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	06/28 Bloom is currently reading: The Wings of the Dove (Modern Library Classics) by Henry James bookshelves: currently-reading	my rating:
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June 28

Bloom is currently reading:
The Wings of the Dove (Modern Library Classics)
by Henry James
bookshelves: currently-reading

my rating:

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June 06

Bloom took the never-ending book quiz.

questions answered:	1106
correct:	868 (78.5%)
skipped:	5008
best streak:	8
questions added:	4

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June 28

Bloom gave

to:
From Here to Eternity (Paperback)
by James Jones

my rating:

read in June, 2008

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May 22

Bloom gave

to:
As I Lay Dying (Paperback)
by William Faulkner

my rating:

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June 15

Bloom added a question to the never-ending book quiz.

"E.L. Doctorow's Ragtime is rich with historical references and figures, including a passing reference to Emma Goldman's support of the McNamara brothers. What were the McNamaras accused and convicted of?"

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May 22

Bloom gave

to:
Ragtime: A Novel (Paperback)
by Edgar Lawrence Doctorow

my rating:

read in May, 2008

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Bloom gave

to:
A House for Mr. Biswas (Everyman's Library (Cloth))
by V.S. Naipaul

my rating:

read in April, 2008

Bloom said: "Have you ever gone for a book, one heralded as a classic no less, only to find yourself fighting with it, page after page, trying to stave off sleep, all in the hope something, anything will take shape that makes it all worth while?

Of course you ...more Have you ever gone for a book, one heralded as a classic no less, only to find yourself fighting with it, page after page, trying to stave off sleep, all in the hope something, anything will take shape that makes it all worth while?

Of course you have, so you perhaps you can commiserate with my experience with A House for Mr Biswas, an unfortunate slog if there ever was one. Night after night I dove in, hopeful to roll into a breakthrough moment (similar to the one I had in Atonement or Sons and Lovers), only to come up craps every time.

Here’s the thing: it’s a cradle to grave account of his life, a pretty tough form to pull off in the first place. We see the following: a young boy shuttled off to family members after his father dies tragically. We see this boy become a sign painter who, while on assignment for a local merchant family, the Tulsis, stumbles into a poor marriage with one of their daughters. An orphan, a bad marriage, jackals for inlaws? It is all quite Victorian, but there is none of verve, fun, or heartbreak of the great Victorian novels. Instead we see a man going soft around the middle as he struggles to gain the respect of the family as his own family of four children come into the world, and he takes the book with him as he goes. With the brief exception of middle a chapter in which Mr Biswas tries to have a house built on the cheap in midst of the Tulsis’s sugar plantations—a chapter that rings like the best of Melville or Dickens—the novel is bereft of any momentum. Mr Biswas plods along, and the novel bobs in his wake.

Great writing exists sentence to sentence, indeed; flashes of characters and relationships that matter, particularly between Mr Biswas and his eldest children, Anand and Savi, rise up and illuminate; there are comic moments when Mr Biswas discovers a career as a journalist; and certainly there is sly commentary about poverty and colonialism, but these parts fail to make a meaningful whole. Mr Biswas gets his house and he dies—no spoiler here, all this is revealed on the first page—and none of it really seems to matter.
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April 09

New comment on Jessica's review of On the Road

Bloom wrote: "

What kicks about OtR is not the coolness, but that it is one sad book. After all that, after every...more "

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April 01

Bloom gave

to:
The Moor's Last Sigh (Hardcover)
by Salman Rushdie

my rating:

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March 29

Bloom gave

to:
The Sea Wolf (Paperback)
by Jack London

my rating:

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see all 251 of Bloom's books »

Bloom's groups (recent posts)

Constant Reader — 835 members — last activity 14 minutes ago
An open forum for friendly discussion of books and anything to do with reading, movies and art.

What's The Name of That Book??? — 735 members — last activity 1 hour, 59 min ago
Can't remember the title of a book you read a while back? Come post a description on our message board and we can try to help each other out.

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Bloom's friends (11)

	Donald 1522 books 284 friends
	Mike 1340 books 107 friends
	Philip 278 books 13 friends
	Ruth 1304 books 97 friends
	Xysea 2021 books 213 friends
	Sherry 668 books 121 friends
	Daniel 973 books 385 friends
	Leslie 177 books 26 friends
	Mark 1000 books 137 friends
	Michael 131 books 13 friends
	Gail 594 books 44 friends

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questions answered:	1106
correct:	868 (78.5%)
best streak:	8
questions added:	4

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