All About Books discussion

I will in a minute begin Wolf Hall.

Alice wrote: "About to start One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez."

It's a cool book! - )

Marina wrote: "I've started The Brothers Karamazov. This is going to need all of my time and attention."

Quite true. Dostoyevsky demands a lot from his readers. It's worth it! - )

Mark wrote: "Alice wrote: "About to start One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez."

It's a cool book! - )"

I've finished the second chapter, and am beginning to feel like I'm in Cloud Nine :)

Cool! - )

"Chrissie wrote: "Now I have returned to Amos Oz. I wanted more . This time I have chosen The Same Sea:"
Have you tried Meir Shalev or A.B. Yehos..."</i>

Also as you like <i>Chrissie wrote: "Book 161: [book:The Same Sea"

Obviously from your review your favourite Oz is 'A Tale of Love and Darkness' so I was wondering if you had seen the film with Nathalie Portman.

Esther, nope, I do not do movies any more, in that I have such poor vision and we live out in the country. I have no problem with this, I actually have always preferred imagining scenes from books rather than them being delivered on screen finished and done.

Chrissie wrote: "Esther, nope, I do not do movies any more, in that I have such poor vision and we live out in the country. I have no problem with this, I actually have always preferred imagining scenes from books ..."

Ahh I was actually thinking of a download as I am one of the rare people I know who actually goes to the cinema anymore.
My eyesight is not great but I would be miserable if I couldn't see to read or watch films anymore. Do you only read by audio?

Esther wrote: ". Do you only read by audio?
."

Yes, nowadays.

After another rambling chapter of One Hundred Years of Solitude, I realized that it is not to my taste at all. I had a hard time trying to connect with the author but failed.

Alice wrote: "After another rambling chapter of One Hundred Years of Solitude, I realized that it is not to my taste at all. I had a hard time trying to connect with the author but failed."

Alice, I disliked that one too. I Try Love in the Time of Cholera. It is MUCH better.

I know how you feel, Alice. I did not like One Hundred Years of Solitude, either. I felt obligated to finish it because it is one of those "need to read because everyone's read it" books.

Chrissie & Nichole, thanks for understanding! Glad to know I'm not the only one :)

Chrissie, I saw the movie adaptation of Love in the Time of Cholera and wasn't too impressed with it - hence no great urge to read the novel.

Just got the newest book from my favorite author - I'm already digging in .....

by Nora Roberts

Will be starting The Immortalists.

Alice wrote: "Chrissie & Nichole, thanks for understanding! Glad to know I'm not the only one :)

Chrissie, I saw the movie adaptation of Love in the Time of Cholera and wasn't too impressed with it ..."

I do not think one can properly judge a book by its movie. The two can be very far apart. I have NOT seen the movie of this book though.

Alice wrote: "Chrissie & Nichole, thanks for understanding! Glad to know I'm not the only one :)

Chrissie, I saw the movie adaptation of Love in the Time of Cholera and wasn't too impressed with it ..."

I disliked both the book and film of Love in the Time of Cholera but at times I quite enjoyed the descriptive prose so I want to try One Hundred Years of Solitude at some time in the future, when I am feeling a lot more patient.

Alice wrote: "Chrissie & Nichole, thanks for understanding! Glad to know I'm not the only one :)

Chrissie, I saw the movie adaptation of Love in the Time of Cholera and wasn't too impressed with it ..."

I am one of those that really liked One Hundred Years of Solitude. Maybe magical realism doesn't work for you?
This year I've also read an autobiography by Marquez, and I have to say that his real life events are sometimes even more incredibile that what he writes about in his books.

Maybe, if you want to understand his books and give him another try, it could be better to start with this autobiography? It's this one: Living to Tell the Tale. There is both his life, with all his many relatives, but also the history of his country.

dely wrote: "Alice wrote: "Chrissie & Nichole, thanks for understanding! Glad to know I'm not the only one :)

Chrissie, I saw the movie adaptation of Love in the Time of Cholera and wasn't too impr..."

dely, thank you. I am looking into that.

Chrissie wrote: "dely, thank you. I am looking into that."

You are welcome. It's so well written that it reads like fiction.

dely wrote: "Alice wrote: "Chrissie & Nichole, thanks for understanding! Glad to know I'm not the only one :)

Chrissie, I saw the movie adaptation of Love in the Time of Cholera and wasn't too impr..."

Thank you dely, for mentioning the autobiography. I think maybe magical realism is just not my cup of tea.

