Similar idea to the favourite films post.
Talking about your favourite books of all time as well as simply good, enjoyable reads.
And it would be nice to have a bit of a ‘blurb’ about them, along with your opinions, rather than just lists of titles and authors.
casa azahar 
Okay, I’ll start.
One of my favourite books of all time is The Deptford Trilogy by Robertson Davies. The three books are called: Fifth Business, The Manticore and World of Wonders.
Here is the blurb on the back of my very old and totally falling apart copy:
“Who killed Boy Staunton? Around this central mystery is woven a glittering, fantastic, cunningly contrived trilogy of novels. Luring the reader down labyrinthine tunnels of myth, history and magic, The Deptford Trilogy provides an exhilarating antidote to a world from where ‘the fear and dread and splendour of wonder have been banished”.
Couldn’t have said it better myself. 😉
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My favourite book of all time is Riddley Walker by Russel Hoban. It’s not an easy read, as it’s written in a corrupted future version of English, taking place as it does in a post-apocalyptic version of Kent, England. It mixes various British legends with a quest and the traditions of Punch and Judy. It’s funny, strange and moving.
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My favorite book of all time???? Egads, I will have to think about this as there are so many to choose from. But I have to say that the one that I have re-read the most often is Tolkien’s Lord of The Rings Trilogy. Do I really need to write a blurb for this? The haunting story of the battle of Good versus Evil set in a Middle Earth populated with hobbits, elves, wizards, trolls, orcs, wargs, dwarves and men.
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I have a few favorite books. The difficult bit is deciding which one to start with.
One of my favorite books of all time is “Geek Love” by Katherine Dunn. It’s about a carny couple- husband and wife- who use thalidomide and other methods to deliberately cause birth defects in their unborn children, in order to have an entire carny “freak” family.
I know it sounds gross, but it’s actually very funny and touching. Such a seemingly dysfunctional family on the surface, but so loyal and loving.
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Yikes! That does sound gross but very intriguing. Now I know why we have a shared enjoyment for Cronenberg films!
PS. What does ‘carney’ mean?
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Someone who works in a travelling carnival or circus.
I’ve not heard of that one, PC, will check it out.
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I have to start somewhere… H’mmm.
‘Kristin Lavransdatter’, by Sigrid Undset. A hefty trilogy, telling the whole life story of a woman in fourteenth-century Norway. The historical background is painstakingly recreated, and the characters are fully developed, which is more than I can say for a lot of more recent fiction. (Sigrid Undset won the Nobel Prize at some point, I think.)
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A tricky one, as there are so many.
So I’ll start with something that most people probably won’t have read – the “Grass” trilogy by Sheri Tepper. The three books are “Grass”, “Raising the Stones” and “Sideshow” (the first two are the best, the third a bit disappointing in contrast.
Az started to read Raising the Stones, and didn’t like it, which shows that “good” is often “according to taste”, but I found it’s exploration of the contrast between different styles of god in a sci-fi setting intriguing.
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To be fair, it was her use of language that put me off – the story seemed fine (what I can remember of it). But I didn’t end up finishing it. When the main character ‘resumed his shoes’ at one point I just went – gaaaaa! – and refused to read any further.
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Have you noticed how trilogies seem to be showing up as people’s favorite “books”? Is this because we are having such a hard time singling out ONE book?
Another book I have read over and over and loved is Captain Horitio Hornblower (oops, guess what, another trilogy!) C. S. Forester’s depiction of an intelligent officer riddled with self doubt and insecurity who is serving in the British Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. Beautiful prose, fairly accurate description of life and operation of a wooden sail powered war ship, an accessible hero.
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Have you noticed how trilogies seem to be showing up as people’s favorite “books”? Is this because we are having such a hard time singling out ONE book?
Another book I have read over and over and loved is Captain Horatio Hornblower (oops, guess what, another trilogy!) C. S. Forester’s depiction of an intelligent officer riddled with self doubt and insecurity who is serving in the British Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. Beautiful prose, fairly accurate description of life and operation of a wooden sail powered war ship, an accessible hero.
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Shouldn’t you have posted that once more to make a trilogy, HMG? (wink) Sorry I don’t know how to use smileys here.
Speaking of trilogies. The Gormenghast trilogy by Mervyn Peake is rather wonderful. So funny and sad, and intelligent.
