What are you reading?

[feaito]

I finished "Encounter in the Pleiades" by Preston B. Nichols and Peter Moon, a very interesting read (at least for me). Now I plan to begin reading the Kay Francis Bio by Lynn Kear and John Rossman ("A Passionate Life & Career"), which is reportedely superior to the other Kay Francis Biography titled "I Can't Wait to Be Forgotten".

[CharlieT]

I've finished Changeling by Roger Zelazney and have moved on to the sequel, Madwand.

Sadly, and somewhat coincidentally, Robert Jordan, who was authoring The Wheel of Time series has passed away. According to his fans who frequently visited his blog, the 12th and final book in the series is mostly finished - or at least his notes and intended ending are available for finishing by his wife to be released posthumously.

I say coincidentally because Roger Zelazney also died before finishing his sequel series to the original Chronicles of Amber. The original series followed the adventures of Lord Corwin and the sequel series featured Corwin's son, Merlin. Unfortunately, Zelazney didn't leave any notes to tie up all of the loose ends.

Some of you Stephen King fans (if there are any here) may recall that he said at one time that he wanted to write the Dark Tower series until he died and let the story die with him. But, I believe, that after his brush with death at the hands of an inattentive driver, he decided to finish it, and IMHO, unsatisfactorily. I'd rather it died than end as it did.

Anyway, RIP and thank you , Robert Jordan.

[CharlieT]

Finished Madwand. Ready to start The Janson Directive by Robert Ludlum.

[Moraldo Rubini]

So I made it through Stiff, and actually really enjoyed it. No one could be more surprised than I...

Then I tried The Nanny Diaries, but quickly tired of the whining of the narrator and the disdain she holds for all those around her. At one point, her boss has asked her to pick up some lavender water, which is somehow beyond her capabilities. I thought, why doesn't she just go over to L'Occitane at W. 72nd? Six pages later, the boss asks the same question, which inspired eye rolling and more disdain. Realizing that I'm not supposed to be identifying with the boss, I thought I set that aside and...

...am now really enjoying Nancy Verde Barr's wonderful romp, Backstage with Julia, about her 24 years as kitchen aide to Julia Child.

[jdb1]

[quote="Moraldo Rubini"
...am now really enjoying Nancy Verde Barr's wonderful romp, Backstage with Julia, about her 24 years as kitchen aide to Julia Child.[/quote]

I'll have to look at that one, Marco. Over the summer I read Bon Appetit: Appetite for Life - a Biography of Julia Child, by Noel Riley. This book made me admire Julia even more - what an action-packed life she led, from the earliest age. The woman was most defintely a "doer." I was especially taken with Riley's description of the Julia/Paul Child courtship (in various parts of Asia, during WWII) and marriage. Paul Child seemed to me to be a fascinating but restless man who must have been very difficult to live with. I think he was lucky to have found Julia, and he was smart to have married her.

[CharlieT]

Finished The Janson Directive. Reminded me of a Tom Clancy work without all of the alphabet soup. Just started Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. My paperback copy is so old that the cover price is 75 cents.

[ken123]

The Joan Blondell Bio - A Life Between Takes by Matthew Kennedy -University of Mississippi Press


Very good and easy to read. Mike Todd (Joan's Husband # 3 ) is a Seven Letter word that I will not use. According to the book at a Memorial Service for Joan at St. Malachy's Catholic Church in NYC Joan's Favorite Song was at the Memorial by Kay Armen. The song was Danny Boy Another reason for me to Love Joan !

[traceyk]

Can';t remember if I've evr mentioned these books before (and If I have, I apologize for being repetitive) but if you are female or have teenage daughters and a quirky sense of humor, I recommend the Georgia Nicholson books by Louise Rennison. (The title of the first one is Angus, Thongs and Full-frontal Snogging. How can you pass up a book with a title like that???) I picked up the first one for my daughter last summer and she was like, "Mom, you have to read this. It's hilarious!" And she was right. Funny, as in laugh-out-loud-in-a-public-place funny. Georgia is a 14-15 year old English school girl and it's in that diary form
so popular in teen chick lit. She has a mad, half-scottish wildcat named Angus, who delights in tormenting the neighbor's miniature poodles, a truly frightening little sister named Libby and various crazy friends and relatives.

Here's a link to her website:
http://www.georgianicolson.com/index.html

[MissGoddess]

I just finished Sterling Hayeden's excellent memoir, Wanderer. Now I think I will take up Scott Eyman's biography of Lubitsch, Laughter in Paradise. Either that, or the Ava Gardner bio, Love is Nothing.

