Reading? Still Sexy: Books Part IV

[lazarus]

Oh, man, I love Dick. I'm hit or miss with ass but Dick can do little wrong for me.

Great Expectations by ... oh, you know.

I don't know what it is about me and these classics. Just like MobyHyphenDick, I was really into it for about the first half, and then lost interest.

Anyway, have you tried something a little more modest from the same author, like A Tale Of Two Cities? I didn't care for Great Expectations way back when, but I tried this one a couple of years ago and found it very moving.

Speaking of this time period, anyone read any Wilkie Collins? Have I already asked this before? I read The Moonstone and The Woman In White and thought both were fantastic.

 

[corianderstem]

If I try another Dickens along the line, I'll go with A Tale of Two Cities.

 

[No spoken words]

If I try another Dickens along the line, I'll go with A Tale of Two Cities.

Good call.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

 

[lazarus]

I saw GAF's name in the recent post column for this thread, and I was like "What is that neanderthal doing in there?"

 

[bono_212]

Dude is the one who named this thread "Reading? Still Sexy"

 

[LemonMelon]

I saw GAF's name in the recent post column for this thread, and I was like "What is that neanderthal doing in there?"

Hey, that logo has some text on it.

 

[Padj]

Speaking of Dickens, I've just finished reading David Copperfield in English (which is not my mother tongue so for me was a great achievement). I enjoyed it a great deal, but I think I liked the Pickwick Papers better (one of my favorite books ever). Those are the only two Dickens books I read so far, any recommendations of what I should read next?

 

[No spoken words]

^ A Tale of Two Cities

I have finished Look to Windward and have started Chabon's Telegraph Avenue.

 

[IWasBored]

Finished up god is not great, and minus my whining about the middle section, I really enjoyed it. Torn between getting back to d&d fantasy land and re-reading the inferno. I've made more Dante references lately than anyone has any right to, it would only be fitting....

 

[Saracene]

Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernières

*sigh* I was really loving this book until the last 70 pages or so. It's set on the island of Cephallonia during the Italian and later German occupation of Greece at the time of World War II. The main story is the love story between the Italian captain and the local Greek girl, but it also follows the perspectives of many other colourful and memorable characters. It's funny and whimsical in places, totally horrific and poignant in others, very good read.

Unfortunately in the last 70 pages or so the book switches gears completely, racing to cover about 50 years of history and throwing up new characters one has no reason to care about. Worse, a major turn of the story depends on characters behaving in an inexplicably stupid manner and feels very contrived, which really soured my feelings about the book.

 

[bono_212]

I really enjoyed that film, fwiw. I'm sure it's not exactly a favorite, but I thought it was decent enough.

“Love is a temporary madness, it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides. And when it subsides, you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion, it is not the desire to mate every second minute of the day, it is not lying awake at night imagining that he is kissing every cranny of your body. No, don't blush, I am telling you some truths. That is just being "in love", which any fool can do. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident.”

 

[corianderstem]

I loved that book until the ending as well. It made me want to throw it across the room.

 

[the tourist]

So I get to page 448 in the 6th book of The Wheel of Time series. And read onto the next page and am like, what the heck? Checked the page number? 481. 33 pages missing out of the middle of the book, which I bought new on amazon. Of course since I bought the book when I was reading the previous book, and didn't start this one til a couple weeks ago, the 1-month return period has longsince passed. I really, really hope they'll exchange it. I sent them an e-mail detailing. But man, what a bummer!

 

[lazarus]

Maybe it intentionally skips ahead 33 pages into the future?

#timetravel

 

[bono_212]

So I get to page 448 in the 6th book of The Wheel of Time series. And read onto the next page and am like, what the heck? Checked the page number? 481. 33 pages missing out of the middle of the book, which I bought new on amazon. Of course since I bought the book when I was reading the previous book, and didn't start this one til a couple weeks ago, the 1-month return period has longsince passed. I really, really hope they'll exchange it. I sent them an e-mail detailing. But man, what a bummer!

That is really weird...

 

[No spoken words]

Finished Telegraph Avenue.

Well, I was a little let down, to be honest. I've liked or loved everything Chabon has written, so of course my hopes were high. But this book just didn't do it for me. I am sure this has more to do with my tastes than anything else. I just rarely embrace these types of books, the Great American Novel types. Just too grandiose for my tastes, and I'm not talking about the length of the book, because I love long-ass books. More how even when describing the simplest of actions or events, there must be tons of description and back story, no matter how minor the moment. Again, for some, this is right up their alley but it never connects with me, no matter how well done. I could go on but why bother.....

Speaking of long books, time to read my first ever Peter F. Hamilton book. This one is a stand alone of recent vintage, titled Great North Road. We shall see how Mr. Hamilton and I get along, and if this is the beginning of a long exploration of his work, or a one book stand.

 

[martha]

At least start a new thread when you finish it.