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I’m trying to think of any trilogies (besides the Lord of the Rings, which I also like very much) I’ve read and can only come up with the Illuminatus and Schrodinger’s Cat trilogies by Robert Anton Wilson. I own them, but haven’t read them in so long, I’ll be darned if I can come up with a worthwhile blurb. Maybe it’s time to re-read them.
Fanny, I’d noticed a common enjoyment of Cronenberg, so I’ll be paying extra close attention to your recommendations! 😉
Another favorite book of mine is John Kennedy Toole’s “A Confederacy of Dunes”. It’s about a blustery, arrogant, self-aggrandizing oaf who lives at home with his mother, works on his magnum opus, watches TV, encounters numerous other social “misfits” on a daily basis, and is pretty much an all-around snob. I suppose I find the book so funny because I’ve known people like that, in varying degrees. But anyway, it’s a heck of a lot of fun!
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It’s also famous (infamous?) for having been published posthumously after John Kennedy Toole committed suicide in despair from not being able to get his book published.
Yes, it’s a gread read.
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Ah! I’ve figured out this blog now. It’s just the one post that’s password protected. Someone mentioned books and I was dying to leap in.
I refuse to get into the whole Nick Hornby ‘Top Ten’ nonsense and nominate my favourite book. Oh, all right then…Slaughterhouse 5…or Catcher In The Rye…or Another Country (James Baldwin – surely the towering genius of 20thC literature?). Instead I’ll talk about the one that I consistently recommend to others:
‘I Capture The Castle’ by Dodie Smith.
It’s a coming-of-age tale, told from the p.o.v. of an adolescent girl living in a pre-war, impoverished, arty family. It could be a little twee in that embarassing English way, but it’s saved by its eccentricity and wit. It’s a light, utterly charming read – but also, I think, with some literary merit. It’s what I call (because I don’t have the Eng Lit vocabulary to know any other name) a Structure Novel…i.e. it plays with the format of the novel in an interesting way. It also contains some cracking one-liners and a neat reference to Joyce.
Go on – give it a read. There’s an infallible way of telling whether you’ll like it…if you like the opening line:
“I am writing this sitting in the kitchen sink.”
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Edward, the protected password post was just a test to figure out how it worked. The password for it is ‘azahar’ if you’d like to see it and join in. I’d also posted the password on my h2g2 journal entry about my blog.
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Shoot, now I wish I had done that double post on purpose.
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Read long ago and much enjoyed are “The Anubis Gates” and “On Stranger Shores” by Tim Powers.
The first is a complex time travel novel; the second the undeclared inspiration for Pirates of the Caribean.
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Tim Powers also wrote “Last Call”, a fun little fantasy which managed to incorporate the Fisher King legend into modern-day Las Vegas. It was pretty cool.
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Favourite books – that’s a tough one.
Growing up in the 60s and 70s in New Zealand, I had a steady diet of Jennings, Billy Bunter, Nigel Molesworth etc. If nothing else these meant that school life in England was a surprise as it was nothing like I expected.
The first Science Fiction book I read – Have Spacesuit – Will Travel by Robert Heinlein. Really lit my imagination, even if I knew already that real life was nothing like the book.
Since then – the Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell – the Napoleonic wars (and beyond) from a Rifleman’s point of view.
Most recently – Moondust – Andrew Smith. An attempt to track down and talk to the 9 surviving men who have walked on the moon. Plus a discussion on the sorts of things that influence the Appollo program etc. A very good read.
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Where to start indeed. Actually, I think I’ll have to go for a quartet, rather than a trilogy. Just to show off, of course. 😉
The Raj Quartet by Paul Scott – The Jewel in the Crown; The Day of the Scorpion; The Towers of Silence; A Division of the Spoils.
I love these books. They definitely won’t be for everyone, though. For one thing, Scott uses a lot of purple prose, which I don’t mind but is out of fashion these days. And then the subject matter isn’t of particular interest anymore – the collapse of British rule in India. It’s a complex story about interracial romance, social mores, and social and political injustice.
I think I must have lived several lives in India because I have always been fascinated by the place.
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I’ll add a vote for the Raj Quartet, too.
For something completely different, I’ll mention ‘I, Claudius’ and ‘Claudius the God’ by Robert Graves. The characterisations are brilliant, and even if the characters as drawn might not be historically accurate, they’re all historically plausible, if you follow me.
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I read the two Claudius books recently (after rewatching the wonderful BBC series on dvd) and agree with Ivan that they are wonderful.
