What Are You Reading?
- Thread starter Dana Jean
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Well, weird old me, who can't seem to read just one book at a time, am reading Danse Macabre, a short story collection called A Season in Carcosa, and The Regulators. On hold for now is Rose Madder, but I have started it.
I reading Gray Mountain by John Grisham. I really hope it ends well so far it has been kind of boring but he has a tendency to really bring it home at the end. We shall see. I really like Sycamore Row and I've read all his books but this one just isn't doing it for me, maybe I should have waited until after halloween.
Just finished "The Giver". Stay away, people. Gosh, why are bad books so popular?
Along with Broken Monsters I'm reading The Death of Santini, by Pat Conroy. He's always used his family as fodder for his fiction and in this memoir he tries to come to some sort of peace with both his parents and his remaining siblings.
Hahahahaha! I had a patient bring me this movie and tell me I remind him of this scene. It was the first time I had seen it. I hope he was joking.......Is it safe?
I felt like Hoffman a couple of days ago in that scene. They were supposed to take out a wisdomtooth (me and wisdom, thats a laugh!) but it broke during the attempt and the the part thats is stuck in the jawbone was left. They pulled, and pulled until they pulled me out of the chair. Said i had very strong jawbone that didn't want to release the tooth as usual. They couldn't do it and remitted me to a Jaw chirurg at the hospital. It seems it cant stay, infections and such... So now i await a summon to an operation. Can't say i'm looking forward to it.
The Turn of the Screw-Henry James. I've not read it previously, and enjoyed the movie called The Innocents so much that I decided it was about time 
Free Kindle book, too
Free Kindle book, tooWhat leads you to think that The Giver is a bad book?
Since back from vacation I finished Stone Mattress by Margaret Atwood. It is a collection of "nine tales" (as it is billed) by one of my favorite authors... and the 2 don't mix well, for me at least. I am not a fan of short stories. What can I say? The writing was wonderful as always, but there is something about a short story that leaves me cold.
Next, I finally finished Michael McDowell's 6-part masterpiece, Blackwater. I am so grateful to kingricefan for turning me on to this!!! All I can say is that it is a southern gothic tale like no other. The writing is exceptionally good for the direct-to-paperback genre that McDowell wrote for and like I mentioned, the story really is one-of-a-kind. I loved every last word of it and was sad to see it end.
Currently I have started a reread of Tom DeHaven's Funny Papers trilogy. This is a fictional account of comics starting with yellow journalism in NYC around the turn of the 20th century. These 3 books have not been available for Kindle until recently, so I thought a reread was in order. DeHaven is another of my favorite authors and this trilogy is brilliant. His phrasing, stories within stories, characters, etc. are captivating. He is truly an underrated author. Has anyone ever read Freak's Amour by him? That was a "life changing" book for me when I first read it back in 1979. It has since become quite a "cult classic."
Next, I finally finished Michael McDowell's 6-part masterpiece, Blackwater. I am so grateful to kingricefan for turning me on to this!!! All I can say is that it is a southern gothic tale like no other. The writing is exceptionally good for the direct-to-paperback genre that McDowell wrote for and like I mentioned, the story really is one-of-a-kind. I loved every last word of it and was sad to see it end.
Currently I have started a reread of Tom DeHaven's Funny Papers trilogy. This is a fictional account of comics starting with yellow journalism in NYC around the turn of the 20th century. These 3 books have not been available for Kindle until recently, so I thought a reread was in order. DeHaven is another of my favorite authors and this trilogy is brilliant. His phrasing, stories within stories, characters, etc. are captivating. He is truly an underrated author. Has anyone ever read Freak's Amour by him? That was a "life changing" book for me when I first read it back in 1979. It has since become quite a "cult classic."
Talking about Margaret Atwood.... I have her The Year of the Flood in my TBR-pile. Is it a good one? Have only read one of hers before, i think.
The Year of the Flood is the second book in a trilogy, and if you don't read the first one, Oryx & Crake, you'll be a bit lost and miss out on a lot. That said, the trilogy is an epic dystopian work of fiction and taken all together is quite wonderful.
Didn't know that. Thanks for the tip! I'll try to find the first one then.
quick capsule review:
Another "can't explain why this is popular" type of book. The dystopia is simple, childish and intellectually repellant. The prose, although decent, lacks character and vividness. The scenes are muddy, lifeless, and unrealistic. Get away from this if you're an educated, tasteful adult. If you're a teenager or a child, this will please you, and I understand it.
It may seem pretentious, but those are my feelings on it.
Another "can't explain why this is popular" type of book. The dystopia is simple, childish and intellectually repellant. The prose, although decent, lacks character and vividness. The scenes are muddy, lifeless, and unrealistic. Get away from this if you're an educated, tasteful adult. If you're a teenager or a child, this will please you, and I understand it.
It may seem pretentious, but those are my feelings on it.
You just persuaded me. I have ordered the rest of the trilogy. Sounds like just the kind of stuff i like. Will get them next week, then.....
I thought The Year of the Flood was the strongest of the three, but I liked them all. Oryx & Crake is probably my least favorite of the three, but it was obviously good enough that I read the other two
MaddAddam was interesting, and wrapped it up well.They probably have to wait until Revival is off the table. But then there is probably room for a nice little dystopic trilogy (or whatever you should call it). Atwood is an author i've glanced at for many years without really doing anything about it. If i like these and her writingstyle is there some others of her books that can be recommended?I thought The Year of the Flood was the strongest of the three, but I liked them all. Oryx & Crake is probably my least favorite of the three, but it was obviously good enough that I read the other two
Her The Handmaid's Tale is in my top 5 books ever. I also quite liked Alias Grace and the Penelopiad was quirky and interesting.
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