You just met another one I read it latter in life. It’s not a standard text for British high school kids perhaps that helps.

This book is a major hit with the girls. I suggest seeing the movie. It is great to see in a theater, and probably more meaningful if you are older. He sets it about ten years ago. Thankfully, not a single e-mail is in the movie.

I couldn't get past page 80 in "Only Yesterday." I guess this book is great if you actually speak Hebrew. It is redundant to the point of irritation.

Example: And so Isaac saw the Land (this refers to Isreal, and this very sentence was used ad nauseum), and appreciated the Orchids and Vineyards, and the sand. For it was the Orchids and Vineyards and the sand that was what Isaac dreamt of when he dreamt of the Land (this phrase is also used ad nauseam).

Also, there was no quotations. There was conversation, but the translator is more than welcome Anglisize the book a little.

I greatly enjoyed "The Natural Superiority of Women." It is more of a funny slap in the face when one considers that the so-called "Feminist Bible" was written by a male. Full of intersesting factoids.

I picked up the following books.

"The Beet Queen" by Louise Erdrich. It looks like an interesting format with the following chapters:

Chapter 1: 1932
Mary Adare

Karl's Night

Chapter 2: 1932
Sita Kozka
Mary Adare
Celestine James

Rescue

and so on until 1972

London Fields by Martin Amis. I am not a huge fan of mysteries, but the first page creates an interesting perspective.

What didn't you like about it specifically Blarg? I hear a lot of complaints and somehow I keep hearing new ones. Haha.

DaveT,

The Hottest State is next on my netflix list (well, after Tombstone...I can't believe I haven't seen that yet). I am definitely interested to see how the story translates onto the screen. I feel like there's going to have to be a lot of changes to the material because so much of the book is inside William's head.

I'm a LITTLE surprised to find out that this was a big hit with girls in that I feel like Sarah is portrayed pretty negatively. Maybe that is just my read? As I was reading it I kept thinking "wow, I should have this girl I know read this because she's similar to Sarah..." Then I realized that wasn't a good thing from my perspective.

I haven't read the book yet. Sarah is worshiped in the movie. I could see her coming across as a b**** if you never been in a frustrating break up. Thanks for that new perspective. I would have never thought of it myself.

I'm 30, and am reading it for myself, not for school or any other reason. I ran out of books and it was on my shelf.

I'm not Blarg, but I'll say what I don't like about it. So much of it doesn't advance the story in any way. I am about 3/4's finished and large segments of the book discuss whale entymology (not sure if this is the correct word), biology, and whaling in general. Don't get me wrong, I think some of would have been great. But of the 3/4 of the book that I've read I think this stuff has been 30-50% of it. It seems almost encyclopedic rather than an actual story, at times. But on top of this, the encyclopedic parts of it use a large amount of over the top language and it just gets very dry.

Now, when something is happening, when the story is advancing, I do enjoy it. But these moments are fleeting. Also, the first 30% of the book or so, where he meets Queeqeeg, and Ezekial and gets on the boat and stuff, I liked that.

I picked up "Travels" by Michael Crichton today. After reading Jurassic Park I wanted to read more of his fiction, but when I saw "Travels" in the library I remembered someone in 2p2 (I think it was daveT) saying it was one of their favorite books. I already started it and am hooked up. I guess "No Country for Old Men" will have to wait a while (and "QuickSilver" will be on hold another while too).

Sarah is worshiped in the book by him as well. And frankly I found both characters to be on the illogical crazy side. I went through a relatively unhappy breakup but in comparison to the novel it was nothing. I guess I just haven't been through an experience like that to truly understand where the characters are coming from.

In some ways I thought William was worse than Sarah, but Sarah struck me as almost mentally imbalanced from the book.

I'll definitely have to see the movie and reassess

I thought Lone Survivor was pretty mediocre overall.

