The Next Best Book Club discussion
note: This topic has been closed to new comments.
Revive a Dead Thread
>
What are you reading?
Hurdling through Virgin Ground - it is 1650, and Charles I is dead. I am quite enjoying this one.
Hi to everyone, I'm not sure if this is the correct place for my posting.(I do know I'm not able to add to "currently reading'.) I'm a technical mess!
However,I believe I have a very good feel for fine writing.I've studied it all of my professional life and continue to do so.
Having said that, let me comment on something I'm reading.I know it's better to comment after you have finished a work,but this is a collection and individual stories need to be singled out.Besides, I'm too excited to wait.
I'm alluding to Raymond Carver's collection,
"Where I'm Calling From."
Last night, I read quite a few of the stories in the collection.The early ones illustrate how even a fine writer like Carver improves over time. The early one's are unremarkable in my opinion.BUT..
"What We Talk About When We Talk About Love," is another gem. I think it is right up there with his"A Small Good Thing." Both are about as fine a story as can be written by someone with two arms and two legs.It builds and then takes your breath away.As a writer ,I know how tempting it is to go for the "home run" too early. Carver takes his time,allowing each of the characters to play their part.The dialogue is true and moves the story along.
If you like fine literature,the kind that forces one to think about what it means to be human, PlEASE check this one out.I think it stands with Faulkner's "The Bear," Hemingway's "A Clean Well- Lighted Place and Capote's "A Christmas Memory," as well as Carver's own,"A Small Good thing," as one of the finest of American short stories
I finished AGAINST MEDICAL ADVICE. Very interesing read. Fast pase Patterson.Now starting DEAD UNTIL DARK. I can't wait!
I love Raymond Carver I've read "Waht We Talk About..."- If you like music, check out the songwriter Damien Jurado. Some say it is Carveresque.
I'm about half way through high fidelity. Considering it is based in London I was expecting it to be quite different to the movie which is based in America, I'm really surprised that its not.
I want to read High Fidelity, but cannot find it in the libraries nearby. D;
Midwives when I'm not working, chauffering my kids or working on my sister's video as my Xmas present to them.
Finished Lamb and loved it.Just started Lulu in Marrakech by Diane Johnson.
so I am reading The Handmaid's Tale. about 100 pgs. in and I am not sure about it. Please someone tell me it gets better. I am having 1984 flashbacks. (that one took over five tries and 9 years to finish).
I'd say if you don't like it 100 pages in, then you probably won't. I liked it. But then again, 1984 is one of my favorite books so I guess we have differing tastes.
I just started The Waves for class this week. So far the writing is gorgeous, but it's too early to make a call.
Sarah,I thought The Handmaid's Tale was a bit too dark to my liking. Although I am glad I read it.
It was such an odd book.
I loved The Lovely Bones!I'm about to start The Woman in White ... it's a little daunting!
I am reading:Geisha, a life - Mineko Iwasaki
Runemarks - Joanne Harris
Hey guys, thanks for the welcome backs! I'm finishing up Holidays on Ice. It's hilarious and a fairly quick read. I read a good chunk of it on the plane yesterday.
I am currently reading Robert McCammon's Boy's Life - I keep stopping in places because his writing reminds me so much of my own imagination as a child and I love being taken back there.I am also listening to the audio book of Stephen King's Just After Sunset. I am only into the second story as I only listen to it while I am driving, but I love the short story genre.
I haven't read The Lovely Bones since I was 15 or 16, but I remember it making me quite sad. (And I happen to like sad books.)
Bill, I read Boy's Life a few months ago. I thought it was really good read.
Sarah - I loved Handmaid's Tale, and hated 1984, but if you're not liking it after 100 pages, I'd stop reading it. Life is too short to read books you're not into!Finished Virgin Earth: A Novel last night and really enjoyed it. Not sure what's up next. I have several (well, that's putting it mildly) choices.
Finished Measuring the World by Daniel Kehlmann. It wasn't too good. I read the english translation version though. I'm hoping the german version must have been better.
I read The Handmaid's Tale this year and I didn't exactly enjoy it either. I forced myself to read it. I did like the twist at the end, but that was about it.
