tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9931308.post112120968908398671..comments2024-03-14T00:16:32.077-07:00Comments on 50 Books: BOOKS: Just in Time for the Weekend!Tammyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613804843380827691noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9931308.post-1122170447882246032005-07-23T19:00:00.000-07:002005-07-23T19:00:00.000-07:00I loooved Confederacy of Dunces. I picked it up wh...I loooved <I>Confederacy of Dunces</I>. I picked it up when it first came out, mainly because I found Toole's backstory so weirdly compelling, and I think I read it in just about one sitting. And you're right: I did laugh out loud.Tammyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16613804843380827691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9931308.post-1122145787149850222005-07-23T12:09:00.000-07:002005-07-23T12:09:00.000-07:00Well, if you're looking for laugh-out-loud, could ...Well, if you're looking for laugh-out-loud, could I also recommend <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0802130208/ref=pd_sxp_f/103-5837226-7267040?v=glance&s=books" REL="nofollow"><I>A Confederacy of Dunces</I></A> by John Kennedy Toole?<BR/><BR/>Ignatious J. Reilly is probably one of the best comic characters I've ever read. Ranking right up there with the errant knight Don Quixote. His rants against everything from homosexuals to hot dog vendors to capitalists makes for prime page turning fun. There were several times I was afraid that my valve would close from laughing (you'll understand if you read it).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9931308.post-1122141079323211892005-07-23T10:51:00.000-07:002005-07-23T10:51:00.000-07:00Yeah, Rebecca. I think The Sun Also Rises has that...Yeah, Rebecca. I think <I>The Sun Also Rises</I> has that effect on a lot of people. The thing with Hemingway is that, despite the fact that he seems to write simply, I don't think he's accessible to younger people. I'm positive you were a super-smart 13 year old, but Hemingway's show-don't-tell way of writing means you have to extrapolate A LOT from what his characters say and do. I think this level of extrapolation requires a fair bit of life experience (egad, I hate that expression -- I'm sorry!) to do well. On the plus side, it's what makes re-reading his books every few years so incredibly rewarding; I find new things in them every time.<BR/><BR/>Thanks for all the recommendations! I'm making a list and checking it thrice.<BR/><BR/>Yay, Ms Draggletail! That's so cool. I love me some serendipity, especially when books are involved.Tammyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16613804843380827691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9931308.post-1122087812192140872005-07-22T20:03:00.000-07:002005-07-22T20:03:00.000-07:00So odd: Just today a woman in my book store was r...So odd: Just today a woman in my book store was raving about <I>Garden of Eden</I>, and I was surprised that I had never heard of it. She said it's her favorite Hemingway, and encouraged me to look it up. Now I've heard of it twice in one day. I'll have to put it on my list!Jennhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11512439174547799182noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9931308.post-1121909673430421192005-07-20T18:34:00.000-07:002005-07-20T18:34:00.000-07:00I don't know what it is about Hemmingway I don't l...I don't know what it is about Hemmingway I don't like - maybe it was that I tried to read him at too young an age to appreciate him (13, I think). It was <I>The Sun Also Rises</I>, if I recall correctly. I know he's one of my mother's favourite authors from her youth, so maybe I'll take your suggestions and try again.<BR/><BR/>As for my favourite summer reads:<BR/><BR/>Guy Gavriel Kay's <I>Fionavar Tapestry</I>, which, technically, is three books, but I'll count it as one. It's the first time I've ever had to put down a book and walk away so I could cry about what happened to one of the characters.<BR/><BR/>Tanya Huff's <I>The Keeper Chronicles</I>, which, again, actually three books, but they're not high literature and and pretty quick reads. Funny and clever - talking cats and cute handymen is all I ever want in a fluffy summer read.<BR/><BR/>His name has been mentioned here before, but Christopher Moore's <I>Fluke</I> reminds me of sitting at the kitchen table, gasping for breath as I read passages out loud to my mother. She finally read it this summer, and loved it.<BR/><BR/>Elmore Leonard's <I>Touch</I> is one you don't see often. It concerns a young man with a stigmata who can heal people, and how different people percieve him and want to exploit his abilities.<BR/><BR/>Poppy Z. Brite's <I>Plastic Jesus</I> is fiendishly hard to find, but worth the effort - I read it and changed my mind about ever reading her again (I didn't enjoy <I>Lost Souls</I>, but have loved everything else of hers I've read). The story follows a Beatles-like band and asks "what if?"Rebeccahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12314538281021455995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9931308.post-1121908946769360642005-07-20T18:22:00.000-07:002005-07-20T18:22:00.000-07:00Cool. I'm putting Winner on my wishlist. "Made me ...Cool. I'm putting <I>Winner</I> on my wishlist. "Made me laugh out loud" is the best endorsement I could ask for.