CHRISSIE,
thanks for the hint about narrators and The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, I found that my library also has the Bill Homewood version, too. I’ve only just started; he has a wonderfully rich voice that is much nicer than Fredrick Davidson’s.

I did like Fredrick Davidson’s narration of The Three Musketeers.

Joan wrote: "CHRISSIE,
thanks for the hint about narrators and The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, I found that my library also has the Bill Homewood version, too. I’ve only just started; he has a wonder..."

VERY few people can stand Frederick Davidson! You know how much I like Muriel spark's books and you know how I am pretty good at ignoring a bad narrations, just concentrating on an author's words, but Davidson is the only narrator for Spark's The Mandelbaum Gate so at this point I do NOT think I will read it. Grrrr.

It has been a while since I checked in here. I am currently reading on my Kindle a short story collection called The Big Book of Christmas Mysteries, listening & reading to the 4th book in our Proust challenge Cities of the Plain (aka Sodom and Gomorrah), listening in the car to the audiobook of Rose Under Fire & reading a paperback mystery, The Open House...

I hope to get to some more festive books as the month progresses.

A few Christmas themed book. The Ghost of Christmas Past, which I am reading now. Next will be Mr. Dickens and His Carol.

Guys, I can't take it anymore! I will stop reading Forty Stories by Anton Chekhov. I do not like short stories. I tried. Chekhov wrote some good tales, I agree, but I am now tired of them. I do not have the patience. Nothing beats novels and non-fiction.

I am deleting Forty Stories from my kindle. I also am removing any remaining short story collections from my to-read list.

Nichole wrote: "Guys, I can't take it anymore! I will stop reading Forty Stories by Anton Chekhov. I do not like short stories. I tried. Chekhov wrote some good tales, I agree, but I..."

I understand, I am not a fan of short stories either. When they are good, I want more. When they are not, why waste the time reading them?

Thanks, Ioana. I am a completionist. I always feel obligated to read an entire book - even a book I don't like and regret buying, especially when I've spent more than $10 for it. It's a hard habit to break.

Nichole - I do that too, if I start it, I have to finish it.

Nichole and Ioana,
I’m curious can you say why you dislike short stories. Have you tried Somerset Maugham, his are archly wicked.

Nichole wrote: "Guys, I can't take it anymore! I will stop reading Forty Stories by Anton Chekhov. I do not like short stories. I tried. Chekhov wrote some good tales, I agree, but I..."

I am so like you! Even reading a bunch of short novels one after another tries me nuts. Long is always better than short -assuming of course the writing is good. There are of course exceptions to every rule. I am thinking of Spark.

Joan and Nicole, I have to finish books too! Some books do actually improve. A plot can improve, the character analysis can go deeper, but if the writing style pisses you off improvement can be hopeless. Then I will think, but what if, what will I miss?

Joan wrote: "I’m curious can you say why you dislike short stories. Have you tried Somerset Maugham, his are archly wicked."
Yes, my favourites. F. Scott Fitzgerald and Saki are also great.

Joan wrote: "Nichole - I do that too, if I start it, I have to finish it.

Nichole and Ioana,
I’m curious can you say why you dislike short stories. Have you tried Somerset Maugham, his are ar..."

I prefer the comforting length of a novel. The magic lasts a long time, and I can lose myself in story for while. The quick end of a short story kills that magic.

Joan wrote: "Nichole and Ioana,
I’m curious can you say why you dislike short stories. Have you tried Somerset Maugham, his are archly wicked. "

Joan,
For me, short stories are not enough. I prefer longer books, character development, a beginning and an end. Good short stories need to be longer novels.
But that's just me, and I have friends who enjoy them. In the end, not everything is for everybody, and that's how it should be.

Thanks for those explanations - your reasoning helped me clarify my reaction to The Loney, the AAB group read for December.
I think character development and relationships are less important for me.

I’m enjoying Bill Homewood’s narration of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Victor Hugo’s wry sense of humor, social commentary and appreciation for the sounds of words comes through in Homewood’s lyrical narration.

Thank you Chrissie for saving me from the abominable version I had been listening to!

Joan, nice, I really LIKE helping people.

I actually love short stories! Like poems they can suggest a huge amount in a small space - I feel like the best short stories do more in 30 or 40 pages than many novels do in 500. But I think short stories are really like poetry in that they often suggest more and say less directly since they have to do so much in such a short space.

In the best short stories there's that moment like scuba diving past an underwater cliff edge and just being struck by something vast and profound, miles of rocking dark water in every direction .. something that can't be explained fully but only experienced.

Joyce's Dubliners is amazing .. some other favorite short story writers: Katherine Mansfield, Flannery O'Connor, Jorge Luis Borges.