And while we’re in Ancient Rome, I love the Lindsey Davis Falco series. Ms Davis is an historian and this shows in her novels, which centre on Marcus Didius Falco, a Roman detective living in the time of Vespasian. They are quite funny and intelligent and also nicely educational.
Have you started your Falco book yet, Ivan?
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No, afraid not… With things as they are, I’m having trouble getting around to it.
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I’ve been meaning to read the Falco books. Teuchter recommended them to me.
Robert Graves is also a favorite of mine. Have either of you read his “King Jesus”?
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Yes, it’s on the shelf just over there. *points* I’m rather fond of ‘The Golden Fleece’, too. It’s a convincing reconstruction of pre-Classical Greece, and an explanation of how tribal customs and kinship systems spawned the classical myths.
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Here’s another good read – ‘Travels with my Aunt’, by Graham Greene. Take a recently-orphaned boring clerk and send him travelling with his scandalous aunt… There are lots of twists in the plot; giving a more detailed synopsis might give too much away.
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Ah, yes! I’m a Greene addict myself. That’s a good one. Dahlias!
Greene divided his work up into ‘Serious’ and ‘Entertainments’. That would count as one of the latter…although I find that they are often just as worthwhile as the serious ones. In a similar vein I’d put ‘The Captain and The Enemy’, ‘The Ministry of Fear’ and ‘The Comedians’ (the Havana one…film with Noel Coward…famous alcoholic chess scene). Then again…probably my very favourite Greene is ‘The Human Factor’ – a ‘serious’ but as entertaining as his entertainments.
On ‘The Ministry of Fear’ – it’s a bit of an eye-opener about ‘The Spirit of the Blitz’. Everyone drinks a lot to calm their nerves.
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The Falco books are indeed worth reading, but if I want to read a mystery then the first choice absolutely has to be Conan Doyle. First rate mysteries with real clues and characters that we all love. I honestly don’t think anyone has ever bettered him. I recently discovered Gaston ‘Phantom of the Opera’ Leroux’s two mysery novels as well, which are most intriguing. ‘The Mystery of the Yellow Room’ and ‘The Perfume of the Lady in Black’.
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Not enough crime in this list! 😉
“The Night Manager”, John le Carre.
Other than thinking it’s a terrific read, I was impressed by how “action like” it is given that a lot of it actually is happening within the main character’s mind.
Jeffrey Deaver – his ability to turn a plot 177° several times to something completely unexpected without cheating the reader is something I enjoy hugely.
Surely, there is more. But as I’m in a meeting, I am a little limited in my “freedom” to give it a think… 😉
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I read all of Conen Doyle when I was 15, David. Wonderful stuff.
What about James Ellroy, SVG? I loved LA Confidential and The Black Dahlia. He conjured up a 50’s Los Angeles that was both real and surreal.
Meanwhile, I am presently reading The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. Such a wonderful time trip and a lovely romance. Wonderful prose that sometimes leaves me weeping. Also, mostly takes place in Chicago, so you might especially enjoy this aspect of it, PC.
Question.
The blurb on the front of my edition of The Time Traveller’s Wife says Here’s the next The Lovely Bones….
Why do publishers say that shit? It’s not even remotely similar to The Lovely Bones (which I didn’t like as much as I was supposedly supposed to). In fact, it is nothing at all similar to The Lovely Bones unless they meant it was the next best-selling novel they were about to make a whole whack of dosh from. 😕
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I’ll see if I can get “The Time Traveler’s Wife” from the library down the street. It sounds intriguing.
I’m currently re-reading an old favorite of mine, “Midnight’s Children”, by Salman Rushdie. It’s a fascinating tale narrated by a young man born at the stroke of midnight on the day (August 14, 1947) that India becomes independent and is partitioned. The story of his life is an allegory for all of the change and turmoil in India at the time. If you haven’t read it, I recommend it.
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I’ve just finished ‘Domestic Manners of the Americans’, by the splendidly-named Fanny Trollope. It’s an interesting view of the details of daily life in the US, circa 1830, and apparently it upset a lot of people when it was first published. Has anyone else here read it?
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‘Fanny Trollop’ sounds much like what I’ve been getting on my blog stat ‘search’ terms lately (atchly much ruder versions thereof) … some very strange combinations have been going on, but surely now even more so…
Just finishing The Time Traveller’s Wife – I don’t want it to end!!!
