Mike's comments
(member since Apr 20, 2009)
Mike's comments from the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die group.
(showing 1-20 of 36)
Inna wrote: "Possession A Romance by A.S. ByattIt's just brilliant!"
I've never read Possession A Romance, but I was addicted to The Virgin in the Garden A Novel, which leads into a series.
Even if you don't follow the series, Virgin can definitely stand on its own...it throughly gave me a taste of Byatt
I like the IDEA of reading all 1001, but the reality is that'll never happen. Like everyone else, I use itmore as a guide than anything else. 9 times out of 10 it's led me to some great authors (Martin Amis, Theodore Dreiser, Sylvia Plath) that I probably wouldn't have picked up otherwise.
A guilty pleasure I have is highlighting books I read off the 2006 list. I introduced my friend to the list and now she's doing the same
Kristi wrote: "I just started Survivor for a work book club. Not on the list, but I've heard both good and bad about Chuck Palahniuk, so I'm looking forward to it. "Palahniuk can be an acquired taste and is definitely not for everyone. Let me know how it works out for you
Finished The End of the Story A Novel. It's hard to see from this novel how Lydia Davis is so critically acclaimed. The book is obviously an attempt on experimental writing, which is all well and good, but the delivery just falls flat.
Stacie wrote: "Just finished a re-read of The Scarlet Letter. I have read that book several times, and it still affects me and makes me think."It definitely affected me more on the reread than when I originally read it for school, but I enjoyed it both times.
Just finished The Virgin in the Garden A Novel. I usually fly through books in a couple of days, but for whatever reason it took me weeks to get through this one. A.S. Byatt's dialog is some of the best I've ever read, and I think I unintentionally spread it out to savor some of it.Excited to read the sequel Still Life
Just started The Virgin in the Garden A Novel.Heard different things about it, so I'm excited to see if it adds up
I'd have to say The Melancholy of Resistance by the Hungarian author Laszlo Krasznahorkai.Although I don't know what your definition of obscure is. It's definitely not a book I would have picked up on my own accord, but I was able to find it on Amazon
Has anyone read The Busconductor Hines? I'm really struggling with it. Everything from the English slang (I'm American), the no punctuation marks, and James Kelman's abstract ideas he just throws out seemingly at random. I really want to like the story, but Kelman's making it tough!
Charity wrote: "A Passage to India by E.M. Forster"About a year ago I tried to get into that, but it didn't do much for me. It seemed rather dry and dragged on for quite a bit
Silver, is the narration in The Blithedale Romance similar to The Scarlet Letter? I've been meaning to read more Hawthorne since the Letter
It seems from what I've read, people either love The Scarlet Letter or hated it. I loved it.Everything about the book was good. With the plot you definitely felt sympathetic for the plight of Hester, Pearl, and the Priest. Hawthorne's
active narration was something different altogether I've never read, and it took surprisingly no time at all to catch on.
I will say though, you couldn't pay me to read Hawthorne's introduction again. Can you imagine if every introduction was like that? Geesh
Reading Typical.I like most of Padgett's short stories/prose writing, but some of it just mystifies me. Like why Padgett uses sentences like: "Spavined clavicular, and cowhocked, with an air not of malice but simply of a leaden determination..." to describe a mid-western farmer. I get it, the guy's been through a lot, but there's less pretentious ways of getting his point across.
He seems to like these sort of sentences, so I'm becoming very familiar with Dictionary.com
Fiona wrote: "Mike wrote: "Finished The Wasp Factory A Novel.Wasn't too impressed by it, but fortunately I've already read The Crow Road by Banks, so I know he's capable of writing ..."
I dunno...he just didn't do anything for me. I know some people thought the things Frank did were too graphic, but that wasn't my issue. Banks just seemed to go on for pages describing Frank's arsenal of weapons, which never interested me.
And then when I read the twist at the end, I didn't really care. I wasn't as attached to the characters as I was at the beginning. To be honest, the only reason I kept reading was to see what was in Angus' study.
Finished The Wasp Factory A Novel.Wasn't too impressed by it, but fortunately I've already read The Crow Road by Banks, so I know he's capable of writing amazing stuff. Plus it was his first novel, and for a first novel it wasn't too shabby
Kristi wrote: "Finished Dead Babies last night. I was actually liking it until the end. "I didn't like the ending either. But in its own strange and demented way it fit with the story
I think it's awesome that everyone came up with a different interpretation for the teeth. Maybe Amis was being purposely ambiguous?
1001 Books You Must Read Before You
