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Feeling Nostalgic? The archives
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What are you reading? (we all agree on The Historian)
For Whom the Bell Tolls is my favorite.
Randomanthony wrote: "I've tried to read Hemingway off and on over my life. I feel like I should like his work but reading Hemingway feels like homework to me."Same here!
I've been trying to get through Faulkner's 'As I Lay Dying' ... having a hard time with it so far...can't seem to find a groove with this one.
I'm about to finish Angela's Ashes. I am trying to find as many memoirs written in just a child's voice as I can. I know of this one, Blackbird, and Loose Girl. Do any of you guys know of any others? That's how I'm writing my book, in a child's voice, present tense, with no adult voice like a thread running through everything commenting on what happens, talking in past tense. Just having the kid tell what happened to the kid in whatever voice a kid that age talks in. I would love to know of any other books memoirs written in that style.
Leslie: Maybe Ellen Foster, which I liked a lot, but I read it so long ago I can't remember if it is told from an adult's perspective some, or all from the child's.
Also, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, which is told by an Autistic boy's point of view...however, once again I haven't read that in such a long time, so I am not sure if it is told solely by him as a child.
I've been way too busy to read on a consistent basis as of late. It's terrible, I know.Still, I'm about to finish The Summer Book by Tove Jansson & The Beak Doctor by Eric Basso.
Leslie -- Angela's Ashes hit me like a ton of bricks.
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I've gotten back into Lady Chatterley's Lover this week. At the urging of Sweeter. He hates it when I abandon books. He'll finish anything, just slod on thorough, rather than abandon it. So I'm trying. RA, you ask if you should read it. I don't think it will have the same depressant effect on you, as you are not a female in the first year of marriage.
This book questions not only the whole concept of marriage, but also fidelity, love, trust, sex. It is really disturbing how Lawrence is painting the world through the eyes of Lady Chatterley. Disturbing because it comes quite close to my own perception at times, and I'm uncomfortable with that. I don't like a book written in 1929 to call me out. And I don't want to be questioning marriage. Not now.
After 2 chapters last night I actually threw a 7-year-old tantrum and cried in the bathroom. Horrifyingly enough. Why? I don't know! Because this book pushes my buttons, I guess.
I read it for the titillating sex scenes and scandal, but I've found its questioning of morality to be the true core.
I would probably put it down for awhile and come back to it Sally, the buttons it seems to be pushing probably don't need to be pushed at this time.
It's not a memoir, but The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime is written in the voice of a pre-teen boy with Aspurger's [sic:] and it is a really good read for a young adult book.Then, of course, there's always Anne Frank.
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I think graphic novels are graphic enough. I don't need the images to be animated, actually. I like the way I animated them in my own imagination.
Thank, you guys! I've read some of these books and some I haven't. I love The Book Thief and Persepolis and Anne Frank. I will get the others and read those, too--thank you!
Hello everyone. I am currently reading "Twenty Years After" by Alexandre Dumas. For those who may not know this book is the sequel to "The Three Musketeers" in which our old friends Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and d'Artagnian(This is most likely spelled wrong, but alas I'm too lazy right now to look itt up) are reunited after a long seperation to engage in more intrigue and swordplay. I must admit I did not know of this sequel until I did a bit of research on Dumas(an author in my favor especialy after reading "The Count of Monte Cristo"). I knew about "The Man in the Iron Mask" of course, but I was just as eager to read the one of which I primarily mentioned.Well this post is wordy enough. I'll take leave of this thread for now.
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I gave my sister The Three Musketeers for Christmas, and I think she really liked it. I'll recommend this sequel to her!
I thought that the Persepolis movie was well-done, but it was the most accurate text-to-film I've ever seen. They had to cut some, of course, but it was like watching the book. With music.
Montambo, I haven't read the book, but I want to...I loved the movie...
Well, the movie combines both books, so there's a lot more to the story. I recommend them.
Sally wrote: "Welcome, Mike. I gave my sister The Three Musketeers for Christmas, and I think she really liked it. I'll recommend this sequel to her! "
I am sure she would. The plot appears to be more engaging than the original. Not nearly as lofty.
I'm about thirty pages into Lady Chatterly's Lover, and damn, it's good. Sally, did you finish yet? Anybody else read any DH Lawrence? I thought the book was going to be all porn or whatever, but it's more than that. (insert joke here)
I really liked Sons and Lovers. There were probably too many descriptions of flowers slowing down the story, so I can't say I loved it, but the portrayal of male-female relationships and how they're shaped by the social environment was fascinating. You said insert.
I went on a complete DH Lawrence rage when in college. I've read almost everything by him, just not the short stories. I loved him! I think I was disappointed by Lady Chatterley's Lover because I was so in awe of Lawrence and had been completely blown away by Sons and Lovers, The Rainbow, and Women in Love that I found LCL to be inferior. Yes, Dave, I recognized his faults as I was reading him, (or should I say how fucked up he was psychologically!) but even loved the descriptions of flowers. :)
DH Lawrence and Tennessee Williams were my main men in high school. Of course I had no idea what the heck I was reading, but I couldn't get enough.
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I love The Glass Menagerie. I found collections of short stories by him, bios. I was so in to him. I would love to see his home in Key West.
