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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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 Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 11:29 pm Post subject: |
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Since it's gloomy outside I decided to spend the day reading Booth Tarkington's 'Penrod and Sam', the follow-up to 'Penrod'. Penrod is a 10 year old living in Indiana about a hundred years ago. Like Tom Sawyer, he's a 'real' boy. They're just stories about the shenanigans around the neighborhood.
Although they're listed under Children's Lit, the vocabulary and observations are for adults. Tarkington went on to write two Pulitzer winners, 'The Magnificent Ambersons' (Orson Welles made a movie of it) and 'Alice Adams' (Katherine Hepburn won an Oscar for it). They're sitting on the shelf, waiting their turn. |
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Beer Man
Joined: 16 Nov 2007
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| Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 11:37 pm Post subject: |
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| "Dreamcatcher" by Stephen King. Got it at What the Book for 5 bucks, it's looking thick enough that it'll last me my last 3 weeks here and the plane ride home, but we'll see, 'cause it's really good! |
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lawyertood
Joined: 17 Jan 2003
Location: Seoul, Incheon and the World--working undercover for the MOJ
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| Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 12:03 am Post subject: |
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Right now I'm reading the dosage limits on my Generic brand cold and flu medicine--damn yellow dust!
Just finished God's & Legions--a novel of the Roman empire by Michael Curtis Ford. Covers later parts of the life of the Emperor Julian.
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
This second historical novel by Ford (after The Ten Thousand) follows the rise of the Emperor Julian, the fourth-century Roman Caesar who has been vilified by Christian historians for his reintroduction of Hellenistic religions to Rome. The narrator is Julian's physician, Caesarius, ostensibly a loyal adviser but also a dogmatic Christian who wants to save Julian's soul and thinks very little of the man he serves. Battle scenes predominate in the early going, as Ford traces Julian's military campaigns in Gaul and documents his growing opposition to his uncle, Constantine the Great. The fast-paced narrative competently examines Julian's development as a soldier, inspired military commander and rhetorician. Ford clearly admires Julian's breadth of intellectual curiosity and his mission to restore diversity of religious practice and neo-Platonism. But Caesarius is so unrelentingly angry and humorless that his voice-over ends up stifling Julian as a character. An unreliable narrator threatened by the hero's greatness might have been a marvelous device, but in this case Caesarius's hostility is over the top, and his snide commentary gets too much airtime at the expense of Julian. Then, too, Julian's philosophical inner life and his genius for enlightened Hellenism has been dealt with at length in Gore Vidal's Julian (1962). In showing Julian from the distorted perspective of a treacherous enemy, Ford gambles, with mixed results.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
A close relative of Constantine, the first Roman emperor to embrace Christianity openly, but himself a pagan, Julian the Apostate was a man of many contradictions. In this powerful and passionate second novel by Ford (The Ten Thousand), readers come to understand his dimensions in intimate detail. The story opens with Julian as a young, sheltered philosophy student and pacifist in Athens. Not long into his education, however, he must take up arms and save the Roman Empire from corrupt leaders and hostile neighbors. He does so ingeniously, becoming the first emperor since Julius Caesar to conquer the tribes of Gaul. Though Ford's descriptions of warfare in the fourth century C.E. are dramatically gruesome, the moments of humor and personal valor make this a truly compelling story-one not just of gods and legions but of men. Julian lived as simply as an aesthetic in the heart of one of the most decadent cities history has ever known. Although he never set foot in Rome, he dedicated his life to the expansion of the Roman Empire. Highly recommended for most fiction collections.
Jane Baird, Anchorage Municipal Libs., AK |
Moving on to Jacquot and the Angel by Martin O'Brien. Second book featuring a former French National rugby player-turned-police officer as the protagonist set in Marseilles.
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Chief Inspector Daniel Jacquot has a multiple murder on his hands. The four, five if you count an unborn child, members of the German Martner family living in Provence have been killed. Jacquot is to be assisted by a member of Munich Criminal Investigations as memories of WWII are long in France. But clues lead to the family's gardener, confessed to be the baby's father. Although the gardener is arrested, Jacquot doesn't believe he is guilty. Neither does an attractive young woman who has come to take care of Martner's valuable orchids and floral shop. More than a florist, Marie-Ange is a psychic who knows the gardener is innocent.
