Who’s Reading What: July 2010
31 July, 2010
This month I’m asking my foodie friends at Umamimart, where I have a fortnightly column Slightly Peckish, what they are reading and they’ve let me in on the list below:
Miriam’s Kitchen by Elizabeth Ehrlich – a memoir of Ehrlich’s mother-in-law through food and culture
City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles by Mike Davis – a deconstruction of LA’s shadowy history
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz – Pulitzer prize-winning novel about life in the Dominican Republic and New Jersey through the eyes of one Oscar Wao
Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?: Stories by Raymond Carver – a collection of shorts from the master of spare prose
Tokyo Underworld: The Fast Times and Hard Life of an American Gangster in Japan by Robert Whiting – the story of Nick Zappetti who stayed in Japan after WWII to carve himself a slice of the Japanese underworld
Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy by Martin Lindstrom – why we keep on buying stuff
The Kid Stays in the Picture by Bob Evans – life of one of Hollywood’s most colourful producers (Chinatown, Love Story) who was once married to Ali McGraw and painted the town red with Jack Nicholson
You’ll Never Eat Lunch in this Town Again! by Julia Phillips – life and times of one of Hollywood’s great female producers who worked with Scorsese and Spielberg
Too Fat To Fish by Artie Lange – memoir of the comedian
Density of Souls by Christopher Rice – a gothic tale of four tormented youths in New Orleans by Anne Rice’s son
Blind Fall by Christopher Rice – a tale about a soldier, his lover and murder
Snow Gardens by Christopher Rice – another gothic tale about students in a secluded campus
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy – a tale of love and forbidden passion
The Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson – everybody’s reading this (that’s four of us here), and if you’re not, why aren’t you?
Wow, what a great list. Thank you guys!
Of these titles, I’ve only read two of the Millennium Trilogy and a couple of Christopher Rice’s books and Anna Karenina.
It’s interesting to see the diverse range which also strongly shows everyone’s interests! I love the fact that there’s a nice mix of fiction and non-fiction here.
And check out the recipe for Literary Agent, a cocktail perfect for bookish folk.
chasing bawa 
31 July, 2010 at 9:18 am
Oscar Wao is so good! And many of the others sound great as well.
31 July, 2010 at 3:28 pm
This is a great list! Christopher Rice is on there twice — I’ve not read anything by him, though. Might have to give it a try!
31 July, 2010 at 6:07 pm
Raymond Carver! I’ve got to know him through haruki murakami’s translation. Read some stories in “what we talk about when we talk about love”. Have to go back to refresh my impression, but found the story telling unique.
1 August, 2010 at 1:54 am
Great list. I am adding a few books from here on my wish list.
Here is my post: TSS: What Books I Read in July
1 August, 2010 at 5:02 pm
Some great books listed there, none of which I have read! Shame on me 🙂
2 August, 2010 at 3:52 pm
Nymeth: I’ve heard Oscar Wao is really good and have seen lots of people reading it.
Natalie: I read a couple of his books years ago and remember enjoying them a lot. I was going through a gothic reading phase then.
itoeri: That’s what Murakami named his running memoir ‘What I Talk About When I Talk About Running’ after! Exciting! I can’t quite remember whether I’ve read any Carver yet, but he’s one author I’ve been meaning to for years.
gautami tripathy: Yay, I love recommending books, even if they are other people’s recommendations!
amymckie: You do realise that we’ll never read every single book that’s published, don’t you? Too many books, but we still keep trying!
3 August, 2010 at 12:39 am
wow. this might take me to some proper murakami reading. i spent sunday with carver, got into his stories with a certain dry hollowness, sometimes with warmth and sometimes with sinisterness. to me, it’s typically American, i guess.
there are other titles in your list that catch me.