Pick-a-Shelf discussion
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Pick-a-Shelf: Monthly -Archive
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Shelf Picker
Susan: Welcome to the weekend! What a wonderful shelf choice! (Or rather, "shelves", I suppose.) I don't often gravitate towards Latin American literature, but I love Borges and Marquez, (I'm a total sucker for magical realism.) as well as Neruda, and I know there are other authors among those shelves who are just waiting quietly for me to "discover" them. To the shelves!
Edit to add: regarding not getting everything one should from a work - I always regret not being fluent in the language in question when it comes to literature in translation. I know that so much is lost in the translation, and so much of the flavor is flat-lined or mutated by the morph into English. Spanish joins Mandarin, Japanese, Magyar, and Arabic as the languages I notice this with most often. (For whatever reason, some languages seem to suffer less from translation, with less loss of feeling, intent, or nuance. Or maybe I simply notice it less...)
It's like adapting an "ethnic" recipe and substituting ground black pepper for the cayenne, paprika, cumin, coriander, etc. It may add spice, but it's not quite the right flavor, is it? *sigh* Oh, to have a thousand years to learn every language...
Wow, this is looks wonderful. It will really expand my reading horizons. Thanks, Susan, for the great shelf pick.
Latin American books sounds like a great way to start the school year. It will hopefully get me to read 2666 that has been sitting on my TBR. IT is a big one, so I always find reasons not to start it.
Mod
What a wonderful shelf choice! (Or rather, "shelves", I suppose.) I don't often gravitate towards Latin American literature, but I love Borges and Marquez, (I'..."
Candiss,
I love your analogy with spices in ethnic recipes!
Mod
Tara,
I've been wondering about 2666, and had never heard of it before. What do you know about it that made you put it on your TBR list?
I placed it on my TBR because it is on the summer reading list for another group. I heard that it was different, but good. It sounds like it is a bit philosophical. My friend recommended that I read it in parts since it is like 5 novels in one, like nesting eggs. All comments have said it is a bit depressing, but nothing gives away the plot so I am very intrigued myself.
Yay!! Glad you showed up, Susan!! We were just deciding what to do in the event that you didn't make a pick and post it right away! And what a great choice! For our group list, I'll just put "Latin America" since that is the shelf that has over 1,000 books on it. But any book from either of the three shelves would certainly fulfill the intention of our shelf of the month.
What an interesting shelf! Can't wait to figure out what to read.
Fantastic pick - i haven't read in this are for ages but when I did I loved Peruvian author Mario Vargas Ljosa Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, Love in the time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquezand Eva Lunaby Isabel Allende. Paula is also truly beautiful, but have the tissues ready. Bel Canto is also one of my all-time faves!!
Mod
Have fun with it! :)
Congratulations, Crystal! Can't wait to see what shelf we will try next!
Congratulations, Crystal!! I look forward to your pick!
Congrats Crystal! Excited to see what you pick!
Congrats, Crystal! I'm excited to see what you decide!
Yayee Crystal! Have fun picking :0)
Congratulations Crystal! This is becoming my favourite time of the month and can't wait to see what you pick and work out if any of my books in the YOU CHOOSE challenge fit in. Have fun with your choices!
Oh no not already! I haven't read anything for this month yet :)
Sarah I'm with you LOL I've read like 20 pages of my book *yikes*
Congratulations, Crystal! I'm looking forward to your pick.
Oooops! Sorry I was out of circulation for awhile. I just read my msg this evening. I am a librarian at an elementary school and Sept. is a challenging month. The big thing is that I have two of my own kids and a new German exchange student. I have spent very little time online between the kid's cross country, soccer, figure skating, karate and my own training for a half-marathon coming up this Sat. I will get a pick soon. I know people like to have planning time.
Yay! I'm glad you got the message, Crystal. We started a little earlier this month, so we still have some time. We await your pick!
Looking forward to the pick-- it'll be my first time participating :) But boy Crystal, you sound insanely busy! A half-marathon on top of everything is amazing! Good luck!
