I've read David Sedaris Me Talk Pretty One Day, that was quite funny. David Niven (the actor) wrote two great books which I first read about 30 years ago. I now have my own copies and have once again enjoyed The Moon's a Balloon and Bring on the Empty Horses. Both were very funny.

Today I finished reading The Future Homemakers of America by Laurie Graham. I loved this book!
A touching story about female friendship over 40 years, six women in two countries. Ms. Graham has a very comic way of writing. The book is light, fun, sad and full of wisdom. I just didn't want to come to the last page.

On my list are: The Great Gatsby (reread); Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner, The Meaning of Sunglasses, and an old first-edition autobiography of Helena Rubinstein that I found at the DC Library.

I finished Chandler Burr's 'The Emperor of Scent' on a recent air flight and I'm now barreling ahead into 'The House of Mondavi: The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty' by Julia Flynn Siler.

So far, very well written and a very good read. Lots of drama.

Mid-way through "The Moor's Last Sigh" by Salman Rushdie. It's densely-written, Rushdie hides his jokes but sometimes they smack you square in the face and you can't help but laugh. Other times they're buried behind the prose that rushes along in a breathless hurry. Put it this way - in a two-hour-plus flight, I got through only 100 pages.

It's a fun read, but I worry about Midnight's Children which also languishes upon my shelf. It's a bit longer.

Right noe, a biogaphy of landscape designer Frederick Law Olmsted, A Clearing in the Distance, by Witold Rybcynski.

Cathleen, Stegner is great. Have you read anything by him before?

Thomas, "Midnight's Children" is still far and away my favorite Rushdie. No need to fear; it moves along very quickly.

As for me, I just went to the local used book store on Saturday and stocked up on lots of mysteries. I'm currently in the middle of one by M.C. Beaton. Hamish has just gotten engaged to Priscilla, and it's not going very well. Talk about oil and water.

A good trashy book on Joan Crawford called "Joan Crawford, Hollywood Martyr". It's fun reading! Damn she was a big "ho" from hell! LOL!!!

But I still love her!!

I'm still reading Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure by Sarah Macdonald.

OMG OMG OMG!

"The Moor's Last Sigh" is my favorite book -- EVER!!!!!!

'Midnight's Children' is good, but not as crazy, flat-out cool as TMLS. I've read a number of Rushdie's works, and in my opinion, you're reading his best.



LOL!

I didn't read this until after I'd raved about 'The Moor's Last Sigh' -- funny.

It's great to see that there are Rushdie fans here. He's an amazing writer.

I am reading two books:





PAY-PAL FOR DUMMIES



and



THE ULTIMATE FRENCH VERB REVIEW AND PRACTICE

A gothic novel by Phyllis A. Whitney, called "The Golden Unicorn." Sometimes nothing else satisfies but these gothic romances.

Rufus, I am jealous of your Joan Crawford book.

I'm reading "A Rose for Mrs. Miniver, The Life of Greer Garson". It's much tamer than your Joan book, Mando. It appears that Joan and Greer were not the best of friends, as Joan considered Greer to be a little too Miss Goody Two Shoes.

I was hooked on Rushdie since Haroun and the Sea of Stories. I love it for its deceptive simplicity - where TMLS is densely written, Haroun has an uncluttered, stretched-out feeling. Fun and uncomplicated, although TMLS won me over as well.

After this one, I've got Midnight's Children, The Ground Beneath her Feet, and Rage.

It's great reading Rebecca. It's hard to put down at times. I'm like "She what?!" Oh and she did what?!" She was quite a character and it does refute the Mommie Dearest book her adopted daughter Christina wrote as either it's possible it happened but it's very possible it didn't happen at all. And Christina is just a lying sack of "you know what". The book was published 2007 so it's pretty current. I'm feeling more and more that Mommie Dearest was Christina's way to get back at an unperfect mother because Joan was. "What parent is totally perfect anyway?!"

I did NOT like 'The Ground Beneath Her Feet' -- I thought it was his worst. I'm sure there are people who disagree, but after reading 'The Moor's Last Sigh' and 'Midnight's Children' (both of which are fairly spectacular as far as Rushdie goes), you might very well be disappointed by 'The Ground Beneath Her Feet'.

'Shame' is another good one, if you haven't gotten around to it yet.

Shame was my first, actually. Not long after I finished it I went on a binge at my local used book outlets, and yielded the current crop that sits patiently upon my bookshelves.

I just bought GBHF for the shiny slipcover. I'm a sucker for shiny things.

Just finished Sex Lives of Cannibals. Very funny. Now I'm casting about for something else.

.

<<<<<I just bought GBHF for the shiny slipcover. I'm a sucker for shiny things.>>>>>
[/quote]


Me too. I just bought 6 golf ###### in metallic (think xmas ornaments) different colors. I don't
know if I could play a Whole round w/them (not that great around the greens), but they sure
are Easy to Spot.

