Book Chat
 

Based on a couple of people's recommendations I picked up One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez :)

I started reading it last Friday on my bus ride to and from work and I am at the last chapter today - I am really enjoying it, can't seem to put it down :lol: and I will be looking for other books by this author. I didn't realise it but I had read another one of his books ages ago - Love in the Time of Cholera- and I am glad that I rediscovered this author :D

ellis - I will lend it to you when I am done ;)

Mauv- GOOD CHOICE! He's my favorite author ever. I think I liked Love in the Time of Cholera a little better than One Hundred Years of Solitude. Maybe because it was a little easier read.

I am currently reading "Living to tell the tale" which is the first volume of his life story. It's very interesting and it's fun to see how he got so many ideas for his books from his real life. His writing is like poetry, and I just love it.

Thanks, Mauvais!

I'm currently reading Iris Murdoch's, Existentialists and Mystics (Writings on Philosophy and Literature). Geez, it's a hard go. Now if I went off my meds, I'd have an easier time comprehending it! :lol:
I'm enjoying parts of it, though, and am underlining as I go.

I am about to start reading The Lovely Bones...anyone read this yet?

I have decided to put aside a few hours each week to devote completely to reading since I seem to have gotten out of the habit over the past year. A cup of tea and the phone turned off + curled up with a good book = bliss :cloud9:

I spent most of Sunday afternoon reading the Lovely Bones - great book! Sad but insightful too.

I am now trying to read Glamourama by Brett Easton Ellis...

So far it has been a difficult read because of the disjointed language and peppering of song lyrics in the speech of one of the characters (which is really annoying) and constant name dropping of celebrities but I am now halfway through and wondering what the **** the story is leading up to...:shrug:

Glamourama :p

I finished reading this book and here is my review: 1st half of book is boring, following the misadventures of a sort-of-famous male model as he tries to open a nightclub. Plenty of celebrity name dropping (which got annoying after awhile) but I kept reading hoping it was going to get better.

2nd half of book takes on a weird spy/political manipulation/terrorist theme which sounds way more interesting than it actually is...I kept reading hoping it would get better...it never did.

And the ending is irritating....

Lot's of profane language, explicit sex and lurid descriptions of blown up and dismembered body parts and an improbable plot.

I would not recommend this book to anyone. Again I say ":p" !
Which is too bad because I enjoyed Brett Easton Ellis' "Less Than Zero" and "American Psycho" :shrug:

Moving onto "Memoirs of a Geisha" by Arthur Golden....I read the 1st chapter on the bus ride to work this morning, it has piqued my interest - so far so good :)

What is everyone else reading these days?

Mauvais, you will find "Geisha" very interesting. It is strange to read something written by a man that seems to be so inside a woman's brain. I read it when it first came out and it's on my list to be revisited.

"The Lovely Bones" was great! It was sad but certainly had moments of humour. You might enjoy "The Island Walkers" too. I have it if you'd like to borrow it.

At the moment, I am re-"reading" Carol Shield's "The Stone Diaries" as a book on tape. Carol herself is reading the book and it's so strange to hear her voice now that she's gone. :( She lived in Ottawa at one time and my sister knew her pretty well.

Next on my reading pile is to re-read Leonard Cohen's "Beautiful Losers".

I would love to borrow that book Ruth! Thanks for the offer :)

I read Beautiful Losers years ago too - maybe it is time for a re-read...

I bar myself from chicklit bc I'm afraid once hooked, I will never read real lit. But I did buy the book P.S. I Love you, by Cecelia Ahern, Ireland's Prime Minister's daughter. It is very charming & touching & I would definantly recommend it. Its gotten many awards. I'm also going to take part in a reading group on Barnes & Noble.com for Jane Austen's Emma, which I loved Pride & Prejudice & they say Emma was her finest work. I'm looking forward to it.

Oh, I've been looking for a reading group. I am glad you mentioned that, Kelli. I'm going to have to check it out. Plus - I bought Emma in a big book buying spree and I haven't read it yet.

I'm with you, usually I avoid that fluffy stuff. But ocassionally it's good to read something that's not so serious, not so thought provoking, for entertainment. Kinda like giving in and watching a Hugh Grant movie, or Kung-Fu or something. :) Can't be serious all the time.

Speaking of an entertainment read, Kelli, I read a book called "The Jane Austen Book Club" by Karen Joy Fowler. It was really good, a very quick read, and walked the line of meaningful and entertaining. I enjoyed it very much, and was through it within a weekend. It does have a lot of Jane Austen spoilers though and some references I didn't know because I hadn't read her work. So it may be better to read her works first, but it's definately not necessary.

