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gonzo chemist
climber
Fort Collins, CO
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Oct 15, 2012 - 11:20pm PT
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'Last Night in Twisted River' by John Irving. Just started this morning. Haven't read any Irving in a while....
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Guangzhou
Trad climber
Asia, Indonesia, East Java
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Oct 16, 2012 - 12:24am PT
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Spoon River Anthology: Headstone Epitaphs: of a small town names Spoon River. (Almost poems) Sporadic reading.
best Travel Essays of 2000: Bed time reading. Short essays that I can read one at a time before I kill the lights.
Started Early, Took My Dog. Kate Atkinson. I live overseas, so what ever book I find in English or french, I pick up and read the first couple chapters. If I like it, I continue, if not, I move on. (To many books to read to bother with those I don't enjoy.
Just Reread Climbing History of North America.
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Melissa
Gym climber
berkeley, ca
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Oct 18, 2012 - 11:17am PT
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Hi, Sully. Some people are gaga for Chabon's style. It's a little self-indulgent to me, like one day he wakes up and he's writing in hard-boiled crime voice, and the next he's Kerouac.
The first thing of his that I read was The Mysteries of Pittsburgh just after college when I'd moved here from Pittsburgh. It was hard to tell if it was good or not because I loved reading about college kids in my college town too much to care. Telegraph Ave. is my hoody hood these days, so my enjoyment of the book was highly biased.
I don't think I got 50 pages into Kavalier and Clay though. I just couldn't make myself care enough about comics, golems, or the characters he was presenting to keep engaging. Similarly, in Telegraph Ave. the author shows off for pages and pages with jazz, comics, and movie trivia that would kill me if it wasn't in another context that interested me. I didn't think I could go for a whole novel centered around baseball either, so I haven't tried the Art of Fielding.
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hossjulia
Social climber
Eastside (of the Tetons)
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Oct 18, 2012 - 12:24pm PT
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I picked up 2 classics at the thrift store for a buck each; Ulysses by James Joyce and Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe.
Thumbed through Ulysses and found it almost unreadable. Did I really see a sentence that was 10 pages long? I'll tackle it sometime this winter though.
Robinson Crusoe, while a little difficult to read since it was written in 1720, is an awesome book! The way the character explores his own character, and changes his patterns of thinking to be consciously happy with his lot seems to be the point of the book, intermingled with exciting adventure and immature observations of natural history. Wonderful!
Last year on this thread Woman Who Runs With Wolves was recommended by BooDawg. I had a copy for 5 years and could never get off the ground with it. I have a really hard time understanding what an 'archetype' is, or why I should try to compare myself to one. I found it a very obtuse book that did not make me feel good about being a woman. And I know I'm a wild one. Modern society is very hard for me and my instincts can be killer lethal, especially to myself!
Thoughts? I tried very hard to get through this book and understand it. It is the ONLY book thus far in my life I have failed at.
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Tobia
Social climber
Denial
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Oct 18, 2012 - 10:36pm PT
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The Fifties by D. Halbersham (as suggested by Guido), Rats by Richard Sullivan. Prior to those two books Eisenhower by Stephen Ambrose.
Rats is an interesting read, about one man's study of rats in some alleys in NYC. Interesting history of warriors in the battle of man vs rat, rat migration throughout the world, the plague and other interesting history.
I came here to look for something to read next. Kit Carson, maybe.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Oct 18, 2012 - 10:54pm PT
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Batrock, how's that Fremont do in the end? Pretty well, one-time presidential hopeful and all. There's hope for Mitt, after all.
And I liked the personality of Kit Carson, short and to the point.
I just got nailed for library fines today, but I got even.
Got a copy of Dog Walks Man/John Zeaman and one of Madonna anno domini/verse by Joshua Clover, which is the name of my old bitch German Shorthair, the wanderer. Bought them at the Friends of the Library used book store for one buck each, HC. Delighted!
"Lastly, who was I to broadcast all these regrets about wildness lost? I certainly wasn't wild. Not only was I ill-suited to survive in the wilderness. I wasn't even wild in the social sense. Not since we moved out of the loft in the city. Like Pete, I had heeded the call of the mild."--ch. 10, "Call of the Wild"/Dog Walks Man.
