Reading is Sexy: Books Part II

[lazarus]

Any Robertson Davies fans here? Have I already asked that? I finished his Deptford trilogy (one of the great reading experiences I've had) and now I'm on the second book of the Cornish trilogy, What's Bred in the Bone. It's slow going but I'm enjoying it.

 

[beegee]

Ok, I'm just going to say it.

I hated the book but I just watched Twilight the movie and LOVED it.

 

[aptdot]

The Twilight books were so cringe-worthy, they made me uncomfortable...

The White Tiger, by Aravind Adiga, is quite good, but I dunno if it's Booker Prize worthy.

Anyone here a Khaled Hosseini fan? The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns are two of my faves. Brilliant.

The Attack by Yasmina Khadra was quite an unusual but satisfying read.

Also just finished Cockroach by Rawi Hage, which was good, but I liked Hage's De Niro's Game more. Great great first novel.

 

[corianderstem]

I hated the book but I just watched Twilight the movie and LOVED it.

I have Twilight waiting for me at home from Netflix .... I will cry with terror if I find myself in the same category as you. I rented it for the lulz ... what if ... what if I actually like it?

 

[anitram]

I have Twilight waiting for me at home from Netflix .... I will cry with terror if I find myself in the same category as you. I rented it for the lulz ... what if ... what if I actually like it?

I hated the book and I thought the movie was heinous, so there is still hope for you.

 

[corianderstem]

Excellent. And hey, I'll get some beautiful Pacific NW scenery ... although I get that every day, so oh well.

 

[beegee]

Here's a tip.

Have a couple of drinks first

 

[corianderstem]

Crud, I just drank the last of that bottle of wine, and I'm out of vodka.

 

[meegannie]

Anyone here a Khaled Hosseini fan? The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns are two of my faves. Brilliant.

I started A Thousand Splendid Suns today. I've had it for a few years, but I was put off it because I really didn't like The Kite Runner. Hopefully I'll like this one more.

 

[U2isthebest]

I'm reading Blinded By The Right:The Conscience of an Ex-Conservative by David Brock right now. Brock was a liberal turned neocon while a student at Berkeley, of all places. He ended up becoming a political reporter who made his living doing everything he could to bring down the Democratic party and it's leadership. He had a hand in the Paula Jones scandal, wrote a scathing biography about Anita Hill, was part of the witch-hunt against President Clinton, and had a part in a lot of other dirty tricks by the Republican party. He ended up coming out in the late 90s-2000 and left the Republican party because he couldn't take the lies, deceit, and depravity of the modern Conservative movement. His book takes you through that time, and I really like how he admits his own mistakes and really delves deep into the mind of the Conservative leaders in this country. I'm always up for books that show the hypocrisy and irrelevance of the modern Republican party, but those books/articles/media are usually by left-leaning reporters and/or authors who don't understand the view-points of the Conservative movement. Brock does, having been one himself at one point, and that makes his book hit home all the more. I thought I couldn't be more repulsed than I already am by the Republican party, but unfortunately, I can be.

 

[Zoobaby14]

Picked up my first jane Austen novel.
Pride and Prejudice.

Have to admit the reason why I bought it because it is black with the title in a pretty gold and purple.
And it looks kinda like a notebook/diary

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

Picked up my first jane Austen novel.
Pride and Prejudice.

Have to admit the reason why I bought it because it is black with the title in a pretty gold and purple.
And it looks kinda like a notebook/diary

Jane Austen rocks. Good choice.

 

[corianderstem]

So is anyone going to read the new "mashup" of Jane Austen and zombies? I definitely want to check it out.

 

[powerhour24]

^I was just going to talk about that, I can't wait to get my hands on it.

Right now I'm reading Jose Saramago's Death With Interruptions, which is surprisingly satirical and funny, something Blindness definitely not (not that I wanted it to be).

 

[Thora]

We've talked about the Jane Austen/zombies book at my office, and one of my co-workers knows someone who has it, or has ordered it, so we'll be borrowing it, and passing it around. It looks hilarious! Pride & Prejudice is my favourite Jane Austen novel, so I was a bit miffed at first that someone was messing with such a classic, but now I'm eager to read all about the zombies and ninjas threatening them. Hee!


Can't remember if I mentioned this, but I'm currently re-reading Anna Karenin. Haven't read it in about 5 or 6 years, and am really enjoying it. I'm about a quarter of the way through.

 

[BonoIsMyMuse]

It might take even more than zombies to get me to like Jane Austen!

 

[aptdot]

I hated the book and I thought the movie was heinous, so there is still hope for you.

Me too, I skipped over half the movie and the book was just...there are no words.

As for Khaled Hosseini, I liked A Thousand Splendid Suns a lot more, it focussed on two women, and the plot was quite good. It wasn't written in the first person, but I still thought it was a lot more personal than The Kite Runner.

For the Austen haters, try Persuasion, it's my personal favourite, but it requires a bit o' patience.

 

[corianderstem]

Boy With Loaded Gun by Lewis Nordan

I was expecting more of a wacky memoir of the author growing up as an oddball kid in post-WWII deep south. It was a little of that, but a more thoughtful memoir of the author's life than the wacky hijinks I was led to believe were in the book.

It was very well written, and I want to read some of his fiction, but there were some very painful chapters as well, as he wasn't always the most likable person.

