What Are You Reading Showing 5,951-6,000 of 6,935

[Emmet]

I am in the middle of Peyton Place and really don't know what to make of it at all. On the one hand it's a cheesy romance but at the same time it's strikingly feminist for the time.

Sadly it's taking me forever as the workload is mounting here. Maybe in the colder months I'll take the tube and get a chance to read more.

[Colleen]

It's about the small mindedness of small town America

[Margo]

Oh I loved Peyton Place when I read it my teens. It was very daring for its times. I'm not sure how I would veiw it today. I think it's important to read it in the context of when it was written.

[Colleen]

Yes I read it along time ago but I loved it too. I still have my copy maybe I should re read it and see how feel about now.

[Margo]

Yes Colleen, that might be interesting. Although you might risk loosing the magic =/

[Colleen]

That's true . I think that's why I don't re read books that often

[Emmet]

Colleen and Margo, it's really topical taken in a modern context too. I am really enjoying it at least. Given what's been in the news with all the university consent casss and what's being done with planned parenthood, it's sometimes hard to believe it was written so long ago.

[Karen]

Finished The Pearl byJohn Steinbeck

Starting Dearest Mary Jane by Betty Neels

I am still listen to Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy

[Enya]

How did you find the pearl? Never read it!

[Paul]

I read it a number of years back. Like most Steinbeck its quite bleak . Its short enough though so you would fly through it if you decided to read it.

[Enya]

I might just do that, Paul. Bleak narratives are perversely attractive to me so sounds good.

[Paul]

It seems to work for some all right :-)

[Karen]

@Enya, it was good was like a fairytale with a life message Greed is every where

[Paul]

Thankfully most fairy tales have happier endings.

[Margo]

I have enjoyed most of the Steinbeck books I've read, except The Grapes of Wrath. Haven't read the pearl yet.

Speaking of bleak I'm half was through Wool Omnibus ad I'm loving it. Great recommendation Paul =)

[Paul]

Yep Wool is pretty bleak too. Really good book and series

[Michael]

Paul wrote: "I read it a number of years back. Like most Steinbeck its quite bleak . Its short enough though so you would fly through it if you decided to read it."

I read it in high school and I really liked it. My first exposure to Steinbeck. It's pretty intense and I would recommend reading it too. It's an emotional roller coaster. Bleak is a good word too.
Thanks!

[Colleen]

I just finished Neverwhere this morning .I didn't hate it but I didn't love it. I really thought I would love it ,I mean it has everything I love in a fantasy novel but somehow I couldn't connect to the characters.I really didn't care about them .I have a feeling that it was me not the novel . It seems most people love it .
I am now reading Sanctum it's an YA novel and it's going much better.

[Paul]

Neverwhere is an odd book in the sense that the tv series came first and Gaiman write the book off the back of that. The concept wasnt even his but Lenny Henrys.
I quite like the Marquis as a character and I love the settings but its not my favourite Gaiman book by a long way and is clunky in some parts.

[Colleen]

Maybe that's why I felt off about it . That makes me feel better about how I felt about it . I did like the Marquis he was an interesting character . How was the tv show I have never heard of it. I think I will try Stardust next year.

[Paul]

The TV show was quite good but low budget so some effects where a bit jarring.
Stardust is a much more polished book for Gaiman, I love his take on fairyland.

[Paul]

Also be aware its very different in many ways to the film, less of a comedic turn , with more folklore

[Colleen]

I'll have to look Neverwhere and see if I can watch it . I think I might like it better especially if it came before the novel. I saw the movie Stardust when it first came out and I loved it so I'm excited to read it soon.

[Paul]

The film is great fun :-). Genius performance out of De Niro

[SherryRose]

I just finished The Sand Castle Girls Over a million Armenians were killed by the Turks in Aleppo in 1915. It's not a pretty story but the book is well written and it brings this horrible genocide to light. The Turks deny that it ever happened. It's a very good book but it's a rough story.

