Anyone reading any good books?
Anyone reading any good books?
Victoria Grant
Leading Actor Joined: 6/2/03
popcultureboy
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/23/03
#1re: Anyone reading any good books?
Posted: 11/25/05 at 1:39pmI Am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe.
Nothing precious, plain to see, don't make a fuss over me. Not loud, not soft, but somewhere inbetween. Say sorry, just let it be the word you mean.
#2re: Anyone reading any good books?
Posted: 11/25/05 at 1:41pmI disagree. I find that book condescending while at the same time trying way too hard. I can't even get through it, so tired am I of being hit over the head with Wolfe's incessant hammer.
Have I ever shown you my Shattered Dreams box? It's in my Disappointment Closet. - Marge Simpson
popcultureboy
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/23/03
#3re: Anyone reading any good books?
Posted: 11/25/05 at 1:46pmI personally haven't cared so much about fictional characters in absolutely ages. And I have no problem with Wolfe's style and I don't find it condescending at all. But there you are.
Nothing precious, plain to see, don't make a fuss over me. Not loud, not soft, but somewhere inbetween. Say sorry, just let it be the word you mean.
#4re: Anyone reading any good books?
Posted: 11/25/05 at 2:00pmODD THOMAS--Dean Koontz
"They're eating her and then they're going to eat me. OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!" -Troll 2
#5re: Anyone reading any good books?
Posted: 11/25/05 at 2:11pm
I'm about to reread Timothy Findley's THE WARS. It's one of my all-time favourites, and is a devestating read. It's about a young man named Robert who fight in WWI. The narrative is set as a journalist researching, Citizen Kane-like, why Robert did what he did to "the horses." One of the best novels about WWI ever written.
If you're looking for a real complex yarn of a narrative, check out Margaret Atwood's THE BLIND ASSASSIN. Winner of the Booker Prize in 2000, it's probably the most impressively-crafted book I've read. Atwood blends together a hodgepodge of genres -- from mystery to romance to sci fi -- and creates an epic family drama that spans an entire century. The novel begins, "Ten days after the war my sister Laura drove her car off a bridge," and proceeds to unravel the life of Iris, once a wealthy businessman's daughter, now living poor and alone, remembering her family's tragic history.
For a homo-themed book, I think AT SWIM, TWO BOYS by Jamie O'Neill is the gay Ulysses, the Great Gay Novel. It's like a 600-page poem. Set in Ireland in 1916, it's a heartbreaking story of two boys who, through their love, discovery their country.
For a safe choice, I have yet to meet someone who didn't like LIFE OF PI by Yann Martel (also winner of the Booker Prize, in 2002). It's a tall tale about a boy named Pi who finds himself stranded on a lifeboat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, with a zebra, an orangutan and a mammoth tiger.
BlueWizard's blog: The Rambling Corner
HEDWIG: "The road is my home. In reflecting upon the people whom I have come upon in my travels, I cannot help but think of the people who have come upon me."
hypertruffle
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/22/05
#6re: Anyone reading any good books?
Posted: 11/25/05 at 2:20pmRight now, I just started reading Thank you for Smoking by Christopher Buckley. It's a political satire themed book about a chief spokesman of the Academy of Tobacco Studies defending the rights of smokers, and losing. He meets up with two other people in the same position as he (one is from the firearms lobby and the other from the alcohol lobby) and bemoan of their jobs and debate which job is the most deadly. It's alright, I suppose. I just read a couple of pages, so my mind'll change over time.
"The cynicism you refer to, I acquired the day I discovered I was different from little boys!~All About Eve
gavrochegirl
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/16/05
#7re: Anyone reading any good books?
Posted: 11/25/05 at 2:31pmI'm starting to read Wicked, and so far it's wonderful.
What the puck?!
Plum
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/4/04
#8re: Anyone reading any good books?
Posted: 11/25/05 at 4:07pm
Who's receiving the gift?
If you have no fear of graphic novels, Watchmen is one of the most brilliant sorta-superhero stories ever written. The other apotheosis of the medium is Maus, a harrowing Holocaust story.
If you want something extremely time-consuming, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is a massive book that's firmly in the tradition of great English fantasy. And Cryptonomicon, while slightly dated, is a hugely fun techie historical novel.
If you're terrified of "genre" in general, go for A Very Long Engagement, in English or French. Yasunari Kawabata's Snow Country and The Master of Go are wonderful in translation, as well.
I'm reading Madame Bovary right now and I haven't made up my mind about it. It's a good translation, though, that really feels like French at times.
Updated On: 11/25/05 at 04:07 PM
bdwybelle
Broadway Star Joined: 11/2/04
#9re: Anyone reading any good books?
Posted: 11/25/05 at 4:36pm
I'm reading BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley and I love it. It's very interesting and VERY odd but also very intruiging. It's incredible to think that he wrote it in the 40's.
I'm also reading THE ENGLISH GOVERNESS AT THE SIAMESE COURT by Anna Leonowens - which is also very interesting. But if you don't like history, don't read this book.
#10re: Anyone reading any good books?
Posted: 11/25/05 at 4:37pmI also loved 'Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell' - what a great novel. Right now I am reading 'Until I Find You' by John Irving.
My mother always used to say, "The older you get, the better you get, unless you're a banana." - Rose Nyland
#11re: Anyone reading any good books?
Posted: 11/25/05 at 4:43pmI haven't had the stomach to pick up Charlotte Simmons yet. I've never even been able to sort out how I felt about Radical Chic. On one hand, it's exceptional writing and a fascinating story. On the other hand, the condescending tone just makes me want to find Tom Wolfe and dump a bucket of motor oil on that white suit of his.
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