I didn’t love short stories in the past but I find myself coming to appreciate them more and more. It may be partially that I just don’t have the time or mental energy to invest in clunkers as I used to or perhaps something else has changed, but I often enjoy them.

Poetry, however, remains a struggle. I still dip my toes in periodically to see if things have changed and there have been a few standout poems/collections that make that effort worthwhile, but I usually strike out with poetry.

I enjoy short stories. They first hooked me in junior high when the teacher had us graph out the plot and action -exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution - I loved the rules!
It was even more fun than diagramming sentences :-)
(Sad but true, this is what I enjoy)

Now I appreciate the plot tension, language, and economical limning of key character attributes.

I recently read Moscow but Dreaming by Ekaterinia Sedia. It’s sort of modern stories based on Russian folktales.

I love shorts too. Of course not all are equal, but novels are not either. I think it takes alot of talent to write good short stories. So much has to be accomplished in a few pages.

Reading the second of the Xmas reads I hope to get to. Mr. Dickens and His Carol.

Joan wrote: "I enjoy short stories. They first hooked me in junior high when the teacher had us graph out the plot and action -exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution - I loved the rules! ..."

Haha, I remember being taught that way too with the graphs! :) I remember my teacher used to use the term "denouement."

She was a great teacher actually - she genuinely loved reading and books. she loved the deeper meanings and subtleties; it wasn't just a mind game for her.

I just finished Tash Hearts Tolstoy, a YA novel about an asexual (ACE) teenage girl who achieves surprise success with her web series, a modernization of Anna Karenina. I usually don't read YA but I liked the title and the premise AND it is set in Lexington, KY, where I went to college, so I felt the need to read it! I liked it a lot.

I am also reading God Emperor of Dune (Dune #4), Nation by Terry Pratchett, and trying to get back into Seveneves for a sci-fi book club meeting in December. They are all good but I can't stay focused on one book right now!

Also, Chrissie, if you are still interested in sci-fi books, you might try The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov or The Affinities by Robert Charles Wilson. The Affinities is soft SF (no space ships, etc.) If you like short stories, I recommend The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu. Most of the stories are sci-fi, some are a bit more fantasy, and all have Chinese characters. The settings are in different countries and continents and even outer space! I thought it was fabulous!

I’ve spent the morning reading picture books about Kwanzaa, Hanukkah and Christmas with Kait since she’s now sick and had to stay home from gymnastics. There was a lot of sad when her sister left to go, so we cuddled and read. Three’s a fun age for understanding what’s going on with holidays once explained, I’m finding.

Pam wrote: "I just finished Tash Hearts Tolstoy, a YA novel about an asexual (ACE) teenage girl who achieves surprise success with her web series, a modernization of Anna Karenina. I usually do..."

The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories sounds fun even though I don’t generally read sci-fi

I'm reading Bloodline, the third novel in the War of the Roses series by Conn Iggulden. I'm usually not a fan of series (I had read the first novel Stormbird and liked it; skipped the second and will pass the fourth). I picked this one because I wanted to read about Richard Neville, the Kingmaker, Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville.

Chinook wrote: "I’ve spent the morning reading picture books about Kwanzaa, Hanukkah and Christmas with Kait since she’s now sick and had to stay home from gymnastics. There was a lot of sad when her sister left t..."

Hope she feels better soon Chinook!

Chinook wrote: "I’ve spent the morning reading picture books about Kwanzaa, Hanukkah and Christmas with Kait since she’s now sick and had to stay home from gymnastics. There was a lot of sad when her sister left t..."

sounds like a lovely day except for the sick part. Three is fun - especially when then spin what they learned into something new.

Nichole wrote: "Guys, I can't take it anymore! I will stop reading Forty Stories by Anton Chekhov. I do not like short stories. I tried. Chekhov wrote some good tales, I agree, but I..."

I'm sorry to hear that! I have Chekhov's Ward No. 6 and Other Stories on my bookshelf but haven't read it yet. I like short stories sometimes but I usually have a hard time finishing all of them! I think it's hard to put together a collection in which every story is great. There are always a few duds, and nobody agrees which ones they are!

Yesterday I began The Rise of Silas Lapham by William Dean Howells. He is said to write similarly to Theodore Dreiser, both belonging to the American Naturalist school. So far I am thoroughly enjoying it.

I am reading The Man in the Brown Suit in DT format.
Unusually for me I am reading two books at once.
The second one is The Last Hours in e-book format so I can read it discretely on my phone during class this evening.