Reading "The Odd Women" by George Gissing lead me to Kipps by H.G. Wells. (An excerpt was in the back of the Gissing book.) I had no idea just how prolific Wells was, or that he had written comic novels. Isaac Asimov called Wells The Shakespeare of Science Fiction; and I always thought of Wells as someone who wrote a few good SciFi novels. You can find more than eighty of his works available on Kindle. I'm starting with Kipps, a 256 page novel based on his own life experience. (95 cents.) I'm really enjoying the story.
Reading The Job by Sinclair Lewis, lead me to one of his minor works Free Air, a simple love story, a "road" book with a woman at the wheel.
Comments left on this blog lead me to read Old School by Tobias Wolff (enjoyed it) and to also order Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes on Kindle. It's nice to have a good variety of unread material in this little machine ~ it's like carrying a little bookshelf in your handbag or briefcase, and you can pick a book out according to your mood. Everyone's recommendations go on my library list, so eventually ...
A few nights ago I watched (and read) an old silent movie.
Valentino tells a story to Gloria Swanson. It was oddly riveting!
6 comments:
Eclectic choices, Avid! On the radio, I heard Jay Parini talking about a new book he'd written about the (to him) thirteen most influential American books. Only two novels made it: Huckleberry Finn and Uncle Tom's Cabin. Interestingly, he picked How to Win Friends and Influence People and Dr. Spock's Baby book. I just started Uncle Tom's Cabin, which he read only comparatively recently and said he could not put down.
As a recent job, I c/e'd the questions and headers for another edition of Huckleberry Finn. I was amazed by it.
I read Uncle Tom's Cabin when in college and enjoyed it once I got into it, I was determined to read all the classics in HS and College. also I think I read Dr. Spock's baby book about 3 times through! I won a copy of Huck Finn at a library book club party-- I plan to read it sometime... and I am pretty sure I read the Dale Carnegie book or at least part of it --it was lying around the apt when I was a kid. There was (is) a church in Manhattan that I went to a few times when I was young--a very ambitious businessman neighbor was deep into that church, The Marble Collegiate Church --Norman Vincent Peale was the pastor, (He wrote about Positive thinking) He was still preaching in his 90s! I was never keen enough on churches or 'joining' to go there often, but my neighbor would always ask me to join him --he went every week with great enthusiasm.
Free Air sounds worth a look - his work is rather interesting in terms of gender roles etc.
Too young for the elder Valentino, but saw and heard Sal with Stoneground ; )
Books, all leading to others to read.
Now there's a job I'd like to get paid for ; )
Thanks 4 UR visits ; )
I haven't been very open to the idea of Kindle until I read this post. Since I'm always carrying around huge purses, I like the idea of having a little device with multiple books on it depending on what you're in the mood for. I have a fear of being bored somewhere without a book to read and typically have a purse book, a car book, a bedside book, etc. This sounds much more practical.
Amazing how the ideas in the Peale book are still so relevant today.
Not doing much reading at the moment, except in dribs and drabs. But I loved the first chapter of Free Air (praise be to Gutenberg, one the ex-pat's greatest friends!) Loved the first chapter, so I'll definitely get back to it at some point.
(re Free Air: those were the days - unpaved roads, no power steering and shlepping down to the river to refill the radiator...)
Oh, you have to love Gloria Swanson's hat and her expression (but I'd hate to see her shlepping down to the river in that outfit...)
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