What are you reading?

I'm caught up in reading three books simultaneously right now. On my iPhone I have A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on the Stanza app. There are literally thousands of free e-books available through Project Gutenberg that I can access almost anywhere. That's the first Sherlock Holmes mystery novel.

On the Barnes & Noble eReader app I have Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food in progress. That's my first purchased e-book costing me $7.00. I figure that if I can get a book cheaper than paper this might be a good way to go. I also have the Kindle app on my iPhone and may try a book from Amazon.com next. The download of books takes less than a couple of minutes.

At bedside in paperback I have Trophy Hunt by C. J. Box in progress. It is a mystery novel series set in a fictional town near Wyoming's Big Horn Mountains and the lead character is Joe Pickett, a Wyoming game warden. This is the fourth in a series. I highly recommend the series.

I'm liking reading e-books on the iPhone. I'm finding I can pull the iPhone out and read at any idle or convenient time anywhere and even at night in bed without need of a light or booklight. It seems easier than reading paperback books. I never lose my place so can bring it up during TV commercials for instance. The format in portrait mode is like reading newspaper column print which is the fastest way to read because your eyes don't have to shift horizontally. You can change the type of font you want to read as well as size of font. There are a lot of other e-reading features like bookmarking, dictionary, highlighting, etc. but so far I have just been reading. I'm anticipating maybe buying Apple's new larger screen iPad tablet computer which might make more sense in reading color photo illustrated books like cookbooks. I seem to have no problem with eyestrain on the iPhone. The LCD backlit screen does not flicker. There are Kindle, Nook and Sony Readers with the e-ink technology that makes it more like reading paper.

Dearfolk,
   I just finished a very interesting little book (maybe 3.5" square) on the life and work of Frank Lloyd Wright.
   In that same thrift store batch, I scored a copy of the copyright 1979 Rolling Stone record guide. There's lots of great titles in there that I'd forgotten, too.
   Then, last night I read the new edition of Southern Brew News. And since I've gotten two new columns finished, I can go out and have a pint or three tomorrow night.
      Resplendently, Ort. Carlton in Itch-Free Athens, Georgia.

 Well, I just finished "Lord Of The Rings" for the fifth time, including the appendixes. What a great saga!
  I am now on to a book by Jason Sheehan called "Cooking Dirty" (subt.) "A Story of Sex, Love, and Death in the Kitchen." The more of this book I read the more I recognize myself in the story. This is the story of my life as a cook, chef, bartender, dishwasher, busboy, dining room manager, or any other position I held in the restaurant business. I feel for Mr. Sheehan because I lived those terrible and most fondly remembered of days, or nights, when the rush would never end and when you went home to bed, you put in another 8 or 10 hours of work in your sleep.
  Too much booze and not enough sleep. Getting sick behind the dumpster because you stayed up til 5:00 am playing quarters or liars poker at the bar that was locked down tight and dark, so the cops wouldn't know you were there.
  Still, I am here today, a line cook, or "Chef" if you will. still trying to beat the rush and get the people what they want.

 JMHO

David O.
 

I'm currently reading "My Name's Friday" by Michael J. Hayde. It's the behind-the-scenes story of Dragnet, both the original b&w series from the 1950s and the color revival from the late '60s. The book also covers the five theatrical films that Jack Webb produced, directed, and starred in between 1954 and 1961 ( my favorite is The D.I.  )

nocarolina


I'm currently reading "My Name's Friday" by Michael J. Hayde. It's the behind-the-scenes story of Dragnet, both the original b&w series from the 1950s and the color revival from the late '60s. The book also covers the five theatrical films that Jack Webb produced and directed between 1954 and 1961 ( my favorite is The D.I.  )

You can get The D.I. on dvd from the Warner Archives (a great way to pick up movies that are most likely never going to get a wide release on DVD)

Link: www.wbshop.com/DI-The/1000088095,default,pd.html?cgid=ZARCHIVEALL

I just started the novel The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. The novel is well recognized and is about a platoon in Vietnam. Tim O'Brien casts himself as the narrator of the book even though the story is fiction, which helps make the book interesting.    