(small amounts of spoilers)

The story was absolutely amazing, both the firefight, his rescue by the friendly Afghanis, and their protection of him. Inspirational all around. But the writing was god awful. Quite possibly the most poorly written book I've ever read. I don't put that on Luttrell, he's not a writer. Patrick Robinson did the writing, and he failed miserably. There are large gaps missing that need to be filled in, the writing/voice of the book changes sporadically based on what aspect of Luttrell's character the writer is trying to impress on us at that moment (we get it, he's a Texan), the constant self-deprecation is clumsy and awkward (and unnecessary), and the attempts to write some sections as though Luttrell is retelling it directly to the reader fail miserably. That's just a small list of complaints. I don't want to oversell it, but it was that bad.

I'd still say read it if the subject is of interest, because the story is that amazing. It's a shame, had a talented writer worked with Luttrell, this could have been a great book.

Few other things stand out to me:

1) They set up to wait and find the target, and 3 goat herders and a swarm of goats (with, I believe, bells) nearly walk onto Luttrell without him hearing them coming (which I think is extremely odd). In Luttrell's account, they have a long debate over whether to kill them (they are unarmed) or not. The mission leader ends up taking a vote (which I think is unlikely), and they decide not to kill the goat herders. So they just let them go. We assume they warn the Taliban which then descends on the group. Wasn't there an obvious third option? Abort the mission, hold them captive until a chopper can be called in to take them out?

2) Luttrell talks a lot about rules of engagements, and seems to feel that they are the liberals way of giving aid to the enemy. Mentions repeatedly that the soldiers should be given reign to shoot whoever is necessary if they look suspicious. Later in the book he is surrounded by 3-4 Afghanis with AK-47s. Somewhat suspicious. They end up saving his life. He never discusses ROEs with regard to this situation and how (or if) it changed his views.

3) He seems to have a view that the press in America hates soldiers. He wrote at one point (paraphrase) that the media thinks that all soldiers are murderers. He wrote that he was not afraid of the enemy, but he was afraid of Liberals. That he feared an American liberal would try him for murder (doesn't appear to know how military justice works). This is a large problem. Obviously he's entitled to his opinion, but I think having soldiers feel this way is a damn shame. How are they getting this message? This is a thread for books, so I don't want to get into a big discussion on this (if you do, start a thread elsewhere), but he and potentially many other soldiers have a very poisoned view. I think that it's important to know how they got there.

Phantoms in the Brain by VS Ramachandran.

That and Basic and Clinical Pharmacology by Katzung.

I didn't read the book or know anything about it, but this guy sounds like a dense and paranoid clown.

I love the opening of Ulysses. Of course, it is a bit over the top. I know safety razors didn't exist then, but I always thought a brief prayer before shaving would have sufficed. An entire damn mass seems like overkill.

Seriously, along with Moby Dick, it's one of my all time favorites.

Currently reading "Sarum" by Edward Rutherfurd and "The Republic of Plato". "Sarum" is, in short, a fictional history of England, beginning with the migration of a paleolithic hunter and his family to warmer lands in southern England and ending, I am led to believe, in modern times. It seems like a monster (~1000pgs) but so far it flows fairly well. I'm not a huge fan of the author's style, as he, imo, tends to throw dashes and semi-colons and the like around unnecessarily, but the story is compelling.

As for "The Republic", it is very interesting. I have not yet gotten to the part where Socrates rails against democracy but it has been promised by the translator and seems inevitable, what with all the censorship practiced in his ideal state and the definition of justice he outlines.

The republic is quite cool, Plato describes his perfect government and then goes on to list a hierarchy of types of governments with cool arguments.

This thread should never fall to page 2 That just means that The Lounge isn't reading enough!

Anyhow, I just finished up (and pretty much started this morning) Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison. I gave it a murky 3*/5. It is a pretty slow novel with lots of your odd 'hot topic' issues that make it popular for high school students. Incest, sex, violence, breastfeeding until you're way too old...the usual.

I think the main struggle I had with the book is that it kept reminding me of 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I think I remember Enrique being a fan of Marquez, but man alive I struggled through that novel a couple semesters ago and was dying. SoS was just too reminiscent of that and I think it detracted from my ability to enjoy the novel.

I assume many of you have read Song of Solomon as well? Did you all love it as much as Oprah or am I not alone here?

