What are U reading these days? (PART EIGHT (2012) (ONGOING THREAD for 2012) Showing 301-350 of 1,151

[Jim]

Jackie, you captured my feelings on King's writing exactly.

[Jackie]

I generally catch a lot of heat for my opinion of his newer works. It's nice to have my feelings validated. I find it difficult to believe that anyone who has experienced his early books wouldn't have a problem with his later works. The styles are so completely different that I find it hard to believe he's the one doing the writing from the '90s onward.

[Nina]

I am now reading for our book club, "Swamplandia," and I am not enjoying it. Have any of you out there come across it?

[Jackie]

Never heard of it...what's it about?

[Nina]

The premise is fresh, I will say that and it is full of info on alligators. It is the story of a family running a side show type of thing where the mother dives into this alligator pond and wrestles with one of them and looks like she is going to die, but at the last minute revives until she dies not of alligator swallowing her but of cancer. So, the young thirteen year old daughter tries to revive the now not prosperous show. This is all in the first chapter. See what you think.

[Jackie]

Sounds interesting, but definitely not for me.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Werner wrote: "Jackie, I haven't read Anna Karenina, but I'm guessing that the POV there might be third-person omniscient --that is, there's no real "narrator" or viewpoint character, just a narrative told from the perspective of an all-seeing eye [...]"

Jackie wrote: "Werner, that is exactly the right way to describe it. [...]"

Thanks, Werner. Now I understand what Jackie was saying. I'm reading a book right now which keeps switching the POV. It's annoying at first and takes some getting used to. This book, The Widower's Tale, starts out with the widower as the narrator. Then, all of a sudden, another chapter is being told by a narrator, the third-person omniscient, who isn't a character in the story at all. The POV keeps switching. At times it's a bit disconcerting. The author also changes scenes abruptly, without warning, leaving the reader to figure out "the-who-the-what-and-the where" from the context.

The plot's a good one though and there are some interesting sub-plots. It's a contemporary novel about relationships. It's the April selection of our public library's Monday Night Book Club.

Keep on reading your book, Jackie. It may get better now that you understand about the POV.

Those were interesting comments about Stephen King.

[Jackie]

I don't mind switching POVs as long as I know whose they are. For example, in the Song of Ice and Fire series, each chapter is told from a different character's perspective...but the chapter title is that character's name, so that makes it easier.

Anna K is getting better.

I just re-read my S King comment and I realize I may not have been clear on one thing: About minor details, I don't mind if it pertains to the story and will be important. Stephen King comes to mind in how drastically he changed his style by doing this.
What I should have said is this: About minor details, I don't mind if it pertains to the story and will be important. When it has nothing to do with the story, it annoys me and makes me feel like I'm wasting my time. Stephen King comes to mind in how drastically he changed his style by doing this.
I mean how he goes on and on about nothing. And not just a paragraph, but pages and pages about nothing and will never come up in the story again.

[Nina]

I think I might give up on Swamplandia. I am afraid I'll have nightmares about alligators if I don't. Now the other daughter is in love with a ghost. This book is creepy.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Nina wrote: "I am now reading for our book club, "Swamplandia," and I am not enjoying it. Have any of you out there come across it?"

Nina, I haven't read Swamplandia!. From what you've said so far, I don't think I'd be interested. I wouldn't blame you if you gave up on it. :) I see from its Goodreads page that 30 users classified it as "magical realism" and 20 users classified it as "fantasy".

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jackie, I can sympathize with your comments about Stephen King's unnecessary details.

John Irving has a tendency to go off on long tangents. That annoyed me at times. I've read 3 of his books but couldn't get into his A Prayer for Owen Meany, which many people raved about. Irving does a lot of flashbacks. Sometimes I'd rather see a book move forward. Going back with flashbacks isn't satisfying for me at times.

[Jackie]

I'm also reading Smilla's Sense of Snow. A friend brought it over for me and said it was amazing. Since I've got two books going, I had no intention of reading it til I finish one of the two. I decided to read a page or two to see what it was about, and well, you know the rest.
It really is a good book, a mystery, thriller. Most of it is set in Greenland and told in flashbacks, it's very well written.

