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| mitty |
 Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2010 10:53 am |
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Joined: 02 Aug 2004
Posts: 1359
Location: Way Down Yonder.......
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I seem to recall there is at least one wreck of a German U-Boats still out there, in fact as close as right in the Gulf of Mexico. You probably know this from editing those books [fascinating!], but here is a link talking about the Gulf specifically. http://www.gomr.mms.gov/homepg/regulate/environ/archaeological/world_war_II.html
I'm reading Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters, we only picked it up to begin with because a friend of ours is writing a book in a similar style.
It's a great idea, prose poetry telling a story of a group of people, dead people told from their own experience, by themselves. From their local cemetery. Spoon River Anthology |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2010 10:59 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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| I haven't thought about "Spoon River Anthology" since college days. And I can't help getting the "Moon River" tune on my mind. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2010 8:52 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12902
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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Starting in on China Miéville's Kraken, which begins with a tour of the Darwin Centre at the Natural History Museum in London, ending with the discovery that one of their giant squid is missing. This one is twenty-four feet long and in a nine-meter tall tank containing thousands of liters of fluid, and all of this is missing, which is impossible. For the first few chapters, Miéville's playing straight, his locations are real, and the squid is the one nicknamed Archie. I know from the dustjacket and other Miéville novels that he's not going to keep playing straight: "For curator Billy Harrow it's the start of a warring cults, surreal magic, apostates and assassins." That sounds more like China Miéville.
And the people in the science fiction club thought I made up the Sacred Squid of Armenia. |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2010 8:56 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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I wish people would stop telling me about books I never heard of that I now really want to read. I've already decided I'm going to have to read the other C. J. Sansom books, now that I've been charmed by the hunchbacked lawyer Shardlake. (As I've said many times before, so many books, so little time...)
The description of "Kraken" brings to mind a series of books I've proofread for Ballantine, by Naomi Novik. The first is "His Majesty's Dragon," which sets up the continuing story of Captain Lawrence and his dragon, the headstrong Temeraire, in the wars against Napoleon (who also has dragons--they're like the British and French air forces). The books are wonderfully written in Regency style, and I'm glad I get to proofread them because I'd never have noticed them otherwise. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2010 9:51 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12902
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| I've heard good things about that series. |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| yambu |
| Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2010 11:18 pm |
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Joined: 23 May 2004
Posts: 6441
Location: SF Bay Area
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Last edited by yambu on Thu Jul 08, 2010 11:20 pm; edited 1 time in total
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| yambu |
| Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2010 11:18 pm |
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Joined: 23 May 2004
Posts: 6441
Location: SF Bay Area
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The March by E. L. Doctorow is the fictional account of Gen. Sherman's 600-mile walk of rape and ruin through Georgia and the Carolinas. It takes a full-length novel for the reader to grasp the panorama of destruction, and the ruination of so many lives, both black and white.
Doctorow paints Sherman as a fascinating character, the proud West Pointer in love with his job, but who could go to pieces if he thought his nemisis Johnston was getting the better of him. |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2010 10:35 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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| I proofread a biography of Sherman once and that was enough for me. Being from South Carolina, I view him as a villain. War is hell, indeed. |
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| lshap |
| Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2010 11:31 am |
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Joined: 12 May 2004
Posts: 4246
Location: Montreal
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| The March was a very good read, a more straightforward story than his mythic Ragtime even with Doctorow's distinct writing style. Sherman and a few lesser known officers and assorted characters play very crucial roles in this book. But I'm not sure how interesting it would be for anyone unfamiliar with the US Civil War. |
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| Marj |
| Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2010 1:49 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 10497
Location: Manhattan
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| I'm not sure either but I love Doctorow, either way. Ragtime is my favorite Doctorow and even though it takes place in my hometown during an era, I personally love, it was still difficult to get into. I must have begun it twoor three times, before he swept me into his world. Of course once he did, I was hooked for life. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2010 8:00 am |
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The only Doctorow novel I've read is Billy Bathgate and that was enough for me. His penchant for describing things in detail, like the patterns on the hotel room curtains and other such trivia was really annoying. I like sharp writing without silly frills that are of no interest and no purpose. "Faded flowered curtains, rickety writing table and drab beige walls," that's enough description for me. In this book he seems to be determined to move a a slow pace. I don't know about his others.
A story about Dutch Schultz and that era should move along briskly without a Victorian veneer.
No doubt, he is a fine writer, but I think he is too much in love with his writing. |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2010 9:46 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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| In college, I bought all four "Alexandria Quartet" paperbacks and started reading the first one. I gave it up after about six pages of description of the sun shining on white walls. Laurence Durrell was obviously a great writer but I knew I wasn't going to make it through four books of that kind of thing. Maybe someday I'll try again--but there are too many other books now that interest me more. |
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| lshap |
| Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2010 5:54 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 12 May 2004
Posts: 4246
Location: Montreal
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I've only read two Doctorow books, Ragtime and March, and thought both of them moved ahead without excessive, flowery prose. Doctorow tells a great story, juggling multiple story lines with the best of them. He also has that odd style of explaining what the characters are saying rather than having them speak dialogue with conventional quotation marks. It seemed weird when I first read Ragtime, but I got used to it and the story flowed perfectly.
Saw the film, Billy Bathgate, never read the book. |
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| Marj |
| Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2010 9:39 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 10497
Location: Manhattan
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Well Lorne, if you've read Ragtime, you have a pretty good picture of the town I grew up in. If you remember it takes place, at least partially, in New Rochelle, NY.
Hey Gary, are you back in Winnipeg? Either way, it's good to see you posting again. |
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| yambu |
| Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2010 11:03 pm |
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Joined: 23 May 2004
Posts: 6441
Location: SF Bay Area
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Marj wrote: Well Lorne, if you've read Ragtime, you have a pretty good picture of the town I grew up in. If you remember it takes place, at least partially, in New Rochelle, NY....... |
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