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i'm currently reading zadie smith's the autograph man. gave up on absurdistan. anyone read either of these?

i've only read white teeth and I was kind of meh about it, even though most people seem to really enjoy it. How is the autograph man?

 

thank god it's not just me. I tried to read On Beauty and I thought it was impossibly pretentious *hides* I couldn't finish it. Maybe I should have read White Teeth first, but based on On Beauty, I don't think I can read Zadie Smith ever again.

 

I'm reading "The Killer Inside Me" by Jim Thompson right now. Nice light bit of reading :D

Edited by soho2chelsea

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i'm currently reading zadie smith's the autograph man. gave up on absurdistan. anyone read either of these?

i've only read white teeth and I was kind of meh about it, even though most people seem to really enjoy it. How is the autograph man?

 

i didn't care for it that much, but i'd like to read white teeth before i totally denounce zadie smith. i was going to read either white teeth or on beauty until i read soho's post - thanks, soho, i'll heed your warning! :)

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Just finished 2 books:

 

A Death in Belmont by Sebastian Junger (author of The Perfect Storm). It was excellent. It's non-fiction -- about the Boston Strangler and another man who may have been falsely accused of one of the murders (I think Vanity Fair had an excerpt recently). Quick read. I thought it had some interesting commentary about criminal law and the criminal justice system in America.

 

Twins of TriBeCa by Rachel Pine. It's like The Devil Wear's Prada in that it's written by a girl who used to be a publicist with Miramax. She intentionally does a poor job of disguising names and movie titles while she spills lots of inside gossip. Quick read, entertaining, doesn't make you think too hard.

Edited by Cutielb99

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I decided not to pick up On Beauty at the library because the cover blurb didn't appeal to me, then felt bad because I was reading the style thing in Vogue on Zadie Smith and I felt like I should read it.

 

I had a message on my machine at home that the Templar Legacy (fiction, a guy who does a bunch of Russion history conspiracy books--Amber Room, one other I can't remember the name of....) is in at the library for me. Yippee! I'll try to get there tomorrow--have a couple to return too....

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i'm currently reading zadie smith's the autograph man. gave up on absurdistan. anyone read either of these?

i've only read white teeth and I was kind of meh about it, even though most people seem to really enjoy it. How is the autograph man?

 

i didn't care for it that much, but i'd like to read white teeth before i totally denounce zadie smith. i was going to read either white teeth or on beauty until i read soho's post - thanks, soho, i'll heed your warning! :)

 

You're welcome...a couple of my friends did like it, but I sure didn't. I found it almost painful. Hoya, I felt like i should read it too, so I kept trying, but eventually I just had to give up. Edited by soho2chelsea

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i've heard white teeth is supposed to be better than on beauty, so if you were going to give one a try, i'd pick white teeth. it wasn't bad it just didn't hook me. it felt like she was trying too hard to do too many things - mixing races, cultures, religions, languages, on and on and on and on. sometimes this works (like with cloud atlas) and it flows together nicely. white teeth felt like a chaotic mishmash to me.

 

but i'm only one opinion and like i said, most people liked it.

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Highly recommend "Heat" by Bill Buford. He is a former fiction editor for The New Yorker who went to work as a sort of intern for Mario Batali in the kitchen at Babbo. The book details that experience, the people he met, the things he learned, and the FOOD....plus it gives a sketchy history of Batali and his career. Buford also goes to Italy - specifically several small towns in Tuscany - to meet and work with people who influenced Batali, and to work for this wild Dante-quoting hard-core traditionalist Tuscan butcher. I'm about fifty pages from the end and could only put it down because I absolutely had to go to the office today and accomplish something.... Warning: it will make you hungry. I ate far too much this weekend and I blame the book. This time.

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I just finished Make Him Look Good by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez. Chick lit-y, crass and a quick read. Now I'm finally reading The Lovely Bones.

Wow, but library books can't just sit on my bedstand while I read the sixty million other books I have in line....

This is exactly how I feel! Plus I love hardcovers so I end up spending a ton of money on books.

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I just finished You'll Never Nanny in This Town Again: The True Adventures of a Hollywood Nanny by Suzanne Hansen. Has anyone else read this? Hansen chronicles her stint as a celebrity nanny for Michael Ovitz, Debra Winger, and Danny DeVito & Rhea Perlman. Her friends worked for the Geffens and Sally Field. It's a fun one, yet it's also very sad when you see the relationships that some of these people have (or don't have) with their children. There's some warped parenting going on in Hollywood, and at the same time, there's some great parenting too. Let me tell you... Michael Ovitz is a scary man!

Edited by Cutielb99

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I'm reading and highly recommend "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls. I worked with Jeannette 20 years ago at New York Magazine, she was young and up-and-coming. I was young and a total nightmare, a fish-out-of-water, a disaster. Everyone there hated me, and I deserved it. But Jeannette was kind to me; she saw my frustration at my constant failures and shared her own stories of disappointment in starting out. I still remember her kindness fondly; I was very happy when I began to see her appearing on E! and moving on to MSNBC (although I never would have seen her in gossip at that time, as she was on the Wall Street beat).Her story is AMAZING. She is forgiving, insightful, accepting.... in short, pretty remarkable. And a great writer. By the way, am I the ONLY one who hated "The Lovely Bones"?

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I didn't hate The Lovely Bones exactly but did think it was very overrated. And to the extent that I hated it, I had weird reasons unrelated to the book's merits.I really liked The Glass Castle too. Interesting to hear that Walls is so kind in real life. She does seem to have a generous spirit, based on my reading of the book, but I have been disappointed before.

