What are you reading?

[Rufusboi]

Reading Heart of Darkness. I haven't read it in 20 years so its like reading it for the first time again. Not as interesting as I thought I remembered though.

Rufus

[Isadora]

Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea by Chelsea Handler

Irreverent
Silly
Dirty
and completely non essential....
sometimes you need a good trashy fun airport novel...

[Rook]

Stephen King's Desperation & Under the Dome

[Bob]

Coroner's Reports: 1896-1935, Monroe County, Indiana

http://www.monroe.lib.in.us/indiana_room/coroner.pdf

So many sparse stark stories:

08/15/1932 COX, Willis H. 83, 5'11"/200 Suicide by drinking carboric acid. He became furious with his daughter-in-law Arizona Cox, and they had a quarrel. After the quarrel, he went to his room and swallowed the poison.// Nothing of value

[Semantics]

Originally Posted by Bob

Coroner's Reports: 1896-1935, Monroe County, Indiana

http://www.monroe.lib.in.us/indiana_room/coroner.pdf

So many sparse stark stories:

08/15/1932 COX, Willis H. 83, 5'11"/200 Suicide by drinking carboric acid. He became furious with his daughter-in-law Arizona Cox, and they had a quarrel. After the quarrel, he went to his room and swallowed the poison.// Nothing of value

There I was wasting away at PerezHilton when I could have been reading coroner's reports.

05/29/1906 BUTCHER, John O 24 5'8"/150 Was examining stone for dogs when the stone came together catching his head and
accidentally fracturing base of skull; death resulting immediately.//Nothing of any value

I wonder what that means?

[Softly]

Originally Posted by Rook

Stephen King's Desperation & Under the Dome

Desperation is one of my favorite SK books

[Sachita]

I wanted a Kindle sooooo bad. I didn't get one but I have a mini laptop and downloaded Kindle for PC. I LOVE it because I can get books instantly and adjust the font size HUGE making it so much easier for me to read. I still want a Kindle.

so I'm reading a lot these days.

I am now reading Debbie Fords "21 Day Conscious Cleanse" excellent book. I've been having a really tough time the past few months and this is really helping me a lot.

another I'm also reading now is Living in Costa Rica. I want to figure out a way to live part of the year here and part there. I dream about Costa Rica all the time. It keeps calling me.

[Spa]

Originally Posted by Bob

Coroner's Reports: 1896-1935, Monroe County, Indiana

http://www.monroe.lib.in.us/indiana_room/coroner.pdf

So many sparse stark stories:

08/15/1932 COX, Willis H. 83, 5'11"/200 Suicide by drinking carboric acid. He became furious with his daughter-in-law Arizona Cox, and they had a quarrel. After the quarrel, he went to his room and swallowed the poison.// Nothing of value

Such a romantic.

[daisygrrl]

I'm re-reading a few right now, including:

*[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Girl-Interrupted-Susanna-Kaysen/dp/0679746048/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265555785&sr=8-1"]Girl, Interrupted[/ame] by Susanna Kaysen. The memoir is different from the film, which are brilliant in their own rights. This book also makes a great gift.

*[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Gracefully-Insane-Americas-Premier-Hospital/dp/1586481614/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265555823&sr=1-1-spell"]Gracefully Insane: Life and Death Inside America's Premier Mental Hospital[/ame] by Alex Beam is a wonderful investigation into McLean, the mental institution where notables--such as Sylvia Plath, James Taylor, & Susanna Kaysen--visited for treatment. The discussion on (and interviews concerning) 1960s youth culture at McLean is particularly insightful.

[BornBronson]

The Last Train from Hiroshima-Charles Pellegrino

[nycfem]

Can you tell I'm doing some catching up on this thread which took me awhile to find?

I don't know if I've mentioned to you before but I also love Susanna Kaysen's memoir as an adult: "The Camera My Mother Gave Me." Excellent!!!

Originally Posted by daisygrrl

I'm re-reading a few right now, including:

*Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen. The memoir is different from the film, which are brilliant in their own rights. This book also makes a great gift.

*Gracefully Insane: Life and Death Inside America's Premier Mental Hospital by Alex Beam is a wonderful investigation into McLean, the mental institution where notables--such as Sylvia Plath, James Taylor, & Susanna Kaysen--visited for treatment. The discussion on (and interviews concerning) 1960s youth culture at McLean is particularly insightful.

