Constant Reader discussion

I just finished Pray for Silence

4* mystery - My review can be read here: http://wp.me/pTRJE-48

John wrote: "apologies if that means my recollection of disliking the book is "invalid" in your opinion."

I was just completely kidding around, no reflection at all on your assessment of the book. :)

Sue wrote: "Sara wrote: "I discovered Tey last year and really love the sensibility of her writing. Haven't read this one yet, though."

I do recommend it. It's really sort of an historical mystery using her ..."

Daughter of Time, published in 1951, was the second entry into the historical mystery genre which has now exploded to all our benefit. The first was John Dickson Carr's Bride of Newgate. Carr isn't popular these days, having had an unfortunate attitude about women, but he opened this door for all of us.

I just read (from reading of it here) Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. Extremely unique, well written, but Ewww!

My number came up at the library for

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, but in reading the jacket at the library I just wasn't all that interested, so I looked instead for Mitchell's Cloud Atlas, which was not available, so I got and have started his first book, Ghostwritten, which I'm three stories into and am enjoying. It takes a good writer to introduce new characters and situations every 40 pages or so and continually engage the reader. (Anybody read his "Cloud Atlas"? Should I read that one too?

Hoping for some audiobook suggestions for me to get for my mother. She is 93, living in a Board and Care with virtually no activities. Hoping to get her something quite engaging. She is reasonably intelligent, though losing a bit mentally memorywise, and not terribly intellectual or a great reader of classics or anything. The only serious book I've known her to read was "The Greatest Generation" by Brokaw, which she liked, but I was thinking of getting her a good fiction story(s) that would hold her attention. Thanks for your suggestions; I personally rarely do audiobooks, but Mom has cataracts and surgery is not scheduled for a few months.

Lyn, I am a couple of chapters into Mitchell's Cloud Atlas and enjoying it very much so far. I haven't read Ghostwritten, but I really admired his books Black Swan Green and Thousand Autumns -- two very different novels indeed!

I Capture the Castle
This was the audiobook Mama particularly wanted after she developed glaucoma. It is an amusing English novel. You might also check if there are any Angela Thirkell books in audio. These are English country novels written before, during, and after WWII.

Philip, a friend of mine who's trying to clear out her library (transferring everything to her Kindle) recently gave me "Cloud Atlas." Please let me know what you think, as long as anyone else who might be reading it.

Beej, I'll cop to enjoying the first book in the Clan of the Cave Bear series, but it is downhill from there. As I recall, I made it to about half way through the third book before I threw my hands up and just started skimming for dialog. The story is solid (if far-fetched), it's just buried under thousands of extra words.

Peggy, a lot of the folks who were eagerly awaiting the arrival of the new sixth book, The Land of Painted Caves, told me they've read and re-read the entire series until they wore them out and had to repurchase them. Some have told me that the second book was the best, and I'm hoping to start that one this weekend.

I went back and forth about starting the series because my reading time is sooo very limited and I hesitate to dedicate that time to second rate books. (by second rate, I mean non-classics. Is it fair to judge non-classic novels as second rate, tho?) I decided that what really matters is if I enjoy them, and so far, I'm enjoying The Clan of the Cave Bear.

John wrote: "Philip, a friend of mine who's trying to clear out her library (transferring everything to her Kindle) recently gave me "Cloud Atlas." Please let me know what you think, as long as anyone else who..."

I read it and loved it. It is a quirky writing style, which did not disturb me.

I read Cloud Atlas, too, and though I'm not really fond of postmodern or experimental literature, I did enjoy the book. Like Kitty, I found the writing style to be a bit quirky, but it didn't really bother me. I think it's Mitchell's best book to date.

Norma wrote: "Sue wrote: "Sara wrote: "I discovered Tey last year and really love the sensibility of her writing. Haven't read this one yet, though."

I do recommend it. It's really sort of an historical myst..."

Thanks for that bit of information. I really had no idea.

Gabrielle wrote: "I read Cloud Atlas, too, and though I'm not really fond of postmodern or experimental literature, I did enjoy the book. Like Kitty, I found the writing style to be a bit quirky, but it didn't real..."

I liked Black Swan Green also/ I still have Ghostwritten to read.

I finally got a hold of a copy of Tinkers!!!!

Wendy: You will enjoy it. The writing is beautiful. But be prepared for tears if you cry easily.