[traceyk]

Read an interesting book recently, for you sci fi fans out there--Three Days to Never by Tim Powers.

It's about time travel, Albert Einstein and Charlie Chaplin and features Chaplin's missing handprints from Graumann's Chinese Theatre (did they really removie it because he was a suspected Communist?) the film "A Woman of the Sea" and "City Lights." Interesting stuff.

[feaito]

I finished reading "Kay Francis- A Passionate Life & Career". A good book which is more focused on Kay's private life than on her career. Sometimes it gets somewhat episodic and since the writers chose to make constant references to their sources via notes, it got a little bit tiring, because I had to stop reading the book and go at the end to read the notes, which had different degrees of interest to me, but I had to read them all; so I was all the time, back and forward.

The writers had access to Kay's private diaries, so everything they wrote about her private life was taken from her own writings. I have read that the other biography "I Can't Wait to Be Forgotten" is focused more on her career. I'd like to read that one too. Another thing: there is no much information about Kay's life between 1953-1968, because she stopped writing her diary in December 1953.

Miss Francis made mistakes in her life, like all human beings, but what surprised me the most was to discover that she was basically a down-to-earth, quite practical woman, who was very different from her clotheshorse image; in fact she liked to dress in a very casual, simple way in her private life and did not care for limousines, spending lots of money in eccentricities, etc. I felt sorry for her, because she never had a really fulfilling sentimental relationship.

[feaito]

I finished reading Robert Hofler's "The Man Who invented Rock Hudson" which focuses on the life of Hollywood Agent Henry Willson. It's not bad and it sheds some light on certain aspects of the Hollywood scene during the 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s. I had mixed feelings upon reading it and ended feeling very sorry for Willson's sad, shallow personal life.

Yesterday I began reading the Hervé Dumont biography on Frank Borzage. It's a very scholarly book. I think I'll enjoy it.

[CharlieT]

Finally finished Catch 22. The first two-thirds of the book was difficult to stay interested, but the final third managed to pull everything together. I need to see the movie to compare and contrast.

Currently, I'm reading a bargain bin book titled Dark Inheritance by a couple named Gear. It has elements that seem to come directly from two Michael Critchton books - Congo and Next. Oddly enough, it was written before Next, yet they deal with an almost identical subject. Must be a good book, though. 'cause I'm breezing right through it.

[MissGoddess]

Yesterday I began reading the Hervé Dumont biography on Frank Borzage. It's a very scholarly book. I think I'll enjoy it.

I'd be interested to know what you think of that one when you've finished, Fernando.

I just finished Scott Eyman's biography of Lubitsch and now am onto his book about the advent of talkies. I like his writing style so much, he makes it possible to understand even very technical things, and his sense of humor keeps potentially dry material from ever getting arid.

[Moraldo Rubini]

...am now really enjoying Nancy Verde Barr's wonderful romp, Backstage with Julia, about her 24 years as kitchen aide to Julia Child.

I'll have to look at that one, Marco. Over the summer I read Bon Appetit: Appetite for Life - a Biography of Julia Child, by Noel Riley. This book made me admire Julia even more - what an action-packed life she led, from the earliest age. The woman was most defintely a "doer." I was especially taken with Riley's description of the Julia/Paul Child courtship (in various parts of Asia, during WWII) and marriage. Paul Child seemed to me to be a fascinating but restless man who must have been very difficult to live with. I think he was lucky to have found Julia, and he was smart to have married her.

Judith, do remember to check out the Backstage with Julia tome. It was a really fun read and I was sorry it ended.

I followed that up with Eat Pray Love. After I'd started it, I discovered what a huge hit it is. A pal who works for United Airlines says there are around 18 people reading it on each flight. I see that the author has made appearances on Oprah, which must have pushed it over the crest of success. The gal needs a good editor to clean out the awkward metaphors, misspellings, and a double-negative. She travels three countries, Italy, India and Indonesia in search of pleasure (Italy), spirituality (India) and a balance of the two (Indonesia). The first section was the rockiest for me. I lived in Italy ("back in the day") and enjoyed the travelogue aspect of that chapter, especially the chapter regarding the postal service and the Italian's laissez-faire attitude about it and life in general. She nailed that one. But found myself skipping over whole chapters. I vowed to quit the book when she quit Italy. But found myself saying "just one more chapter" until I discovered I was actually enjoying it. In the end it was rewarding, but jeez lady, get an editor...

I'm now reading Money Ball, about baseball and strategies of putting a team together.