Books

[+ Lucky]

The Art of Fielding is receiving much applause on the year end best lists. I sure enjoyed it, as I have mentioned elsewhere. I am trying to get my own top ten list done, but I have to whittle it down from 26 books that I gave 5 stars to this year.

 

I tried to read The Marriage Plot but just couldn't enjoy it. So now I am on The Night Circus, recommended to me by skynyc.

 

I did enjoy The Revisionists by Thomas Mullen. Not gay at all, it is the story of a time traveler who comes back to our time to make sure the bad things happen as his perfect world in the future would not exist but for these bad things happening. The novel makes some good points about how we are outsourcing so much of our national intelligence service without any oversight.

 

And what are you reading?

[+ Lucky]

I knew nothing of The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern before I read it, taking it on skynyc's recommendation alone. That meant that I was continually surprised as the story unfolded, and I am glad for that. It was a very enjoyable read.

If I had known what was going to happen, even a little, it wouldn't have been as much fun. But the book has been a real hit, and word of mouth on it is pushing sales high.

[+ Lucky]

Lately I have been wondering what it would take to get a book thread off the ground. Books are not like Broadway musicals. For one, there are way too many of them. Books are also of such a wide variety, from the common mystery, a la James Patterson, to the more erudite works of authors who get studied in Ivy league universities. It's okay to come here and say that you liked the musical You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown. But the fear might be that if you say you liked a book that is widely popular, another might come along and suggest that your taste is rather common. Even if you read authors known for their good writing, such as R.J. Ellory, James Lee Burke, or Don Winslow, you still risk the chance that someone here is an expert on Proust and will make you look like a comic book reader.

 

Well, I say tough. We like what we like and shouldn't be shamed to say so. If someone chooses to spend their time reading books to challenge their minds good for them. I like entertainment myself and couldn't care less for authors studied in school. Well, maybe Flannery OConnor, J.D. Salinger, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, and George Eliot. My college professor said I was one of the few pupils who actually finished Middlemarch. But my point is that we all have different interests and tastes in books. But that shouldn't keep us away from discussing what we like.

There was an interesting column recently in the NY Times Book Review called The Subconscious Shelf. If you are what you eat, it doesn't stand that you are what you read. Many of us buy books we want to read, but never will. Others have books we know we should read, but won't. And then there are books bought for show, with services even being available to make the books look read. And we won't even get to painted shelves full of books that are not there. It's a good column and worth your read: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/13/books/review/the-subconscious-shelf.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=The%20Subconcious%20shelf&st=cse

 

As for me, I give my books away when I am finished with them. No more dusting shelves full of trophies attesting to my wide knowledge of literature...LOL...or my rather pedestrian tastes!

[+ purplekow]

I am now reading and enjoying 1Q84 by H. Murakami. Though only 1/2 way through, would recommend it for those who are fans of Douglass Adams, Kurt Vonnegut and Richard Bratigan. Though not as outloud laughing funny as those are, this has a bit of an absurdist flavor while firmly entrenched in reality, or at least what we think is reality. "Remember, there is only one reality. "

That is the advice given to one of the main characters as she exits a strangely appointed taxicab and it is likely a warning and a hint the author is giving us about what is to follow in this tale.

[+ Lucky]

Thanks for the info on 1Q84. The odd title sort of put me off the book, but if it is good, I might take a look.

[+ Lucky]

The Stranger's Child, by Alan Hollinghurst, which was mentioned in another thread, is reviewed today in the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/12/books/the-strangers-child-by-alan-hollinghurst-review.html?_r=1&ref=books

[+ purplekow]

Thanks for the info on 1Q84. The odd title sort of put me off the book, but if it is good, I might take a look.

I read somewhere that the letter q and the word for 9 are very similar in Japanese and that the author wanted a 1984 vibe to his book without being exactly that. Knowing that, allowed me to remember the odd title when I was in the bookstore looking for something interesting to read.

[+ Lucky]

WilliamM posted his favorite books of the year, and not wanting to impose on his thread, here are mine, in no particular order. You will see that they are all fiction:

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern...The Litigators by John Grisham...The Burning Soul by John Connnolly...

Radiance by Louis B. Jones...The Officer's Club by Ralph Peters...Murder One by Robert Dugone...

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin...Field Grey by Phillip Kerr...Death at Le Fenice by Donna Leon...

The Collaborator by Gerald Seymour...Devils in Exile by Chuck Hogan...Zero Day by David Baldacci...

The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach...A Game of Lies by Rebecca Cantrell...The Revisionists by Thomas Mullen...

Pleading Guilty by Scott Turow...Red on Red by Edward Conlon...Live Wire by Harlan Coben...

A Very Simple Crime by Grant Jenkins, and probably the one I am reading now, The Drop by Michael Connelly

 

So that's a top 20... I did like the Stephen King novel for the first half-11/22/63

[+ Lucky]

In order to get it out of the way, I am making my 12000th post here, with the hope that it passes quietly and no one feels the need to comment on it.

Thanks for just letting it pass.

Did you see my top 20 list in the post above this one?

[+ Lucky]

The Drop faltered as it finished, so only 4 stars for that one. Still leaves my list with 19 good books!

Now can anyone tell me why Barry Eisler's latest John Rain novel came out in paperback instead of hardback?