books

[cobl04]

Not sure if anyone's read it, but we just finished studying Regneration by Pat Barker and I did my SAC on it today. It's a terrific book, if a little slow at times, and is an anti-war novel which has a million layers. Good read.

 

[BonoIsMyMuse]

Love Is A Mix Tape is the best book I've read in a long time. I absolutely loved it. I can't believe I read it in one day. I stayed away from it for awhile because Rob Sheffield has always sort of annoyed me, both in his appearances on MTV and VH1 and in his writing for Rolling Stone. I have a hard time believing this writer is that guy, though. The book manages to be poignant without being cloyingly sweet or sentimental. It's a believable, relatable book. The mix tapes never become too much of a device, either, which I was worried they would. Even better, you don't need to know all the songs on the mixes to understand the sentiment. The last chapter made me tear up. I can't remember the last time a book did that.

 

[Carek1230]

I just finished Chelsea Handler's new book "Can you hear me vodka, it's Chelsea" and it was pretty funny. It was a nice quick read too which made it fun. A nice break in between big thick juicy novels.

 

[corianderstem]

#30 Charmed Thirds by Megan McCafferty

The third in a series following narrator Jessica Darling through her experiences of high school and college. It had been a couple years since I read the second book and had forgotten pretty much every character and everything that happened. But a lot of it came back to me as I made my way through this one.

I like the books, and look forward to reading the next book once it's in paperback.

 

[BonoIsMyMuse]

I've been reading like crazy lately, and I'm still only on my eleventh book of the year. You're making the rest of us look bad

 

[corianderstem]

My secret? Alternating novels that take time to read with chick lit or older-skewed young adult books that breeze by.



You get a pass for tackling The Satanic Verses, which would take me ages to read if I ever dared to tackle it. I have a copy, but am more likely to read Midnight's Children instead to see if I would read other Rushide books in the future. I've only read The Ground Beneath Her Feet, which I didn't love but didn't hate.

 

[BonoIsMyMuse]

Salman Rushdie should take me out to dinner and make a few of my student loan payments because I read The Satanic Verses. It was very good, but it took me several months of pretty dedicated bedtime reading to get through it, and I like to think of myself as more patient than the average reader.

Has anyone picked up Jhumpa Lahiri's new collection of stories? I'm really looking forward to reading it. I'm going to hold off until after my vacation, though, since I usually only travel with paperbacks.

 

[Lemonchick]

I can't wait to be done with school.

Having a job = more money for books.

Plus, no school = more time for fun reads.

As for what I'm reading right now...Gossip Girl # I don't know what...."Only In Your Dreams".

 

[corianderstem]

Has anyone picked up Jhumpa Lahiri's new collection of stories? I'm really looking forward to reading it.

Me too. I don't usually buy hardcovers, though, so I'll likely wait until paperback.

 

[No spoken words]

Umberto Eco owes me at least two dinners, then.

 

[VintagePunk]

Salman Rushdie should take me out to dinner and make a few of my student loan payments because I read The Satanic Verses. It was very good, but it took me several months of pretty dedicated bedtime reading to get through it, and I like to think of myself as more patient than the average reader.

Were you going through it analyzing for style, themes, and stuff like that? Because I don't recall it taking me a undue amount of time to read - a week, maybe two weeks, tops?

Ulysses took me a good 3 months to get through last summer (during which time I took a few breaks and read several other books), and although I can say I've read it, I *still* don't know wtf was going on half the time. I think it would definitely take a reread to get more of it, but I'm not quite ready for that yet.

 

[corianderstem]

I've got Ulysses, Moby Dick and Satanic Verses for when I feel the need to delve into a book I'll never get around to finishing.

(or at least read some of the "hard" book, put it aside in favor of something lighter, and keep alternating)

 

[VintagePunk]

Cori, you really should read Midnight's Children. I adore that book, it was amazing. Well worth it.

I'll eventually reread it, too.

