what I'm reading now
What I read over the Thanksgiving weekend:
Lisey's Story, Stephen King: absorbing, and has some great parts in it (as when Scott gets shot) but not his best. There's a writerly metaphor made physical at the heart of the book that's interesting to think about--I wish he'd had more about that part of it.
Under Orders, Dick Francis: Sid Halley returns to solve a new horse-fixing mystery; readable, but again, not his best. It made me want to read Nerve again, which is my high-point Dick Francis book.
Sleeping with Fear, Kay Hooper: one of a trilogy about psychic FBI agents; bonus--the main character had amnesia. It held my interest until about 3/4 of the way through, when I got impatient and read the end.
The Black Book, Orhan Pamuk: I'm still reading this, very slowly, for the beauty of the prose. I'm on a part now where the main character is pondering the letters in faces, mysterious signs that must be read if we are to know our lives.
A mystery set in 1906 Vienna, with Freudian undertones: beautifully written, with a lot of interesting police procedural stuff of the day. (I'll put in the name later if I haven't taken it back to the library).
The Writer on Her Work, edited by Janet Sternburg: this is a re-read--I like to go back to it every once in a while for inspiration. A quote from Joan Didion's essay, "Why I Write":
To shift the structure of a sentence alters the meaning of that sentence, as definitely and inflexibly as the position of a camera alters the meaning of the object photographed.
Yes!
The Big Book of Trucks and Tractors, can't remember the author: this is mostly pictures, each labeled with its name: dump truck; small excavator; forklift. I read this many times, and by the end of the weekend Z could point w/o fail to the dump truck, and was starting to master the various excavators, distinguishing them by their colors.
Lisey's Story, Stephen King: absorbing, and has some great parts in it (as when Scott gets shot) but not his best. There's a writerly metaphor made physical at the heart of the book that's interesting to think about--I wish he'd had more about that part of it.
Under Orders, Dick Francis: Sid Halley returns to solve a new horse-fixing mystery; readable, but again, not his best. It made me want to read Nerve again, which is my high-point Dick Francis book.
Sleeping with Fear, Kay Hooper: one of a trilogy about psychic FBI agents; bonus--the main character had amnesia. It held my interest until about 3/4 of the way through, when I got impatient and read the end.
The Black Book, Orhan Pamuk: I'm still reading this, very slowly, for the beauty of the prose. I'm on a part now where the main character is pondering the letters in faces, mysterious signs that must be read if we are to know our lives.
A mystery set in 1906 Vienna, with Freudian undertones: beautifully written, with a lot of interesting police procedural stuff of the day. (I'll put in the name later if I haven't taken it back to the library).
The Writer on Her Work, edited by Janet Sternburg: this is a re-read--I like to go back to it every once in a while for inspiration. A quote from Joan Didion's essay, "Why I Write":
To shift the structure of a sentence alters the meaning of that sentence, as definitely and inflexibly as the position of a camera alters the meaning of the object photographed.
Yes!
The Big Book of Trucks and Tractors, can't remember the author: this is mostly pictures, each labeled with its name: dump truck; small excavator; forklift. I read this many times, and by the end of the weekend Z could point w/o fail to the dump truck, and was starting to master the various excavators, distinguishing them by their colors.
posted by mary grimm at 1:01 PM
4 Comments:
Is Nerve the one where he's handcuffed to the steering wheel of a car and uses plastic wrap to catch water? Terrific book.
No, but I love that one, whatever it's called.
good thing starting that boy on construction books early. keep him on a steady diet of that, dinosaur books, and "the childrens guide to logging in oregon" and hell grow up like the meaty mid-westerner he should
L,
Sean
Hmm--have to look for children's guide to logging...
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