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I'm reading and highly recommend "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls. I worked with Jeannette 20 years ago at New York Magazine, she was young and up-and-coming. I was young and a total nightmare, a fish-out-of-water, a disaster. Everyone there hated me, and I deserved it. But Jeannette was kind to me; she saw my frustration at my constant failures and shared her own stories of disappointment in starting out. I still remember her kindness fondly; I was very happy when I began to see her appearing on E! and moving on to MSNBC (although I never would have seen her in gossip at that time, as she was on the Wall Street beat).Her story is AMAZING. She is forgiving, insightful, accepting.... in short, pretty remarkable. And a great writer. By the way, am I the ONLY one who hated "The Lovely Bones"?

That was a nice story..good to hear she's classy.The Lovely Bones truly touched me.

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I just finished You'll Never Nanny in This Town Again: The True Adventures of a Hollywood Nanny by Suzanne Hansen. Has anyone else read this? Hansen chronicles her stint as a celebrity nanny for Michael Ovitz, Debra Winger, and Danny DeVito & Rhea Perlman. Her friends worked for the Geffens and Sally Field. It's a fun one, yet it's also very sad when you see the relationships that some of these people have (or don't have) with their children. There's some warped parenting going on in Hollywood, and at the same time, there's some great parenting too. Let me tell you... Michael Ovitz is a scary man!

I just finished this as well! Boy, she didn't pull any punches. That will teach the Ovitzes to sign contracts (and privacy contracts) next time! Score one for the little guy.

 

But who were the Goldbergs?

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I just finished You'll Never Nanny in This Town Again: The True Adventures of a Hollywood Nanny by Suzanne Hansen. Has anyone else read this? Hansen chronicles her stint as a celebrity nanny for Michael Ovitz, Debra Winger, and Danny DeVito & Rhea Perlman. Her friends worked for the Geffens and Sally Field. It's a fun one, yet it's also very sad when you see the relationships that some of these people have (or don't have) with their children. There's some warped parenting going on in Hollywood, and at the same time, there's some great parenting too. Let me tell you... Michael Ovitz is a scary man!

I just finished this as well! Boy, she didn't pull any punches. That will teach the Ovitzes to sign contracts (and privacy contracts) next time! Score one for the little guy.

 

But who were the Goldbergs?

 

Oops. I forgot she changed the real name of the family to "Goldberg" for the book. They are the family that her friendd "Mandie" worked for. I don't know which studio head it really is!!! Edited by Cutielb99

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I'm not sure if any of you guys have read this book "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen. I've been reading alot of buzz about it on the internet..it's supposed to be very good.

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Just finished "To Doon with Deat" by Ruth Rendell

I loved that!I don't know why they don't film Rendell's work, that would make a great movie!In an interview once, she said Bette Midler once optioned THE KILLING DOLL, but nothing came of that.Another author I met told me Rendell's books don't seem that popular in the U.S.I don't get that; she reminds me very much of P.D. James whose work is frequently filmed and always sells very well.

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Just finished "To Doon with Deat" by Ruth Rendell

I loved that!I don't know why they don't film Rendell's work, that would make a great movie!In an interview once, she said Bette Midler once optioned THE KILLING DOLL, but nothing came of that.Another author I met told me Rendell's books don't seem that popular in the U.S.I don't get that; she reminds me very much of P.D. James whose work is frequently filmed and always sells very well.
I hadn't heard about this author until recently :unsure:. I went to Borders to check her out and they only had a very few of the large, trade paperbacks. Luckily, I did find a ton of her books at a used bookstore that I frequent. :)

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I just started reading The Russian Debutante's Handbook by Gary Shteyngart. I know how you feel about Shteyngart, fykey and bittermuch ;) but so far I'm enjoying it. I borrowed it from a friend, so if it starts to suck, oh well, at least I didn't spend any money.

Edited by smartypants23

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I just started reading The Russian Debutante's Handbook by Gary Shteyngart. I know how you feel about Shteyngart, fykey and bittermuch ;) but so far I'm enjoying it. I borrowed it from a friend, so if it starts to suck, oh well, at least I didn't spend any money.

LOL - best of luck to you! and, for what it's worth, i heard it's better than absurdistan. let us know what you think when you're done!

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Just finished The Starter Wife by Gigi Levangie Grazer. Odd, but fun. I enjoyed it. I just read that the USA Network cast Debra Messing to star in a six-hour miniseries adapted from the novel.

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Just finished The Starter Wife by Gigi Levangie Grazer. Odd, but fun. I enjoyed it. I just read that the USA Network cast Debra Messing to star in a six-hour miniseries adapted from the novel.

I enjoyed that one as well. I tried to read her other novel (the name escapes me right now. I want to say it was Maneater) but I couldn't get into it.

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Oh I tried to read Maneater as well and thought it was so painfully poorly-written that I just couldn't get past the first few pages. It's still on my bookshelf at home. Glad to hear Starter Wife is better.

 

I am reading Stephen King's Danse Macabre, which is just making me want to go on Amazon and buy all the other horror books he discusses.

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Oh I tried to read Maneater as well and thought it was so painfully poorly-written that I just couldn't get past the first few pages. It's still on my bookshelf at home.

Ditto.

 

I just finished How to Sleep with a Movie Star . I don't think it was based on any one person, but it was a fast, cute read.

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