Which LIST book did you just start? Showing 3,001-3,050 of 6,816

[Flora]

Lol, yeah, I really like it so far

[Stuart]

Flora wrote: "Lol, yeah, I really like it so far"

I am glad it was one of the most fun reads I have had in years.

[Regine]

I'm reading A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry

[Kristel]

Just started the Optimist's Daughter by Welty

[[deleted user]]

The Shining by Stephen King

[[deleted user]]

Started Wharton's The Age of Innocence.

[Mike]

The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allen Poe.

[Yassemin]

The Bell jar

[Flora]

Getting ready to start The Quiet American I'm not really sure what to expect from this one.

[K.D.]

Just re-started Javier Cercas' Soldiers of Salamis.

[Jess]

After the recommendations and looking at the list I am going to the library to get my first 1001 books to read...The Elegance of the Hedgehog...Please let me know your thoughts on this book...

[El]

Jessica, I haven't read Elegance myself yet, but looks like the group is discussing it here if you want to take a peek at what others thought.

[Jess]

El wrote: "Jessica, I haven't read Elegance myself yet, but looks like the group is discussing it here if you want to take a peek at what others thought."
Thank you...reading the comments is getting me excited now

[Yrinsyde]

I started reading The Castle of Otranto and so far I'm enjoying it! There are definitely da da da Duuuummm moments and lots of screaming and fainting!

[Susan]

Started Diary of a Nobody last night.

[Susan]

Shardae wrote: "The Shining by Stephen King"

My first SK book when I was 13 and have been a fan ever since.

[Flora]

Yrinsyde wrote: "I started reading The Castle of Otranto and so far I'm enjoying it! There are definitely da da da Duuuummm moments and lots of screaming and fainting!"

That sounds like one I would like.

I'm just getting started on The Blind Assassin. So far I haved enjoyed all of Margaret Atwood books that I have had a chance to read. I expect this one will be just as good.

[Becky]

Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis (audio)

[Joselito Honestly]

THIS WAY FOR THE GAS, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN by Tadeusz Borowski

[Tomchicago]

Just started Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson.

[[deleted user]]

Susan wrote: "Shardae wrote: "The Shining by Stephen King"

My first SK book when I was 13 and have been a fan ever since."

I have read most of his books and I loved them. I haven't read The Shining though, i watched the movie years ago so I don't really remember anything about it.

[K.D.]

Just started Hubert Selby Jr.'s REQUIEM FOR A DREAM. Not sure if I will like it. Having a hard time understanding the language of the drug addicts. Senseless bantering. Oh my. Hope it makes sense soon!

[Drew]

I am starting The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, and looking forward to it.

[Joselito Honestly]

About halfway thru THE TWILIGHT YEARS by the Japanese female writer Sawako Ariyoshi.

[El]

Joselito, I haven't read The Twilight Years yet, but have loved the others I have read by Ariyoshi. What do you think of this one?

[Joselito Honestly]

El, I haven't read the others by Ariyoshi, so I won't have any point of comparison. But it wasn't a boring book, she knew how to tell a story(old people, growing old, death, dying), and anyone can relate to it because except for the suicidal ones, everyone of us imagine ourselves dying in old age. The Japanese went crazy over this one, bought more than a million copies within a year of its publication in 1972, obviously because Japan has an aging population and, of course, Ariyoshi was their very own.

[Joselito Honestly]

I'm now starting KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN by the Argentine Manuel Puig.

[Christina Stind]

I'm about halfway through Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. I'm not all that impressed with it so far.

[Becky]

Joselito wrote: "I'm now starting KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN by the Argentine Manuel Puig."

Joselito, I just finished it. I'm confused by the ending & some of the passages in italics. I understand the purpose of the footnotes, especially at the time when this book was written, but I found them to be a distraction and ended up skimming most of them! I'm eager to read your comments. ~Becky

[Becky]

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey. Big fan of the movie. My dad frequently commented on the book being so much better.

[Joselito Honestly]

OK Becky. But it may take a while for me to finish it. I'm following the games/matches at the current chess olympiad. I'll remind myself to pay attention to the ending and the italics, though. Thanks!

[[deleted user]]

Started Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles.

[El]

I started Rudyard Kipling's Kim last night. We'll see how it goes.

[Cindy]

El wrote: "I started Rudyard Kipling's Kim last night. We'll see how it goes."