 

[BonoIsMyMuse]

I have a PhD and haven't read Moby Dick. Nor do I ever plan to, if I can help it

 

[VintagePunk]

I have a PhD and haven't read Moby Dick. Nor do I ever plan to, if I can help it

I thought I'd remembered reading that you have a graduate degree. In literature, right? And that you write, as well? That's why I was wondering if you were doing analysis as you read, as opposed to the more superficial kind of reading that I would do, in comparison.

Themes and things like that seem to go right over my head. Unless I go back and reread expressly for that purpose. On first readings, I tend to devour books for the plot, characters, settings, etc.

 

[AtomicBono]

I'm reading Chuck Klosterman's Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs right now, and I'm not enjoying it quite as much as I'd expected to. I'm only a few essays into it, though, so I'm hoping I start to like it more.

I'm reading that now too, except I really love it so far. It makes sense to me.

 

[corianderstem]

#31 Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway

Every once in a while, I'll go on a young adult kick. I admit, I usually get suckered in by cover art, or the subject matter, if I see a display of new releases in a book store.

This one was a lot of fun. Audrey is 16 and has just broken up with her boyfriend, who in turn wrote a song about it. "Audrey, Wait!" becomes an overnight sensation, and her life is thrown into a whirlwind of inadvertant (and irritating) fame.

A lot of it was really funny. Thumbs up for fun books!

 

[lazarus]

So what I'm getting from that review is that Audrey is totally available right now?




Working on A Tale of Two Cities currently, not as slow-going as I expected.

 

[corianderstem]

Audrey is 16, and you should not even go there.

 

[onebloodonelife]

I read Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential on the first few days of my vacation. I didn't love it, but it was entertaining. I'm reading Chuck Klosterman's Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs right now, and I'm not enjoying it quite as much as I'd expected to. I'm only a few essays into it, though, so I'm hoping I start to like it more.

I'm reading that now too, except I really love it so far. It makes sense to me.

I'm re-reading it, and I still love it. I think he has a fairly similar sense of humor as I do, so I get it.

 

[lazarus]

Audrey is 16, and you should not even go there.

Audrey is not real.


Cori, Wait!

An older woman is dumped by her husband, who disappears from Interference, only to return to spread their dirty laundry across the forum.

 

[u2popmofo]

My secret? Alternating novels that take time to read with chick lit or older-skewed young adult books that breeze by.

I usually do something very similar. I choose to refer to the more "embarrassing" type of books as "airplane books" though, as I seem to like to fly through (pun intended) a throw away type horror or sci-fi fast read on a plane. For example, my most recent reads are:

Day By Day Armageddon - J.L Bourne (zombies...)
The Road - Cormac McCarthy (2007 Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction)

I actually just finished The Road today (on a plane, ironically. did this one backwards). What a beautiful book. I was put off by McCarthy's writing style for the first 10 to 20 pages, but after that I was completely hooked.

As a side thought, I find it sad that I've seen the "Pulitzer Prize for Literature" stamp on the book frequently covered by a "Oprah Book Club" sticker.....

 

[corianderstem]

#32 Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson

This one caught my eye the same day I saw Audrey, Wait! on the same display at the bookstore. This one was sneaky - the girl on the cover looks a lot like Scarlett Johannsen at first glance ... I don't think that was an accident.

Anyway.

Scarlett is 15 and lives in New York with her family, where they own a run-down hotel they're trying to keep above water. When the kids turn 15, they each take over a specific suite in the hotel that they are in charge of. An eccentric guest moves into Scarlett's suite and turns Scarlett's life upside-down.

It was pretty good. Cute concept, entertaining story, could have done without the romance. But I suppose it's inevitable when reading a book about a 15 year old girl.

 

[No spoken words]

I usually do something very similar. I choose to refer to the more "embarrassing" type of books as "airplane books" though, as I seem to like to fly through (pun intended) a throw away type horror or sci-fi fast read on a plane. For example, my most recent reads are:

Day By Day Armageddon - J.L Bourne (zombies...)
The Road - Cormac McCarthy (2007 Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction)

I actually just finished The Road today (on a plane, ironically. did this one backwards). What a beautiful book. I was put off by McCarthy's writing style for the first 10 to 20 pages, but after that I was completely hooked.

