The Book Discussion Thread

[D_Davis]

I'm hoping I like Game of Thrones more than I liked Wolfe's Book of the New Sun, the other uber-popular, "life-changing" fantasy book I recently read. I didn't dislike Wolfe's book, I actually thought it was pretty good, but it didn't blow my socks off like I thought it would.

The best single-volume fantasy I've ever read is still J.M. McDermott's The Last Dragon (absolutely brilliant in every way), and the best series is a tie between Michael Moorcock's Elric Saga, and Stephen Kings The Dark Tower.

[Kurosawa Fan]

I'm about 250 pages in. I had heard good things but it wasn't till you started raving about it that I decided to go for it. The chapters for Ned and Cate tend to drag a bit for me, but they are still solid and everything with the kids has been really awesome.

I'm glad you're liking it. Ned and Cate get much better as the story progresses.

D, I'm not sure whether you'll think it's life-changing, as you've read much more from the genre than I have, but for a novice such as myself, it's been fantastic.

[Duncan]

Read David Foster Wallace's The Broom of the System. It was alright. Not nearly as good as IJ. It almost felt "indie" what with its quirky characters and super-hip irony. Sometimes comes off as a bunch of pseudo-people (and pseudo-parrots) discussing Wittgenstein and Auden, but with little to no pathos behind it. Also feels like he incorporated a bunch of short stories he probably wrote during college, and they're almost all a chore to get through, being barely part of the narrative, and even then only in an intellectual sense. It's definitely funny at times, and at times stimulating or whatever, but I never really got a handle on Lenore Beadsman, the main character, or why everyone seems to obsess over her. I mean aside from the fact that she's hot, that is. Basically, he got a lot better.

[EvilShoe]

For K_Fan:
The French Lieutenant's Woman: Took me a while to get into this one. Thought it would end up not being my thing, but once Fowles begins to toy around with the Victorian conventions some more it really started to grab me. By the ending I was a fan.

Cloud Atlas: The way Mitchell easily changes writing style is beyond remarkable. I wasn't fully into all of the stories (the Luisa Rey thing left me cold) but there's enough here to revisit one day. Very much loved the Adam Ewing, Zedelghem and Cavendish tales.

[ledfloyd]

i really love cloud atlas. even the luisa rey story.

[number8]

http://sites.google.com/site/fadedoa...terbookseller/

[amberlita]

I'm glad you're liking it. Ned and Cate get much better as the story progresses.

You're right. Actually, I feel rather stupid. About 50 pages after I said this, their storylines really took off. *headslap*

[lovejuice]

The first half of Swann's Way is as great as anything I've ever read. The second is trying my patient. A 40-pages on how jealous the main character feels is not exactly my cup of tea.

[Scar]

Picked up an old beat up hardcover of The Exorcist and read it this week while in St Louis, (and loved it). Definitely getting back into reading. I think its probably do to the books on tape I'd listen to during all of my driving with work. I listened to the whole Empire of Man series, and now am debating whether or not to buy the actual books.

[Kurosawa Fan]

We went to that blueberry farm and book barn today. Pretty cool place made all the more worth it by Val finding a 1943 copy of Wuthering Heights in great condition, which feature fantastic illustrations. I took some photos on my phone that do it no justice at all.

[lovejuice]

Swann's Way: At the end the good outweighs the bad, and I'm quite satisfied. The book, though, will remain for me a curious mix of what I most like and despite in literature. It's a brilliant portrayal and study of time. My favorite part is around the end of chapter 2 when Swann starts to recover from his love pain thank to time. Yet what precedes is a most insufferable chunk. It makes sense to the structure of narrative, but I does hate it when a writer put us into the head of a "stupid character."

I feel like reading it again one day, but perhaps skipping some 100 pages or so.

[megladon8]

That is divine, KF.

I've never read "Wuthering Heights", and apparently I'm really missing out.

[Milky Joe]

Very cool. WH is one of the finest novels ever writ, by my count.

[ledfloyd]

i finished the trial today. it was very kafkaesque.

[SpaceOddity]

We went to that blueberry farm and book barn today. Pretty cool place made all the more worth it by Val finding a 1943 copy of Wuthering Heights in great condition, which feature fantastic illustrations. I took some photos on my phone that do it no justice at all.

I've coveted that edition for aeons. Shall eat all the blueberries in vengence.

*chomps wrathfully*

[Mara]

I own that edition of Wuthering Heights, in great condition.

...

I feel obliged to point out that I have mixed feelings about that book.

EDIT: To add to the strangeness, I was just looking through it this morning. My brother just read WH for a class and I was going to show it to him when he came to dinner tonight.

[number8]

Best edition:

[number8]

http://sites.google.com/site/fadedoa...terbookseller/

Oops. Link no longer working. try this one:

http://blag.ipood.net/2008/09/mister-bookseller/

[Benny Profane]

I finished Molloy the other day. Question for those who read it:

[

Show Spoiler

So was the first part all a creation of Moran? Or was his own story a creation by Molloy? Both talk about writing for others without really knowing what they're saying or why, so I'm a little confused. The last lines from Moran seems to indicate that a lot of what is said is a total fabrication.

]

Anyway, narrators like this get a little under my skin. If they really are stone-sucking, disintegrated simpletons who don't even know where their mother lives or what town they're from, how can they express themselves with such florid, precise language? It doesn't line up. Unless it's all a ruse, which is entirely possible. I liked the ideas that Beckett is conveying, but I didn't necessarily think they were executed that well. Too much "I did this, then I did that, then I did this, then I did that". It was all a little exhausting at times. But maybe that's the point, I don't know. But if that's the point, it could have been more interesting. I think I should read it again.

[Mara]

*Twilight Zone Music*

[Kurosawa Fan]

Our find feels so much more insignificant now. :sad:

[Mara]

Our find feels so much more insignificant now. :sad:

No, not at all! It's a great find, and a beautiful book. (And apparently hard to find in England.) I've been searching my brain to remember where I got mine, and I can't remember. I do know that I already had a copy of WH but I HAD to buy this one as well, because it was so purdy.

Mine has a long gift dedication on the title page in pen, but other than that, it's in pretty good condition.

[Kurosawa Fan]

No, not at all! It's a great find, and a beautiful book. (And apparently hard to find in England.) I've been searching my brain to remember where I got mine, and I can't remember. I do know that I already had a copy of WH but I HAD to buy this one as well, because it was so purdy.

Mine has a long gift dedication on the title page in pen, but other than that, it's in pretty good condition.

Only joking, it's very cool that you have the same edition. We own a different copy too, but couldn't pass it up either. Ours has a short inscription, but it's unreadable at this point. It also has Bronte's birth and death year next to her name on the title page. Not sure why.

I also bought some early 30's to late 40's editions of The Trial, This Gun for Hire, and Sons and Lovers.

[megladon8]

I'm really enjoying Hardy's "Tess".

Any other fans of this one?

[Mara]

I'm really enjoying Hardy's "Tess".

Any other fans of this one?

It's my favorite Hardy, but I find it difficult to read, emotionally. There's just suffering compounding suffering compounding suffering. Some of the prose is just achingly beautiful, though.