I loved this book. It is wonderfully written with interesting characters so well described they all become critical to the story. O'Brien takes several story threads and masterfully weaves them together with elements of pathos into a tapestry of clues, intrigue and the impact of the past on the present. His descriptions of Jacquot's French country town made me want to pack my bag but are also a reminder that small towns around the world are virtually the same. O'Brien does a wonderful job connecting the present to the past. He has a masterfully subtle touch, particularly with the inclusion of the psychic. I anxiously await Jacquot's next case. |
quotes taken from Amazon.com reviews[/quote] |
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Tiger Beer
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 1:38 am Post subject: |
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| Spellbound: The Surprising Origins and Astonishing Secrets of English Spelling BY James Essinger |
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blaseblasphemener
Joined: 01 Jun 2006
Location: There's a voice, keeps on calling me, down the road, that's where I'll always be
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| Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 1:42 am Post subject: |
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The Grapes of Wrath. Thought I'd see what America can look forward to after 8 years of the Bush administration.  (awesome read, and only 7,000 won new at Kyobo). |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 3:15 pm Post subject: |
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| After you finish reading 'Grapes', pick up the DVD of John Ford's movie. He's probably the greatest American film director. Henry Fonda gave one of his best performances, but Jane Darwell gave one of the all-time great performances as Ma. |
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travel zen
Joined: 22 Feb 2005
Location: Good old Toronto, Canada
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| Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 4:34 pm Post subject: |
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Shogun - James Clavell
Excellent book! |
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nicholas_chiasson
Joined: 14 Jun 2007
Location: Samcheok
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| Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 5:02 pm Post subject: |
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Richard Dawkins "The God Delusion"
good science and terrible terrible philosophy. |
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merlot
Joined: 04 Nov 2005
Location: I tried to contain myself but I escaped.
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| Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 6:05 pm Post subject: |
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at this minute The Tico Times http://www.ticotimes.net/
All my books (a small library) are in storage in Florida --close to three years now--drives me nuts sometimes.,
My brother made me buy Ian McEwan's Enduring Love claiming the first chapter is maybe the best first chapter ever written. And it was compelling
Oddly, and I just this second remembered this--shortly after reading that chapter, an identical incident happened with a hot air balloon somewhere in the states. It was uncanny--classical synchronicity. And the first chapter's mode of writing is definitely allegorical. But this really didn't sink in until I saw on the news this story that mirrored the opening scene exactly in the nature of what was going through the real people's minds, as well as the characters in the story as they faced a most terrifying decision that appeared in an instant.
The only other book I have around here in Central America is a compilation of Emerson's essays. I read Self Reliance at least once a year and quote from it all the time.
Well, that was an unintended ramble; I should probably post this in the thread "'Post nothing of Interest". Or maybe we could start a new one--"What I'm interested in, and you�re not."
No, bad idea. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 8:48 pm Post subject: |
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merlot,
I hope you remembered to buy your granny's Easter gift early this year. I'm not always going to be around to remind you. |
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komtengi
Joined: 30 Sep 2003
Location: Slummin it up in Haebangchon
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| Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 8:56 pm Post subject: |
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| after finishing the Reluctant Communist, which I thought was a very short read for 40yrs worth, I decided for a longer read and am now on Blackwater: The rise of the worlds most powerful mercenary army. |
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merlot
Joined: 04 Nov 2005
Location: I tried to contain myself but I escaped.
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| Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 10:38 pm Post subject: |
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| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
merlot,
I hope you remembered to buy your granny's Easter gift early this year. I'm not always going to be around to remind you. |
Yes, you were very instrumental in past years making sure I got the goodies to grandma. And I always appreciated it.
But, this year I'd have to go to heaven to deliver them and for the life of me I can't seem to find anyone who knows what visiting hours are.
Except for this enlightened one that sits on top of a hill. And he told me at my stage on the spiritual path that the best way is to see her is in a dream.
So, just by the thought of this, I probably will see her tonight in Dreamland.
Last time I saw her in a dream we ate Three Musketeers and watched the Wheel of Fortune.. Wonder what we�ll do tonight |
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Neil
Joined: 02 Jan 2004
Location: Tokyo
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| Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 1:20 am Post subject: |
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| travel zen wrote: |
Shogun - James Clavell
Excellent book! |
I really enjoyed the Asian saga, apart from Gaijin which was rubbish, just finishing Whirlwind now. |
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Travelingirl68
Joined: 12 May 2005
Location: India...
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| Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 10:51 am Post subject: |
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| Khushwant Singh's 'Delhi' - interesting tale about a Sikh man, his hijdra lover and the history of the city... |
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Cedar
Joined: 11 Mar 2003
Location: In front of my computer, again.
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| Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 12:25 pm Post subject: |
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Even though it's spring break:
Buddhist Music of Korea (Byong Won Lee)
Sacred Narrative : Readings in the Theory of Myth (Alan Dundes, ed)
Pilgrimage in Tibet (Alex McKay, ed)
State Growth and Social Exclusion in Tibet: Challenges of Recent Economic Growth (Andrew Martin Fischer)
민족무용학 (허영일)
and
韓國民俗놀이의 硏究
Yes, all at the same time, and no, not necessarily associated with the same projects. |
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