Eliza's comments
(member since Oct 11, 2008)
Eliza's comments from the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die group.
(showing 1-20 of 56)
Krenzel wrote: "I was also disappointed with this book. First of all, it was hard for me to get into because the voice of the characters does not seem authentic at all. These girls who are supposedly five or ten..."
Well said.
Honestly I finished it and still don't get what all the fuss was about. It started out okay but in my opinion the characters never really grow. The father and Rachel border on ridiculous. And Kingsolver handled her political agenda with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. All in all I really didn't like it and I'm not inclined to pick up any of her other books.
I finished Les Miserables The Novel tonight. I loved it. At times it took a lot of effort to get through but in the end definitely worth it.
I just finished The Poisonwood Bible and I really didn't like it. It was okay for the first two thirds and then fell apart for me.
Thanks! :)
Can someone with a copy of Everything That Rises Must Converge tell me which stories are included in it. I have her complete short stories book and would like to read the one we'll be discussing first.
Thanks
I just finished The Blind Assassin. It was my first by Margaret Atwood and I thought it was amazing.
Stacie wrote: "Eliza wrote: "I just finished The Woman in White. I really enjoyed it."
Wasn't that a great read, Eliza? It really kept me engaged. I wasn't sure what I would think going in, but am ..."
I loved it I wasn't sure what to expect either but I found that I really appreciated the changing narrators and the mystery was pretty compelling.
Sun wrote: "Ditto. They should revamp the list and make it English literature only. It's not right to go about comparing translations and original texts. I quite like this list, myself, it's must more specific: http://www.time.com/time/2005/100books/t..."
Do you mean only those available in English translation or only those originally written in English?
It was dark, often disgusting, and I hated the dialect but by the end I found myself really appreciating the characters. I actually cared what happened to a bunch of junkies who didn't have many redeeming qualities. I have to applaud the author for that.
I finished Trainspotting once I let go I actuall kind of enjoyed it. I probably won't ever read it again but I'm glad I made it through once.
Kristi wrote: "I've had Trainspotting on my shelf for a couple weeks now, but I keep putting it off..."
I'm finding it very hard to read and not because of the story. I've seen the movie I was prepared for the story. What bothers me is that he spells out the words phonetically with the scottish accent (Ah=I Ma=my and on and on). It bugs me when authors do this slang and jargon I expect but I think he overdoes it a bit. So far when I can interpret it the story isn't terrible.
I'm currently working on Les Miserables.
Silver wrote: "Would Dorothea have in the end truly benefited if Mr. Brooke did lay his foot down and encouraged her to at least postpone the wedding?
"
Maybe, but I think it probably would have made her more stubborn about the idea. She already over romanticized marriage if she was forbidden or even asked to postpone I don't think she would have changed her mind.
Silver wrote: "I am curious on your thoughts about the poems, and quotes which follow the start of each new chapter. Do you think they do offer an additional insight of understanding of the story? Or that they ar..."
An endnote in my edition of the book says that unless otherwise noted Eliot herself wrote all of the chapter starters. I got lost on some of them but when I thought about it they all had some sort of significance to the story.
Amanda wrote: "I actually don't get the big deal about Casaubon..he didn't hide anything from anyone before he married Dorothea, so her disillusionment was kind of out of left field for me...like, of course he's ..."
I don't think Eliot meant for us to dislike Casaubon. One of the things I liked best about this book was that the characters were so real. You like them but they have genuine human failings. They're not sugary sweet perfect.
Amanda wrote: "I don't think Dorothea's desires to help her husband were pretense at all. I got the impression that she wanted to further her education in order to be helpful to her husband and, through that, par..."
I agree. Dorothea certainly has ambitions but I honestly believe that her intentions were good when she married her husband. The thing I liked most about Middlemarch was Dorothea. I think she shows quite a bit of growth throughout the book.
Aug 28, 2009 09:55PM
I'd prefer something else. I was planning on skipping it because I don't have time to read the whole trilogy and i didn't want to read it out of order.
1001 Books You Must Read B...
