What have you just read? Opinions, recommendations & reviews Showing 7,001-7,050 of 12,687

[Susan]

Shirley wrote: "And that's another book I wouldn't mind reading, thanks for reminding me, Susan!"

There's a lot about the Hemingway-Fitzgerald relationship in So We Read On. Methinks Ernest had a strong case of professional jealousy.

[Albert]

So I think this is a really interesting thought. Many of us enjoy learning more about the authors that we love to read. It enriches the reading experience. To what degree, though, does what you learn about the individual actually change the degree to which you enjoy that author? If you come to dislike the author for his or her personal beliefs, actions, etc., does that prevent you from enjoying the author's work? Can learning about the author actually turn a love for his or her work to a dislike for his or her work? If you don't like the person, will you not even read the author's work?

[Susan]

Albert wrote: "So I think this is a really interesting thought. Many of us enjoy learning more about the authors that we love to read. It enriches the reading experience. To what degree, though, does what you learn about the individual actually change the degree to which you enjoy that author?"

For me, knowing too much about an author can really turn me off them, but it's usually a case of highlighting some pre-existing doubts. After it has been confirmed, that a writer, for example, is a raging narcissist/chauvinist/whatever, that will colour my reading of all their work.

[Susan]

Gill wrote: "Susan wrote: "I've just finished Diaboliad, a collection of early short stories by Mikhail Bulgakov.

My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."
I've got The White Guard on my kindle to read, Susan.

Better have some tissues nearby! It's a great read, but very sad.

[Dhanaraj]

Albert wrote: "So I think this is a really interesting thought. Many of us enjoy learning more about the authors that we love to read. It enriches the reading experience. To what degree, though, does what you lea..."

It depends. Usually it does not affect as I consider books separately from the author. Thais is what I believe.
But in real life, I have found myself many times avoiding or putting off some writers because of what they hold for or what they are.

May be, the situation might change when I actually read their works.

[Sandysbookaday (taking a step back for a while)]

have just read a teaser chapter for The Beauty of the End by Debbie Howells. I read and enjoyed her first book The Bones of You, and this teaser chapter has me hooked ...here is what I have written about it https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Chrissie]

Albert wrote: "So I think this is a really interesting thought. Many of us enjoy learning more about the authors that we love to read. It enriches the reading experience. To what degree, though, does what you lea..."

I prefer reading the books by an author before reading a book about the author. In this way, if you like the writing and then find you dislike the person, you cannot deny how the writing affected you. This works well with authors who no longer live. With a contemporary author I can see avoiding their books if I know I dislike what they stand for or how they behave.

[Shirley]

Chrissie wrote: "Albert wrote: "So I think this is a really interesting thought. Many of us enjoy learning more about the authors that we love to read. It enriches the reading experience. To what degree, though, do..."

Yes, I'm with you there, Chrissie. I try not to read about the author too much as it can colour what I think of their writing, and in some cases, make me avoid their books altogether.

[Chrissie]

Shirley, Hemingway is a good example. I read his books first and do enjoy how he writes. That doesn't mean I have liked all of his books though. Some are definitely better than others. Then I read biographies and what an eye opener they were.

[Joy]

Over the weekend I romped through Divergent - a YA sci-fi adventure, similar in structure to The Hunger Games. It has a really good pace and was an enjoyable easy read.

[dely]

Albert wrote: "So I think this is a really interesting thought. Many of us enjoy learning more about the authors that we love to read. It enriches the reading experience. To what degree, though, does what you lea..."

I find this topic very interesting. Gill had opened a discussion about it some time ago, if you are interested here's the link: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Albert]

Dely, thanks for pointing me to the discussion that Gill initiated.

[Gill]

dely wrote: "Albert wrote: "So I think this is a really interesting thought. Many of us enjoy learning more about the authors that we love to read. It enriches the reading experience. To what degree, though, do..."

dely, thanks, the link is doubly interesting to me. A/ the content of the discussion B: I'd completely forgotten about it!

[Leslie]

I loved How Green Was My Valley. You can read my review:

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

[Leslie]

Alice wrote: "I just posted my first two book reviews ever on Goodreads. I would share the link but it doesn't seem to want to work... :("

What books were they?

[B the BookAddict]

Susan wrote: "B the BookAddict wrote: "I found the more I learned about Hemingway, the less I liked him. I'd already read a few of his books and wouldn't read anymore after learning so much about who he really w...

After reading in So We Read On: How The Great Gatsby Came to Be and Why It Endures about how cruel Hemingway was to his so-called friend F. Scott Fitzgerald — including writing a "humorous" poem about cutting off Fitzgerald's genitalia and tossing them into the sea off Eden Roc — I decided I would never read Hemingway.

Not to mention Hemingway's propensity for shooting animals and being disrespectful to women... "

Yes, he really was quite an awful man, wasn't he? Especially I think for his lack of respect for women including (other men's wives) nd his liking for game hunting. It almost seems as if he needed to prove something about his 'manliness'.

[B the BookAddict]

Albert wrote: "So I think this is a really interesting thought. Many of us enjoy learning more about the authors that we love to read. It enriches the reading experience. To what degree, though, does what you lea..."

For me, it will affect if I read or how I view an author. Any aspect that even hints at homophobia, antisemitism, or misogyny usually means an author is off my reading list. The same goes for an author who partakes in senseless hunting of wildlife. I just feel that if these form part of the author's moral compass, then surely it will display in their book and I don't want to read that, for interest or for pleasure. And I don't want to add to their income by buying their book.

