What are you reading?

[OnMyLunchBreak]

I'm about to finish Francine Prose's The Lives of the Muses: Nine Women and the Artists They Inspired. The book deals with the sometimes symbiotic, sometimes parasitic, sometimes just plain bizarre relationships between nine "artists" (writers, painters, musicians, etc.) and the women who inspired them. I wasn't sure what to expect because frankly, I had never heard of a few of the women - notably, Lou Andres-Salome (who inspired Nietzsche, Rilke and Freud)

Wow! Thanks for posting about this book Critical.

This looks like something I would greatly enjoy. I've always been fascinated by the Heidegger/Arendt and De Beauvier/Sartre dynamics. Especially the former one, as Heidegger was a card carrying Nazi and Arendt was Jewish!

Anyway, I will definitely be adding this to my summer reading list.

[BlondieGirl]

Hated, hated, hated them both. Should never have been attempted. Margaret Mitchell must have been doing backflips in her grave.

I utterly agree with you. GWTW was Margaret Mitchells alone. Yes, she must be rolling around in her grave. And the movie...and it was a tv movie for God sakes...was much worse! Could Scarlet look any less like Scarlet? She looked plain and common. Maybe that was the idea, to look less like Vivian Leigh, but they went too plain and they went too common. I didnt like it at all!

[G.G.]

I forgot all about Timequake. I'll add it to my list.



I found this after a little Googling.

Pitt? Oh...snap. No, not for Henry DeTamble. I liked Pitt in Se7en and disliked him in...a lot. But what the hell? I always like a little cheese with my ham, and this will be one vehicle Pitt can show off his (melo)dramatic skillz.

Funny, I was casting the movie in my mind last night and had Pitt for Gomez, but not Henry. I can't think of a Henry, but I think Julianne Moore for Clare.

So...I finally read The Time Traveler's Wife...and oh my, best book I've read in 2 years at least. You know it's a good book when you're in Vegas and would rather go to the pool or to the room and read read read than gamble...because that's exactly what I did.

Having read it, now I can make my casting pics. I could see Brad Pitt as Henry, but I'm more inclined to choose Matt Damon (his geeky persona, like the gambling agent he played in Ocean's 11). For Gomez, I choose Jude Law...I can't think of any other actor for Gomez...Gomez IS Jude Law in my eyes. For Clare...I'm going to go with one of the non-obvious redheads and choose Molly Ringwald.

What an excellent book...I will read it again, I know.

And...I'm still limping my way through The Shipping News but the good news is I only have about a quarter of it left.

I also read The Future Homemakers Of America by Laurie Graham. Not my usual type of book, but it was ok. Not great, but entertaining enough to read by the pool I guess.

Also have re-read a book called To See You Again. It's about Betty, a young Jewish girl in WWII Hungary who falls in love with her neighbor and best friend. The war separates them, but they've both promised to find each other after the war, which proves impossible. Betty marries someone else, who promises if she finds her first true love, he will let her go. Then 30 years after she marries him, Betty returns to Budapest...and sees "someone" across a crowded room...and by then you are just dying to know what she'll do.

It's a true story and quite fascinating, as well as an easy read.

[G.G.]

I'm reading Summer Sisters by Judy Blume. I'm a little surprised I enjoy it, it's been a long time since I've read any of her books...still remember the girls gathered in a corner whispering about Forever.

Heh...I remember whispering about Forever too...it must be a teen girl rite of passage thing.

Summer Sisters...ahh, love it. I read it every single summer by the pool at least once. Blume's best work, in my opinion. Victoria's college roommate is correct - there's a Caitlin in every junior high. Maybe that's the catch - the ability to relate to the characters from a real-life perspective. I don't know. In any case, it's one of my favorite books of all time, even though it might not be a great literary work.

[G.G.]

Argh...I hate to post 3 replies in a row, but I've been out of touch for a while and had to read past posts and catch up.

For the person who asked about The Shipping News: I have not finished it, it's getting better as I get into it, but like someone commented earlier, I won't care a whit about these characters when I'm done. At this point, I'm not finishing because it's engaging or great, I'll finish it because I'm just stubborn that way. I WILL FINISH THIS BOOK.

