The Readers' Corner

[michael22]

I just picked up two archeology text books for a really good price, two were just reference books that were on sale and my friend just dropped out of it to be an accoutant ( I wonder why I hang out with him ) so he gave me his old ones for twenty dollars. They are quite an interesting read.

I also just got the zombie survival guide, funny but with some interesting socil commentary.

[Ranman]

Originally Posted by michael22

I just picked up two archeology text books for a really good price,.

I picked up a archeology book too. Indiana Jones and his boner of doom. A lot of great pics.

[Elizabethine]

Originally Posted by Surprize

I see that rather many people say that they have read Pride and Ptejudice. I read it last week but I think the film was more interesting.

I think it is hard to say if the book or the film is better....but I think books are always better....you can imagine the characters...like they lookalike...how they are talking, with how accent....and everything...in film..you see like characters lookalike...how they are talking........ and i feel injured that SOMEONE thinks that we don´t read.....I´ve just started to read historc books (especially about 2.ww) but I adore novels like Jane Eyre (Emma and P&P of course) and now I started to read Shakespeare´s playes

[eelliiinn]

Ive just finished reading "The it girl" by Cecily von Ziegesar, it's a follow-up to the Gossip Girl series. I really like this book , but its a bit confusing in the beginning when you dont know the characters and suddenly youre reading about what happens in their lifes, and i was like: "hey, slow down, who is this guy?" Anyway it's good and if you like the gossip girl books you have to read this one!

[Surprize]

I'm reading a fantasy book of a Russian writer, nothing special, that's why I want to read it to the end faster.
I also read The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes in English to develop my knowlege and make one more step to master the language. I have already read 20 small pages and it was difficult. More than 200 new words, confusing
Btw, I don't know why but in my view S. Holmes is very similar to Ice, lol

[Leonie]

Recently read:

Under the Tuscan Sun, Frances Mayes. Loved it. The narrative isn't particularly thrilling, but it's a nice book to give you a flavour of Italy. Reading it whilst in Italy may have helped. My parents both thought it too boring to finish, so the jury is still out on whether it is actually good.

The Secret of Lost Things, Sheridan Hay. Loved reading it, it's a book drenched in the love of books. I was a little disappointed by the ending though, it seemed rather abrupt and anticlimactic. It's good 7/8ths of the way, the last bit is forgettable. Decently written, though.

On Chesil Beach, Ian McEwan. I'm a bit divided as far as this one goes. So much history had to be worked into the present story of two newlyweds that I got a little bored at times. I didn't really care for the main characters, perhaps because McEwan is always frighteningly accurate in his observations on human behaviour, making for slightly uncomfortable reading. The last chapter is brilliant, and I like the way the story was set up, but the execution was a bit yawn-worthy at times. That said, I'm just happy it wasn't freakish like the Cement Garden, which was off-putting and plain gross.

I'm 4/5ths of the way through The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon of Kavalier & Clay fame. Loving it. It's an exciting detective story based on the premise that Israel failed and Jews have relocated to Alaska instead. Set months before the "reversion", when the Alaskan land will be returned to America, it is absolutely fantastic. It's a slightly easier read than Kavalier & Clay, mostly because the detective story aspect of it all makes for a very lively, fast-paced narrative. It's funny, too. Basically, it's just an incredibly well-written traditional detective novel, with some Chabonesque quirks as far as setting and characters goes. Can't wait to see how it ends, but kind of don't want to finish it.

[duckula]

I've just finished Emma, thought it was time to read another Austen. As with Pride & Prejudice it was brilliantly observed and funny, a damn good read all in all.

Next up is a book of essays called Future Armies, Future Challenges about the changing nature of warfare. Looks to be an interesting read.

[luis]

i read the last monds

ludlum, bourne idenity

bob evers 1-32(dutch books)

eragon1-2

the da vince code

[hasselbrad]

I just read my divorce papers. I think I'm going to have to go back to court.

[Keira lover]

Just finished a book about Augustus, called AUGUSTUS

[luis]

i read

ludlum,
the osterman weekend

and ludlum,
the the icarus agenda

[Porcelain_Doll]

I've just finished "Mistress in the art of death", by Ariana Franklin.

I loved it, her main character is a Middle Ages Dr Brennan (from "Bones", just in case). The first chapters are a bit slow but the rest is great. It must've been awful hard creating a wild, CSI-like chase of a psycho children murderer, complete with racism and female doctors in a twelfth century Cambridge, and she pulls it off brilliantly. Awesome.

[hasselbrad]

Originally Posted by Porcelain_Doll

I've just finished "Mistress in the art of death", by Ariana Franklin.

I loved it, her main character is a Middle Ages Dr Brennan (from "Bones", just in case). The first chapters are a bit slow but the rest is great. It must've been awful hard creating a wild, CSI-like chase of a psycho children murderer, complete with racism and female doctors in a twelfth century Cambridge, and she pulls it off brilliantly. Awesome.

Have you ever read The Alienist by Caleb Carr? It's a 19th Century psychiatrist (alienist) and his associates on the trail of a serial killer. I shall have to find your recommendation.

Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth

Hilarious!!!!!!

[Ameriel]

I've just finished 'The world according to Garp' by John Irving.
It's a story about a young writer, his weird thoughts and his whole life. It's cool

[Porcelain_Doll]

Originally Posted by hasselbrad

Have you ever read The Alienist by Caleb Carr? It's a 19th Century psychiatrist (alienist) and his associates on the trail of a serial killer. I shall have to find your recommendation.

Niiiice, I'll look it up!

