Readerville Veterans discussion
What are you reading?
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Lauren
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Jun 16, 2009 09:46AM
I just started TRail of Crumbs by Kim Sunee
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I'm reading Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.
I just finished Tim Gautreaux's "The Missing" and am now deep into "The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet" by Reif Larsen. Both of them are perched at or near the top of my Best Reads of 2009.
David, I'm interested in the Gautreaux. Trail of Crumbs is making me anxious. I can't figure out whether I like it or not - the author is the food editor for Cottage Living and her own personal story - Korean orphanage, cold adopted American family, older wealthy lover, unbelievable house in Provence and porn-like food descriptions - the whole thing is giving me the willies. But I feel kinda sorry for her at the same time.
Hey y'all! I'm still trying to finish In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez. I also got sucked into April & Oliver by Tess Callahan last night. It reminds me of a relationship I have with an old "friend." Couldn't resist.
Lauren,"The Missing" is another example of Gautreaux's superb storytelling skills. He takes his sweet time telling the story, with several detours which might at first glance appear to have little relevance but later prove to be absolutely essential to the rolling-snowball momentum of the plot. And yet, you are never ever bored. This is a story about a man surrounded by violence, who is urged to give in to violent vengeance, but yet resists every step of the way, believing that issues can be resolved without resorting to the gun, the knife, or the fist. It is a profound and beautiful novel.
....And I certainly haven't done it justice in this short space.
Cool, I have both the Larsen and the Gautreaux. I just finished Colum McCann's Let the Great World Spin and loved it -- my review of it is on my Books page. Flawed here and there but basically a really satisfying read. I think you'd like it, David.Not sure what's up next. Just read a short story, "Rope," by Katherine Anne Porter this morning because we were talking about it at dinner last night as an example of an author knowing what NOT to put in. Really good stuff, and I want to read more in this collection of hers. Right now I'm plowing through a backlog of New Yorkers and the new Believer.
I've never read Gautreaux, despite many Readerville raves. I have some time for real reading this summer, so maybe I'll rectify that. On that note I've 'joined' the Infinite Jest summer reading/group thing and have started reading it. So far it's a bit of a narrative ride, but I expected that.
Lauren, do report back on the Sunee book when you're done. I'd be interested in how you feel at the end of it.
Kate, I'm dying to read the Waters.Lisa, I'm a big fan of KAP. If you end up getting more into her, the Joan Givner biography is excellent. She had an interesting life and was a consummate liar so much that she told about herself while she was living was untrue. Fabulousness itself.
Miriam, did you read Trail of Crumbs? It's hard to feel sorry for someone as they are driving through Provence in their Saab on their way back from a rose-petal facial, but I do.
Ooh, that KAP bio sounds very interesting, Lauren -- thanks. I'm going to leave her Collected Stories on my desk and dip in here and there, since I seem to be pretty thoroughly ADD in everything I do lately.
When I first met my husband, he was working on a staged adaptation of The jilting of Granny Weatherall. And that's just one reason why reader, I married him.
Heh. That's nice.I'm just finishing off another YA novel (Trickster's Choice) given to me by my niece which I enjoyed despite its predictability (or maybe because of its predictability)
And have started reading Infinite Jest. I'm almost caught up with the online group that's reading it. It's a real ride. I'm only 70 or so pages in and my view could shift, but so far it's quite exhilarating.
I started The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao and I am totally into it.
Oh good to hear because that's up next for me.
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I reallllllllly wanted to love this book but somehow did not.
That's how I felt about Absurdistan. I'm hoping Oscar Wao is different. I started Oscar Wao last night, but I was sucked back into Infinite Jest this morning. I was planning to read Infinite Jest in small bits over the summer as part of the Infinite Summer project but it's really spectacular and I'm not sure I'm going to be able to read it in bits. His facility and control of the English language combined with his complete lack of calculation is mind blowing. Plus he's funny, warm and its fun to hang out in a book with someone that's as bright as he was (is).
