Comfort Reads discussion
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What are you reading right now? (SEE NEW THREAD)
Nancy, To Kill a Mockingbird is definitely worth reading. When you've read it, feel free to reactivate our thread. If I have to pick just one book, it might be my favorite. It's definitely in my top 10.
I am currently reading Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children. It's been sitting on my shelf for some time so I'm glad that I'm finally reading it.
Li wrote: "I am currently reading Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children. It's been sitting on my shelf for some time so I'm glad that I'm finally reading it."Li, That's my real world book club's book for this March. I have it sitting here too but I'm still in the middle of another book. I have to read this one relatively soon though. For some reason, I'm not that enthusiastic about this one, but I assume the odds are good that I'll end up liking it.
Amanda wrote: "I'm reading five books at once! LOL
"
I have never tried to tackle more than two at a time! I'd never be able to keep the characters straight. lol
"I have never tried to tackle more than two at a time! I'd never be able to keep the characters straight. lol
Jeannette wrote: "Amanda wrote: "I'm reading five books at once! LOL"..."
I've tried, and sometimes I've had to do it (four literature courses in one term and books to be read in each of them), but with only limited success.
Well, at first it was just two! But the NS books are a bit slow... so I added to it.. It was six yesterday, but the sixth book I added, I read and finished all in the same sitting.
I think I have it down fairly well, at least the main characters. The minor characters, well that's a lost cause lol.
Wow! I can read one fiction book at a time. Well, maybe as many as two: one novel and one book of short stories. Then, I can pair those up with one dense non-fiction book and other non-fiction books such as cookbooks and art books. But, I've never been able to read more than one novel at a time.
Lisa wrote: "Wow! I can read one fiction book at a time. Well, maybe as many as two: one novel and one book of short stories. Then, I can pair those up with one dense non-fiction book and other non-fiction book..."That was one of my problems at college and university, having to read more than one (often really long) at a time, and sometimes in different languages at that, really confusing and annoying at times.
My head is too feeble for more than one book at a timùe. Even then I write down people's names to keep track of them. If I attemp two book, I will like one more than the other, so really I am only reading one! Then I have to go back and fisnish the other which is a drag b/c it never attracted me in the first place. Of course it helps that I don't choose to read for groups.
Nope, it is one at a time for me. Except sure I can attemp to throw in a poem once in a while....
I am reading The Tale of the Rose: The Love Story Behind The Little Prince, and opposite to all the negative reviews given here at GR, I like it. I like it A LOT!!!! I am shocked and dismayed and annoyed by what I reead in the GR reviews! First of all, the prose is GOOD. People complain about the translation since Consuelo wrote it in French, yet she is originally Spanish speaking. I don't agree at all! What I will say is that these people who have written the reviews do not really love The Little Prince. Why? Because you recognize the similarity in prose style, in how Antoine and Consuelo thought. The prose is simple, plainspoken and full of naive thoughts, and yet it says so much. THAT is its charm. "His (Antoine's) images had extraordinry charm, and there was a wild note of truth to even his most fantastical stories." (page 17)
And then the reviewers think Consuelo is weak and a doormat. Forget that! She loved Antoine and she KNEW what she was getting herself into when she chose marriage to him. She says:
"I was being offered the role of a wife in a play. Was I right for the part? Did I really want to play it?" (page 34)
She LOVED him. She chose to marry him. She was willing to take the bad with the good.
I am half way through the book. I cannot keep my mouth shut any more. I assume Antoine is going to get even more mean and crazy and wound up in his own world. People with daring and imaginative qualities are NOT easy to live with, but a life with them brings marvelous expriences too! Life will be intense and never dull. I believe they fit each other.
Let me backtrack a bit and show you how they met, one evening at a party, and what they said to each other:
"I beg your pardon," Crémieux replied. "I forgot to introduce you. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, pilot and aviator. He'll show you Buenos Aires from above, and the stars too. You see, he adores the stars."
"I don't like to fly," I said. "I don't like things that go fast. I don't like seeing too many faces at once. And I want to leave." (the party)
"But faces have nothing to do with stars!" the dark-haired man (Antoine) cried.
"You think our heads are so distant from the star?"
"Oh," he exclaimed in surprise. "You have stars in your head, do you?"
"I have yet to meet a man who has seen my true stars," I confessed with a touch of melancholy. "But we are talking nonsense. I told you. I don't like to fly. Even walking to fast makes my head spin." (page 13-14)
But were they talking nonsense? Do you see the similarity in this and The Little Prince?
