Re: I'm reading ... One of the main characters in RoA is Sean Bateman, the younger brother of Patrick Batemam, who makes a cameo.
I read Dan Brown's DaVinci Code last week, couldn't put it down. This week it's Angels and Demons, but so far I'm not as impressed. Are any of his other books better? What happened to the other posts or am I just behind the times and not paying attention as usual?
For some reason, despite absolutely loving this book, I am reading The Brothers K quite slowly. 10 pages there, 5 pages here, 3 pages over lunch, 6 pages before I go to sleep. And it's a big book. Every page, every anecdote, every story within the story, has become precious, and I just want to take it all in slowly, and not rush right through it like I would riding my car through a screaming tunnel. Anyone else get like this when reading a book they love?
Yeah, I'm the same way. It took me about three weeks to read The Brothers K . I like to be able to think about what is happening in the book before charging ahead. Reading a couple of pages at a time encourages me to treasure each character and, like you said, each precious anecdote. I can't convince my wife that it is the more enjoyable way to read - she finished the book in two or three days.
Started reading "You Shall Know Our Velocity" by Eggers. I'm going in with low expectations, but we'll see.
Finished this last Friday. Uneven, but the good parts were really good. I indulged in a visit to my past by going to the Advanced Book Exchange (fabulous web site if you're looking for anything used or out of the ordinairy) and buying A Web of Salvage by Brian Callison. Callison is a Brit who wrote a number of nautical adventure novels in the 60s and 70s. I discovered them in my town library as a 12 year old. I absolutely loved them at the time; now I'll see how much of a difference most of 3 decades makes.
Just finished re-reading 'Of mice and men' again.. before that I read Michael Moore's 'Stupid white men'. I'm just about to start 'Love in the time of Cholera' by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Anyone any comments about it?
So if you went back and forth between them, would you wind up reading 'Of White Mice and Stupid Men'?
... or 'Stuipid white mice'. The possibilities are endless, aren't they. Well, no, thinking about it.
There's a whole thread (two, actually) that covers the Dan Brown thing. Both in this forum. Hopefully they can help you out. Personally, no, none of his other books are close to the level of that one.
Currently reading Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson (very long, very slow, kinda tedious. It's about the history of English scientific development 1650-1710 and...yeah...has that software manual thing going on. Not bad, but let's say it appeals to a shockingly narrow group of readers). As something a bit lighter (to carry, anyway) for use on the train Uncle Tom's Cabin, because I never read it in high school. Just one of those books I wanted to be able to say that I've read so that I'm not just another mindless phony like those on Leno dropping/hearing a phrase without having read the book that created it's usage. Vain reason to read a book, I know. (Not that I go around calling anyone an Uncle Tom, of course). It's an important book in the history of the US, I think, even if it is culturally out of date at present.
I'm also reading Quicksilver. It's no Cryptonomicon but it has its own appeal. I thought it started a little slow but the middle part with Jack and Eliza was a good old fashioned swashbuckler with some 17th century science and politics thrown in. The second volumne in The Baroque Cycle, called "The Confusion", came out last week. I picked it up and my wife started on it. 800 more pages!
I went to the library today and picked up Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami and Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry. I'll read Norwegian Wood first.
Anyone read this? It just came out, and it's based on some new archival data that was open just to the author. I heard an interview with the Author on NPR yesterday and it seemed like a fascinating book, though it is more about Stalin the man than about Russia, in case people were expecting it to be both. I'm interested in reading it, though, I'll likely wait until it hits paperback.
I didn't think Norwegian Wood was as good as A Hard Boiled Wonderland & The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Oh well, I'll start reading Family Matters today.
Finished The Town and will start on The Mansion fairly soon. As a break from Faulkner, I am finishing a book about the Black Death.