Just finished Inventory, by the writers of the Onion AV Club.  I'm currently in the middle of I'm Dying Up Here, by William Knoedelseder; Game Change, by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin; and Stephen King's Under the Dome.

Just finished reading The Crowd Sounds Happy, by Nicholas Dawidoff, a memoir of his experience growing up in New Haven, CT in the 1970s, his troubled family, and how baseball helps him find his place in the world.

Generally a melancholy story, but uplifting in the end. I didn't love the book, I found it interesting that he really never experienced the New Haven that tourists know, like Louis Lunch and apizza at Sallys or Pepe's. In fact, his New Haven experience was nothing I expected - if he hadn't said he was in New Haven, you could've pictured him in Cleveland or Buffalo in the 70s. Not the idylic CT small town idea one normally has of these new england towns.

Just finished"Hardball" by Sara Paretsky. Her hard-boiled female private detective is back with a story that includes a 40 year old murder case involving Martin Luther King and family secrets. A great read.

About a third of the way through "The Man On The Flying Trapeze," Simon Louvush's fascinating biography of W.C. Fields, in which he manages to debunk an awful lot of the myths and misconceptions about Fields's life, including most of those invented by Fields himself.

MetsLegacy, I loved The Things They Carried. Great book.

R Sauer, I really enjoyed the AV Club's Inventory book. And I need to finish Under the Dome. I got about 300 pages in, then set it down and got distracted by other books, but I was really liking it so far.

I finished a bunch of books on a recent trip to Kentucky. Polished off another George Pelecanos novel, The Big Blowdown. A bit of a change of pace for him, this book is set in the late 1940s, most of his other novels are set in the 1960s or the 1990s. He has rapidly become one of my favorite writers.

Read Lewis Black's Me of Little Faith, the comic's take on religion, filtered through events of his own life. While it still has lots of his trademark rage, it's also very thoughtful and open-minded at times.

The last Bill Bryson travelogue I read, The Lost Continent, soured me on him for a long time last year....he just seemed so needlessly mean and bitter as he careened around America. So I was glad to see that Neither Here nor There, a re-creation of a trip around Europe he took when he was younger, wasn't nearly as bitter as Lost Continent. I'd recommend it.

About to start Early Autumn by Robert B. Parker. Looking forward to it, I've never read any of Parker's work before, but I really enjoyed the Spenser TV show with Robert Urich and Avery Brooks.

I also liked The Things They Carried...very interesting and well-written read.  I just finished Alice Munro's new collection of short stories, Too Much Happiness.  I always enjoy her expertly crafted plots and language.  I'm hoping to brave the snow to pick up Noah's Compass at the library.  I got Under the Dome as a gift and the heft of it alone makes me wish for a Kindle.  I started it and got distracted but I'll pick it up again soon.

I finished last week the novelization of a silent movie serial, "The Exploits of Elaine" (1915) which is a Craig Kennedy (scientific detective) adventure.  Now I'm reading the novelization of the sequel "The Romance of Elaine" (1916) which is also a Craig Kennedy adventure.  Both books really move, too--just as fast on the page as all movie serials do.  There is also a later sequel called "The Triumph of Elaine" which is yet again another Craig Kennedy tale.

Just finished The Book Thief.Great Book.

R Sauer


Just finished Inventory, by the writers of the Onion AV Club.  I'm currently in the middle of I'm Dying Up Here, by William Knoedelseder; Game Change, by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin; and Stephen King's Under the Dome.

I have been reading Under the Dome off and on since Jan! It is so big and bulky to hold is my problem;my hands and arms go to sleep. But I really like the novel. Has some pretty gruesome scenarios, but this is Stephen King after all. I am thinking about purchasing a Kindel reader as it is much lighter to hold. Then I read DavyDD's post and he said there is an app on Iphone for this. I just looked and yes there is! Gonna install that tomorrow.