I am going out on a limb b/c I haven't finished the book yet. I am just so darn annoyed about all the negative things said about the couple and the book. I thoroughly enjoy it. Jeeze, I am annoyed!
You really get to know who these two people are, both Consuelo and Antoine. If you want a fairy tale, pick up a book by Grimm.
I just had to spurt a little bit.
I have a copy of the tale of the rose - a gift, something I doubt I would have bought for myself. It is a few years since I read it, so I have no very clear memory, except that I felt pleased to have read it, to have been given something I almost certainly never would have read otherwise. I love your comment about Grimm, Chrissie.
Darkpool, that is nice! I was a little bit worried about mentioning Grimm b/c fairy tales can be quite HORRIBLE just as real life is. But I thought the readers would get my point. I am glad you did!I feel better having voiced my opinion loud and clear. Ok, maybe it will change as I finish the book. Who knows?! And why does the ending have to have more importance than the passage through a book?
I wonder if The Tale of the Rose: The Love Story Behind The Little Prince is available at the library or at Chapters/Indigo. We're reading The Little Prince in March in the Children's Literature Group, and I think reading The Tale of the Rose: The Love Story Behind The Little Prince at the same time (or before the other book) would be really interesting. Thanks for your assessment of the book, Chrissie!! I find that with reviews, especially with reviews that are vindictively negative, you are more often than not better off reading the book and making your own decision. I have read books I've loved before that everyone, or at least many did not enjoy, even hate, and I have read books I despised that received glowing reviews (it depends on so many things, including your own preferences, but also your mood at the time, what you might like one month, you might despise one month later).
You are absolutely right, Gundula, about how we all have different opinions...... It just drove me nuts that even those who gave the book 4 stars criticized it in ways that I felt were so unjust! I felt I HAD to voice my divergent opinion. And I feel better afterwards! :0) I don't mind angry/exuberant reviews - it means the reader was moved emotionally. A book should do that, although I admit I tend to get too involved. I can't help it.
Chrissie wrote: "You are absolutely right, Gundula, about how we all have different opinions...... It just drove me nuts that even those who gave the book 4 stars criticized it in ways that I felt were so unjust! I..."What I don't tend to like in some reviews I have read is people who say "well, I did not like this book and anyone who did is a moron, a satanist, an idiot" etc. Some of the negative reviews of the Harry Potter series tend to be like that. If your review states what you liked and did not like, even if you are angry and exuberant, I don't mind that. But, if your review becomes personally insulting, vindictive or makes blanket stereotypical accusations and assertions, I do have problems with that. For example, one of the negative reviews I read on Amazon about Good Dog, Carl stated that anyone who enjoyed reading this book should be reported as a potential child abuser to the authorities, now that is going too far.
Chrissie wrote: "You are absolutely right, Gundula, about how we all have different opinions...... It just drove me nuts that even those who gave the book 4 stars criticized it in ways that I felt were so unjust! I..."I read some of these reviews. Many really did not seem like reviews of the book itself, but vindictive ramblings against both Consuelo de Saint Exupéry and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, almost like personal vendettas.
Gundula, again I agree witrh what you are saying. You must give reasons, yu must be clear in stating the negative points. And there NEVER is only one way of seeing an issue. As a kid, we were in school taught how to logically debate an issue. Just lashing out is not going to convince anyone to your own pov. You have to methodically show why perhaps what you are thinking could have an ounce of truth. But just like with statistics, a good debater can prove stuff that maybe isn't valid. So you always have to be on your toes. And someetimes two people just cannot view things similarly. Then you have to accept that, but a debate can be aufully fun!
Susan wrote: "I'm now reading Ice by Linda Howard it grabbed me from page one!"
Sounds appropriate for this time of the year, too. :)
Sounds appropriate for this time of the year, too. :)
oh yeah especially here where we had two feet of snow last week and now are in a deep freeze. It's -11 degrees with a wind chill of 24 below this morning!!!
We're at -8, but the snow missed us, again. It seems to sweep the SE corner of Iowa and then head straight for WI. I really feel bad for Oklahoma, where they got another 5 inches, and below freezing temps! My sister hasn't had mail delivery for a week!
Chrissie wrote: "Gundula, again I agree witrh what you are saying. You must give reasons, yu must be clear in stating the negative points. And there NEVER is only one way of seeing an issue. As a kid, we were in sc..."Definitely fun, I hope I can find the book somewhere, I'm really intrigued now.
Gundula, I am on page 188 of about 300 and I find it riveting. People - and how they behave. I highly recommend reading this with The Little Prince.
