Books you're currently reading??? - Page 113

wolf · 02-09-2010, 12:04 PM

Finished Prince Caspian this morning. I'm taking wee break, mainly because I have to go visit a patient today (to celebrate her out of the hospital anniversary) and I don't want to leave the Kindle freezing in the car. I rummaged through the to read stack and came up with a Star Wars short story collection, Tales of the Empire.

Trilby · 02-10-2010, 06:54 AM

LIT - mary Karr (The Liar's Club) about her alky-hall-ism. Doing this one for fun.

wolf · 02-10-2010, 08:33 AM

I won LIT as a free firstreads from Goodreads. Unlike most drunken memoirs, it's both good and readable. Mary Karr can write. She is a poet, and therefore understands the melody of words.

That's probably a paraphrase of my posted review ... which I may have posted here as well, but I'm too lazy to check.

DanaC · 02-10-2010, 09:59 AM

Bah! i just checked and the audio of Whiteout that's available on the USA Audible site is narrated by somebody different to the one on the UK audible site. So, whilst i can still recommend the story, I can no longer recommend the narrator, since I don't know what she's like.

Started Quite Ugly One Morning, last night. It's very good. This one I can recommend the narrator (Tennant) as his is on the USA site as well.

02-10-2010, 02:59 PM

Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth, set in 12th century England, was a great read..but long (1000 pages). The sequel was a disappointment.

Just finished Everything Under the Sky, by spanish author Matilde Asensi. A Spanish artist and her teen-age niece, due to circumstances beyond their control, go on an Indiana Jones type romp through China in the 1920s, searching for lost treasure from China's first emperor.

Just starting The Collector of Worlds: A Novel of Sir Richard Francis Burton about his adventures in India, Mecca and Africa.

Blizzards make for good reading time!

wolf · 02-26-2010, 10:37 AM

Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed! - Katharine DeBrecht
Help! Mom! Hollywood's in My Hamper! - Katharine DeBrecht
Help! Mom! The 9th Circuit Nabbed the Nativity - Katharine DeBrecht

These are HILARIOUS. If you're a conservative. Libs will despise them. The illustrations are dead-on caricatures, and you have to really look at everything to catch some very clever jokes.

There's supposed to be a fourth one coming out that includes a female governor saving the day. Based on the sample pages I looked at, it appears to be a sequel to Liberals Under My Bed.

Sundae · 03-09-2010, 11:10 AM

Just finished Someday This Pain Will Be Useful To You by Peter Cameron.
Disaffected youth as the narrator, but was everything Holden Caulfield was not (to me at least). And some beautiful writing to boot. Far too short - loved it.

Am currently reading a foreign book. I knew this because a number of times during the first two chapters I had to refer back to previous text and still couldn't work it out. Yes. It is American.

Now I've been reading American books since I was a child (What Katy Did, Little Women etc), and I thought I was used to mentally translating. But this one gives fewer clues as to context. I am beginning to understand why Merkins get Harry Potter transalted.

FTR the book is The Birthing House by Christopher Ransome. No opinion on the text so far.

And for the pedants among you, who are wondering what could possibly confuse me to this extent; two examples:

Quote:

He ordered the country fried steak with three over easy [ordered it again] Now lightheaded from all the hash browns and gravy...

Whaaa? Don't know what three over easy means. I guessed it was eggs (which is just weird anyway). Where did the gravy and hash browns come from?

Quote:

They went to a lunch of the locally renowned Cornish pasty stuffed with cubed beef, potatoes, onions and rutabaga. The miners' dish was hard and salty, even with the cocktail sauce you were supposed to splash all over it.

WHAAA?
Okay, I translated rutabaga, it was in the Belgariad. But - salty? Badly made I say. COCKTAIL SAUCE? You what, you what, you-what-you-what-you-what? (Football chant, usually to refs)

I'm not saying either of the above is incorrect. But they are jarring to an overseas reader, and have jerked me out of the story in a way that the previous novel set in NY never did.

