Kevin's Watch

See, that's what happens with multiple books...you can't focus on one. You've been reading Don Quijote for months.

Anyway, I'm on Sharpe's Tirumph, the battle of Assaye which of course launched the rise of Arthur Wellesley's military career.

--A

I was really impressed with Cornwell's factual account of Waterloo Av. I might give his fiction a go on the strength of it - the man can clearly tell a tale. Any recommendations as a first book to read?

Orlion wrote:The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

I Kinda think I'm supposed to read that book sometime.. not sure.

Yeah, I'm also reading Two Years Eight Months Twenty-Eight Nights by Salman Rushdie..... and Don Quijote... and probably something else...

I feel like I should know who Rushdie is.. but I don't even have a time period. If you have compelling reasons why people should read 'im, I wanna hear.


This summer, I read:
"Bright Purple" by Melody Carlson
"Someday this pain will be useful to you," by Peter Cameron,
and "Charity and its Fruits," by Jonathan Edwards.
Except on that last one, I found out I was reading an abridged version - ha!

Rushdie wrote The Satanic Verses. At which point I think he went into hiding for a while, because Khomeini called for his assassination. It ridicules, or mentions, Mohammed. Something like that.

He also wrote Midnight's Children, which is generally considered to be extremely good. I have read it. I tried, but didn't get too far. I wasn't crazy about the pov/narrative. But I'll give it another shot.

peter wrote:I was really impressed with Cornwell's factual account of Waterloo Av. I might give his fiction a go on the strength of it - the man can clearly tell a tale. Any recommendations as a first book to read?

Well hell man... There are so many. Just pick any series, and start it chronologically.

Right now my favourites are his Saxon Tales, staring with The Last Kingdom.

If you want Napoleonic wars, then start with Sharpe's Tiger. Can't go wrong with either of those.

I'm on Sharpe's Fortress, the siege of Gawilghur, 1803.

--A

Most recently I've read The Martian, and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

I've been working off and on at the complete works of HP Lovecraft, but I can't take him for more than a day or two at a time (too melodramatic a style).

And I just picked up a random Stephen King novel, Bag of Bones, without knowing anything about it ahead of time

Coincidence time Rigel. My wife collected up a bunch of stuff to take to a charity shop last week and on top was a copy of Bag of Bones that belonged to one of the kids. I nabbed it thinking "I'll give that a go", and there it sits in a (big) pile of 'to be reads' next to my bed. I too haven't the faintest idea what it's about.

I'll see what my library can muster up Av.

Fist and Faith wrote:Rushdie wrote The Satanic Verses. At which point I think he went into hiding for a while, because Khomeini called for his assassination. It ridicules, or mentions, Mohammed. Something like that.

He also wrote Midnight's Children, which is generally considered to be extremely good. I have read it. I tried, but didn't get too far. I wasn't crazy about the pov/narrative. But I'll give it another shot.

I have not read Midnight's Children, but I have read The Satanic Verses and loved it. He does have a loose writing style that can rub people the wrong way, I suppose, but it works very well with the magic realism.

Grimus by Rushdie was bad (to my 20 y o opinion in fairness).

Sharpe's Trafalgar.

--A

Pound/Joyce
the Letters of Ezra Pound to James Joyce

Julie found it at half price for five bucks. paperback edition, copyright 1970 for this edition.

Does he use punctuation?

Sharpe's Prey, the siege of Copenhagen, 1807. (Maybe I'll read a few more...)

--A

Sharpe's Rifles. The French invasion of Galicia, 1809.

--A

One a day Av - I'm still a quater way into Sharpe's trafalgar and I've been reading it for three days!

Entertainment Weekly has a list of 50 states/50 picks of those 50 states that I will be starting on. will post a new thread when the first one comes in from the library.

peter wrote:One a day Av - I'm still a quarter way into Sharpe's Trafalgar and I've been reading it for three days!

Haha, shoulda started with Tiger.

(It's a bit weird reading them chronologically though...since they start to interweave more recently written ones with the originals, some books reference the specific events in earlier ones, and some don't. He doesn't make major mistakes, but there are some implicit inconsistencies.)

Anyway, read Sharpe's Havoc this weekend, now I'm on the original first book, Sharpe's Eagle. (The Talavera Campaign, July 1809).

--A

My libraries selection was pretty paltry Av so I took the one with the most recognisable title. Hasn't been a problem in that the story seems pretty self contained even though some references are made to earlier events.

Fist and Faith wrote:Rushdie wrote The Satanic Verses. At which point I think he went into hiding for a while, because Khomeini called for his assassination.

See, now that was the kind of information I was curious to hear! Huh...

+JMJ+

Theo-Drama Vol. V: The Last Act by H. U. von Balthasar