Sonya's comments (member since May 08, 2009)

Sonya's comments from the Books on the Nightstand group.

I give myself a lot of permission to drop a book, or several, until I get to the one that hooks me. It usually does not have to do with the book being terrible; I just find that reading is sort of like nutrition, and that at different times your reading soul "needs" different things; and for me it's always something very specific at any given time. If I'm not mistaken, this was Emerson's philosophy of reading.

I had one very memorable experience, though, with forcing myself to finish a book: I was reading Tim O'Brien's "In the Lake of the Woods." The first 40 pages or so were utterly gripping. But then the next 150 pages were almost unbearable to me. I thought, "How could this amazing writer write this many pages of monotony?" It was such a shlog through those pages, but I persisted. Then, the final 40 pages were unbelievable. It all came together, in ways I wouldn't have imagined. As both a writer and a reader, I was really humbled by this experience.

I'm a little more than halfway through Lily Tuck's "The News From Paraguay." I'm a little surprised by it--it won the National Book Award--I'm not sure why. I suppose I expected something a little more narratively driven. I haven't quite figured out what does drive the novel; it doesn't seem to have forward movement exactly. But I'm definitely engaged.

A few books that I couldn't imagine NOT having listened to on audio, mostly because they are read (wonderfully) by the author: EAT PRAY LOVE by Elizabeth Gilbert; DREAMS FROM MY FATHER by Barack Obama (you get to hear the President using profanity and doing accents, it's kind of a hoot); and THE HOUSE AT SUGAR BEACH by Helene Cooper. All of these are memoirs read by the authors. Anne Lamott's books are fun to listen to as well (when she is the reader).

Jeremy Irons doing LOLITA was amazing. And an audio book of Arundhati Roy's THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS was terrific--wish I could remember the company that produced it, the reader was British-Indian. Books that center around a non-Western culture are often good candidates for audio books because of accents and foreign words.

I love this topic; I wonder if, in the age of the Internet, our brains are evolving to both crave and manage multiple books at one time.

I also always have an audio book for the car, which is usually something off the beaten path from my normal reading tastes; audio books give me the opportunity to branch out a bit, because I usually get them from the library and am limited to what's on the shelf. Listening to books is a very different experience from reading them for me; a slightly more passive experience, I think--and also perhaps more emotional than intellectual.

Then I'll have literary fiction--a novel, either classic or contemporary, which is the "main course" book--and then something I can chew on in smaller bites, like essays or short stories or poetry. It occurs to me as I write this that I very much think of books as food, i.e. nourishment; so the multiple books make up the full meal. "Dessert" might be whatever fiction appears in the magazines I read.

So right now: Lily Tuck's "The News from Paraguay," Bolano's stories/Adam Zagajewski's essays, and Ali Smith's "The Accidental" (on CD). Feels like a balanced meal.

I love Melissa's idea about books you once hated and then love later (and maybe vice versa). It speaks to this notion of reading as dynamic, a two-way relationship that evolves and changes as we evolve and change.

Hello all -- a blurb from Publisher's Weekly this week about a new survey of book club members (continuing on the recent book club thread). Sorry for the long link, I'm not very adept with html.

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/...

Tanya wrote: "Sonya wrote: "I have just started listening to A Confederacy of Dunces. It's been on my list forever, I don't know why it's taken so long to get to it. With books I need to "confront," I often tr..."

Thanks for this, Tanya. I am having a similar experience of Ignatius, though I wondered if it had more to do with the actor who's reading. I also wondered if Walker Percy's discovery of this novel (and subsequent Pulitzer Prize) created an aura around it that inflates its merit. But I'm too early on to judge. I think I may abandon this audio version, though--the thought of listening to it actually makes me cringe, and it's a big book.

I have just started listening to A Confederacy of Dunces. It's been on my list forever, I don't know why it's taken so long to get to it. With books I need to "confront," I often try the audio book. But the reader is... hmm, he takes on a highly affected New Orleans voice for Ignatius, and it's a little distracting. Has anyone read the book or had experience with any version of the audio book, good or bad?

