About to spend an evening with Snobs...can't wait.

J.M.Koetzee's Disgrace...pretty dismal overall, but well written. Just discovered John Harvey's mysteries, and the best thing I've read in ages: Verlyn Klinkenborg's Timothy: Notes of an Abject Reptile. Loved it!

I just finished The Shunning and The Confession by Beverly Lewis and I have to say I was very disappointed. Recently I read the 5 books of her Abram's Daughters series and couldn't put them down. I loved the characters and the storylines were intriguing so I was anticipating being just as pleased with this series. Unfortunately I felt the character and plots were very predictable and somewhat improbable. I am not going to bother with the third book because it is obvious where it is all going. Next trip to the library I may read the last chapter to see if I am right but I really don't care that much.
I have started Jane Langton's The Transcendental Murder and am enjoying her mix of humor and good mystery.

gbg

Just finished Stranger on a Train by Jenny Diski.
An unusual book in which JD sails into one of the Gulf ports from the UK on a cargo boat and travels by Amtrak round the US. At best JD could be discribed as 'odd' having spent much of her youth in mental institutions due to various cocktails of drugs etc.
Far too much of the book is taken up with her smoking and the need to 'light-up' at every opportunity.
I personally don't care if she chooses to set herself on fire, as long as I don't have to share her air-space, but
it means that most of her journeys are spent in the smoking cars of the various trains she joins with long descriptions of the folks she meets there in . . .very many of them equally 'different'.

Can any RP'ers from the US tell me about Amtrak please? Do you ever use the service? Is it a good way to travel? Are the trains always hours late? Is this the best way to see America warts and all?
Yes I know the purists will say I shouldn't ask questions on this thread but I would be pleased to get your input.

first, the books:
Amtrak in the Heartland by Craig Sanders
Amtrak (MBI Railroad Color History Series) by Brian Solomon
there-now we're legit! (but they are good books-my son and his cousin were train-mad for years.)
now, my info:
Amtrak-the only train in town. Seriously. And you certainly see more than from a plane-but I'd think, if you really want to see the "back-roads and secret places" that a car is still the best bet. Long-distance train travel in the US is not all that common-partially because it costs almost as much as a plane trip (overnight from Philadelphia to Chicago over $100, flight from Philadelphia to Chicago can be had for $99) and takes-well-a lot longer! That being said, I do have family members who took the sleeper to Chicago when their son was young and train-obsessed, and they enjoyed the experience-but don't necessarily ever want to repeat it. However, I did read an article recently that said it had picked up a bit due to the security issues at airports.
However, as a daily commuter line, Amtrak is pretty busy. That is my experience with it. When I was in high school, we used it all the time to go into Philadelphia to do research at the art museum or the huge public library-and the trains seemed, in my misty memory, to run well most of the time. DC to Philadelphia to NY to Boston-that line is popular. I'd certainly rather ride than drive between any of those cities. But the stock and the rails are old, and maintenance has not been as regular as maybe it should have been, so most mornings on the traffic report you do hear that one train or another is delayed.

Re Amtrak: I've never traveled by train, but I've heard (can't remember whether it was Rick Steve's program on PBS or whether it was on the Travel channel) that the California coast train tours are quite nice between LA and San Francisco. That one has always sounded tempting.

I've ridden the Amtrak from Tidewater area up to Washington, D.C. and back off and on, over the last several decades. Some experiences were good, others not so good. Often there were delays. The freight trains in this area own the right of way,which means that when a freight train is coming through, the passenger trains must give way. This can create some real headaches via arrival times. Also, once the lights all went out and we were fumbling around in the dark for the restrooms -- not a pleasant experience! In my area, cuts have been threatened for passenger service, despite the growing need, with the upcoming Jamestown 1607 festivities next year, and the increase in tourism. Funds have been cut and the rails are not kept up to former safety standards. I have a real bias, as I hate driving in city traffic and have always loved riding the trains, since childhood, and since getting around Europe and the UK so efficiently. This is definitely a failure in the US system, IMO.

Treelover, I hated Disgrace, but did recognize the quality of the writing. Russ assures me his other work would appeal but I haven't been tempted. Have you found it likewise?