Just finished "Blood and Chocolate". I know the movie's crap, but it has nothing to do with the book. I really enjoyed it, the author's brilliant. It's funny how she makes you realise humans have so much of beasts in them, you end up favouring the wonderful dual nature of werewolves. At least they can let their demons run free and hence get rid of them, as a character points out.
Easily one of my favourites.

[Richard]

Deadly Illusions: Jean Harlow and the Murder of Paul Bern by Samuel Marx and Joyce Vanderveen.

The author of this book, Samuel Marx, once worked as story editor for MGM studios in the early 1930s, and it was during this period when he met and became friends with Paul Bern, then one of the studio's most popular and successful producers. During his days as an office boy for Universal Pictures, Marx had also met and befriended the soon-to-be famous producer Irving Thalberg, and it was Thalberg who hired Marx as story editor for MGM studio when he arrived there in 1930. Thalberg would eventually become one of the most famous film producers of his time before his untimely death in 1936.

The year is 1932, the morning after the Labor Day weekend when Marx received a telephone call informing him that his producer-friend Paul Bern, who was married to Jean Harlow at the time, was found dead in his home, an apparent suicide from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. When Marx arrived at the scene he found several of his colleagues were already there, including Thalberg, Louis B. Mayer and MGM's publicist Howard Strickling. Marx became suspicious when he learned that these men were at the house hours before the police were even notified.

Upon further reading we discover that Paul Bern was once married to a woman he knew and met long ago (during his theater days as an actor), and that this woman was mentally ill. Her name was Dorothy Millette, a stage actress who somehow became very sick and had to be institutionalized. Bern kept this secret from almost everyone he knew except for a select few; probably those he was very close to and trusted. We discover that Dorothy has now been released and is spending most of her time at a hotel in Sacramento. She begins to taunt Bern, who at this time is seen courting a young Jean Harlow, and expresses a desire to come back into his life and continue her aspiration to become an actress. In Dorothy's mind only a night has past, but in reality she has been in a coma for almost a decade. Marx claims that Bern was worried about how to handle the situation but seemed fine the last time he saw him.

The public knew nothing about this Dorothy Millette and it didn't reach newspapers until days after Bern's death. When it finally did reach the newspapers a nationwide search was conducted to locate the whereabouts of this mystery woman, and all that witnesses seem to know was that she was last seen on the Delta King, a steamboat that traveled between Sacramento and San Francisco. Dorothy Millette's belongings were left behind and never picked up, and she never got off the boat when it docked in Sacramento. Nobody knew what happened to her. All evidence pointed to suicide and people believed she jumped. A short time later her body was found in the Sacramento River.

Samuel Marx never believed the motive that became almost synonymous whenever someone mentioned the name Paul Bern; the man who killed himself because he couldn't make it with Jean Harlow, the man who was impotent. Marx claimed that Dorothy Millette -- her side, her story -- was more important than most people at the time were willing to let on. The triangle that made up the mystery, Marx claims, consisted of Paul, Dorothy and Harlow. Two of whom died the same year with Jean Harlow having only five more years left to live before dying of uremic poisoning in 1937. Marx also suspected a cover-up by the hands of certain figures at the MGM studio, a cover-up to withdraw any evidence that would create a scandal or tarnish the reputation of their young blonde bombshell, then on the rise of becoming one of the studio's biggest stars.

It is nice to read a book about something based on real events and knowing that the author himself was there and knew the people involved. But if you're truly immersed in the book you'll notice that there are some things which are almost entirely speculated upon and impossible to prove for the simple reason that both parties who were involved are dead. Nevertheless, Marx presents a credible argument to something that very well may have been a Hollywood myth all these years. I don't want to give anything away. It is such an engrossing book so read it. The final chapter is a jaw-dropping and utterly convincing finale to a good mystery. *** out of ****

[Surprize]

Several books which screen version I have seen before reading. Atonement by Ian McEwan is written very professionaly, but sometimes it's too slow. Chocolat by Joanne Harris is a stream of consciousness, I don't like this fact at all as well as works of Virginia Wulf (we read them in the university, it's a part of curriculum of the History of Literature). The Devil Wears Prada is not bad, but the movie is quite better. The Other Boleyn Girl - too liittle history and too much indecency.

[Urbanebula]

I'm currently reading Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett.

I can really get caught up in a Discworld novel becuase of Pratchett's writing style which incidentally is the same reason a lot of other people can't. I'm not much of a reader but I really enjoy writing my own short stories. I've recently started writing something that will hopefully develop into a novel.

Time will tell I guess.

[Porcelain_Doll]

The Serpent's Tale, the second in the series of "Mistress in the Art of Death". Not quite as good as the first one, but still worth a read.

Interred with their Bones, by Jennifer Lee Carrell. Kinda DaVinci Code meets Shakespeare meets The Dante Club. Interesting, and had me guessing who the mysterious Shakespearean-death-imitating killer was till the end.

Nefertiti, by Michelle Moran. Brilliant, delicious reconstruction and writing. Told from the point of view of Mutnodjmet, Nefertiti's younger half-sister and of whom we know very little, shadowed by her famously beautiful and scandalous older sibling

Bastard out of Carolina, by Dorothy Allison. It's a harsh and honest read, and I ended up loving Bone (the main character, though her real name is Ruth Anne) and her family. The best thing about the book, in my opinion, was how the author weaved the family ties. The Boatwrights are so real, they almost jump off the pages...Bone's crazy but adoring uncles were the best...makes you wish for similarly kickass, ex-con, knives-and-guns-loving uncles who would tear towns apart in a heartbeat looking for the jerk who hurt you.