Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

How is that Eric? I wasn't too impressed by what I'd read, but I wasn't in a very open-minded mood when I checked it out. Have you read Everything is Illuminated?

Yes, I read and enjoyed EiI, which is why I checked this out. I'm enjoying it so far, but I'm not sure where it's going. This is obviously a good thing, since I wouldn't want it to be predictable, but I can also see it ending somewhat hollow-ly.

It's a nice easy read too 'cause there are so many pages with photos or just one sentence. Makes me feel like I'm making good progress.

I could do some historical/political...so you'd suggest LBJ's bios for a nice 20th century history?--I don't want soundbites, that would go against the grain of our poli-sci thread from yesterday--but also don't need exhaustive details.

I'm putting together a book list for the next few month's summer reading, thanks

Read DeLillo's Underworld?

I totally did NOT enjoy everything is Illuminated. I read it so long ago so I can't rememver much, but I remember I didn't like it! I am reading

"Another Bullshit Night in Suck City" which, despite the title, is very good. A memoir about a guy who finally meets his homeless father while working at the Pine Street Inn (a shelter here in Boston). There was a part of it in the New Yorker a few years ago.

Just picked up Weaver on Strategy by Earl Weaver and some ghostwriter, and Even Cowgirls Get The Blues by Tom Robbins from the liberry. I'll start one of those when I finish the Foer.

It is exhaustively researched and detailed, but the writing is so damn good you just don't mind. I also happen to have a slight Lyndon obsession, so take that into acct. You may also try "Tip O'Neill and the American Century" for more of the same, but from a different focal point.




I DID NOT enjoy Underworld...and wasn't that more about The Giants

telescope -- my grandfather grew up in Brooklyn and didn't watch baseball from 1959 until 1985 because he was that pissed off. I still HATE the Dodgers with a passion rivaled only by my hatred for The Redskins and all college teams that wear Orange.

I haven't read anything lately, but when I moved into our new apartment I brought back several books from my home storage to read once again.
They include:
Hitler's Willing Executioners by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen
Journal 1955-1962: Reflections of the French-Algerian War by Mouloud Feraoun
A witness to Genocide by Roy Gutman
Ordinary Men by Christopher R. Browning
Night by Elie Wiesel
Girls at War by Chinua Achebe

I enjoyed this more than I thought I would based on the mixed reviews. I still consider Foer a great author with lots of potential that he just hasn't quite realized yet. Still hasn't pulled a book together perfectly yet. There are always some loose ends or some plot lines that could have been used more effectively. Always interesting reading, though.

Wow, nearly three pages and jokes about this one yet...

is that the sequel to "how stella got her groove back"?

Thank You For Smoking. But not the cute little paperback.

Nah, more like "How a Harvard Student Got Rich Parents, Got a Ghostwriter, and Got Busted For Plagiarism".

Yeah, I've only read 2 of the books so far, but I can see that a lot of people had this opinion - the writer of the book I'm currently on doesn't try to disguise his opinion about it. It's interesting though, becuase the first one I read was trying to compensate for all the hate directed O'Malley's way so goes into a lot of the detail about the political machinations in NY and LA, and essentially says that it really wasn't his fault - he was making a business decision and was forced into the move because he didn't get the help he wanted to procure land for a private stadium in Brooklyn, even though he wanted to stay.

Despite my complete lack of knowledge of baseball this is shaping up to be an interesting topic to write about. The question is about what this event reveals about the nature of NY, so the hatred thing will probably come in tied to something like how much the people of Brooklyn identified with the team, felt it was one of the things that truly represented them in NY as a whole after being demoted in status, I guess you would say, when the city was consolidated in 1898.

And no, Underworld is not on the reading list