Veer, I've taken Amtrak from Baltimore to New York, Boston, Mystic Harbor (Connecticut), Philly, D.C. and Atlanta. They tend to run on time, but one really doesn't see very much here on the East Coast except urban sprawl from an alley perspective. I like trains for the comfort level of traveling. Nice to be able to get up and move around. As a tourist you could probably avoid the high travel times. I remember people having to stand on portions of a trip from Boston back to Baltimore, but mostly the trains are not crowded at all. The Atlanta trip was last minute on a high travel holiday weekend and I couldn't get a flight. It turned into a delightful trip. I had a little room with a regular door and a curtain door which confused me until I went to bed. The bed folded down to rest one corner on the toilet and so filled the room that one had to step outside to bring it down. Thus the curtain to protect the world from the sight of a pajama clad me. The club car was full of friendly drinkers and we partied until time for bed. One of those rare occasions where strangers converge for a lovely evening and then go their separate ways feeling good about people. I guess that has colored my feelings about train travel.

Just listened to Lincoln Childs' Death Match wherein a matchmaking computer [Spoiler start (highlight the space to see spoiler)] starts murdering and takes over the world, or at least one man's life.color>[Spoiler end] He is half the writing team that writes thrillers and I first read him for a discussion of Thunderhead here. I didn't like Thunderhead, thought the writing lousy and the characters stereotypical - Mary Sue stories. But the plots were pretty good and I keep reading and keep complaining.

I think I am one of the few here who actually liked Coetzee's Disgrace, and even read it twice. However, I tried to read his other work and could not get into the stories, so abandoned them....

I've also read Coetzee's Slow Man, and liked it very much, although my interest lagged a little in the middle. I'll definitely read more of his novels when I have the chance. He looks like his writing: intelligent, but not very "friendly".

Has anyone else here noticed that you can judge a book pretty well, not by it's cover, but by the photograph of the author? The expression on the author's face usually reflects the tone of the writing, imo. That's how I decide what I'm going to check out at the library. Makes it hard when there's no picture!

Enjoyed the discussion of Amtrak as my husband and I are debating whether to make this fall's annual trip from TX to PA by car or train. I'd like to take the train this time, just because I can't read in the car. He can, so I always end up doing most of the driving.

I have also traveled on Amtrak; several trips between New York and Florida and a couple between New York and Boston. I found them a great pleasure mostly. I never had any problems with delays, but I may have been lucky. I traveled first class so I could lie in bed and watch the scenery go by. Eventually, I switched to airplanes because of the problems of getting to and from the station in Manhattan. I'd like to the train out to California someday since that's where one gets to see some really spectacular sights.

I have taken the Amtrak "Starlight" from Sacramento into Oregon and although the seating was comfy the actual trip wasn't - it is called The Starlight because it travels over night-and-stops every 10 or 15 minutes at stations all the way up the coast.
I took it because I needed to get to my DD's in a hurry because she was having emergency surgery and it took approx 8 hours to go 275 miles-I was exhausted when I got there and had to take care of 2 young children after arriving about 7am!

I have been doing some research for a friend who is coming from England to stay with me and wants to get to Eugene and it would take her 13 hours to get there from here by Amtrak-430 miles.

Back to books - I just finished reading The Ezekiel Option by Joel C. Rosenberg and am now reading the sequel The Copper Scroll - very timely stuff about world events.

Pat

After enjoying The Thirteenth Tale so much it has been difficult to choose the next book but it is going to be Through a Glass Darkly by Karleen Koen. I'm in the mood for historical fiction.

I've taken the train from Washington to Philadelphia and to New York and the trips were all very pleasant and not stressful, unlike the way I feel about flying. However, when I was stranded in New Orleans after 9/11 I investigated taking the train back to Washington and it would have taken much longer than driving back because it was necessary to go to Chicago first and then on to Washington after a long wait. We drove back in a day and a half and, if I remember correctly, the train would have taken an additional day.

One summer my husband and I made an Amtrak vacation trip on which you could choose any three stops for any length of time up to 90 days. We did a two-week trip. We were bussed from Louisville to Chicago (no passenger service available) and then took a mid-country route out to Sacramento, California, going across the plains to reach the gorgeous scenery in Colorado, Utah, and Nevada, and crossing the Sierra Nevada Mountains into CA, including going through the Donner Pass where early settlers going to Oregon got stranded during a winter and reportedly resorted to cannibalism.

We had a sleeper car without private bath, all meals were included in the cost, and there was an observation car with big windows. I took a bag full of books and read a lot while my husband (the extrovert) made friends with lots of the other passengers.

We went up the Pacific Coast from Sacramento, CA. For our stopovers, we chose Portland, Oregon; Seattle, Washington; and Glacier National Park in Wyoming. We had not traveled in the Northwest before, and we were very pleased with our choices. We came home on the northern route through Idaho, North Dakota, and Wisconsin.

The trains were on time except for the one leaving Sacramento, which arrived late and meant that we left in the middle of the night. After the fact, the only thing we wished we had done differently was to have flown home from Glacier. Going out, everything was new and exciting and the scenery was beautiful. Coming home, it was old hat and the scenery steadily became more boring. It isn't something I want to repeat, but it was a very different and interesting vacation.