Shannon wrote: "Hello, Everyone!
Just came to the thread to add my suggestion for a topic about Book Clubs! Looks like it might be timely!!!!
One of the posts above references "guidelines" for your club -- would ..."

Ditto! As much as online book discussions are a wonderful evolution, a "movement" to keep people coming together in person to read and talk about books seems worth cultivating.

Susanne wrote: "I started a F2F book club in 1997 and we still meet every month rotating homes...have fabulous dinners during the discussions and although not everyone knew everyone else before...they are all fast..."

Thanks, everyone -- it's good to know the in-person book club is alive and well. I would imagine it's most useful to have a leader of some sort, to organize and communicate and ensure guidelines, etc. Susanne, you mention resources available -- are there central online places where one can research book clubs, find local book clubs, etc.? Dottie, it's wonderful to know that books bring together people who otherwise did not know each other before.

Ann and Michael, I've been wondering lately about book clubs/book groups. It's a huge topic of course, but I'm wondering if book clubs are still active and lively given the emergence of things like BOTN and Goodreads and lit blogs. Do people still actually gather together in person and read books and talk about them? Is this mostly a public library / senior citizen phenomenon now? (I don't mean this last comment facetiously, I really am wondering who organizes/ participates in book clubs these days and where/how people find out about them). Would you consider podcasting about this? I see that one of your listeners (Stephanie) is involved in a book group, so maybe she can also comment.

Thanks for sharing, Hope -- are we acknowledging the irony of your name, or is that way too obvious?

I read The Road over two nights, in a fever. It was my first Cormac McCarthy book, and I went on to read All the Pretty Horses (also in a fever), and hope to get to Blood Meridien next. The Road unclogged a reader's block I was having -- something that happens to me periodically, in fits of restlessness. So, weirdly, as ugly and frightening as it was in many ways, it was like a balm to me. I suppose on some level there is great comfort in reading something that is true, that speaks truthfully, that cuts through all the levels of nonsense and emptiness we ingest every day in our material/media-saturated culture -- no matter how dark that truth or those truths may be.

The philosopher Cornel West talks about the difference between hope and optimism. Optimism says, "Things will get better." Hope says, "Things may not get better, but I have faith anyway." His hope is a Christian one, but a rather unconventional one -- he talks about love much more than sin, for example. Love seemed to me the heart of The Road. Love equaled strength to go on, clarity, even skillfulness in surviving. Love equaled courage. Love in The Road was everything it's not in a schlocky romance novel or TV sitcom (don't get me wrong, I'm all for entertainment, as long as we understand that there is not always/often truth to be found in entertainment, except, perhaps, the truth of laughter). The father's sacrifice for the boy was basic, fundamental, almost thoughtless. I think it was the stripped-downness of that which was the balm for me. If that kind of pure love can be conceived of and expressed in fiction, then that in itself seems hopeful to me.

I'm going to be thinking now about what I consider my literary kryptonite!

Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham; and I am currently reading Tolstoy's Hadji Murad. Have been working my way slowly through Proust, as well.

Ann wrote: "Sonya, wow, what a compliment. Thank you! I love the term "analogian." "

Ann, I'm thinking there must be a critical mass of folks out there, and we should start an "Analogians Anonymous" :P

Hello -- I'm a reader and a novelist and something of an "analogian." So my journeys into digital everything and social networking I find mostly overwhelming and exhausting. That said, I'm trying to sift through the gazillion different ways of engaging with new literary media, and I am definitely finding the podcast to be the most writer-and-reader-friendly. In fact, it feels a little like going back in time to story-telling hour -- to reading as interactive and oral/aural. So thanks for doing this! I've got you all on my igoogle homepage, along with TheMillions and RobAroundBooks (your rec).

Hello everyone -- I tend to read 3 books at a time -- usually 1) literary fiction, 2) nonfiction or poetry, and 3) audio book (for my commute).

1) The Tutor of History by Manjushree Thapa
2) Acedia by Kathleen Norris
3) The House at Sugar Beach by Helene Cooper