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Post by mojotheawkward on Jul 21, 2011 23:38:48 GMT -5
Maybe we could have a thread for sharing our favorite books?
I'd like to go first and nominate Susannah Clarke's debut novel, Jonathan Strange and Mister Norrell. It is the kind of debut novel that makes unpublished novelists tear out their hair and rend their garments, because it is tremendous and brilliant and sickening and wonderful all at once.
The novel is part-fantasy, part-historical novel, part-Austenian comedy of manners. Centering on the deeds and misdeeds of the title characters, a very different pair of Victorian magicians, it has a tone that is, appropriately, magical - the wealth of invented footnotes recalls Borges and his metafictional labyrinths, and, while the deliberately archaic spelling ("chuse" for "choose," for example) may grate for some readers, it adds to a genuine air of being transported to an earlier time and an altogether other place. Clarke has a genius for deft characterization, and the sprawling novel reads, rather like Stephen King's similarly-sized works, very much like a patchwork quilt of separate tales about larger-than-life characters, almost all of whom in the end get either a satisfying comeuppance or a well-deserved reward, and almost all of whom emerge in the fulness of time as essential to the development of one another.
A tour de force, albeit one that would make handy ballast if you are planning a hot-air balloon trip any time soon, Strange may well be, as Neil Gaiman suggests, the most brilliant work of imaginative English fiction since Tolkien. Like Tolkien's best fiction, the mood sweeps effortlessly from tragic to epic to homely to comic to genuinely frightening to academic and back again, sometimes in the space of a mere score of pages. I can't recall having been so consistently delighted and impressed by any book I've read, and there are some strong competitors in that field.
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Post by susala on Jul 22, 2011 0:33:33 GMT -5
mojo, are you working as a part-time as a book reviewer? I wish that I thought that we could discuss books in the future but my tastes are much less literary and I don't do fantasy at all. I don't mean to rain on your parade. I'm really happy that you enjoyed Clarke's book so much. A book or a movie or a piece of art that really speaks to you is to be treasured. Have you ever seen the original Sabrina with Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart on the big screen? It's a fabulous movie.
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Post by Flying Horse on Jul 22, 2011 9:59:18 GMT -5
sus--what about the books that you read for your book club. Tell us about them.
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Post by susala on Jul 22, 2011 18:12:46 GMT -5
Peg, my book club hasn't met for two months. It was cancelled in June because so many people couldn't make it because of graduations and weddings and the like. I thought it was on for July but nobody was there when I showed up. We only communicate by Facebook which I don't navigate too well. I got the host's phone number from a mutual friend a week or so ago but I've been so busy that I haven't called him.
I can't remember the title of the book we're supposed to discuss but it's by Jonathan Safran Foer. It's about a little boy who lost his father in the 9/11 attacks. He finds a key in an envelope with the name Black on it in his father's closet. He decides that he's going to visit everyone in the New York area named Black until he discovers the significance of the key. I listened to it on disc since I'm having such trouble concentrating on reading lately. It was entertaining in an odd way but I didn't get any grand understanding of the human condition from it. That was the goal of the woman who recommended it. She hasn't liked a book that we've read in the seven or eight months that I've been in the book club! Oh well, maybe next month!
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Post by beags on Jul 23, 2011 15:56:26 GMT -5
There aren't too many books I don't like, except horror. Oh and if they are extremely boringly written. IF they don't grab me within the first chapter or two, I put it down. In other words it has to flow.
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Post by beags on Jul 23, 2011 16:02:04 GMT -5
Mojo, part fantasy? I like those books. I believe I have read all of the Eragon books. They were supposed to come out with a fourth one, but I haven't seen it yet. I haven't read Harry Potter, don't know why. . too hyped up maybe?
I've read the earth something series . . . I forget what exactly it is called . . I also forget the author, but the first book was Clan of the CaveBear or something like that. The movie to that book was completely retarded. Don't waste your money on it. (it's been a while since I've read any of them) Read the Hobbit series, Twin Towers and all that. (the movies were good also . . read the books after the movies. I can't watch the movie if I've already read the books because then I just get disappointed in the movie.)
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Post by susala on Jul 23, 2011 19:53:51 GMT -5
Jean Auel wrote the Clan of the Cave Bear and its sequels. I read them when they first came out and I remember not being able to put the first one down.
You're right, Beags. The movie sucked.
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Post by roygrip on Jul 23, 2011 22:21:18 GMT -5
Way to many books, but still my alltime fav is "To Kill A Mockingbird" my favorite actor, Gregory Peck, as Atticus Finch. Read it 15 times (really) seen the movie, at least 15.
Early Steven King
Modern, Patterson or Forsyth
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Post by susala on Jul 24, 2011 19:41:17 GMT -5
To Kill a Mockingbird is my favorite book, too, Roy. I haven't read it as often as you have but I watch the movie every time I get the opportunity. I think it's one of the few movies is as good as the book. Gregory Peck was outstanding.
