually any of his books (which includes the first two ) that features Rincewind as the main character are pretty weak. The books are basically divided up into subsets of Rincewind books (suck large), Granny Weatherwax (hit or miss, some good, some not), Death (hit or miss), and the Sam Vimes books (all of which so far I like).

He has a tendency to get going too much with his own wit and I usually feel that the books need to move more, but they aren't horrible (except the Rincewind ones).

And besides, people need a bit of silliness in their lives so that they don't turn into cranky, stodgy old dour sourpusses.

[lynn cates]

sequel

Hello Robert. I read the sequel, "Tragedy on the Mountain Side" by Eileen Dover.

Cheers.
LC

[The Good Michael]

I am finally filling a serious literary gap and working my way though Pratchett's Discworld novels.

Good luck. I tried, but couldn't get through the second one. They are just too silly for me...kind of like everything after the Hitchhiker's Guide, which was silly, but one silly book was fine. The rest in that series were irritating.

Mike

[DVV]

Looks very interesting, thanks.

[The Grave Maurice]

I agree, MM. It's an interesting book that has oodles about 19th century crime and discusses why it was viewed as "entertainment". (It might also help to explain why some of us hang around here.)

[miss marple]

Reading The invention of Murder by Judith Flanders, How the Victorians revelled in death and detection and created modern crime. A good ramble through 19th crimes and the appalling, libellous press freedoms.The early 19th cent press makes the news of the world look like the gospel. Hanging as a spectator sport and murder as melodrama.
A very enjoyable read.
All her books are interesting, she has written about Victorian shopping and the Victorian home.

Miss Marple

[mariab]

Pas de problème. By the by, the first book is gonna come out in an American version at some point as well, possibly by the UofC Press. Not before 2015 though.

Sinon, j'aime bien la Meyerbeer. Bien fraîche, avec une belle mousse.

C'est une bière juive alors. Ou bien une (blague) belge? ;-)

[DVV]

Hélas, ma chère Maria, je ne comprends rien à l'allemand et ça m'empêche de chanter des lieder.
Sinon, j'aime bien la Meyerbeer. Bien fraîche, avec une belle mousse.

[mariab]

self promoting post

This kind of biographies are generally a catastrophy, David.
By the by, you might want to read my monography (NOT biography) on Rossini, when it comes out in a couple years. I'm about to start writing this weekend. ;-)
And if you happen to read German, I could send you a copy of my first book (on politicized opera from the French Revolution to the Fin de siècle) which comes out this summer. I'm afraid Lynn and Ken/The Grave Maurice will also get a copy. I betcha that if you read my book, you'll log in at amazon and order all Meyerbeer recordings at once as a consequence.

By the by, earlier today I was booking a Hotel in Paris for my conf and it felt so nice listening to the voices and background noises of Paris resonating like it was next door – from across the Atlantic. I think I'm slightly missing France...

[DVV]

I love biographies and I'm on the most complete biography of Schumann available in French, "Schumann" by Brigitte François-Sappey, which is about 1000 pages.
Unfortunately, biographies are not what they used to be. Modern writers are often making their own sauce, they always opt for a diachronic framework, and all in all, it looks more a succession of considerations and personal ideas than a biography.
I wanted to read Schumann's life, I got Mrs François-Sappey's opinions about his life.

[Beowulf]

JTR and the case for Scotland Yard's prime suspect. Just about to get into the Kozminski did it.

[Zodiac]

Rincewind could scream for mercy in nineteen languages!!!

I am finally filling a serious literary gap and working my way though Pratchett's Discworld novels.

Hi Ally,

If you haven't read it already then you really should try get hold of a copy of "Good Omens" a.k.a. 'The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch'. By Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. The "Angel" Aziraphale, the "Demon" Crowley, yes Crowley come on, you knew it was true!!! and the "Four Horsemen/Four Bikers of the Apocalypse" War, Famine, Pollution (Pestilence having retired in 1936 following the discovery of penicillin), and Death!!! Not to mention "The Chattering Order of St. Beryl" A truely great read.

Best wishes,
Zodiac.