I'm waiting a friend of mine to finish Devil in the White City so I can borrow it and read it. Anyone here read it? Reviews?
Yup. It is really good. Until you get to the end (the end doesn't ruin the book or anything it's just.....) Though, given the subject matter he deals in, you sometimes find yourself needing a contrivance to pull it all together.
I remember reading The Stand a long time ago. If someone sneezed near me, I dove on the floor. Chilling. Read Dark Alliance.
Recently finished Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief. Real interesting read. Discusses Lincoln's relationship and frustration with the Union generals; his hands on involvement in war matters, testing of weapons, visiting the troops, etc. If you like history its a great book.
The Steig Larsson Trilogy is fantastic The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo The Girl who Played with Fire The Girl who kicked the Hornets nest
Currently halfway through "The Dante Club", its a challenge but I like it. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FBFMUW/ref=docs-os-doi_0 Talk about high concept: in Pearl's debut novel, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes and James Russell Lowell team up with 19th-century publisher J.T. Fields to catch a serial killer in post-Civil War Boston. It's the fall of 1865, and Harvard University, the cradle of Bostonian intellectual life, is overrun by sanctimonious scholars who turn up their noses at European literature, confining their study to Greek and Latin. Longfellow and his iconoclastic crew decide to produce the first major American translation of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. Their ambitious plans are put on hold when they realize that a murderer terrorizing Boston is recreating some of the most vivid scenes of chthonic torment in Dante's Inferno. Since knowledge of the epic is limited to rarefied circles in 19th-century America, the "Dante Club" decides the best way to clear their own names is to match wits with the killer. The resulting chase takes them through the corridors of Harvard, the grimy docks of Boston Harbor and the subterranean labyrinths of the metropolis. It also gives Pearl an excellent opportunity to demonstrate that he's done his history homework. The detective story is well plotted, and Pearl's recreation of the contentious world of mid-19th-century academia is engrossing, even though some of its more ambitious elements like an examination of intellectual hypocrisy and insularity in the Ivy League are somewhat clunky. There are, as well, some awkward attempts to replicate 19th-century prose ("But for Holmes the triumph of the club was its union of interests of that group of friends whom he felt most fortunate to have"). Still, this is an ambitious and often entertaining thriller that may remind readers of Caleb Carr.
My favorite author, but that one was my least favorite of his collection. Maybe it'll be better now that I'm older...
I've only read that and Player Piano, and absolutely loved them both. Which of his would you recommend I go for next?
SK never was much of a closer. I always dreamed he would revisit "The Stand" with direct sequel, which could be awesome -- but disastorous as well. I have a feeling he might do it -- not that he needs the money -- but, good or bad, a sequel to "The Stand" would sell sell sell
Fantastic book bought it when I was on hol in Sept and its a real page turner also as I am history nerd its a good read on both levels
Nice, re-reading PP right now:up: Breakfast of Champions is a classic...I'd hit that one up next. Hocus Pocus, Timequake, Cat's Cradle, and Slapstick are some of my faves.
Just finishing the last couple of Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain. Good, quick read, but quite honestly, I was expecting a little funnier. Still pretty enjoyable.
The Battle for Late Night is really good for anyone interested in the Conan/Leno fiasco or the behind the scenes stuff of show business in general, specifically the real business component. Very interesting stuff.
I am a very big Vonnegut fan, and in my opinion Cat's Cradle is by far his best book. The Sirens of Titan is also great, and for something different, Welcome to the Monkey House is a collection of short stories. He graded his own work in the book Palm Sunday as follows: Player Piano: B The Sirens of Titan: A Mother Night: A Cat's Cradle: A-plus God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater: A Slaughterhouse-Five: A-plus Welcome to the Monkey House: B-minus Happy Birthday, Wanda June: D Breakfast of Champions: C Slapstick: D Jailbird: A Palm Sunday: C I'd say this is a pretty fair assessment, and shows that his stuff from the 1970s on is at best pretty uneven (the grades are compared to himself, not compared to all authors).
