We took a rather long road trip recently, so we listened to the audio version of Bill Bryson's "In a Sunburned Country", which is all about Australia. I had read it before, but have found it worthy of another look (or listen, in this case). Bryson is an amusing and engaging writer, and this is a perfect blend of travelogue and history book. If you want to learn more about Australia, then this is the book for you.

Originally, this was loaned to me by Plaw, so I admit to a certain sentimental attachment to it, but that doesn't make it any less worthy.

On vacation, I read "The Memory-Keeper's Daughter" about a doctor who delivers his own twins in a snow storm, a boy and girl. Their daughter has Downs Syndrome, and, before his wife wakes from the anesthesia, he has his nurse bring the child to an institution and then tells his wife that their daughter has died. However, the nurse can't bring herself to leave the baby, and she runs away to raise her on her own. The book explores the consequences that occur from that one snowy night.

The story is beautifully told, and it is truly heartening to see how the attitudes towards Downs Syndrome have changed since the 1960s.

I have read a few of Bill Brysons books. He is a marvellously witty writer. The last one i read was an account of his childhood in Des Moines in the 50's "The Adventures of the Thunderbolt Kid" it was called (i think?)

Brilliant and well worth a read.


I read so many books,my head literally spins with them all.

Have started on BRUTAL;THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE WHITEY BULGER MOB by ex Bulger crony Kevin Weeks,today.

Shaping up well,if not a bit predictable.

I finished Hearts in Atlantis a while back, and was wondering if anyone's seen the movie and/or read the book? I read that the film is only over the first story of the several within the book, and I think also is only loosely based on it. Still, I think it'd be interesting to see, for a comparison.

Yogi, this caught my eye, thank you. I visited Monte Cassino in 2003 while on a pilgrimage to Italy. Monte Cassino was a stop on our third day. It is the site of the earliest recorded monastery founded by St. Benedict in 542 AD. Throughout history it suffered many invasions, but was resilient. During the war it was reduced to a pile of rubble and then rebuilt. It was a very inspirational and moving visit. I will have to read the book.

Monte Cassino and the abbey on top


The Polish soldier's cemetery on the adjacent hillside.


Inside the abbey grounds; statue of St. Scholastica, Benedict's sister.

CURRENTLY READING:

The Great Shark Hunt by Hunter S. Thompson
The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie
The Complete Sherlock Holmes Vol. 1 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Football for Dummies by Howie Long

and some book by Ian Rankin.

That makes 3 British writers at once!

Finished up my "bathroom book" by Lawrence Block, When The Sacred Gin Mill Closes or something. Don't bother with it.

MC,those are great pics,thanks for posting. It is an excellent book so keep a weather eye peeled for it.

A couple of things that caught my attention was the amount of Allied forces involved in the attack. After the US and Brits failed in the first wave we threw in the Indians,Ghurkas,New Zealanders,the Free French and finally the Poles and the Canadians. A truly allied effort.

The other thing was the bravery and determination of the German paratroopers who held on for days without food or medical aid in the face of constant carpet bombing and attacks!

Just read THE BIG BLOWDOWN by George Pelecanos.

This guy is great,i think i have read all his stuff now although i did it back to front!

EXPIRED!

That's incredible.

I'm currently reading Moses and Monotheism by Sigmund Freud,
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins,
The Anarchist Writings of William Godwin by Peter Marshall and
Ulysses by James Joyce.

I'd be very interested in reading your thoughts about Ulysses when you've finished it.

I've read the first two parts so far; it's brilliant, I love it. We're studying it over the course of twelve weeks, so the module allows for a lot of close reading.

Makes me want to go to Dublin, too. I've never been to Ireland.

I love its premise, its potential and its delivery (so far). I'm a great fan of "novels as text".

Just read EASTER RISING by Michael Patrick Macdonald.

The follow up to his excellent ALL SOULS book,which was an account of his tough upbringing in south Boston.

Easter Rising tells of his efforts to escape the "stigma" of being a southie boy through punk music and eventually a trip to Ireland itself to see his 11 million cousins

Briiliant book this,well worth a read!

I first read Ulysses in a college course devoted to it. We were assigned a thesis about one sentence (of our choice) taken from it. I can't remember what I did. I have to read it again. It was an experience, unlike any other, I ever had from reading a literary work.

Enjoy it.

Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling by Bret Hart

Probably the best book on pro wrestling I've ever read. Hart pulls no punches in telling his story, from growing up as the 6th of the 12 children parented by Helen and the legendary Stu Hart, wrestling for his dad's Calgary wrestling promotion Stampede Wrestling, to becoming one of the biggest stars in pro wrestling history, only to have it ripped away by Vince McMahon and his cohorts.

He paints a very different picture of the Hart family, describing most of his siblings as selfish, self-centered, bitter people. He goes into detail about the many deaths in pro wrestling, many of which could have been preventable. He speaks affectionately of his brother Owen, as well as his parents Stu and Helen, and goes into great detail about the Montreal Screwjob, and how it all came together. He also tells us what he REALLY thinks about Shawn Michaels (it ain't nice.)

It's a great read for any wrestling fan, but especially the ones who respect the art of what pro wrestling USED to be, before it became the stupid, perverted mess it is today.

Ravenous by Ray Garton.

It's an updated take on the werewolf legend. The curse is passed on not through a bite but via more intimate contact. Garton shows a stylistic debt to Stephen King's Salem's Lot with his small town locality, a house with a bad history and an isolation from the outside world.

Unfortunately the story doesn't really hold up. The characters are ever so slightly underdrawn while the heroes don't have enough to do.