I am very mixed about Oscar Wao. I felt like his own particular journey - the loss of virginity - was kind of lame - and I hated the ending. I loved the mash-up of DR history with science fiction and the narrator's voice. I'm going to look for Diaz's short stories.
I'm about to start "Kidnapped." While I've flirted around with R. L. Stevenson before, I've never actually read any of his novels.
Lauren wrote: "I am very mixed about Oscar Wao. I felt like his own particular journey - the loss of virginity - was kind of lame - and I hated the ending. I loved the mash-up of DR history with science fiction a..."I'm a bit bogged down in the grandfather/daughter/trujillo section - suspect what's going to happen and not really wanting to go there. I also think the quest is lame and suspect that Diaz thinks that Oscar is lame too which is problematic. Almost always happy when the sister is in the picture though - she's a good character. The ride is bumpy, but I've decided to forge through the last bit and finish it.
David, my dad read Kidnapped to us when we were kids and I'm tempted to read it to my boys.
I love Kidnapped and pretty much everything by RLS. Yes, Mir, finish it. But you are right. The quest is lame.
I finished it last night and was glad I did, but I think your review Lauren is spot on. The book was great until the narrative thread switched to Oscar and then it slumped - I think because Diaz insisted on defining him by his lack of sexual experience all his other activities also lacked oompf. I woke up in the middle of the night last night and decided I wasn't up for Hemon's The Lazarus Project immediately after The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, so I picked up Burning Marguerite and think I'll stick with that. I'm also going to finish the Manguel (The City of Words) that I started months ago. Its really good, and a shame to leave it languishing on my shelf unfinished.
I'm reading Charles Baxter's The Art of Subtext: Beyond Plot -- a nice, smart little book. It's not so much a how-to as a reminder of some good true things to remember in regard to plot and motivation, etc. It's good to read something crafty after all the fiction I've been onto.
I've tried a couple of times to get into Glen David Gould's new novel, Sunnyside, but can't seem to connect. Maybe its the size of the project and I'm not interested enough in the subject to commit to so many pages/so much time? May put it down and try later -- but has anyone read this and loved it? or even finished it?
I've just finished reading Moscow Rules by Daniel Silva, and it was a nice surprise, cuz this guy DOES write well; so well that I recommended the book to some of my students who really like mysteries; if this is your case, go for it, cuz the book is well written and the story is really engaging, of the type you wanna know what's gonna happen next: a real page-turner... I've already received his The Secret Servant , with the purpose of taking it to the beach, on vacation. Made the great mistake of opening the book and start reading it -- just to see how it began -- and I'm totally hooked already...Lauren has got me hooked on -- I said hooked on ? Addicted to are the words to be used here... -- Donna Leon's series with detective Brunetti. Nothing special about these mysteries, but one DOES get used to Brunetti, his family and friends, his office at the Questura and all... Reading now her Death and Judgement , and as I have mentioned on Readerville's Notebooks, I really like Brunetti and his wife Paola's discussion on morality.
Bueller? Bueller? (J. Hughes homage).I'm starting Wendy Wasserstein's novel for something fun and light this week. I'm on a Pym kick this summer so may read Some Tame Gazelle as I'm not sure I ever did read this one.
What would anyone recommend for my upcoming beach week? What has knocked you out lately?
What has knocked you out lately?The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society most definetely... Believe me, you will not regret having taken it to the beach... It takes place in the aftermath of WWII, and is constituted solely of letters from and to this writer Juliet to her best friends and to the Islanders who become her friends too... You know the kind of book whose characters become friends of yours ? Well, this is that kind of book...
Hi everyone! I'm reading Infinite Jest, but since I've too many other reading commitments going on at the same time, I probably won't finish until some time in October. I'm reading Jane Hamilton's Laura Rider's Masterpiece (very funny) this weekend, and I have Trollpe's The Bertrams underway as well. Dawn Powell's Dance Night needs to be started in a day or two.