[Werner]

Back in February of 2010, we had some discussion, over on the movies and TV thread, of the major differences in the plots of two dramatic adaptations of Daphne Du Maurier's historical novel Jamaica Inn, the 1939 movie version directed by Alfred Hitchcock vs. the 1983 miniseries starring Jane Seymour and Patrick McGoohan. Yesterday, I finally got around to starting the book; so I'll soon be able to answer the question: which one (if either!) follows the book more accurately?

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jackie wrote: "I'm also reading Smilla's Sense of Snow. A friend brought it over for me and said it was amazing. Since I've got two books going, I had no intention of reading it til I finish one o..."

Jackie, that title sounded so familiar to me but I have no record of having read it. Now I'm wondering where I had heard of it before. I see that it's a mystery. Glad you found a good book.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Werner wrote: "Back in February of 2010, we had some discussion, over on the movies and TV thread, of the major differences in the plots of two dramatic adaptations of Daphne Du Maurier's historical novel [book:J..."

Werner, back in 2010, I watched (via a Netflix DVD) the 1939 version of "Jamaica Inn" with Charles Laughton, Maureen O'Hara.
http://movies.netflix.com/Search?oq=j...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031505/
"In Cornwall, around 1800, a young woman discovers that she's living near a gang of criminals who arrange shipwrecks for profit."

I haven't seen the 1983 version. I'll be interested in hearing your comments after you read the book.

I see by my records that I also read the book in 2010 and gave it 4 stars. I remember enjoying it.

[Jackie]

I never heard of Smilla's Sense of Snow before, but it's a really cool title, isn't it?

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jackie wrote: "I never heard of Smilla's Sense of Snow before, but it's a really cool title, isn't it?"

Yes, it makes you curious to find out what it means.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Just by chance I've stumbled on a good thing. Someone somewhere mentioned Malgudi Days (first published 1942) by R.K. Narayan. It's a book of engaging short stories set in India, "revealing the essence of India", as the GR description says.

I didn't think I'd be interested in reading it at first. So I did the next best thing... ordered the movie adaptation from Netflix.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0244911/
http://movies.netflix.com/Search?v1=M...
===================================================
"Based on R.K. Narayan's literary works, this vivid 13-episode series captures daily life in the fictional southern Indian town of Malgudi. Originally broadcast on India's National Channel, director Shankar Nag's warm and engaging series shares universal themes -- ranging from love and hate to religion and daydreams -- played out by a cast representing the spectrum of society: beggars, servants, masters, rich and poor." (from the Netflix description)
===================================================

Well, as I got into it, I decided to get the book from the library. Now, when I see that the DVD has an episode which is also in the book as a short story, I read the story first and then watch the episode. It's really interesting to see how the story is treated on film, right after you read it in the book. It certainly helps in the appreciation of the story and the characters.

As the description above says, the stories are "warm and engaging". The haunting Indian music in the background (played on a flute-sounding intrument) sets the atmosphere so well. The characters are so well drawn, both in the book and the movie. They're simple characters with universal emotions. Highly recommended for something a little bit different from what we're used to. It's indeed an escape to another world, so different from ours.

[Jackie]

The title refers to Smilla being a Greenlander and knowing all things snow, it's this very sense of, or feeling for, snow that allows her to read a child's tracks on a snowy roof and conclude that it wasn't an accident but a murder.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

I see. Thanks, Jackie. The hook is in. :)

[Jackie]

It is! I'm rather enjoying it, I haven't read a good mystery/thriller in a while.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

I'm currently listening to the audio-book version of A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson. I'm only on the first or second cassette but it has already drawn me in. I never expected to be this interested. Bryson knows how to turn a hike into an adventure.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Yesterday I finished reading The Widower's Tale by Julia Glass (first published 2009). It's a selection of our local library's book group. Below is my review:
=================================================
A good story, well told. Interesting characters. Several inter-related subplots. As I read I developed a certain fondness for the main character, the elderly Percy Darling. I was able to relate to his particular problems and his status in his family and neighborhood. There were several other sympathetic characters as well, who had their own circumstances to deal with.

