filed in Daily Life
What are you reading?
I’m in an intimidating book group of writers and writing teachers. I think of myself as the lone civilian. We read a lot of poetry – out loud – and non-linear short stories and novels. But for our next book, we’re going old school, and it’s one I’ve already read and loved. Cousin Bette by Balzac. What’s on your night table?
Illustration by Rose Wong
Discussion
10 comments for “What are you reading?”
Leave a Reply
About this Site
FIRST PERSON SINGULAR is a guide to surviving, thriving and sometimes just getting through a single day. Created by Wendy Braitman (more…)
Follow First Person Singular
Greatest Hits
© 2010 First Person Singular. 
Nothing, save for cookbooks, right now. Just finished Elaine Pagels’s Why Religion, Robin Sloan’s Mr. Penumbra’s 24-hour Bookstore, and Mary Pipher’s Women Rowing North. I found the first to be a beautifully emotional read and the second to be engaging, but not memorable. I was rather disappointed by the latter.
Pipher’s book on women in their 60s and beyond, how they meet the challenges of life at those stages, really missed the mark. I think nearly all of her examples involved partnered women. And I just couldn’t connect with any of them for other reasons as well. The book seems to be a mashup of cherry-picked examples and observations of women she’s interviewed, a (very) mild manifesto, and a fair bit of memoir. I’m glad I got it out of the library instead of buying it.It just did not resonate with me.
Seems to be a big oversight in Women Rowing North to not be writing about single women.
The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe. I’ve enjoyed it so far.
Meghan, if you like that, I also recommend Apollo 8 and Apollo 13, both by Jeffery Kluger (the second co-written by Jim Lovell).
Thanks for the recommendations, Len.
Yes, I think Wolfe is a very fun writer. This has been on my list ever since he died and I realized I hadn’t read any of his books except for Bonfire of the Vanities.
Good Omens does sound funny!
Happy reading!
Haven’t read the books, but loved Apollo 13 movie. The ending always makes me tear up.
I haven’t read it in so long. What a great one!
Re-reading Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. The hilarious story of an angel and a demon (who’ve been on Earth since the beginning and really like it here) working to prevent Armageddon. If you like Monty Python, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, or British humor in general, you’ll love this.
Also, it’s been adapted as an Amazon Prime series. I don’t get Amazon Prime, but I’m still psyched, because it perfectly casts David Tennant (the tenth Doctor Who) as the demon Crowley. Hopefully they’ll release it on DVD.
It feels a bit like Armageddon these days.