Constant Reader discussion
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Constant Reader
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November: What Are You Reading?
I've been keeping a book journal for several years by date, title and author. I rate but don't summarize. It is helpful but not the easiest to search.
I said I wouldn't, but I read Room. Ack! I hated it. Way too precious for my taste.
Gabrielle wrote: "I said I wouldn't, but I read Room. Ack! I hated it. Way too precious for my taste."Gabrielle, I felt exactly the same. It has the word disconcerting written all over it.
Marialyce wrote: "Gabrielle wrote: "I said I wouldn't, but I read Room. Ack! I hated it. Way too precious for my taste."Gabrielle, I felt exactly the same. It has the word disconcerting written all over it."
Marialyce, I think Ruth summed it up well with "Gack."
Honestly, I read Room and really enjoyed it. Now, I had to read it for work (because it was a Man Booker nominee and we got assigned to read as many as we could) but I ended up reading it in two sittings.The subject matter was icky but I found the main character and narrator so endearing and their plight very moving.
Marjorie wrote: "Jane wrote, "Has this ever happened to you? I bought the book, MR. WHITE'S CONFESSION by Robert Clark when I was in Minneapolis. It takes place in 1939 in St. Paul. Anyway, I started it yesterday, ..."Marge,
I have a book journal that I write in as I read books, so they are listed chronologically. I also have an alphabetical list that I keep on my computer and that I update from time to time. That doesn't really help me when I am in another city, because I don't have a laptop. It only helps if I shop on Amazon. Anyway, I am enjoying MR WHITE'S CONFESSION the second time around.
Jane, I like the idea of the alphabetical list, or perhaps one by author but I don't know when I'd do it. I suppose I could use my Goodreads list to start though it isn't in order.
Susan,I started my list in 1998. I wish I had started it when I was a teenager, but an older CR got me interested in keeping track of my books. He had his listed on file cards in shoe boxes, and they dated back to his teens.
I started my list in May 1981. I was 11.5. It is all in one big composition book (over halfway filled, not sure what I will do when it is full, I haven't seen a book quite like it...ever).I have entered books into goodreads back several years. Sometimes I wonder if I should keep plugging away at that. I can't rate them, though.
Jane wrote: "Susan,
I started my list in 1998. I wish I had started it when I was a teenager, but an older CR got me interested in keeping track of my books. He had his listed on file cards in shoe boxes, and..."
My current notebook started in late 2005 (I had been using a nice journal but didn't want to write in it with my terrible handwriting after thumb surgery). I think I was keeping a journal for at least a few years before that. Maybe someday I'll centralize and everything will show up on my Goodreads list (except I won't put Patricia Cornwell--I swore off her so many years ago and wouldn't go near her books anymore so I won't check them off as read. Ditto James Patterson though not so vehemently)
I never read James Patterson, Susan, but I, too swore off Patricia Cornwell years ago. I won't touch one of her books now.
I startedThe Summer We Fell Apart but put it aside after one evening's reading. I may not get back to it. It's a first novel and it reads like one.
Patterson and Cornwell are assembly line authors. I don't know how an author can produce a book a month as Patterson does (sometimes two) and Cornwell has been using Dr Scarpetta for so many years that she (the good doctor) must feel like she is 90 years old.
Marialyce wrote: "Patterson and Cornwell are assembly line authors. I don't know how an author can produce a book a month as Patterson does (sometimes two) and Cornwell has been using Dr Scarpetta for so many years ..."I agree, Marialyce. Cornwell sure has gotten a lot of mileage out of Kay Scarpetta. Scarpetta must be dead on her feet by now and Cornwell rich beyond imagining. ;) One of the best ways to get rich writing novels is to find a serial character. I guess we have to give Cornwell props for doing so, but I gave up on the books, oh, maybe ten years ago.
Ruth, that's a lovely new photo. It shows off your lovely haircut so well. I'm getting so peeved with my super long hair, I'm thinking of getting it cut chin length or just a little longer.
Kat wrote: "I am hoping to finish up Fall of Giants today or tomorrow."I just finished Fall of Giants and now I'm beginning The House of Mirth.
The House of Mirth is available online here:
http://www.online-literature.com/whar...
You're welcome, Ruth. :)
No, it's not a true statement that "no one is all that excited about Room". As with any book, one can read it or not read it, but I don't care for being summed up dismissively, or really, summed up at all. This does seem to be a book where the people who disliked it (some apparently before they even read it) feel a great need to identify each other in the crowd.So, this is me waving to the ones who found the experience to be a worthwhile one, because we seem to be going unnoticed.
:) to indicate I take none of this very seriously.
Also here is a free online audio streaming version of House of Mirth at Librivox:http://www.archive.org/details/house_...
Every book is going to have people who like it and people who don't like it. Every book. To think otherwise wouldn't be realistic. It would be like expecting to be universally loved or unloved. Some of us don't like Patricia Cornwell, but she still sells a ton of books and makes new fans every year.Some books, like Room that are quite different, are more polarizing than others. The author took a big risk when she wrote it by using the "baby talk." For me, it didn't work at all, while others didn't mind it. (Other things in that book didn't work for me, either.) That doesn't make either opinion "wrong" or "invalid." It just makes them different. Kathryn Stockett took the same risk when she wrote heavy Southern dialect in The Help. That worked for me, but I know others who felt it ruined the book.
I think it's natural to feel others are being dismissive when feelings run strong about a book, whether those feelings are positive or negative. But I don't see anyone being dismissive. Not really. I think we all read what we want to read and we all respect the feelings and opinions of others, whether they mirror ours or not.
Room isn't one of those "I can take it or leave it" books. It either works for a reader or it doesn't. It didn't work for me at all, but that doesn't mean I think others shouldn't read it, or like it.
