Constant Reader discussion

Hilary wrote: "Hunger Games...I know, I know....I'm probably one of the last people on Goodreads who has never read it OR seen the movie..."

Nope. I will be a holdout forever.

A big snow, then ensuing several-day deep freeze since has left me more housebound than usual, and it was a good atmosphere in which to read Stoner. It's a thoughtfully written book which has given me a lot to ponder, and I look forward to the upcoming discussion of it.

Yeah, Hunger Games is fast food-like young adult fiction, enjoyable enough while consuming, but no real nutrition. Then again, it has been only one way of many that I waste time with superficial pleasures.

Ann wrote: "I recently finished Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I liked this very much. It is set in Nigeria and revolves a young girl and her family. The father is ri..."

Ann I just spent a year in Nigeria - a most interesting place which definitely gets under your skin and stays - and am looking forward to reading more Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie having only read Half of a Yellow Sun which I adored. If you fancy more Nigerian settings try Lola Shoneyin's The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives which I feel conveyed Nigeria very well.

Charles, I just picked up Leonardo Sciascia's A Simple Story from my local library. My copy also has Candido in it. I just finished the introduction whilst eating lunch and it sounds good enough to disrupt my current reading :)

Sheila,
Thanks so much for the book recommendation. I have added it to my wish list. I had no idea how widespread plural marriage was in Africa (even among non-Muslims) until I taught Sudanese and Somali refugees.

What country are you in now?

I am now almost half through with The Goldfinch. I can see now why some reviewers compared it too a Dickens novel - compelling narrative in a long, drawn out story (over 700 pages), along with some pretty eccentric characters and settings. I like it, but I don't think everyone would.

I know that many people here like audio books. I think that format would be confusing for this novel. I have to go back sometimes and use the search function on my Kindle to review what happened earlier. You can do that with a paper book too, but not easily with the audio.

Ann wrote: "I am now almost half through with The Goldfinch. I can see now why some reviewers compared it too a Dickens novel - compelling narrative in a long, drawn out story (over 700 pages),..."

I bought the cheap Kindle version, so I won't be listening to it. I don't know if I'll be getting to it for a long time, either. I think I'm going to quit looking at Bookbub bargains. I'm starting to feel like I'm under water.

I'm currently ploughing my way through A Game of Thrones which I really am enjoying but I've also got Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell on the go which isn't going too well, it just seems to be very slow.
As well as these, I'm reading loads of free or cheap kindle books and trying to get as many of those read as possible.

I just started The Distant Hours which I am finding to be fun and a nice distraction when I need a break from all of the holiday hustle and bustle.

Ann , back in the UK.

I just finished The View from Castle Rock by Alice Munro and I very much enjoyed reading it. The use of interlinked but separate stories is very illuminating.

Hilary wrote: "Hunger Games...I know, I know....I'm probably one of the last people on Goodreads who has never read it OR seen the movie..."
Not if you count me! I'm way too late to the party, but I've decided not to touch it until my every-growing to-read list is exhausted first.
Currently, I'm quarter of the way through The Moonstone

I just finished The Goldfinch and found it to be very good, except for some dragging in the middle of the book.

I have started the group read The Orphan Master's Son

It took me a while, because it’s a great book about a great man, but I’ve just finished Charles Dickens: A Life by Claire Tomalin. It gives a wonderful insight of the process of writing when a book is published in instalments. It’s amazing how Dickens managed to do this.

Now admittedly Dickens wrote social injustices, child labour, etc. but it strikes me that he, as a writer, had a real influence on the politician of the day. Something, I think, has quite disappeared in the Western world. I wonder what other people think of this.

The social novel in general is a much rarer phenomenon now--Franzen wrote an essay lamenting this which (like everything by Franzen) was very controversial. This was some years back. I think that our society has become so tremendously diverse and fragmented that it's very hard to do broad-canvas stuff about it. Also, because of the intense competition the novel now has with other leisure activities, it's rarer for one book to sweep through society the same way it once did. Those are my initial thoughts.

Count me among the number that's never read (and has no interest in reading) any Hunger Games books.

Kat wrote: "The social novel in general is a much rarer phenomenon now--Franzen wrote an essay lamenting this which (like everything by Franzen) was very controversial. This was some years back. I think that o..."

Interesting and very valid thoughts indeed, Kat.
Could you possibly link to the Franzen essay or its publication?

I don't think the essay is online, but here's a lengthy Wikipedia article about it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_Both...

Kat wrote: "I don't think the essay is online, but here's a lengthy Wikipedia article about it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_Both..."

Thank you, Kat. That's an interesting read.

I tracked down this Virginia University webpage which carries the whole essay, I think. I've read half of it, now let me get back and finish it!

Link: http://people.virginia.edu/~mes2ee/ha...

I just read Big Brother, which was an interesting read on the role of food in our lives, and being fat inside a family and our culture. Lots of interesting material to chew on!

Charles, I read Leonardo Sciascia's A Simple Story yesterday - loved it, thanks for the recommendation :)

I started The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt last night. It pulls the reader right into a tension filled sequence.

The title story of Andrew Milward's The Agricultural Hall of Fame is worth getting the book for. Haven't read past that, but I'm excited.

The Solace of Leaving Early
Interpreter of Maladies / The NamesakeA Wanted ManThe Tulip EatersThe Coat Route: Craft, Luxury, & Obsession on the Trail of a $50,000 Coat

Geoff wrote: "The title story of Andrew Milward's The Agricultural Hall of Fame is worth getting the book for. Haven't read past that, but I'm excited."

Geoff, in another lifetime, I wrote my Ph.D. dissertation on the adoption and diffusion of the combined harvester. I'm more than a little interested in this book.

In an effort to clear my TBR pile, I started Stegner's All the Little Live Things, which so far can best be summarized by the expression: "Old Man Yells at Cloud!"