So this is where shelves are picked. I was wondering how it worked, lol.Good luck with the run, Crystal! Can't wait to see what you pick.
Mod
This is my first time participating. I am so anxious and excited I can hardly sit still... lol. Can't wait to see what you pick Crystal!
Hi all. I finished my half-marathon!!! Now I can have a life again.I have finally picked a shelf. I haven't read anything from this shelf for a long time, but I used to love these when I was in middle and high school. I pick....Biography
There are simply TONS of books on this shelf to choose from and there should be something for everyone. I hope everyone has a great time with it.
http://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/b...
Excellent choice Crystal, based on the first five shelves I may need to make October last until the middle of December.
Congratulations on finishing your half-marathon, Crystal! I think Bio is a great shelf pick for autumn. I haven't read many biographies since high school, either.
Excellent Choice Crystal, I actually have a ton waiting to be read on my shelf that I never seem to find the time for.By the way congratulations on running your half Marathon, I bow to you :0)
Congrats on the half! I look forward to some biographical reading! I'm glad you decided...the suspense was killing me!! I felt like a kid waiting for Santa to come!
Congratulations on completing the half-marathon. Great work! Sounds like a great shelf (especially because I have 5 books to read for the you-choose challenge that would satisfy both)!
Great shelf choice, Crystal! I like to read the occasional biography - and in fact already have one sitting here in my stack from the library (Agatha Christie) which I also have already planned for YOU CHOOSE. Yay! And congrats on the half-marathon!! Impressive!
Mod
And I want to join everyone else is wishing you congrats on your half marathon!
Great job Crystal. I have been hoping for biography for months now, and not to beat a dead horse, but I won't really be able to do anything BUT read for awhile so I can't wait to hit the list and start picking!
Just put in an order at Amazon for a few biographies on my to-read list. Whee!
Great pick Crystal!! Congrats on the half marathon Crystal!!
When do we get to find out who the new shelf picker is? I can't believe how excited I get waiting to find out the new shelf!
Drum roll.......Coralie will be our shelf picker for November. Congrats and have fun choosing. :)
Congratulations, Coralie! I'm excited for you and looking forward to your pick.
Coralie- Congrats! Can't wait to see what shelf you choose!
Thanks everyone. I really enjoy science fiction, romance and historical novels, so I've picked a shelf that includes all of them.The November shelf will be time-travel.
Congratulations Coralie, and great pick :0)I used to think I would not be able to get into time travel but in the last year I have read a couple of great ones.
I'm posting the link again as it did not seem to post proper.
http://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/t...
Great pick, Coralie! I love sf, hf, and time travel, myself, so I have a gazillion books from that shelf on my TBR.
What a fun shelf and I have some books on my TBR that work! I am hoping to get to more books for the shelf next month.
Sounds like a fun choice! I'm going to have to see what's on my TBR in that category.
Wow, speedy picking, Coralie! And such a fun shelf! I love time travel books.
I have several of the time travel books on my TBR list so now to narrow it down! Great shelf pick.
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Pick-a-Shelf
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"Latin America" has 1472 books. "Latin American" has 550 books. There's even a "Latino" shelf, with 400 books. I'm not taking the time like Arlene did to meticulously compare the shelves to see if each has things the other doesn't. Just enjoy browsing in any or all of them.
I'm going to have fun browsing, too. Latin America has a very rich literary tradition that I don't know much about. Probably the most well-known works are those, like "House of Spirits" and "Like Water for Chocolate," which have been made into movies. Both books are, in my opinion, much richer than a movie could ever be.
I've been fascinated by Neruda (poetry) and Borges (short stories), though I never quite feel like I'm getting everything I should out of their work. So I'm going to particularly enjoy reading the comments and reviews from the any of the rest of you who decide to take them on. I have thoroughly enjoyed several of Gabriel Garcia Marquez' works, and also really liked The Hummingbird's Daughter.
But I see lots of other intriguing books on the shelves that I know nothing about. Hope everyone finds something you enjoy!
Have fun!!
And again, apologies for making everyone wait.