Books: What are you reading tonight?

[sarahbellum]

I just finished two books and I would highly recommend them both.

The first is Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly. It was a little slow at the start, but quickly turned into a highly entertaining read. I definitely won't be ordering seafood at a restaurant on a Monday from now on, after reading this.

The second is Maiden Voyage by Tania Aebi. It is a really amazing story of an 18 year old girl who becomes the first American woman and the youngest person to sail alone around the world. Think about that: sailing around the world, alone! I could hardly put it down and read it in two sittings. It's a very inspiring read.

Not quite sure what I will be reading next, but I'll definitely peruse this thread for ideas.

[Kimbell175113]

Just picked up Miranda July's short story collection No One Belongs Here More than You on the strength of her film, which I just recently saw, and also the book's awesome website.

[Blarg]

Kitchen Confidential is great. Try his follow-ups, A Cook's Tour, and he's got another one or two out there. I just finished a collection of his short pieces that was fun too. And of course his blogs are always great.

[GeraldGiraffe]

I'm reading Desire Under The Elms by Eugene O'neill and quite a lot of romantic poetry at the moment.

I think Long Day's Journey into Night is better though.

[SoloAJ]

I just finished "The Mist" by Stephen King. I would recommend this, though I'm a poorly qualified horror writing critic.

The atmosphere in this novella is pretty amazing. King somehow manages to over explain everything and rather than it get annoying, it really adds to the atmosphere and lets your imagination run with it. I was able to really picture the mood of the story and see a "movie version" in my mind.

There is a "radio show" type of program I'm going to listen to based off of the story. And of course, there is the Darabont movie version coming out in November.

Whatever, I recommend this to anyone who wants a good eerie story for a night. I haven't read enough Lovecraft to compare it to, but I have trouble imagining that there are too many better horror stories that paint the atmosphere so well (This of course simply means I'm in for a treat once good horror recommendations come rolling in).

Has anyone else read "The Mist" and have some comments?

[rothko]

the eyre affair jasper fforde

[Blarg]

Horror is at least half atmosphere. The monsters themselves can be almost arbitrary, and sometimes you don't even need a monster.

I enjoyed King's earlier works, but then they started losing a lot of punch, and I eventually just got fed up. I think he still has some power when doing short stories, though. His first collection, Night Shift, had some really great stories, and even the lesser ones, some of which were pretty silly, were done very well. I've read a rare short story here and there which was more recent, and he seemed to be okay.

I'd recommend picking up some of the yearly collection of horror short stories. I've come across a whole lot of gems in those. The Mammoth Collection of New Horror is one of them. Also, if you've never read the first Clive Barker stuff, he did a series of story collections called The Books of Blood, and a lot of the stories were quite inventive and pretty good. Two well-regarded anthologies are Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural, and The Dark Descent. Both are available on Amazon. And of course, read plenty of H.P. Lovecraft if you haven't already. And Dennis Etchison can hit or miss, but is a very talented writer and is a stunner when he's at his best. Some of the stories in Red Dreams were fantastic, and sometimes very melancholy and lonely. They're worth reading despite the variety of the quality between stories, just to see someone trying to do something really excellent, and occasionally knocking one out of the park.

[Enrique]

Just finished "Cryptonomicon". I liked it a lot, I already bought "Quicksilver" to continue reading Stephenson. So many things in the book are pretty cool, being a mathematician (with a focus on number theory), my favorite parts where the ones involving Lawrence Waterhouse. I like how the narrative changes depending on who is the main character in the section.

[Blarg]

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Right now I'm reading A Pickpockets Tale about the life of a NYC pickpocket during the mid to late 1800's. It's an interesting book.


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What did you think when you finished it? It sounds interesting. Seems like it would be a very unnerving thing to have to try to get away with.

[SoloAJ]

Blarg, thanks a ton for the recommendations. I'm trying to use this month to get some horror reading in since after Halloween passes, I'm sure I won't care quite as much to read the stuff until the thickness of depressing winter sets in. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]