 

[corianderstem]

I feel obligated to own up to this here. Be gentle with me.

I watched Twilight last night .... and it wasn't all that bad. I actually kind of dug it. Yeah, it was silly and a bunch of other things, but I think the movie succeeded in being a schmoopy, cool little love story where the book failed because it was so horribly written.

Bella is an annoying non-entity in both book and movie, though; would it have killed Stephanie Meyer to make her a more interesting character instead of someone whose personality seems to solely be "totally in love with my vampire boyfriend and a little clumsy"?

I thought the sparkle effect was pretty lame, though. It looked like his skin was just kind of rippling in an icky disease kind of way rather than "you're beautiful and sparkly" kind of way.

 

[beegee]

YES.

I was highly disappointed by the sparkly skin. It looked more like a reptilian skin condition. I mean, everything else in the story is so ridiculously dramatic, why not make it absolutely dazzling? I expected Bella to be like, blinded or something, but no. No such luck.

 

[beegee]

In other book news, I am next on the list for Drood by Dan Simmons. Has anyone else read it?

From Amazon:

Bestseller Simmons (The Terror) brilliantly imagines a terrifying sequence of events as the inspiration for Dickens's last, uncompleted novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, in this unsettling and complex thriller. In the course of narrowly escaping death in an 1865 train wreck and trying to rescue fellow passengers, Dickens encounters a ghoulish figure named Drood, who had apparently been traveling in a coffin. Along with his real-life novelist friend Wilkie Collins, who narrates the tale, Dickens pursues the elusive Drood, an effort that leads the pair to a nightmarish world beneath London's streets. Collins begins to wonder whether the object of their quest, if indeed the man exists, is merely a cover for his colleague's own murderous inclinations.

 

[corianderstem]

I saw it at a local book store and was startled by its heft, so read the jacket flap. Then I read some great reviews of it, so I will likely read it.

Based on its size and the fact that I do most of my reading on the bus and don't want to lug something that heavy around all day, I'll probably wait for paperback.

 

[yolland]

I don't have much time to read for pleasure anymore, but during spring break I read Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper by Fuchsia Dunlop, an English food writer and journalist who about a decade ago became the first Westerner to study at a Chinese cooking school, and has been writing about Chinese food and culture ever since. The book is basically a memoir-travelogue of her experiences studying the food culture and cooking of various regions of China, from Shanghai to the Turkic peoples of Xinjiang. You do need to appreciate food writing to enjoy it but, because her primary topic by nature draws her into the minutiae of everyday life, there are many fascinating, and at times funny or sad, encounters with aspects of Chinese society and culture we don't hear about in the West very often.

 

[A_Wanderer]

I just read What do You Care What Other People Think by Richard Feynman, a great read - he captures the enthusiasm that science delivers really well.

I bought "Calculus and Analytical Geometry" to brush up and improve my skills, since I don't want to be an idiot about physics any more (and I can apply it elsewhere)

Couple this with the Martin Amis' House of Meetings (I am yet to read Night Train but I do like his political essays) and the Absolute Edition of Watchmen and I'm sitting happy.

 

[corianderstem]

Just Listen by Sarah Dessen

I liked this one better than Dessen's Lock and Key, which I read last year. I don't even remember what that one was about, so that probably says it all right there.

I'm often drawn to young adult novels - maybe that means I'm meant to write one someday.

 

[beegee]

Do it.

Then they'll make a movie out of it and you'll be set for life

 

[corianderstem]

But all the good ideas have already been taken! I'll have to fall back on ... um .... hm. Sparkly werewolves. Or something.

 

[u2popmofo]

We've talked about the Jane Austen/zombies book at my office, and one of my co-workers knows someone who has it, or has ordered it, so we'll be borrowing it, and passing it around. It looks hilarious! Pride & Prejudice is my favourite Jane Austen novel, so I was a bit miffed at first that someone was messing with such a classic, but now I'm eager to read all about the zombies and ninjas threatening them. Hee!

Let me know what you think (or what you coworkers think). The Zombie Book group I'm in on Goodreads has not enjoyed it as much as everyone was hoping / expecting.

Yes, I'm in a zombie group on Goodreads. My zombie obsession over the last couple years even weirds me out.

Bestseller Simmons (The Terror)

Has anyone read this? I pick it up and consider getting it once every two or three months, but I keep passing on it. It sounds like something I'd love, but the overall length worries me. I have no problem with long books, I just worry as I've never read any of his work.

 

[Auhiz]

Zombies.

I think a while back there was mention of the Max Brooks zombie novels. The Zombie Survival Guide was pretty good but I still haven't gotten around to reading World War Z.

Anyway...

I recently read The Last Family in England, by Matt Haig. It's readable in a single sitting and for a very slow reader like me that's saying something. If you're a dog lover (particularly labradors, and who doesn't love them?) you might give this a look but be warned as it's a little sad, and definitely not what you might expect based on the title or the happy looking front cover. I was actually hoping for something light-hearted and fun but the story is apparently a rehash of Henry IV Part 1 (which I've never read)...

 

[u2popmofo]

Zombies.

I think a while back there was mention of the Max Brooks zombie novels. The Zombie Survival Guide was pretty good but I still haven't gotten around to reading World War Z.

It's honestly 10x better than the Survival Guide, so I think you'll like it quite a bit. I'm hoping the movie does not suck.