What are you reading right NOW?!?!

[seawolf17]

Larry Kirwan's Green Suede Shoes -- if you're a Black 47 fan, this is an enjoyable read. Who knew Bridie and Gertie were real? Kirwan takes the songs and uses them as a backdrop to his autobiography. It's a neat read, drawing both from Irish history (James Connolly, Michael Collins, et al) and personal history.

I'm only about halfway through it; it's one of the first books that I've really sat down and dug into in a long time. (Embracing my quarter-Irish heritage, I suppose.) Worth checking out.

(And if you're not a Black 47 fan, then run, don't walk, down to your neighborhood record store and pick up "Fire of Freedom" or "Home of the Brave.")

[Willets Point]

I always hoped that "Funky Ceili" was satirical, not autobiographical. So Bridie's a real person, huh? What about Maria?

By the way, at one of the Irish Nights at Shea, Larry Kirwan sat in the row behind me. He really does have green suede shoes.

[metirish]

very cool seawolf, I'll have to get that one..

[seawolf17]

Maria is, in fact, in the book.

A lot of Black 47's songs are pretty satirical; so it could be that he's inventing these characters in his history to match the songs. But somehow, I doubt it. It really seems legit. As I started getting into it, my wife asked about Gertie (of "Czechoslovakia"). I told her there's no way that story was true, but sure enough, it's in there; she apparently married his friend Jim, and the story is true to the song.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Dreadnaught by Robert K. Massie. Every year I try to read four or five big fat ambitious books. This is one of them, at 908 pages. It's billed as a look at the personalities that shaped World War I. So far it's living up to its billing, with profiles of the British and German royal families and Otto Von Bismarck. I'm hoping it won't eventually get too much into battle logistics. That kind of stuff is slow reading for me. The fact that the cover illustration is a battleship and not a human makes me wonder what the main focus of the book will turn out to be.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

It's a murder mystery set in Princeton. A light read, and I'm amused by all of the local places that are mentioned.

[Guest cooby]

Just so you're not the victim

About a year or so ago, I read a murder mystery set in Hottie's home town too, and I asked him about some of the local joints and he assured me they do exist

[Guest jerseyshore]

[Batty31]

The Silver Wolf by Alice Borchardt (Anne Rice's sister)

[Theoldmole]

The Eighth Day by Thornton Wilder. Fifty cents in hardcover, yard sale. Published in 1968 - I would have thought he'd been dead by then. People have pretty much forgotten him as a novelist, but this is terrific.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

This arrived in today's mail -



It's the third book of Unshelved comics, and it will almost catch me up to the time that I found out about the comic strip that's set in the Mallville Library (thanks WP!).

[RealityChuck]

Polaris, by the vastly overlooked, Jack McDevitt.

McDevitt has been publishing great hard SF novels for about a decade now, but no one seems to notice him.

[Willets Point]

God's Politics: Why the Right Gets it Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It by Jim Wallis.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

Sara Paretsky is one of the few writers whose books I will purchas right away in hard cover. I love her V.I. Warshawski series (don't judge it by the godawful movie that came out in the 90s - the books are much better). This just came out, and barnesandnoble.com delivered it today. I'm a happy camper - these are interesting stories with layered and rich characters.

[metirish]

not reading this but flipping through it, got the 2001 edition back then and now the 2005 edition, full of great facts, feats and firsts,and a lot of obscure stuff....

[Willets Point]

On SW17's reccomendation, I'm reading Green Suede Shoes. To my relief, the story of the real Bridie is nothing like the song. This book is interesting to compare to Liam Clancy's Mountain of Women which tells the story of an earlier generation's Irish musician coming to America. Both Kirwan and Clancy seem like they're full of shit (at least) half the time, but their writing is so engaging you hang on every word.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Kirwan's plays all deal with mythology -- Cuchulainn, Stephen Daedelus, the Beatles -- so it's no surprise that he tried to mythologize himself.

