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October: What Are You Reading?
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Carol
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Oct 15, 2010 01:32AM
Butterfly Woman: A Novel Based on True Events This is a heartbreaking story about a horrendous nightmare of sexual abuse and the tenacity of one woman's fight for personal sanity and healing .
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Charles wrote: "
S. Mandanipour [After posting this I realized the cover couldn't be read: the title is "Censoring An Iranian Love Story". Very interesting mix of..."Thanks for introducing the book Charles. Surprizingly it can be found easily.
Marina wrote: "I'm reading:Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Among the Shadows by Lucy Maud Montgomery
I bought so many awesome books last Monday I feel so guilty I spent like $70 dol..."
Marina I feel guilty about buying many things, but books are the worst because I always know I could've read them for free if only I had more patience to wait till they arrived at the library! Yet there are very few things more relaxing for me than wandering among books in Indigo, Chapters,... and buying some of those shiny covers.
Geoff wrote: "Ruth: I loved Brunelleschi's Dome; sorry it's not striking you. Have you had a chance to get up inside the Duomo?"
Geoff maybe you'd enjoy helping us out over here!
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/4...
Bahareh wrote: "Marina wrote: "I'm reading:Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Among the Shadows by Lucy Maud Montgomery
I bought so many awesome books last Monday I feel so guilty..."
I feel guilty about buying books, too, even though I have my own money because my husband is so frugal and denies himself so much. He doesn't need to be that way, it's just the way he was taught to be. I know some people would just say, "Well, it's my money." Or "You could buy what you wanted, too." I can't be that insensitive and I feel guilty about buying books. My husband sees them as frivolous, I think, though he never complains. The fact that he works so hard and never complains just makes me feel even more guilty.
I am sure your husband really does not care that you buy books. He loves you and if books make you happy, I am sure he feels them to be a good thing. Unfortunately, working hard in this day and age seems to come with the territory. My husband works ever so hard as well, but ultimately, he enjoys what he does and that gives him (as well as many men) great satisfaction. I am sure the same holds true for your husband. Enjoy those books, Gabrielle, they are what make you you.
I am reading an Advanced Reader Edition of The Paris Wife. It is interesting so far. It is a fictionalization about Hadley & Ernest Hemingway's life in Paris in the 1920's.
Kitty wrote, "I am reading an Advanced Reader Edition of The Paris Wife. It is interesting so far. It is a fictionalization about Hadley & Ernest Hemingway's life in Paris in the 1920's."I loved A MOVEABLE FEAST, Heminway's memoir of those years. It might be interesting to read a fictional account from his wife's point of view.
Marge
Reread most of Gilead this weekend. . .
Oh, heck, yes. I'm getting ready to teach it in my English III-Honors class, so I'm just polishing up my memory of it. The first time I read it, I didn't think I'd move on to Home, but now I think I will.
I loved it! Thought it was a wonderful book so worthy of the Pulitzer. I am sure the class we certainly enjoy that experience.
I've just finished reading Back Roads by Tawni O'Dell. It's a well written book that is haunting and humorous at times. It was actually sort of disturbing to be. Haven't picked up another book to read yet.
Has anybody read "Aloft"? The author (Lee) mentions a character as his son-in-law (Paul). I was wondering if this character is somehow the author in his real life.
Marjorie wrote: "Kitty wrote, "I am reading an Advanced Reader Edition of The Paris Wife. It is interesting so far. It is a fictionalization about Hadley & Ernest Hemingway's life in Paris in the 1920's."I love..."
This sounds like soemthing I would do -- and I am thinking I'm going to get both books and dive into them -- have always inended to read Hemingway's memoir so this would be a perfect duo.
Dottie your aren't too far from me. Maybe I could lend you the book when you are ready.
Oh, thanks for offering. That may work but I'll not get to this duo anytime very soon so I may just be able to pick up copies of both by then.
I've actually never read Hemingway. This seems like a good way to start. When I've tried before I couldn't get into it.First I tackle Russian novels, then Hemingway! I'll be knocking those fearsome ones down.
I'm making my merry way through Bukowski's Last Night of the Earth Poems, as well as Women. And with roughly 15 Bukowskis waiting for me at the library, this trend shows no signs of diminishing.
I really liked that, too, Marialyce. It was my first Trevor.
Finished Gilead last night. The last few pages didn't seem right to me this time--it fizzles after Jack leaves town in a way that doesn't seem entirely intended. Still, a great novel.
