What Was the Last Book You Read?

[Laura N]

I just finished The Goldfinch, which I had been reading off and on for about 13 months. I do consider it Dickensian, not least in how I read it, which was in installments. Trying to read the whole 700-something pages at once wouldn't have worked for me, but dipping in every once in a while was pure pleasure. I think it's a very entertaining and enjoyable book. But it's probably most satisfying if you are very interested in art, and you are okay with books that are not portentous or serious. It's not a book full of moral lessons about "the way we live now," rendered in tight, beautiful prose. It's fun and zingy and has plot holes you could run a truck through. Also it's almost 800 pages long, so not for everyone.

[RuiFromUK]

New Tea Lover's Treasury by James Norwood Pratt. Very interesting historic tea facts that most people are not aware of.

[sharmon202]

I just finished The Goldfinch, which I had been reading off and on for about 13 months. I do consider it Dickensian, not least in how I read it, which was in installments. Trying to read the whole 700-something pages at once wouldn't have worked for me, but dipping in every once in a while was pure pleasure. I think it's a very entertaining and enjoyable book. But it's probably most satisfying if you are very interested in art, and you are okay with books that are not portentous or serious. It's not a book full of moral lessons about "the way we live now," rendered in tight, beautiful prose. It's fun and zingy and has plot holes you could run a truck through. Also it's almost 800 pages long, so not for everyone.

I read The Goldfinch in a week driving to and from, over Christmas vacation. I had not thought of "Dickensian" but it fits. Where did this author get the detail and description of the drug scene, as well about art? This gave me another view, or explanation, of how kids go bad. I know there are parents that bad out there. I still occasionally think about this story and never did like the painting even though it was kind of explained at the end. I doubt I will ever forget this book and that is saying something for me. I read a lot and most are quite forgettable

[akapulko2020]

I've finished another Adam Dalgliesh and another Ian Ruthledge book. Pretty enjoyable reads, both of them

[ethernautrix]

Since my first trip to Wrocław right after the Poland Pen Show (2013), I have fallen in love with this city and so started delving into its history. I've been reading about its last months as Breslau (German at the time), the last Nazi fortress to fall in May 1945. Thus, in addition to some unrelated fiction (some re-reading - I love my Kindle), I've read Gregor Thum's UPROOTED and Leonard Gross's THE LAST JEWS IN BERLIN. I'm looking for an English translation of Maria hrabina von Maltzan's memoir, BIJ W WERBEL I NIE LĘKAJ SIĘ (translated as "beat on the snare and do not be afraid"). She sounds like a remarkable woman, born in aristocracy in now-Polish Milicz (about 60 km north of here, so I'm planning a bike ride up in warmer weather) who helped many Jews and "non-Aryans" escape Berlin. I bought the Gross book, because a Google search on Maria von Maltzan brought it up (I can't read the hardbound Polish edition now somewhere in this apartment, but I've been told about her life), and this book makes me want to learn more about her and her incredible character. Very powerful. In addition to the stories of how these several individuals interviewed for the book survived as Jews having gone underground in Berlin during WWII. Harrowing tales.

As for the re-reads, I enjoyed Peter Farrelly's THE COMEDY WRITER again. I love this book. I read it the first time in 1998, and... AAGH! It's so good - and funny. But at some points in the story, it's as if someone in the room has starting chopping onions, if you know what I mean.

About to re-read Tom Wolfe's BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES. Was watching an English or American program about Louis XV last night, except in Poland, all foreign language programs are narrated by one guy, the lektor. He narrates and speaks all the dialogue, and all the original dialogue is muted. What an asshole. Hahaha, just kidding. Anyway, there was a scene of Louis XV mandating that books be burnt, and I thought of the (original) Bonfire of the Vanities (Renaissance Italy), and then I remembered Tom Wolfe's book and thought, huh, maybe I should read it again.

But I also downloaded (free!) more than a dozen free memoirs and biographies of the Louises XIV, XV, XVI and a couple of the Borgias. So I'm not sure which will grab my attention first.

[VertOlive]

"And we came out, once more, to see the stars."

Done with the Inferno and safely home fom Hell...


Next up: Dante's Purgatorio

On the Kindle: Tartt's The Goldfinch after becoming entranced by the sample (thanks Sandy!)

[Cob]

Crime!

As I have already written, I do not read anything written after about 1950 or thereabouts, so deep joy for yours truly on finally discovering an author I really like, one who began more or less near the end of the "golden age": Cyril Hare. I have read An English Murder and Where the Wind Blows which were both all right - I warmed to the author's lovely English. However I have just read Tragedy at Law, judged to be his best - it is excellent: not only is there the superb English style to appreciate, there is excellent "light touch" humour to be found too.

