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Topic: Slow week -- great read...
| Author | Message |
| voracious reader | Posted – 6/2/2008 8:00:44 PM | show profile Since work for me doesn't wind up again until late summer, I've had the chance to start reading... I mean, REALLY reading, and I thought I'd post the names of a book or two that I've really enjoyed. I just finished Meg Wolitzer's The Ten Year Nap and I think some of my MB friends would enjoy it. Likewise, I read her book, The Wife, a few years ago and think it's among the best books I've read. Sure wish Hollywood would option her because her voice in fiction is AMAZING. Then again, Hollywood might ruin her works. I'm reminded of Richard Yates, Revolutionary Road which is coming out late this year with DiCaprio and Winslet. What Revolutionary Road was for the 1950's, The Ten Year Nap is for the new century! Once again, if anyone wishes to recommend a summer reading book, I'm all ears. Tend to favor non-fiction...but be my guest! |
| Village Gal | Posted – 6/2/2008 8:56:50 PM | show profile thanks. I've always liked Meg Wolitzer's novels. will get this new one. I recently enjoyed The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett. It's really a novella but very clever. Want a good memoir--- try Mississippi Sissy by Kevin Sessums |
| Nikongirl | Posted – 6/2/2008 9:32:04 PM | show profile If you have an affinity for wine, I highly recommend Natalie MacLean's Red, White and Drunk All Over, A Wine-Soaked Journey from Grape to Glass. I am not half way through and already have learned so much while laughing along with her engaging, funny prose. |
| Bleak Spouse | Posted – 6/2/2008 10:16:53 PM | show profile How dare anyone read anything but the Russian classics? HOW DARE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dostoyevsky, Gogol, Tolstoy. Those are the only 3 writers who ever lived. |
| writesonwater | Posted – 6/3/2008 1:06:30 AM | show profile | email poster For Mother's Day, I got my mum the books: Water for Elephants, Three Cups Of Tea, Eat Pray Love, Love in the Time of Cholera and The Other Boleyn Girl. I know these are all hits from prior years, but I knew she hadn't read them. She's really enjoying them, and favors Three Cups of Tea best. I wish I had time to read -- both Revolutionary Road and the Ten Year Nap sound great. One of these days, I want the time to write fiction. Can't wait to hear everyone else's recommendations. Bleak, I know you're trying to be the old codger with your Tolstoy protestations but it's not working -- we've seen your hottie pic! ------ http://writingporch.blogspot.com/ http://jlouiselarson.blogspot.com/ http://familyrootsandwings.blogspot.com/ |
| voracious reader | Posted – 6/3/2008 6:02:01 AM | show profile Bleak - calm down. Most of us have probably read the Russian authors -- even if it was just the Cliff Notes! I'd also add Sholom Aleichem to the list. His stories fill me with laughter and tears. Most of us remember his work from Broadway's Fiddler on the Roof. His Tevye's Daughters and Collected Stories were the basis for the show. Also, if you happen to finish reading all the Russians, Polish Nobel Laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer's Shadows on the Hudson reminds me a great deal of Dostoyevsky and is almost as brilliant. Writesonwater - interesting that you mention The Other Bolyen Girl. Two weeks ago, I saw the 2003 BBC movie version. Can't rave about it. Along with all of his marriages, the life of Henry the VIII has been told too many times, same goes for Elizabeth the First. However, I will certainly put Three Cups of Tea on my list to read this summer, as well as Love In the Time of Cholera - which I've been wanting to read. Village Gal - Thanks for reminding me about The Uncommon Reader. I had it out from the library earlier this year, but didn't get around to reading it. Now, I most definitely will read it. Thank you. Nikongirl - Will I become a snob after reading Red, White and Drunk All Over? I have to know before reading it. I have a penchant for the cheap stuff because of my austere roots. ;) Thanks for all the recommendations. Also want to know if there are there any "light" classics, along the lines of Sinclair Lewis and H.R. Bennett that are worth the plunge. I don't know about you folks, but during the summer I don't want to read major epics, that is, unless they come with Cliff Notes! |
| Nikongirl | Posted – 6/3/2008 6:53:38 AM | show profile >>Nikongirl - Will I become a snob after reading Red, White and Drunk All Over? I have to know before reading it. I have a penchant for the cheap stuff because of my austere roots. ;)<< It's a fun read and you will become familiar with what you are drinking and the background of the grape. |
