Two of my own top tier favorites as well!Originally Posted by variable
Re: What Was the Last Book You Read?
Two of my own top tier favorites as well!
"Nolo esse salus sine vobis ...” —St. Augustine
Re: What Was the Last Book You Read?
Just finished "Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd" by Alan Bradley.
Lady Onogaro
"Be yourself--everybody else is already taken." --Oscar Wilde
VertOlive (December 14th, 2016)
Re: What Was the Last Book You Read?
The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber. Strand Bookstore (NYC) staff pick. Beautifully written!
Lady Onogaro (October 26th, 2016)
Re: What Was the Last Book You Read?
Should I read it if I've only seen the movie?
It's entertaining and slightly rambling but you need not have read The Shining.
fountainpenkid (October 16th, 2016)
Re: What Was the Last Book You Read?
The last book I read was Inferno by Dan Brown. Currently reading the light between oceans by M L Steadman.
Lady Onogaro (October 26th, 2016)
Re: What Was the Last Book You Read?
Pompeii by Robert Harris. Historical novel written from the point of view of a Roman aquaduct engineer. Full of fascinating technical details about aquaduct construction mixed in with Pliny's attempt to rescue survivors. Also the best description of the volcano's eruption I've ever read.
Last edited by VertOlive; November 6th, 2016 at 08:44 PM.
"Nolo esse salus sine vobis ...” —St. Augustine
fountainpenkid (October 27th, 2016), Lady Onogaro (October 26th, 2016)
Re: What Was the Last Book You Read?
The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe by Kij Johnson.
Last edited by Lady Onogaro; October 26th, 2016 at 08:43 PM.
Lady Onogaro
"Be yourself--everybody else is already taken." --Oscar Wilde
Re: What Was the Last Book You Read?
That's easy. The Small Change series (Farthing, Half-a-Crown, Ha'Penny) by Jo Walton. Also The Woman in Black by Susan Hill.
Lady Onogaro
"Be yourself--everybody else is already taken." --Oscar Wilde
VertOlive (October 29th, 2016)
Re: What Was the Last Book You Read?
Stone - Adam Roberts. Not recommended, decent scifi premise but fairly crappy writing. Prior to that was Dickens' Pickwick Papers, which was much fun.
Re: What Was the Last Book You Read?
Currently in the midst of Watchmen
Re: What Was the Last Book You Read?
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh. Loved this book so much for so many reasons.
"Nolo esse salus sine vobis ...” —St. Augustine
Re: What Was the Last Book You Read?
Interesting. That's the one of his I thought was quite subpar, and actually his own assessment of it after the fact was dismal - he wrote in a letter that he reread it "and was appalled," lol. What was it that you liked?
Re: What Was the Last Book You Read?
I can't remember which one of these two books I actually managed to finish first.
Blindsight by Peter Watts has an interesting premise, but in the end I found the book faintly disappointing.
The Pendragon Protocol by Phil Purser-Hallard also has an interesting premise. I suspect I am not familiar enough with classic Arthurian stories to "get" all the nuances of this story, but it was an enjoyable enough read to get me to start the sequel. I should admit that I am acquainted with the author, but not well enough for him to have given me a free copy
Re: What Was the Last Book You Read?
An excellent volcano book............Krakatoa by Simon Winchester. A story & facts all in one.
Sandy
We don't know what we don't know
Re: What Was the Last Book You Read?
"Max" A biography of Sir Max Beerbohm, by Lord David Cecil.
Next up, some of the "incomparable Max's" writings.
Cob
Re: What Was the Last Book You Read?
I just finished Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson. I highly recommend it. It's very beautiful.
Lady Onogaro
"Be yourself--everybody else is already taken." --Oscar Wilde
Re: What Was the Last Book You Read?
Raisins and Almonds, by Kerry Greenwood, a murder mystery of sorts, set in Melbourne between the wars. One thing I like about Kerry Greenwood is that she appears to be using her occupation as a writer to educate herself and, in due course, her readers.
In some books she uses bits and pieces by the American poet Wallace Stevens as epigraph material, and she does it so seductively that I may yet find myself having a second look. He was a little too much for my undergraduate self, but I am no longer in college and nobody will punish me if I have a good time without doing exactly what the grownups wanted from me so many years ago.
Re: What Was the Last Book You Read?
Waugh is one of my absolute favourites, though perhaps not this one. It is undoubtedly powerful.
Being a "lightweight" my favourites are Put Out More Flags, Black Mischief, Scoop and Decline & Fall. On a more serious note I love Work Suspended.
Many of the short stories are excellent. The Balance is very experimental and interesting.
Cob
VertOlive (December 14th, 2016)
Re: What Was the Last Book You Read?
Decline & Fall is fabulous!!
I've been keeping myself occupied lately, nose in book, and over the past week and a half have finished The Black Shrike and The Satan Bug by Alistair MacLean, Robinson Crusoe, Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë, and am now on to The Professor by Charlotte, though it is definitely not up to her later standards when she actually got published. I still have to acquire Shirley, and then my Brontë reading will be complete!
Cob (November 20th, 2016)
Re: What Was the Last Book You Read?
Just finished The Girl of His Dreams by Donna Leon and The Gentleman by Forrest Leo. Now reading Born a Crime by Trevor Noah (it's wonderful).
Lady Onogaro
"Be yourself--everybody else is already taken." --Oscar Wilde
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