Here's the link to the article:

http://www.oprah.com/article/omagazine/200908-omag-books-jon-hamm

Great! I knew someone would find it! Thanx Auburn Annie...!

.....The Elegant Universe is part of my library, largely because I was married to a geophysicist/ seismologist for several years, so I've read one or two or three portions, v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y......

It's not a surprise that Jon is that cerebral, since he is very well-educated, and also an ex-school teacher, and we have seen that he has a wide comedic streak.

It's cool that he also loves everyones' idols, Steve Martin and George Carlin.

This guy just gets better, and better, even if he does have commitment issues.

The Grapes of Wrath - Steinbeck
Appointment in Samarra - O'Hara
I, Claudius - Graves
A Tale of Two Cities - Dickens
The Elements of Style - Strunk/White

.....Well! A thing like that!

A list!

.....And, also?

As an actual fan of Jorge Luis Borges - without the personal drama-rama, which I discovered through reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Love in the Time of Cholera

zerelda, check out this book by Frank Luntz.

http://www.luntz.com/

Oh, fur is going to fly.....isn't it?

A thing.....oh, never mind.

Well, I like all those mentioned, so rather than be redundant, I'll just mention some of my all-time favorite "good reads" (not many classics, but each one always wonderful every time they are re-read)

Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry

Our Town - Thornton Wilder

A Christmas Memory - Truman Capote

Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell

The Outsiders - S. E. Hinton

To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee

Seabiscuit - Laura Hillenbrand

Once Upon A Town ~~ The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen - Bob Greene

Letters Of A Woman Homesteader - Elinore Pruitt Stewart

Those are some good books, SCfan. Never read Hardy's Madding Crowd, but did slog through Tess of the D'Urbervilles. Have you ever read the Williamsburg Chronicles by Elswyth Thane or O, Pioneers by Willa Cather? Two of my favorite authors.

I am going to look for the E.P. Stewart book - it sounds like something I would enjoy. I also love Rumer Godden and Daphne Du Maurier. I know I have always been so disappointed that Harper Lee did not write anything else after To Kill A Mockingbird. Such a wonderful book.

More current authors I enjoy are Anne Tyler, Joanna Trollope, Eleanor Lipman, Martha Grimes, and Ruth Rendell. They have all given me enormous enjoyment over the years.

Some of my recent favorites....
all fiction...all stories of personal struggle against and understanding of the human condition...

Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao-Junot Diaz
Half a Yellow Sun-Chimamanda Adichie
Song of Solomon-Toni Morrison
A Lesson Before Dying-Ernest Gaines
Getting Mother's Body-Suzan-Lori Parks
Appalachee Red-Raymond Andrews
The Help-Kathryn Stockett

Yes, z...read some of the Wiliamsburg series...not all yet...they are wonderful. I love the one that takes place in WWII...is that the last one she wrote?

I so agree about Harper Lee....I adore her writing style.

O Pioneers is great, too...haven't read it in a long time...about time I re-read that one.

I agree "Tess" is a long arduous road...good but drawn out. Far From the Madding... is more fast-moving (for Thomas Hardy, that is!) but, I love the story and it's worth it in the end.

grey, those sound interesting...have to look for those....

BTW, the Elinore Pruitt Stewart book was made into a movie quite a few years ago..."Heartland" with Conchata Ferrell and Rip Torn...not as good as the book, but pretty good.

SCfan, have you read "Cold Mountain"? A really great book to read. The movie was good, but the book was just so much more.

Another huge favorite that starts out in the South at the end of the Civil War is "In The Fall" by Jeffrey Lent. Wonderfully well written, with well developed characters and a great story. Just a beautiful book.

If you are in the mood for vampires, you can read "The Historian" by Elizabeth Kostova. I just loved it. It jumps back and forth in time and takes you all through Europe and behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War. A really creepy, and really scary vampire story. One of the best.

Wow, those sound great, z...I'm definitely going to check them out....

Greytone,

I have read one of the books on Hamm's list - "The Wonder Boys," and have been waiting for the Umberto Eco book for a month - put in a request at the public library. I loved "In the Name of the Rose," and I expect this latest book will be just as great.

Wonder Boys was an engrossing read. I would return to certain passages and segments of dialogue just to savor the language - something I don't do often with any book nonfiction or fiction. I enjoyed the movie, but in my opinion they are never as good as the book.

Grey, thanks for posting this. I haven't read a play since American Lit in college, but "Arcadia" sounds intriguing and I'm going to give it a whirl.

You know, chopin47...
Of those books on Jon's shelf, I was only familiar with Wonder Boys...and that was because of the movie. After reading the synopsis I went to see it...besides, I'm such a Tobie Maguire and Mike Douglas fan, I was interested in finding out why either of them would want to portray such quirky roles. If you say the language of the book is rich, I've gotta squeeze it onto my reading list. Thank goodness for the public library....