Davydd


I'm caught up in reading three books simultaneously right now. On my iPhone I have A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on the Stanza app. There are literally thousands of free e-books available through Project Gutenberg that I can access almost anywhere. That's the first Sherlock Holmes mystery novel.

On the Barnes & Noble eReader app I have Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food in progress. That's my first purchased e-book costing me $7.00. I figure that if I can get a book cheaper than paper this might be a good way to go. I also have the Kindle app on my iPhone and may try a book from Amazon.com next. The download of books takes less than a couple of minutes.

At bedside in paperback I have Trophy Hunt by C. J. Box in progress. It is a mystery novel series set in a fictional town near Wyoming's Big Horn Mountains and the lead character is Joe Pickett, a Wyoming game warden. This is the fourth in a series. I highly recommend the series.

I'm liking reading e-books on the iPhone. I'm finding I can pull the iPhone out and read at any idle or convenient time anywhere and even at night in bed without need of a light or booklight. It seems easier than reading paperback books. I never lose my place so can bring it up during TV commercials for instance. The format in portrait mode is like reading newspaper column print which is the fastest way to read because your eyes don't have to shift horizontally. You can change the type of font you want to read as well as size of font. There are a lot of other e-reading features like bookmarking, dictionary, highlighting, etc. but so far I have just been reading. I'm anticipating maybe buying Apple's new larger screen iPad tablet computer which might make more sense in reading color photo illustrated books like cookbooks. I seem to have no problem with eyestrain on the iPhone. The LCD backlit screen does not flicker. There are Kindle, Nook and Sony Readers with the e-ink technology that makes it more like reading paper.

Davydd you have saved me from a rather expensive purchase! Just read your post and you said you downloaded the Iphone app for Kindel! Well I picked up my cute little pink and black Iphone and yes there is an app for that. Gonna down load tomorrow. Thanks for the tip! One more thing, do I need to purchase a Kindel reader or will I just be able to order books?   Thanks so much!

pearliwog5,

The Kindle Reader on the iPhone/iPod Touch is a free app. Amazon.com offers a lot of digital books free such as the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes novel I am reading now on the Kindle Reader and you download them through the iPhone. You can also, of course, purchase digital books at Amazon.com. The Defense of Food book I bought at Barnes & Noble cost me $7 but I had to pay Minnsota sales tax as well. If I had bought it at Amazon.com for the same price I would not have had to pay a sales tax. Amazon.com has a slight advantage that way but I wanted to test Barnes & Noble's eReader system. The nice thing about the iPhone with so many different reader apps is you can have multiple books underway and read the one you are most in the mood for. For instance I tend to read technical and nonfiction books during the day when I am most awake and novels just before retiring to bed.

I had started Julia Child's "My Life in France" a couple years ago. Put it down for some unknown reason and forgot about it in my library. Have picked it up again. I still watch her episodes of cooking with great chefs on PBS, so this part of her life still intrigues me as she learns to cook in the french tradition, but it will take much more intersting turns of fate for her to become the Julia Childs we all know and adore. I'm really interested ot see how the book ends - does she know her cooking lessons will make her a lifelong cook and star in US, or is the book really just purely about learning her surroundings and falling in love with food? or is it something in between. Unlike most books I read, though, I'm taking it slow, to savor it like a stuffed and braised veal shank. This was, after all, her last effort in writing.

For fun, I'm rereading Bradbury's The Illustrated Man as my son does his homework for school. It is a masterpiece!!

Davydd


pearliwog5,

The Kindle Reader on the iPhone/iPod Touch is a free app. Amazon.com offers a lot of digital books free such as the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes novel I am reading now on the Kindle Reader and you download them through the iPhone. You can also, of course, purchase digital books at Amazon.com. The Defense of Food book I bought at Barnes & Noble cost me $7 but I had to pay Minnsota sales tax as well. If I had bought it at Amazon.com for the same price I would not have had to pay a sales tax. Amazon.com has a slight advantage that way but I wanted to test Barnes & Noble's eReader system. The nice thing about the iPhone with so many different reader apps is you can have multiple books underway and read the one you are most in the mood for. For instance I tend to read technical and nonfiction books during the day when I am most awake and novels just before retiring to bed.

