Laurel’s Comments (group member since Aug 06, 2013)

Laurel’s comments from the I Read Therefore I Am group.

Glad you're enjoying it Hilary, it sounds great - I'm planning to try and get a copy at some point cos I really want to read it now!

Well, I've finished the first part 'childhoods' - have liked some of the stories better than others. They seem to be stories about storytelling among other things - the stories we tell to ourselves as well as others. What does everyone think so far?

Enjoy the sunshine Angela, hope it's not too hot for you ;)

I'm starting to feel sorry for her - she's just either ignored or taken for granted all the time!

I just started but am only on chapter 2 so haven't decided if I like it yet. I know I don't like Sir Walter and Elizabeth but don't know enough about Anne although she seems like a bit of a wet blanket.

I liked that - Agreed with the bit at the beginning about Sebald being 'out of tune with the digital age' cos his book felt less modern than it was (in a good way), it felt kind of timeless. But at the same modern in the sense of not being stuck inside a box or category - or McCrum's words 'genre-bending' which I quite like.
It's definitely a book that will warrant a re-read at some point.

Well I finished Austerlitz and thought it was excellent. He is an brilliant writer and I kind of liked his random digressions into architecture and other stuff, they were quite interesting in their own right. Also liked the use of the photographs as well, and the whole theme of supressed memory and it's recovery - do you think he is trying to say something about people remembering (or not) the Holocaust and all the other bad stuff that happened during WW2? Like maybe not remembering would make us sick as a society like it did Austerlitz but remembering even though it's painful is also cathartic? I'm not very good at this sort of stuff - what did you guys think?

9. Brandon Sanderson - Steelheart
10. WG Sebald - Austerlitz

I love this - have seen loads of those kind of statues in museums and stuff but you're right Lee, you don't really think of it like that

Brilliant! Love it when they actually get a book for you on time ;)

That's cool Jenny - now you can read it with us! I voted for this one as well because it's the only one the local library had a copy of but it does look good.

Yeah there's not a lot of love for Hemingway is there? I have only read one short story so not really qualified to make a judgement as yet, I might try a short novel based on the comments here and then if I don't like him I haven't wasted loads of my time on him

Moth's - that bit was a little random to be honest....loving the writing though

Oh dear - I thought for a minute there I was reading Walter Scott's journal and was just about to ask what happened to him - doh!

Yeah it is pretty sad and you kind of don't want to know but I'm also really fascinated by explorers and their journeys.

I couldn't get hold of a copy so am sitting this one out :(

I'm looking forward to this one - it's available free on kindle and also should be able to get it from places like Project Gutenberg as well if you don't want to buy/library doesn't have a copy ;)

I've got this link to an article on Atxaga for a bit of background info for anyone who wants it: http://www.atxaga.org/es/bernardo-atx...

I've read the prologue and first story - interesting so far, will wait till I've read on a bit more

I'm about a 150 pages in, the lack of paragraphs and chapters is a bit disconcerting, especially when you need to put the book down! But I'm kind of liking all his little digressions. The architecture bit was interesting although I'm not quite sure yet what relevance that has for the book as a whole. At the moment he is still recounting his visit's to his schoolfriend's house

ok cool, might finally get around to reading Lord of the Flies then!

Yeah, what she writes about is interesting, but her writing style is difficult. I enjoyed her short stories better: Little Black Book of Stories - found these to be much better written