The werewolves are described very well though (especially the transformations) and it's here that Garton's skill for gratuitous violence and gore shines through. It was a quick fun read but ultimately not close to being great horror.

http://www.amazon.com/Ravenous-Leisure-Fiction-Ray-Garton/dp/0843958200

Just read THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO by Junot Diaz.

I believe it was DS who read it also recently.

Very good. Sad but funny. Highly original though!

I just finished Crisscross and The Haunted Air. Both books were Repairman Jack stories by F. Paul Wilson.

Repairman Jack is a defiantly libertarian NYC resident who lives off the grid. He has no official identity, avoids his family, pays no taxes, doesn't vote, owns nothing in his own name and lives as invisibly as possible.

Jack makes his living "fixing" situations for people when police or other officialdom can't help. Jack doesn't start fights, but he's not averse to finishing them-terminally. Getting on his bad side is not a good idea. Jack despises bullies but also despises people that don't stand up for themselves. His primary motivation for any job is money and the sheer joy of outsmarting a criminal or other dangerous person.

Over time more and more of his fix-its start to involve phenomena that can't be rationally explained. F. Paul Wilson ultimately ties in Jack to some of his other horror series.

In Crisscross Jack tries to help a nun who's being blackmailed and also help another woman rescue her son from a fictionalized version of the Scientologist church. This book was quite violent.

In The Haunted Air Jack is brought in to protect two psychics from other rivals enraged at losing clients. But then he finds there's more going on than phony tricksters.

Both books were very enjoyable. Wilson writes in a cliffhanging style that is quite reminiscent of a updated version of some of the older pulps.

Just read SNIPER ONE by Dan Mills.

A true life account of the war in Iraq. Mills' sniper platoon were sent to Al Amarah in southern Iraq on a purely" peacekeeping" 6 month tour. Within 2 days of getting there the Shia insurgency kicked off and they spent the next 6 months in constant fighting. The platoon won a record amount of medals and commendations for the British army.

A rollicking good read,and a stirring true story.

WAR STORIES by Jeremy Bowen.

Bowen is one of the top foreign correspondents for the mighty BBC so has covered a lot of wars in his role. This is his account of his adventures. He has covered wars in El Salvador,Kosovo,chechyna,both the Gulf wars and all the many and various Middle East spats. He gives a humorous and educated account but it grates after a while. He often says how he is addicted to war and excitement and living in the "danger zone". Now this is all well and good,and probably true, but i found it a bit disrespectful to the men actually fighting in these wars. I know the media are important to these affairs in the modern day and it is a dangerous job but to hear him bleat on about it constantly just took the shine of his book a bit.

Still worth a read from a historical point of view,if nothing else!

"Wine and War" it is an account of what the French did during WWII to salvage the wine industry, hide good vintages from the Germans, and in many cases sending the Germans inferior wines with fancy labels.

I just finished "Neither Here Nor There" by Bill Bryson. The book details his travels throughout Europe. It was charming and some of his observations were absolutely hilarious. I was reading in bed while my husband was falling asleep, and I couldn't help laughing out loud at times.

"Watchmen" by Alan Moore.
I had been interested in this book for years but never got around to reading it. I wanted to read it before the movie as Alan Moore is so vociferously against cinema interpretation of his work. So I borrowed a copy from my brother.

There is a lot of imagery, technique and backstory there that simply won't transfer well to film. I liked it but it wasn't quite as good as I thought it would be. For me it didn't quite live up to the hype that it's gotten in the graphic novel world. It is the kind of book that does require multiple readings. I'm sure I missed a few things first time through.

It's about a lot of different things (right and wrong, individual conscience, group rights vs individual rights, ethics and so on) all told from various perspectives of "superheroes" who live in a 1980's US where Nixon is still President, the US won the Vietnam war, and someone is killing superheroes. The book does stretch the concept of anti-hero to the breaking point. Sometimes there's no one to identify with which I suspect may have been one of Alan Moore's goals...

ONLY IN AMERICA by the BBC's US chief correspondent Matt Frei. Mostly based on the authors expriences of political shenanigans in Washington it also offers plenty of lighter moments and insights into American life. Lots of interviews with colourful characters.

Well worth reading.

Just read Carlton Leach's book.

Yogi or Deniro or any of you Brits read it?

Naw mate. Not read it yet. Going through a phase of reading political and war books just lately.

Next up is Alaistair Cookes LETTER FROM AMERICA book. It has all the best "letters" from his long running,award winning BBC radio show.

Looking forward to it.

What like?

I've been reading a lot of anarchist stuff.

Finally read KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL by Anthony Bourdain.

Excellent stuff. The chapter "A Day in the Life" is one of the best chapters i have ever read in any type of book.

'Hades' and 'Wandering Rocks' are absolutely amazing chapters in Ulysses. The former is at once a hilarious and blunt depiction of a funeral; the latter is some sort of literary version of a Robert Altman film, with an all-seeing 'eye'. Incredible stuff. The book in general is a work of genius.

I'm also reading The Plague by Camus.

And Anarchism by George Woodcock.

The funeral scene contains a reference to a man in a macintosh hat. I believe that someone figured out after Joyce's death that it was a character from Dubliners , James Duffy, I think, from a 'A Painful Case.'

The 'Wandering Rocks' chapter is certainly a mind blowing experience. You're tempting me to pick up my copy of the novel.

Are you reading The Plague for a class assignment or for personal enjoyment?

Also, Capo, have you read Finnegan's Wake ? I've tried years ago and stuggled with it. But if you ever get the time to tackle it, I think you'll be able to get a lot out of it.