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I just started City of Joy by Roland Joffé. Anyone read this? It is too soon to have an opinion yet. I did score 3 new bookshelves today. I have lots of books still in boxes that I can put on the shelves now. I recently bought a bunch of books at our libraries book sale (I am a card carryin' Friend Of The Library you know)
I just finished Loving Frank by Nancy Horan which was a fictionalized account of Frank Lloyd Wright's relationship with Mamah Edwin. It was way different than I expected. Has anyone else read this one?Just started People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks. Also reading When Rain Clouds Gather by Bessie Smith for the GR African Reads Group.
i just finished The Secret Haunts of Men by Susan Hill. It's the first in a 3 part series yet to come. It was a really good read, and I look forward to reading the other two. OK, now there are four books. She is a very prolific writer, BTW. Children's books and all sorts.
Are any of you guys familiar with a book called The Castle of the Pearl by Christopher Biffle?
Okay, I just have to give Mindy a shout out for listing econo/socio-college-geeky books that most of us would only use to prop a wobbly table leg with. I heart you! :DI didn't study much more than "theatre" in college (save for a smattering of psych), but I am a total college-geek-book hound now. I guess I'm making up for lost time. Mostly my interests are turned toward quantum physics, philosophy & consciousness... although, I gotta have some 'brain candy' fantasy/sci-fi for good measure (Just read the witchy books of Discworld by Pratchett - total candy but I loved 'em).
Here's my list (for this week):
The Tao of Physics, Finding Water: The Art of Perseverance, Furies of Calderon, and A User's Guide to the Brain: Perception, Attention, and the Four Theaters of the Brain
I'm reading Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman for the third time.
I'm getting so frustrated because my reading time is shrinking--I have less and less time to read. A lot of days it's just what I read as I fall asleep at night. I used to read so many books a week, now it's like one every two weeks!! I know I am a stage in my life where I'm very busy and I won't always be so busy, but reading has always had such a huge place in my life!Are any of you guys experiencing this too?
I'm having a panic attack. I'M OUT OF BOOKS!!!!! Withdrawal is painful. Perhaps reading a pamphlet or a magazine will take the edge off...
Sandy... I totally have panic attacks when I'm almost out of books. It's almost as bad (well, maybe even worse) as running out of smokes late at night. I have to say that I am completely addicted to reading and proud of it!
Hi, I'm Sherrie, I'm a Book-a-holic... you wanna make something of it?!!
I've got over a hundred books on my shelves at home, to ward off facing that catastrophe. It's like I lived thru the depression and so have to keep my cupboards bursting in case I run out of food again. It's a sickness. Thank god that I live in Seattle where lots of people read so the bookshelves at my GoodWill are constantly packed with books that have been on my to-read or interested-in-checking out lists. .99 for pb, 1.99 for trade and 2.99 for HB. It's so good there I often pass on some HBs because they seem so expensive, hee hee.
I haven't read as much this week (maybe only twenty minutes a day) because I've been so busy. I hate weeks like that. You know, I feel guilty when I look at my "to read" shelf (my real one, not the GR one) and don't feel like reading anything on it, so I hit the library...
RA - I feel guilty about that too. I have so many books I mean to read, but somehow the library has a siren call.I've stopped being social at lunch. Since I bring my lunch anyway, and lots of the kids I work with like to go out, I've taken it a step further, and I turn off my phone and eat at my desk while I read. That's an hour of reading every day, with little guilt attached.
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A book a day for a month? I've only been able to read one book in a day. It was one of the Chronicle of Prydain books when I was a kid. I'm such a slow reader.
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I have many books that I read in just a day. The Stranger, Blankets, Kristy's Great Idea...
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I read The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks in one day last week. Not that you could tell from my bookshelves here...
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That was the book that got me addicted to reading. I wholeheartedly blame the Babysitters Club.
Sandy wrote: "I'm having a panic attack. I'M OUT OF BOOKS!!!!! Withdrawal is painful. Perhaps reading a pamphlet or a magazine will take the edge off..."How did that happen?
Yes, you guys are right. Different times in our lives will allow us to read a lot of books or a few. I'm busier now than I've been in my life, but it isn't permanent. And I do enjoy what I'm reading--when I get extra time to read, it's even more of a treat than ever! I used to have a lot of time on my hands. I was wanting to have a baby and that wasn't happening, and our church said wives are not supposed to have jobs....so, I read constantly, all the time. How the times have changed!
Anyone here read anything by Reinhold Niebuhr? Apparently our president is a big fan. I listened to an interesting "Speaking of Faith" about Niebuhr this morning.
Ok, I'm struggling with The Savage Detectives...on page, oh, 150 or so. I'm not sure I give a flying f--k what Mexican poets think of Octavio Paz or each other, and beyond a couple funny parts and some generally interesting conversations about becoming a writer and hanging out with literary types, this book and all it's Latin American literature in-crowd talk is boring the shit out of me. (If you're knowledgable about Mexican/Latin American literature, however, you'll probably love it.)
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The Sun Also Rises is one of my favorite books, as well as For Whom the Bell Tolls. I'm a really solitary person, and I read these while I was living in Spain and Italy, respectively. I'd go to a cafe or a bar and sit and read, chapter after chapter, and when I finished I'd start again.
It wasn't until early November that I discovered the Liberia not 2 miles from my house. Oh well, by then I was starting to learn the language and interact with people.