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It’s almost tempting to start a thread about Mrs Trollope on hootoo, just to see what happens.
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What do you think? Can we judge a reader by his book ?
The quote about GWB’s opinion of Camus’ The Stranger reminded me of the old American Bandstand chestnut “well, duh, it’s got a good beat and you can dance to it”.
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Ye Gods! I didn’t know Camus’ publishers did pop-up illustrated versions…
I once lost interest in someone when I saw what he was reading. It wasn’t so much that it was the Bible; it was more that it was one of those dodgy modern versions, and that he was running his finger under the lines as he silently mouthed the words.
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…and what they listen to as well.
…at least I should have been warned almost thirty years ago to get involved with someone who almost solely listened to lousy country music and “read” wild west pulp fiction and magazines with scantly clad females…
*sigh*
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Time Travellers Wife – I enjoyed a lot.
That publishers blurb prompted me to read The Lovely Bones, which I quite enjoyed.
The same type of publisher’s nonsense lead me to The Mercy of Thin Air, which I thought was a good read.
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Should have added an author for The Mercy of Thin Air – Ronlun Domingue – I think 😉
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Well, we can agree to disagree about The Lovely Bones, Johnny P. It was okay but it seemed to lose steam part-way through and I found myself not really enjoying it much by the time I finished it. But you see, I’d read it long before Time Traveller’s Wife – if I’d bought The Lovely Bones because of the blurb comparing the two I’d have been even more disappointed as (imho) they are not even remotely similar, either in style or story.
Will check out The Mercy of Thin Air. 🙂
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I suppose I should have added (in case it makes a difference to whether you think its worth trying it) that The Mercy of Thin Air is much closer in theme to The Lovely Bones than it is to The Time Traveller’s Wife.
I think I enjoyed it more than The Lovely Bones – but since we don’t know each other’s taste, that won’t help much!
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Two of my most favourite books of all time are The Name of The Rose and Foucault’s Pendulum, both by Umberto Eco.
Most people love The Name of The Rose – it is written largely as a mystery and deals with a young novice monk in 14th century Italy who accompanies an older somewhat ‘renegade’ English monk to a monastery where a meeting of various Catholic church heads is about to take place and it ends up that several murders also take place that lead to all sorts of conspiracy theories. Wonderful book and the film version (with Sean Connery as the renegade monk) is also quite good.
Fewer people have warmed to Foucault’s Pendelum, saying it’s ‘too hard to get into’ but I found myself loving it straight off. It’s about the Templars in modern day Paris and, once again, a bit of a murder mystery. Fabulous stuff.
But it was with some trepidation that I picked up Eco’s latest book the other day – The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana. Trepidation because Eco’s two previous novels have met with met with some very negative responses. Well, I just had to read the first couple pages of The Island of The Day Before (in the bookshop) to decide I wasn’t going to bother. And Nog says that he couldn’t bother finishing Baudalino.
But this new one is AMAZING. It’s about a guy who suffers a bizarre sort of memory loss in which he can remember every book he’s ever read but nothing of his own life. And apparently goes about trying to retrieve his past by going through all his old diaries, newspapers, comics, records, photo albums that he had stored in his old family home.
I haven’t got to that bit yet, but the first 50 pages have got me totally hooked. It’s intelligent and humourous, and I’m even learning stuff about how memory works (one of the things I’ve always loved about Eco is that he never ‘talks down’ to his readers).
Apparently we have several types of memory – the two basic ones being implicit and explicit memory functions.
Implicit memory helps us to remember how to do learned stuff like brush our teeth, turn on the radio, tie our shoelaces.
Explicit memory is divided into two parts: the semantic and the episodic.
Semantic (or public) memory deals with facts, such as a swallow is a type of bird, Napoleon died in such-and-such a place.
Episodic memory is what ties our memories to our feelings and emotions.
And the main character in this book has lost his episodic memory. He can remember everything he has read, he can remember how to drive, he knows what things and places mean (in terms of what they are) but he cannot feel anything that connects him to his memories. So, in effect, he has no sense of himself.
And so far I’m finding it very hard to put this book down.
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I will have to give that a try!
As I said in the thread on books you couldn’t finish in h2g2 – I really enjoyed Foucault’s Pendulum. Unusually for me though, when I tried to re-read it recently, I found it hard going – not something that usually happens with a book I’ve enjoyed that much.
Baudolino – I finished it,only because I REALLY hate not to finish a book.