Davydd, you have been a tremendous help to me. I was a bit confused about the free app for my Apple iPhone, but I did manage to download it! Wow, I am so impressed, Amazon has so many books and I think the prices-some free-are reasonable as well. Because I had been thinking about a Kindle reader, I went ahead and bought one. The K2. The K DX has a few more bells and whisles (sp?) but the $200. difference in prices made my choice for me. Besides, they have the same basic functions. My first download will be Stephen King's
(my favorite author) Under The Dome. The novel is so big-1071 pages- that is is very hard for me to hold. So now I can read my Kindle in bed and have my iPhone at the ready when we go away.
Davydd, I am a long time lurker and it took me until Jan. of this year to get up the courage to even write anything, but I really the Misc. sites the best. Having said that, I want you to know I have read about your bi-pass surgery and your recovery. Seems like you are feeling better every day. I just want to say congratulations on your speedy recovery and what ever you are doing is working! Of course as you said having a nurse for a wife is all good. Take care and keep reading and writing! 

It's been interesting lately. There were a number of detective series in the 80's and 90's of which I was very fond. Jonathan Valin's Harry Stoner series set in Cincinnati, Michael Z Lewin's Indianapolis based private detective Albert Sampson, Stephen Greenleaf's John Tanner series, all have virtually ceased to exist in the aughts and i have discovered this after googling the writers. At least Sara Paretsky and Marcia Muller have not stopped. I'm going to read more George Pelecanos but still mourn the loss of these past series and will be looking for more detective series to replace them. And the recent death of Robert Parker robbed us of another favorite.

A question for the iphone & ebook users...Do you find reading this way as "enjoyable" as reading a printed book?

I just finished The Lost Temple by Tom Harper. It is sort of Indiana Jones, but more possible. It takes place after WW II , in Greece, and follows the search for the tomb of Achillies. The fantasy part is that an ancient shield, at the tomb, is made from space metal that could be used in a weapons program. The Americans want it, the Russians want it, and and interesting cast of characters seek it. I'd give it a solid B as a read, but it has the potential to be a great movie.

Just started the James Thurber volume in the "Library of America" series. What great fun he was.

cavandre


A question for the iphone & ebook users...Do you find reading this way as "enjoyable" as reading a printed book?

What I am finding is that with the iPhone I can read just about everywhere. Any idol moment and I can slip the iPhone out of my pocket and start reading. The other advantage I've found is that I can read in the dark and since I do a lot of reading just before going to bed I can continue on even if my wife is ready for lights out. I always found book lights kind of clunky. As for the reading experience the layout is much like reading a newspaper column which has been proven to be the fastest way to read since your eye does not have to track side to side. Page turning is instantaneous. The Classics app gives you an animated paper page looking flip if you like. Is it as enjoyable? Hardcover books are easy to read especially when sitting in a chair. A lot of softcover books can be difficult to read without breaking the binding. I'm enjoying reading off the iPhone. Other advantages. You never lose a bookmark. Every time you open up you are right back to where you left off. You can highlight words and unlike paper, unhighlight. You can copy and paste passages. You can take notes. You can bookmark favorite parts of the book. You can highlight a word and check a dictionary. Footnotes are instant popups when you tap the footnote. You can change the font to what you think is easier to read and the font size if you would like it larger. So enjoyable in what way? I am reading a lot of classics that I would never read in a paper book because they are FREE to download online from Amazon.com or Project Guttenburg. If a paper book you would have to buy or go to the library. I currently have about 30 books in my pocket "stacked" up and ready to read.

eBooks like the Amazon.com Kindle and the Barnes & Noble Nook have a paperback page size and an e-ink appearance which closely emulates printed text in appearance. Most people that have them swear by them and I have read few comments by those that have them saying they prefer a printed book. I'm waiting for Apple's iPad because it will present a large page format in full color. Some think netbooks and laptops are just as good but they are not instantaneous as the iPad/iPhones and multi-touch sensitive to touch flip pages. The experience seems different. The iPad will open up more reading material such as illustrated books, text books, magazines and newspapers that utilize color, charts, photos, graphs, drawings, etc. that the current readers can't provide.

