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Re: What are you currently reading?

Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2018 12:26 pm
by Murmur
I recently finished The Black Farm. It's not great.

I'm currently reading John Dies at the End, The Investigators of Arkham Horror, Skeptic magazine, board game rules, the Star Wars Thrawn trilogy, the complete works of Lovecraft, and the King James Bible.

Re: What are you currently reading?

Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2018 1:11 pm
by froglipz
John Dies at the end was great! I also liked the sequel, "This Book Is Full Of Spiders".

Re: What are you currently reading?

Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2018 7:59 pm
by DWill
After finishing Ta-Nehisi Coates' We Were Eight Years in Power, I realized I'd never read The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. It's a brief book and very powerful. Given special attention are the devoutly religious masters Douglass had, men who unfailingly were the most inhumane that Douglass was able to observe.

Re: What are you currently reading?

Posted: Thu May 31, 2018 5:42 pm
by KindaSkolarly
I did a search of “booktalk.org Lovecraft,” and I was surprised to find that there’s no thread devoted to him or his writing. H.P. Lovecraft. Horror, early 20th century. Maybe there IS a thread but I missed it. This is the one that turned up in the search, and I see that Lovecraft is mentioned.

At any rate, I’ve put together a page of audiobook recordings of his work. Link below:

mikesheedy.com/other-stuff/other-people ... lovecraft/

To my ear the prose is well suited to the audiobook format. It’s mostly large chunks of descriptive writing, with little to no dialogue (voice actors trying to imitate characters’ speech often sound...forced).

You can right-click the links on the page to open the pdf and a recording at the same time, to read along if you want. I recommend listening/reading to “Dagon” at least. It’s less than 15 minutes long and is a good introduction to Lovecraft’s work. Some consider him to be the father of “cosmic horror.”

Re: What are you currently reading?

Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2018 9:28 pm
by KindaSkolarly
I've spent the past few days focused on The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. I came across a reading of it that I liked and wanted to post it, the recording, along with a pdf of the poem. But I couldn't find a decent pdf, so I put one together.

mikesheedy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/ ... ariner.pdf

mikesheedy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/ ... Welles.mp3

The first link goes to the pdf, the second to the recording. You can right-click each for opening in separate windows, if you want to read and listen at the same time.

I really like the recording. Atmospheric music and sound effects, and the inimitable Orson Welles reading. The recording's about 40 minutes long and worth listening to, IMHO. Welles was great at this kind of work.

These are new links and sometimes they're hinky. But they should work. You can save the pdf to your hard drive.

Re: What are you currently reading?

Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2018 1:27 pm
by Rae
I am currently reading Sahara by Michael Palin. It is the basis of the TV series of the same name. While I have seen the series, I thought reading the book would enhance the experience. I'm less than half way through it but it is immensely enjoyable with some fantastic photographs to boot.

Re: What are you currently reading?

Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2018 1:10 am
by nvg
Mindshift by Barbara Oakley

Re: What are you currently reading?

Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2018 8:27 pm
by KindaSkolarly
I'm putting together a web page about Damon Runyon, so I've read a couple of his stories lately. He was a newspaperman and short story writer. I believe the bulk of his fiction is contained in 3 books published in 1937-38. All 3 of them are in this pdf:

https://mikesheedy.com/wp-content/uploa ... mnibus.pdf

Runyon may have the most recognizable style of writing I've ever come across. And his stories make me think of O. Henry's.

The Damon Runyon Theater ran on radio during 1949. Episodes of the program can be found here:

https://archive.org/details/OTRR_Damon_Runyon_Singles

If you're not familiar with Runyon, his stories might come as a nice surprise.

EDIT: I finished the webpage I was working on. It's here. Everything seems to be working:
mikesheedy.com/other-stuff/other-people ... on-runyon/
Deleted the Omnibus upload at the earlier link. A web search will turn it up...pdf with pink cover, nearly 2000 pages.

Re: What are you currently reading?

Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2018 9:30 pm
by julanderson
I am currently reading In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. I have really enjoyed the book so far!

Re: What are you currently reading?

Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2018 11:54 am
by thecopperbath
Currently reading Time Travel: a History by James Gleick. Fascinating concepts on Time with lot of literary references.