Cubed beef, I ask you.

Pete Zicato · 03-09-2010, 11:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sundae Girl

Quote:

He ordered the country fried steak with three over easy [ordered it again] Now lightheaded from all the hash browns and gravy...

Whaaa? Don't know what three over easy means. I guessed it was eggs (which is just weird anyway). Where did the gravy and hash browns come from?

Country fried steak is a steak (normally a tougher cut) breaded and fried like chicken. It is generally served with a milk gravy. Hash browns are de rigueur for breakfast eaten out.

You are correct that the three over easy are eggs. The eggs are turned during frying.

classicman · 03-09-2010, 01:52 PM

Unthinkable

excerpt in link - Start on Paragraph 4

Clodfobble · 03-09-2010, 06:14 PM

I'm reading "Earth Abides," which was discussed at some point earlier, recommended by glatt I think. It's a big change of pace from the books I have been reading recently (which have all had complicated plots, and many intertwining characters,) and I'm liking it a lot.

lumberjim · 03-09-2010, 10:26 PM

I'm reading the third of the Night Angel series by Brent Weeks... I enjoyed the first two, and the third seems on a par....

glatt · 03-10-2010, 07:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

I'm reading "Earth Abides," which was discussed at some point earlier, recommended by glatt I think. It's a big change of pace from the books I have been reading recently (which have all had complicated plots, and many intertwining characters,) and I'm liking it a lot.

Simple can be a very good thing, if the writer has talent.

wolf · 03-10-2010, 01:31 PM

Scored the fourth Help! Mom! book ... Help! Mom! Radicals are Ruining My Country, in which Governor Sarah saves us from the likes of Speaker Queenosie and Congressmen Fwanks and Schmoozer.

Sundae · 03-10-2010, 02:12 PM

Am still reading the Birthing House. Have simply decided it's poorly written. Ihave to go over some sentences three or four times to get the meaning. That is what my Year Two students do, not me.

In good books (and here!) "Americanisms" make me me want to know more. If there is blame to be apportioned I believe it is with me, for my lack of knowledge. In poorly written books it is slapdash writing. It is, really.

wolf · 03-10-2010, 03:50 PM

Birthing House has a number of extraordinarily poor reviews on amazon.com

I would have checked it out to support you and be in a position to explain the confusing American bits, but the kindle edition costs almost as much as the hardcover!

02-09-2010, 12:04 PM	#1681
wolf lobber of scimitars Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Phila Burbs Posts: 20,774	Finished Prince Caspian this morning. I'm taking wee break, mainly because I have to go visit a patient today (to celebrate her out of the hospital anniversary) and I don't want to leave the Kindle freezing in the car. I rummaged through the to read stack and came up with a Star Wars short story collection, Tales of the Empire. __________________ wolf eht htiw og "Conspiracies are the norm, not the exception." --G. Edward Griffin The Creature from Jekyll Island High Priestess of the Church of the Whale Penis

02-10-2010, 06:54 AM	#1682
Trilby Slattern of the Swail Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 15,654	LIT - mary Karr (The Liar's Club) about her alky-hall-ism. Doing this one for fun. __________________ In Barrie's play and novel, the roles of fairies are brief: they are allies to the Lost Boys, the source of fairy dust and ...They are portrayed as dangerous, whimsical and extremely clever but quite hedonistic. "Shall I give you a kiss?" Peter asked and, jerking an acorn button off his coat, solemnly presented it to her. —James Barrie Wimminfolk they be tricksy. - ZenGum

02-10-2010, 08:33 AM	#1683
wolf lobber of scimitars Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Phila Burbs Posts: 20,774	I won LIT as a free firstreads from Goodreads. Unlike most drunken memoirs, it's both good and readable. Mary Karr can write. She is a poet, and therefore understands the melody of words. That's probably a paraphrase of my posted review ... which I may have posted here as well, but I'm too lazy to check. __________________ wolf eht htiw og "Conspiracies are the norm, not the exception." --G. Edward Griffin The Creature from Jekyll Island High Priestess of the Church of the Whale Penis