Susan P.
I finished Atmospheric Disturbances yesterday. Though some of the writing intrigued me I found it rough going.
I thought it was some great storytelling, Meg -- hope you enjoy it too.
The only thing I didn't like about it was the information on the flaps. Had I not read The Story of Lucy Gault, I would not have read it. As it is, I am keeping it for a re-read a year or two from now. It was really excellent.
Hope everyone has seen Dan's book on all the best of the year lists! (I thought it was great!)I'm reading The Man Who Loved Books too Much by Alison Hoover Bartlett. She's not an ex-Readervillian, but would have been a lovely addition.
I loved The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I have to admit, I read it mostly because my families origins go back to the Channel Islands, but I loved it for itself.
Wow. Look at this list of NPR's best foreign fiction of the year. All new to me-yippee! I am particularly interested in the last two. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/st...
hmm, tasty list, Nancy. I am reading Adam Haslett's Union Pacific. Did anyone read his stories You Are Not a Stranger here?
Very fine.
That was a terrific collection, Lauren. I read it many years ago.I'm now--and still--reading Museum of Innocence. I really, really love it.
I've heard such good things about the Pamuk... it's tempting. I'm reading The Corrections, along with Karen W -- we figured we're the last two people in the world who haven't read it yet. It's an agitating and discomforting book, but I still can't wait to get back t it every day.
I never read The Corrections. I think I passed it by during that time at RV when everyone was pissy about him. I forget why, though.I'm reading a library copy of Museum of Innocence, but I'm getting through it slowly. I think I might buy it--so I can continue reading slowly and so that I can have it.
Nancy wrote: "I never read The Corrections. I think I passed it by during that time at RV when everyone was pissy about him. I forget why, though.I'm reading a library copy of Museum of Innocence, but I'm get..."
So people at RV didn't like it, Nancy? That was before my time, I'd love to have heard that discussion. I mostly like it so far, but I can understand how it would be off- putting to some people.
Karen wrote: "Nancy wrote: "I never read The Corrections. I think I passed it by during that time at RV when everyone was pissy about him. I forget why, though.I'm reading a library copy of Museum of Innocenc..."
I read The Corrections, but after I finished, I didn't find it memorable. I never got as fired up as the people in the Readerville discussion.
Right now, I'm reading The Bishop's Man, the Giller winner for 2009, and enjoying both the style and the characters.
Cordel, please report back often on Bishop's Man. I'm dying to read it, but it's not out in the US yet. Book Depository is out of stock, but I'm on an email alert when it comes in.I always do this. If a book sounds interesting and I find out that I can't obtain it, I start really really wanting it.
Heheh I do too, Nancy.The Corrections was like a literary Truman Show. I felt manipulated and emotionally micromanaged, but he did it really, really well. A lot of the writing was beautiful. And although it was some of the most dispassionate narrative I've read in a while, he somehow made me feel the compassion that the writing left out. And all of it very purposefully. It was a strange reading experience, but I was absorbed and entertained all the way through, so OK.
Now I'm reading Wolf Hall and just loving every bit of it. She's such a good storyteller, and the characters breathe.
I have been utterly embarrassed to admit that I was bored to tears by Wolf Hall. Until now, the only person I have told is CindyA. I knew she was dying to read it, and I had a gorgeous UK hardcover that I knew she would love, so I ended my misery and sent it to her. She loved it, so I'm glad.So now you know my dirty little secret of 2009.
I gave my husband Wolf Hall for Christmas and he is over 1/3 through it. Naturally, I plan to read it too. He found some of the detail at the beginning off-putting. I love that era, and think I will enjoy it.
So now you know my dirty little secret of 2009.
Hey, we all have 'em. Mine aren't necessarily literary, though...
Nancy, we still love you despite your appalling taste. I am reading Sujata Massey mysteries (light weight but fun) and rereading the Adam Haslett stories You Are not a Stranger Here which are oh so good.
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