I gave up reading Stephen King after I read Salem's Lot. It scared me so much that I was afraid to stay in my apartment by myself. I went out in the pouring rain just so I could sit in a restaurant with other people around.
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Post by Flying Horse on Jul 26, 2011 15:01:40 GMT -5
Have any of you read The Birds by Daphne Du Maurier? The story that the Hitchcock movie was based on? It scared the daylights out of me. It's actually a novelette and I was in Greenville, Miss., not knowing a soul. I got so caught up in the story that when someone knocked on my door, I almost jumped out of my skin!!! I think that was the last time that I have ever read that type of story. As for fantasy, I read Tolkien's Lord of the Ringswhen it first came out in paperback back in the 1950s. Which means, I had to wait a year between books. Now of course you can get the trilogy altogether. Loved it. And I read the prequel, The Silmarillion. If you haven't read it, but like The Lord of the Rings, you should read it. It's in five parts. The first part, Ainulindalë, tells of the creation of Eä, the "world that is". Valaquenta, the second part, gives a description of the Valar and Maiar, the supernatural powers in Eä. The next section, Quenta Silmarillion, which forms the bulk of the collection, chronicles the history of the events before and during the First Age, including the wars over the Silmarils which gave the book its title. The fourth part, Akallabêth, relates the history of the Downfall of Númenor and its people, which takes place in the Second Age. The final part, Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age, is a brief account of the circumstances which led to and were presented in The Lord of the Rings.
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Post by susala on Jul 26, 2011 18:45:02 GMT -5
I never tried to read The Birds, I suppose, because I couldn't even get through Rebecca. I liked Hitchcock's movies, especially The Birds, but I just don't do well with "literary" Gothics. I did read bunches of the pulp Gothics that my aunts gave me when I was a kid. They actually sold pretty well, too, when I was selling on eBay.
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Post by beags on Jul 26, 2011 20:40:36 GMT -5
And I read the prequel, The Silmarillion. If you haven't read it, but like The Lord of the Rings, you should read it. It's in five parts. The first part, Ainulindalë, tells of the creation of Eä, the "world that is". Valaquenta, the second part, gives a description of the Valar and Maiar, the supernatural powers in Eä. The next section, Quenta Silmarillion, which forms the bulk of the collection, chronicles the history of the events before and during the First Age, including the wars over the Silmarils which gave the book its title. The fourth part, Akallabêth, relates the history of the Downfall of Númenor and its people, which takes place in the Second Age. The final part, Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age, is a brief account of the circumstances which led to and were presented in The Lord of the Rings.
We have that book, but I haven't read it yet. I didn't know there were so many parts to that one book.
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Post by susala on Jul 27, 2011 11:43:13 GMT -5
Maybe we've scared mojo off.
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moxie
Not so new Crapster
SF Shades of Blues
Posts: 205
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Post by moxie on Jul 27, 2011 21:31:07 GMT -5
Does "Where The Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak count? It's my favorite because my kids used to make blanket tents upstairs, get in their footed jammies and we would read it by flashlight. Good times. *I have instructed my family to have the words, "I'll eat you up, I love you so" engraved on my tombstone after a line in this story.
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Post by Forever Sunshine on Jul 27, 2011 22:54:26 GMT -5
I don't think Mojo would easily scare. This is typical of him to appear and then just disappear for awhile. Although, I did see him check in a few times. There wasn't much activity at the time. It was just after midnight yesterday.
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Post by Forever Sunshine on Jul 27, 2011 22:55:40 GMT -5
Awww, how cute! I love it. ;D
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Post by susala on Jul 27, 2011 23:42:56 GMT -5
Truthfully, I figured that our chattering might be a little too low-brow for mojo. Hi Moxie! I'm embarassed to say that I've never read Sendak's book. I think that I was out of the children's book stage before it came out and I don't have kids. I know that's no excuse. I've heard it praised for years. I think I'll look for it the next time I'm at the bookstore.
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moxie
Not so new Crapster
SF Shades of Blues
Posts: 205
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Post by moxie on Jul 28, 2011 8:40:01 GMT -5
"Truthfully, I figured that our chattering might be a little too low-brow for mojo." lol He really needs to come down to OUR level once in awhile.
Nice to meet you, susala. Check the book out! Also, have you read "The Hungry Caterpillar," another children's book by Eric Carle? That would be our second favorite.
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Post by Forever Sunshine on Jul 28, 2011 9:00:32 GMT -5
Mojo does love stimulating conversation but he does like to chat too. When I first met Mojo online, I spent more time in the dictionary than I have since my school days. LOL I love that he challenges me.
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Post by Flying Horse on Jul 28, 2011 11:40:43 GMT -5
FS--I feel the same way about Mojo. I find his posts fun and/or stimulating. There aren't many posters I can say that about. And some of them were considered trolls (Pppffffttt for instance on MSNBC). My favorite poster of all time had to leave the MSNBC boards for health reasons - Hepburn. She was really an incredible woman. She and JR Brown used to have some knock down drag out brawls that were sheer joy to read.
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