Thanks for the comment in the group "What are you reading now?" I am thoroughly enjoying Revolutionary Road, I can't put the book down. I think I have about 45 pages left. Yes, most movies don't measure up to he book. But if the movie is an academy award potential, I want to have read the book. The language is so rich, and flows so smoothly.

posted by jglassow at 12:45 am (EST) on Jul 4, 2008

Glad you liked it!

The other relatively short novel that I am currently raving about is The Story of a Marriage. Have you read it? Doesn't have the humor o DAA, but it every word counts and it has great insights into human nature. Also has some unforeseen plot twists...

posted by alphaorder at 11:01 am (EST) on Jun 29, 2008

Well, I have Netherland too, so I will move it up based on your rec.

posted by alphaorder at 10:13 am (EST) on Jun 24, 2008

Rebecca,

Have you read Dear American Airlines yet? I see it is in your library. If you haven't, I urge you to go start reading it NOW. It will have you laughing out loud and getting teary eyed all in the smae book. It is short, but I think very well done. To me, this often means that every word written is given consideration.

What you have read and loved lately? The other book I am trying to spread word about is The Story of a Marriage. Highly recommend.

N

posted by alphaorder at 7:48 am (EST) on Jun 24, 2008

Hello--I love your library! A good mix of things I know and things I don't. On one of the talk threads I saw you recommend "The Straight and Narrow Path"--I found a copy on Bookmooch and am looking forward to it.

posted by Medellia12 at 1:09 pm (EST) on Apr 3, 2008

Rebecca -

A publicist at Random House receommended The Story of Forgetting to me last week so I found a galley and started reading it immediately (don't know how I missed it on LT until now, but...) It is amazing. I saw that you were thinking about picking it up after Terri and Louis were talking about it. It goes on sale today - I urge you to get a copy and strt it right away. You won't regret it!

Nancy

posted by alphaorder at 7:35 am (EST) on Apr 1, 2008

Just got a note from Terri (teelgee). She is taking our rec.

Nancy

posted by alphaorder at 8:05 am (EST) on Mar 28, 2008

Rebecca,

I agree about "What's for Dinner?" I saw teelgee's request for you to tell her more, but I am not sure how to discribe this book. I think hse would trust the two of us if we said just read it, don't you?!

Anwyay, did you get it from their moving sale? I picked up a few books there, but more from our bookstore. I haven't looked at your library to see if you have read Troubles yet. I have The Summer Book, which should be out soon, if it is not already, and of course about 10 more of the series to read. I just love (and trust) them.

posted by alphaorder at 10:45 pm (EST) on Mar 27, 2008

Rebecca,

I saw you just finished What's for Dinner? I read it a few weeks ago and have found that is has really stuck with me. I guess that is why NYRB Classics republished it. Glad you liked it too.

I stil have the Mary Swan book on my TBR pile and I think of you everytime I look at it. Haven't heard from anyone else who has read it yet.

posted by alphaorder at 11:33 pm (EST) on Mar 25, 2008

Rebeccanyc - I hope that you enjoyed The Radetsky March. I remember it started slowly, but once I got into it, I found it delightful.

posted by RcCarol at 7:58 pm (EST) on Mar 9, 2008

Hi Rebecca. I'm kath...
I noticed a post of yours about how your childhood affected your reading...I could have written it! So I thought I would pop in and say hello.

You have some library! I doubt that my own listing will ever be up to date here, as I tend to wander off to read . sigh...

So Hello and take care
kath

posted by mckait at 1:30 pm (EST) on Jan 21, 2008

Rebecca- it took me a long time to get through Savage Detectives...actually the structure, the short oral histories, allowed me to go back to it, after intervals, without too much distraction. In the end it was a great read, quite different from much that it is now written, although it did remind me of a book by Kerouac- Desolation Angels. I loved that the main characters were poets, "on the road" exploring themselves, literary ideas and the world.

posted by berthirsch at 2:23 pm (EST) on Jan 13, 2008

FYI- i just did a review of Roth's Exit Ghost...have you read it yet?