[Ryobi]

Originally Posted by Rufusboi

Reading Heart of Darkness. I haven't read it in 20 years so its like reading it for the first time again. Not as interesting as I thought I remembered though.

Rufus

I have that book. I've read it a couple times, and I feel the same way. It was different at 17 than it is at 37.

Have you seen the movie? "Apocalypse Now". I think it's the movie that has changed the book for me.

And now 'The End' by The Doors is stuck in my head! LOL.


I'm reading over my instructors manual for, Adult, child, and infant first aid, CPR and AED, for a class I have to teach in a couple weeks. Helps to brush up and keep my times in check.

[Rufusboi]

Originally Posted by Ryobi

I have that book. I've read it a couple times, and I feel the same way. It was different at 17 than it is at 37.

Have you seen the movie? "Apocalypse Now". I think it's the movie that has changed the book for me.

And now 'The End' by The Doors is stuck in my head! LOL.


I'm reading over my instructors manual for, Adult, child, and infant first aid, CPR and AED, for a class I have to teach in a couple weeks. Helps to brush up and keep my times in check.

I haven't seen that film, but need to/want to. I forgot how heavy handed the symbolism is in Heart of Darkness. A very dark book but very true. I realized that it still remains popular because we can apply this book and its themes to a lot of what happens today.

I've got the two women knitting with black wool stuck in my head and keep thinking about hounds of hell and gatekeepers of hell. This image is getting mixed up with images from Paradise Lost and the woman/dog hounds of hell stuff that Milton used. Urgh no wonder I didn't sleep well last night. I've got Kurtz, hounds of hell and black wool running round in my head. So remind me what's so uplifting about reading again

Rufus

[daisygrrl]

Originally Posted by Ryobi

I have that book. I've read it a couple times, and I feel the same way. It was different at 17 than it is at 37.

Have you seen the movie? "Apocalypse Now". I think it's the movie that has changed the book for me.

And now 'The End' by The Doors is stuck in my head! LOL.

Originally Posted by Rufusboi

I haven't seen that film, but need to/want to. I forgot how heavy handed the symbolism is in Heart of Darkness. A very dark book but very true. I realized that it still remains popular because we can apply this book and its themes to a lot of what happens today.

I feel the same as Ryobi--Apocalypse Now helped change how I viewed Heart of Darkness. Conrad's novella is, like Rufus says, pretty heavy handed with the symbolism; the film helped me put all that abstractness into more "real" terms ("The Horror!").

And, if you ever get the chance to see it, I encourage you to watch the mini-documentary by Francis Ford Coppola (and his Ex-wife Eleanor) that they made during the turbulent filming. Between mortgaging everything they owned to make the film, numerous health crises (Sheen almost had a heart attack), a typhoon, and difficulties with Brando, doubled filming time (and six hours of tape to edit)--the film truly was a labor of love.

The new editions of the film probably (and if it doesn't, it should) include the documentary

[SassyLeo]

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Crooked-Little-Heart-Anne-Lamott/dp/0385491808"]Crooked Little Heart[/ame] by Anne Lamott

I love [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Anne-Lamott/e/B000APMU80/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1"]Anne's books[/ame].

This one is taking some time to get into...and I'm not sure if it is the story or my mood

I also LOVE Operating Instructions, Traveling Mercies and Blue Shoe (the latter 2 rival for #1 )

I've got Joe Jones next.

[daisygrrl]

selections from Lucy Grealy's Autobiography of a Face--an excellent read & really wonderful to discuss with others

Alice Walker's “Beauty: When the Other Dancer is the Self”--a lovely short piece where Walker discusses her childhood trauma and how it shaped her identity

[Random]

I am franticly re-reading The Data Valentine stories..

I'm on the last book... To Hell and Back..

[nycfem]

I loved Lucy Grealy's book and also truly adored the non-fiction book that Lucy's best friend, Ann Patchett, wrote about their relationship: "Truth and Beauty: A Friendship." Unexpectedly wonderful!

Originally Posted by daisygrrl

selections from Lucy Grealy's Autobiography of a Face--an excellent read & really wonderful to discuss with others

Alice Walker's “Beauty: When the Other Dancer is the Self”--a lovely short piece where Walker discusses her childhood trauma and how it shaped her identity