I just finished Hesse's "Damien", short but provoctive novel on society and the individual. Now reading Mario Vargas Llosa essays, Philip Roth's novel on Lindburgh becoming president in 1940 (book is upstairs).

I read the Roth/Lindberg novel a couple of years ago. It was a gift, I don't think I would have picked it up on my own. I'll be interested to hear what you think of it.

"The Plot Against America" was one of my favorite Roth novels of the half dozen or so that I've read. It dealt less with frustrated middle-class Jewish sexuality than his other ones, which makes me somewhat more approachable.

I really liked The Plot Against America. I think it was a Reading List selection once.

Started the Swallows of Kabul today.

I just finished Faerie Wars. I thought it was pretty good, a little bit predictable though. It would probably be a good read for someone about 13.

I'm still reading The Meaning of Night: A Confession but hoping to finish it soon. And almost half way thru Tipping the Velvet

I just finished The Charterhouse of Parma. It is a book that I will have to mull over awhile before I can decide what my final opinion is. In the couple of days since I finished it, I seem to be thinking more highly of it than while I was actually reading it.

I'm starting Appointment in Samarra and The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration.

I love O'Hara, Brian. You've been choosing some especially good ones lately.

I agree about The Plot Against America, John. I liked The Human Stain and especially American Pastoral even more, but some of Roth's novels (such as Sabbath's Theater) I appreciate or admire as art without actually liking them.

Oh, I really liked "The Human Stain," too, Philip. I always wanted to see Anthony Hopkins in the movie to see how they compared. Did you ever get a chance to see it?

And yes, "Sabbath's Theater" and "Portnoy's Complaint" are like Seinfeld. You like them or you don't. I never have, on either account.

I just finished Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood and Homer & Langley by E.L. Doctorow. I need to find something a bit lighter to read!!

I was a bit disappointed in Oryx and Crake. I adore Margaret Atwood and there was so much hype surrounding this book... so my hopes were high. But compared to her other books that I've read, I wasn't blown away. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the book and I will be reading the rest of the trilogy at some point.

Homer and Langley knocked my socks off. That's the first book by Doctorow I've read. What a beautiful, tragic, moving portrait of the Collyer brothers. I was hooked from the first sentence. I highly recommend it.

Now I'm reading a handful of different books, none of which are capturing my full attention. I did just start Divisadero by Michael Ondaatje so that may win out as the next book. We'll see :)

American Pastoral is one of my all time favorites. Has anyone read Roth's latest short novel, Nemesis? I've had it on my kindle for awhile but haven't got around to it.

After all the positive comments, I guess I'm not terribly surprised I really am enjoyingUnaccustomed Earth. So far each story seems just right.

Well, that Seamus Heaney Beowulf certainly is all it's cracked up to be.

In honour of National Poetry Month, I'm setting out on Selected Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins, though I'm not sure I can handle all that nature and religion and so on. Zachariah Wells, a poet I like who reminds me of Wilfred Owen, told me that if I like Owen, I should read Hopkins.

I've decided to read poetry all month ... I have enough unread collections to last me, I think.

Really? Owen and Hopkins don't really strike me as similar. I wonder what the person giving the recommendation had in mind. Owen is probably my favorite English WWI poet, though Sassoon, with whom he had an interesting relationship, is wonderful, too.

I would imagine most modern-day readers - especially those who don't have a taste for poetry - would find Hopkins too affected and, well ... Victorian, for lack of a better word.

That's my problem on skimming Hopkins.

Re Owen & Hopkins, I have probably mangled that recommendation in my memory. It was a year ago, and there was wine. I believe it may have been purely a matter of diction, or attention to the sounds of words, or something. I will report further if I figure it out.

Owen is my favourite poet.

Last weekend I finished The True Deceiver, written by Tove Jansson and translated by Thomas Teal. Set in a cold snowy Scandinavian village, it's about a strange young woman known for telling the truth bluntly and an older, rich children's book author. No character in the book was very appealing, and I did not enjoy the battle of wills between the main two. Others differ, though; the novel is on the short list for Best Translated Book of 2010. Many Goodreads reviewers liked it, too.

Still working on The Count of Monte Cristo. It's really long but really good so I think I'll be sad to finish it. The longer a book is the more I seem to bond with it and hate leaving it behind (if it's good that is). Also working on Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible & Why We Don't Know About Them which is interesting so far.