I'm reading the third Tana French mystery Faithful Place. She's a good writer. This one involves Frank Mackey and his Irish upbringing. There doesn't seem to be any connection between this book and the other two books she's written. There was a tiny connection between one and two, but none here so far. I bet toward the end we'll meet some of the earlier characters.
I've been falling asleep on the train a lot recently, now that it's cold and dark for my entire commute, so I've not done very much reading so far this month.At the moment I have The Crimson Petal and the White by Michael Faber on the go as my evening read. It's very atmospheric and it's making me enjoy present tense writing and the author directly addressing the reader, both devices I usually loathe, so I'm impressed.
My commuting book is The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett which I'm attempting to read so that I can watch the television series with my family. I'm enjoying the story, but I'm less than 100 pages in and I've already spotted two historical inaccuracies without trying. I usually try not to let this bother me, but it's "my" period of history and considering that he had a research assistant and spent longer working on this than I have studying the middle ages it just seems a bit lax.
I'm also plundering Malory for potential thesis ideas. I've suddenly realised how much I want to return to the ivory tower once I can afford it, but of course I first need to research to find out what I can research!
Katie, I know nothing about the period that Follett was writing about, so when I listened to it eons ago, I just went with the flow. If you can remember, what were the inaccuracies. Stuff like that always brings me up short in a book.
There's a line in FELICIA'S JOURNEY that struck me so much that I often quote it to people even now, years later. Trevor is extraordinary.My brother recently recommended PILLARS OF THE EARTH to me, so I'm interested in the conversation about it.
He is amazing. I would be curious, Kat as to the line you are referring to.I loved Pillars, just did a re reading of it a bit ago. I highly recommend it.
Pillars is on my list too. There are so many very long books I want to read. I have to pace them and read others along with them.
It's long Susan but it is a quick read. I hope you get to it. :)
I disliked POTE. Here's the review I posted under the book:I’d heard so many people say what a good book this is, that I went against my gut feeling that it was not for me. That was a mistake. I seldom go for big blockbuster best-sellers and this was no exception. In my teens or 20s I might have thought this was a good read. Not now.
It should have alerted my IBBWS (Inner Bad Book Warning System) when I began occasionally skimming in the first ¼ of the book, but it didn’t and I persevered to the long-time-coming bitter end.
Follet obviously did a lot of research for this book, and just as obviously felt compelled to share it, mostly in didactic blocks of exposition. Because I taught Art History at the college level, including quite a bit about Medieval cathedrals, I know quite a bit about their construction. And because I find them beautiful and awe-inspiring, you’d think I’d have been fascinated. Follet managed to kill that fascination with his dry pedantic explanations.
Plot? Way too filled with improbable coincidence and unbelievable feats of pulling the irons out of the fire at the last moment. Characters? Pretty cardboardy.
I am readingPirate Latitudes Not much plot driven,but it is fun. It would make a great pirate movie. I wonder if he had that in mind when he wrote it?
Finially finished The Woman in White and I must say that I loved it. I'm moving on to The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and also The Witches of Eastwick
I wasn't too fond of Witches of Eastwick, but loved Woman in White and Sleepy Hollow. I just finished The Turn of the Screw Pretty good But liked The Little Stranger better.
Katie wrote: "My commuting book is The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett which I'm attempting to read so that I can watch the television series with my family. I'm enjoying the story, but I'm less than 100 pages in and I've already spotted two historical inaccuracies without trying. I usually try not to let this bother me, but it's "my" period of history and considering that he had a research assistant and spent longer working on this than I have studying the middle ages it just seems a bit lax...."
I'm very interested to hear that, Katie. Part of the reason I read historical fiction is to fill the gaps in my education. Ruth had already warned me that it wasn't well written, and I didn't like the tv adaptation either. Is there anything on the period that you'd recommend?
Let me just start by saying that I'm new to this site. I found and joined this group 2 days ago. I generally don't spend a lot of time online, but I'll admit that I poked around on here for 3 hours last night!Well after looking around I wrote down several books that I've always wanted to read and haven't. Generally it's because when I get in the book store(the 1 I frequent is an antiques/book store, best described as "rumpled") I wander around and get lost in a specific area. So I forget to actually "look" for anything and end up just picking things up I hadn't intended to.
So on lunch from work today I went to the book store and picked up several. The Animal Farm by George Orwell, A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens and The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. I haven't actually started reading any of these yet. I'm finishing reading Three Junes by Julia Glass.
Anyhow, sorry for the long post. I'm just thrilled to have people I can relate to! Reading is a great love of mine and I really don't have anybody around I can share it with.
