What are you reading now - and then

[Stavros]

Just finished The Kite Runner. Going to start Blood Meridian or As I Lay Dying today, depending on which one the library has.

As I Lay Dying, surely one of the greatest examples of writing in English and one of the finest American novels -go for that one. There is also a film of it coming out soon with James Franco.

[Stavros]

Half way through The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton. It's an eight hundred and some page mystery and a superb reproduction of life in the gold towns of nineteenth century New Zealand.

May be a daft question but do you think books are too long these days? Is length a guarantee of epic grandeur?

[trish]

I have to admit that I think more than twice before attacking anything much over 500 pages. Movies too are way too long these days. The Wolf of Wall Street ( which I didn't see yet) is three hours long! Then again, listeners who were familiar with Mozart complained about the length of young Beethoven's symphonies.

[broncofan]

I haven't read anything too deep.
A Purple Place For Dying John Macdonald
The Lonely Silver Rain John Macdonald
Two or three Richard Stark books
The Killer Inside Me Jim Thompson
Barack Obama and the New America by Larry Sabato
Buzz: The Science and Lore of Alcohol and Caffeine Stephen Braun
Thoughts Without a Thinker Mark Epstein

[Falling]

The Divine Comedy

[Prospero]

I think some books are too long for sure. A great writer tells his or her tale at just the necessary length. But the length of some otherwise appealing books is just too much of a commitment. Eg the accumulating biography of LBJ said to be a masterpiece but now three volumes long and only just at the start of his presidency

[goatman]

The Sunday Washington Post "If you don't get it, you don't get it...." But football is on now[Washington @ NY Giants], so.....

[Stavros]

The Divine Comedy

May I ask, if in translation, whose?

[fab]

[buttslinger]

Just got the third installment of Richardson's Picasso Quadrilogy, for Christmas.
Great Reading.
I wanted a Kafka torture machine, but I guess Santa decided I haven't been bad enough this year.