Just finished Manic: A Memoir by Terri Cheney.
Just started Double Take: A Memoir by Kevin Michael Connolly.

I'm about 2/3 of the way through The Race for Timbuktu: In Search of Africa's City of Gold by Frank Kryza. If you like history, this is excellent; it is a window to the age of British exploration of Africa. I didn't think I would like it, and it started slowly, but soon became a pager-turner.

Thanks, improviser, for the information about the Warner Archives. I already have a "bootleg" DVD of The D.I., but I've ordered the official release from Warners since it will certainly be of better quality than what I currently have.

Carolina Bob


I'm currently reading "My Name's Friday" by Michael J. Hayde. It's the behind-the-scenes story of Dragnet, both the original b&w series from the 1950s and the color revival from the late '60s. The book also covers the five theatrical films that Jack Webb produced, directed, and starred in between 1954 and 1961 ( my favorite is The D.I.  )

              I checked out this book at the local library. It was an enjoyable read about the series and i learned a lot about the show and Mr. Webb's life. I had not realized how much Mr. Webb's voice had affected me until I realized every word in the book seemed (in my head) to be in his monotone. Thanks for the recommendation Bob.

I've got a "hold" in place at the local library for "Gator-a-go-go", the latest chapter of the ongoing road trip of Serge, the walking encyclopedia of obscure FL history & gleeful killer of those that don't fully appreciate it.

I'm a huge Stephen Hunter fan.
Point of Impact got me hooked on him. (Bob the Nailer is my new hero..).

I just started :
The Caine Mutiny, by Herman Wouk

Next up (unless I get the new Hunter book) is:
Two Years Before the Mast, by Richard H. Dana

 
Just picked up Food Rules by Michael Pollan.

The FOTL at my local library has monthly sales of donated and withdrawn books.  Some of the offerings last weekend were a little out of the ordinary:
 
Table Talk's Illustrated Cook Book, published August 1906
 
Good Housekeeping's Book of Meals, First Edition, printed 1930
 
The Good Housekeeping Cook Book, Third Edition, printed 1943
 
Gumbo Ya-Ya by Saxon, Tallant and Dryer, published 1945 with about 2/3 of the DJ
 
I gave a dollar each for these items and doubt they are worth more to any collector - the FOTL is pretty savvy about pricing. 
 
Surprisingly perhaps, the illustrations in the oldest book (1906) are photographs and one of them was of an "asparagus server" ready to put on the table.  I think I've seen such a thing, a sauce boat on a dish with two spaces for the asparagus, but never knew that was the name.  This book also had several USDA leaflets, perhaps from the thirties on the use of various grains with simple recipes.  There is a note on the front flyleaf:  "This book belonged to my mother _________ ."  I take it that in the third or fourth generation no one was interested in an old cook book, with its instructions like "(add) a suspicion of made mustard" in the recipe for deviled crab.
 
The two Good Housekeeping books showed that changes with time.  The instructions now give specific temperatures for items cooked in the oven rather than to bake in a moderate oven, for example.  The older of the two had recipes for Mexican, Tomato, and Welsh rabbits, or rarebits if you will and the later recipes for Tomato, Monkey, and Welsh rarebits, but no Mexican. The older book had a couple of handwritten recipes in it, including one on a party napkin decorated with printed flowers. Both of these books are in what I think a collector would call good condition only.  All of the pages are there but the bindings are damaged.
 
Gumbo Ya-Ya of course, is not a cook book, or at least that is not its main focus.  It is more a collection of Louisiana or New Orleans folk lore.
 
It has been a while since I've read this thread front to back.  Has anyone else found any interesting old cookbooks?
 
