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What's Everybody Reading?

post #1 of 34
9/26/03 at 8:01am
Thread Starter 
We just got back from three weeks in France where I was sick with the worst cold of my life (truly! :eek: ) for two of the three weeks. The upside (besides getting the chance to practice my French at several Pharmacies) was slowing down our pace and getting the chance to just relax in lovely places and read.
Gail Godwin's Evensong was interesting if a little chilly. Judith Ryan Hendricks's Bread Alone is fun--though you wish the main character Wynter wouldn't take SO long to wise-up--and the baking part is great. Wynter moves from L.A. to Seattle and rediscovers her love of bread-baking (she apprenticed at a boulangerie in Toulouse during college).
I started Tim O'Brien's July, July but, frankly, I don't really feel in the mood for so much disappointment and loss. I might just set it aside and try Life of Pi .

So what is everyone else reading right now?
Emily

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post #2 of 34
9/26/03 at 10:44am
I've just come off a binge of Southern style cookbooks. I'm gearing up for Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson as my next new read. I loved Cryptonomicon which ties in tangentially with Quicksilver.

Phil
more than taste fine
me eat it all the time
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post #3 of 34
9/26/03 at 2:20pm
Just recently finished "The Name of the Rose" by Umberto Eco. It is the 4th or 5th time I have read that. Also for a change of pace from my usual detective, forensic thriller, I am reading the Harry Potter books. I am on the 4th on right now.
From Man's sweat and God's love, beer came into the World-Saint Arnoldus
http://www.onceachef.com/
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post #4 of 34
9/26/03 at 2:20pm
I'm about to dive into Anita Diamant's Good Harbor for my book club. I will soon start reading The Bedside Torah bit by bit as well. The last book I finished was The South Beach Diet . The only thread I can find among those titles is "hope". I guess it must be the season.
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post #5 of 34
9/26/03 at 3:05pm
Eco is great. I also like Focault's Pendulum. An aside, Eco's translator, William Weaver must also be a genius. The number of times I have to go to a dictionary to find a word in these books scares me now and then. And for Weaver to translate it all amazes me.

Phil
more than taste fine
me eat it all the time
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post #6 of 34
9/26/03 at 3:14pm
Last two where "Culinary Artistry" and Giradets latest "Recipes from a Master of French cuisine" I recommend both highly.

PS, Phoebe, I hope your feeling better.
Baruch ben Rueven / Chanaבראד, ילד של ריימונד והאלאן
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post #7 of 34
9/26/03 at 5:38pm
Had my hot little hands on The Name of the Rose after having read the DaVinci Code, but didn't read a word of it. Read the last 4 Harry Potters this summer and am now re-reading the goblet of fire very slowly to maximize the fantasy of being at Hogwarts.

Now, doesn't anybody else think that being a baker is the closest thing to Potions class? I saw some cool pewter measuring spoons and cups that were handcrafted and sort of pricey, but I wanted them so much. Mix stuff up in a bowl, say the magic words, put it in the oven, and get something that is more than the sum of the parts back out.

Also read The Big Splat, about where did the moon come from, Absolutely American, about West Point, Rosemary and Bitter Oranges, about growing up in Italy, Olive Season, about life in Provence, Tale of Two Valleys, about Napa and Sonoma, The Bobby Gold Stories, by our buddy Anthony Bourdain. I typically have about 10 books out of the library at any given time.
It's not Dairy Queen.
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post #8 of 34
9/27/03 at 5:01am
TBH, I used to be that way also. Usually had 5-7 books going at once. Unfortunately, I don't have that kind of time anymore. Sometimes I have time to read a book cover to cover in a weekend, sometimes it takes me almost a month. With work, Cheftalk, correpondences, dogs, and a baby on the way, I sometimes feel that I have no free time at all!!!!
From Man's sweat and God's love, beer came into the World-Saint Arnoldus
http://www.onceachef.com/
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post #9 of 34
9/27/03 at 1:42pm
I have just finished Philip Roth's " The Human Stain" a shocking book on the American society and I have just started " How we believe" of Michael Shermer.
"Muabet de Turko,kama de Grego i komer de Djidio", old sefardic proverb ( Three things worth in life: the gossip of the Turk , the bed of the Greek and the food of the Jew)
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post #10 of 34
9/27/03 at 3:53pm
i found one of my old copies of the jungle on friday finished it on sunday. one of the scariest books i have ever read, one of my favorites to, although im not sure why
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post #11 of 34
9/28/03 at 3:50am
I'm reading...

"What to expect during the first year."

Kuan
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post #12 of 34
9/28/03 at 12:09pm
You're a good daddy, Kuan! :D
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post #13 of 34
9/28/03 at 4:48pm
I just finished Lasher by Ann Rice....trully trashy ...Moliere was sent back to the library partially read, I just bought Real Cchocolate by Chantal Coady...it is from Engladn and is really interesting.I am also in the midst of reading E the Environmental Magazine article on Why Bottle Water?
I am reading more these days than frequenting movies.....seems that there was nothing of interest in the theatres.
cooking with all your senses.....
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post #14 of 34
9/29/03 at 6:27pm
Just read "About A Boy" and it was GREAT! Very funny at heartwarming. 5 Star book that I couldn't put down.

Has anybody read "The DiVinci Code"? And should I start it?
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post #15 of 34
9/29/03 at 9:06pm
I'm in the middle of "The Green Mile" by Stephen King. I saw the movie and liked it , and someone said the book followed the movie pretty close . Half way through the book and it's really surprising how close it is to the movie .