Ohhh !!! Books --- The Creature from Jekyll Island, The Warrior Queens (Frasier?) and

a special edition (beautifully bound) of The Amber Spyglass, Phillip Pullman (for my library ;-) )

also I Hate my Neck, and essays from Sontag and Vidal.

Interesting to find other Salman Rushdie fans. I'm reading his new book "The Enchantress of Florence". Like all of his books, it's quite fantastical - a magic realism historical fiction fantasy. The central construct is the imagined travels of a Florentine to the court of Akbar the Great of India in the 16th century.


I'm also reading "The Man who Loved China" about Richard Needham (subtitled "The Fantastic Story of the Eccentric Scientist who Unlocked the Mysteries of the Middle Kingdom"). It's a biography written by Simon Winchester. For me, Richard Needham is famous for his writings about China, but when my scientist husband saw the book, he said "Oh, Richard Needham is a famous biochemist. We have several of his books about embryology and biochemistry on our bookshelves."

The author, Simon Winchester is also quite a remarkable man in his own right with an extensive list of works. I also recommend Winchester's other books such as: "The Map that Chnaged the World", "Krakatoa", "The Crack at the Edge of the World", "The River at the Center of the World", "The Meaning of Everything". He's quite a prolific writer himself.

Still working my way through No Mercy which is a travelogue by Redmond O'Hanlon about his trip into the Congo delta. Not as good as Into the Heart of Borneo but still fun.

Also just picked up the new David Sedaris book When You are Engulfed in Flames.

On my amazon.com wish list is the book The Beautiful Fall about Karl Lagerfeld and Yves Saint Laurent, and the latest book of essays by Gore Vidal.

Also just finished reading The Sky's the Limit about Manhattan property, by the same guy who wrote Philistines at the Hedgerow about real estate in the Hamptons. A fun read.

Just finished The Tenth Circle, by Jodi Picoult. I don't think I've ever read a book by her that I didn't love.

Caz, I'd be interested to hear you comments on the David Sedaris book.

I just finished Diary of Bergen Belsen 1944-1945 (by Renata Laqueur) and Destined to Witness (by Hans-Jurgen Massaquoi.) Destined to Witness is an autobiography about growing up black in Nazi Germany. It was a real page-turner...I couldn't put it down!

Fraction of the Whole - Steve Toltz. Fab. Really really fab.

Leonard Woolf - A Biography. Darned good. Thorough. Glendinning is a masterful biographer.

I just finished "My Stroke of Insight" by Jill Bolte Taylor.

She is the neuroscientist who had a stroke that impaired the left hemisphere of her brain.

She made an amazing recovery and her insights into the way the mind works are fascinating.

I decided that since I had some serious downtime due to the recuperation from my recent surgery (going well, thanx!) - I needed a couple of serious books to distract me. I usually read two or more at once...a bad habit I picked up years ago...

The first one is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Hadn't read it in years, and it is just as good as it ever was...

The second is the latest by Thomas Pychon, Against the Day. I've been a huge fan of his for years. As always, his books befuddle, entertain, and sometimes enlighten. No different this time...

Teddius

I am reading "The Year of Magical Thinking" by Joan Didion. It is about her experiences of grief. It is excellent. Moving but not maudlin.

Mando there was a piece recently in Vanity Fair about one of JC's OTHER adopted daughters (there were two others besides Christina, right?) Anyway, this daughter denied any kind of abuse, loved JC and said she was a good mother and there is a new book by Charlotte Chandler about her, which is excerpted here (is 'excerpted' a word?) - see link below. I found it fascinating and I am going to read the book. It's like JFK's assassination - we'll never really know the truth there.

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features.../crawford200803

Also, a bit OT - have you ever watched Mommie Dearest with John Waters' commentary? It is funny as hell.

She's probably the one that Joan didn't cut out of her will.

(snicker) True dat.

You know Christina probably decided to write the book right when she heard those words, "For reasons which are well known to them" - that is certainly implied in the movie.

Lolcat caption for a pic of Christina Crawford holding a copy of her book: "BEST. REVENGE. EVAR."

U know, I bet Christina Crawford was a hell-yun and a really difficult child/teenager/adult to deal with for Joan. I'm not saying Joan was a great mother here since obviously we all do not have first hand knowledge of this. But I really think Mommie Dearest by C. Crawford was written as a backlash against her mother for being cut out of her will. And I'm sure Joan had her good reasons for it.

I need to get a copy of the DVD Mommie Dearest here really bad. I love that film!

I would love to read this other book by another of her adopted children now after I finish this one book I'm reading now. I just think Joan was awesome personally. She really had it tough growing up and really truly was a rags to riches story in every sense of the word. She came from squander to the dizzying heights of success. There are lots of people that love to just shoot successful women down.

