MERGED-->All Current Interference Book Reading Discussion

[Diogenes]

Nighfall by Isaac Asimov & Robert Silverberg

Just wanted to know if anyone else out there has read this book. I have just finished reading it, and would really like to have a discussion about what the true meaning (if any) there is. Most of all I would like to know what you think of the ending of the book. Personally I thought that Asimov/Silverberg could have written a much better, much more exciting ending. However, it still is one of the best books that I have had the privilege of reading in a long while.

IF YOU HAVEN'T READ IT, READ IT TODAY!!!

 

[Angel]

I have to second "Fathers and Sons" by Turgenev

Let me also add that "Lord of the flies" sucked soooo bad.

Great. Someone mentioned "Great Expectations". *reading that right now and am very -->

 

[dsmith2904]

Re: Re: lol!

I Faulkner, the anti-Hemingway.

I took a contemporary American literature class in college and we read "The Sun Also Rises" and "A Light in August." I was already a fan of Hemingway's work by then but knew very little about Faulkner, except that his book was long. I still loved it so much! Because of my journalism background, I like finding the shortest way to say something and really admire that quality in others, and though "A Light In August" was long, it wasn't wordy.
I'd think of Nathaniel Hawthorne or other 18th and 19th century writers as more anti-Hemingway than Faulkner.

 

[ghetofabu]

I knew there would be a merger.

 

[meegannie]

Re: Re: Re: lol!

I took a contemporary American literature class in college and we read "The Sun Also Rises" and "A Light in August." I was already a fan of Hemingway's work by then but knew very little about Faulkner, except that his book was long. I still loved it so much! Because of my journalism background, I like finding the shortest way to say something and really admire that quality in others, and though "A Light In August" was long, it wasn't wordy.
I'd think of Nathaniel Hawthorne or other 18th and 19th century writers as more anti-Hemingway than Faulkner.

No, Hemingway and Faulkner hated each other. The famous Hemingway quote regarding this was "Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words? He thinks I don't know the ten-dollar words. I know them all right. But there are older and simpler and better words, and those are the ones I use."

The 18th and 19th century writers had a very descriptive style, but it was completely different from the style Faulkner used. Faulkner was much more experimental than Hemingway who just stuck with one style of writing.

 

[Giant Lemon]

I'm such an english nerd, I loved that book

Well, I'm glad someone likes it!


Some of you mentioned Lord of the Flies, The Great Gatsby, and Ethan Frome- I liked all those books!

 

[meegannie]

Some of you mentioned Lord of the Flies, The Great Gatsby, and Ethan Frome- I liked all those books!

Me too, and everything by Dickens as well.

The merged thread thing is confusing me. Am I reading Hemingway or do I hate him?

 

[Angel]

ok meg, than inspire me to pick up my copy of Great Expectations! pleeeeeeeeeeeease!!!!!!! I just can't get into it. I have been on page 108 or something for months.

 

[u2er]

The Fellowship of the Ring

What's wrong with that?
I'm reading it too.. almost finished with it.. I also bought The Two Towers, so when I finish FotR (probably tomorrow) I can immediately start on that

 

[anitram]

Currently: I just finished Surfacing by Margaret Atwood and Measure for Measure by Shakespeare.

How did you like Surfacing? I have the book and just can't get into it at all. I liked Atwood's "A Handmaid's Tale", but Surfacing is slow and I'm not finding the main character particularly interesting or appealing.

Just finished reading "Half a Life" by V.S. Naipaul (it was excellent), and am currently reading Dave Eggers' "A heartbreaking work of staggering genius". It's also a fantastic book.

ETA: I sat by the river Piedra and wept is by Paulo Coelho. I really didn't like the book, couldn't understand why the man wanted to be with the woman - everything was so forced, so deliberate, so obvious. Coelho's "The Alchemist" is far superior; even "The Fifth Mountain" is better, though not as good as the former.

