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What have you just read? Opinions, recommendations & reviews
I've recently finished The Book of Lies, which I wouldn't recommend, and Middlemarch, which I would recommend - despite its length, it gets better and better as you read through it.
Hales wrote: "@Alan I have also just finished The Book Thief. It was a re-read for me and I couldn't recommend it more. The thing that grips me most is the way Death (who is the narrator) sees life it's fascinat..."Glad to hear that you liked A Tale of Two Cities (even if it took a while to warm up) as it is one of my top ten favorites!
Hales A TOTC is one of my favorite books as is The Book Thief.Death us the perfect narrator I love how he speculates on life and how he feels so deeply the profound losses during the war and the compassion for Liesel on the loss of her brother.
Tracey wrote: "Just finished The Woman in White by Wilkie Collinsit was really good. Highly recommended for lovers of Victorian fiction and Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes"want to read this!
Leslie wrote: "Amber wrote: "I enjoyed Eleven on Top. It was a pretty good book 11 of the Stephanie plum series. If you like a story where a girl keeps on getting her cars blown up, you'll like the s..."This is a good detail to know, Leslie. I didn't know it had a lot of swearing. Probably will skip this series.
Beth wrote: "I just finished The Space Between Us and I really liked it a lot. I wrote a review and gave it 5 stars - worth reading, for sure."Thanks, Beth. This has been on my TBR for awhile. May move it on up.
Nicole wrote: "Beth wrote: "I just finished The Space Between Us and I really liked it a lot. I wrote a review and gave it 5 stars - worth reading, for sure."Thanks, Beth. This has been on my T..."
Get to it when you can - I definitely think it is worth reading.
I just read RUNNER from Patrick Lee yesterday. I totally recommend it to people who like genre fiction--sort of sci-fi thriller. As a matter of fact, I've read three of his books in the past couple weeks and they were all superb. I think the guy is going to be huge.
Beth wrote: "I just finished The Good Lord Bird and I don't recommend it. It was slow and difficult to read - an interesting story but told in such a way that made reading the book feel like a ..."Really? I loved it! I totally recommend it, but people should realize it's literary fiction. It won the National Book Award, too.
I've just finished Out by Natsuo Kirino. I thought it was very well written and it gets four stars from me.
Chuck wrote: "Beth wrote: "I just finished The Good Lord Bird and I don't recommend it. It was slow and difficult to read - an interesting story but told in such a way that made reading the book..."I was aware that it won the National Book Award but I thought it was so boring in many places and it was also really difficult to read. The narrator doesn't really speak "English" in the way that we do so I had to keep stopping to figure out what he was trying to say. As a result, it took me a long time to read and just seemed like a lot of work for not such a great story.
But I'm glad you liked it!
Erica wrote: "I've just finished Out by Natsuo Kirino. I thought it was very well written and it gets four stars from me."I read that a couple of years ago, Erica. Yes, well-written, but not for the squeamish like me!
Beth wrote: "I was aware that it won the National Book Award but I thought it was so boring in many places and it was also really difficult to read..."I find this to be true of a lot of contemporary/modern literary fiction - almost every Man Booker Prize-winner I have read falls into this category :( Clearly this is just not the genre for me!
Nicole wrote: "Erica wrote: "I've just finished Out by Natsuo Kirino. I thought it was very well written and it gets four stars from me."I read that a couple of years ago, Erica. Ye..."
Oh?? I have this on my TBR but my tolerance for gritty or graphic violence is dwindling. Should I take it off my list?
Leslie wrote: "I find this to be true of a lot of contemporary/modern literary fiction - almost every Man Booker Prize-winner I have read falls into this category :( Clearly this is just not the genre for me! "
Yeah, literary fiction is not really about the plot like genre fiction is. Wikipedia has a good article that explains it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literary...
I guess you could say it's kinda an acquired taste. I've got to where I love it.
Chuck wrote: "Leslie wrote: "Beth wrote: "I was aware that it won the National Book Award but I thought it was so boring in many places and it was also really difficult to read..."I find this to be true of a l..."
Over the years I have read a lot of "serious" literature and loved it - I've read a lot of the books that won Pulitzers - I think it was this book in particular that I just didn't enjoy.
