What do you think?

I was thinking about The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon. A nice, short book, and easily available. Or how about The Hound of the Baskervilles by Conan Doyle?

Either sounds good to me. I like reading other people's suggestions because it widens my reading horizons. I loved Bob's book. I just wish we had had more discussion about it; I felt a bit like I had hogged the conversation!

The winners of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize were announced today. None are familiar to me. I'm going to suggest that we read one of them.

• FICTION: March by Geraldine Brooks
  
• HISTORY: Polio: An American Story by David M. Oshinsky
  
• BIOGRAPHY: American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin
  
• GENERAL NON-FICTION: Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain's Gulag in Kenya by Caroline Elkins

I am glad we're not going to let the book discussion end with the first book! I like either of Z's (prefer Pynchon because I've not read it) or March by Brooks, as Shu suggests. It's sort of a companion to Little Women as it's about their father's Civil War experience.

I promise to do better this time.

Bob - what do you think?

I've also been waiting for someone to suggest a new book. The only one of those I've read before is Hound of the Baskervilles but I'd be willing to read that again if others wanted to. Or any of the other suggestions. I'd prefer fiction but I'm willing to give anything a go providing I can get a copy - preferably on Amazon as I don't really get time to get to bookshops as much as I'd like and even if I did there's no guarantee they'd have what I was looking for.

Lost in the Forest was recently recommended to me by someone who is a discerning reader, but I've not read it yet.

Well they all sound good to me. Somone needs to just pick. :-) Then we can keep the others in mind for next time!

Well, we could go around and around on this. Bob was in charge before. How about putting CW in charge of this one since she suggested another book and, after all, she is a librarian.

What will it be, CW?

Wow - the pressure! Let me get the books in that I reserved and I'll pick on Saturday.

I've got _The Crying of Lot 49_ sitting on my desk, and the first few lines have already sucked me in. I vote for this book by Thomas Pynchon, published first in the year after I was born.

Let's put the other suggestions on our shelves for a brief time but come back to them as soon as we've finished this (or maybe even a little before!). Books are not like husbands - it is perfectly acceptable to be enjoying more than one at a time.

Anyone ready for a new one? I have to admit that I've already got 2 books I need to read for "real-time" book groups. Care to choose one of these this time?

Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi.

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.


Oh, and we still haven't read/discussed March by Geraldine Brooks.

I'll try anything. We haven't really discussed the last one though, have we. Or did I miss it. There were a few cursory comments but no discussion. Should we get together sometime on the chat room?

I would vote for Reading Lolita in Tehran. I've been meaning to read it since hearing the author interviewed on the radio.

Yes, we should discuss the last one, I agree. Perhaps we need a better format for discussions of books.

The NY Times just posted their list of the best fiction (American) in the last 25 years, and Toni Morrison's "Beloved" was number 1; we might consider that at some point. I have read it, and it was very good. Here is the list:

Winner: Toni Morrison's 'Beloved' (15 votes) Runners-up: Don DeLillo's 'Underworld' (11 votes), John Updike's 'Rabbit Angstrom: The Four Novels' and Cormac McCarthy's 'Blood Meridian' (tied with 8 votes each) and Philip Roth's 'American Pastoral' (7 votes) Also receiving multiple votes: John Kennedy Toole's 'A Confederacy of Dunces,' Marilynne Robinson's 'Housekeeping,' Mark Helprin's 'Winter's Tale,' DeLillo's 'White Noise,' Roth's 'The Counterlife,' DeLillo's 'Libra,' Raymond Carver's 'Where I'm Calling From,' Tim O'Brien's 'The Things They Carried,' Norman Rush's 'Mating,' Denis Johnson's 'Jesus' Son,' Roth's 'Operation Shylock,' Richard Ford's 'Independence Day,' Roth's 'Sabbath's Theater,' McCarthy's 'Border Trilogy,' Roth's 'The Human Stain,' Edward P. Jones' 'The Known World,' Roth's 'The Plot Against America'

Voting: The New York Times asked a couple hundred people — authors, literary critics, academics and others — to vote on the best American work of fiction of the past 25 years. A total of 125 people — including authors as well-known as Don DeLillo and Maxine Hong Kingston — agreed to participate.

