What are you reading?

Last night I finished The Cincinnati Subway by Allen J. Singer. It's the story of the ill-fated, never-completed subway line in Cincy that was built in the early 1920s.   

What Hath God Wrought, a history of the United States from 1815 to 1848.

You think we are at each others' throats and divided now? It was MUCH worse then.

I just finished A Killing in Comics by Max Allan Collins.  It's a murder mystery set in the world of 1940's comic book publishing. Collins wrote the graphic novel A Road to Perdition, which was made into the Tom Hanks/Jude Law movie of a few years back.

I really liked the book, but Collins' way of naming characters got on my nerves. A lot of the characters are based on real figures, like the creators of Superman and Batman, but Collins got a little cute in disguising their names. Batman creator Bob Kane became Batwing creator Rod Krane. Batman writer Bill Finger becomes Batwing writer Will Hander. That's my only beef with the book, that the names were just a little too cutesy-poo.

Last night I started A Lion Named Christian. You may have seen the Youtube clip of two men being reunited with the lion they raised as a cub. It's a great clip, and this book tells the story of how the authors came to raise the lion. I really like it so far, but it's crazy how easily these guys, who had no wild animal-raising backgrounds or knowledge were able to obtain the cub. They bought it at Harrod's!

Bob,

I went to High School with Allen.  I am not to proud of the fact that I once smashed peas in his chemistry book.  His research for the subway book was interesting and the access he got to the current tunnels was amazing.


He is currently working on a project about the beverly hills country club (precursor to the beverly hills supper club that caught fire and killed so many)

I have been going through my old school books

Hiroshima
The Pearl
The Lord of the Flies
My Brother Sam is Dead
Huck Finn
Tom Sawyer
Of Mice and Men
Johnny Got His Gun
All Quiet on the Western Front
Puddin Head Wilson
Catcher in the Rye

and many others

It has been a few weeks of light reading and good memories

Finished George Pelecanos' A Firing Offense. I've read some of his other books, which I loved, but this one was a slow starter for me. It seemed to take a while for the plot to really get moving. Loved all the little details he puts into his work, like mentions of what music his characters are listening to, but definitely weaker than his other books that I've checked out.

I'm about 300 pages into Stephen King's Under the Dome. Really enjoying it so far. I think it's his strongest since Bag of Bones.

Just picked up U is for Undertow.

Can't wait to start it.

Sue Grafton books are great - always a good read.  Wonder what she'll name the next book with a V??

I'm just beginning Paul McCartney: A Life - by Peter Ames Carlin.

Currently I am not reading anything but I read this book strange piece of paradise before really it is Powerful and fast paced, this is the electrifying account of Jentz's investigation into the mystery of her near murder. A startling profile of a psychopath, and a moving record of a brave inner journey, this unforgettable work is certain to be one of the most talked about books of the year.

 I  am reading 2 cookbooks, one by Julia Child and the other by Pat Conroy. Also reading 2 books by Dorothea Benton Frank, now I want to go to the beach and/or to Charleston.

improviser


I'm about 300 pages into Stephen King's Under the Dome. Really enjoying it so far. I think it's his strongest since Bag of Bones.

Is this his new 1000-plus-page book?  I was given a copy for Christmas but haven't opened it yet, which should be obvious since I can't even remember the title.
 
My brother gave me "The Hemi in the Barn" Christmas Eve and I finished it before the sun came up Christmas morning.  It's a compilation of true stories about the discoveries of rare cars in unusual places and is pretty good, although sometimes the money angle is emphasized a little too much.
 
Brad

the butcher by Phillip Carlo

Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864) by Jules Verne.

I'm about half way through the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society -

Speechpeach - I thoroughly enjoyed that Pat Conry cookbook you mentioned - part autobiography with some great recipes thrown in - his mother in law's pound cake is unbelievable - Last time I made it - my sister in law asked for Cool Whip topping because she was "watching her weight" - I know I'm bad, but didn't have the heart to tell her it had something like a pound of butter and a dozen eggs in it.            

Right now I have started one of my Christmas/Chanukkah gifts that my boyfriend gave me, "Phillies Confidential", co-written by Gary "Sarge" Matthews and Scott Lauber.