Beth wrote: "Chuck wrote: "Leslie wrote: "Beth wrote: "I was aware that it won the National Book Award but I thought it was so boring in many places and it was also really difficult to read..."I find this to ..."
I'm rather new to literary fiction--I haven't read that many classics either. For the past year or so I've really immersed myself in them.
Chuck wrote: "Leslie wrote: "I find this to be true of a lot of contemporary/modern literary fiction - almost every Man Booker Prize-winner I have read falls into this category :( Clearly this is just not the ge..."Well I love William Faulkner and you can't really say that his writing is plot-driven!! Or Thomas Pynchon's writing either.
But I was bored by John Updike's Rabbit books and The Virgin in the Garden by A.S. Byatt.
I think if I look at the majority of my reading it is literary fiction which I think has mainly to do with the fact that if I had to prioritize between plot and prose, I'd go for prose.However spending time on GR in general and this group in particular has made me read more genre fiction as well, which has been great.
I guess I am really drawn to hybrid literature though, literature that surfs on the edge of genre and literary fiction, however vague the distinction sometimes may be.
I'm surprised you didn't like The Virgin in the Garden Leslie! I liked all four books in The Frederica Quartet , of which that is the first. Have you tried anything else by A.S. Byatt ? Possession maybe?
I don't know all of the names and categories of the books that I read but I have enjoyed a lot of different books. I love so many of the classics and yet I also have loved some of the "chick let" and the YA books.....Guess it just depends on the story and the writing.
Jean wrote: "I'm surprised you didn't like The Virgin in the Garden Leslie! I liked all four books in The Frederica Quartet , of which that is the first. Have you tried anything el..."Yes, I read Possession first, as a Book of the Month for Perks. I thought it was OK but not great & decided to try another Byatt. Looking back now, I think Possession was better than I thought at first but Virgin… was worse...
Beth wrote: "I don't know all of the names and categories of the books that I read but I have enjoyed a lot of different books. I love so many of the classics and yet I also have loved some of the "chick let" ..."I have trouble with the classifications too - modern, postmodern, etc. I was taken aback by the Wikipedia article listing Don Quixote as an example of postmodernism!! How can a book written in the early 1600s be postmodern!?
The terms, 'Modernism' and 'Post Modernism' represent two different philosophical ideologies. An ancient novel, in this sense, can also be a 'modern' or a 'post modern' one.
Leslie wrote: "Nicole wrote: "Erica wrote: "I've just finished Out by Natsuo Kirino. I thought it was very well written and it gets four stars from me."I read that a couple of years ..."
For me, Leslie, it was quite disturbing and even gruesome.
I just finished reading The Reader. I found that Hannah's story was missing. I wish we'd heard her side of things rather than whiney Micheal's.
Petra wrote: "I just finished reading The Reader. I found that Hannah's story was missing. I wish we'd heard her side of things rather than whiney Micheal's."I hear it's pretty good, I was thinking of reading it myself. Would you recommend it?
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However spe..."
Me too!
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Don't know the book.
Charbel wrote: "Petra wrote: "I just finished reading The Reader. I found that Hannah's story was missing. I wish we'd heard her side of things rather than whiney Micheal's."I hear it's pretty good, I was thinking of reading it myself. Would you recommend it?
..."
Yes, it's worth reading. It is one-sided and I found Michael to be self-pitying and whiney. That doesn't sound like a recommendation, does it? :D
But I do recommend it. It's a touching story of a country facing its past in the generation after the war.
Tracey wrote: "Hales A TOTC is one of my favorite books as is The Book Thief.Death us the perfect narrator I love how he speculates on life and how he feels so deeply the profound losses during the war and the c..."
Interesting to hear that TOTC is a favourite of you both, Leslie and Tracey. I fell a little bit in love with Sydney. My friends and I have decided to read more Dickens, any suggestions for the next one to read?
I completely agree about the narration of Death, its so different from any other narration I have read.
Hales wrote: "Tracey wrote: "Hales A TOTC is one of my favorite books as is The Book Thief.Death us the perfect narrator I love how he speculates on life and how he feels so deeply the profound losses during th..."