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telemon01
Trad climber
Montana
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Oct 21, 2012 - 08:20pm PT
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Just finished "Revelations" by Jerry Moffatt. Chapter 4- American Dreamer was great.
I thought it was super cool that he credited Mark Hudon as his inspiration for the first onsight lead of The Phoenix.
Great stories of the Gunks, Eldorado Canyon, Yosemite, Joshua Tree back in the eighties.
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Melissa
Gym climber
berkeley, ca
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Oct 24, 2012 - 10:33am PT
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Thanks for the tip!
Current listen = Mountains Beyond Mountains
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Oct 24, 2012 - 11:57am PT
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Just Ride - Grant Petersen
It's about bike riding from an "unracer" perspective. I'd like to write a climbing book along the same lines...
Speaking of living authors, sully, I just finished the new John Irving book, "In one Person" I think you'd find it interesting.
I'll try to Catch Fresh air today.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Oct 24, 2012 - 09:45pm PT
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I'd go see Wolfe in a second if I had the chance! Missed the interview though, distracted by a storm over Arches
Edit just listened to it on the web. Well there's another book'i'll have to read.
Fascinating interview. Interestingly enough I was thinking about the concept of "the cop stare" today, having encountered it at a coffee shop this morning.
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Melissa
Gym climber
berkeley, ca
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Oct 24, 2012 - 11:55pm PT
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So how was the interview?
I thought In One Person was trashy in the bad way, but not as bad as the tattoo book. I used to love JI, but the last two will definitely slow my pace to pick up his next offering.
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johnkelley
climber
Anchorage Alaska
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Oct 25, 2012 - 12:07am PT
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Check out A Single Wave by Web Chiles. Crazy stuff!
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robfritz
Trad climber
Pollock Pines, CA
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Oct 25, 2012 - 03:12am PT
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Currently reading:
The Rock Warriors Way-Arno Ilgner
A pretty good read so far but it's a lot of info and hard to get into.
The Bible- God's inspired word
Easily the best book on the market today, although a little long
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Oct 25, 2012 - 11:16am PT
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Trashy? Really? I don't see that. Maybe too much effort to be topical or something. Def more fourth hand than Hotel New Hampshire. I havn't read the tatoo book, couldn't get through son of the circus, though.
The interview was good. Wolfe always more natural and self- deprecating than I expect, pro ably based on the way he dresses and presents himself, which he poked fun at in the interview.
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MH2
climber
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Oct 25, 2012 - 07:24pm PT
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several
Ad Infinitum: A Biography of Latin, Nicholas Ostler
An Introduction to Morse Theory, Yukio Matsumoto
A Place So Foreign and 8 More, Cory Doctorow
A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush, Eric Newby
Spy Hook, Len Deighton
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jogill
climber
Colorado
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Oct 25, 2012 - 07:57pm PT
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They Kill Puppies Don't They? by Christopher Buckley. There is a priceless takeoff of Ann Coulter (who I adore!)
;>)
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Melissa
Gym climber
berkeley, ca
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Oct 25, 2012 - 08:15pm PT
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Jaybro: Irving's fascination with eroticizing molestation just killed both for me. I felt kind of scuzzy for even finishing Until I Find You.
The new Wolfe book has been downloaded to my phone, and hopefully will thrill me for a week of commutes and a fine weekend in the Park. :-)
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Oct 25, 2012 - 09:03pm PT
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I see what you mean,though I didn't read it that way. I had to think a bit to place the part you mean.
I get your point, glad you clarified.
Though it brings up other questions....
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Oct 26, 2012 - 03:53pm PT
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Good title, With a Finger in My I.
I read Club Dumas and that got me hooked on Perez-Reverte. The Seville Communion's considered his best. They're almost all good. This is the second time around on Fencing Master.
And neebee has sent me a copy of her book Steppingstones Through Jake's Ranch Vol IV.
Thanks, neebee, I'll get rolling on it after Oakdale. :O)
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Just finished Darwin's Ghosts. And would reccomend it. Kind of a Stephen key Gould type of thing, and a cautionary tale about reading those you aknowledge!
On to "Chi marathons"
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