How are you finding Savage Detectives?

posted by berthirsch at 7:09 am (EST) on Jan 12, 2008

hi rebecca- i was just clicking around and I saw you recently added [Savage Detectives]- I really loved it and will be curious to hear what yopur reactyions are to the book. happy reading-
Bert

posted by berthirsch at 7:54 pm (EST) on Dec 20, 2007

Rebecca, Thanks very much for the Haiti book recommendations!

posted by bfertig at 12:43 pm (EST) on Nov 30, 2007

Thanks for the message. Its all over with regards to Emma's mum, she passed away a couple of weeks ago. We are getting back to normal here, but also keeping an eye on her Dad, making sure that he is doing okay. As I'm sure you have found, its a weird time when you have spent a lot of time and energy looking after and worrying about a someones illness, that when its all over you are expected to just pick up your life where you left off. Anyway, thanks for asking.I have been a bit quiet wrt to LT of late, but I am sorting some things out and hope to re-engage fully in the New Year (hopefully with lots of new books in tow).
Cheers,
Andy

posted by depressaholic at 9:04 am (EST) on Nov 30, 2007

Rebecca,
I understand what you mean about the sympathy. As regards my partner's mother, everyone wants to help or say the right thing, which is lovely, but there really is nothing that anyone can say to make a difference at the moment. We just have to get on with doing what we are doing.
Anyway, next time you feel like talking to a bunch of nameless, faceless strangers about books, we will all still be here.
Andy

posted by depressaholic at 7:32 am (EST) on Oct 16, 2007

Sorry to hear that you are having family problems. My partner and I are currently nursing her mother throught the last stages of breast cancer, so I have some sympathy with what you are going through. Our situation is actually making me read more, because I am spending an enormous amount of time on trains betwen Bristol and Manchester (sometimes 4 times a week). Anyway, looking forward to the time that you can fully engage with LT again, and hope things are okay in the meantime.
Andy

posted by depressaholic at 12:32 pm (EST) on Oct 15, 2007

Hi Rebecca,
I thought I'd get in touch as I haven't seen you in the reading globally group for a while. I am emulating your championing of 'Half of a Yellow Sun' by recommending Patricia Grace's books, particularly 'Potiki'. I think quite a few people have taken it up, so i thought I would recommend it to you too, hopefully as a way of repaying you for pushing me in the direction of Adichie's book.
Cheers,
Andy

PS I'm beginning to feel the pressure of being responsible for a lot of other people's reading time. I don't know how you put up with it.

posted by depressaholic at 8:21 am (EST) on Oct 13, 2007

Thanks, Rebecca--I put both Salter titles on my Bookmooch wishlist.

posted by cabegley at 9:36 pm (EST) on Sep 27, 2007

Hi, Rebecca,

In the What Are You Reading Now? thread, you say James Salter is one of your favorite authors. Since I don't think you've steered me wrong yet . . . which book of his would you recommend starting with?

Regards,

Chris

posted by cabegley at 3:44 pm (EST) on Sep 27, 2007

just looked at CriticalMass blog and the critic Edmund White listed 5 must books in a reviewer's library...i thought of you:

Roberto Bolaño's The Savage Detectives, which I read just this last spring, is a book that renews my faith in fiction. Written by a Chilean author who lived in Mexico and Spain, it is bursting with narrative energy and that most elusive and seldom-mentioned of essential qualities: charm.

posted by berthirsch at 8:21 am (EST) on Sep 26, 2007

Rebecca, I really enjoyed your maps section.
Tiffin

posted by tiffin at 10:59 pm (EST) on Sep 25, 2007

in my head i edit the last message:

strike worldwind to whirlwind/worldwide "romp"...oh to care about words and what they mean.

posted by berthirsch at 4:16 pm (EST) on Sep 14, 2007

Hey Rebecca- I am thoroughly enjoying Savage Detectives...the best word i have come up with to describe it is that it is a worldwind :"romp" of a tale about 2 crazed poets and the encounters they have through the years...the structure- mostly oral histories...allows for one to pick it up, put it down and still come back to it in full stride...Bolano certainly speaks to that part of me that was nurtured ion the 60's.

posted by berthirsch at 12:43 pm (EST) on Sep 14, 2007

Hi, Rebecca. Thanks very much for your note. Indeed, "The Plot Against America" and "American Pastoral" were combined in error. Thanks for catching it. Great library! -- Brian

posted by brianinbuffalo at 5:54 am (EST) on Aug 27, 2007

Thanks for your comment about the Magic Mountain.

David Perrings

posted by dperrings at 7:49 pm (EST) on Jul 26, 2007

Thanks for visiting my photoblog and especially thanks for liking it. I can see you love New York City by your nice collection of New York books. Makes me newly ambitious, in an acquisitive sort of way.

posted by marysargent at 1:48 am (EST) on Jul 22, 2007

Did you, or are you, enjoying Kapuscinski's 'Travels With Herodotus'? I see you are the only other reader here to have it in your catalog.