Roxanne wrote: "I found an online copy of House of Mirth at:http://www.online-literature.com/whar..."
That's where I'm reading House of Mirth, too. I know I own a copy, but I have so many books here, I can't find it.
Like Jane, I also have a book journal, but I can't find that, either! It was great, too. It had room to write down favorite quotations from the book, impressions, etc.
Jane, I am having that deja vu feeling now with Susan Hill's THe Various Haunts of Men. I feel certain I've read it before, but I can't remember a dang thing about it.Thanks for the information about Goodnight, Mr. Tom being a film. I'll look it up.
I just finished
Family Albumas a audiobook. I liked it quite a lot. Not much plot, but an interesting exploration of what makes a family, what one makes of family, and how every individual in a family experiences a different family.
Susan wrote, "I won't put Patricia Cornwell--I swore off her so many years ago and wouldn't go near her books anymore so I won't check them off as read. Ditto James Patterson though not so vehemently."The best James Patterson book I read was ALEX CROSS'S TRIAL. Not the usual Patterson fare. Historical novel, about one of Alex Cross's ancestors who lived in a small town in Missippippi during the early 1900s when lynching was still prevalent there. Good writing and characterization. Not only suspenseful, but it really gave me the feeling of what it must have been like to live there at that awful time.
Marge
Sounds interesting, Ruth. I may give it a look when I come up for air.
Marjorie wrote: "Susan wrote, "I won't put Patricia Cornwell--I swore off her so many years ago and wouldn't go near her books anymore so I won't check them off as read. Ditto James Patterson though not so vehement..."I am not a huge Patterson reader but one of my coworkers (who loves him) has been really disappointed with his recent stuff but LOVED Don't Blink. She highly recommended it for the novice Patterson reader.
Marjorie wrote: "Susan wrote, "I won't put Patricia Cornwell--I swore off her so many years ago and wouldn't go near her books anymore so I won't check them off as read. Ditto James Patterson though not so vehement..."Thanks Marge...maybe I'll check that one. I used to read him before he became so big and prolific and the plots much less well-written. He seems much more formulaic now. Of course he has all his co-writers too. Alex Cross' Trial sounds interesting.
Christine...I think I stopped reading him about 5 years ago when the violence seemed to become more and more gratuitous and I knew what was going to happen much to soon. Formula all the way.
I should say, I know he's still wildly popular so I guess I'm still in the minority.
Ah, good to know. Formulaic stuff really irks me.
@ Shirley- The Outlander series has become one of my favorite series out there. You will have plenty of reading for a bit but when you finish you'll just be wanting more. Enjoy the series!
Hello to all - just joined the group. I'm currently reading Memoirs of a Geisha.
Welcome to Constant Reader, Jenean. Glad you found us.
Just finished David Sedaris' Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk. Now reading Freedom by Jonathan Franzen.
I'm a little over half way through Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. I'm not entirely sure what to make of it, and it's reminded me that postcolonial literature definitely isn't my thing. Nonetheless, it's good to read outside my usual box (albeit a pretty large box) every so often.
I finished Les Miserables! It was terrific. For years my husband has been nudging me to read Darkness at Noon. I finally picked it up and have read the first third.
I ordered Mark Doty's Oysters and Lemons recommended here (in another thread) and am looking forward to reading it this month as well. Then I will probably return to my meandering exploration of 19th c. French lit.
Erika wrote: "I finished Les Miserables! It was terrific. For years my husband has been nudging me to read Darkness at Noon. I finally picked it up and have read the first third.
I ordered Mark Doty's Oyster..."
I'm looking forward to reading Les Miserables this winter! :) Glad you enjoyed it, Erika.
Katie wrote: "I'm a little over half way through Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. I'm not entirely sure what to make of it, and it's reminded me that postcolonial literature definitely isn't my ..."I love Things Fall Apart. I know a few women who make it a point to read ten books "outside the box" for them every year. For me, that would be science fiction, fantasy, or romance. I could manage one or two or maybe three, but no way would I read ten outside my comfort zone.
That small-press novel I'm reading, The Sentimentalists (yes, I read very slowly these days) just won the Giller Prize.
Congrats for Johanna Skibsrud. She wrote it. ;)
I thought you meant you won it. I should have looked at the link.:) Well congrats to her. How is your tour coming along?
I'm in a medieval mystery phase right now. Finished The Outlaw's Tale last week and am reading Falconer's Judgement now. I love Frazer's Dame Frevisse series, but Outlaw wasn't one of the better books in it. The nod to Robin Hood was amusing though. I can't remember who recommended the Falconer series to me, but I'm not enjoying this book as much as I thought I would. Everything about it is falling just short of engaging for me. And it could be me.
I don't keep a list, but I think I average about 2 books a week. Sometimes more, but when I'm doing that, the NYer issues pile up.
Sara Grace wrote: "Sorry I *must* remember to speak more clearly. The reviews and comments that I have encountered about The Room give every indication that this is a book I would likely not enjoy. Never fear dear Co..."Sara, I would have to say I average 15-20 books a month. I am recently retired so I do have the time to do nothing but read. (if I want to and usually I want to :))
Wow, that is a whole lotta books, Marialyce. I read about a book a week, not counting audiobooks. I listen to about two audiobooks per month. More or less, depending if it's a mystery, or a book like Wolf Hall, which took an entire month (maybe even more)
Back in my NYC days, I was able to read on the subway; my reading time is way, way down now. Depending on the length and density of the books, I get about 1 or 2 a month in.I finished The Surrendered last night, am returning to Guns, Germs and Steel, which I hope to finish by early next week...
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Constant Reader
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Yes! LOL. That's when I started keeping a list on my computer (by author and title) of books I've read. Also keep a short summary, my rating of it, and who recommended it.
Marge