For a country of our size and wealth, it still baffles me that we don't have a decent rail system. When I have been in Europe or Canada, riding on the rails is a delight. Here - Amtrak serves major cities in the east. But anyone else has to make a ton of connections to get anywhere. For example we thought it would be fun to take the train to Chicago for a friens wedding - we had the time, and thought it would be fun to see the midwest. Well, first we had to drive two hours north to Flagstaff (remember, our city is the largest in the state, 9th in the union), and from there make about 3 stops. I think taking the Greyhound would be faster. Pity. There is really no excuse for such an abysmal system here.

Oh, and back on topic - some of the best reading was on trains esp going from London to Edinburgh or from Florence to Naples. Comfortable, fast, convenient, and no one sitting next to me tried to get me out of my book into a conversation (thats coz DH was next to me, also reading)

Still working on Snobs...geez he writes long sentences for a comedy! ;-)

I'm into The Breaker-Minette Walters which I received from paperback swap. It's very good so far. Anyone read her books who can recommend any others by her?

Pam I read several of her books earlier this summer starting with The Breaker which I enjoyed.
However the other books that I read of hers were not as good IMO...Fox Evil, Acid Row and The Shape of Snakes which were all recommended to me as being her 'best'.
Not sure if it was the 'nasty' characters or the animal cruelty which was vividly described but I decided I won't be reading more by Walters, so glad I read The Breaker first!

Pat

I'm well into The Thirteenth Tale and so far it's very good. I can't wait to see what happens next!

I've requested the library order "The Thirteenth Tale." Meanwhile, I'm re-reading old favorites. Just finished Cather's "My Antonia" and am now trying to wade through Lewis' "Main Street." The latter captured my fancy years ago, but now, I'm finding it slow going....

I held The Thirteenth Tale in my hand yesterday trying to decide whether to buy it or not. I was strong and put it back on the shelf....far too many new books sitting here unread and a long list of requests at the library to get through...so I think I will just add that title to my library requests.

I picked up The Husband by Dean Koontz at the library today - I have heard good things about it, so I am hoping...!

Pat

Pat-thanks for the info on Walters books, I don't think I will order any more from the swap.-I am proud of you for being strong -BUT I think you should have bought The Thirteenth Tale-perhaps you'd better put your name on a list at the library.
Pam

LOL-Pam I did put in a request for The Thirteenth Tale yesterday and am #97 on the waiting list for it, hopefully it won't take long because they started out with only 8 copies but listed 8 other libraries in our inter-library system that were buying copies.

I am enjoying The Husband, so far very suspenseful!

Pat

Thanks to everyone for their reminiscences about Amtrak travel. I have only been on pre-Amrak trains in the US, but I did do an interesting journey with CP across Canada; a great way to meet people.

I have just finished The Secret River by Kate Grenville. A good read right up to the last chapter which I thought felt a little 'flat' as though KG didn't quite know what to do with her characters.
It would be interesting to know what an Aussie thinks of the book as it deals with the very difficult 'relations' between the early settlers and the Aboriginal peoples.
Kath, have you read it yet?

I'm also at my old trick of having several books on the go at the same time.
So am about half way through A History of the World in 10½ Chapters by Julian Barnes. Very 'clever' but indigestible in large doses.
A strange book translated from the French Balthasar's Odyssey by Amin Maalouf. It is 1665 and the 'known World' is worried about the coming year for which dreadful portents have been foretold. The writer is searching for 'The Book of the Beast' and his journey is taking him across the Levant to Constantinople then round the Mediterranean on his quest. It appears to be a brief time in history when the Jews, Muslims and Christians are not killing each other and where trade is flourishing between countries. Quite an antidote to the present unrest in the Middle East.

Have now picked up The Age of Innocence from the library. Also slowly, so slowly working my way through Gilead by Marilynne Robinson as a bedtime read, but often falling asleep.
I picked it up as it was a BBC 'reading' but finding it not quite going anywhere. What did you think?

vee-I agree with you on The Secret River. I enjoyed it quite a bit until towards the end and then....seems she tried to rush through the last bit. I'm finishing up M.Walters The Breaker as well as pulling out The House on The Strand by DuMaurier from my past.

I finished The Thirteenth Tale last night and really enjoyed it -- what a great "ghost" story! There were some passages in there about books that I need to copy down. Definitely a book lover's book.

Next up is The Age of Innoocence.

