Hey!! Let's get some action going! What are we reading?

[Dngrsone]

Geigi is a wonderful character as well.

[Dr. Drib]

Just finished "If On A Winter's Night A Traveller," by Italo Calvino and "The Conversations," by César Aira.


Still working on a wonderfully rich novel titled "The Mad Patagonian," by someone calling himself 'Javier Pedro Zabala.'

[latepaul]

Originally Posted by latepaul

I'll be starting The Left Hand of Darkness tonight as the NLBC pick for January.

Not a fan I'm afraid. Glad to have read such a seminal SF book but it was a slog.

Now I'm reading Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata (tr. Ginny Tapley Takemori). It's short and so far intriguing.

Back into poetry over the last couple of days, with a couple of examples that share a certain directness.

I started on Christina Rosetti's The Goblin Market and Other Poems for the book club here, and the title poem's imagery was so unsubtle that even a complete poetry novice like me couldn't miss the meaning.

Then I went back to The Taste of Words: An Introduction to Urdu Poetry, and read another VERY direct and unsubtle work "To the Sons of the East India Company". The poet claimed he wrote this in just 15 minutes!

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by latepaul

Now I'm reading Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata (tr. Ginny Tapley Takemori). It's short and so far intriguing.

I read this last year. It was a fascinating dive into conbini culture in Japan. I speak a little Japanese and the culture and religion of the region are of great interest to me. I read a good bit of Japanese fiction, and this was one of the most jarring ones I've read. Jarring in a good way. I'll be interested to see what you think.

I am currently reading Hild by Nicola Griffith and listening to A Delicate Truth for the NLBC February read.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Uncompromising Honor by David Weber.

Which had a slow start, but certainly delivered. Well worth the wait.

Next up: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. I enjoyed the film. Let's see how good the book is.

Incidentally, I've now read as many books this year as I've bought! Things are going in the right direction!

[graycyn]

Originally Posted by Luffy

I’ve begun reading Gone With the Wind, for the first time in my life. It’s great so far. 11% in.

A good choice! I first encountered it as a paperback when I was visiting my grandmother, probably somewhere around my pre-teen or teen years. I give it a reread every so often, never fail to enjoy it.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[graycyn]

I'm currently having a reread of Shogun. Only read it once before, a long, long, LONG time ago. Thoroughly enjoying it!

May have to have a go at the rest of Clavell's Asian Saga, appears my library has most.

This thread could be a problem for me, I'm looking it over and thinking, yeah, I need a reread of this, that or the other book....


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by graycyn

I'm currently having a reread of Shogun. Only read it once before, a long, long, LONG time ago. Thoroughly enjoying it!

May have to have a go at the rest of Clavell's Asian Saga, appears my library has most.

This thread could be a problem for me, I'm looking it over and thinking, yeah, I need a reread of this, that or the other book....


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I did a reread of the first two of Clavell's Asian Saga a couple of years ago. Thoroughly enjoyed them, but they are huge.

After spending the whole morning falling in love with Faiz thanks to The Taste of Words, I'm back into The Goblin Market and Other Poems, in which the fickleness of love seems to be a constant theme - as is the constancy of death.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by graycyn

I'm currently having a reread of Shogun. Only read it once before, a long, long, LONG time ago. Thoroughly enjoying it!

May have to have a go at the rest of Clavell's Asian Saga, appears my library has most.

This thread could be a problem for me, I'm looking it over and thinking, yeah, I need a reread of this, that or the other book....


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Originally Posted by CRussel

I did a reread of the first two of Clavell's Asian Saga a couple of years ago. Thoroughly enjoyed them, but they are huge.

I loved them too, but in the case of Shogun, I would have preferred that he used the actual names of the historical figures. It made it harder for me to keep the characters straight because my brain kept interrupting me by adding the correct names.
Apache

I started Nicholas Ostler's The Last Lingua Franca: English Until the Return of Babel today, and it's an interesting read, but very dense for a popsci book, rather more sci than pop. So I'm taking a break by starting The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin and Jeeves and the King of Clubs by Ben Schott, and REALLY loving them both so far. Schott's book is subtitled "A Novel in Homage to P. G. Wodehouse", and 10% in, he's nailing it. It's great fun, as is Fikry, and they're both ideal for taking breaks from semi-academic books and poetry.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by stuartjmz

and Jeeves and the King of Clubs by Ben Schott, and REALLY loving them both so far. Schott's book is subtitled "A Novel in Homage to P. G. Wodehouse", and 10% in, he's nailing it. It's great fun,

Sounds very interesting. Added to my ereaderiq.com watch list.

[latepaul]

Originally Posted by latepaul

Now I'm reading Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata (tr. Ginny Tapley Takemori). It's short and so far intriguing.

I did enjoy it, but more as a glimpse into another way of thinking and another culture. It's short and if it had been much longer I might have tired of Keiko's voice. As it was I enjoyed seeing the world through her eyes and some of her observations about "normal" life are thought-provoking. For instance the idea that her friends and family are more comfortable with her being unhappy but conventional than happy but living outside their norms.

It's the best book I've read this year! Sadly that's mostly because I've read a couple of duds and a so-so mystery.

Next I'm reading Hotel Silence by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir, an Icelandic writer. It appeared as one of the "people also read..." next to Convenience Store Woman and then later I saw it was available at my library.

Originally Posted by latepaul

Next I'm reading Hotel Silence by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir, an Icelandic writer. It appeared as one of the "people also read..." next to Convenience Store Woman and then later I saw it was available at my library.

You know you have a pun problem when you see this and think "the author's name is Authur?"