What are you reading?

[bigmick22]

he stole the continuum idea from Brocklanders

[Lefty]

I'm still waiting for The Works of Stogie The Great to come out in a large print paperback edition. Then will devote most of my time to reading that.

[Master Bator]

that would be an excellent read!
Do hope that Boarhog writes a few chapters about Bucket and adds a few dirty pictures.

Oh and what I am reading? Bangkok Tattoo.
Very recommendable reading for us guys -also Bangkok 8 (read) and Bangkok Haunts (yet to read).
Probably these books have been mentioned earlier in the thread...

[marshal]

David hewson - villa of mysteries, a good read simple to follow set in rome

[strocube]

I just discovered a writer I really like, Carlos Ruiz Safon. I'm reading his novel, The Angle's Game. I could've read it in the original Spanish, but since I'm a lazy fuck, I'm reading the English translation in large print. ISBN: 978-0-7393-2849-1
It's sort of a noir thriller with elements of Faust thrown in for good measure.
The blurb on the back cover says:
In an abandoned mansion at the heart of Barcelona, a young man, David Martin, makes his living by writing sensationalist novels.  The survivor of a troubled childhood, he has taken refuge in the world of books.  But perhaps his dark imaginings are not as strange as they seem, for in a locked room deep within the house lie photographs and letters hinting at the mysterious death of the previous owner.
Like a slow poison, the history of the place seeps into his bones. CLose to despair, David receives a letter from a reclusive French editor, Andreas Corelli, who makes him the offer of a lifetime.  He is to write a book unlike anything that has ever existed--a book with the power to change hearts and minds. In return, he will receive a fortune. But as david begins the work, he realizes that there is a connection between his haunting book and the shadows surrounding his home.

[freddie]

Ok, more political than entertaining:

the book is called "North of 38° latitude", it's a story about workers for the Cape Anamur who bring goods to and try to help North Korea.

Interesting, and describing North Korean ways with a fair attitude, I think.

For those wondering why one would read such stuff: I would like to go to North Korea for some days one day, not sure if I will manage.

I hope I didn't bore you

[dmatta]

The World Without Us by Alan Weisman

[Torurot]

The Persimon Tree Bryce Courtenay 2007 ISBN 9780670070701 and following on
Fishing For Stars Bryce Courtenay 2008 ISBN 9780670072743

[Ozzie]

VIETNAM - The Australian War by Paul Ham

[Chinaman]

(freddie @ Jul. 26 2009,03:04) Ok, more political than entertaining:

the book is called "North of 38° latitude", it's a story about workers for the Cape Anamur who bring goods to and try to help North Korea.

Interesting, and describing North Korean ways with a fair attitude, I think.

For those wondering why one would read such stuff: I would like to go to North Korea for some days one day, not sure if I will manage.

I hope I didn't bore you  

Not at all. I would like to go there one day as well, so keep me posted :-)

Talking about Korea, there is a book I recently read by Simon Winchester called KOREA where he walks from the southern tip to the demarcation line - he did not cross over though. I like Winchester's books, found that one in a 2nd hand bookstore up in Chiang Mai ...

[Chinaman]

(freddie @ Jul. 26 2009,03:04) the book is called "North of 38° latitude", it's a story about workers for the Cape Anamur who bring goods to and try to help North Korea.

Who is the author, can't find it on amazon ...
Thanks
CM

[freddie]

Actually, I translated wrongly:

"Behind 38° latitude" is the correct translation.

Unfortunately I don't think it is available in English, it was written by Mr. Oliver Mohr, a German physician, working for Cape Anamur couple of years ago.

Just in case you (or anybody else) can understand German, the original title is:

"Hinter dem 38. Breitengrad". ISBN 3-88977-586-1

[Beavis]

Tree Of Smoke by Denis Johnson.

'Once upon a time there was a war . . . and a young American who thought of himself as the Quiet American and the Ugly American, and who wished to be neither, who wanted instead to be the Wise American, or the Good American, but who eventually came to witness himself as the Real American and finally as simply the Fucking American. That's me.

This is the story of Skip Sands€”spy-in-training, engaged in Psychological Operations against the Vietcong€”and the disasters that befall him thanks to his famous uncle, a war hero known in intelligence circles simply as the Colonel. This is also the story of the Houston brothers, Bill and James, young men who drift out of the Arizona desert into a war in which the line between disinformation and delusion has blurred away. In its vision of human folly, and its gritty, sympathetic portraits of men and women desperate for an end to their loneliness, whether in sex or death or by the grace of God, this is a story like nothing in our literature.

Tree of Smoke is Denis Johnson's first full-length novel in nine years, and his most gripping, beautiful, and powerful work to date.'

Hard work...but worth it.

[dummy_plug]

China High by ZZ

[driftwood]

The Lost City of Z by Davis Grann "A Tale of Deadly Obsession In The Amazon" Centers around English explorer P.H. Fawcett's quests to find the mythical (?) city of gold, El Dorado, and several other adventurers who disappeared in the jungle. A damn good read!

The Steel Wave - Jeff Shaara's latest about the preparations for D-Day, the landings, and the battles during first 3 months spent breaking out of France. Be thankful you weren't there.