104 replies to this topic

[Alexandra]

Justdoit -- I noticed that, but, although it's technically possible to move one post from a thread to another, I'm afraid to chance it.  It's also very easy to delete everything when you're doing it   So we'll just think that you enjoy staying in touch with your inner child

[grace]

i admire you all,  but i can't contribute, as i no longer read! shock-horror! well - i no longer read NON-fiction. that's more the truth...

Jaana Heino: ~  enjoy!!

[grace]

ed waffle - i think it was 'magister (rather than 'magistrar') ludi' - please tell me if i am wrong, as i haven't thought about this book for many years? i too remember enjoying that (to a lesser degree than 'siddhartha').

[dirac]

It is "Magister Ludi," grace.  Ed's comments remind me of high school, which is when I remember seeing all those Hesse paperbacks, although the vogue for him started much earlier.  I didn't get him, but I give myself no credit for precocious good taste.  I remember being wowed by Henry Miller at about the same age.  

I'm glad we were able to guide you to Karen Kain's book, Justdoit.  I had never been specially interested in her and initially went to the book looking for Nureyev info, but I found the whole book a good read.  Great pictures, too. I wish more publishers would realize how essential those are to a successful dance book.

[Alexandra]

If you've been following this forum and wondered what happened to the posts on the Red Tent, I've split them off and started another thread.

Perhaps at this point, since we've all posted our reading lists, if we have one particular book that we're reading, it could be a new topic -- that would encourage discussion of that book, and more people would notice that the discussion is ongoing.

[Alexandra]

If you've been following this forum and wondered what happened to the posts on the Red Tent, I've split them off and started another thread.

Perhaps at this point, since we've all posted our reading lists, if we have one particular book that we're reading, it could be a new topic -- that would encourage discussion of that book, and more people would notice that the discussion is ongoing.

[BW]

I have just received two copies of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - one is the British edition, the other is from the USA. Initially I'd heard there were differences between the two...at least in earlier books...but so far these two seem to be the same.

I am thinking of reading Seabiscuit and will have to scroll back through this thread to see if anyone else has commented upon it.

Unfortunately the Da Vinci Code just doesn't seem like my cup of tea.   On the other hand, I loved Umberto Ecco's The Name of the Rose, which was filled with its own cryptic/religous mysteries.

[Cristina]

I couldn't resist what everyone said about the DaVinci Code.  I picked it up before I left to take my DD to her SI.  I read it on the plane both directions, and every moment I was not messing with getting my daughter settled.  It what everyone promised it would be.  I'm nearly finished, and it is really hard to put down.

My DD is reading the new HP (Harry Potter) book when she takes a break from the many social activities at her SI.  When she gets back, I will start it.  She tells me there are many new characters.  My sister said she is making a list of all the new characters so she can keep them straight.

Until then I am picking up an old one - At Home in Mitford.  Somehow I missed this book its first time around.

I don't know how much more varied (and light) a reading list can get - but I suppose that is what one should do over the summer.

Cristina

[Ed Waffle]

Quote

Originally posted by BW

I am thinking of reading Seabiscuit and will have to scroll back through this thread to see if anyone else has commented upon it.

Both my wife and I thought Seabiscuit was a delightful book and one well worth reading. It is full of different types and classes of people overcoming adversity, but is not told in  a saccharine way at all.

The thread that holds the stories together, of course, is the thoroughbred Seabiscuit. The resonse to him was electric--those who owned, trained, rode and groomed him, the bettors at the tracks and even men and women who never went to a track. He was a real celebrity during the depression.

Extremely well researched and beautifully written, with more than one tear-jerking scene, including the reaction of Seabiscuit's owner when the horse died.

[BW]

Thanks Ed, I thought it looked like a book I'd really enjoy. It's on my list, after my Harry Potter tome!

[Farrell Fan]

"Seabiscuit" is a wonderful book, and the current issue of The New Yorker (July 7) has a "Personal History" by its author, Laura Hillenbrand, that puts her great achievement into perspective. She suffers from chronic fatigue syndrome and the article, "A Sudden Illness," is a harrowing account of the onset of her illness, the difficulties in getting it diagnosed, and her struggle to write the book and go on living. It's brilliant and very moving.

[Treefrog]

I very much enjoyed Seabiscuit -- a book I doubt I'd have found were it not for the recommendations here.  I did think it dragged on a bit -- I found my enthusiasm waning, even though there is a bit of suspense toward the end.  Nevertheless, I encourage you to check it out, BW.  

BTW, the movie is going to be released in, I think, the fall.

As for the varying versions of Harry Potter -- I noticed that the American version includes MUCH more Brit-speak than previous volumes.  "Trainers" for "sneakers", that sort of thing.  I am glad about this; those of us raised on earlier British kids' literature managed to muddle through and were possibly even enriched by learning that a hood is a bonnet,  a diaper is a nappy, and a flashlight is a torch.  I always thought having an Americanized version sort of "dumbed down" the book, culturally speaking.

[vagansmom]

I gave up on The Red Tent about 150 pages into it. I decided I just plain didn't like it. So I've started Life of Pi and am enjoying it very much. I don't recall that anyone mentioned it in this thread. Several friends have recommended it to me.

Another book just handed to me by a friend is called Three Junes . I'd not heard of it till now.

[LMCtech]

I just finfished a book of essays on Mozart's Don Giovanni and I am now reading the new Harry Potter. I know....

[glebb]

I just finished Isadora Duncan's "My Life" and have just started "Narcissus and Goldmund" by Hermann Hesse.  It must be ten years since I last read it.    

I'm still waiting for "Ballet or Ballyhoo" by Barbara Barker to arrive in the mail, so if it is not here when I finish the Hesse I might read "The Agony and the Ecstasy" by Irving Stone.  I loved that one fifteen years ago and would like to re-read it.