Read any good books lately?
This week, ROUTE 1 readers show off their bookish ways by answering the following FRIDAY QUESTION:
"Read any good books lately?"
Lisa Y. -- Most recently I read "Bright Lights, Big Ass: A Self-Indulgent, Surly, Ex-Sorority Girl's Guide to Why it Often Sucks in the City, or Who are These Idiots and Why Do They All Live Next Door to Me?" by Jen Lancaster. Click here for an idea of what the author is like. Her first book is funny, too -- "Bitter is the New Black: Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass, or, Why You Should Never Carry a Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office."
Mary N.-P. -- Yes, two -- "The Kite Runner," which probably everyone else has already read, but if not, you must -- hard to put down and tightly written. Also "The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid" -- travel/humor writer Bill Bryson's account of growing up in the 1950s in Des Moines, Iowa. Well written, well researched and a hoot to boot.
Mike D. -- "The Jaguar's Jewel" (A to Z Mysteries Series No. 10) by Ron Roy. My kindergarten-age son brought his first "chapter book" home from school over Christmas break. I read it to my boys and actually liked it. It reminded my of "The Three Investigators" series I used to read in junior high. This week, we started another in the series -- "The Invisible Island." On a more personal quest, I'm pleased to report that during the summer I made it to the half-way point of Al Stumpf's 400+-page biography of Ty Cobb that I started reading in 1998. I plan to finish it once the kids move out of the house.
Robert H. -- Yes, a real thriller: "Jackdaws" by Ken Follett. WWII French Resistance novel with insight and many different twists.
Brian C. -- Bill Bryson's memoir of growing up in Des Moines, "The Thunderbolt Kid." A fun read!
Mike M. -- I just read Dashiell Hammett's hard-boiled thriller "The Maltese Falcon" (1930), which reads "like a fist when you open your hand." Also currently reading "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Wine." Did you know wine bottles are stored horizontally to prevent the corks from drying out?
Laura C. -- "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy. I'm sure my friends and family are weary of my decades-long insistence that McCarthy is the new Faulkner... but this book is one that everyone -- fan of his previous work or not -- should read. Absolutely astounding. And truly, deeply disturbing.
Erik H. -- From the "Great Singing Voice, Shame About the Drinking" file comes Diane Diekman's excellent "Live Fast Love Hard: The Faron Young Story" from University of Illinois Press.
Diekman tracks down Young survivors and exhaustively reviews all known interviews to present the full-sided picture of the country music legend. Yes, he would give money to strangers and went out of his way to promote little-known but worthy young songwriters (step forward, Willie Nelson). However, a suspected "small man" syndrome meant Young would often pick on the biggest guy in the bar/dressing room/restaurant/home/etc when he had been drinking. Which was often. Young drank to self-medicate an undiagnosed problem with depression, which ultimately led to his 1996 suicide.
It was a good read but not a happy read.
I am hoping my new book restores some "feel good" vibes -- I have started Murray Engleheart and Arnaud Durieux's "AC/DC Maximum Rock & Roll: The Ultimate Story of the World's Greatest Rock & Roll Band."
"Read any good books lately?"
Lisa Y. -- Most recently I read "Bright Lights, Big Ass: A Self-Indulgent, Surly, Ex-Sorority Girl's Guide to Why it Often Sucks in the City, or Who are These Idiots and Why Do They All Live Next Door to Me?" by Jen Lancaster. Click here for an idea of what the author is like. Her first book is funny, too -- "Bitter is the New Black: Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass, or, Why You Should Never Carry a Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office."
Mary N.-P. -- Yes, two -- "The Kite Runner," which probably everyone else has already read, but if not, you must -- hard to put down and tightly written. Also "The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid" -- travel/humor writer Bill Bryson's account of growing up in the 1950s in Des Moines, Iowa. Well written, well researched and a hoot to boot.
Mike D. -- "The Jaguar's Jewel" (A to Z Mysteries Series No. 10) by Ron Roy. My kindergarten-age son brought his first "chapter book" home from school over Christmas break. I read it to my boys and actually liked it. It reminded my of "The Three Investigators" series I used to read in junior high. This week, we started another in the series -- "The Invisible Island." On a more personal quest, I'm pleased to report that during the summer I made it to the half-way point of Al Stumpf's 400+-page biography of Ty Cobb that I started reading in 1998. I plan to finish it once the kids move out of the house.
Robert H. -- Yes, a real thriller: "Jackdaws" by Ken Follett. WWII French Resistance novel with insight and many different twists.
Brian C. -- Bill Bryson's memoir of growing up in Des Moines, "The Thunderbolt Kid." A fun read!
Mike M. -- I just read Dashiell Hammett's hard-boiled thriller "The Maltese Falcon" (1930), which reads "like a fist when you open your hand." Also currently reading "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Wine." Did you know wine bottles are stored horizontally to prevent the corks from drying out?
Laura C. -- "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy. I'm sure my friends and family are weary of my decades-long insistence that McCarthy is the new Faulkner... but this book is one that everyone -- fan of his previous work or not -- should read. Absolutely astounding. And truly, deeply disturbing.
Erik H. -- From the "Great Singing Voice, Shame About the Drinking" file comes Diane Diekman's excellent "Live Fast Love Hard: The Faron Young Story" from University of Illinois Press.
Diekman tracks down Young survivors and exhaustively reviews all known interviews to present the full-sided picture of the country music legend. Yes, he would give money to strangers and went out of his way to promote little-known but worthy young songwriters (step forward, Willie Nelson). However, a suspected "small man" syndrome meant Young would often pick on the biggest guy in the bar/dressing room/restaurant/home/etc when he had been drinking. Which was often. Young drank to self-medicate an undiagnosed problem with depression, which ultimately led to his 1996 suicide.
It was a good read but not a happy read.
I am hoping my new book restores some "feel good" vibes -- I have started Murray Engleheart and Arnaud Durieux's "AC/DC Maximum Rock & Roll: The Ultimate Story of the World's Greatest Rock & Roll Band."
posted by erik hogstrom at 6:08 AM
1 Comments:
I recently found an interesting site, BookCrossing.com, where users can search for books that have been "released into the wild," i.e. left in a public places for people to find, read, and pass on to others. If anyone in Dubuque is interested in a free new copy of The Maltese Falcon, for example, click here.
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