Has anyone read Einstein's Dreams?

One of my professor's today mentioned it and said that she loved it because it had some good philosophical points in it which she loved. This, of course, piqued my interest since all things existential appeal to me on at least some basic level. I'm thinking of trying to get my hands on it after Cosmicomics.

Anyone read and can share some thoughts?

Picked up What we talk about when we talk about love by Raymond Carver and Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino from the library. I am in the process of reading Travels by Michael Crichton which I am loving so far. I expect to finish it this weekend and get on to work on the other two.

Recently finshed Dogrun by Arthur Nersesian. It wasn't as good as The F--- Up but I enjoyed it. Some humor in it and a number of likeable characters. I will eventually read Chinese takeout by him also.

I recently started House of Leaves and was hoping that would win the book club vote so I could participate. Crazy book so far, but I am only about 70 pages in. Very different style and I have no idea where it is headed.

Ken

Been reading RA Salvatore's The Legend of Drizzt series. I highly recommend.

http://www.rasalvatore.com/bookstore...ks?selection=7

The Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs
Irvin Welsh

Two young men in the Edinburgh suburb of Leith working together as health inspectors find their mutual dislike of one another becomes a powerful force in their lives.
This is classic Welsh, the seedy underbelly of Edinburgh with its drink drugs and one night stands, the cast of grotesques, the scenes that lovingly focus on filth and depravity.
The Plot heavily echoes the portrait of Dorian Gray and doctor Jakell and Mister Hyde which welsh him self references in the text. This book holds few surprises you will have guessed the ending long before you reach it if you have a modicum of imagination.
I didn’t finish Porno and if I hadn’t received this as a gift id have given up on it as well a good editor might have saved this book it runs to 450 pages of which maybe 200 were justified. Just like in Train spotting Welsh goes off on weak subplots and unnecessary delays that don’t advance the story or tell us anything we don’t know about the characters.

I finished Then We Came to the End, which was one of the better books published in 2007 according to all the critics. It basically covers a failing advertising office in Chicago during the 2000-01 collapse. I thought sections of it were brilliant, but overall it was kind of an inconsistent book. I also didn't think it was as hilarious as the reviews made it out to be. No real laugh out louds, but it was entertaining. The Tom Mota character was tremendous, and the section on Lynn the boss was really well told. I gave it 3 of 5 stars or so.

Just finished reading Travels by Michael Crichton, it was very good. I enjoyed it a lot. I already picked up two more Crichton books from the library (Andromeda Strain and Sphere) although I am currently reading Cosmicomics by Calvino (I really liked the first short stories in this book).

Travels is an autobiography of Crichton, every chapter based on travel experiences of Crichton and it is very interesting. He goes to exotic places and details how he grew as a person because of them in very interesting ways. It also has several chapters on his "inner" travels, which are travels in understanding himself and understanding consciousness better. The fact that a rational skeptic details his experiences with psychic phenomena made me question whether I disbelieve in that, as I have never tried anything relating to psychic phenomena (like seeing auras, meditation, etc). The book got me to think a lot about what I believe and why I believe what I believe. I highly recommend the book.

I Didn't Do It For You by Michela Wrong. Its about the history of Eritrea from the early colonial period (late 19th cent.) through today.

I know precious little about Africa or Eritrea.

The first 50 pages are promising.

Okay, so I finished The Paradise Snare which is a Star Wars book about young Han Solo. When people ask me what my favorite book is, I always said The Paradise Snare because I read it in early high school and it got me into reading and I just loved the story back then. I was sort of afraid to give it a reread for fear that I might read it and be like "wow, I'm lame as hell." Whatever, I still love this book and I'm really glad I reread it.

Obviously now reading Cosmicomics. Got through the first short story and I'm really wondering that sort of stories I'm going to be reading. haha.


Anyone else have a little tentativeness rereading favorite books for fear they lose their weight?

The Gulag. It's a history book about the Gulag in Russia. From it's conception in tsarist russia, to it's eventual destruction with the fall of the soviet union. I found it quite powerful, easy to read, and liked it a lot.

I've now started Slaughterhouse-Five