I just finished Tom Clancy's "The Teeth of the Tiger". It was OK, but seemed to rehash a LOT of his previous "John Ryan" series.

Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrook. A bestseller that follows the Pilgrims from England to Holland to Massachusetts up through King Philips war. IMO, a 4.5 out of 5.

The Last Centurion, a pot boiler by John Ringo who pumps out over 3 books a year. It is a story of the near future where global cooling and a killer flu combine to make things very bad for the USA. A terrible female president makes things worse.  IMO 3 out of 5

Dearfolk,
   I just finished "How To Tame A Wild Bore" by Kathy Grizzard Schmook (found an autographed hardback with nice dust jacket in a thrift store for a buck!). She was Lewis Grizzard's third ex-wife.
   Now am reading, when my hands are warm enough to hold the book and/or to turn the pages, a reprint of the 24 original Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir A. Conan Doyle. It has all the original Sidney Paget illustrations, as were in the original Strand Magazine issues.
   We've got good thrift stores around here, if a buyer is diligent -- and lucky!
      Off-Secondhandedly, Ort. Carlton in Still-Too-Cold Athens, Georgia.

BelleReve,

Do we share a brain? The book you mentioned is the next one on my list of books to be read.  Yes, I plan to make the aforementioned pound cake.  A friend gave me a few slices of one she had made containing cream cheese that was really good but a bit sweet for my taste.  I will have to reciprocate after I make the butter laden one.

The Ear in the Wall (1916) by Arthur B. Reeve.

Hollywood Moon-Joseph Wambaugh, one of my favorite Authors, book was not one of his best

I just finished probably the most anti-roadfood book ever published in The China Study: Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-Term Health by T. Colin Campbell, PhD. The premise of the book is the American western diet is responsible for high rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer. It leaves no room for roadfood as mostly presented here.

Now I am reading Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease by Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., MD. His proven cure is a nutrition-based diet consisting of less than 10% fat. The only way to achieve that is a plant-based diet. Interesting to say the least and of course would also eliminate all the roadfood as we popularly know it.

Just started Edward Rutherfurd's NEW YORK ,great multi-generational novel about a great city..very accurate with the history...You'll learn a lot!
 

Just finished "While I was Away" by Sue Miller, who wrote The Good Mother. Very good, both of them.

I agree about Thrift Stores. I have found a couple of autographed Eudora Welty books at the Salvation Army Store.

Brad_Olson

improviser


I'm about 300 pages into Stephen King's Under the Dome. Really enjoying it so far. I think it's his strongest since Bag of Bones.

Is this his new 1000-plus-page book?  I was given a copy for Christmas but haven't opened it yet, which should be obvious since I can't even remember the title.
 
My brother gave me "The Hemi in the Barn" Christmas Eve and I finished it before the sun came up Christmas morning.  It's a compilation of true stories about the discoveries of rare cars in unusual places and is pretty good, although sometimes the money angle is emphasized a little too much.
 
Brad

Yeah, it's the new one. "Hemi" sounds good, I'll have to check that out.

leethebard


Just started Edward Rutherfurd's NEW YORK ,great multi-generational novel about a great city..very accurate with the history...You'll learn a lot!
 

Wow!! I didn't even know it was out!!! I've read some of his books several times. I know what my next read will be. THANKS!

I'm currently reading "Science Fiction Serials" by Roy Kinnard, who used to work at my then-favorite comic book shop back in the late '70s. By the way, Donald, did Allen Singer retaliate by putting anything nasty in your chemistry book? 

Speechpeach - we really must have been separated at birth - I've read all of Dorothea Benton Frank's books - liked Shem's Creek a lot (if you haven't read it) and there are recipes in the back.

Let me see if I can channel this - our next book will be.... Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet 

Just finished Sue Grafton's "U is For Undertow". it is hard to keep a character fresh after 21 books but Ms. Grafton has done so with her fictional P. I. Kinsey Milhone. I I look forward to the final 5 books in the saga and applaud this very fun read which adds a little bit more to the Kinsey file.