I am about to join Jean & Tracey & John in Oliver Twist; I'm sure that Jean wouldn't mind if you joined us!
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Death us the perfect narrator I love how he speculates on life and how he feels so deeply the profound lo..."
One of my favourite Dickens. But this year I want to read what I've not already read by him!
Thank you Leslie, I really enjoyed Oliver Twist last year. So I this year like Laura I am planning to read some of his work that I haven't tried yet :)
Hales wrote: "Thank you Leslie, I really enjoyed Oliver Twist last year. So I this year like Laura I am planning to read some of his work that I haven't tried yet :)"I also read Oliver Twist last year - my next Dickens will be A Tale of Two Cities.
Just yesterday I finished my first Shakespeare. A Midsummer night's dream. What a joy. I recommend it to everyone as a first time Shakespeare reader as it is funny and short with some memorable characters.
Hales - yes, it would have been great to have you along for Oliver Twist but obviously from what you've said it's not the one for you at the moment. I'm just hopping over to my "Dickens personal challenge" thread now though. If you look you'll see that I'm working through all of them again, and look forward to lots of people joining me when they fancy, along the way. So hope to see you too. :)Tracey - Shakespeare's a Midsummer-Nights Dream was my first Shakespeare too (at school!) and I agree - it's a great one to start with :)
I've just read Rebecca in 2 straight settings on my train this weekend. What an incredible book. Absolutely loved it. If you've never read it, you must!
Just finished The invisible woman by Claire Tomalin. It was a biography of the woman who was supposedly Charles Dickens mistress. I gave it 3 stars and wrote a short review. I must say I think the author was thourough in her research and has covered all bases in what is a cold case mystery.
Beth wrote: "I just finished The Good Lord Bird and I don't recommend it. It was slow and difficult to read - an interesting story but told in such a way that made reading the book feel like a ..."I feel the same way, Beth! Maybe it was this book that was responsible for my reading slump in February...
Leslie wrote: "If you like spy thrillers, I would recommend From Russia with Love, the 5th James Bond book by Ian Fleming. This one is classic Cold War espionage to some extent, but still plenty of..."Having read the first two Bond books, I can say that I like him better in the books than on film. He's more human!
I just finished Letters to a Young Mathematician. I quite liked the way the author presented his ideas, but I do think he could have developed it more.
I think my reading slump is finally over! I can't remember the last time I had such a hard time concentrating on books. I'm so happy to be back into reading. And now I'm caught up on reading about what you guys have been reading:)I did manage to read three books in February:
1) Angelmaker: I wanted to love this book, but life interfered. Travel, etc, made it really hard to focus. There were some great things about it, and I plan to re-read it in a few years to get more out of it.
2) The Good Lord Bird: Really did not like. Just didn't like it.
3) The Goldfinch: Really liked it. Want to read more Donna Tartt immediately!
And now I've finished my first book for March. I read How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia this past weekend. It was a quick read, and I enjoyed it. I liked it better than The Reluctant Fundamentalist: A Novel, although I don't remember much about that book at the moment.
Kristi wrote: "I think my reading slump is finally over! I can't remember the last time I had such a hard time concentrating on books. I'm so happy to be back into reading. And now I'm caught up on reading about ..."Good to hear about the Donna Tartt book, I have that to read on my kindle. And I know just what you mean about life interfering, it does that sometimes, very annoying!
Heather wrote: "I've just read Rebecca in 2 straight settings on my train this weekend. What an incredible book. Absolutely loved it. If you've never read it, you must!"Was that your first time of reading it, Heather? Glad you liked it!
Hales wrote: "Thank you Leslie, I really enjoyed Oliver Twist last year. So I this year like Laura I am planning to read some of his work that I haven't tried yet :)"Oh yes, I forgot the Oliver Twist was a Book of the Month over in Perks. Well, I have a couple that I would like to read later in the year if you are willing to wait: Nicholas Nickleby and Little Dorrit. Otherwise, I would recommend either David Copperfield or Bleak House...
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Oh Pink I had forgotten this book. I feel the same way as you about it. Definitely worth recommending.