✿Claire✿ wrote: "I'm currently ploughing my way through A Game of Thrones which I really am enjoying but I've also got Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell on the go which isn't going too well, ..."

I found the same thing with J.S. and Mr. N. I remember it picking up at some point and feeling that the slog had been worth it.

I'm still reading HILD by Nicola Griffith. The story and characters are compelling. Sometimes the writing is a little florid and stylized, which pulls me out of the story a little. But it's not hard to get back in.

Griffith is on FB, and posts often.

Finished reading The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins – 3.5***
This is considered the first modern mystery, and I’ve had it on my tbr list for a long time. I’m glad I finally read it, but it really is quite dated. The melodramatic scenarios and over-the-top dialogue had me chuckling in places where – I’m sure – the original readers felt horror or suspense. It holds up quite well, despite being a very Victorian book, and it’s easy to see why it remains a popular classic.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Looks like there are several of us reading The Goldfinchright now. I am thoroughly enjoying it, though a few spots have bogged me down. It has broken my heart twice, and I'm a little over half through. We may have to start a thread to discuss it!

Anne wrote: "Looks like there are several of us reading The Goldfinchright now. I am thoroughly enjoying it, though a few spots have bogged me down. It has broken my heart twice, and I'm a littl..."

I'd like that. :)
I'm at about 39%, and seething at a certain male character.

I finished Purge by Sofi Oksanen the other night, meant to link my review. Still wavering, but more leaning to a 4 star rating. It haunts.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Just finished the three Arnold Zeck novels in the Nero Wolfe novels. Great villain, and unrepeated in the canon to have an equal for Wolfe.

Robert wrote: "Just finished the three Arnold Zeck novels in the Nero Wolfe novels. Great villain, and unrepeated in the canon to have an equal for Wolfe."

That's true, Robert. I'd never thought about that. I think of the third Zeck novel as out of the box, because of Wolfe's prolonged absence from home. The Black Mountain is another one interesting in that respect.

Taking a mini-break from reading anything remotely serious, and reading Dexter's Final Cut. Fun, extremely light entertainment.

Finished the audio version of Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov – 5***** (Audiobook performed by Jeremy Irons)
What an excellently written book! Although the subject is distasteful, Nabokov gives us a psychological study that is compelling and interesting. The last time I felt so strongly about such a novel was when I first read Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment. Just as I was fascinated by Raskolnikov, I wanted to know more about Humbert’s twisted logic and rationalizations. Jeremy Irons does a superb job performing the audio version.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Just finished The White Princess. I've known nothing about this part of history. I enjoyed the book so have decided to read The Cousins' War books leading up to this.

Finished Waiting for Godot. I thoughts parts of this highly praised play were silly - almost like slapstick. What am I missing? I know what it's supposed to be about, but I just didn't get it.

Book Concierge wrote: "Finished the audio version of Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov – 5***** (Audiobook performed by Jeremy Irons)
What an excellently written book! Although the subject is dista..."

Raskolnikov murders an old lady. He spends the first part of the book trying to be caught, the next part trying to be punished, and the last part begging for expiation. It's hard to imagine an author able to drag an eternal masterpiece out of such lugubrious material, but there it is. Porfiry Petrovich, by the way, is an ancestor of Maigret, and I find one of the more fascinating characters in the book. He can't prove anything, but he sees Raskolnikov's need to confess and wears down his defenses. I ought to get a decent copy of the book and re-read it.

Gina wrote: "Finished Waiting for Godot. I thoughts parts of this highly praised play were silly - almost like slapstick. What am I missing? I know what it's supposed to be about, but I just didn'..."

Well, I'm not sure what "being about" means in this case. It's not a statement or an explanation of anything, but an invitation to the audience to live it. Some slackers hang around an intersection with a dead tree waiting for a hypothetical person to arrive who never does. A highly suggestive metaphor open to very wide interpretation (a literary coup), but it's the minimalist presentation which is so fascinating, and which separates it from ordinary theatre. Ideal for small audiences, to which it originally played. I believe the Theatre de Babylone sat 150. Contemporary proscenium theater seems very unadventurous in comparison.

Gina wrote: "Finished Waiting for Godot. I thoughts parts of this highly praised play were silly - almost like slapstick. What am I missing? I know what it's supposed to be about, but I just didn'..."

You're right, it does get slapsticky. It's supposed to be absurd. I love it. Maybe you could get a film version to watch.

Finally finished Washington Square, I will wait till the discussion to give my thoughts.

Just staring Stella Gibbons's Cold Comfort Farm for my new in person book group

Ruth wrote: "Hilary wrote: "Hunger Games...I know, I know....I'm probably one of the last people on Goodreads who has never read it OR seen the movie..."

Nope. I will be a holdout forever."
I will be too. I have no desire to read book or see movie. Better things to do with my time.

Finished reading The Great Santini by Pat Conroy – 4****
Lt Col Bull Meecham is the GREATEST Marine Fighter Pilot. Just ask his family or any of the men serving under him. Conroy completely drew me into this dysfunctional family and their complicated relationships. As much as I disliked Bull, I really liked the novel. I have had Pat Conroy on my reading radar for a long time, but never read any of his novels before this. I’m certain this won’t be my last Conroy work.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I started this as an audiobook. Bailed after the first half hour.

Earlier today, I finished Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch. Yeah, it's a long one, but it pulls the reader along rapidly. Here is my review. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Robert wrote: "Griffith is on FB, and posts often."

I tried to find her there, but only found a Wikipedia page about her linked to FB.

Yesterday I read When She Woke by Hillary Jordan, a well done, modern riff of The Scarlet Letter. Full review here. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

https://www.facebook.com/nicolagriffi...

Beth this is her page.