<BR/><BR/>As for Lamb, let me put it this way: a couple of years ago, the mister and I were camping in the Rockies and went on a wet rainy hike up the mountains, where I fell and almost broke my ass. Between my aching butt and <I>I Know This Much Is True</I>, I didn't sleep <B>a wink</B> that night. It was that compelling.Tammyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16613804843380827691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9931308.post-1121906756475600032005-07-20T17:45:00.000-07:002005-07-20T17:45:00.000-07:00I'm not sure how I can describe Winner of the Nati...I'm not sure how I can describe <I>Winner of the National Book Award</I> other than its completely ironic without being winky? Willet is genius at avoiding sentimentality in some potentially murky sentimental bogs. What attached me so deeply to the main character was that Willet gave us a woman who seemed to be the closest thing to Adler's Fully Functioning Human Being on the outside and struggled with the idea that she was still just as human as the poor slobs she surrounded herself with.<BR/><BR/>Plus, the thing had me laughing out loud several times (which I rarely do in a novel, especially one that Hollywood would hardly consider a "comedy").<BR/><BR/>Oh, and does that mean you're a fellow Lamb fan? Whatever Lamb's stories lack (which isn't much ... it's more that he's seemed to have stuffed them too full to a fault), he makes up in some really rich characters.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9931308.post-1121800764305071512005-07-19T12:19:00.000-07:002005-07-19T12:19:00.000-07:00I need to get back into reading. I really do.But ...I need to get back into reading. I really do.<BR/><BR/>But I just wanted to say that I loved <I>Tender is the Night</I>. I loved it so much. I also loved the gossip about F. Scott Fitzgerald's penis. It made me giggle...in a totally adult way, of course.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9931308.post-1121711557502916692005-07-18T11:32:00.000-07:002005-07-18T11:32:00.000-07:00Only one from me, but since we're on the subject o...Only one from me, but since we're on the subject of Hemingway: <I>The Old Man and the Sea</I>. For a beach read, I don't think it gets much better than that.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9931308.post-1121477979933356502005-07-15T18:39:00.000-07:002005-07-15T18:39:00.000-07:00Yeah, I was meh on The Sun Also Rises, too. Though...Yeah, I was meh on <I>The Sun Also Rises</I>, too. Though I have this feeling I might like it more now, since I've developed a fondness for movies in which nothing happens.<BR/><BR/>I love Marquez, too. And you're the only other person I've met who liked <I>I Know This Much Is True</I>. For some reason, Lamb irritates the bejeebus out of everyone I know.<BR/><BR/>And hey, I've been wondering about <I>Winner of the National Book Award</I>, but you're the first person I've heard from who's read it. It's that good? I'm going to have to grab a copy.Tammyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16613804843380827691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9931308.post-1121474814986433502005-07-15T17:46:00.000-07:002005-07-15T17:46:00.000-07:00Oh, and can I add Winner of the National Book Awar...Oh, and can I add <I>Winner of the National Book Award</I> by Jincy Willett? Well, yeah, I guess I can.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9931308.post-1121440580327027582005-07-15T08:16:00.000-07:002005-07-15T08:16:00.000-07:00I love a good long book that I can lose my escapis...I love a good long book that I can lose my escapist self in. So, I'm not sure if these are my top 5 (though Garcia Marquez's would make it), but here are five good 'uns:<BR/><BR/>Love in the Time of Cholera - Garcia Marquez (I like to save 100 Years of Solitude for my annual winter reading)<BR/><BR/>I Know This Much Is True - Wally Lamb (I know, I know. Oprah. But I just fall in love with the characters and Lamb does such a good job of making each character human - in fact, maybe to a fault as there are some minor characters that I could've known less about - that the 900 pages flies by like <I>that</I>!)<BR/><BR/>Oryx & Crake - Margaret Atwood (It's science fiction! It's a love story! It's a mystery! It's the Beach Read Trifecta!)<BR/><BR/>And ... that's three.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9931308.post-1121439777601884762005-07-15T08:02:00.000-07:002005-07-15T08:02:00.000-07:00I loved A Moveable Feast, but I can tell you some ...I loved A Moveable Feast, but I can tell you some of the issues I've had with other Hemingway: The Sun Also Rises. I got to the end of the book, and I was like, "Are you kidding me? That's IT? Nothing freaking happened! No one changed! Nothing's different? What the hell?!"<BR/>Having said that, he's growing on me. As is William Faulkner, and that is truly terrifying.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com