I have just ordered another two.

Cob

[Laura N]

Crime!

As I have already written, I do not read anything written after about 1950 or thereabouts, so deep joy for yours truly on finally discovering an author I really like, one who began more or less near the end of the "golden age": Cyril Hare. I have read An English Murder and Where the Wind Blows which were both all right - I warmed to the author's lovely English. However I have just read Tragedy at Law, judged to be his best - it is excellent: not only is there the superb English style to appreciate, there is excellent "light touch" humour to be found too.

I have just ordered another two.

Cob

That takes me back! I remember enjoying his mysteries With a Bare Bodkin and Death is No Sportsman. I wonder if the paperbacks are still in my old room in my parents' house.

[akapulko2020]

Crime!

As I have already written, I do not read anything written after about 1950 or thereabouts, so deep joy for yours truly on finally discovering an author I really like, one who began more or less near the end of the "golden age": Cyril Hare. I have read An English Murder and Where the Wind Blows which were both all right - I warmed to the author's lovely English. However I have just read Tragedy at Law, judged to be his best - it is excellent: not only is there the superb English style to appreciate, there is excellent "light touch" humour to be found too.

I have just ordered another two.

Cob

That sounds just like (one of ) my cups of tea! But seems to be unavailable for purchase for Kindle at least via the app. Will try to look for it later

[akapulko2020]

Just started C.S. Lewis's "Screwtape Letters" . So far so funny,and that's with me probably missing quite some references , as non Christian etc.

[Dreck]

Just started C.S. Lewis's "Screwtape Letters" . So far so funny,and that's with me probably missing quite some references , as non Christian etc.

That is a good one. Of you enjoy it, you might give his "The Great Divorce" a try. IMO that's probably his best work. "The Problem Of Pain" is very good also, but more theological than entertaining.

[VertOlive]

Just started C.S. Lewis's "Screwtape Letters" . So far so funny,and that's with me probably missing quite some references , as non Christian etc.

My lecturer on The Inferno mentioned that CS Lewis patterned the names of the devils in the book after Dante's names used in The Inferno meaning for them to have a slightly comic flavor...

[velo]

A Brief History Of Seven Killings by Marlon James. Tough content. I like it.

The Book Of Strange New Things by Michel Faber. A Christian pastor is sent to work with aliens in a neighbouring galaxy. Too interesting to ignore for me.

The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell. A popular author but I've never been captivated. Perhaps this will be different.

Deep: Freediving, Renegade Science, and What the Ocean Tells Us about Ourselves by James Nestor. This reminded me of one of my favourite movies growing up The Big Blue.

[Potter]

Currently working steadily and slowly through Richard Burtons A Secret Pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, 1879 edition, bit heavy going and quite different from my last book, Oath of Fealty by Elizabeth Moon, dipping my toes into a fantasy book.

[Avalona]

Edward Hallowell - Driven to Distraction. I've recently begun treatment for ADHD and I'm trying to read as much as I can about it. This is one of the classics on the disorder.

[Lady Onogaro]

Just finished listening to The Last Kind Words Saloon by Larry McMurtry. I just finished reading the new Ian Rutledge mystery, A Fine Summer's Day. Just started Moriarity by Anthony Horowitz.

[VertOlive]

Finished: The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. This one really captured my imagination!

[Sketchy]

One of my favorite books of all time is The Agony and the Ecstasy: A Biographical Novel of Michelangelo by Irving Stone. I first read it at the age of fourteen, a year of political and religious change for me. This book and a few others had their affect on my thinking at the time. I've read the book a few times over the years, enough that the binding is really showing its age.

I've just finished re-reading the book, this time as an audiobook. It has always been interesting to see what resonates differently at different ages, now I find it's interesting to hear the familiar story in another voice.

As I look through the posts above I'm finding others have enjoyed some of the books I've read, The Goldfinch kept my attention, and lots of books I need to find time for. Great thread!

[fountainpenkid]

The book that ends: "Who knows, but that, on lower frequencies, I speak for you?"

[velo]

One of my favorite books of all time is The Agony and the Ecstasy: A Biographical Novel of Michelangelo by Irving Stone. I first read it at the age of fourteen, a year of political and religious change for me...

Loved this book. I also read it as young fella and reread it over the years. Because of your post I'm going to look for a new copy now as I lent mine to someone but never received it back.