What a high-fallutin' list! It certainly doesn't represent the books that check out from my library! Except for _Beloved_, I've never laid hands or eyes on any of them. LOL Ah well, I think we've already established that I'm bourgeois in many things, including my reading tastes.

I can't get the chat room function to work on my computer at all. I'd be willing to discuss _Crying_ more. It was a very interesting book. I"ll post something in the other thread to see if we can spark some more discussion.

quote:

What a high-fallutin' list!

I quite agree. I've never read any of those books and only read books by a couple of the authors. They certainly aren't the sort of books I'd want to read.

Of the list that Kalleh posted. I've read: the first three novels of Updike's Rabbit Angstrom series, Toole's Confederacy of Dunces, DeLillo's White Noise and Libra, and Roth's Operation Shylock. They were all of them entertaining, and two of them were hilarious. I personally would read anything by Roth, DeLillo, Updike, or O'Brien. Of the latter, I read his thoroughly enjoyable Going After Cacciato which didn't make the list because it's more than 25 years old (1978). I guess my tastes are just out of synch with the rest of the members of this board.

Maybe the simple fact that I've not read most of those books is the best reason of all to pick one of them to read! As a librarian, I often will place a request for a book that my customers seem to all be reading. It's good for me, and I have often found that my sense of entertainment can be satisfied in more ways than I will usually choose.

What book looks good to you, zmj?

What book looks good to you

To quote, apocryphally, Sam Goldwyn, "include me out!" You folks pick one, and I'll join in later.

quote:

I've never read any of those books and only read books by a couple of the authors. They certainly aren't the sort of books I'd want to read.

Well, that's strange to me. I could understand if you'd read them and didn't like them. But if you've never read them, how would you know? I doubt that I would have read either of the books that Bob or Zmj recommended, but I am so glad I did. They broadened my horizens, that's for sure. It's interesting to me how people decide what to read. [One point to remember, Arnie, is that this was American fiction, and that might be why you haven't read them.]

I have read very few of them as well, but my daughter said she has read about half of them, and she says the ones she read were very good.

I am not sure how we should discuss the books here, and I think we are stuck on that. CW, is there nothing to be done about your chat function? We miss you on the chats.

I am feeling as though we should talk about the last book before we start a new one, but I tend to be a little compulsive sometimes! I am willing to go either way.

I'm pushing and recommending Reading Lolita in Tehran. I've got the first 5 discs loaded on my iPod and I started listening this morning. I love it so far - fascinating cultural study/memoir type thing. I'd like to hear what you all think of it. Maybe we could still keep discussing Crying of Lot 49 on that thread and start reading a new one at the same time?

I will see if I can find it today at lunch. Thanks, CW.

quote:

Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi.

OK.
I'll check the bookshop tomorrow

Bought it this afternoon, cashing in a gift certificate I received a couple of months back, at a store I hardly ever go to, Borders. The cashier asked if I wanted to join their data whorehousing club, but I told her I don't often shop at Borders. She took it in stride. I wonder what they get paid there? Not much, I imagine. Started to read it, and it's pretty enjoyable so far. It helps that the author really likes one of my favorite writers, Nabokov. I am reminded of another book, written a totally different style, but with the same kind of feel: Nicholson Baker's U. & I: A True Story (1991). (His book of essays The Size of Thoughts: Essays and Other Lumber (1996) is also a wonderful read.)

I've started it and will recommend it to my daughter, who is an avid reader. I think she will also like the feminism aspect of the book.

BTW, it's time for a commercial: If you can find it in the library or a used bookstore (or I will send you one if you PM me with your address), some of you who are interested in religion might be interested in the book my daughter and her colleagues wrote: "The Women's Passover Companion : Women's Reflections on the Festival of Freedom," by Tara Mohr (Editor), Sharon Cohen Anisfeld (Editor), Catherine Spector (Editor). It is a collection of essays, including one by Justice Ruth Bader-Ginsberg. Just a thought if you have nothing else to read!

We have that book in our library, Kalleh! Thanks for the suggestion - I've reserved it.

I am so excited that it's in your library! It is in the libraries around here, but I just thought it was because Catherine lives in this area.

BTW, I am enjoying the Lolita/Tehran book.

My thoughts on Lolita/Tehran will have to wait. None of the bookshops had it and I ordered it from amazon but t hasn't arrived yet. (Monday was a holiday here)

Monday was a holiday here, too! Whenever you get it is fine. It's taking me a while to get through it as I'm listening to it instead of reading it.