One thing I found strange was that the narrator kept changing. The point of view switched back and forth from Percy to the third-person omniscient. The switching of narrators and settings is sudden and without warning. Not much exposition there. But eventually I got used to it.

Along the way the author deals with universal subjects regarding social (e.g., the upper classes vs the lower classes) and personal issues (e.g., interactions between father, son, daughter, wife, grandson, friends). The different opinions of the different characters were interesting to read about.

The ending was mild but fairly satisfying, leaving you to ponder all the past events in Percy's life and the lives of the other characters. There's a certain depth to the entire picture which I liked.

However, it took me a while to finish the book. Although it was interesting, it wasn't what I'd call compelling. I suppose I could say it was moderately compelling because I kept going back to it to see how things would develop and where the story was going. It certainly took some unexpected turns.

LINK TO THE ABOVE REVIEW: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
===================================================

[Jackie]

It took me a while, but I finally finished Anna Karenina. It was a strange journey. Earlier in the book, I thought Anna has such strength to defy the social conventions of her time, but then later I just got disgusted with it as those same social conventions weakened her and finally defeated her. I'm seeing this book as a morality tale and nothing more.

[Nina]

Have any of you seen. "My Week With Marilyn?"

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Nina wrote: "Have any of you seen. "My Week With Marilyn?""

Yes, Nina. I saw it and I enjoyed it.

"My Week With Marilyn" (2011)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1655420/
http://movies.netflix.com/Movie/My_We...
I gave it 4 stars out of 5. As I've mentioned before, I thought it presented a sympathetic point of view toward Marilyn and her problems.

I just realized it was adapted from the book: My Week With Marilyn by Colin Clark, (published 2001).

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jackie wrote: "It took me a while, but I finally finished Anna Karenina. It was a strange journey. Earlier in the book, I thought Anna has such strength to defy the social conventions of her time, but then late..."

Jackie, I never received a GR notification about your post above. Darn! Anyway, thanks for your comments about Anna Karenina. Yes, "morality tale" is a good way to put it. All that reading for such a terrible ending. I didn't read the book but the movie left me feeling down. I don't need that! (lol)

PS - Here's an interesting GR review of it by Whitaker (which I mentioned in my own review after I watched the film):
================================================
"The thing about famous classics is that we all have these ideas in our head about what it's all about. We think we know all about this one: Russian novel about an adulterous woman. But no, it's not that. Or at least, not just that. It's not even just about Anna.

"It's about love and relationships. It's about how we lie to ourselves and destroy ourselves through pride and pettiness. It's about the richness of life lived with simplicity, love and integrity. An wonderful acutely observed and empathic novel about the human condition.

"A word about the translation: the Pevear/Volokhonsky translation is easy on ear and well deserves the praise heaped on it. If you've tried reading Anna Karenina before and gave up, you were probably reading an earlier translation. Try again with this one. You might surprise yourself by loving it."
FROM: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
=====================================================

[Werner]

Morality, IMO, lies at the heart of what great fiction is about; so knowing that a particular work is basically a morality tale wouldn't put me off from it. But though I haven't read Anna Karenina, I know (from skimming around in a stray volume of Masterplots when I was a kid :-) ) how it ends, and I can foresee that I wouldn't like it. (By the time I got to the ending, I'd be very emotionally invested in the title character, and her fate would really tear me up.) But I really like some of Tolstoy's short stories, and I want to eventually read War and Peace (which my oldest daughter liked and recommends).