Chrissie wrote: "Gundula, I am on page 188 of about 300 and I find it riveting. People - and how they behave. I highly recommend reading this with The Little Prince."Well, I'm going to see if the library has it and if not, I will try ILL, I've bought too many books lately.
Chrissie wrote: "Gundula, good luck!"The library does have it, and I just requested a copy. I also have The Little Prince requested in both English and French.
Gundula, nice! Wait till you read about the life of Consuelo and Antoine. Tragic!
Chrissie wrote: "Gundula, nice! Wait till you read about the life of Consuelo and Antoine. Tragic!"I'm looking forward to reading this.
I am just starting Between Two Seas. Why? Well, because I very much liked another novel that I read by this author, entitled The Homecoming Party. Maybe you remember how much I liked it?! I believe I have already posted a link to my GR review here. This author was born in an Italo-Albanian community in Calabria, Italy, I loved his style of writing.I just finished The Tale of the Rose: The Love Story Behind The Little Prince. I think it is wonderful, absolutely wonderful. It will be appreciated by anyone who truly loves The Little Prince. I felt that many of the reviews here at GR were unfairly negative, so if you are interested in reading another pov, here follows mine: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
I'm still reading Someone Else's Garden: A Novel
. It is so heavy and sad, but I do think that it will be worth it in the end. It reminds me of
. It's hard to believe that people live like this in the modern world.
. It is so heavy and sad, but I do think that it will be worth it in the end. It reminds me of
. It's hard to believe that people live like this in the modern world.
Christine, Kirkus also noted that Someone Else's Garden was very depressing and grim. They also said that there were numerous characters and it can be hard to keep track of all of them. Have you noticed that?
There are a lot of characters, I agree, but I've been able to keep track. I think it's very good so far, but extremely depressing so I keep wanting to put it down.
Christine, I am curious and look forward to your review!
I am about to start The Royal Physician's Visit, which is historical fiction. I expect to learn something, hopefully, and this Swedish author is said to be really excellent. Actually, I feel like grabbing The Book about Blanche and Marie but I am having difficulty getting it. It is sold out everywhere, both the Swedish edition in Sweden and the English one at Book Depsitory. So, since I have this one, it will have to do. I can judge if I like the writing. It does annoy me that I am reading the translated English edition. Oh well....I just finsihed Be tween Two Seas, and here is my GR review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
If you want to try this Italo-Albanian author, I would recommend you start with The Homecoming Party first. I enjoyed this a bit more. You can definitely see it is the same author writing!
I just finished Someone Else's Garden: A Novel and decided to go back and look at other reviews for this one. I am pretty convinced that the reviewer for Publisher's Weekly didn't read the book and maybe skimmed it instead because there is a lot of wrong information in the review. Very weird.
Christine, that is so annoying.I have shied away from this book because Kirkus sums up its review with the following: "Relentlessly depressing and grim, Rai's book offers an array of unlikable characters against a backdrop that would make Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm grab a bottle of antidepressants."
Christine - I am smiling - I am pretty darn sure you will love The Invisible Bridge. Enjoy.
It was definitely depressing. I was surprised to see it described as hopeful in one review. The end has an artificial seeming twist that makes it "hopeful".
I love reading about India so I am glad that I read it, but I will agree that even the most likable characters are somewhat unlikable (or at least they have some very unlikable moments that made me mad).
The PW reviewer got several of the relationships wrong which makes me believe that the person didn't completely read it. I saw an additional reviewer who made the same errors. How did that happen? I can only guess that they copied information from the other review.
I love reading about India so I am glad that I read it, but I will agree that even the most likable characters are somewhat unlikable (or at least they have some very unlikable moments that made me mad).
The PW reviewer got several of the relationships wrong which makes me believe that the person didn't completely read it. I saw an additional reviewer who made the same errors. How did that happen? I can only guess that they copied information from the other review.
Chrissie wrote: "Christine - I am smiling - I am pretty darn sure you will love The Invisible Bridge. Enjoy."
I am reading it for book club, but I would have read it even if we hadn't chosen it. It looks excellent.
I am reading it for book club, but I would have read it even if we hadn't chosen it. It looks excellent.
I'm (quickly!) reading The Mount for a Goodreads book club and Morning, Noon, and Night: Growing Up and Growing Old with Literature, a book I won from the First-Reads giveaway program. Lucky me.
Beth wrote: "im reading this,,,,,,
"Beth, That book has been on my to-read shelf for forever.
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Comfort Reads
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Too bad. Such a great title.