Clancy sounds like he's long forgotten the distinction between the facts and whatever makes the better story.

[Theoldmole]

I just picked up a bunch of paperback mysteries, and since I keep forgetting where I put then down, I seem to be reading them all at once. A John Dunning "Bookman" myster. A Donald Westlake with Dortmunder, and a John Sandford with Kidd. A Donald Crais, who's new to me, but comes with impressive blurbs. So far, not sure I'm impressed.

[seawolf17]

I wanted Crossworld by Marc Romano -- a sort-of history of crossword puzzles and the National Crossword Puzzle Championships -- to be better than it appears to be, because I really, really enjoyed Word Freak by Stefan Fatsis, the Scrabble book. But it's pretty rambling (and I'm only about 60 pages in), and I'm not too impressed. But we'll see how the rest of it goes.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

My not-very-well-rounded library action:


Just finished:
THINGS HAPPEN FOR A REASON
--Terry Leach discusses his life in baseball. Interesting perspective, told well.

REading now:
LICENSE TO DEAL, Jerry Crasnik
--So far, overly friendly profile of a snotty baseball agent, Matt Sosnik, who represents Dontrelle Willis + lots of other guys. It's an interesting look inside the world of baseball agents but I so far don't think much of the main character or understand why Crasnick is so taken with him other than for the access.

On the shelf:
FORGING GENIUS, Stephen Goldman
--MFY fan writes of the early years of Casey Stengel

[metsmarathon]

[url=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0689878451/103-3276842-6108638?v=glance]"And Tango Makes Three"[/url]

a touching childrens story about a pair of gay penguins, who build a nest but cannot fill it with an egg, and the kindly zookeeper who helps them in their quest to build a family, introducing shell-bound, and titular, "Tango" to their life. a briskly entertaining read that teaches us understanding and apreciation of alternative aviary lifestyles, and also that "Wasabi" is an awesome name for a penguin.

[seawolf17]

Rereading this now, in preparation for July 16.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

My daughter is re-reading all five of them, in preparation for the 16th.

[soupcan]

="metsmarathon"] [url=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0689878451/103-3276842-6108638?v=glance]"And Tango Makes Three"[/url] a touching childrens story about a pair of gay penguins, who build a nest but cannot fill it with an egg, and the kindly zookeeper who helps them in their quest to build a family, introducing shell-bound, and titular, "Tango" to their life. a briskly entertaining read that teaches us understanding and apreciation of alternative aviary lifestyles, and also that "Wasabi" is an awesome name for a penguin.

Gay penguins? Are you fucking kidding me?

[seawolf17]

[url=http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/studentwork/cns/2002-06-10/591.asp]link[/url]

[soupcan]

Two reasons my head is spinning:

1) That there is a children's book about gay penguins

2) That Seawolf had that link in his back pocket ready to fire at will.

[seawolf17]

Nah. Just googled gay penguins and it was the first thing that came up.

[Guest Iubitul]

But Soup - it's a true story....

OE (this is the one time I could have used the rolled eyes smiley)

[soupcan]

The book and who its target audience is begs a question -

Does a parent give that book to their child assuming that the kid will gain a better understanding of people and develop a greater sense of tolerance and acceptance? And if the child happens to be gay it will show them that it is 'okay'? That would of course be a wonderful thing.

What happens though if the message the child gleans is one that teaches the kid that the very normal amorous feelings a developing adolescent heterosexual child can have for his/her same sex friends are fine and should be pursued?

It's not such a simple issue for a parent and I think a children's book that attempts to address the question trivializes the complexities of the issue and does a disservice to those people who have struggled to be respected as openly gay men and women.

All this being said I really don't know my ass from my elbow about any of it but I do have three kids and desperately want them to grow up happy healthy, respectful, tolerant, secure individuals.

OE: a nip and a tuck.

[Willets Point]

I think at least of part of the solution is that the parent does not give the book and then run away. They talk about it with their kids and that helps fill in the gaps.