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Re: Books!

Posted: May 3 17, 3:33 pm
by Famous Mortimer
After 100 pages of introduction, and another 100 pages of the book itself, I've given in. It's surprisingly difficult to read a book written in the late 18th century, and there were multiple occasions where, by the end of a long run-on sentence, I'd forgotten where the sentence had started, what it was trying to convey, etc. I'm not sure I'd say the language was flowery, but it certainly wasn't anywhere near the point.

Re: Books!

Posted: May 4 17, 6:10 am
by MuntyJay
I have just finished The Secret History by Donna Tartt, it's just wow

Re: Books!

Posted: May 4 17, 10:34 am
by sighyoung
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These were the four favorite books from the graduate class I taught this semester.

Re: Books!

Posted: May 5 17, 11:54 am
by Radbird
Reading Hamilton. 600 pages in. Target completion date is July 4.

Haven't seen the musical but think I'll enjoy it more by reading the book first.

Re: Books!

Posted: June 26 17, 7:27 am
by Jocephus

Re: Books!

Posted: August 18 17, 10:33 am
by heyzeus
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I just finished Lincoln in the Bardo, and it is a stunning and bracing question of mortality and love. It's not that nobody has ever before realized and written about how everything and everyone we love, including ourselves, will die. They've never done it quite this way, though. It's like one of those "oral history of __" magazine articles except instead of being about the making of some show or movie, it's about dying and moving on (or not). Pretty heady stuff, this book.

Re: Books!

Posted: August 19 17, 8:27 am
by sighyoung
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I'm teaching Intro to Literature, so among the plays I'm assigning, I've chosen these two. I've seen David Auburn's Proof in a regional production, and it's terrific. I've just been following Nottage's play in the press, and found out that it recently won the Pulitzer Prize, so I'm going to assign it, and I look forward to reading it.

Re: Books!

Posted: January 5 18, 4:49 pm
by heyzeus
So I'm reading "Born a Crime" by Trevor Noah now. I haven't watched any of him as Daily Show host, so I'm not familiar with his work at all. But this autobiography is amazing. He's an excellent storyteller, and he has a compelling story to tell. He was born to a black mother and white father in South Africa under apartheid. At that time, his parents' relationship, and his very existence, was literally a crime. If discovered, his parents would be jailed and he'd be sent either to an orphanage or to tribal regions in the outskirts of the country.

The whole book is full of eye-popping stories from his life mixed with discussion of the brutal and oppressive laws of his country, along with some interesting cultural observations about the powers that intentionally keep all of us separate and warring for the benefit of those in power.

Highly recommend.

Re: Books!

Posted: January 5 18, 4:52 pm
by Jocephus
IIRC my aunt read that and loved it and since reading really admires him and checks out his show.

Re: Books!

Posted: January 6 18, 1:31 pm
by Radbird
stlouie_lipp wrote:My New Year's Resolution this year was to read a book. I still have 8 months left.
Well....did you?