This Week I are mostly reading (contd)

IvyTheTerrible

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Still on The Goldfinch. Getting a bit bogged down now. There's bits that are great but then there's bits that seem like she was just trying to write a really long book. I've gone from being 1 book ahead of schedule on my Goodreads 2014 challenge to being 1 book behind, all because of The Goldfinch

I'm the same. I'm about 2/3 of the way through and it's getting a bit much for me now!

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

IvyTheTerrible wrote: »

I'm the same. I'm about 2/3 of the way through and it's getting a bit much for me now!

Yeah, she spent ages and ages on the Vegas section, it got really repetitive after a while, then she just skips over months and years in the next chapters. I suppose the Vegas section was an important portion of his life and went a long way to shaping the adult he'd become but it dragged so much. I have the feeling that when I'm finished I'll think overall it was a good story but you had to pick the good story out from all the extra stuff. We'll see.

Callan57

The Corn Maiden & Other Nightmares by Joyce Carol Oates

AnnyHallsal

I really liked The Goldfinch. It lost me a little towards the end but overall I was engrossed.

Now reading two non-fiction: Claire Tomalin's biography of Thomas Hardy and Anthony Lane's Nobody's Perfect. Even though I don't always agree with his reviews, the latter's totally moreish.

Wyldwood

Stayed up to the wee hours to finish 11/22/63 and I must say that in spite of a bit of a drag in the middle it's one of the best books I've read in recent years. Maybe the fact that I was a child in the 60s and remember the Kennedy shooting made it strike more of a chord but I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't read it yet.

eire4

Finished a re read of Stephen Donaldson's Lord Fouls Bane.

IvyTheTerrible

I finished The Goldfinch, apart from some parts being over long (and I didn't believe the Boris character), I quite liked it. Tartt writes beautifully.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

^ I'm so annoyed at The Goldfinch that I haven't picked it up for 2 days. I turned the page to yet another massive time jump and I just lost it! I've never had such a strained relationship with a book before

Callan57

The Accursed by Joyce Carol Oates

Merkin

The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck

IvyTheTerrible

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

^ I'm so annoyed at The Goldfinch that I haven't picked it up for 2 days. I turned the page to yet another massive time jump and I just lost it! I've never had such a strained relationship with a book before

Annnd I just discovered Donna Tartt does her own editing. That explains A LOT.

Swiper the fox

Merkin wrote: »

The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck

That could well be my favourite book ever, funnily enough Friday Night Lights is not far behind, that's been discussed on the last page also.

I've three books on the go at the moment, the new book by Paul Lynch (he wrote Red Sky at Night which I loved) called The Black Snow, i'm nearly finished and it's only so so but seems to be building towards a big finish.
I'm also reading The Sports Gene, a fascinating if a little heavy at times Sports/Science book which delves into the theory that some people/races/tribes/individuals with unique genetic gifts are simply born to excel at certain sports, some fantastic anecdotes, well worth reading for sports fans.
Also One on One, a memoir of sorts from one of the worlds greatest ever sportswriters John Feinstein.

Aenaes

I finished The Portrait Of A Lady by Henry James. It took me a month, give or take a couple of days which is an unusually long time for me.

The book is long-winded, beautifully and difficultly written and begins very slowly with nothing much happening. However, the characters are quite nicely introduced and understood because of this. I can't seem to say it's good or bad, I certainly don't feel it's a great piece of literature. It almost feels a bit dated and hasn't stood the test of time as other books have.
He seems like a great author and I hope to read more of his work, hopefully where the story interests me more.

On to Surviving The Sword : Prisoners of the Japanese 1942-45 by Brian MacArthur. Only read the introduction so far but probably going to be a harrowing read.

Wyldwood

Finished Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum. It was an interesting take on WW11/Holocaust fiction, written from the perspective of the Germans who weren't Jewish, mostly women. The book has it's faults & the narrative is a bit disjointed at times, Blum made great leaps in time without tying up some loose ends and the ending is contrived but overall an interesting story.

On to Donal Ryan's The Spinning Heart now.

a0ifee

school distracted me for a bit but i finally finished The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, what an excellent book, didn't want to finish it. Back to concentrating on Human Traces. Not really feeling this book anymore, a lot of medical jargon and jumping forward in the story but I never leave a book unfinished, it's my personal policy :pac:

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Finally finished The Goldfinch. For a book whose main message seemed to be "Life is short...." I was left with the distinct feeling that I has wasted a large chunk of that short life wading through this.

Wyldwood

Finished The Spinning Heart and after all the hype and awards it received I feel I should be apologising for not liking it.

It was tedious to keep track of so many characters and who they were related to. I didn't engage with any of them and found, because of the style of writing they weren't developed enough. They were too stereotypically "stage Irish" for my liking - drinking, sex-driven, foulmouthed and foolish, typical Irish gombeen.

Oh well, horses for courses I guess.

