Summer Reading

[funkkjunkie]

What are yall reading this summer? I thought I'd start a new thread for non Louisiana related books, in an attempt to keep the fest reading thread clean. ;) I just finished Water for Elephants, a fiction book told by a 93 year old nursing home resident who ended up, due to circustances beyond his control, working in the circus as a young adult instead of opening a veterinary practice.

[Corona]

What are yall reading this summer? I thought I'd start a new thread for non Louisiana related books, in an attempt to keep the fest reading thread clean. ;) I just finished Water for Elephants, a fiction book told by a 93 year old nursing home resident who ended up, due to circustances beyond his control, working in the circus as a young adult instead of opening a veterinary practice.
wow, that sounds interesting!

I'm just starting Tubby meets Katrina....I hope it's good. I won it in the raffle :)

[funkkjunkie]

You just had to say that, didn't ya?! ;)

[NYMAMA]

I like trashy escapist love novels:o . Anything by Nora Roberts. I'm reading Angels Falls now .

[ShaSha]

Well, it's not exactly Summer, but rather than start a seasonal reading thread, I thought I'd just add on here.

Just finished a couple: Not the Girl Next Door, Joan Crawford A Personal Biography and Blackout Girl: Growing Up and Drying Out in America

I picked up the Joan Crawford biography because everything that I knew about her came from the movie Mommie Dearest. Turns out that she lived a true rags to riches story. And by all accounts, earned every single thing she got. After reading her story, I'm sort of intrigued by that era of actors and movies. It really was a different time. I've decided that the Mommie Dearest movie was likely heavily embellished and that Joan Crawford (real name Lucille LeSueur) was dealt a severly raw deal by her oldest adopted daughter. It's (the book) to be released in Feb. 2008 and I'll be buying my mother (who was a big fan) a copy.

Blackout Girl is the true story of a woman whose first experience with alcohol included blacking out and being raped. She was 12 when this happened and hanging out with older "friends." They offered her a beer before going to the roller skating rink. She drank the first and many others and ended up "waking up" lying naked under a man who seemed to be having a conversation with her. This book isn't very long -- I read it from start to finish in 4 or 5 hours -- but it is compelling. The girl grows into a suicidal alcohol and drug addict. Her final suicide attempt lands her in rehab (after a stay in the mental ward of a medical hospital) and she ultimately gets her life together.

She writes the book matter-of-factly and doesn't make many excuses. On the difference between passing out and blacking out, she hit the nail on the head: "...Passing out is something you do when...you have drunk too much or taken too many pills, or done too many drugs that you pass out from them...Blacking out is totally different. Blacking out occurs when you lose conscious thought, control over motion and time...The vast difference is that when a person is in a blackout, he or she can very well be wide awake...My first black out came the first time I drank. I drank a lot, too much, and I blacked out, leaving me with a dark empty space in my mind where my memory should have been..."

This one is also due out in Feb. 08.

[sophisticated sissy]

I just finished reading the autobiography of Eric Clapton. It reads like an A.A. drunk-a-logue. It's not much fun to read, but he seems to be happy now to be clean and sober for the past 20 years. At one point in his life, he writes that he and his partner stayed holed up in his place Hurtwood and took heroin for 3 years. They went through about $ 1.25 million per year. After that, he started to get serious about drinking. I can hardly believe he's still alive, but I'm glad he was able to recover from his multiple addictions and live a happy life.

Also, there was no discography at all in the book, which I found to be an astonishing omission. There was no mention whatever of one of my favorite recordings that Clapton played on, "The London Sessions", with Howlin' Wolf, Steve Winwood, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts, and others. I guess he must have completely blanked on that one.

[breambob]

Fear and Loathing on The Campaign Trail '72. I read it every four years to remind me that the scum also rises.

;)

[ShaSha]

Fear and Loathing on The Campaign Trail '72. I read it every four years to remind me that the scum also rises.

;)

A little while ago, I read a Hunter Thompson biography. :D I knew nothing about this guy, other than the loose drug references. It was an interesting read, to say the least, and I had intended to pick up some of his earlier works to help frame the info that I got from the biography.

It's called Gonzo: The Life of Hunter S. Thompson by Jann S. Wenner and Corey Seymour.

[sophisticated sissy]

Fear and Loathing on The Campaign Trail '72. I read it every four years to remind me that the scum also rises.

;)

Gosh, remember back in '75 when Linda Lovelace was running for president? Simpler times...

For those of you under 30, Linda Lovelace was a porn star who was in a film called "Deep Throat."

[breambob]

HST was interesting. A little indugent, perhaps. Met him and Seymour at a book signing at JF in ninetyX???
Very keen mind for the politics in America. Otherwise he was out of his mind. Not that there's anything wrong with that :)

But I got Edward Abbey up next. I got this anarcho/libertard thing going. I'll get over it.

[ozzie]

I have two weeks off work over Christmas and looking forward to a lot of reading. Waiting for an amazon order containing:

Shakey: Neil Young Bio
Neil Young Nation
Buried Alive: Janis Joplin Bio
T is for Trespass - a cheesy detective novel - latest in Sue Grafton's alphabet series
... and hopefully Santa will drop something in!

[kapeman]

I recently finished The House that George Built by Wilfred Sheed. Great book
that really shows how "the Great American Songbook" has roots in jazz.
Highly recommend it to all.

[jonnygospeltent]

Hey Ozzie,
Let me know what you think of Shakey after you finish it. I hated it but I'll tell you why after you read it.

[ozzie]

Hey Ozzie,
Let me know what you think of Shakey after you finish it. I hated it but I'll tell you why after you read it.

Okay.

[McGregor]

What are yall reading this summer?

Just started an Abe Lincoln book.

In one of the early chapters, it talks about how he finally is off on his own and contracts with a man running boats down the Miss River from Indiana (or maybe Illinois). Lincoln's first ever real window into any sort of culture was when he floated with his goods down the Miss River and pulled into New Orleans.

Pretty cool but just getting started.

[Belle]

What are yall reading this summer? I thought I'd start a new thread for non Louisiana related books, in an attempt to keep the fest reading thread clean. ;) I just finished Water for Elephants, a fiction book told by a 93 year old nursing home resident who ended up, due to circustances beyond his control, working in the circus as a young adult instead of opening a veterinary practice.

I don't think it is even winter officially. You talking summer girl? I am reading a book on the bill of rights. Strange huh?

[funkkjunkie]

Well, I was talking summer when i started this thread july 2. Sha decided to bump it instead of starting another reading thread. So whatcha wanna read in summer08? ;)

[ozzie]

I'll be the token Summer reader over the next coupla months. :D

[funkkjunkie]

Thank you kiindly, ozzie. :cool:

[linza22]

last month or so: I Love You Like A Tomato; The Pilot's Wife; Dinner At The Homesick Restaurant. i've read every thing by Anne Tyler but some of her older stuff, so i'm going backwards on her book list. i've also covered everything by Marge Piercy...who i adore...so if you can suggest an author like Marge, i'd be most obliged. :)