The Next Best Book Club discussion
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What are you reading?
Charity, You have totally talked me into re-reading the Tom Sawyer books! I barely remember it anyway.
As for Malkovich in Of Mice & Men. He's right... it totally works and is a good movie. I remember watching that in 8th grade after we finished reading the book. We watched To Kill a Mockingbird and Anne Frank too. Good teacher. :)Watching movies in school was fun.
Tisha - I can't stress enough how much better Huck Finn is when you read it as an adult. You appreciate the language and the characters so much more...and of course, the jokes are funnier because you actually "get" them more than as a child. It's a good treat all around. I'm planning to reread Tom Sawyer now because I had such a good time with HF.I moved Of Mice & Men up to the top of my blockbuster queue so that I can dive in when I finish reading.
I finished Huck Finn last night and I'm torn on the Clinch book. In some ways, I'm curious about what else there is to say about Pap, and in other ways, I feel that Mark Twain gave Pap about as much background as he deemed necessary. I guess I'll have to let my feelings on the book settle before I decide whether or not to give Clinch's book a try.
Ken - It's funny that you mention Finn. The reason I'm reading Huck Finn is to read the Clinch book. I guess it's kind of like reading the book before seeing the movie?
Charity, I think you'll like Finn. We have a lot of books in common, and I thoroughly enjoyed Finn. There are some parts kind of hard to take, but I agree with Ken: I think Twain would have approved.Then again, what the heck do I know about what Mark Twain would approve of? Rather presumptuous of me....
Just read Breaking Dawn! Loved it! I enjoy a good fanticy book from time to time.Now I am off to read "SHE" :)
Funny you say that. I just this minute finished reading Twilight. Not usually what I pick up, but I'm definitely enjoy my fantasy books. Now, the ever-pressing debate about what to read next...
Boor, regarding your reading manifesto, bravo! I also feel a sense of freedom within this group to talk about whatever and not feel look I'm being looked down upon. Believe me, I got plenty of that with my Stephen King books when I was younger. One of the great things about literature is the personal connection one makes with certain books, poems, etc. One of my favorite books is one called ROGANO, by Stephen Knight. I don't know if anyone in this group has ever heard of it. I saw it one day in my junior high school library and checked it out. I remember it to this day. It stayed with me and it remains a book I cherish. One day I'll buy it on one of the online sites (I've seen it at several internet bookstores...the internet is wonderful). Since I've read it, I've never found it in another library nor at any bookstores I've vistited. ROGANO is on no one's list of CLASSICS, but it means a lot to me. And I think that's what we all turn to books for.
I agree with you Charity. I read Huck for the first time this spring and it left quite an impression. It's hilarious in spots and deadly serious in others. I think Twain is very brave in the way he quietly subverts some of the burning issues (esp. involving race) of the day. Hell, there still burning issues to this day. I believe it was Faulkner who said American literature began with Huck Finn and I think he's on the money.
In case anyone is interested, TIME Magazine's July 14th issue has a lengthy article on the impact of Twain called "The Dangerous Mind of Mark Twain" with the following bullet points: 1. How he changed the way we view politics 2. Why he was ahead of his time on race 3. What his writing can teach America today. Sounds like good lunchtime reading.
Well having read through these posts I have a hankerin' for Huck Finn and have added it as well as a reread of Mice and Men to my wishlist.They sound irresistable.I would add my voice on the Gary Sinese and John Malkovitch version of Mice and Men.They were both wonderful in the movie.
I finished Of Mice & Men...not surprising, considering its length. Wow! That story is a lot to process.I still haven't picked up my library books. I figured I should just wait on The Book Thief to come in (which is currently in transit) so that I can pick them all up together.
I've decided to start Choke while I wait.
Yesterday I finished my Trevanian phase. I haven't managed to read the Eiger Sanction (haven't found a copy), but don't feel the need to now - maybe some year after I've forgotten how annoying his snobbery is. I loved The Crazyladies of Pearl Street which he wrote as a novel, but it reads like a memoir. It's said the book was based on his own childhood and the book is really quite good, so I thought I'd seek out some of his other works. I read Shibumi, The Summer of Katya and The Loo Sanction, which were just okay. All in all, I'd say he writes a decent story, but he really lets his personal viewpoint (and snobbery/arrogance) into the story without building the characters to support it, so it reads like author intrusion -- and those viewpoints are so snobbish it just gets really irritating. Anyway, today I moved on to In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson, which I've finished and loved. It's YA book and a quick read that is a sweet, charming story about a Chinese girl who immigrates to America in 1947, Jackie Robinson's rookie year with the Brooklyn Dodgers, and gets hooked on baseball as a way of fitting in with her peers. Pretty much any book dealing with baseball is a delight for me, but I think non-sports lovers would really like this, too. Now I'm beginning Paula by Isabel Allende.
Liesl, I love In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson! I used to carry my battered copy around with me when I was a kid, that and Wizard of Oz were the two most important books in the world to me for a couple of years.