Melanie wrote: "Let me just start by saying that I'm new to this site. I found and joined this group 2 days ago. I generally don't spend a lot of time online, but I'll admit that I poked around on here for 3 hours..."I joined in late spring and have been enjoying it immensely. There is so much to share and various interests to pursue. I've actually become interested in poetry again because of the poetry thread. CR has so many aspects--enjoy exploring.
Welcome, Melanie. I know how you feel about finding a community of like-minded readers. I read A Tale of Two Cities this summer for the first time. It wasn't my favorite Dickens, but very worthwhile.
I just finished a wonderful book... The Pearl Diver by Jeff Talarigo. Has anyone read this? It was quite beautiful.Tonight I started Lives of the Monster Dogs by Kirsten Bakis which I picked up at the thrift store just because of its cover. Not the best way to pick out a book (don't judge a book by its cover and all that lol) but thankfully, I'm really enjoying it thus far :)
Ruth, thanks for posting your review of POTE, very helpful. Melanie, I loved THREE JUNES--are you loving it too?Marialyce, since the line comes in the penultimate paragraph of FELICIA'S JOURNEY I'll put a spoiler alert:
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
Felicia is thinking about the ladies who bring soup and the person who called an ambulance for a homeless person and the dentist who fixes the teeth of homeless people and says of the dentist: "Her goodness is a greater mystery than the evil that distorted a man's every spoken word, his every movement made." Although I don't quote it exactly, I just say that a character ponders the mystery of good, finding it greater than the mystery of evil. I found this line so thought provoking, so true. And I find it a great comfort to think on during discouraging times.
Thank you for that quotation, Kat. 'The mystery of good' is certainly worth considering. I'd like to find out more about the book.
Sherry wrote: "Katie, I know nothing about the period that Follett was writing about, so when I listened to it eons ago, I just went with the flow. If you can remember, what were the inaccuracies. Stuff like that..."It's the little, everyday details which he seems to get wrong and for me it's these that make a historical novel. It's easy to get the big facts right but the simple, throwaway things are what makes a book feel historical.
On the very first page he talks about the scullery maids going about their business, and a character later talks about it being easy to get a job as a scullery maid, yet female domestic servants were practically non-existant outside of convents at this time.
There's also a lot of buttoning and unbuttoning of clothing going on, which is odd as buttons weren't used as fastening devices in England for approximately another hundred years. Even then, they started out as fashionable items for the wealthy because of the extra work they required, so what a labourer and his family are doing with so many buttons is beyond me.
Hazel, I tend to keep clear of medieval historicals because I know my tendancy to nit-pick. Sharon Penman has written some excellent, well-researched books set in the later medieval period. They tend towards popular rather than literary fiction, but don't let that put you off; Here be Dragons is one of my favourite books. I've also heard very good things about Umberto Eco, but I've not managed to get round to picking one of his books up yet. I'll have to rectify that soon, I think.
Kat wrote: "Ruth, thanks for posting your review of POTE, very helpful. Melanie, I loved THREE JUNES--are you loving it too?Marialyce, since the line comes in the penultimate paragraph of FELICIA'S JOURNEY I..."
Thank you, Kat. There were so many wonderful lines in that book and I do so remember that one. I am still thinking of it and do recommend it, Hazel.
Melanie wrote: "Let me just start by saying that I'm new to this site. I found and joined this group 2 days ago. I generally don't spend a lot of time online, but I'll admit that I poked around on here for 3 hours..."Welcome to Constant Reader, Melanie. I'm glad you've found us.
Thanks, Katie. That's the kind of stuff that ruins books for me, too. Those little things.
Bitchfest - some interesting essays on women
Katie, I love Sharon Penman. I read The Sunne in Splendour (focus on Richard III) in high school. Last year (some 26 years later!) I went on a little spree with her that included Here Be Dragons. I highly recommend her to others who like historical fiction, although you'll have to listen to Katie regarding accuracy. I am blissfully ignorant about those details, so they don't bother me. Blissfully--not that I enjoy being ignorant, but since I don't have the requisite historical knowledge about those periods, the inaccuracies don't get in the way of the story.
Ruth, I disliked Pillars also, although I don't know if it was for the same reasons as you. I had picked it up in a hotel so was happy to have it for free. It was the characters that I couldn't stand. One after another, I didn't like who I was meeting in the story until finally I put it back where I found it. I was surprised because I have taken courses in architectural history and am very interested in the subject, thus I had high hopes for the book. But I disliked it so much I couldn't continue.Ruth wrote: "I disliked POTE. Here's the review I posted under the book:
I’d heard so many people say what a good book this is, that I went against my gut feeling that it was not for me. That was a mistake. I..."
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