- The Road by Cormac McCarthy - Ties together our Hemingway/Dog Stars books.
- Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy - His opus. Would make a great complementary read for The Son.
- The Painter by Peter Heller - Follow up to Dog Stars. I actually enjoyed this more.
- The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt - Philosophical musings and comedy from a pair of hired guns in the California Gold Country. Think Butch Cassidy meets Pulp Fiction.
- Any thing by Charles Portis, one of America's least known, best writers. You won't go wrong with True Grit (with an excellent intro from Donna Tartt), Norwood, or my personal favorite Gringos.
- Nobody Move by Denis Johnson - The National Book Award winner delivers a really fun and smart Hammett/Chandler style American crime novel.
- Young Men and Fire by Norman Maclean - Non-fiction from the author of A River Runs Through It documents the disaster surrounding a group of elite Smokejumpers dropped into a Western wildfire in 1949.
By the way, here's what's on my Summer agenda:
- The Son
- The Road
- The Old Man and the Sea
- Remember Me Like This by Brett Anthony Johnston
- Freaky Deaky by Elmore Leonard
- American Gods by Neil Gaiman
- Why Does the World Exist? by Jim Holt
- My Life in Middlemarch by Rebecca Mead
- Dissident Gardens by Jonathan Lethem
I'm typically a little ambitious and never stay committed to my original plan, but it's a good start. I'm excited about my choices. While you are here, post a comment below and let us know what you're reading (or planning to read) this Summer.
Currently reading "Cooked" by Michael Pollan. On page 89, and my mouth is watering for barbecue. It never occurred to me that humans are the only animal that cooks its food.
ReplyDeleteAnother Fathers Day present that is next on my reading list is: "Think like a Freak" by Levit and Dubner (authors of "Freakonomics").
Also reading "Little Green" by Walter Mosley. Another in the Easy Rawlins series, of which I am a fan.
Of course, I am planning to read "The Son" before September.
Dennis Noonan
Hey guys,, I was just wondering. Does anyone feel like this is the best summary of contemporary literary fiction they've ever seen?
ReplyDeletehttp://the-toast.net/2014/06/19/prestigious-literary-novel/
the comments on it are hilarious too.
I feel like, having read that post, I don't have to read half of what was on my summer reading list now...
Looking forward to The Son baby!
Productive summer reading wise. "Constellation of Vital Phenomena" by Anthony Marra. Truly an extraordinary book, and perfect for a book club. The writing is amazing, the characters compelling and very nuanced, and story is gut-wrenching. The writer is young, 29 ... makes is all the more impressive.
ReplyDeleteNow in the middle of "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr. Also great fiction... a slightly easier read than Constellation, but still a wonderful book.
Also... finished re-reading "Common Ground" by Anthony Lukas... originally read it in the mid-80's when it first came out (won the Pulitzer). However, now that I have lived in Boston for 30 years and have a few more gray hairs, I loved every page. While focusing on Busing, it tells a much wider story about urban America. Fascinating.
Interested in what everyone else has been or is reading...
MItchell
I loved Constellation and considered it for the group. However, I thought it was too similar to Orphan Masters Son and also Betty was covering in her book group.
DeleteOk, Following-up on "Dog Stars", I have recently re-read "This Perfect Day" by Ira Levin and "The Road" and, frankly, am not feeling too hopeful about the future. "The Road" reminded me of the movie "The Book of Eli." I know a lot of people in the group prefer historical non-fiction to futuristic visions of Mankind, but I find the past every bit as horrifying as the dystopian future. Anyway, these are great stories.
ReplyDeleteOn a different theme, loved "The Painter."
Glad you liked "The Painter". I'm almost finished with "The Road." Ready for something a little lighter.
DeleteTwo excellent novels this summer: Cinnamon and Gunpowder by Eli Brown. Takes place in 1819 on board a pirate ship after a chef is abducted. The characters of the chef and the pirate queen are superbly drawn and developed; the sea scenes, especially the detailed battle descriptions, are real "rip-roarers"; and the descriptions of Owen the chef preparing his meals, which have a similar purpose as Scheherazade's stories, is a special bonus. Terrific novel, great read. The other is Manuel Montalban's "The Buenos Aires Quintet", not a quintet of novels but of chapters and characters. His main character, a Spanish P.I. who features in a series that Montalban wrote, visits Argentina two decades after the military junta's overthrow. The book has a cool narrative structure, vivid characters, and treats the tragedy of "the disappeared" in a subtle but powerful way, as befits the "20 years after" setting. It too has a bonus - actually, food plays a big role here as the inspector is an avid chef, but the more prominent "extras" are the author's obvious infatuations with both Borges and tango.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to say that I won't be able to make the September Book Group, but I'm looking forward to reading The Son anyway. My summer reading has included quite a variety. I try to mix in "classics" (this summer's was "Don Quixote"), with nonfiction ("Finding Ultra"), quirky ("The Adventures of Kavalier & Clay"), and "everyone's talking about" books (currently reading "The Goldfinch"). I'm happy to say that I've enjoyed them all, although I had to be a little patient with "Don Quixote." Whenever I started to think "what now?" I just tried to step back and marvel at Cervantes' ability to spin out such a wide variety of stories, weaving together both tragedy and comedy. It's an impressive work.
ReplyDeleteI decided to go western this summer - as you know one of my favorite genres. I started with Philip Myers first book American Rust. Which I highly recommend. Before my immersion into The Son I read All the Pretty Horses, Blood Meridan and No Country for all Men. I finished The Son over vacation and just ripped thru The Painter which I recommend as a must read. Looking forward to switching genres to finish off my summer reading. Larry
ReplyDeleteLarry, try "We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves" Karen Joy Fowler. It wasn't on my "Must read" list and I thought it was just a "chick book" as my wife's book group is reading it. After glancing at a few pages I knew I was wrong. It's a remarkable novel, told by a master writer. Highly recommended.
DeleteIf you haven't read it yet, I strongly recommend Zane Grey's "Riders of the Purple Sage" - beautiful descriptions of the land, strong characters, interesting historical perspective on Utah history.
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ReplyDelete(sorry, was trying to find out how to make the link below clickable--couldn't figure it out. so just cut and paste it into a browser window....)
ReplyDeleteBook Club Brethren:
Looking forward to next week. Along wiith The Son, I spent the summer re-reading two of my favorite all time books, Bob Dylan's Chronicles, and Bertrand Russell's History of Western Philosophy (***understand Immanuel Kant in 8 pages!***)
Meantime, just saw this article re Meyers....looks like he has co-founded a company that will help authors/represent them in making novels into TV series. The Son is already in the works for AMC. Here is the article:
http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-new-venture-el-jefe-aims-to-bring-novelists-to-tv-20140904-story.html
See you next week.
Love,
Hates Work
I'm halfway through "The Son" which has been good, but easy to put down. Decided to take a break and read James Lee Burke "Wayfaring Stranger" (2 days). Hope to be finished by Wednesday with the Son. BTW I notice there is another current novel titled "The Son" by Joe Nesbo - probably another dark psycho killer thriller. I'll wait a while on that one.
ReplyDelete