 

baileysoriginal


 
Just picked up Food Rules by Michael Pollan.

I just downloaded this book from Amazon.com's Kindle eBook library onto my iPhone for reading. $5 one click credit card purchase directly from the iPhone, instant download with no shipping or sales tax. I previously downloaded and read Michael Pollan's, In Defense of Food from Barnes & Noble for reading on B&N eReader on the iPhone.

I've just started reading "Dark City" by film historian Eddie Muller. It deals with the film noir subgenre of American movies of the 1940s and '50s. There are a couple of hundred films from that period that qualify as true noir, and, if I didn't know better, I'd swear that Sterling Hayden was in at least thirty percent of them. BTW, mr chips, if you enjoyed "My Name's Friday", you might want to check out "The Badge", Jack Webb's true crime book that was first published in 1958. It's recently been reissued in a softcover edition by Thunder's Mouth Press.

                                              www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_noir 

Just finished Douglas Wallop's 1954 classic"The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant". The book was the basis for the musical "Damn Yankees" and the Reader's Digest condensed version was a staple when I visited my grandmother as a kid. A middle aged Washington Senators fan sells his soul to the devil to become a young phenom for the Senators baseball team and tries to lead the team to victory over the Yankees. However, the devil is a Yankee fan and complications ensue. A fun read, mindful of my youth.

I just finished "The Stonewall File" by Budd Davisson. If you like fast paced adventure and intrigue slathered with guys, gals, guns, planes and you name it, give this book a look.
Davisson himself is an interesting study. He only has two books out now and working on a third, but his other interests keep him pretty much on the go.
Check him out at airbum.com

The Gold of the Gods (1915) by Arthur B. Reeve.

I just finished The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton, and thanks to Mosca's recommendations, I've started The Race to Timbuktu.

Scorereader


Just finished reading The Crowd Sounds Happy, by Nicholas Dawidoff, a memoir of his experience growing up in New Haven, CT in the 1970s, his troubled family, and how baseball helps him find his place in the world.

Generally a melancholy story, but uplifting in the end. I didn't love the book, I found it interesting that he really never experienced the New Haven that tourists know, like Louis Lunch and apizza at Sallys or Pepe's. In fact, his New Haven experience was nothing I expected - if he hadn't said he was in New Haven, you could've pictured him in Cleveland or Buffalo in the 70s. Not the idylic CT small town idea one normally has of these new england towns.

I picked up this book last week at the library and just finished it  I really liked it and found it very well written.  I thought it was a coming of age book well told, and the weaving of baseball as his solace and savior was masterfully done.  Thanks for bringing this to my attention. 

The Greatest Show On Earth, by Richard Dawkins

In The Hand of Dante--Nick Tosches

BelleReve


I just finished The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton, and thanks to Mosca's recommendations, I've started The Race to Timbuktu.

I haven't read any of Steve Hamilton's books other than his Alex T. McKnight, PI series that takes place in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and the town of Paradise. I may branch out. I enjoy his books. I remember him as a neophyte mystery writer with his first book on an old AOL mystery discussion board back in the early 90s.

Davy, I hope you get a chance to read it, it was excellent, the first I've read of anything by Steve Hamilton, but certainly not the last.

Another book I read recently and enjoyed was The Suspect by L.R. Wright.  I don't know how I picked this up, but would like to credit any posters here who may have recommended it.  I believe it's the first in the mystery series featuring the recurring character of RCMP Staff Sergeant Karl Alberg which I'm trying to read in sequence.

 

Ark of the Liberties, subtitle America and the World, by Ted Widmer. I'm about 20% through it, having gotten through the 1600's and mid 1700's. There is a lot of interesting info by an outstanding writer, but it is still a tough read. Mr Widmer, a one time Clinton speech writer, now works at Brown Univ. I understand that later in the book he will make a great case for the Clinton presidency. 

