From the Bookshelf of Constant Reader…

The Sheltering Sky

Paul Bowles

Start date: March 1, 2010

Finish date: April 1, 2010

Discussion: Classics Corner

Discussion leader: Rosana

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 349 topics — 11,850 comments total

Classics Corner

* The Schedule for July through Dec. 2025
By Lynn · 3 posts · 36 views

last updated Jun 25, 2025 08:25PM

Classics Corner ~ Loon Feather
By Ann · 5 posts · 17 views

last updated Jul 25, 2025 05:32PM

showing 5 of 5 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Nov 26, 2015 Ken rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: finished-in-2015

When you remember reading a book long ago and you remember liking it, trust your instincts. Read it again. I did and, in the case of The Sheltering Sky, didn't regret a thing. I loved the exotic, North African setting. And the always slightly off-balancing love triangle of Port, Kit, and Tunner (what weirdly wonderful names).

Some stop-me sentences, too. I love stop-me sentences. I never run them. Not even a roll-through. In fact, if no one's behind me, I often back up and fail to run them again ...more

23 likes · Like · see review

Oct 02, 2009 Rosana rated it liked it

Shelves: 2010, constant-reader-bookclub

My first impression was that this was a good book that had not aged well. I could see how the characters aloofness and sense o displacement in the world would appeal to readers in a post WWII world, but personally I had trouble engaging with them and their story. I also could see in their “search of meaning” the seeds that led to the cultural changes in the 1960’s, as if these characters were in the front line of the thousands that followed backpacking foreign lands, and trying out at a sexual r ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Mar 01, 2010 Dree rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: unreadable

I only managed to get 16 pages into this book--after 6 weeks of trying (I ran out of renewals!). Maybe I just wasn't in the mood, but I found it soooo dull. It reminded me of The Sun Also Rises, which I gave 3 stars to, but can 16 pages really remind you of anything?

Perhaps, too, is the thought that this story just does not relate in any way to where I am in my life. I read The Sun Also Rises close to 20 years ago, I think I could relate to it a bit then--though I certainly didn't love it--and I ...more

1 like · Like · see review