Emma is great... I loved it. It's quite humorous.

Hey, some "Chick Lit" isn't so bad :lol: Although I am not a fan of typical romance novels, Danielle Steele/Jackie Collins type stuff. It is okay to go literary slumming once in a while just for fun! :D

Just finished my Geisha book - terrific read! They (Geisha) always look so glamourous and mysterious and it was interesting and kind of sad to read about what their lives were like.

Another book that I read that isn't my usual type but that I really enjoyed was "The Color Purple" . It was funny, sad and very poingnant. Hmmm...maybe I should revisit that one too....:chin:

I am reading "The Know-it-all: one man's humble quest to become thye smartest person in the world" and it is one of the funniest things that I have read in a long time. It is a memoir of someone who is reading the entire excyclopedia Britannica, which sounds a bit dry, but I have actually had a couple of laughing-till-tears-stream-down-my-face moments, and I am only three chapters in.

The last thing I read was Runners World magazine, how sad is that???? I loved the Lovely Bones. Alice Sebold's first book, Lucky, which is autobiographical is stunning, and you can see where a lot of Lovely Bones comes from. Even my partner Colin loved it!

I have been reading a lot of Faye Kellerman recently I really enjoy her books. I haven't read a good chick lit for ages!

Last night I started reading a book that a friend loaned me..."How to Make Love Like a Porn Star, a Cautionary Tale"...it is the autobiography of adult film star Jenna Jameson.

Although I have never seen her films and just vaguely know who she is, the book is quite an interesting read. She had a very strange, sad, mixed up life. It is a wonder that this woman is still alive after all her awful relationships, the loss of loved ones, a friend being murderd and descent into drug addiction -geeze, and that's only in the first half of the book! :eek:

I wonder who you've just devastated, Mauvais. :lol3:
I remember once I was helping to sort books in a church basement for a book sale. I held up a Danielle Steele and said, "Who READS this crap!?" And caught the eye of a church member, and knew I'd put my foot in my mouth. :rofl:

Well, I've been known to read Danielle Steele as has my sister. We consider them airplane books - good for a read while you travel and then you just leave it on the plane. Once we travelled together with only one book - I started it and ripped out the pages for her as I finished them. Folks thought we were insane.

I'm halfway through "Beautiful Losers" and think I'll put it aside. Cohen is a nutcase! It reads like James Joyce in places. :(

Now THAT'S depressing!

Mauvais, it was Ruth. We've devastated Ruth.

Ugh. I was on Woman's Day website on their forum, and they had a books thread asking who everyone's favorite authors were. It was all Nora Roberts, Danielle Steele, an occasional Ann Rice just to spice things up. It was really depressing to get this sort of feeling that the average woman reads non-challenging entertainment novels that the authors put out as fast as you can read them.
Now I do like the occasional entertainment only book, but there does need to be balance.
Needless to say, I stick to posts on this forum about what's good and what's not.

Oh, and I am so excited because today I got a Library card. Finally. Now I can read as fast as I really read, and still always be reading a book. Yay.

Yeah, I had a good book conversation while having dinner with some girlfriends and they have convinced me to renew my library card. I am hoping my local library has improved their selection a bit over the past couple of years. :)

Hey, I didn't say there was anything wrong with Danielle Steele, I just said I wasn't a fan :shrug:


I am so proud of myself......I was going to try to read 1 book a month and I have managed to read 4 instead! :smug: (this also means I have been taking some time out for myself ;) )

I'm rereading (for about the 10th time) Garrison Keiller's, "Leaving Home". The stories in it are funny and lovely. :)

I am halfway through "The Love Artist" by Jane Allison. It is set in Roman times and it has a storyline about the poet Ovid. Quite good so far :)

Right now I am reading "The Colony of Unrequited Dreams". It's about Newfoundland and is based on Joey Smallwood - sort of fiction/biography.

My first book club starts today, its online at barnes & noble. We're reading Jane Austen's Emma. I loved Pride & Prejudice, but that's the only Austen book I've read. Also, (sorry, a little off topic), did anyone see Their Eyes Were Watching God? I read the book junior year in HS, and I loved it! I TiVo'd the movie, but haven't seen it yet.

