Good for you!

The Sergei Bondarchuk film, from the 1960s, is mind-bogglingly personal, intense and spectacular. Have you seen any of it?

quote:

Originally posted by mark f:
Good for you!

The Sergei Bondarchuk film, from the 1960s, is mind-bogglingly personal, intense and spectacular. Have you seen any of it?

No, I haven't - I've only seen parts of the 50s version with Audrey Hepburn. Just looked it up on Netflix; maybe I'll add it to my queue.

quote:

Originally posted by blueskyoas:
Page 462 of War and Peace. Only 753 pages to go!

Good luck with that. I enjoyed Anna Karenina immensely, but I'd be lying if I said I was eager to pick up an even longer Tolstoy novel. One of these days.

I just finished All the Names by Jose Saramago. 250 pages is much more my speed . It is much tamer than Blindness, but just as gripping.

Skin by Ted Dekker

quote:

Originally posted by MajorNougat:
I just finished All the Names by Jose Saramago. 250 pages is much more my speed . It is much tamer than Blindness, but just as gripping.

Nice to see another Saramago fan. I have Seeing coming up on my list.

Well, I've only read two of his novels, but I liked both of them a lot. Do you have a personal favorite of his?

I think Blindness is probably at or near the top for me, although Baltasar and Blimunda is also very good.

Easy readin' fluff- "Kitty Goes to Washington", about a female werewolf radio talk show host.

The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas

AND

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed Jared Diamond

The latter, I read half of and abruptly stopped some time ago, so now I have the task of rereading the entire thing. Regardless, it is an excellent book.

'Enlightenment' by Roy Porter.

An excellent guide to the intellectual changes sweeping Britain in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Porter has a lovely style of authorship, quite chummy and lyrical, and he links everything brilliantly.

quote:

Originally posted by blueskyoas:
Page 462 of War and Peace. Only 753 pages to go!

Page 875! I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now...

On a suggestion from a friend I went to Amazon and got a copy of the book "Guys Don't Rat on Guys" by Grey Baker. Reading is my passion and I can honestly say that in my opinion this is one of the best books of the year. It really is incredible.

'Europe: A History' by Norman Davies.

Is there nothing he doesn't know? Is he ever wrong? 700 pages in and the answer to both questions so far is No.

I recently read two papers on the Great Depression.

Peter Temin's The Great Depression

and Ben Bernanke's The Macroeconomics of the Great Depression: A Comparative Approach

I just finished "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" by Michael Chabon yesterday and it was a fantastic read, incredibly epic yet intimately moving. I would especially recommend it to anyone who is interested in comic books or the Holocaust/the American Jewish experience (odd combination I know).

I am now reading Samantha Power's "Chasing the Flame: Sergio Vieira De Mello and the Fight to Save the World" which is a politically charged biography of a prominent UN official who was killed in Iraq in 2003. Very interesting so far, Power is one of the best nonfiction writers out there and this book has proven to be no exception.

Up next I am reading Haruki Murakami's "After Dark".

Fiasco by Thomas Ricks.

Though at times he is too forgiving or trusting of some players in the Great Game, this remains an outstanding, blessedly detailed examination of how a bunch of loonies got away with murder, literally.