[Jackie]

It didn't put me off because it's a morality tale, it put me off because it's a morality tale that's been done to death. It was probably important at the time for which it was written but not now, it's idea is obsolete. Society has changed, and it's how society reacted to Anna that drove her to depression, despair and suicide. It's a really long book for not much of a pay off. I wanted to read it because a movie version is coming out later this year. If I didn't read it now, I never would. I'm glad I read it, but as with most classic books, I found it outdated.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Werner, good luck with Tolstoy's War and Peace. Among my notes, I found the following, which I see is all over the Internet:
====================================================
"Tolstoy's major work, _WAR AND PEACE_, appeared between the years 1865 and 1869. The epic tale depicted the story of five families against the background of Napoleon's invasion of Russia. Its vast canvas includes 580 characters, many historical, others fictional. The story moves from family life to the headquarters of Napoléon, from the court of Alexander to the battlefields of Austerlitz and Borodino."
======================================================

At one point I rearranged the cast of War and Peace characters which I found at IMDb (See below*).
Movie: "War and Peace: (1956)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049934/
http://movies.netflix.com/Movie/War_a...
(I gave the movie 4 Netflix stars out of 5 when I watched it about a year ago.)

In my notes, I grouped the characters by family names so I could keep them straight. Below is what I have in my notes:
===================================================
* CAST OF WAR AND PEACE (from IMDb) (rearranged as familes)

Henry Fonda - Pierre Bezukhov

ROSTOV / ROSTOVA:
Audrey Hepburn - Natasha Rostova
May Britt - Sonia Rostova
Jeremy Brett - Nikolai Rostov
Sean Barrett - Petya Rostov
Lea Seidl - Countess Rostov
Barry Jones - Prince Mikhail Andreevich Rostov

BOLKONSKY / BOLKONSKAYA
Mel Ferrer - Prince Andrei Bolkonsky
Wilfrid Lawson - Prince Bolkonsky
Anna-Maria Ferrero - Maria Bolkonskaya
Milly Vitale - Lisa Bolkonskaya

KURAGIN / KURAGINA
Vittorio Gassman - Anatol Kuragin
Tullio Carminati - Prince Vasili Kuragin
Anita Ekberg - Helene Kuragina

Herbert Lom - Napoleon
Oskar Homolka - Field Marshal Kutuzov
Helmut Dantine - Dolokhov
Patrick Crean - Denisov
John Mills - Platon Karataev
================================================
Below is Shelfari.com's "Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis":
"Three families learn what life's about." :)
FROM: http://www.shelfari.com/books/1175503...

At the link above, Shelfari lists 51 characters and gives a short description of many of them. For example, Henry Fonda plays Count Pyotr Kirillovich 'Pierre' Bezukhov and is described as: "The central character and often a voice for Tolstoy's own beliefs or struggles."

Even the long Russian names are daunting!

[Werner]

Thanks for the links and info, Joy. We have a film version of War and Peace here at the BC library, but I've never watched it and don't know if it's the same one.

I expect it'll be several years before I ever get around to reading the book. If we ever make another trip to Australia, it ought to be good reading for a 14-hour plane flight; chances are I wouldn't run out of book in the middle of the Pacific! :-)

[Nina]

Joy H. wrote: "Nina wrote: "Have any of you seen. "My Week With Marilyn?""

Yes, Nina. I saw it and I enjoyed it.

"My Week With Marilyn" (2011)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1655420/
http://movies.netflix.com/Movi..."My company is still with us so I will have to wait until they leave before I watch the Marilyn movie. We saw a wonderful movie tonigh/Netflix, "A Shine of Rainbows." Watch it and you won't be disappointed; filmed in Ireland and Canada and orchestra background is the Prague Philharmic tired nina

[Jackie]

Nina, A Shine of Rainbows sounds good, thanks for recommending it. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1014774/

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Wow, Werner. Australia! Long way from here! I'm always amazed at how close Australia is to Indonesia when I look at it on a map. Actually, with the Internet, no continent is far away. At the online game, FunTrivia, I see folks from Australia and Africa every day. :) The Internet has made the world so small. I recently had a GR email conversation with someone from Indonesia. His name is Nenangs and I "met" him at the GR Librarians group. Here is is profile link:
http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/89...
I asked him the significance of his profile pic.