02-26-2010, 10:37 AM	#1686
wolf lobber of scimitars Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Phila Burbs Posts: 20,774	Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed! - Katharine DeBrecht Help! Mom! Hollywood's in My Hamper! - Katharine DeBrecht Help! Mom! The 9th Circuit Nabbed the Nativity - Katharine DeBrecht These are HILARIOUS. If you're a conservative. Libs will despise them. The illustrations are dead-on caricatures, and you have to really look at everything to catch some very clever jokes. There's supposed to be a fourth one coming out that includes a female governor saving the day. Based on the sample pages I looked at, it appears to be a sequel to Liberals Under My Bed. __________________ wolf eht htiw og "Conspiracies are the norm, not the exception." --G. Edward Griffin The Creature from Jekyll Island High Priestess of the Church of the Whale Penis

03-09-2010, 01:52 PM	#1689
classicman barely disguised asshole, keeper of all that is holy. Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 23,401	Unthinkable excerpt in link - Start on Paragraph 4 __________________ "like strapping a pillow on a bull in a china shop" Bullitt

02-10-2010, 02:59 PM	#1685
Redux Guest Posts: n/a	Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth, set in 12th century England, was a great read..but long (1000 pages). The sequel was a disappointment. Just finished Everything Under the Sky, by spanish author Matilde Asensi. A Spanish artist and her teen-age niece, due to circumstances beyond their control, go on an Indiana Jones type romp through China in the 1920s, searching for lost treasure from China's first emperor. Just starting The Collector of Worlds: A Novel of Sir Richard Francis Burton about his adventures in India, Mecca and Africa. Blizzards make for good reading time!

03-09-2010, 06:14 PM	#1690
Clodfobble UNDER CONDITIONAL MITIGATION Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 20,012	I'm reading "Earth Abides," which was discussed at some point earlier, recommended by glatt I think. It's a big change of pace from the books I have been reading recently (which have all had complicated plots, and many intertwining characters,) and I'm liking it a lot. __________________ My book My other book My spirit animal

03-09-2010, 10:26 PM	#1691
lumberjim I can hear my ears Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 25,571	I'm reading the third of the Night Angel series by Brent Weeks... I enjoyed the first two, and the third seems on a par.... __________________ This body holding me reminds me of my own mortality Embrace this moment, remember We are eternal, all this pain is an illusion ~MJKeenan

03-10-2010, 01:31 PM	#1693
wolf lobber of scimitars Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Phila Burbs Posts: 20,774	Scored the fourth Help! Mom! book ... Help! Mom! Radicals are Ruining My Country, in which Governor Sarah saves us from the likes of Speaker Queenosie and Congressmen Fwanks and Schmoozer. __________________ wolf eht htiw og "Conspiracies are the norm, not the exception." --G. Edward Griffin The Creature from Jekyll Island High Priestess of the Church of the Whale Penis

03-10-2010, 02:12 PM	#1694
Sundae polaroid of perfection Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 24,185	Am still reading the Birthing House. Have simply decided it's poorly written. Ihave to go over some sentences three or four times to get the meaning. That is what my Year Two students do, not me. In good books (and here!) "Americanisms" make me me want to know more. If there is blame to be apportioned I believe it is with me, for my lack of knowledge. In poorly written books it is slapdash writing. It is, really. __________________ Life's hard you know, so strike a pose on a Cadillac

03-10-2010, 03:50 PM	#1695
wolf lobber of scimitars Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Phila Burbs Posts: 20,774	Birthing House has a number of extraordinarily poor reviews on amazon.com I would have checked it out to support you and be in a position to explain the confusing American bits, but the kindle edition costs almost as much as the hardcover! __________________ wolf eht htiw og "Conspiracies are the norm, not the exception." --G. Edward Griffin The Creature from Jekyll Island High Priestess of the Church of the Whale Penis

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