What book are you reading right now? (1 Viewer)

[JimJasper]

Face It: A Memoir ...Debbie Harry (2019) (aka Blondie)

 

[EricSchulz]

Face It: A Memoir ...Debbie Harry (2019) (aka Blondie)
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How was this? I’m a huge Blondie/Debbie Harry fan.

 

[Sultanofcinema]

Thrilling Cities, Ian Fleming

 

[JimJasper]

How was this? I’m a huge Blondie/Debbie Harry fan.

Thanks Eric. It's great! Part way through, but rising fast and hard with Parallel Lines era being near total chaos. It's terrific, as it's very personal from her. Pretty wild throughout. Lots of interspersed art from fans (!) of her in some of the pages that, well, aren't that great, but sweet of her.

Her early music hustle in New York was ROUGH ROUGH ROUGH - almost got killed multiple times. Got raped. The really, really, really weird timing of being lured into Ted Bundy's infamous VW car, then her street smarts literally saving her - inside door handle removed, she had to reach out the window, open the door from the outside, & jumped out on the street "landing on my ass"). In between the struggles, had a few 'bouts of luck - SAW IT, and took it! She's honestly non-stop driven by dreamy art ideas, and performing. Didn't like drugs, thankfully. She and Chris Stein are one of those couples that instantly connected and have been so happy... in the midst of it all, she's just really a sweetheart. The book is intense & wild! I hope you get it someday.

 

[Jake Lipson]

I listened to the audiobook for this one rather than getting the printed book because Jeremy Renner narrated it himself. Because this is his story about his experience, and he is a professional performer, it just made sense to me to let him tell it to me in his voice. It is well-told and almost feels like he is just talking to you in his audio performance. The book is about "the incident" (his term), its aftermath and how his recovery changed his life. It is important to note that it is not a memoir about his acting career. If you want to hear about behind-the-scenes stuff, this isn't the book for you. I would be interested in that too if he ever wanted to share such a book, but that's not what this one is for.

Obviously, it is very intimate and personal. I think listening to it was a real plus because you can tell how much it means to him to share this story. There is so much emotion in his voice. The audio version also includes several minutes of the actual 911 call made by his neighbors after the accident, and you can actually hear him struggling to breathe in the background. The subject matter is often very serious and intense. A lighthearted romp this is not. But if you are a fan of Jeremy Renner's work, this will give you a greater appreciation and understanding of who he is as himself when he isn't playing a character.

 

[Jake Lipson]

This is the newly published script of the play Oh, Mary! by Cole Escola, which is currently running on Broadway. I decided to read it in lieu of being able to go to the production. It's a very quick one-act -- the entire script is 48 pages -- but it took me at least twice as long to read as it should have because I was shrieking with laughter. I had to get a bookmark and put the book down on multiple occasions in order to finish laughing before I could continue.

It is a not-at-all-historical farce in which a drunken Mary Todd Lincoln is bored of being First Lady and would rather become a cabaret star. Mary's Husband hires an acting coach to keep her distracted and out of his hair. The premise sounds like a skit you might see on SNL, but the writing is so sharp and the characterizations are so throughly developed that it works as a full piece of theatre with a full story arc with lots of comedy, but also some moments of pathos and genuinely delightful surprises. I haven't laughed this much at anything in a very long time.

 

[Mike2001]

Written on the Dark, the latest from Guy Gavriel Kay. Lions of Al Rassan is one of my favorite books of all time and I have been reading each GGK novel as it is released ever since.

 

[EricSchulz]

Ok, I’m going to do something different…I’m going to recommend AVOIDING a book. I’m a HUGE Golden Girls fan. I can recite episodes of dialogue. I’ve gone to more “lost episode” drag queen performances than I can remember. I REALLY wanted to like this. But it’s AWFUL. It literally reads like an AI version of an episode but without the laughs. And given the fact that the show did a murder mystery episode it COULD work. I barely made it through the first two chapters and gave up. And THAT is something I rarely do.

 

[Jake Lipson]

I hadn't read this in several years. The recent casting for the upcoming movie motivated me to give it a reread. I noticed Kenneth Branagh read the audiobook, so I decided to listen as well. Branagh is a great narrator for the story and gives an engaging, spirited performance. Although of course the book is unchanged, it was fun to experience it in a new way through his reading.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Ok, I’m going to do something different…I’m going to recommend AVOIDING a book.

Thanks for posting this. It's too bad to hear the book isn't very good, but I appreciate knowing that. I've seen this advertised around before and wasn't really sure how I felt about it.

While I understand why the idea of more Golden Girls would be fun, I'm not sure I would want something that wasn't acted by that wonderful cast and wasn't written by the writers of the show. So much of the appeal of that show is tied to those actresses specifically and the writers writing to their talents.

 

[Malcolm R]

Just finished this one which was a great read for about 90% of the story, but I wasn't crazy about the ending.

Still trying to slog my way through the Gray Man novel, "Gunmetal Gray", which seems to be a 700 page book where not much of anything happens. I have about 40 pages left.

 

[Wayne_j]

Never Flinch by Stephen King.
Only just started last night, only around 30 pages in.

 

[GeorgeHolland]

I recently finished "The Immortal Irishman" By Timothy Egan. I had just returned from a trip to The Republic of Ireland and had planned on buying the book but one of my sisters bought it for me before I did. I am an American with 83% Irish, 12% England and Northern European, 3% Scottish, and 2% Wales DNA. The true history of Thomas Francis Meagher's life history kept my interest throughout the book. His exploits are legendary and I was not aware with how brutal the english were to the Irish and it wasn't much better for the early Irish settlers to the US. It referenced many places I visited in Ireland where I met relatives and more family grave sites than I expected. Before we flew to London we stopped in Boston, another city rich with Irish heritage. A visit to Fenway for a game and Cheers was of course a part of the trip. His time in Montana and the west also included many places I have visited, It was a good read even if a bit slow to get through.

 

[EricSchulz]

I am HOOKED! Had I not worked and had dinner plans on Sunday I would have knocked this off over the weekend. I definite page turner. I’m not reading his books in order but I like the Sarah Keller character. I’ve seen articles that this is an “in development” title, but we know how THAT can go. Despite the daunting number of chapters (60+) most are only a few pages and the action flies by quickly.
Five college students, their parents and a LOT of secrets converge on Parents Weekend. The first night all are meeting for a “get to know each other” dinner…except none of the students show. And they’ve apparently fallen off the grid…

 

[bmasters9]

Right now on In High Places by Arthur Hailey from 1962, about the government in Washington and in Ottawa (also a provincial government in Vancouver), in a 1970 paperback copy I got from EBay; when I finish this, it will be the last of 7 core novels I will have and want from that author (tried Strong Medicine from 1984, and The Evening News from 1990, and both were incredibly lackluster).

 

[Malcolm R]

I'm just starting this Finlay book.

 

[Jake Lipson]

I just got this from Amazon for $10.46 with the Prime sale. I haven't read it yet, but the premise is certainly a great hook.

 

[bmasters9]

One of Ed McBain's 87th Precinct books, Fat Ollie's Book from 2002

 

[EricSchulz]

I just got this from Amazon for $10.46 with the Prime sale. I haven't read it yet, but the premise is certainly a great hook.

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I just added this to my library’s For Later queue. Sounds like a good one.