BTW, here's a map of Indonesia:
http://www.mapquest.com/maps?country=...
Slide it up with your mouse and see how close Australia is!
Also see a map of the island of New Guinea which related to Indonesia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Guinea
This shows the closeness very well. Also, I didn't realize that New Guinea was so large. Wiki says: "New Guinea (also known by other names) is the world's second largest island, after Greenland..."

Ooops, another tangent! I can't help myself. Knowledge is so near on the Internet. Our fingers do the walking. :)

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Thanks, Nina & Jackie, for directing me to the film:
"A Shine of Rainbows" (2009)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1014774/
"A lonely orphan's life is transformed by an extraordinary woman who teaches him to conquer grief and discover the magic in nature and himself."

http://movies.netflix.com/Movie/A_Shi...
"Ostracized 8-year-old orphan Tomás (John Bell) finds his colorless life transformed after spirited Maire (Connie Nielsen) adopts him and instills in him the confidence to make friends -- and magic -- in this inspirational Irish tale of self-discovery. But the boy's hopes for a bright future are in danger of fading when Maire's husband, Alec (Aidan Quinn), has trouble accepting the withdrawn Tomás.
Cast: Connie Nielsen, Aidan Quinn, Jack Gleeson, Tara Alice Scully, Niamh Shaw, John Bell
Director: Vic Sarin
Genres: Dramas, Movies for ages 8 to 10, Movies for ages 11 to 12, Tearjerkers, Irish Movies
This movie is: Emotional, Heartfelt
Availability: Streaming and DVD

Streamable! Yay! I've put it on my Netflix Instant queue and moved it to the top!

[Joy H., Group Founder]

I recently steamed "Tom & Viv" (1994) from Netflix. Interesting film about T.S. Eliot and his first wife who ended up in a mental institution. I gave it 3 Netflix stars out of 5. Willem Dafoe was too expressionless as T.S. Eliot. Was Eliot really like that?

http://movies.netflix.com/Search?v1=T...
"Director Brian Gilbert beautifully renders the life of poet T.S. Eliot (Willem Dafoe) and his short-lived marriage to muse Vivienne Haigh-Wood (Miranda Richardson). A gifted writer who encouraged Eliot's success, Vivienne was plagued with a hormonal imbalance that wreaked havoc on her moods, her talents and her marriage."

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111454/
"In 1915, T.S. (Tom) Eliot and Vivienne Haigh-Wood elope, but her longstanding gynecological and emotional problems disrupt their planned honeymoon."

I see that it's been adapted from the play: Tom and VIV (first published in 1985) ) by Michael Hastings.

[Nina]

Jackie wrote: "Never heard of it...what's it about?"
Swamplandia, the book, was recommended for a Pulitzer this year. However, the committee didn't award any books for the prize this past year. Our book editor thought it was shameful they didn't award it to that book. Our newspaper book group selected it for this month's reading group and discussion. Look it up on Google for the details of the story. Too complicated to go into here.

[Nina]

Just finished watching My Week With Marilyn and thought it was an interesting take on a Wow celebrity but I did have some reservations about it. Seeing the actor they got to play Laurence Oliver completely threw me off so that I wasn't "into" the movie. I knew instantly I was watching a movie. He looked absolutely nothing like him and didn't sound one bit like him. Next, the movie star who played Marilyn wasn't even pretty and of course, Marilyn was beautiful. Distracting to me.

[Jackie]

I don't like inaccurate casting, it's something that can ruin a movie for me.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Nina wrote: "Just finished watching My Week With Marilyn and thought it was an interesting take on a Wow celebrity but I did have some reservations about it. Seeing the actor they got to play Laurence Oliver co..."

Nina, I can understand your critique of the film about Marilyn.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1655420/
Michelle Williams is pretty but Marilyn Monroe had an indefinable quality which Williams lacked. What would be a good word to define the secret of Marilyn's magic? There was a certain naivety about her. I can't think of a good word. Can anyone?