I'm giving Christina the benefit of the doubt on this one...

I just started reading People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks and am very excited about it. Only a chapter in, but I'm very impressed.

And I have the new Salman Rushdie novel, The Enchantress of Florence, coming to me today or tomorrow.

I am now reading Hollywood, Interrupted by Andrew Breitbart and Mark Ebner. It is a discussion of (contemporary) celebrity scandals (well, up to 2004, when it was published) but with some sociology and discussion of celebrity culture too. It is as (darkly) funny as it is disturbing. And eye-opening - for example they discuss Anna Nicole Smith and how pathetic she is on her reality show and how she doesn't care how it affects her son...which is perfectly chilling to read now that they are both dead from drug overdoses.

Highly recommended.

...First Hollywood Babylon, now this. I sense a recurring theme...but I can't put my finger on it.

Ha!

I didn't know about the cutting out of the will part. Now the book makes perfect sense. It *is* the perfect revenge -- Joan Crawford's image got a smackdown while Christina walked away with a pile o' cash out of the deal.

Not too shabby.

Tara -- this book sounds great. I'm ordering from Amazon immediately!

They both have Hollywood in the title! This one is not nearly as trashy as '...Babylon', though, and no pics at all. It is riveting though.

I'd read the article in VF written about Joan Crawford's daughter Cathy (who had a twin, Cindy.) The twins seemed to have had a completely different experience of Joan Crawford as a mother. I have no sympathy for Christina Crawford because I think it was a lowclass horrible act to defame her mother after her death. Ms. Crawford couldn't defend herself, now could she? Ms. Crawford's many friends, to whom she'd been kind and amazingly generous, all refuted what Christina published. Many mothers and daughters have had extreme difficulties. Some creative hardworking people have had emotional and/or substance abuse problems.

I think Christina Crawford was envious of her beautiful mother's acting ability and success. After all, she herself tried acting and by all accounts, wasn't very good at it. Envy makes people do vicious things. There was a reason Christina and Christopher weren't in the will. My guess is that they got PLENTY of money from their mother while she was alive, and that the other children didn't.

Re: the topic: I need to hit the library. I've been rereading classics off my own shelves which I'd already read at least 10 times.

I finally read Perfume: The Story of a Murderer.

The protagonist was like an evil Forrest Gump.

The book was better than the movie, although I do like the soundtrack.

David Sedaris's "When you are engulfed in Flames" was a fantastic read and my favorite essays are "Old Faithful" and the section on bow ties in "Buddy Can you Spare a Tie."

I just finished Tom Rob Smith's "Child 44," which has great descriptions of Russian life under Stalinist period, and contains an intelligent portrait of a marriage, but I was able to guess who the murderer was in the middle of the novel. Hopefully the tie-in cookbook and the second novel in the series will be better.

I just started reading Graham Greene's "The Heart of the Matter" and of course, it's a masterpiece, and the time and setting are so well evoked. What did I expect? Good job, GG, wherver you are.

Currently reading: The Prince of Frogtown.......by Rick Bragg
The House at Riverton........by Kate Morton

I've read a lot of crime lately. Instead of watching TV. Denise Mina is great. I like Peter Robinson too. And Ian Rankin. Right now I'm reading "Swann- A Literary Mystery" by Carol Shields. The title is more intriguing than then the actual read so far, but it might get better.

I'm also re-reading Clive Barker's two "Abarat" books, because they are so wonderful. Like creepier versions of Alice in Wonderland. I could read at least ten sequels to it. I'm hoping for at least one more.

And I started on Boris Akunin's "Sister Belagia and the White Bulldog", but it just wasn't right at the moment. All those Russian names. Couldn't tell them apart after a few chapters. He's a wonderful author though and his Erast Fandorin novels are true delights. Like a cross between Dostoyevski (or however you spell it in English) and Agatha Christie, with a most amusing hero. I highly recommend them.

Did I miss something? Isn't summer the time for reading trash unashamedly?

WoW I love Barker. Haven't read the Abarat series....yet. Didn't Carol Shields write historical fiction, win a 'name' prize for her
'memoir' of a woman coming out West (US)? (forget the name of the book) More to read...... ;-)

Now I'm reading The Sex Lives of Cannibals. The author is living on an atoll near the equator and it's terribly hot there, so I can pretend the weather where I am isn't half bad.

I'm almost done with the sequel: Getting Stoned with the Savages by J. Maarten Troost.

It's better written than the first book. I like the author's asides about American culture too.

If you ever want to know what it's like living in the South Pacific, then these books are highly recommended.

Where do you live?? Cold or hot temp?

Rereading Maeve Binchy's "Firefly Summer".