Outside of a few of his short stories, I've never read much by Ray Bradbury. I've always wanted to, but somehow never got around to it. Yesterday was an overcast day, with some rain and thunder, so I thought it might be the perfect time to pick up Something Wicked This Way Comes.

I am No. 47 on the library list for The Thirteenth Tale and can hardly wait since reading all your comments.

BTW, I made a mistake on my Amtrak trip. Glacier National Park is in Montana and Waterton, Canada, not in Wyoming. We did make another trip once to see the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone NP, which are in Wyoming, but not by train.

Don't have much time for reading, so rereading yet again Pride and Prejudice. I read all my favourite parts first (basically all Elizabeth and Darcy dialogue), and am now leisurely rereading the whole think beginning to end.

Has there, anywhere, been a discussion accounting for the great change in Mr. Darcy's demeanor? As much as I love the book, it hardly seems credible that he would go from haughty to not just like *that*.

Georgia, I cherish a book of Bradbury Short Stories that was released in 1980 "Stories of Ray Bradbury" published by Alfred Knopf - includes about a hundred of his classic works. The Veldt, There Will Come Soft Rain, and Sound of Thuder are probably my three favs. You of course have to read his Martians Chronicles. And oh then there's Dandelion Wine and Ice Cream Suit and Fahrenheit 451......Um, theres a lot. Enjoy!

>So am about half way through A History of the World in 10½ Chapters by Julian Barnes.

I read that, you're right, its one that is best in chunks. BTW have you read his England England? Absolutely loved that, I don't think any of his others even come close to that.

About Gilead - I loved it, but then I hated her Housekeeping so go figure.

Going through a stage right now. I have put aside I am the Messenger by Zusak. I was blown away by his Book Theif. This one doesn't even sound like the same author. Interesting premise, but I got bored by the middle and just didn't care what happened. The new Anne Tyler lost me about page 10. And House of Mirth is too much like Age of Innocence for it to be enjoyable for me. Think I might just need to spend the next few days catching up on periodicals and try again.

I just finished "Digging to America" by Anne Tyler which I thought was pretty good overall. Then read "Tenderwire" by Claire Kilroy about an Irish violinist who works in NYC and buys an antique violin from a shady character and it evolves into a whodunnit after that. A fast read and enjoyable at the same time...

Now reading "The Dress Lodger" which is nothing special at the moment. We'll see how it progresses....

I am salivating at the thought of the Friends of the Library book sale coming in a few weeks. I have a lot of reading to do to so I can fit my future purchases into the book case!!!

My bookclub read the Dress Lodger-I'll be interested in your opinion when you are finished.

Vee, I haven't yet read the Grenville, but it is one of the books I brought home from work to read on my holidays. I'll let you know.

Finished Bel Canto and started Age of Innocence. My library Wharton collection has a nice intro by Gore Vidal. Finishing In the Fall on tape. I love it, but it's another heartbreaker.

I also took the Coast Starlight from Oakland to Seattle several years ago. We had a sleeper without private bath, and loved the trip. However, the train is currently a nightmare! I goes from Seattle to LA and there have been MANY delays. They are illegally letting frieght trains go through first. People have missed connections by 12-18 hours!

This country has NO interest in persuing rail transport. The railroads have had more interest in selling off their realestate, which they were given, for building the railroads. They have no lobbies, unlike auto makers, and really don't care about passenger travel at all. (And not much about frieght, except for a few high profit lines.) My father was a freight conductor for the Illinois Central, so I've always loved trains.

I've heard the Canadian train through the Rockies is wonderful. Anyone have current info?

I went across the Rockies from Vancouver to Calgary in 1985. The service was a bit lacking then - we didn't get our evening meal until the last call and it was 10pm. The scenery was spectacular, but to be perfectly honest, I got a bit bored with looking at ranks and ranks of identical pine trees. It made me realise how different each gum tree is.

I love train travel. It's no bargain, and it is slow, so it will never be competitive for long distance travel I fear. I'm glad it is still available for those of us who love the romance of it. One of these days I would like to take the Canadian train across the continent.

As for reading, I just finished Fingersmith. I enjoy it thoroughly, but I am with Martin on this one. I thought it an excellent and literate popular novel, but not a literary novel and potential classic, which is what I think a Booker Prize winner is supposed to be.

Rosefolly

I finished The Husband by Dean Koontz, it was a good mystery and I enjoyed it.

I am now read Ricochet by Sandra Brown, I have never read anything by her before but this was one of the FREE books I won at BookReporter.com.

I was at Costco today and couldn't resist it-caved and bought The Thirteenth Tale.

Pat

I also just finished Bel Canto although I didn't particularly like the ending, then again I've no idea how it could be different.