~Sean-Paul

posted by spkelley at 8:38 pm (EST) on Jun 26, 2007

The July issue of Vanity Fair is focused on Africa and included a photo spread and a general article highlighting Africa literary stars - including our fave, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. She is so beautiful, so talented. Did you know she lives in a house that Achebe used to live in? I don't read many magazines, but I happened to see this in the pharmacy yesterday, and since I'm studying Africa at the moment, I picked it up. Loving the Red Room although its exhausting (and not helping my studying either). Best, Lois

posted by avaland at 7:52 am (EST) on Jun 26, 2007

The Orange Prize is announced tomorrow. Cross your fingers!!! - Lois

posted by avaland at 10:32 am (EST) on Jun 5, 2007

Hi Rebecca. I recently started reading Omnivore's Dilemma, and find it gets a little dry very early on. I will finish it, because I bought it, but I'm wondering if you can tell me if it gets interesting again.
Carmen

posted by carmen29 at 4:51 pm (EST) on May 1, 2007

Rebecca, I just started Half Of A Yellow Sun and really am enjoying it. It is an amazing book. I saw your recommendation and others and decided to check it out of the library.

posted by momom248 at 3:32 pm (EST) on Apr 17, 2007

rebeccanyc
Finally got around to reading Half of a Yellow Sun, and it is an outstanding book. Just wanted to thank you for pointing me in its direction (despite my teasing). Its definitely one of the best books I have read this year.

posted by depressaholic at 5:33 am (EST) on Apr 14, 2007

Sorry about the New/New York Times Cookbook. I don't think I saw the two News - too much looking at book information, probably. The eyes could have probably used a break! (I actually do have the (older) book, but I haven't cataloged any of my cookbooks.)

Thanks for the reminder to be more careful.

posted by Talbin at 11:32 pm (EST) on Mar 4, 2007

hello again,

i read The Road a few weeks ago and i,too, was compelled to read on and while it is grim i found it somewhat touching also- the relationahip between father and son and i was not dissappointed with the ending.

ciao, bert

posted by berthirsch at 1:55 pm (EST) on Feb 2, 2007

Hi, Rebecca ~ I decided to respond privately to your last post to me on the What You're Reading the Week of 27 January 2007 thread: ("Storeetllr, if your ancestors came before 1892 (as mine did), and they came in through NYC, they came through Castle Garden, not Ellis Island -- it didn't open until 1892. Castle Garden is at the southern tip of Manhattan, also called the Battery.")
How interesting about Castle Garden ~ and what a romantic name for what must have been anything but a romantic place. I've been to the Battery, but I never knew it was a point of immigration. Anyway, my grandparents came in about 1910, although I'm not exactly sure what year. It may be somewhere in my papers, which are in storage at this time, but I know it was after 1907.
BTW, my grandparents' names were Kazimir Barkauskus (Charles Birkitis) and VERA KUBILIUTE (Vera Kubilis). I vaguely remember hearing that they came from in or near Vilnius. Vera moved to Scotland sometime around 1907 where she married her first husband, Juozas Karpinskas (Joseph Carpson), and had two or three children. Later, they emigrated to the U.S., where Juozas was killed in a mining accident in Harrisburg, IL. She then married my grandfather, who also worked in the mines in So. Illinois.
Where in Lithuania did your folks come from? (I don't recall whether you mentioned that or not ~ sorry.)

posted by Storeetllr at 6:13 pm (EST) on Jan 29, 2007

I'm sorry, my mistake. I fished around until I found the original post - mentioned by marietherese on the magazine thread in "what are you reading now." The magazine did seem interesting when I checked it out online, so I subscribed. The current issue features Irish literature, a fair amount of poetry, reviews (including a review on ...can you guess...Half a Yellow Sun!), a few other pieces.

I just picked up McCann's Zoli so the Adichie must wait a little longer. And I have a little left to go on Auster's Travels in the Scriptorium but it was giving me intellectual vertigo, so I needed a breather.

I do have you on my watch list; however, I've noticed that recently added books is not the same as recently read books. You have a voracious appetite for literature! I think I may have slowed down a little since the bookstore. It's probably a good thing.
Best, Lois

posted by avaland at 7:26 pm (EST) on Jan 26, 2007