As a side thought, I find it sad that I've seen the "Pulitzer Prize for Literature" stamp on the book frequently covered by a "Oprah Book Club" sticker.....

Cormac is a giant. I'm mining his past works (reading Outer Dark currently) and am loving it. The Road was....unreal. Read Blood Meridian, it's fairly slow going at first but then picks up nicely.

Laz, you thought A Tale of Two Cities would be slow??? Dickens FTW.

 

[lazarus]

Cori, so what I'm getting from that review is that rooms in Scarlett's family's hotel are available?



NSW, I had an awful time with Great Expectations in high school. My refusal to finish that and a few other boring books (Thomas Hardy's Return of the Native? Please kill me.) is part of what got me kicked out of the English honors program junior year. I've been reticent to return to Dickens, though I do own Oliver Twist (love all the film adaptations!), David Copperfield, and The Mystery of Edwin Drood, all unread.

It's probably because I was reading so many science fiction novels in my own time that GE was a little slow in comparison. Though that didn't stop me from loving the Shakespeare, Fitzgerald, Twain, etc. I don't know, the guy was paid by the word and it really showed on that one.

It's weird that this edition mentions only Sydney Carton on the back, and he doesn't appear until like 65 pages have gone by, and still seems like a supporting player after 100 pages.

I'm still waiting for it to "kick in", so to speak.

 

[corianderstem]

Cori, so what I'm getting from that review is that rooms in Scarlett's family's hotel are available?

To speak of the state and future of the hotel at the end of the book would be a spoiler, and since I'm sure everyone on this site will be rushing out to read it, I will not spoil.

 

[u2popmofo]

The Road was....unreal.

Agreed. I didn't want to bring up the plot of the book when I mentioned it on Sunday, as I didn't want to have to think about what I'd just read more than I already was. Great stuff.

I have No Country For Old Men but haven't read it yet, so that will probably be my next book of his (but I'll probably read something else first, not sure what). One of my friends is a big fan of his books as well, and he also mentioned Blood Meridian.

 

[No spoken words]

Agreed. I didn't want to bring up the plot of the book when I mentioned it on Sunday, as I didn't want to have to think about what I'd just read more than I already was. Great stuff.

I have No Country For Old Men but haven't read it yet, so that will probably be my next book of his (but I'll probably read something else first, not sure what). One of my friends is a big fan of his books as well, and he also mentioned Blood Meridian.

His work prior to No Country and The Road is very different from those two books. Still incredible stuff, though. I honestly have no idea what writer, outside of Faulkner, to compare him to. Keep us updated on your progress through his works, please.

Laz, that makes a lot of sense. Funny, like you, on my own time in grammar and High School, I was reading a lot of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, but that did not really dent my enjoyment of most classics. The one classic author I disliked then? Hemmingway. Still not a big fan, actually. Steinbeck is my favorite classic author, I believe. East off Eden alone would make me revere the man.

 

[lazarus]

I don't mind Hemingway's books, but I prefer stylists with more of a flourish. If you're supposed to be either a Hemingway or Fitzgerald man, it's the latter for me.

I've only read Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday, but I loved both books. I own The Winter of Our Discontent and read a few chapter of Travels With Charley, so I'm sure I'll be hitting more of his stuff at some point.

Have you (or anyone else here) read any James Jones? He's best known for From Here To Eternity and The Thin Red Line, but more for the movie adaptations than the books themselves. I've read all of his work (he has less than 10 novels), but he is one hell of a writer. Similar to Hemingway in that he was a tough guy/man's man, but veered into stream-of-consciousness and some really big ideas at times. And his army novels are VERY cynical and anti-war, and this is from a guy who fought at Guadalcanal in WWII.

 

[Saracene]

Yay! I got my glasses back and can read again!

Just finished Snow Falling on Cedars. Overall I enjoyed the book and thought it was well-written, but I also felt that there was something oddly anti-climatic about the ending, and that the main female character remained somewhat sketchy. I think I've actually enjoyed the little secondary-character vignettes more so than the main story.

Personally, I could never get into Hemingway, though I've tried several times. I just find there's something alienating about his manly-man writing style.