Stewart's recent posts

Recent public posts (showing 1-20 of 74).

I finished Saul Bellow's Dangling Man. When I close the book I was going is-that-it? but a few days on and it's lingering in my mind, gaining depth and appreciation.

http://booklit.com/blog/2009/02/10/saul-...

Peggy wrote: "I love all of Haruki Murakami's books, but the most recent I read was "Kafka on the Shore.""

I read Dance Dance Dance years ago and wasn't all the impressed by it. Only once I'd read it did I find out it was a sequel to A Wild Sheep Chase, and that A Wild Sheep Chase was the third of a trilogy, the first two books of which aren't all that easy to come by since Murakami Haruki won't let them be published outside of Japan. Having acquired the first of these, Hear The Wind Sing, and read a few pages, I can see why.

Barbarossa wrote: "I've read a bunch of Eco's stuff...won't be reading any more. Great ideas, rubbish prose. Maybe it's the translations though. I'm monolingual.

I very much doubt that the translations would be responsible for Eco's fiction being 'rubbish prose' as most of them are done by William Weaver, arguably the greatest Italian-to-English translator around. Incidentally, Weaver also translated most of Italo Calvino.

Noane13 wrote: "Hi Stewart

is this your first book you are going to read by Joseph Roth?
Yes, it's going to be my first Roth. Since it's only a tiny novel, I'll save it for one of those days where it would be a perfect fit for a two hour gap.

Leola wrote: "I think "Cry The Beloved Country" by Alan Paton is a really good book. The story takes place in Africa. You do need a kleenex box.
Leola"
That's all very good, but it has little to do with literature from Wales.

There's One Moonlit Night by Caradog Prichard, which would give you a title translated from the Welsh.

I look forward to seeing what you think of it. I have it on my shelves somewhere for someday.

I would be interested in the 1,001 books a Christian should read befor..."

Read Richard Dawkin's The God Delusion a thousand times.

Monika wrote: "one of the worst books I have ever read.
I read it in highschool, and absolutely hated it.

I only finished the book because we had quizzes on it...

in 2007 (about 10 years after my freshman yea..."
Okay, you hated it. And in four paragraphs, you never once said why.

"It makes sense to me that this surrealist tale was published in 1955, but it took 40 years for it to be published in English."

A pedant writers: the first publication in English of Pedro Paramo was in 1959. It's just the Margaret Sayers Peden translation was done years later.

But, yes, great novel.

"I do not think that there should be a ban on friend requests just because the requester is an author. In my opinion, it is the responsibility of the person on the receiving end to filter their friends, not GR staff's."

Nobody is asking for a ban. I suggested having the option to prevent it, if it suits you. That would fall under the user's responsibility.

"I find it amusing that people get "annoyed" at friend requests. Isn't that why you join groups? To be able to discuss common interests."
Yes, to discuss common interests. It certainly doesn't mean I want to be 'friends' with the people I discuss with.

"How silly it sounds- I like to read, but I don't like authors. hahaha..."
Well, books and authors are two separate things. If a person likes 'A Bend In The River', it doesn't mean they have to like V.S. Naipaul as a person. (And judging by Philip French's biography of the man, nobody would want him as a friend anyway.)

"I like to communicate with my readers & well- you get it."
I think that's the problem. Trash like PublishAmerica, who I see you 'published' with, expect you to do your own marketing, and as such GoodReads becomes a marketing tool for far too many with books that most likely should be deleted off hard disks rather than see print.

Getting friend requests from GoodReads Authors, who I share sod all in common with, and will definitely not read due to their book coming from some vanity/self-published enterprise, thinly veiled or otherwise, is a pain.

I wouldn't want to stop people I genuinely had something in common with, which is rarely an author, making friend requests. If I wanted authors as friends, I'd send them the request.

Perhaps we could have an option to only allow GoodReads authors to add you as a friend if you have any of their books listed. That way, the hawkers can't get near you.

Really? That's extremely mild. But then, I'm no puritan.

Yes, the reviews are all mine. It's almost my entire reading for the last year and a half.

The language bothered you? Do you mean the vernacular or the sporadic swearing?

I believe the following two should definitely be on the list. A McEwan or two could easily be sacrificed.

Revolutionary Road, Richard Yates
The Invention Of Morel, Adolfo Bioy Casares

Another vote here.

On MySpace they have an option to stop bands befriending you just so you listen to their music. This means you can get on with your MySpace life (if you haven't already migrated to Facebook).

I get a number of requests from GoodReads Authors that are obviously only trying to push books I have little interest at all. If I could just check a box in my profile that says 'Don't Allow GoodReads Authors to add as friend', or some such, I'd be happier.

Laura said:

"And for those authors who are self-published, they have to buy the books and then mail them out. I can only imagine how expensive that can be. Yikes! "

I say good. If they are mad enough to pay thousands out of vainglory, or whatever, then they can certainly pay a little bit extra to force it beyond the family and friends model.

Cold Book pile? Reading it now, so you won't have a long wait.

I've just been looking at Rowena's profile. Could there perhaps be a restriction on people given Goodreads Author status actually rating their own scribbles? I see she's rated all her books with five stars.

Sadly, I think it's an abuse of Goodreads and its users' confidence when books' average ratings are grossly manipulated. Still, when it's only the 'authors' within this litle circle of incestuous reviewers, I suppose nobody outside of the circle cares. It may only be a matter of time before stablemates like Deborah start getting angry at GoodReads users for rating their books with anything less than five stars.

As for the literary prizes, I meant a list of well known prizes from around the world. The Booker, the Pulitzer, the Nobel, the HUGO, the James Tait Black, the Scotiabank-Giller, the Miles Franklin, etc. to begin with, with links to both book and author (well, author only, in the case of the Nobel). Self-publishing backslaps aren't what I had in mind.