[SherryRose]

Colleen wrote: "I'll have to look Neverwhere and see if I can watch it . I think I might like it better especially if it came before the novel. I saw the movie Stardust when it first came out and I loved it so I'm..."

Stardust is a good movie.

[Colleen]

I loved the movie so I think I'll give the novel a try soon

[Margo]

Sherry wrote: "I just finished The Sand Castle Girls Over a million Armenians were killed by the Turks in Aleppo in 1915. It's not a pretty story but the book is well written and it brings this ho..."

Sherry that's very topical given whats happening in Aleppo at the presant time. Some parts of the world seem to be destined for trouble :,(

[SherryRose]

Aleppo is a mess. I agree. This world is ripe for trouble in many places.

[SherryRose]

Colleen wrote: "I loved the movie so I think I'll give the novel a try soon"

I should read it too. Neil Gaiman is great.

[Margo]

I highly recommend Stardust but the film is very true to the book, so if you've seen the film there's not a lot to be gained. I saw the film first.

[Colleen]

I saw the film when it first came out and I know I loved it so I think it will be fun to read it and then maybe Watch it again . I'm not sure how much I remember of the movie so I think I'll be ok . It makes me happy when they stay close to the book

[SherryRose]

I agree. Some movies are so far from the book that it's a different story altogether. I'm glad to hear it's true to the book!

[Paul]

I wouldnt say its that close to the book, no fairys in the film, no gay pirates in the book and a different ending.But generally it follows it . I think the film was a lot funnier though

[Colleen]

So am I to assume that films are better than his stories :)

[Paul]

Nope, just different. Both are great :-).

[Colleen]

:)

[Paul]

Also fairly sure Gaiman was involved in writing the film screenplay so kept it in his concept.

[Margo]

Phoof, minor details! Different characters, different ending ending.......... well they were kinda the same lol

I'd actually forgotten the changed ending. Book if definately better :-)

[Paul]

Sure its all grand ;-)

[Valentine]

Reading the The Confessionalby valentine Hyacinth. A crime fiction. Good read.

[Frank]

Paul wrote: "Neverwhere is an odd book in the sense that the tv series came first and Gaiman write the book off the back of that. The concept wasnt even his but Lenny Henrys.
I quite like the Marquis as a chara..."

I wasn't aware that Neverwhere was an adaptation of a film series. I liked it quite a lot when I read it because it seemed to me a sort of parable that contrasted the unconventional world of artists and those who live a bohemian existence with the mundane everyday world most of us inhabit. It seemed that if certain lucky individuals went down an Alice in Wonderland type hole, more or less by accident, they would end up in a place so fascinating they could never again return to their old life because they would no longer find it fulfilling.

[Paul]

Yeah it had an odd birth as a book. Gaiman kept coming up with ideas during scripting that were rejected so he kept them all for the book.
A few very interesting thoughts on the book Frank. :-)

[SherryRose]

Sounds like a good book but Gaiman is so good.

[Margo]

It wasn't my favorite of his work but I'd say it made good tv. Very visual.

[Karen]

I have just finished listening to Tess of the D'Urbervilles byThomas Hardy what a powerful story and all Tess bad luck came from her fathers need to become a noble man.

I will finished At the End of the Day by Betty Neels

[Frank]

The only other book I read by Gaiman was American Gods, and I didn't enjoy that one at all. It seemed Gaiman kept pumping up readers' expectations of a final conflict ("a storm is coming") which, when it finally arrived, was totally anticlimactic.

[SSteppenwolFF]

Frank wrote: "The only other book I read by Gaiman was American Gods, and I didn't enjoy that one at all. It seemed Gaiman kept pumping up readers' expectations of a final conflict ("a storm is coming") which, w..."
American Gods is one of the few books I really enjoyed by Neil Gaiman . The other was Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch co-authored with Terry Pratchett .

[SherryRose]

Its a childrens book but The Graveyard Book is beautiful. I actually think its great for all ages.

[Paul]

Gaiman actually calls The Graveyard book an All age book rather than a childrens book :-)