I got about 50 pages into Stewart O'Nan's "Snow Angels" and reluctantly put it aside for now. Although I love the way he writes, the book was more melancholy than I expected and I'm just not in the mood for that now. Instead I started on "The Alienist" by Caleb Carr and am loving it so far.
I finished EL&IC on Friday and I loved it. I just started Odd Hours that I picked up at the library. As soon as I finish it I'm going to read A Christmas Carol for the group read and the Winter Challenge. 16 school days until Christmas break and then a full week of un-interupted reading time!!!
I'm starting A Christmas Carol! We'll see how I do, considering how many times I've seen the movies!
I'm about 65 pages into A Wrinkle in Time and it's flying so far. Needed something quick to read during term paper breaks.
When my copy of A Christmas Carol comes, I will try and read that.
A Christmas Carol here too! And The Woman in White ...
Really getting into DEAD UNTIL DARK!! Loving it!
Another 100 pages and so of All quiet at the Western front. anybody read this one? For now I thought it would be much better.
I don't know...other books I read about that subject wore more gripping to me. For now I find it too fiction, hollywood kin of. I mean, while reading it I imagine a hollywood movie in it. It isn't bad but not that I can't put it down for now.
Just finished Hidden Power ... Kati Marton. This is a fascinating non-fiction read whether you were a history major (like me) or just interested in what goes on behind the scenes between husbands and wives at the White House. It was a 5 in my estimation.
I FINALLY finished Eat, Pray, Love...moving on to Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
Hi Maranda, I think you will enjoy Bourdain's book.I read it recently as a break from reading and writing fiction, and enjoyed it.I found it surprising that he was born into a wealthy family . He seems like a street guy on tv.
Incidentally, check his new show, No Reservations. By the way, he writes well. Best.
Linda, I read Hidden Power my sophomore year in college in a class on the Presidency. It was a fascinating read back then and with everyone reading it lately, I want to read it again!I'm working through Harvest, but I might end up switching to Hidden Power, just because the medical speak is getting to me. We'll see. I'm giving it another day or two, since I'm only a couple chapters in.
Fiona, there is a book about WWI and the trenches written by someone who experienced it but it is written in my language and sometimes parts in the dialect of where I live in Belgium. It hasn't been translated which is a pitty. That book was difficult to read because it was so emotional for me. So real.
I'm trying to get through The Tattooed Girl by Joyce Carol Oates right now. I think all the bad-mouthing of Jews throughout the entire book is taking away from the book immensely. I'm almost finished & I can honestly say I can't wait.
Well, there was a movie made of All Quiet on the Western Front, actually . It won the Oscar for Best Picture of 1930, I think.
Yes susanna, there is a movie about it. Haven't seen it yet.
Just finished East of Eden a few days ago. I went into town afterwards and looked at all the streets and the only thing that's really changed is the location of the whorehouse. Possibly. I try not to go onto that side of town.I started Cat's Eye and I'm enjoying the story and the writing a lot. And I'm still trudging through Pride and Prejudice, but I'm just not that interested.
Read about 130 pages of A Wrinkle in Time last night while writing a term paper. I can't believe I never read this as a kid!
I've heard about it Catherine, I think I have it on my tbr too. Is it nice ?
It really is, Atishay. It's sweet, but the fantasy elements are cool too. Probably only an hour or two of your time, which is a plus these days.
Thanks Kellie! I am enjoying it so far, I'm about 1/2 way through and hate putting it down. I think my husband would like this book also, I might have him give it a try.
trying to start Eldest. the seize is scaring me, besides its a translations, these days I read most anglo authors in english. I dont think I'll be able to cope whit the portugese translation
This topic has been frozen by the moderator. No new comments can be posted.
The Next Best Book Club
Books mentioned in this topic
Little Bee (other topics)Canada (other topics)
Her Fearful Symmetry (other topics)
I Have America Surrounded: A Biography of Timothy Leary (other topics)
Inferno (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
William Shakespeare (other topics)Kevin Wilson (other topics)
Andrea Levy (other topics)
Lauren Carr (other topics)
Lauren Carr (other topics)
More...
To read next I picked another off my long-time TBR pile, “Snow Angels” by Stewart O’Nan. I loved what he did with “Last Night at the Lobster” so I have high hopes for this one. I’ve avoided the recent movie because I knew I had it to read.