What are you reading?

Films, TV shows, and books of the 'modern' era
User avatar
charliechaplinfan
Posts: 9040
Joined: January 15th, 2008, 9:49 am

Re: What are you reading?

Post by charliechaplinfan »

Yes, I've read The Unbearable Lightness of Being, a lovely book, I should read some more. Any recommendations?
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
User avatar
charliechaplinfan
Posts: 9040
Joined: January 15th, 2008, 9:49 am

Re: What are you reading?

Post by charliechaplinfan »

Well ladies, I watched The Women and left the review on the lately thread. I know this movie must have a huge female following, I'd like to recommend as reading The Group by mary McCarthy, it deals with a group of women from this time period, it's not a comedy like The Women but it's all about a group of women and how they relate to one another and how they gt on out in the world, some are rich, others are poorer, some successful in love, others not, some are catty, etc. Thank you for your recommendation, I hope you enjoy my review.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
User avatar
charliechaplinfan
Posts: 9040
Joined: January 15th, 2008, 9:49 am

Re: What are you reading?

Post by charliechaplinfan »

I finished reading Of Human Bondage, only a little of it is used in the movie and the hero Phillip is quite exasperating at times, he jumps before thinking of the consequences and is inclined to be unfriendly because of his deformity. When I refreshed myself about Maugham's early life I realised just how autobiographical it was. The writing is very good thankfully as the book is long, Maugham is quite lyrical which helps in the bits when Phillip is floundering into different areas of life before settling at a career. I think my favourite bit apart from the Mildred love story was his experience doctoring in the slums. I must read Liza of Lambeth, written as a result of his doctoring. It was a book worth sticking with, now I feel like I have a Maugham craving, even though I've started on a Maupassant book mentioned in Of Human Bondage.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
User avatar
JackFavell
Posts: 11926
Joined: April 20th, 2009, 9:56 am

Re: What are you reading?

Post by JackFavell »

I've read all his books after The Book of Laughing and Forgetting, - Immortality, Slowness, Identity and Ignorance. They are all good, but my fave will always be The Unbearable Lightness of Being, since it was my first.

Also, if you are interested in short stories, Laughable Loves is very good. The Group sounds fantastic, I'm going to try and get it from the library, since it isn't available here on the kindle.
User avatar
charliechaplinfan
Posts: 9040
Joined: January 15th, 2008, 9:49 am

Re: What are you reading?

Post by charliechaplinfan »

I've been reading Jean and Pierre and Bel Ami by Maupassant and Liza of Lambeth by Somerset Maugham, I seem to be stuck in the late Victorian era at the moment, all classics. Liza of Lambeth is written in cockney but draws on Maugham's experience of distrcit nursing and being the person on call when the working classes go into labour and the poor mortality rate. Maupassant's stories are both free to download, Bel Ami is about the rise of wiles of a journalist cum lover and Jean And Pierre the story of two brothers which takes unexpected turns.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
User avatar
charliechaplinfan
Posts: 9040
Joined: January 15th, 2008, 9:49 am

Re: What are you reading?

Post by charliechaplinfan »

I started a book I picked up at a rummage sale, I like reading about China and Japan, the author is called Xinran and the book called The Good Women of China and it's stories about women's lives, as China started opening up there was a radio programme which women sent stories into, I've only read the first one but I was completely floored by it, it was entitled The Girl Who Kept a Fly as a Pet, she'd never known a loving hand and had found the touch of a fly crawling on her skin comforting so she caught a baby fly and looked after it. There's so much more to her story, she was an abused daughter but the mother wouldn't denounce her husband so told her daughter she had to put up with his constant attention and rape, the only way she found out of her situaation was to go to hospital and once there she would conspire to stay there. She befriended a fellow patient and left her a letter and her diary, she writes beautifully, her story has a release for her, she dies of sceptacemia after falling and cutting herself and keeping a fly who infects her wound, something she knows about, so hides the fly from the hospital staff as she knows it will hasten her death. Her writing is poetic and her suffering huge. All this authors books have high ratings on amazon and are available here for kindle. Once in a while it feels right to read these kind of books.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
User avatar
CineMaven
Posts: 3815
Joined: September 24th, 2007, 9:54 am
Location: Brooklyn, New York
Contact:

Re: What are you reading?