| writesonwater | Posted – 6/3/2008 8:53:47 AM | show profile My best pick for modern novel is Smilla's Sense of Snow. I have NO IDEA how in the heck Peter Hoeg managed to write so brilliantly in the voice of a woman, in Danish, and have it translate to amazingly. Must be an amazing translator. It bogs down a bit later on the icebreaker but it's STILL the best money for a great read. |
| writesonwater | Posted – 6/3/2008 8:55:41 AM | show profile If you really want something to do, how about running my paper for a couple weeks so I can take my turn reading? ;) |
| catlondon | Posted – 6/3/2008 11:40:49 AM | show profile Light classics: P.G. Wodehouse all the way |
| Nikongirl | Posted – 6/3/2008 11:50:51 AM | show profile Smilla's Sense of Snow Have not read the book but the movie was wonderful. |
| Agirlwalksintoabookstore... | Posted – 6/3/2008 12:28:32 PM | show profile writes on water--The Other Boleyn Girl is one of my all-time favorite books; have read it several times. I think I've read nearly all pf Philippa Gregory's books. Did you know that she has a new book coming out this upcoming fall? Apparently, about Mary, Queen of Scots. Does anyone else here read seasonally? I do. In the summertime, I tend to read lightly--ie, none of those thick, 800-page tomes for me around this time of year! Lots of chick lit, short historical fiction is generally in my pile. I recently read Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day, by Winnifred Watson. 1930s "chick lit" about an ordinary woman whose life becomes a Cinderella fairy tale for a day. Wonderful little book. |
| voracious reader | Posted – 6/3/2008 12:53:25 PM | show profile Unemployed gal -- So glad you mentioned Miss Pettigrew! The New York Times had a blog recently about an English book, 1001 Books to Read Before You Die and Miss Pettigrew was mentioned in the book. I got the book and read it and really enjoyed it. No sooner had I finished reading it, the movie version premiered. Although it got a nice review, I didn't get a chance to see it. Hopefully I'll see it when it comes out on DVD. Did you happen to see the movie? I don't want to be disappointed. |
| HisGirlFriday | Posted – 6/3/2008 1:08:02 PM | show profile It's also not a new book but Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk was totally insane - dark, twisted and captivating. Kind of the opposite of a fun, light summer read! :) (He's the same guy who wrote Fight Club - which I saw the movie but didn't read.) I now want to go back and read some of his other stuff ... |
| mmc | Posted – 6/3/2008 3:47:43 PM | show profile So many terrific suggestions here - anything by Alan Bennet is a treat, and Wodehouse is just pure happiness... My particular favorites are the Blandings Castle novels - I can't get enough of Lord Emsworth and his prize pig! Fans of Miss Pettigrew may also enjoy Barbara Pym's books. I think Excellent Women may be the the only one in print now, but her others can usually be found in used book shops. I most recently fell in love with The Siege of Krishnapur by JG Farrell... It's based during Indian Rebellion of 1857 and won the Booker prize in 1973 (and it's actually now on the shortlist for the Booker of Bookers). Both horrifying and shockingly funny, it follows the inhabitants of a isolated British outpost as they try to maintain their class system and social rituals in the face of a steadily advancing enemy. It's part of Farrell's trilogy on Imperialism - the other two books are Troubles and The Singapore Grip. All are great, but I really fell for Siege. I can't stop gushing about it! |
| worldofnatasha | Posted – 6/3/2008 4:06:04 PM | show profile I thought water for Elephants was so sad -- well written, but hard to read because of how the poor elephant was treated. I've been reading (and re-reading) all the books that have ever won the Newberry -- most of them can be read in just a day or two, lots of them take me back to my childhood, and I'd never read the ones that won recently, and am really loving them (The Higher Power of Lucky has become one of my top ten books of all time!) |
| cakey | Posted – 6/3/2008 4:50:16 PM | show profile The Abstinence Teacher Fiction. About the conflict between a fundamentalist church and a sex ed teacher. Tom Perrotta manages to make the characters in both camps very human. His dialogue is spot on and hysterical, too. |
| Bleak Spouse | Posted – 6/4/2008 12:59:14 AM | show profile Right now I'm reading Thom Jones's collection of short stories Sonny Listen Was a Friend of Mine. Odd thing is he's one of America's best short story writers but this is his most recent book and it came out in 1999. He fell off the grid. |
| Agirlwalksintoabookstore... | Posted – 6/4/2008 10:57:57 AM | show profile mmc--I'm so glad you mentioned Pym! I've read Excellent Women and No Fond Return of Love. The good news is that many of Pym's novels are back in print! Have not seen the movie verson of Miss Pettigrew, but I'd love to one of these days. |