Logan, was there ever a time in your life when you weren't insanely smart?Jesse, Thanks for the Twain article lead. I'll have to pick up a copy today when I'm out.
You'd think that for all I read I would be able to avoid doing insanely stupid things, but I find the opposite is true. Read a book, get stuck in a riot. Read another book, lose your passport in Cambodia. It's all one step forward, two steps back.
Boof:Yay to you. I totally agree with your comment to Kirsty. Reading is reading and (sorry about the cliche) "one person's trash is another's treasure". Doesn't have to be worthy of an English Lit seminar to be worthy of your personal preference.
Charity:I know the version Ken is referring to and it is fabulous. Worth a look.
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I finished Anne of Green Gables. Damn! I'm going to have to read the other 7 books!!! Anne is ADDICTIVE!
Emma - I told you you'd fall in love with her! I just started A Great and Terrible Beauty. I got it on audio book, which I wouldn't normally do, but I've got so many to read and I wanted to get to this one! So far I'm really enjoying it, but I'm only a few chapters in.
:(. Oh well, audio it is then. :(. Still, your listening to it! Thank you!!!!
I'll probably read the rest of them, and the audio is really quite good. As long as I don't get too absorbed in the story and rear-end someone!
Logan, are you reading Choke now? I'd be interested in what you think. The more I read Haunted the more disappointed I become. I would not recommend it to anybody that isn't already a fan of Palahniuk. Of course, there are still 150 pages to change my mind.
Jeremy, I think it's Charity that just started Choke. I'm locked into a rotating assortment of classics and science fiction for the time being. Haunted would definitely not be a book that I'd recommend to someone who hadn't read any Palahniuk before. If you're going to testdrive a new author then you should go for one of his best works, not a disappointing read like Haunted. Survivor, Choke or Fight Club are always good choices.
It was Charity now that I look back. It must be the coloring of the avatar that threw me off. (I also had to edit the previous thread because I left out an important word (not))! Charity's blondeness is rubbing off.
I'll have to read one of the few you mentioned just to restore my faith.
I'll have to read one of the few you mentioned just to restore my faith.
I finished The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly Men I've dated last night and decided to delve into The Time Traveler's Wife next.
Oooo good choice, Cynthia. Love it or hate it, at least it's well written.
I just finished Michael Crichton's Next and am freaked out! Scary Scary times we live in... all these medical advances... eeshJust started A Great and Terrible Beauty - am 34 pages in and am already hooked! She paints such a vivid picture - I feel like I'm there beside Gemma.
Wow! And I thought going from Twain to Steinbeck was a little jolting. Try going from Steinbeck to Palahniuk. Holy moly!
Jeremy, you've read Diary, right? Or am I mistaken...?
Charity, YOU are correct ma'am.
Choke is f*ing weird...just sayin'.
I expect weird out of him. But it also needs to be put together well. I feel in Haunted he had a good idea but has so far failed to capture me with the way he put it all together.
Well, it is a compelling read so far, but a little jolting, like I said, coming off Steinbeck.
I read that book as well. He has a sick sense of whatever it is he calls it
Currently I am reading Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi. I have many books to read but this one was recommended by people at work. So far so good. I just finished reading Jenna Blum's Those Who Save Us and both books are going to teach me to read German fluently. Thay are both about German lives during the Holocust. They both are very scary and unimaginable. Though they do depict mostly German lives throughout both stories, they too stress very much so on the Jewish lives as well.
I am not yet done on Hegi's book and will let you know how I feel about it in the end.
Has anybody read Fight Club by Palahniuk? It is one of my favorite movies, but I have yet to read the book.
Tisha, the book is as good as the movie, easily. It stands out as a perfect complement to the movie rather than the usual one-is-better dichotomy of books vs. films.
No, Tisha. I'm like you...LOVE the movie, haven't read the book. I've slated it for this fall. I want to read a few of his other books before I start Fight Club. I do know that it has been ranked several times as one of the best film adaptations of all time, so that seems promising for the book since I had so much love for the movie.
Donna I really liked Stones for the River-I'm curious to hear what you think. I've tried to read a few other books by Hegi and can't get into them at all-it seems like Stones was her bright and shining moment. I also just bought "Those Who Save Us" but haven't started yet, it feels more like a winter book.
I'm with both Tisha and Charity in the movie brought me to the author and now I need to read the book.
I just finished Mistress of the Art of Death (I still don't know quite what I think of it). I will probably start either Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Gene (the group read over at Science and Inquiry) or A Mist of Prophecies (a Steven Saylor mystery novel) later today.
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Now onto Turn of the Screw. I am two weeks behind the myspace group that is reading it, but better late than never, I say....
Logan, ready..set... start!
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The Next Best Book Club
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After that book I need a fun read so I changed up my plans and picked up The Good, the bad, and the ugly men I've dated by Shane Bolks...the title caught me when I was scanning the shelves at the library looking for books to put on the end caps.