Post by CineMaven »

Does anyone know Cindy de la Hoz as an author? Is her book touted by TCM, "ELIZABETH TAYLOR: A SHINING LEGACY ON FILM" worth buying?
"You build my gallows high, baby."

http://www.megramsey.com
User avatar
Bogie
Posts: 531
Joined: September 3rd, 2007, 12:57 am
Location: Toronto, Canada

Re: What are you reading?

Post by Bogie »

I'm reading in an off and on fashion (currently off) Heinrich Himmler by Peter Longerich. It's a pretty detailed and compelling biography of the SS leader and is actually an english translation of the book which was originally published in Germany. The reading is actually very brisk, easy and understandable despite the daunting size of the volume. (over 700 pages) So despite the size the accessibility is there for anyone to read.

Himmler was a pretty disturbed son of a gun i'll tell you that but compared to some of his colleagues he's pretty benign er, well until he went whole hog on carrying out "the final solution" though i'm nowhere near that part of the book yet.
User avatar
charliechaplinfan
Posts: 9040
Joined: January 15th, 2008, 9:49 am

Re: What are you reading?

Post by charliechaplinfan »

It's chilling, I occasionally read biographies like Himmler's but I find I need to space them out with a lot of lighter material.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
User avatar
MissGoddess
Posts: 5072
Joined: April 17th, 2007, 10:01 am
Contact:

Re: What are you reading?

Post by MissGoddess »

allison, do they do this sort of "lending library" in your neighborhood? it's so cute.

Image
"There's only one thing that can kill the movies, and that's education."
-- Will Rogers
User avatar
charliechaplinfan
Posts: 9040
Joined: January 15th, 2008, 9:49 am

Re: What are you reading?

Post by charliechaplinfan »

I've read about these libraries but we don't have one here, I think they are in rural or very small villages and it's a way to make use of the old telephone boxes which are hardly used today. They're such a good idea and if I lived near one I'd use it and pass on the books I've read.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
User avatar
Rita Hayworth
Posts: 10068
Joined: February 6th, 2011, 4:01 pm

Re: What are you reading?

Post by Rita Hayworth »

Miss Goddess and Allison (CCFan),

I have been to ENGLAND about 4 times in my lifetime and I have seen them in certain remote places outside of Southhampton, Liverpool, and three other towns and small cities in Southern England and they are quite charming little Library Stations ... I even was told that often people donate their old books there and every once in an a while it's gets overflowing with books. They were commonplace during the late 50's and 60's and 70's where people could not get to Libraries in the Major Cities - like London and others.

I have a friend that travels a lot in England on Business and she said that she considers these charming, well kept, people over there has a high "honor system" of making sure the books are returned and all. That's pretty much sums up how much I know about them.

That is one of many reasons why I love about ENGLAND ... its quirks, charms, and uniqueness ... and this is a perfectly good example of that.
User avatar
JackFavell
Posts: 11926
Joined: April 20th, 2009, 9:56 am

Re: What are you reading?

Post by JackFavell »

Oh how wonderful! That is a great idea. I should start one in my home town... though there are no unused phone booths or bus stops here... everything gets torn up the minute it goes unused. England has the right idea, the red booths are so iconic and beautiful it would be a shame to tear them down. How would Doctor Who get where he wanted to go?
User avatar
MissGoddess
Posts: 5072
Joined: April 17th, 2007, 10:01 am
Contact:

Re: What are you reading?

Post by MissGoddess »

i love the phone booths, too. they're lovely and as much a part of my memory of England as London's black cabs...

as for doing it here in NYC...i'm not so sure about how well we could rely on the "honor" system. :lol:
"There's only one thing that can kill the movies, and that's education."
-- Will Rogers
User avatar
movieman1957
Administrator
Posts: 5522
Joined: April 15th, 2007, 3:50 pm
Location: MD

Re: What are you reading?

Post by movieman1957 »

Those black cabs are so iconic that when Stephen Fry did a series on America, because he was almost born in New Jersey, he had a back cab fitted to drive all over the USA as he visited every state.

Of course, he only did Maryland for a minute or so as a through way to get from Delaware to Washington, DC.
Chris

"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."
Post Reply