The Next Best Book Club discussion
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What are you reading?
I really liked The Time Traveler's Wife, hope you do too!
Time Travelers Wife is a great book, it will be interesting to see the movie.I'm re-reading Empire Falls, which so far has been great because I don't really remember much of it when I read it the first time. I'm enjoying it so far.
Oh Nancy... don't give up on The Other Boleyn Girl , it took me AGES to get into it, but I found it was worth it in the end... although I think I was into it by 250 pages...
I just started The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Murakami after hearing so much about it on here.
I really liked TTTW, it drew so many emotions from me, I started thinking about the people in the book as if they were real, and would get upset at them for the way they were behaving ... I have issues! Are they really making a movie out of it? That should be very interesting, although it would take away the simbolism of the "absent spouse" wouldn't it? It would be like making a movie about Metamorphosis IMO.
Lorena, I feel the same way. I don't know how a movie can do justice to the book. Though, I have to admit that two of my favorite actors are playing Henry and Clare- Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams. I kind of can't wait to see it.
I'm going to be starting Sharon Kay Penman's The Sunne in Splendour later today. I liked her The Queen's Man sufficiently that my major complaint with it was too short - I doubt that'll be a problem with this one, as it is 923 pages!
I stayed up late into the morning to finish Chasing Harry Winston...it was really good although I love her other two books so the fact that I loved this one didn't really surprise me. The friendship the three women in the novel have reminds me of my cirle of friends (we're more like sisters than friends). It also makes me feel better about being single at almost 26 when they are single at 30. I'll be reading The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen next.
The Time Traveler's Wife is weird starting out...Does it continue to stay weird? It's been interesting just a little weird. haha.
I gave up on The Time Traveler's Wife after about 200 pages. The time travel aspect of the story was not very believable to me, and I didn't care for the characters.
Possible Spoiler for TTTW ...Nancy, I think the time travel thing was more of a metaphor for his abandonment of Claire, it took a while for me to get through that too, the last third of the book is the best.
I had issues with the relationship the "girl" has with him, I thought it very creepy that he would visit her, and the prom night and all that, just very innapropiate.
Another late night for me to finish Sugar Queen (I finished it in a little more than 6 hours). I LOVED it! It was a good mix of magic and reality...and just an all around good story. I love how she weaves magic into the stories in a way that makes it seem like it actually could happen. I highly recommend it...I don't want to give anything away but the one charachter has a gift that all book lovers would love to have happen to them...that's all I'm going to say.Now it's on to The Monsters of Templeton.
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Finished New Moon, it was better than Twilight, but it was still awful....
Emma - I agree with you what have said in your last couple posts about Twilight. I really really couldn't stand it but oddly enough I couldn't stop reading it.
I'm new to the group, so I'm not sure where the conversation is, but here's what I'm reading: I just started my first paranormal romance series by Gerry Bartlett and I actually really like it! Yesterday, I finished Real Vampires Have Curves and now I'm on the second one, Real Vampires Live Large. It's a little like chick lit/romance/mystery/suspense all in one... but with vampires. Before this series, I read Grayson by Lynne Cox (supposedly a true story). Not my favorite, I found myself a little bored and the story seemed to go on forever even though it's a short 160-something pages.
So... my reading this summer is all over the place. :]
Hi Amanda welcome to the group. It's ok, I think everyone's reading is all over the place here. You'll find that you'll get book recommendations from the general chitchat that goes on here. I've certainly picked up books that I wouldn't have done otherwise!
Welcome Amanda!I discovered three books I had for some reason or another not truly finished reading in my to-read shelf (Glorious Appearing, Psychic Living, and The Erie Canal), so I worked on those last week and this week I have been reading Blindness, I am almost finish with that as well, I am having trouble with some pages, needing to re-read them, which doesn't happen often to me. I like it though. I plan to follow that with seeing, also from Saramago.
Lorena, I had the same problem with Blindness, though I hesitate to call it a problem. I like books that require me to pay a bit more attention than I otherwise would and rereading passages from Blindness allowed me to appreciate certain turns of a phrase more than I would have otherwise. I definitely need to read more Saramago.
Logan, I am truly captivated by him now, I will have to get more of his books in the future, he has a vivid way to describe things, which I love ... this book its very intense too, at times I just have to put it down, go to the kitchen, get a glass of wine/water and then continue, to give me time to process how things change so quickly, you can see yourself in these situations, however forgein they might be.
I just finished reading New Moon by Stephenie Meyer (loved it) and am starting and already liking Odd Thomas by Stephen Koontz.
Oops...I put Stephen Koontz as the author for Odd Thomas and not Dean Koontz...Sorry Dean :(
I just started reading Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston as part of my goal to read three classics this summer (it's a modern classic, right?). It does take me a little while to work through the dialogue with the Southern dialect but it is brilliant. I find myself re-reading several sentences just to soak it in.
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Gotta love some Saramago, huh?! I swear, I cant tell you how happy I am that people are starting to read him. I just finished The Cave... and I really hate to see this mans books come to an end. You start to get attached to his characters and when the final page is read and the book is closed, you almost want to reach inside it and say goodbye to everyone (I know that sounds cheesy, but I really truely mean that!)
I couldnt tell you which to read next, as they are all such unique and interesting novels... but you really should read more :)
That is one of the best things about GR and you guys, getting to find authors that otherwise I would have very little probability to find on my own. Thanks Lori and all for the wonderful sugestions!