| mmc | Posted – 6/4/2008 12:18:24 PM | show profile Unemployed-gal - glad to hear you love Pym, too! So far I still have some of her earlier books to read, since besides EW and NFROL the ones I've picked up used - Quartet in Autumn and The Sweet Dove Died - were somewhat later. They're both extraordinary (particularly Quartet) but tinged with more sadness than the earlier books. She really was a heck of a writer! I recently read Patrick Hamilton's The Slaves of Solitude, and loved it. If you like Pym, you probably would, too. Here's a link (I hope this works!): http://www.nybooks.com/shop/product?usca_p=t&product_id=6731 Right now I'm in a Mitford haze, as I recently shelled out for Charlotte Mosley's giant compendium of letters between the six sisters. Have you read Nancy Mitford's Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate? They're fantastic... |
| Agirlwalksintoabookstore... | Posted – 6/4/2008 1:01:21 PM | show profile Oh, my goodness, mmc--we have very similar tastes in books! I LOVE the two Mitford novels. She came from quite an interesting family, so I've been reading up on the rest of them as well. Her sister Jessica "the commie one") wrote a really funny memoir called Hons and Rebels. Will definitely have to check out the Patrick Hamiltons, then... |
| mmc | Posted – 6/4/2008 2:29:26 PM | show profile Yeah, I had a feeling we were on the same wavelength, Unemployed-gal!!! I recently found a great hour-long podcast of Christopher Hitchens interviewing Jessica Mitford - I think it was on the New York Public Library iTunes U site. She has some hysterical stories about researching The American Way of Death, as well as her unmasking of the "Famous Writer's School". |
| Village Gal | Posted – 6/4/2008 3:27:49 PM | show profile Yes, The Abstinence Teacher was good but the Perotta novel before that was better. Can't recall the title but it was made into a movie. I also liked The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junor Diaz- very zippy writing Another good memoir is She's Not There by Jennifer Finney Boylan about her transitioning from male to female after she was married w/kids. Fascinating insight into this and well written. |
| writesonwater | Posted – 6/4/2008 3:36:47 PM | show profile Unemployed Gal -- they could call it Something About Mary |
| voracious reader | Posted – 6/4/2008 5:07:47 PM | show profile I'm so glad everyone is sharing their favorites.... Writesonwater...okay, no problem, when I visit Austin in October, I'll pinch hit for you, that is, if in November, you help me when all my students are on their deadlines! Ages ago I worked for a weekly local paper. Trust me, most of the time, putting a paper to bed is a lot easier. ;) Okay, so here's what I've done so far. Last night, my friend insisted that we drive down to the Barnes and Nobles outside of Princeton, NJ, to see author Ted Kerasote discuss his New York Times bestseller, Merle's Door which my friend had read and I didn't. Huge turn out! Imagine a crowd of book lovers who also happen to be dog lovers. This gal in front of us gushed over Ted and told everyone how much she LOVED his book and she didn't even own a dog! Hilarious! I could have sat there writing a sitcom script about the whole experience. When Ted finished reading from his book, he began a slide show of Merle and him. What kvelling from the audience. A lovefest for the ages! Anyway, before the presentation, my friend insisted on buying three Meg Wolitzer books. Catlondon, I'm happy to report that I purchased P.G. Wodehouse's The Code of the Woosters. I also purchased Sam Gosling's Snoop, What Your Stuff Says About You, because he'll be speaking next week, Tuesday evening, at the Borders on 32nd Street and 2nd Avenue in New York. Got to support him because he's a professor at my son's school, University of Texas at Austin. Anyone in New York that evening is welcome to join me, possibly my daughter, and a few of our friends. The library is holding two books for me. Mary Roach, author of Stiff, has a new book, Bonk - The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex. What shall I say, from reading a review it looked, "Curious?" A second book, I know Keltoi would enjoy by Mark Kurlansky, The Last Fish Tale was also put on the shelf for me. I also put a reserve on the DVD "Carrie," the one based on Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser. I'll watch that when my eyeballs fall out from all the reading. Oh, Bleak -- I checked out that American author who you're reading. Is his latest book of short stories any good? I checked on Amazon and people equally either liked it or didn't. If you want to switch continents, check out England's Geoff Dyer's Out of Sheer Rage: Wrestling With D.H. Lawrence. I think you'd enjoy it! Thanks again everyone! |