Kellibee, Their Eyes Were Watching God is probably my favourite book. :) I'm so glad that someone else here has read it! What a revolutionary piece of work... and so beautifully written. Janie becomes the type of woman many of us yearn to be.
I'm very reluctant to see the movie. I probably won't. It'll just annoy me. ;)
Let me know if you enjoy it!

I am currently reading Stephen King's first book in the Dark Tower series "Gunslinger" only because I promised my dad I'd watch it. I'm really not a fan of Stephen King's writing style, and this is no different, but the story is interesting and lucky for me it's a short book. We'll see if I decide to continue on that one.

I know what you mean, ellis, when I was reading the book, she writes in a way that you can see a movie in your head. Everything is so vivid, like in the book where she becomes a woman under the tree (that sounds pervy, but its a realization). I really don't want to ruin how wonderful the book is by someone's depiction. I think its a must read for any woman.

I am reading A.S. Byatt's "A whistling Woman." I love her books and this one seems quite remarkable.

I'm currently reading "The ***** in the House" it's a collection of essays by women. and next i'm going to read "hardcore zen"

Oh man, I loved the Gunslinger, Their Eyes Were Watching God and The Color Purple. Just reading these titles made me smile. I opted to NOT watch the televised Eyes Were Watching God because I am not a Halle fan and I do not think that a movie could do the book justice. I saw the Color Purple before I read the book and although the movie was good, it pales in comparison to the written work.

I just finished Death Du Jour and am not going to spend any more money on K.Reich's books. The main thing I like about her books are the descriptions of Canada. Before I moved to Michigan, I always thought of Canada only in terms of Windsor (yeah, shallow me) but I like all the detail she puts into her work. What I don't like is how she always ends up getting attacked or held hostage. That has gotten old. I need a new author.

Ah... I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels that way, Tiki. I think it's often a mistake to use a "big box name" in some of these movies. And I'm not a Halle fan, either, although I would kill for her body. :lol:

Finished Gunslinger. It was a great story, even though I didn't like the writing. I doubt I'll read the other's in the series though. I'm back to my Marquez book. I've got hold on the latest book in the Ender saga, just came out this month. Gotta way for someone to return it to the library though.

Finished Fight Club yesterday. I enjoyed it. Now I need to rewatch the movie. It has been a few years.

Currently reading "Driving Blind" a collection of short stories by Ray Bradbury :)

I'm currently re-reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightime - Mark Haddon.

Last week i read Elanor Rigby - Douglas coupland

and the week before that I read To Kill a Mockingbird- Harper Lee

I loved all three :)

I need to find more time to read... I got 39 books for my 15th birthday (which was in febuaary) and i have still only read four of them... I really feel like i don't read enough, even though we made a list with my friends, and I read about ten times more than all my friends put together... They only ever read books for school, which I think is quite sad... No offence to anyone else who does this.

Wow, hoofbeats, I'm impressed! I LOVE that you have a "book list" with your friends, and I LOVE that you got so many books for your birthday!
To Kill a Mockingbird is one of my favourite books. :yes:

Mauvais, Driving Blind is great. I really like Ray Bradbury. :)

I loved the Curious Incident too! Right now I'm on a memoir/biography bent. I'm reading Amos Oz's 'A Tale of Love and Darkness' and James Atlas' bio of Saul Bellow. The Oz book makes me feel like an uneducated, uncivilized, uncultured boob, and I think maybe I should burn my tv. Western culture just doesn't breed scholars anymore. We talk about Survivor instead. My next book is "The Accidental Connoisseur" by Lawrence Osborne, a wine journalist's tour of the wine world. I'm a sommelier-in-training, so I think I'll love that one.

Oh, we don't have a book list with my friends.. they don't read. What I meant to say was, when they came to my house and saw all my books they were so surprised, they said i must read more than all of them put together.. so they made a list of all the books they can remember reading... I didn't make mine because it would've been pages and pages long...

haha, I love the fact i got all the books too :) I feel like I want to hurry up and read them all at once.. But I also want to take it slowly, because I'm not getting any more books until Christmas!! :(

Right now I'm in the middle of "leave myself behind-bart yates" This is so brilliantly written... I loved it from the first sentence, and I kept waiting for it to weaken... Still waiting :) If you are offended by homosexuality, don't read this.

Wow, I should write some of these books down, haha so I know what to ask for when Xmas comes :p

Has anyone read anything by Jostein Gaarder that isn't Sophie's world?

Someone tell me to shut up I could talk about books for hours...

Ooh, I will have to check out that Amos Oz book! :)