SarahBM

Wyldwood wrote: »

Finished The Spinning Heart and after all the hype and awards it received I feel I should be apologising for not liking it.

It was tedious to keep track of so many characters and who they were related to. I didn't engage with any of them and found, because of the style of writing they weren't developed enough. They were too stereotypically "stage Irish" for my liking - drinking, sex-driven, foulmouthed and foolish, typical Irish gombeen.

Oh well, horses for courses I guess.

Anyone I have spoken to who has read it thought it was very poor. a workmate said she thought it was just very badly written. Definitely not on my to read list.

Have to say Im loving Dracula. Only about half way through because of college work getting in the way, but its very good.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

Set in Iceland in 1829 a young woman is sentenced to death for her part in the murder of two men. While her case is sent to Denmark to be ruled on by the King (I guess this was the done thing back then?) she is sent to live on a rural farm with one of the district officers and his family.

According to Goodreads I'm 20% into it and I like it so far. It's got a very simple writing style, it was a bit jarring at first having just read The Goldfinch which took about half a page to say it was raining out.... but after a few pages I got into the rhythm of it and it's kept me turning the pages.

Aenaes

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

Set in Iceland in 1829 a young woman is sentenced to death for her part in the murder of two men. While her case is sent to Denmark to be ruled on by the King (I guess this was the done thing back then?)

Just looked it up, there was a High Court between 1800-1845, presided over by 3 judges and was the court of highest instance in the country.
It seems the judgement was sent to the King to approve or veto.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Aenaes wrote: »

Just looked it up, there was a High Court between 1800-1845, presided over by 3 judges and was the court of highest instance in the country.
It seems the judgement was sent to the King to approve or veto.

I never even knew Iceland belonged to Denmark at one point. I was going to look up the history but as it's based on a true story I didn't want to risk spoiling anything..... which I still managed to do when I looked up the author. Doh!

kirk buttercup

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

Set in Iceland in 1829 a young woman is sentenced to death for her part in the murder of two men. While her case is sent to Denmark to be ruled on by the King (I guess this was the done thing back then?) she is sent to live on a rural farm with one of the district officers and his family.

According to Goodreads I'm 20% into it and I like it so far. It's got a very simple writing style, it was a bit jarring at first having just read The Goldfinch which took about half a page to say it was raining out.... but after a few pages I got into the rhythm of it and it's kept me turning the pages.

loved this book very different. Its Hannah Kents first book can't wait to read more by her, by far the best book I read last year.

adrian522

Requiem for a Dream Huberyt Selby Jr

Finished this during the week, it's a very powerful book,

not a whole lot of redemption for any of the main characters by the end of the novel.

Very engaging and it kind of stays with you for a few days afterwards, I must seek out the movie,

Zillah

Currently on an Arthur C Clarke binge. Rendezvous with Rama was first, which was amazing, then The City and the Stars, which was good, but also went off the handles towards the end, and now I'm reading Childhood's End.

MagicMarker

Childhoods End is brilliant.

Hidalgo

Finished 'Charle Wilson's War' by George Crile a few days ago.

Good read on the importance of a single congressman (Wilson) and the central role e played in the escalation of the Afghan-Soviet war in the 1980s.
Highlights the benefit of being on the board of certain cub-committees when you want to influence American policy, Wilson was well placed in all committees that made decisions on how US funds were spent abroad.

Te book also gives an insight into the world of the CIA as it details Wilson's relationship with Gust Avrakotos, the CIA agent who at one time was in charge of the middle east.


I havn't seen the film, so I've no idea as to how close that is to the book.


Started 'Year 501' by Noam Comsky yesterday, my first venture into is writings.

IvyTheTerrible

Finished "A girl is a half formed thing". Pretty bleak story but I really like the way it was written (in a sort of stream of conciousness way).

Einhard

Just finished the last part of the Lord of the Rings- the Return of the King. Have read all three over the past month or so. Quite enjoyed them, especially the Fellowship of the Ring, but thought that Tolkien went a bit too academic at the end, and the speech of his characters somewhat stilted in a "high-epic" kind of way. Still, an enjoyable, and quite often beautiful read.

Now to the bookshop for more reading!!

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Finished Burial Rites last night. Excellent book. I've only read 5 books so far this year but it's easily the best of those 5.

Usually I hate when books jump between perspectives or narrators or have flashbacks and all that kind of stuff but Burial Rites is proof that if it's done right it works and it's seamlessly done here.

cookiecakes

Finished 'One More Thing' which is a collection of short stories by B.J. Novak. Overall, I liked it but felt that some stories were a bit hit and miss, which is often the case with collections I suppose.

Started 'We Need New Names' by Noviolet Bulawayo. I like it so far but her style takes a bit of getting used to.
Next on the list are Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer. Have The Goldfinch and The Luminaries lined up for the next time I've a couple of weeks off work!