Have to try The Name of the Rose as well! 💡
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Curiously I also enjoyed Foucault’s Pendulum more the first time I read it …
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I’m glad to hear that ‘Queen Loana’ is a good read – it’s on every remainder table in town at the moment, but I’ve been afraid to pick up a copy after ‘The Island of the Day Before’. I might risk it tomorrow.
‘Foucault’s Pendulum’ was best the first time around, but that can be said for any thriller/mystery/oddity. It does stand up to re-reading, but that’s when it’s noticeable that it’s quite slow to get going.
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This looks promising – Bill Bryson’s latest.
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid
I’ve yet to read a Bryson book that I didn’t thoroughly enjoy. But man, that guy seriously needs me to take him out shopping for new specs. 😉
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I’m waiting for the new Bryson to become cheaper. It will, judging by the huge stack of copies on offer in every shop.
I bought the Eco yesterday; after saying it was everywhere I had to search for it and got the last copy on the remainder table. Hardback, $12, reduced from $55.
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Nice deal! I’ll wait for the Bryson to come out in paperback. Meanwhile, still loving the Eco and have also been getting through some of the little gems that zoomer has sent us. 🙂
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Meanwhile … was out the other day buying a new set of upper-intermediate English texts for my new classes this autumn and came across a new book by the Divine Ms Atwood.
The Penelopiad
Which looks like an Atwood re-telling of the Penelope/Odysseus myth and is sure to be quite enjoyable.
Once I get through the second world war stuff in the Echo book… still happily plugging away with that one.
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Hmmm…the Eco book kinda ran out of steam towards the end. And the Atwood was pleasant but nothing amazing.
Today I bought Pyramids by Terry Pratchett, which reminds me that I had forgotten to mention the Discworld series as another of my all times favourites (special preference for the Sam Vines novels). I haven’t been reading them in sequence so I suppose this means it isn’t necessary to do so.
What I love best about the Discworld books is Pratchett’s obvious joy of writing – plus he’s funny as hell and very inventive.
Apparently Pyramids is one of the earlier books and Nog says I’m going to really enjoy it.
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You will! 🙂
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I think I have Pyramids, but I’m not sure. I also love the Discworld, and I have the Bromeliad trilogy as well, though I haven’t gotten around to starting it yet. I love Pratchett! I hope you enjoy Pyramids! If I find it around here someplace, I’ll start it next week!
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Pyramids was great! 🙂
And I’ve just finished a wonderful historical novel that might interest Ivan called Birds Without Wings by Louis de Bernières. From the blurb on the back cover:
It also includes the story of the rise of Mestafa Kemal Atatürk and a lot of very interesting historical information which made me aware of how stupendously unaware I was of the history of this area. Anyhow, I found it fascinating and recommend it to anyone who enjoys historical novels.
On the favourite films thread, Nog mentioned that we’d recently watched To Kill A Mockingbird (him for the first time, me for the umpteenth). Thought it also deserved a mention here as one of my favourite books of all time.
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I’ve been looking at ‘Birds without Wings’ but I’ve been afraid to buy it just in case it didn’t live up to expectations. I’ve quite liked his earlier books, you see. Also – I know it’ll end badly. It’s hard to imagine a happy ending coming out of things like Gallipoli and Smyrna.
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There’s a nice little touch when he sticks in a minor character who was also in Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. I have all his books except for Red Dog and have enjoyed them all very much.
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I don’t have ‘Red Dog’, but I have heard it. During one of my insomniac periods it was the local radio’s 3am book reading. It made good listening.
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Two books are winging their way from Amazon Uk as I write: Thud by Terry Pratchett and Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman (I really enjoyed his American Gods).
They were quite cheap so, even with the postage added on, they ended up much the same price as I would buy a book for at the shops here.
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I haven’t read American Gods, but I really enjoyed Neverwhere. Thud!, of course, was great.
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I’ve been waiting almost three weeks for my latest Amazon order. Apparently the first one they sent went missing, so they say they sent out a replacement order last Tuesday, but I’m still waiting. 😕
Meanwhile, I bought John Irving’s latest called Until I Find You and I’m finding it totally annoying. It’s kind of like reading a book by someone who is trying to write like John Irving, to the point that it’s almost parody. 🙄
What’s everyone else reading these days?