I thought the movie showed us a side of Marilyn that that gave us a sympathetic point of view about the problems she faced. So I rated it 4 stars out of 5.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Nina, about Swamplandia!, I see that some people categorized it as "magical realism". That means that the magical elements are presented as if they're real because they're mixed in with real occurences. Hard to understand unless you experience it in a book. Here's Wiki's page on magical realism:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_...
Other people categorized it as fantasy.
Now I'm curious. :) Especially if someone thought it should be recommended for a Pulitzer. Of course that doesn't mean we'll like it! :) It might mean it's too hard to understand! LOL Now I'm REALLY curious! LOL

[Nina]

Joy, Swamplandia was actually nominated as a Pulitzer prize winner and according to our correspondent would have probably gotten the prize if any prize had been awarded this year which it wasn't. What surprised me was that in that column it was referred to as a comic tale. In my mind I saw nothing funny in what I read. So figure!

[Nina]

One of my friends who watched the Marilyn movie with me has just finished reading a book about her written by her psychiatrist and said it too gave a sympathetic view of Marilyn. I do not remember the name of that book.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Nina wrote: "Joy, Swamplandia was actually nominated as a Pulitzer prize winner and according to our correspondent would have probably gotten the prize if any prize had been awarded this year which it wasn't. W..."

Nina, below is a page confirming your facts about the Pulitzer Prize:
http://www.pulitzer.org/citation/2012...
It says:
======================================================
The 2012 Pulitzer Prize Winners - Fiction

No award

Nominated as finalists in this category were:

---"Train Dreams," by Denis Johnson ...

---"Swamplandia!" by Karen Russell, an adventure tale about an eccentric family adrift in its failing alligator-wrestling theme park, told by a 13-year-old heroine wise beyond her years

---"The Pale King," by the late David Foster Wallace ...

ABOVE WAS FROM: http://www.pulitzer.org/citation/2012...
===================================================

Interesting! I wonder why they didn't award a prize for Fiction this year. I found the following about that at:
http://thecelebritycafe.com/feature/2...
"The main reason (for the fiction decision) is that no one of the three entries received a majority, and thus after lengthy consideration, no prize was awarded."
"...for the first time in 35 years, no fiction award was given."

http://shelf-life.ew.com/2012/04/16/p...
"The Pulitzer Board failed to reach a necessary majority to determine a winner based on the three fiction finalists determined by a panel of three jurors."

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Nina wrote: "One of my friends who watched the Marilyn movie with me has just finished reading a book about her written by her psychiatrist and said it too gave a sympathetic view of Marilyn. I do not remember ..."

Nina, I wonder what the name of that book by Marilyn Monre's psychiatrist was.
Could you find out?

[Nina]

Yes, I will try.

[Nina]

How's this for a fast answer? My friend who told me about the Marilyn Monroe book lives in FL but she is visiting her mother in MI and her mother just called and I asked to speak to her daughter and here is the title: "Marilyn's Last Session," by Michael Schneider.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Thanks, Nina. Here's the GR link:
Marilyn's Last Sessions: A Novel by Michel Schneider
"Expected publication: August 1st 2012 by Little, Brown and Company (first published 2006)"

"A remarkable piece of storytelling, Marilyn's Last Sessions illuminates one of the greatest icons of the twentieth century, 'so authentically that you often forget this is simply an imagined version of the last four years of her life' (Psychologies)."
(Above is from the GR description)

Some reviews:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/bo...

[Werner]

This year, the main focus in my reading is trying to tie up some "loose ends," that is, cross off some items that have been on my reading agenda for awhile and, for various reasons, seem to have a better claim to priority than others. Great English Short Stories is a collection I've been dipping into for years, and it's high time I read the rest of it! So I've checked it out from the library, and I'm reading whatever tales I haven't previously gotten around to.

[Mary JL]

I am now finished for a time with the Star Trek kick I was on.

I am now beginning a historical fiction saga set in Revolutionary War times. The book is Long Knife by HJames Alexander Thom.

The protagonist is George Rogers Clark. He was a pivotal figure in the Ohio/ Indiana/Kentucky area during the American Revolution. He is the brother of William Clark, of "Lewis and Clark" expedition fame.

Just started, but so far, so good. Looking forward to something with a bit more of depth than Star Trek.