I also finished The Red Tent, which I did enjoy. The book was touted as what the Bible might have been like if it had been written by a woman, and I'm inclined to agree. Told from the viewpoint of Dinah, it's not just a rundown of who begat whom, but tells of struggle, happiness, tragedy, betrayal, desire, lust and love. It's a little naughty (compared to the actual Bible) and a lot intriguing, at least it was for me.

[Critical]

I also finished The Red Tent, which I did enjoy. The book was touted as what the Bible might have been like if it had been written by a woman, and I'm inclined to agree. Told from the viewpoint of Dinah, it's not just a rundown of who begat whom, but tells of struggle, happiness, tragedy, betrayal, desire, lust and love. It's a little naughty (compared to the actual Bible) and a lot intriguing, at least it was for me.

Loved The Red Tent G.G.! It remains one of my favorites. I definitely felt very connected to my womanhood after reading it. AND I was pretty weepy at the end. Yes, it was a little naughty compared to the Bible (not that that would be too difficult!).

Does anyone else find that women tend to write more sex and more believable sex in their fiction? (just thinking about that in light of what G.G. said about The Red Tent ) Even in a genre like thrillers/mysteries, I find that the female writers don't just blow through the sex scenes in a paragraph. Maybe that has to do with the fact that a number of women writing in that genre now - including Tami Hoag and Iris Johannsen - used to write romance.

I just started The Closers by Michael Connelly this afternoon. My weekend (or at least my Saturday) is shot. I will get nothing else done until I finish it.

[OnMyLunchBreak]

I am SO happy, I found On Bulls**t yesterday at Barnes & Noble.
Frankfurt is a philosophy professor at Princeton, I think, and he wrote this short but I understand poignant of this modern phenomenon. I'm very excited to read it.

[William13]

The Scold's Bridle by Minnette Walters

It's the first book of hers that I have read. It's not bad, but nothing so compelling that I can't put down. I chose to read it a kind of filler until I found something that I really felt like reading.

[Critical]

It's the first book of hers that I have read. It's not bad, but nothing so compelling that I can't put down. I chose to read it a kind of filler until I found something that I really felt like reading.

William - I call those books "chewing gum." They exercise the muscle, but you don't get any "nutrition" from them!

I stayed up until 4:30 a.m. to finish The Closers I'm not the best person to review Connelly's work, because I like his writing style so much and it is now so familiar to me that I feel like I almost can't be objective. What I can say is that I enoyed how he wrapped up the story and planted possible seeds for the next book.

I started Lehane's Mystic River this morning, after several FoRTers recommended it. I already owned it, but was wondering if I should tackle it now, since I saw the movie less than 6 months ago. So far, I am seeing Kevin Bacon, Sean Penn and Tim Robbins in the main roles but really, that's not a bad thing. The movie was very good - if it was a stinker, it would be more of a problem that I was imagining the actors as I read the book!

[G.G.]

Does anyone else find that women tend to write more sex and more believable sex in their fiction? (just thinking about that in light of what G.G. said about The Red Tent ) Even in a genre like thrillers/mysteries, I find that the female writers don't just blow through the sex scenes in a paragraph. Maybe that has to do with the fact that a number of women writing in that genre now - including Tami Hoag and Iris Johannsen - used to write romance.

I find that women write more believable sex, but for me, that's easily attributed to the fact the most women know their own bodies better than a man would and can therefore put those desires into words better than a man. I'm not meaning it to sound sexist or male-bashing at all, so I hope it's not taken that way.

That said, some (former) romance writers "do sex" well, while I find that others never get past the mushy-gushy, lovey-dovey romance-y crap-ola. Let's face it, it's a multi-faceted subject - sometimes funny, passionate, cruel, healing, enlightening, boring...it all depends on the moment, no? Then again, there are the others never move beyond the animalistic perception that all women want to be "taken". Harlequin Romance, anyone?

I hope this reply doesn't go beyond the constraints of PG-13, but I think it would be an interesting subject to discuss.