What books are you reading right now?

I really like the movie version of The Road. The movie doesn't follow the book exactly, but it dosn't stray very far.

If somebody wanted to ease into McCarthy novels, No Country For Old Men would be a good start. The movie is excellent, but the Coen Bros made a few changes, leaving out a part of the book that I consider pivotal, and I don't understand why.

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I finished Singularity Sky by Charles Stross, his first of several sci-fi novels. Sci-Fi isn't my favorite genre (major understatement), but I did enjoy SS. I have his next two novels, it'll be interesting to see how/if Stross' writing changes.

I'm about 2/3 of the way through Paint It Black by Janet Fitch, author of White Oleander. Being inside the mind of 20 year old girl who uses copious amounts of alcohol & drugs (been there, done that) after her boyfriend commits suicide, who's also into the punk music scene in early '80s LA (no thanks, not even when I was 20), is getting tiresome. The book is getting better, there appears to be a faint light at the end of the tunnel.

 

Just started the third Java Reacher novel, 'Tripwire'. Keeps me entertained on this drive.

 

@noodle - Jack Reacher? Oh Man that's my crack. ( I think you meant Jack, not Java). I read the first one when it came out (The Killing Floor) and have finished them all. I got the newest one off of Tuebl.ca last week - it's book 18 "Never Go Back". (btw, Tuebl provides ebooks).

I think I'm going to go over all the novels again, they're such a fun read. Did you see the movie that Tom Cruise made as Jack Reacher? It was based on "One Shot" (Book 9)

 

I refused to see the movie. Tom Cruise is just wrong for the role.
I think Bad Luck and Trouble is probably my favorite.

 

he WAS wrong for the character! Who do you think would have been the best?

 

I finally finished Paint It Black. It's going to be while before I consider reading another Janet Fitch novel.

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Since the 72nd anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor (12-07-41) is approaching, I decided to start The Pearl Harbor Myth Rethinking The Unthinkable by George Victor. I'm not far enough into it to form an opinion.

I have read At Dawn We Slept by Gordon S. Prange. It was nice to read to read a book an author that acknowledges the boldness of the Japan attack without wrapping himself in the US flag. I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in a thorough evaluation of what happend at PH and why it happened. Prange had his share of critics, but people need to realize that ADWS was finished by two of Prange's students after his death. Prange originally wanted to publish his work as three volumes, the students condensed three volumes into one (who knows what was left out?). There's an excellent review (critique) of ADWS on Amazon.

 

I meant to add: My choice would have been Gerard Butler.

 

Well my first thought upon pondering your question was;
"Hmmm... someone big, muscular and blonde... ... I know! Hulk Hogan!"
Haha.
Gerard Butler fits my image.
Also Harrison Ford or Richard Dean Anderson.
Someone gruff and weathered. Reacher is basically a homeless hitchhiker. He can't be a pretty boy like Cruise.

 

A good actor will become the character they're portraying, some very popular $$$$$ actors can't pull it off. When I watch Tom Cruise (I try not to, he's a lousy actor, & I can't forget or forgive his stupid PPD comments) or Denzel Washington they don't become the character to me.

 

@Taliesin - I like that Butler is both big, and not a pretty boy. Also, I didn't think that Reacher was blond, but had light brown hair. At any rate I bet if he was cast for the part, snowy would have paid to see the movie. Harrison Ford is too old and so is MacGyver. But the way that Reacher can 'macgyver' things, Anderson's reputation may fit the part

 

I just caught up with this. Damn autocorrect. I picture him more as an American Statham. Gerard Butler can't pull off blonde. Or maybe that guy that was on Days of Our Lives... Mark Valley? If only Guy Ritchie was taller. Or Alexander Skarsgaard was less vampire-y... Or the Jamie Lannister guy was a better actor. Tom Cruise was a fucking joke. Joseph Gordon Levitt would make a great younger Jack in my head. Hated the movie. Reacher is crack, most definitely.

 

Definitely!
Jason Stratham was my first pick. But I don't think he could do an American accent. Reacher has to be American.

 

I didn't know Reacher was blonde? I'll have to go back and re-read every single book now. I thought he was light brown. But such details, if Daniel Craig can be the best Bond, with his light sandy hair instead of dark brown, I think we can have a brown haired Jack Reacher, if he can be more imposing than Tom Cruise.

Yes he should be American, but even so, I thought that Statham was still to diminutive.

 

Just started In the garden of beasts, by Erik Larson, about a US diplomat in Berlin in 1933, who witnessed the
beginning of Hitler's demential career.

 

I'v e read it. A good read, but I don't recall it revealing anything astounding.

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I need your help. A comment in another thread re reading as a vocabulary builder reminded me of a novel where the author had an oustanding vocabulary and/or loved wearing out thesaurses. Unfortunately I can't remember the author's name or the title of the book (a bad case of CRS/CRAFT). The book is buried somewhere, I don't know where.

In brief--The male author writes as a female anthropologist who travels to South Africa close to the end of apartheid to search for a mysterious 'guru' who has founded a 'secret' commune (the 'secret' location of the commune is a bit of a stretch). She finds the guru, stays at the commune for a while, & of course develops a romantic relationship with the guru.

Does anyone know the author and/or title of the book? TIA!

 

@fjmillot - that just reminded me that I recently finished Billiards at Half Past Nine by Heinrich Boll. I thoroughly enjoyed it. You may as well.

synopsis from Amazon:

Böll’s well-known opposition to fascism and war informs this moving story of a single day in the life of traumatized soldier Robert Faehmel, scion of a family of successful Cologne architects, as he struggles to return to ordinary life after the Second World War. An encounter with a war-time nemesis, now a power in the reconstruction of Germany, forces him to confront private memories and the wounds of Germany’s defeat in the two World Wars.

 

Thanks, Leto;
I'll have a look at this book.