What you are reading

[Socializard]

have been getting into more mccarthy stuff. blood meridian was really violent and still beautiful.

currently reading the castle by kafka- as its been years since i've read anything by him.

[Sochijava]

The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill. It just finished first in the 'Canada Reads' contest on CBC today. The main character, Aminata, is an incredible character. Captured by slave traders at the age of 13 in West Africa, the book follows her life through slavery in the Southern US (on an indigo plantation - fascinating detail about indigo), her move to New York, then to Nova Scotia as a 'free woman,' back to West Africa and the UK. A truly unforgettable character and incredible history lesson about black loyalists in Nova Scotia (freedom did not mean dignity and equal rights) and about the incredible real journey of black Nova Scotians who travelled from Nova Scotia to Africa to found Freetown, Sierra Leone. A warning - not surprisingly the story is gut wrenching in parts, but worth it.

One interesting note - The Book of Negroes is published under a different name in the US - let me look it up - ah, yes, its called "Someone knows my name" in the US. Apparently Lawrence Hill was told that the title wouldn't 'fly' in the US. The original title comes from an actual book called the Book of Negroes - it is a listing or book that contains the names of black loyalists brought from the Manhattan to Canada during the American revolutionary war. I believe three copies of this historic text remain, one in Boston, one in Halifax and another in London.

Paula

[Socializard]

bella, a few pages back you suggested all the pretty horses. took your suggestion a while ago, bought it (the border trilogy in one volume)and forgot to say thanks. haven't read it yet but its up next.

[bella]

i hope you enjoy the border trilogy- the writing is less dense than Blood Meridian but nowhere near as pared down as the road. Some sectionc of Pretty Horses I thought so beautiful I almost knew them by heart i read them so many times. ! your mention of Kafka reminds me that since reading Sebald I've intended to re-read kafka (not attempted since i was a teenager) but before i do i'm reading In Praise of blandness (proceeding from Chinese Thought and Aesthetics) by francois Jullien (well i'm carrying it around with me...)and waiting for In Praise of Darkness by Borges to arrive through my letterbox.

[bella]

by the by does anyone know if it is Brad pitt or Viggo mortenson playing the lead in 'the road' , Viggo would probably be my choice, for his intensity ..

[Box_of_Rain]

All the books I've been reading have been awful.

I just finished Eat, Pray, Love...I just couldn't stand her.

I started Anne Rice, Called Out Of Darkness....wasn't what I thought it was going to be...I'll keep trying to finish it...

I'm reading Wayne Dyer's, Living the Wisdom of the Tao...slowly

Tried to read, Heart of the World, Ian Baker, found Tibet's lost paradise, Shangri-la...almost made it through

The last book I really enjoyed was, The Other Boleyn Girl.

I just figured it out. I need to start going to the library. Great idea!

[bella]

i haven't read eat pray love,it doesn't appeal to me but a friend of mine was so engrossed in reading it she missed her flight!

[ladydi]

Glad to see this thread surfacing again...

Many thanks to whoever suggested "Shadow of the Wind" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon - loved it, particularly the role Barcelona plays in the novel. Thoroughly enjoyed "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortenson - one of the most 'feel-good' books I've ever read; however, I can't help but wonder if the resurgent Taliban have destroyed some of the schools he established, especially for girls.

It took me over a year to get to it but finished "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy just before Christmas. Beautifully, sparingly, thought-provokingly written but even with the glimmer of hope at the end I found it very depressing.

Right now I'm into "The Art of Being Happy" by the Dalai Lama; and also "The Artist's Way - A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity" by Julia Cameron (this one takes a while but hope it breaks through any blocks I may not know I have ).

Diana

ps..and again thanks to someone from about a year ago but I am just starting "Kafka on the Shore" by Murakami. Looking forward to really getting into it!

[Socializard]

by the by does anyone know if it is Brad pitt or Viggo mortenson playing the lead in 'the road' , Viggo would probably be my choice, for his intensity ..

although the info i'm finding online is dated...it says viggo. he'd be my choice too. i thought this was cool: "so beautiful I almost knew them by heart i read them so many times." after reading the road and blood meridian i do not doubt mccarthy's power!

All the books I've been reading have been awful.

this made me lol.

Many thanks to whoever suggested "Shadow of the Wind" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon - loved it, particularly the role Barcelona plays in the novel.

ps..and again thanks to someone from about a year ago but I am just starting "Kafka on the Shore" by Murakami. Looking forward to really getting into it!

i don't think it was me who suggested either book to you...but i liked both a lot. i found shadow of the wind hard to put down. it was a fun book. the setting and the descriptions for it were really good. that i remember. i also found kafka on the shore just as gripping. i really love me some murakami.

still on kafka's the castle (the version translated by mark harman). its good.

[solankie]

Is there any way I can get the red tinted sunglasses that Brad Pitt wore in Fight Club? As long as they carry he same characteristics as the original glasses and aren't extremely expensive or rele cheap knockoffs I would be satisfied.

[lisae]

I am reading Edward Weston's journals long but touching especially if you are inclinded to up North: Big Sur and Carmel for ex
Also his photagraphy goes along nicely with his words
Also reading A Passion of Literature between Henry Miller and Ananis Nin: an amazing poetic writer
Always love Pico Irye: travel writer Sun After Dark was amazing
and where I learned of Leonard Cohen
Milan Kundera a true amazing writer: Identity : less known book than others
I will stop there for now

[Socializard]

undaunted courage by ambrose. as soon as i finish it i'm going to check out the ken burns documentary on lewis and clark. i'm excited...

[Manna]

I've finally finished (sadly, I could have read it forever) Sometimes a Great Notion, Ken Kesey. A darn good go at the Great American Novel.

I've been reading Vonnegut's Man Without a Country, which the flap describes as possibly the closet thing he ever came to a memoir. While true, I find this description lazy. It would better be likened to a long letter to anyone. I bring it up because he mentions a few books/stories throughout, and says things like, "I consider anyone who hasn't read Suchasuch to be an twerp."

Well, I don't want to be a twerp in the eyes of Kurt Vonnegut, so I now have on my list:
Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, Ambrose Bierce (which was actually on my list before, but now it gets a star),
Democracry in America, Alexis de Tocquerville,
not to mention that I still have to do my tour of Vonnegut himself.

What's unfortunate is that I do almost all of my pleasure reading on the bus between home & work. It's a twenty minute trip each way, and most days I spend about half of it talking to people. sigh.

[Manna]

amended - I think I might have read Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. I know that I know the story, but I'm not absolutely positive I've read it.

[DrJ]

Conversations with GOD,,,,,, An uncommon dialogue,,,,,,,, by Neale Donald Walsch

An very interesting look at what an actual conversation would involve with a being with every perspective from every angle on every issue in the world... I recommend to anyone trying to understand forgiveness and unconditional love.

excerpts;
Thank You for coming,,, Thank You for being here.
You are here by appointment, true, but still, you could have failed to show up. You could have decided not to. You chose instead to be here, at the appointed hour, at the appointed place, for this book to wind up in your hands.
So Thank You.

Lets start by causing you to notice that this book has arrived in your life at just the right and perfect time. You may not know that now but when you finish with the experience that is in store for you, you will know it absolutely. Everything happens in perfect order, and the arrival of this book in your life is no exception..

I had written an angry letter to GOD asking why my life had become such a monument to struggle and failure,,
My letter to GOD demanded to know why, and what it took to make life work.
To my astonishment the questions were answered and these books are what I heard..........