 

[TripThruUreWires]

i'm no critic, but i highly recommend How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, having just finished it!!! I'm not easily amused by most writers, but this book had my sides in stitches!! it's a great anecdote and commentary on mainstream media and people's obsession with stardom.
------------
although i've had my fill of classical literature, i highly enjoyed Old Man and the Sea

 

[notiti]

Good god I also hate Hemmingway. Firey passion. Of course I am a woman, so that helps. Just because you don't want to sleep with us doesn't mean that you should treat us as though we are the root of all evil Ernest. Honestly. And to him i say, poor Hemmingway, just because you have invented a style, that doesn't mean it's good. Learn to use punctuation.

 

[sulawesigirl4]

ETA: I sat by the river Piedra and wept is by Paulo Coelho. I really didn't like the book, couldn't understand why the man wanted to be with the woman - everything was so forced, so deliberate, so obvious. Coelho's "The Alchemist" is far superior; even "The Fifth Mountain" is better, though not as good as the former.

yeah, my roomate told me that "the alchemist" was good. haven't seen it around here (when you are on the side of a mountain in the Alps, you have to take what you can find. lol) but i will keep my eyes open. I too was a bit bewildered as to how the man was so "in love" with the woman. It seemed a bit forced. However, I did appreciate some of the themes regarding the feminine face of God. I just find that I would look directly to God, ala Bono seeing the Holy Spirit as feminine, than making the Virgin Mary into a divine being. Still...an interesting read.

Today I am re-reading one of my favorite Vonnegut books. "Cat's Cradle". It's short and funny and wry. I recommend it highly.

 

[dizzy]

On Borrowed Words by Ilan Stavans. Not really enjoying it, but I have to finish the book so I can get a hold of another one.

The Virgin Suicides by Eugene something

Hehe. I liked that. I think it was by Jeffrey Eugenides or something.

Unforgettable Lemon, I've only seen the movie "In The Name Of The Father" , but I haven't read the book. Wasn't it called something else?

 

[Laura M]

That was it Dizzy lol

 

[UnforgettableLemon]

Unforgettable Lemon, I've only seen the movie "In The Name Of The Father" , but I haven't read the book. Wasn't it called something else?

It was originally titled "Proved Innocent". But after the release of the movie the title was changed to "In the Name of the Father". The book is much better, and though the major facts in the movie are right, lots and lots of details and minor things were drastically different. But that said, I loved both book and film.

 

[cass]

I saw a copy of "In the name of the Father" the other day

I get that one get away..shoulda oughta boughta.
A copy of "Tha Alchemist " did the rounds with a lot of my friends. I haven't read it yet. On the list.
Has anyone mentioned Wilbur Smith ? prolly not.
I want to give a for public libraries. I bought a copy of "River God" and enjoyed it and went halves in a copy of "Seventh Scroll" . But haven't read the third book "Warlock". The nice lady from the library reserved it for me, gave me a call and said "your book awaits". We are very lucky to have that option in Oz.
So, when I get my car going( it broke down on the highway last night(how embarrassing, I wasn't dressed very appropriately for flagging down a truckie and asking for help) It is currently alone on the side of the road...abandoned..I hope no one stole the tyres overnight or my CD player, as unreliable as it is )So when I get my car going...I'm off to Ancient Egypt. I have read a few chapters of "Warlock" Wilbur does longer descriptions than Tolkien..if that is possible.
I remember once being in a class and the topic turned to sex. One woman said.." I prefer a good book" I'll never forget that.

Books are wonderful

 

[IWasBored]

i wish i could get into a lit class...class registration is a nightmare as a freshman...

i'm reading lord of the rings: return of the king, i'm about half way done, i took a break to read james joyce's the dead (john huston made a movie of that), death of a salesman (i don't know why i read that, it was boring), and half of a tom stoppard play (that was before i misplaced the book...it's a huge anthology, i don't know where something that large could have run off to).

hahaha flatland was horrible!! i haven't a clue who wrote it, we had to read it in math class...

assuming i get to go rent movies one last time before i go back to school, i was planning on renting "in the name of the father"...is it good??

 

[UnforgettableLemon]

assuming i get to go rent movies one last time before i go back to school, i was planning on renting "in the name of the father"...is it good??

You have Daniel Day-Lewis on your avatar but you have not seen this movie? It's a great movie, and as always, Day-Lewis shines. Read the book if you get the chance though.

 

[Niamh_Saoirse]

A few days ago I finished reading " Secret stories in Recoleta". It's a brilliant book about Recoleta cemetery in Buenos Aires. It deals with the stories of some of the people buried in there.