[B the BookAddict]

Re-posting amended msg with correct link:

I finished The Gilded Hour by Sara Donati. I've made three serious attempts to write a review but just can't marshall my many thoughts into a definitive text. So, so much of this book is addictive reading, the characters strong and likable. I cannot wait to read the next part of the series and more about the Quinlans, the Savards and Jack, Rosa and Lia.

I'm sharing with you a review I think mirrors my experience of the book. It is by the writer Jason Schmidt. His review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Angela M]

I finished This Dark Road to Mercy. 4 stars . My review : https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Angela M]

Finished But You Did Not Come Back. 5 stars . My review : https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Terry ~ Huntress of Erudition]

The Gilded Hour sounds like a great book! I love that time period.

[Sandysbookaday (taking a step back for a while)]

Words in the Dark , which at 40% is okay.....It is a romantic suspense, currently heavier on the romance than on the suspense, which is not how I like them I also think I can see where this is headed....but I may yet be proved wrong.

[B the BookAddict]

@Terry That time is a favorite of mine too, especially New York based stories. I must say that Sara Donati is an exemplary writer.

[Suz]

Love this little series. Finished this last night. 44 Cranberry Point. My review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Diane S ☔]

Finished The Lost Garden
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Tom]

Finished a re-reading of The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma. A very good novel, but I wish I had more emotional attachment to the characters.

[Terry ~ Huntress of Erudition]

I just finished "Outlander" by Diana Gabaldon and "An Ideal Husband" by Oscar Wilde - the difference between the two books is like comparing beer and champagne. I enjoyed both - the earthy, Scottish Highland characters in Outlander and the sparkling prose in An Ideal Husband.

[E.A.]

Just Finished
Lumière

5 Stars!

Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Chrissie]

I have completed Atonement

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Leslie]

Chrissie wrote: "I have completed Atonement

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."

I'm afraid that I may end up in your camp on this but will still try the book sometime (but maybe later rather than earlier)...

[Leslie]

Tom wrote: "Finished a re-reading of The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma. A very good novel, but I wish I had more emotional attachment to the characters."

I've read books like that -- The Luminaries for one. I have a hard time enjoying a book if I don't really care about what happens to the people in it!

[Tom]

Finished The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne. 2 Stars.

[Chrissie]

Leslie wrote: "Chrissie wrote: "I have completed Atonement

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."

I'm afraid that I may end up in your camp on this but will still try the book s..."

Leslie, I am certainly not going to encourage you to read it.

[B the BookAddict]

I think Ian McEwan is an acquired taste. I do remember, distantly, being not all that keen on the first book of his I read. Can't remember which it was, though. But On Chesil Beach won me over. I will say you need to have a certain 'mood' for him and some think him too wordy. I love his books.

I think his recent The Children Act would be very interesting but haven't got around to reading it yet. It has received high star ratings from many AAB members who contribute to threads.

[Chrissie]

Leslie, to be fair, maybe you should read Bette's reviews too.....to get both sides!

[Diane S ☔]

I did give that book four stars, Bette. Haven't read many of his but did like that one very much. Was very introspective.

[[deleted user]]

B the BookAddict wrote: "I think Ian McEwan is an acquired taste. I do remember, distantly, being not all that keen on the first book of his I read. Can't remember which it was, though. But [book:On Chesil Be..."

I really like this one but then I have an interest in the medical and legal focus of the book anyway. I thought it was really well written

[B the BookAddict]

@Diane Which one? Atonement or The Children's Act?

I don't mind introspective books at all, in fact I enjoy them. Love getting really inside people and happenings. Nothing like a good 'think', to please me:)

[Angela M]

I finished The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend. 3 stars. My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Diane S ☔]

B the BookAddict wrote: "@Diane Which one? Atonement or The Children's Act?

I don't mind introspective books at all, in fact I enjoy them. Love getting really inside people and happenings. Nothing like a good 'think', to ..."

Children's Act, never could get through Atonement.

[Diane S ☔]

Finished House of the Rising Sun: A Novel
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Bionic Jean]

Heather said "I really like this one but then I have an interest in the medical and legal focus of the book anyway" Which one, please? Several have been mentioned and I haven't read them all.

(Oddly, Chris and I have read different books by Ian McEwan.)

[B the BookAddict]

@Diane

#
"There is a house in New Orleans
They call the Rising Sun
And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy
And God, I know I'm one" #

:)

[Sandysbookaday (taking a step back for a while)]

Recently finished Words in the Dark which was a 2 star read for me. Here is my review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Canadian Jen]

Diane S ❄ wrote: "B the BookAddict wrote: "@Diane Which one? Atonement or The Children's Act?

I don't mind introspective books at all, in fact I enjoy them. Love getting really inside people and happenings. Nothing..."

I didn't read Atonement but loved the movie!

[B the BookAddict]

@Jen Yes, the movie is very well done, great actors and wonderful scenes.

We could almost have had Atonement as a Book of the Month!

[[deleted user]]

Sorry Jean, The Children's Act

[Bionic Jean]

Thanks Heather.

Thanks Bette (I think!) - that song is going round and round in my head now ;)

[Tracey]

Just finished this magical fantasy again. The tears are still flowing.
Here is a review by Tracey: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

[Terry ~ Huntress of Erudition]

You're right, Tracey - Tolkien is the original and best of the fantasy genre, to me.