I also read a couple news letters(email) either daily or weekly depending on when they arive . Also i'll read any box or label with in reach if i'm sitting still to long .
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post #16 of 34
10/4/03 at 2:59pm
I'm amazed at all these people reading Eco! Name of the Rose's tangle of literary quotations and jokes is hard to follow also for the Italian readers who are familiar with the original text, can't imagine for foreign readers (I agree with phatch, it must have been a hard job for the translator...). I remember that the first time I read the book, about 20 years ago, I had the bad idea to do that in August, while I was sunbathing in my garden. After few pages my brains seized up and I had serious problems even in following the plot. After having read it another couple of times in a cooler season, I started to unravel the hank and to love it:D

As for now, I'm reading the works of the Sicilian writer Leonardo Sciascia. I just finished "Il Giorno della Civetta" (The Day of the Owl) and I'm reading "Todo Modo". If you are interested in some thrillers that also enlighten about the mechanisms of Italian political corruption and connections with Mafia, buy them, they're classics.

I also just got as a present from a couple of Japanese friends a book entitled "The Art of Japanese Food and Manners". Very nice! Do you know, for example, what are "the 11 things you mustn't do with chopsticks"?

Pongi
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post #17 of 34
10/4/03 at 6:25pm
Please, Pongi, tell us at least a few of them! :D

I tried valiantly to read Name of the Rose but it just didn't catch with me. I loved the movie, although I thought I heard it was a pale imitation of the book. Can't refuse a chance to see Sir Sean, though! :)
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post #18 of 34
10/5/03 at 6:34pm
I thought the movie was pretty good also, though it pales by comparision to the book. But then again don't most movies?
From Man's sweat and God's love, beer came into the World-Saint Arnoldus
http://www.onceachef.com/
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post #19 of 34
10/6/03 at 6:24pm
I am re-reading Les rois maudits, The Damned Kings maybe in English? Anyhow it's an historical novel retelling the life of the kings of France during the XIV century during the trial of the knight of the temple, the biggest trial in history. The geat chief of the order of the temple, jacques de Molay, has been arrested and will be burned alive by order of the King. Before dying Jacques de Molay calls to the king saying he will be damned to the thirteen generations....

Foodwise I am deep into Land of Plenty by ***hsia Dunlop, on Sechuan cooking. A fascinating book, I am somewhat surprise though not to find in it the recipe of the General Tao chicken. It's the best seller of Sechuan dish in Montreal, you can find it in most restaurants. Yet no one has ever seen a recipe for it.
When I get a little money, I buy books. And if there is any left over, I buy food.

- Desiderius Erasmus
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post #20 of 34
10/7/03 at 8:44am
That's 'cause General Tao/Tso/Djo/Chu is about as Chinese as fajitas are Mexican.

Phil
more than taste fine
me eat it all the time
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post #21 of 34
10/7/03 at 5:41pm
You can say that again! ;)

The General Tao Chicken is a bit of a joke here. Two or three time a year someone will ask for the recipe in the food section. Strangely enough the recipe they give out is never the same....


;)
When I get a little money, I buy books. And if there is any left over, I buy food.

- Desiderius Erasmus
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post #22 of 34
10/15/03 at 12:03am
Anything by Lee Smith or Sharyn McCrumb.

RF
"'If I watch out for rocks
With my eyes straight ahead,
I'll keep out of trouble
Forever,' I said."
Dr. Seuss, "I Had Trouble in getting to Solla Sollew"
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post #23 of 34
10/29/03 at 5:26am
Have you read "how to travel with salmon and other essays"? it is freakin hilarious. its a collection of his favorite columns he writes for a magazine in Italy that resembles the new yorker.

Other than my insurmountable assignments for college, i;ve been working my way through Andrew&Karens's books and "the psychology of Taste"

markovitch
--
The ingredients for this recipe:
2 cups of step the **** back
and a tablespoon of don’t mess with me
--Atmosphere
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post #24 of 34
10/29/03 at 5:29am
yeah, Eco is almost Kantian is his pentient for creating new terms...
--
The ingredients for this recipe:
2 cups of step the **** back
and a tablespoon of don’t mess with me
--Atmosphere
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post #25 of 34
10/29/03 at 6:45am
markovitch,
:lol: :roll:

In Italy, that collection has been published with the title "Secondo Diario Minimo", following a former "Diario Minimo" published in the 70s, and contains many other essays which maybe haven't been included in the American edition (some of them could be hardly appreciated by non-italian readers, as they refer to things that are familiar only to italians).
I agree with you...those columns are hilarious! My best favourites are "How to become a cowboy movie indian", "How to write an art catalogue" and "How to recognize a pornographic movie" :)

Pongi
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post #26 of 34
10/29/03 at 8:33am
I just got an xm radio (Roady), so I've been listening to radio dramas and stories at night while lying in bed instead of reading. No light needed and using headphones, I don't keep anyone else awake. Detectives, thrillers (Theatre of the Mind stuff)
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post #27 of 34
10/31/03 at 9:53am
i am hopelessly addicted to the lord of the rings trillogy, tolkien was a true genius.
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post #28 of 34
10/31/03 at 1:21pm
Amen, Soussweets. I wasn't much of a reader before I discovered him. Now what do I do for a living? I'm a reading specialist.
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post #29 of 34
11/1/03 at 9:42pm
well said mez. its amazing what a good book can do for you. i myself have never been a big reader,,,, but the trilogy has made me very hungry for new and unknown books. any suggestion???
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post #30 of 34
11/2/03 at 4:56am
Stay with some books in the same vein. For example; The Hobbit; The Silmarillion; Unfinished Tales; and , The History of Middle Earth. Some are by JRRT and some by his son, Cristopher. They extend the mythology of the Trilogy in ways I didn't expect. If you are interested, there is a site called the Barrow-downs that explores all of Tolkiens works. Not, of course, that one would ever leave Cheftalk.:beer: :crazy:
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