Oh, interesting! I picked this up when Barnes & Noble was doing the free giveaway of their classic ebooks. I've heard it referred to as the British Huck Finn, but my British husband had never heard of Kim...

[El]

I'll be interested to see what you think of Kim when you read it, Cindy. I've been meaning to read it for years but just never got around to it. One of my brothers is friends with a guy who was named after Kipling's Kim so for that reason alone I was sort of intrigued since it's a fairly unconventional name for a male. Amusingly this friend never read the book himself. If I were him I'd want to have a better understanding of where my parents got my name. :)

I've also heard of Kim as being the 'British Huck Finn', but I wonder if that's outdated now, or maybe the reference has lost some popularity over the years. Still, I'd be interested to know what your British husband thinks of it too... if you could get him to read it. :)

[Joselito Honestly]

Becky wrote: "Joselito wrote: "I'm now starting KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN by the Argentine Manuel Puig."

Joselito, I just finished it. I'm confused by the ending & some of the passages in italics. I understand..."

finally i got to finished it this morning Becky. Here is my understanding of this book. I don't know how to call it, but maybe "levels of reality" might do. There are three such levels here:

1. scientific (the footnotes, dealing with the science/psychology of homosexuality);
2. factual (the dialogues/conversations between M. and V.); and
3. flights of fancy (those in italics, they are thoughts of M. alone or V. alone kept undisclosed to the other; flashbacks).

this won't be a spoiler to those who have not read the book yet, only those who have read it will understand what we are discussing here.

The last long portion in italics are hallucinations of V., after he was tortured. Maybe he's dying already. If you notice, he was already in a nice place. Some kind of a defense mechanism of the mind when the body is suffering extremely. That happened to me also when I underwent torture during the hazing when I joined a fraternity. I slept standing and dreamt i was already at home resting in my bed. Then I woke up and discovered that the beating is still ongoing. I think that's what happened to V. (besides, he just got a morphine injection).

What I'm not sure of is whether V. knowingly led M. to his death, or whether he lied when he told M. that what he requested him to do was completely safe.

[[deleted user]]

Drew wrote: "I am starting The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, and looking forward to it."

I really enjoyed this book, hope you like it.

[Karina]

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

[Becky]

Joselito wrote: "Becky wrote: "Joselito wrote: "I'm now starting KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN by the Argentine Manuel Puig."

Joselito, I just finished it. I'm confused by the ending & some of the passages in italics..."

Thanks for your interpretation, Joselito - I liked how you defined the 3 levels. Given how tender V. was toward M. at the end, it's difficult to imagine that he set M. up.

Have you seen the movie?

[Drew]

Just started Rashomon and 17 Other Stories by Akutagawa. The first few stories have been really enjoyable.

[Joselito Honestly]

I like IN THE BAMBOO GROVE better than RASHOMON.

[Linda]

Yrinsyde wrote: "I started reading The Castle of Otranto and so far I'm enjoying it! There are definitely da da da Duuuummm moments and lots of screaming and fainting!"

I had to read this for an English Lit class; it's definitely one of those obscure books that no one's ever heard of, but it's important as one of the very first gothic novels. If you are hesitant to attempt Anne Radcliffe's Udolpho, pick up this one as quick and entertaining gothic read.

[Linda]

Linda wrote: "I just started Cold Comfort Farm and I could tell right away that this is going to be a fun, quick read..."

By the way I understand this was made into a movie. Has anyone seen it? Is it anything like the book? If so, I'll bet it's a hoot.

[El]

Linda, I've seen the movie but haven't read the book yet, so I can't necessarily compare the two. I did think the movie was pretty funny though.

[Lauli]

I'm halfway down The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (finished the first volume) and I'm going to take a breather and read The Waves by Virginia Woolf before I pick up the second volume of TJ. Although 3 pages into it I'm beginning to think it won't be much of a breather but quite the opposite...

[Joselito Honestly]

Page 70 now of GABRIELA, CLOVE AND CINNAMON by the Brazilian Jorge Amado. I have a feeling this will be one, great memorable ride for me.

[Jessica]

I just started Catch 22 in celebration of banned books week.

[Sissy]

Handmaid's Tale - Atwood. Hope to enjoy since I quite liked Blind Assassin.

[Stacie]

Just starting The Satanic Verses today.

[Gayle]

just started Little Women...it's a re-read since I read it years and years ago. Unlike many of the books I've re-read now that I'm all grown up, I'm not liking LW as much as I remembered.