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I’ve just finished a biography of Muhammad by Karen Armstrong – who’s an ex-nun, so she knows a bit about monotheism. This biography is really very good. It sheds light on the origin of Islamic traditions (including the hijab) and explains the nature of Muhammad’s religious innovations in the context of his (tribal) society. It’s worth reading, and it was certainly worth the $5 it cost me when I found it on a bargain table.
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As it happens – I’ve recently finished Until I Find You, and quite enjoyed ut. If it helps at all, for me it improved as it went along.
I have just started The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana.
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“If it helps at all, for me it improved as it went along.”
Really? Do you remember where it started improving? (I’m on page 291 and not feeling too inclined to carry on).
Queen Loana was the opposite experience for me – I thought it started off great but then kind of fizzled out towards the end.
Meanwhile, I reckon there’s about as much chance of me finding the Muhammad biography as coming across a ‘bargain table’ with books in English on it. 😦
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Hmmm – can’t remember the page numbers 😉
But iirc once we see Jack retracing some of the journey he took with his mother and seeing the events that took place from an adult’s perspective then it really started to come together (for me).
I’m still enjoying Queen Loana – probably about 1/3 of the way through – so still pre-fizzle.
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Well, perhaps I’ll persevere as Jack is still nine years old. I just wish Irving would stop with the cutesy use of italics, exclamation marks and constantly repeating stuff (in brackets). This worked well – in moderation – in A Prayer For Owen Meany but he’s really beating it to death with a big stick! in this one.
Meanwhile, it’s very tempting to trade 700 more annoying pages of this for either Thud or Neverwhere …
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You may well be right – you’ve got see Jack thru senior school yet.
As I say, it improved for me, but I don’t want to take the blame . . .
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Coward! 😉
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Yep!!!!!
yeller through and through, that’s me
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Sadly Queen Loanna did fizzle. Wouldn’t want to put in a spoiler, but I couldn’t make up my mind how it had acutally ended!
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I’ve just started this book – in Spanish!
The Shadow of the Wind
It’s been ages since I read a book in Spanish and this one came highly recommended by my friend Carmen. As for the complaint in one of the reviews that it is flawed by “an overvaluing of words at the expense of things” this might be the fault of the translation. As I say, I’ve just started it, but so far I’m finding the writing quite lovely (also quite chuffed that I understand most of it 😉 ).
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Well – I thoroughly enjoyed that one – in English though
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Making a start on “Life and times of the Thunderbolt Kid” – I would have waited for the paperback, but apparently Father Christmas just couldn’t resist
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Oooh … lucky you!
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Yeah – not bad – though I have to say it wasn’t his best IMHO, but not bad at all.
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Reading one set in Afghanistan and the US at the moment.
“The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini – looking pretty good so far.
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I haven’t heard of that one. Still enjoying it? Last night I bought The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai – winner of the Man Booker Prize last year.
Last week I read a just-for-fun book called Basket Case by Carl Hiaasen (lent to me by a neighbour) and I am just finishing Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami, which I’m totally loving.
I’m still working on The Shadow of the Wind – as these days I mostly read just before I go to sleep (or when I can’t sleep at 4am) reading in Spanish is not as relaxing as I need at those times. But so far I’m still enjoying it.
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It seems I have heard of The Kiterunner, just didn’t place the name. You can read Woodpigeon’s review of it here.
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And you might also be interested in checking out Lori’s Book Nook.
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Yep – just finished The Kite Runner,very satisfying – I go along with Woodpigeon’s review.
Have bookmarked Lori’s blog and will have a look when I get more time
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Was bought a boxed set of PG Wodehouse for Christmas – some Jeeves & Wooster and one or two others.
Just managed to get around to reading them and really enjoying them.
Its good to see (again) that really good humorous writing does not seem to age.
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Just finished a Chris Moore book called The Lust Lizard of Melacholy Cove. And well, it was *okay* and actually quite funny in parts, but not terribly satisfying.
I’m told that Lamb is much better, so now the big question is – do I spend my engtech contest winnings on that or on The Kite Runner?
Decisions, decisions …
Meanwhile I have gone back to Emma – trying real hard to finish it this time.
I’ve never read any Wodehouse, Johnny.
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Just back from the bookshop with The Kite Runner and also The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad. From the blurb on the back:
And with the World Book Day discount I got both books for 20€. 🙂
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I couldn’t decide which one to read first – ended up starting with The Kiterunner yesterday afternoon… and I’m almost finished. Talk about un-put-down-able!
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I’m glad you’re enjoying it.