I am starting The Count tomorrow for a group read on the Victorian site here on goodreads. You should join us Amanda.

I read John O'Hara's Appointment in Samarra several years ago and was fascinated by it. Have wanted to read From the Terrace - just never gotten around to that almost 900 page book.

Marge

Just to complicate my reading life a bit, I've started on J. M. Coetzee's Summertime, which is going quite fast so far, with Mitchell's Cloud Atlas still sitting beside me. My first Coetzee, actually, though my wife (who has travelled to S. Africa a few times) has read several.

Coetzee is one of my favorite authors, although I haven't read anything by him in a long time. Disgrace is amazing, though it gets rough at times.

Marjorie wrote: "I read John O'Hara's Appointment in Samarra several years ago and was fascinated by it. Have wanted to read From the Terrace - just never gotten around to that almost 900 page book.

Marge"

I found that (Appointment at Samarra) at my mother's and took it home with me (since she had asked me to get it for her). I'll add it to my mental list. Thanks for the heads up.

Marialyce wrote: "I am starting The Count tomorrow for a group read on the Victorian site here on goodreads. You should join us Amanda."

I'll do that, this will be a good one to discuss

Great Amanda!

For John & A.J., I'm guessing the Owen/Hopkins connection might be with the brutal honesty and raw emotion of Owen and of H's "terrible sonnets."

John, I have to pick a bone re: your comment that Hopkins is Victorian. While he wrote during the late 1800s, he wasn't published until the 19teens, I think. And I've read that he probably would not have been accepted if published earlier. I don't find him Victorian. I'd be interested to know how you do.

If we discovered a new Shakespeare play that wasn't published until 2011, does that mean that the play still wasn't one of the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century? When it's published doesn't really matter.

I finished The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse today. I enjoyed it very much, but wish I had not had to interrupt it to read Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. I think I lost threads on a few of the characters.

Tonight I plan to start one of Charles Todd's Ian Rutledge mysteries.

John, what I meant was that Hopkins's writing was significantly ahead of its time. He was using rhythms and sounds in ways that probably would not have been accepted by the Victorians even though he wrote during that time period. Early 20th century poets were experimenting with all that stuff in similar ways so Hopkins poetry made sense to them. They got what he was doing.

I just finished Blood and Thunder: The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West by Hampton Sides. It's a history of our conquest of the West - how badly we bungled the Indian situation, how that history intersected the the Civil War (one battle was fought in New Mexico), and how slavery (between the New Mexicans and the Navajo's was still practiced after the Civil War ended.

I have started three books for April groups. They are: John Adams, The Count of Monte Cristo, and The Weird Sisters. I will finish Swallows of Kabul this evening.

I think I'm going to put Pavilion of Women on hold temporarily. I just don't seem to be in the right mood for it. I don't want to do it an injustice as I do think it's well written. I'll check my book case and the books that leapt off the shelves when I went in to pick up one on hold.

I read Mystery: An Alex Delaware Novel which was one of my automatic holds from the library. It was Ok but the formula seems to be running thinner for me now. I enjoy the thrill a bit but there's so little in the way of characterization. I miss that.

Al wrote: "Cateline & Aloha: I was disappointed by The Boat although I do think he is a talented writer...."

I've only read the first three of the stories in The Boat, and while the first one blew me away with it's truthfulness and heartache, the next two not quite so much. Perhaps because the characters in numbers 2 and 3 are not as sympathetic, in fact they are downright...lets just say unsympathetic. But somehow that makes them even more powerful. I've been mucking about with other books, including The Cruelest Month: A Three Pines Mystery, it's the third of that series, and is delightful.

Susan, part of my point that writers generally aren't classified by when, if ever, their writing style becomes more mainstream or "accepted." It happens according to when they wrote. I can't think of any exceptions. Hoffmansthal wrote some of the first modernism in Europe toward the end of the 1890s, but most - in fact, all the ones I know of - critics would still say he's very much a pre-Modern writer.

Still reading WAITING FOR POPS by John Riffice. God, what an excellent read. I like it too because the chapters are short and thats perfect for bedtime... I can start AND finish a chapter before I fall asleep. This book pulls out all the emotions, all while taking me back to my youth. My favorite book of the last six months (easily).
Karen