tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post7688380213253420451..comments2024-03-10T20:46:19.274-04:00Comments on In the Middle: Festive Friday: Your Summer ReadingCord J. Whitakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06224143153295429986noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-16247371867955813282009-08-29T19:18:33.409-04:002009-08-29T19:18:33.409-04:00The only non scholarly for me was Neil Gaiman'...The only non scholarly for me was Neil Gaiman's <b>Anansi Boys</b>. Wish I had more time for something else... though Christine de Pizan, Hildegard von Bingen, and all the other writers were fun to read.Ms. Grinberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00306900355114976263noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-68234391386021070912009-08-22T10:49:52.437-04:002009-08-22T10:49:52.437-04:00Joe Abercrombie's Best Served Cold. The first...Joe Abercrombie's Best Served Cold. The first two volumes in Daniel Abraham's Long Price Quartet. China Mieville's The City and the City. R. Scott Bakker's Prince of Nothing trilogy.<br /><br />There are others, but I'm not remembering them now.Rob Barretthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17791752557408134270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-84259398537333602012009-08-21T18:34:33.647-04:002009-08-21T18:34:33.647-04:00On at least six to eight consecutive family vacati...On at least six to eight consecutive family vacations to Wells Beach (not too far from Ogunquit), I remember my dad reading Gravity's Rainbow for that one week and that one week only. As a 10 to 12 year old I remember asking him what it was about. He said something like, "Uh... rockets." I said something like, "Cool!"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-50235865917260754322009-08-21T06:16:24.141-04:002009-08-21T06:16:24.141-04:00Asa, I imagine I'll return to Maps at some poi...Asa, I imagine I'll return to Maps at some point in the fall, so I'll let you know then.Jeffrey Cohenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17346504393740520542noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-66773379574860978702009-08-21T06:15:49.425-04:002009-08-21T06:15:49.425-04:00I'm glad I'm not the only one Rick.
Karl:...I'm glad I'm not the only one Rick.<br /><br />Karl: Ship Fever, will read. As To DQ and TS: both sad books (sorry if I am giving anything away...) and both among my favorites. Certainly books that have stayed with me for a very long time, and still influence my thinking about what literature can do. And no matter how many times I read or talk about the cornball ending of DQ, it brings a tear to my eye.Jeffrey Cohenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17346504393740520542noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-5399312757642157462009-08-20T23:19:00.347-04:002009-08-20T23:19:00.347-04:00When you are further into Maps and Legends, let me...When you are further into Maps and Legends, let me know what you thought of it. It was widely panned, but I quite liked much of it. Just reading The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break, Steven Sherrill, which I am rather enjoying. --AsaASMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11435943511202521086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-58950737255168676692009-08-20T23:17:57.008-04:002009-08-20T23:17:57.008-04:00Definitely read Ship Fever. If you don't like ...Definitely read Ship Fever. If you don't like it by the first few stories, skip to the title story. It's wonderful.<br /><br />For my grad theory course (which is really the 'intro to theory for public school teachers who need an MA' course), I decided on doing a modern novel as a laboratory for theory. I thought about <a href="http://www.deborahlevy.co.uk/steak.html" rel="nofollow">Diary of a Steak,</a> but ultimately decided on Caryl Phillips' <a href="http://www.carylphillips.com/the-nature-of-blood.html" rel="nofollow">The Nature of Blood.</a> I've never read it, but ALK's endorsed it heartily on several occasions, so I have high hopes.<br /><br />I honestly think my favorite novel is one I've tried 3 times and never finished: Tristam Shandy. The only other book I imagine is anywhere near as good is Don Quixote, which I've also never finished.Karl Steelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03353370018006849747noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-75386699501276230072009-08-20T21:23:28.601-04:002009-08-20T21:23:28.601-04:00Don't worry, I suspect I'll never get thro...Don't worry, I suspect I'll never get through Proust. It's about the journey and not the destination, right? (Or at least let me believe that for a little while more.)<br /><br />I have a whole bookcase shelf I call my graveyard shelf. It's filled with books I started but didn't finish. As it is, this is my third time trying Ulysses. I always get sidelined by things like dissertations or classes.Rick Goddenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04109263756022001400noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-44288939482091849762009-08-20T20:47:50.311-04:002009-08-20T20:47:50.311-04:00Well you are ahead of me, Rick, when it comes to P...Well you are ahead of me, Rick, when it comes to Proust. I am afraid I will be in a nursing home some day reading the latest translation and I'll bite into a madeleine and it will remind me of the first 100 times I attempted it.<br /><br />I banish Specula and their ilk from my night table -- but as my family will attest I am always smuggling such things across the border from my study, which is very close by. Karl, should I read Ship Fever? I recall that you enjoyed it.Jeffrey Cohenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17346504393740520542noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-51934670457081482852009-08-20T20:20:19.672-04:002009-08-20T20:20:19.672-04:00Non scholarly? Surely you jest.
I read a collecti...Non scholarly? Surely you jest.<br /><br />I read a collection of short stories by Andrea Barrett, <i>Ship Fever</i> and before that (as in, through the Winter and up to Summer's doorstep) A. S. Byatt's Frederica Quartet. I'm inordinately proud for getting through that, which is not to say I didn't like it. I loved all of it; it was just hella long. What else? My friend Jim Fuerst's debut novel <a href="http://chicago.timeout.com/articles/books/76637/huge-james-w-fuerst-book-review" rel="nofollow"><i>Huge,</i></a> which I also enjoyed enormously.<br /><br />On the bedside table, I have a couple Specula, a collection of Carolingian verse, and Andrea Barrett's Voyage of the Narwhal (p. 27), Thomas L. Thompson's <a rel="nofollow"><i>The Mythic Past: Biblical Archaeology and the Myth of Israel</i></a> (a stoop-sale find for 1$; I've read 100 or so pages haphazardly), and the Penguin edition of the Saga of Grettir the Strong, which, thanks to you and Eileen, I'm teaching this Fall. But I should probably read it first.Karl Steelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03353370018006849747noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-53309362423715751322009-08-20T19:21:47.821-04:002009-08-20T19:21:47.821-04:00My big summer reading project was Ulysses. I'...My big summer reading project was Ulysses. I'm on page *cough* 126. I'm always so idealistic at the beginning of the summer. By the way, pg. 400 in Proust's Within a Budding Grove. One of these days I'll continue that previous summer reading project.Rick Goddenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04109263756022001400noreply@blogger.com