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Finished it in the wee hours this morning, after having been distracted by dinner and a film.
One of the most enjoyable reads I’ve had for a long time. Incredibly moving without ever being overly sentimental. And a very *human* hero (main character); probably one we can all relate to in some way.
I’ll start on The Bookseller of Kabul this evening. It was just by chance that both books I bought on Saturday are stories that take place in Afghanistan. Kind of an odd coincidence.
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The Bookseller of Kabul was good. Informative and interesting but it didn’t really ‘grab’ me.
This weekend I read The Gunseller by Hugh Laurie which was most enjoyable. At first I thought he was being just a wee bit too ‘cutesy clever’ all the time, but as the story unfolded it became quite interesting. And a few very good laugh out loud moments.
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I’m now on my fourth Pratchett book in a row.
The first was one I’d ordered from Amazon with my prize winnings – The Wintersmith. Not a ‘Discworld novel’ per se. It’s the most recent in the series of ‘Discworld Stories for Young Readers’ featuring a young witch called Tiffany Aching and the the wonderful Nac Mac Feegles, who have to be experienced – at least I’m not able to describe them properly. 🙂
Then I discovered that the new FNAC store here had three Discworld novels I hadn’t read yet, so I promptly bought them all: Lords and Ladies, Equal Rites and The Truth.
Totally addictive and fun reading, all of them – and perfect for someone recuperating from a ‘close encounter of the third digit kind’ with their sofa. As they say, laughter is often the best medicine.
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Just started The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova – basically a vampire mystery rooted in the original Dracula (aka Vlad the Impaler) legend.
Still trying to decide if I like it, though I think it might be of interest to Ivan.
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Not that bad, but the ending was a little too much “double feature”. Lasted most of my Japan trip though. Long flights demands multi paged paper backs.
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Turns out I wasn’t very impressed with The Historian. And you’re right, dq, the ending is awful.
So back to Terry Pratchett (Moving Pictures) and waiting for Bill Bryson and more Pratchett to arrive from Amazon.
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The Amazon package arrived this morning, but I have already started on a new book by Kazuo Ishiguro called Never Let Me Go, which is totally creepy so far. But also quite good. Still waiting to find out what the ‘big secret’ is so, if you’ve read it, no spoilers please.
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Have you read any David Mitchell?
Don’t know enough about your taste to make it a definite recommendation but I am enjoying them.
Started with Cloud Atlas, then Ghostwritten and am now most of the way through Number9dream.
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I’ve just had a google at David Mitchell’s books and I think I’d like them. Now I just have to remember his name next time I’m at the bookshop.
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I couldn’t resist The Wee Free Men, so I ended up putting aside the Ishiguro … oh, that series is so wonderful! The Nac Mac Feegles are a total delight – I laugh out loud almost every time they speak.
And it must be so empowering for kids – the heroine with the brown hair and brown eyes, the too-big boots, the take-no-nonsense point of view. Alone with her feelings of being special but not quite believing it. Wow.
Anyhow, after that I felt like a bit more humour so I started Bryson’s latest, Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid. I’m finding it a bit laboured somehow. Yes, some amusing moments, but I actually find all those ‘humourous’ depictions of the USA in the 50’s a bit depressing.
Must get back to the weird institutionalised children soon and find out their secret …
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Gosh, it’s been awhile – almost a month!
Finished Wee Free Men (excellent), Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid (okay), Never Let Me Go (not as creepy as I thought it was going to be) and finally … Emma! I’ve been finishing Emma for months now, usually when I found myself between books. And it was fine but I’m kind of glad it’s over.
Notice in the post today – my Amazon delivery including the new Harry Potter and the latest Lindsey Davis has arrived and I can pick it up tomorrow. Yay!
But meanwhile I’ve started Telegraph Days by Larry McMurtry – it’s been awhile since I’ve read anything of his but so far it’s been quite enjoyable.
What are you guys reading this summer?
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Just a hundred more pages of The Deathly Hallows to go … it’s getting quite exciting! Also feels a bit sad to know once I finish that will be the last of Harry Potter. 😦
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Hi,
My favorite book of all time is “Jane Eyre.” Love the writing, the “Englishness” of it.
The way the author, Charlotte Bronte, describes everything makes you feel that you’re right there. The feeling of the winter cold and then the coziness of coming inside to, of course, the warm fire; Jane sweeping her dirt floor to tidy up her little cottage.
It’s all good!
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