 

[hippy]

Re: I saw a copy of "In the name of the Father" the other day

Books are wonderful

They are!

And I must say to Olive, you should let ME teach you about "Gatsby"... cause it's an incredible book when taught right... unfortunately, many people have bad high school experiences with it and that forever ruins it

Anyway, I'm a COMPLETE lit dork... I mean, how much of a dork do you have to be when you want to make Lit the rest of your life?

Over the Winter Break I really got into a lot of Charles Bukowski's poetry (and today I checked out some more of his books)

I also REALLY enjoy the poetry of Brendan Kennelly

And (besides all of the things I'm reading for my three lit classes) I'm currently reading Norman Mailer's "The Executioner's Song"

If anyone ever wants to discuss literature of any kind, I'm your gal! I love talking about lit, it's my passion!

 

[IWasBored]

You have Daniel Day-Lewis on your avatar but you have not seen this movie? It's a great movie, and as always, Day-Lewis shines. Read the book if you get the chance though.

i'm at the library now looking for the book actually, i rented the movie and watched it last night. i thought it was great. and day-lewis was amazing in it.

hahaha, yeah i've got him on my avatar and i hadn't seen it. see, i had no idea who he was until "gangs of new york" came out, since i really don't watch movies...i saw scorsese and day-lewis interviewed on pbs (on charlie rose's show)...so i rented "my left foot", went and saw "gangs of ny", rented "last of the mohicans" and "the boxer" and then yesterday, literally right after posting that, went out and rented "in the name of the father".



this thread is really cool.

 

[She Is Raging]

Novels - The Talisman and the Black House

Has anyone read either of these? Co-written by Stephen King and Peter Straub?

The Talisman is probably my favorite book ever. I just reread it (all 700+ pages) this last week.... because apparently I live under a rock - the sequel (the black house) came out last year after a 17 year wait. I cannot wait until I have a little while to sit down and get into it.

There's something about the character Wolf in the Talisman that I really loved... King has always been so great with character development. I felt the same way with Mike from Bag of Bones. It amazes me that someone can create a character that you can love and bond to in a sense,and at the same time create the characters that scare you half to death and keep you awake at night.

Any other fans of these ?

 

[Sicy]

*bump for she is raging *

 

[u2loopy]

Actually, I loved the Great Gatsby as well.

But in HS I hated "The Catcher in the Rye". I couldn't finish it. I also had to read "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe. Cant tell you what that was about either.

Right now, I'm reading "House of Leaves" by Mark Z. Danielewski. What a total Mind-f**k that book is!!!

I'm not even halfway thru it (it's about 600 pages) but as I'm reading it, every once in a while I'll look up from it and say, "Wait....what am I reading???? What's happening?" But I have to finish it.

 

[IWasBored]

i had to read "things fall apart" too...and then we went and saw it performed as a play, and everyone (including the teachers) fell asleep at some point...we had this paper assignment that got cancelled cos the play as horrible...

but i liked "catcher in the rye". it was part of the tenth grade english class, but i didn't know that, so i read it ninth grade. i got out of reading it in 10th and read "lord of the flies" instead (which i had also read in ninth grade). i think i would have hated it had i read it in school.

i finished reading "in the name of the father" yesterday, and yeah it was good. still haven't figured out how i feel about what changes were made for the movie though...seemed like a few too many...either way i liked both the book and movie a lot...

 

[hippy]

I've read Achebe's Things Fall Apart for a couple of different classes. I read it in high school as part of a British Literature course. I liked it then, but I didn't really get it until I read it again last semester during a Cultural Anthropology class. For those who didn't particularly enjoy it... I would suggest reading it again, but simply enjoying the incredible glimpse into another culture. It changes your whole perspective.

 

[sharky]

as mentioned earlier in this thread, just finished the Hours by Michael Cunningham and Word Freak by Stefan Fatsis. both good reads.

oh and Ethan Frome. God, I f-in' hated that book. also, if I never had to read Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy again I would be happy.

 

[IWasBored]

while i was at home, my mom was going on about how much she hated Ethan Frome.

 

[meegannie]

I have to spend $30 at Amazon.com.