I was at my local used book store and picked up a copy of Atwood's Lady Oracle. I've never heard any comments about this book, in fact, I'm not sure I'd even heard about it before I picked it up. But I think it looks interesting.

I finally settled on Zadie Smith's On Beauty. I wasn't wild about White Teeth, but it was good enough that, with all of the hoopla of this one, I figured I'd try it. Not bad so far.

I did read House of Mirth. My, I didn't realize what a depresing book it was! But Wharton certainly knows how to draw a character in her writing, and her satire is sharp and true after a century or so. Just not sure I care to read another by her.

I'm about a third of the way into The Age of Innocence and it is excellent. I'd read The Buccaneers a long time ago and really loved it, but hadn't read anything else by Wharton since. I'd like to see the movie once I'm done with the book.

Reading the Booker short-list - being discussed on another thread.

I wanted to jump in about Julian Barnes - I absolutely love 10 1/2 chapters, though I agree it's a book to be read in bits. My favourite chapters are the first and last. I enjoyed England, England, Cindy, but I wouldn't have said that it was significantly better than his others. I personally thought Talking it Over and Love Etc were excellent, and I also thoroughly enjoyed Arthur and George.

Oh, I was so disappointed in Arthur and George. Granted, I'm not much of a Sherlock Holmes fan, but I expected more than this. I did read Love Etc and liked it, havint read Talking it Over yet.

sheri, I've turned into a real Wharton fan. I've not read "The Buccaneers." Would you say it's like her others? Same themes? I'd also like to see the film of AOI. When was it made? For the big screen? How did I miss it? It sounds like the sort of film Merchant-Ivory might have made....

Woodnymph, The Age of Innocence was filmed for the big screen several years ago by Martin Scorsese, if I'm not mistaken. It starred Winona Ryder, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Michelle Pfeiffer. I thought Pfeiffer was miscast in this movie and looked absolutely nothing like Wharton's descriptions in the book. All in all, though, I did like the film version and plan to add it to my DVD library.

I just finished Down and Out in Paris and London. I thought there was a discussion here somewhere on it, but I couldn't find the thread. The part I found most interesting was when he talks about "the instinct to perpetuate useless work." I was surprised that he would choose the filthy lodging house over the Salvation Army. Please tell me the Twopenny Hangover was a piece of his imagination. I wanted to laugh.

Now on to The Closing of the American Mind by Allan Bloom.

woodnymph, I believe The Buccaneers was unfinished at the time of Wharton's death, and someone else completed it (I don't have my copy handy, but it's in the house somewhere). The story concerns four American girls of "new money" who are shunned by high society in NY, and so go to England where the pool of bachelors with titles but no money is quite large. There was a movie made from that book, as well. Having read TB and AOI probably 8 - 10 years apart, I can't offer an accurate opinion on their similarity.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Buccaneers

pam, I thought that Orwell pretty much based that book on his experiences, so it wouldn't surprise me. I haven't read it in ages - need to again.

>I was surprised that he would choose the filthy lodging house over the Salvation Army.

Salvation Army was (and still is) big on evangelism. Given Orwell's attitudes, I suspect he'd rather be in a filty place than have to deal with that.

>The part I found most interesting was when he talks about "the instinct to perpetuate useless work."

Hee, sounds like some jobs I've had!

Mary - I just ck'd at Netflix and they have the movie The Buccaneers made in 1995, so you can read the book and see the movie!

Pat

Marion Mainwaring completed The Buccaneers, and there was a miniseries with Carla Gugino and Mira Sorvino, which has a completely different ending, and adds things I don't think were intended in the book (eg one of the characters is a homosexual caught in a compromising situation). I was incurably romantic in my early 20s and read it numerous times, but I suspect it would be too sappy for me now.

Read P&P, watched the miniseries, watched the movie, now what's left for me but to read 2 essays on Jane Austen I just found at the library.

I read Down and Out in Paris and London a few weeks ago, and while I found the part in Paris sparkling and interesting, the part in London was incredibly repetitive, IMO, and I couldn't see the point of it. Couldn't he go to his family's house while waiting for the job to start?

> Read P&P, watched the miniseries, watched the movie, now what's left for me but to read 2 essays on Jane Austen I just found at the library. Venusia, how about DarcyÂs Story which is the same story but told from Mr. DarcyÂs viewpoint? (It apparently attributes DarcyÂs change of demeanor to a heart-to-heart he has with his sister Georgiana after Elizabeth turns down his first proposal.) I nearly bought this today myself, except my TBR pile is threatening to topple over and smash me flat.

IÂd be interested if anyone has read any of these P&P take-offs that IÂve seen around lately, and what they thought of them.