I'm new here, but an avid reader. I just read Blue Blood by Edward Conlon.

It's a NYPD memoir by a Harvard grad. The language is lucid and poetic.

I'd recommend it to anyone that enjoys words. He describes things succintly and well.

Oh, and hi!

Thanks for jumping in willowshiver and welcome to our humble home. We've never really managed to get going very well on our book group.

How about it guys? Shall we have another go, either with this or with a different one where willowshiver can join in on a new book?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: BobHale,

Welcome, Willowshiver! I have sent you a PM, too.

Bob is right. We've had a bit of trouble with this book group. I am not sure why, but let's try again. With lucid and poetic language, it sounds appropriate for this board. How about it, Wordcrafters?

BTW, any ideas on why this book group has had trouble getting started? It seemed like such a good idea. We all love words and language and books, so it should be a slam dunk.

These days I read far fewer books than I used to. I put it down to TV (I didn't have one until I was 45); the computer and especially boards like this; my self-employment which means I now work far more hours than I used to; the information explosion which means that I have to spend a great deal more time trying to keep something like up-to-date with modern developments.

In my 40s I used to read at least one "novel-sized" book every day and visited my local lending library once or twice a week to keep up my stock of reading material.

I suspect I am not alone in my reduction in my reading habits and suggest that this might be one reason why few are interested in this sub-group.

I had never used this site before but I think it is wonderful, not necessarily for a book we all agree to read, but also for books a few of us have read.

At Shufitz' recommendation, I got two Bill Bryson books, "In a Sunburned Country" and "The Mother Tongue." Bryson knows a lot more stuff than I do, but has anyone else noticed that he is fast and free with some of his "facts"?

In The Mother Tongue, he said that language sprang up at the same time on all the continents. I think the majority of scientists think that modern humans had language when they first migrated out of Africa. At that time no other continents were inhabited.
He claims that four automobiles, including the Hudson, were named after explorers. My husband pointed out that the Hudson car was named after a Hudson who owned a department store, Hudson's, and financed the car venture.

I sent the Australia book back to the library but as I remember, he was off by almost 200 million years on the date of the Ediacara fossils.

This sound like nit picking. I am enjoying his books and he certainly has a better handle on history than I have. Nevertheless, you should be warned to not use his books as reference material.

I'm a great fan of Bryson, though more of his travel books than his language books. He has a very friendly style and a great enthusiasm but, as you have noticed, a tendency to repeat half truths and downright errors from other sources. His Short History of Nearly Everyting is an incredibly entertaining read but I noticed at least a dozen errors so I'm guessing there were a lot more.

Bill Bryson will be speaking at the ITT Convention in Grand Canary this June. I am hoping that he will stick around long enough for me to meet him for a beer. As an Anglophile I am sure he will enjoy a pint (though maybe not the kind of pint they serve in Grand Canary);-(

I'm sure he would be happy to sign a copy of one of his books if anyone would like me to ask him.

Bob, I agree that he is interesting and entertaining. I once heard a clergyman say, "Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly." He explained that many worthwhile things don't get done because a parishoner feel he can't do the job well. And so, nothing was done. Bryson undoubtedly fills a gap, in spite of errors. Perhaps he has no peer - no one to critically review his books. His books are written for the general public and most editors are English majors. My point was that one should be cautious to quote him as an authority.

I agree completely. I've read everything he's written apart from The Thunderbolt Kid (which I'll get as soon as it's here in paperback). He's such an entertaining writer that it's a shame he's let down by poor fact checking. I find that as soon as I spot a couple of errors in a book it casts doubt on the rest of it for me.

How soon we forget...

As recently as January we had a comprehensive critical analysis of his books. There were many thoughts both ways, as I recall, and I don't plan to bring this subject up again. However, missann, you might find a review of that thread interesting. Bob and Richard, I am sure, remember that discussion. Unfortunately the discussion (on both sides) got a bit visceral and was prudently continued privately.

Surely in all writing, including on this site, there are errors. One must always read with a critical eye. To me one of the most important goals of higher education is to promote critical thinking in students.

If anyone is interested in the book currently being read, it was suggested by Myth Jellies and is here. I just returned from a conference and haven't had the opportunity to buy it.