Mon 16 Mar 2009
Reading list update
Posted by Luna under Currently Reading , Prospective Reads , Recommended Audio , Recommended Reads[4] Comments
Luna’s reading list update
Have just finished;
- Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series; The Golden Compass (yes, the American version, indeed), The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass
- P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast’s House of Night series; Marked, Betrayed, Chosen and the latest Untamed
- Stanislaw Lem’s Solaris in the BBC audio drama version
- J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, also in BBC audio drama version, thanks to the wonderful Travis at The Hog’s Head
- Kelley Armstrong’s Bitten and Stolen, from the Women of the Otherworld series.
- Patricia Briggs’ Moon Called, from the Mercy Thompson series.
Currently reading;
- Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book (no really, I am !)
- Patricia Briggs’ Blood Bound, from the Mercy Thompson series.
- I had started in Stephen King’s The Gunslinger, from the Dark Tower series, but I think that I am going to leave that series for later
Prospective reads;
- Some follow-ups to the books that I have just read, such as Neil Gaiman’s Odd and the Frost Gaints and Coraline in preparation for the UK theatrical release (in June !) and some more books in the Women of the Otherworld and Mercy Thompson series
- I am seriously looking forward to reading James W. Thomas’ Repotting Harry Potter in conjunction with the entirety of the Potter verse, of course. Thank you for this wonderful birthday present !
March 26th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
I find it so hard to find a good read – I keep so busy I usually end up picking them out by the cover (going totally against the old adage).
I love catchy writing and I have to say my one indulgence is that I can not continue a book that starts out slowly, no matter how literary it is….did you have a favorite out of your recent reads?
March 26th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
Hello Katie,
it’s great to have you stop by and put trust in my recommendation.
I share your opinion; if a book can’t keep my attention from the start, I’ll probably not finish it, no matter how literary it is. There are so many great life-changing classics out there, but there are also jewels of contemporary tales that could be just as worthwhile. I like to strike a balance of both (with the scale tipping to contemporary, I know).
I’ll recommend three, depending on the genre that you prefer;
If you like strong starts and catchy writing, I would recommend Patricia Briggs’ Moon Called. It’s in the supernatural fiction category and I guess you have to like that and be able to go with the suspension of disbelief. But if a novel starts with ‘I didn’t realize he was a werewolf at first. My nose isn’t at its best when surrounded by axle grease and burnt oil—and it’s not like there are a lot of stray werewolves running around. So when someone made a polite noise near my feet to get my attention I thought he was a customer.’ it’s got my attention all right ! A good supernatural crime mystery with a very well-developed heroine.
If you are not only the reading type, but, like me, also the listening type, the second I’d recommend is the BBC audio drama of Stanislaw Lem’s Solaris. There are a few TV and film versions of it, the last having been made a few years ago with George Clooney. It’s categorised Sci-Fi but I’d say it’s that as much as it’s a psychological thriller. Good strong start, well developed characters, nice plot twists and a high-quality production by the BBC (albeit short, running at just under two hours).
My last recommendation is from an older reading list. It’s more in the literary category than the other two because of the descriptive writing and weaker characterisations, but well worth your time if you like the style. Atonement by Ian McEwan has been made into a feature film with Keira Knightley and James McAvoy. If you have seen the film, the plot twist will be spoiled because it’s a very true adaptation, but the book is even stronger than the riveting film. Also well worth a read.
Hope you enjoy the site and please do let me know if my recommendations suited you at all, if you decide to run with them. Maybe you could even write a review for me and the other readers, since I really do read too many books to review them all.
August 22nd, 2009 at 5:33 pm
As you mentioned above, there is nothing like the gratification that an ‘attention-grabber’ book can deliver even from the first page, which just doesn’t seem to let you put it down (however, this in itself can turn out a bit paradoxical, for you sometimes MAKE an effort to put it down so that the pleasure is lasts you more!). And although some classics are like that (“Catch-22″ comes to mind as a recent read, for example), not all that belong, say, to the so-called “Cannon of Western Literature” can be in that way enticing. Their charms are of another kind. I don’t know much about the type of fiction you seem to read, but briefly skimming through your lists I did descry a title or two from my ex-girlfriend’s bookshelf. She sort of followed that ‘if-I-can’t-get-it-on the-first-page-cast-it-to-the-flames” rule. So when I foisted upon her Proust’s “In Search for Lost Time”, for I deemed her remarkably intelligent and thought she had the capacity to wade through it, she dismissed it after struggling with a few paragraphs. In all fairness, by contrast, I simirlaly dismiss her entreaties to try some of her more ‘chick fiction’ stuff (which, she argued, was less pretentious and could be as enlightening as my more ’scholarly’ choices). But times change and, as in some other things, I’m now willing to give her the benefit of the doubt and try at least a few of her favourites (Patricia Briggs was one). Thus, I’d be grateful if you would share your thoughts on this.
Many thanks,
JE
August 27th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
Hey Jorge,
great of you to stop by and share your thoughts.
I mostly think that it is fairly easy to dismiss books without really trying to read them, especially if people have already formed an opinion on books they haven’t read.
Personally, I will also rarely abandon a book, but that might be because I only start a book when I really look forward to reading it. I do not choose books ahead, but only pick a new one when I have finished another, which means I will always pick the books that I want to read most at that time.
The last book I have abandoned is Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson and the only reason I abandoned it is because it’s a very complexly structured book and I started it as an audio book. I am certain that Snow Crash is the type of book that one needs to read in dead tree version before one rereads it in audio.
I do seem to think that contemporary fiction, more than literature, can be very enlightening when it comes to the acute sense of self and others. I think fiction is better suited for the reader to recognise characters, personalities and situations that inhabit our own life, if not our own self. More than literature, fiction tends to not be an analysis of human state, but more of human activity and makes it often more a tale that we relate to.
Now I say this having read awfully few literary classics and I am definitely in danger of being just the type of opinionated person that I illustrated before, but I do seem to have a love for classic drama and highly metaphoric works, such as The Scarlett Letter and Utopia. Maybe that is too much of an influence.
Now that you have read some of your ex-girlfriend’s more chick-lit choices, do you agree with her that it is generally less pretentious and as enlightening as your more ’scholarly’ choices ?