I've just started a memoir by Al Kooper, the musician, called Backstage Passes & Backstabbing Bastards.  Should be a good recounting of his 40 years in the music biz.

carlton pierre


I've just started a memoir by Al Kooper, the musician, called Backstage Passes & Backstabbing Bastards.  Should be a good recounting of his 40 years in the music biz.

Little Steven talks about him all the time on his radio show. Thanks, I'll try to find the book to read myself!!

tmiles

carlton pierre


I've just started a memoir by Al Kooper, the musician, called Backstage Passes & Backstabbing Bastards.  Should be a good recounting of his 40 years in the music biz.

Little Steven talks about him all the time on his radio show. Thanks, I'll try to find the book to read myself!!

The book is great and you'll like it a lot.  It might be easier to find at the library as it first came out a long time ago and has now been updated to include the past 20 years or so of his career.  he is a musical icon for sure.

Just finished a biography of Willie Mays by James Hirsh. It is an authorized biography but is  a very honest, if not a deep, character study. A must read for a serious lover of baseball or a fan of Willie Mays.

Read "American Eve, Evelyn Nesbit, Stanford White, The Birth of the It Girl and the Crime of the Century"by Paula Uruburu. It is a sort of biography of Evelyn Nesbit but more a factual history of the famous murder case written with great sympathy to the young lady. An interesting read, especially if you liked the book or movie "Ragtime".

I am reading this thread right now!


David O.

"Contested Will" by James Shapiro..this Shakespeare scholar's discussion of the authorship controversy...I too have made a life study of Shakespeare.....and think it highly likely the author of those plays was the man from Stratford, and not some contender...Evidence that points to one of the many contenders is usually flawed or simply made up....anyway I'm enjoying this...after this book, two early F. Paul Wilson novels are in the pipeline!!!

leethebard


"Contested Will" by James Shapiro..this Shakespeare scholar's discussion of the authorship controversy...I too have made a life study of Shakespeare.....and think it highly likely the author of those plays was the man from Stratford, and not some contender...Evidence that points to one of the many contenders is usually flawed or simply made up....anyway I'm enjoying this...after this book, two early F. Paul Wilson novels are in the pipeline!!!

I've semi- followed the discussion about the authorship of the Shakespeare canon. Don't honestly care too much because whoever wrote them created some of the most beautiful prose in the history of English. And the fact that Henry VIII and a couple other plays in the Shakespeare canon were collaborations with John Fletcher does nothing to diminish their power in my opinion.

"The Discoverers" (1985) by Daniel Boorstin.

I've been reading Steig Larsson's "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" and "The Girl Who Played With Fire". The next, and last, one in the series will "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest". Very taut crime thrillers from Sweden and interestingly written from what seems to be a Swedish perspective. Some pretty intense violence. The author wrote and delivered all three manuscripts before he died. Also read and enjoyed "The Help". That beautifully portrayed an era during segregated times when I was a student at a junior college for women in Virginia in the 1960's.

Lynn- I'm waiting for "hornet's nest" to come out too.  Have you read anything by Karin Fossum?  I find her very similar to Larsen.

I'm just started Major Pettigrew's Last Stand. 

BelleReve-Thanks for the tip! I'll look for some of Ms. Fossum's books.
 
Now reading "These is my Words" by Nancy Turner. It's about a pioneer woman here in Arizona. Very interesting as it is written in diary form by the subject's granddaughter. Mostly fiction.

Finished two books this weekend. "The Best of Baseball Digest" edited by John Kuenster features selections from that magazine from 1942-2006. interesting to me for both its historical and literary value. Also read Michael Holt's brief biography of 14th U.S.  president Franklin Pierce. The series that has been edited by Arthur Schlesinger and Sean Wilentz features brief biographies of the presidents with interesting perspectives. This is my second round of presidential biographies and I really enjoy them.

THE TOUCH, by my favorite author of late, F.Paul Wilson...one of his early novels about a doctor who gets a mysterious ability to cure by touch...can't put it down!!!

  I don't know how I missed it before but I'm about half way through Pat Conroy's Beach Music and I believe it's my most favorite of all of his works -