Lorena,I have to second that.My quality of reading has greatly improved since Good Reads and the awesome recommendations.I read things I never would have tried(or even known about like Saramago)Reading has gotten interesting again and this site has gotten me out of the book rut I had been in and I'm very appreciative of all the members and the great suggestions.
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I just finished "Breakfast of Champions" and started "The Three Sisters" by Chekov. I like it so far, but it is always a change to go from prose to play. I was reading it aloud to my daughter last night and changed my voice with each character, while attempting to have a Russian accent, but that didn't last and they all started sounding the same and VERY American!
Stacie, reading a script out-loud is the only way to go. You just don't get the full effect by just seeing the words, the need to be heard as well.I finished Infinite Jest in a fit of pique this morning and heaved a sigh of relief when I put it back on the shelf. I suffer from the same malady as Lori in that I'm always thinking of the next book while I'm reading the current one. Having a month of reading time disappear to a read that was sorely in need of strong editing was a very excruciating form of torture. Though, having finished it, I can see why it was listed on the 1001 list. It is a fantastic leap forward for the possibilities of the novel and I loved that I knew every single character's backstory. I just wish someone would have told Wallace that enough was enough and it was time to get to the point.
But with that behind me I'm going to move into De Nooy's Six Fang Marks & a Tetanus Shot.
Right now I'm reading Memoirs of a Geisha.I watched the movie previously which was very good. But the good thing is I'm not thinking about the actor's faces while reading it. Its been a good read so far.
Logan - Congratulations! Was it worth it?
I agree with all of you who have gotten great recommendations from this site! I'm adding a lot of books to my to-read list that I would normally never look twice at. I already commented on what I'm reading, but I'm also "reading" Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil on audio CD's during my time in the car and I must say I am really enjoying it! Savannah is my FAVORITE place in the world, can't explain why so I love the book even more because of that alone. Any fans of the book? And does anyone else do the audiobook thing? This is my first time but I know I'll be doing it a LOT more in the coming months because in August I start teaching and my commute is about 40 minutes each way.
Amanda, I liked Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, a non-fiction that read like a fiction book, very entertaining. I shall have to check out the movie at some stage.
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Hee hee...
I am reading Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz and sp far I'm liking it.My dad loves these books and he is reading Odd Hours.
I loved Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, I have actually read it 3 times and saw the movie. The movie was ok but since I read the book first I liked it much better, although it stays true to the book (for the most part). It doesn't hurt that I pretty much love anything the Cuscak(sp?)(either way you get the point John and his sister) kids are in.
I started T. Rex and the Crater of Doom earlier today. Liking it so far.
I too am a big fan of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and have read it several times and have also seen the movie several times. It is one of the few books that when people ask for suggestions I always suggest. And, I agree with Scott...the movie was OK, but I could watch a movie of John Cusack simply watching paint dry. And Kevin Spacey really is a pretty amazing actor himself.
I'm now reading Killing Floor by Lee Child. Mandy recommended The Visitor to me, but I'm a stickler for reading series in order, so I'm reading the first one in the series.
Yea, I love that it reads like a fiction! I have to remind myself that it's not.
GREAT EXPECTATIONS on Cdnever read much Dickens but language, insight into human nature/interaction and description of the times all are great and looking forward to more of his work
also read earlier THE CITY OF FALLEN ANGELS about Venice by author of MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL - fun and encourages 1 to get to Venice as soon as possible - quick,good read
Hey everyone :) I just finished Blue by Benjamin Zucker this morning, but I really did not enjoy it at all. It felt like a chore to read this book! And for me, that's definitely the worst kind of book!
But right now, I just picked up Eragon by Christopher Paolini. I'm sure a lot of you have heard of this book and I've read it before, but after the last book I read, I really need a good story! :)
Kirsty, be sure to let us know what you think of it. It's easy for me to recommend because I love his books but it'd be interesting to know if others felt that way.
Jim -- I picked up City of Fallen Angels a few weeks ago at Borders...I only read the first chapter so far(I try to do that before I buy a book, since I've gotten some awful reads because the cover looked good & the blurb on the back sounded interesting), but it sounded really interesting so I figured I'd give it a shot...is it all historical?? Is there a mystery or not so much??
Mandy, I'm around 5 chapters in and am enjoying it so far...
Just finished The Monsters of Templeton...what can I say about a book that talks about everything from a hippie turned Born-Again Baptist to a Loch-Ness Style monster in a New York lake to references to both the Roosevelts and George Washington. It took a little while to get into the book but by the end I really enjoyed it..it was a bit historical, a bit contemporary, a bit fantasy...it was on of those everything and the kitchen sink type books. It was all in all a very interesting book. Next I will start The Flirt my ARC book (have to have the review done by July 1st).
CITY OF FALLEN ANGELS is about the real life characters and the history of Venice to some extentthe main event is the burning down of their famous opera house (can't remember name - not much of an opera buff) and how it affects the people/the City itself
it's a fun book and makes me wonder why I didn't go to Venice when I was in Italy but it gives You a sense of how idiosyncratic and cool Venice is
You could just write down the different places/events in the book and go to them when You get there as I'm sure it would be a blast
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The Next Best Book Club
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How do ya'll survive on 1 1/2 hours of sleep. I would die! I usually fall asleep holding the book. The other night I fell asleep and then made my husband come look for my bookmark cause I couldn't find it. He didn't either. It's still missing. But I use index cards so I just grabbed another.
I finished Carrie by Stephen King tonight and I'm going to start The Time Traveler's Wife probably tonight. haha.