13 New Authors Reading Challenge

[Lykren]

So far this year I've read

1. The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing (which I started last year, but whatever.)
2. and Lady Chatterley's Lover, by DH Lawrence.

Both of them were quite interesting, but neither of them really struck as what you might call "Great" literature. Some of the characters and much of the dialogue in TGN seemed petty and implausible, and Lady Chatterley's Lover felt a little one-sided and polemical, as though it were banging you over the head with the thought that, "Sensuality is better than being intellectual!" which doesn't to me feel like a really interesting idea anyways.

That said, both books had some rather lovely passages, and particularly in TGN it was very interesting to get the woman's perspective on life.

Started Of Human Bondage today. I'm not very far in, but it seems promising.

[Bustrofedon]

1. Aspects of the Novel E. M. Forster
2. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter Carson McCullers. 2 out of 4. Good enough to finish but found it lacking. To borrow from book number one above, the characters were all flat. I found Mick the best of them and think CM should have stuck more to her story. I assume Mick is somewhat autobiographical which is why CM wrote her better than the rest.

On to some newer new authors now. Looking to read some recent prize winners.

[Scheherazade]

1. Marina Lewycka ~ A Short History of Tracktors in Ukranian 7/10 About Ukranian immigrants in the UK (first and second generation) with a humourous take on it all. Promising first book!

2. Amy Tan ~ The Joy Luck Club 6/10 Quite disappointed as I had heard of this book a lot.

3. Ken Follett ~ Eye of the Needle 7/10 Easy going spy-thriller, which turns somewhat predictable towards the end.

4. Somerset Maugham ~ The Razor's Edge ~ 5/10 Felt so very bored reading this. Not sure what the point of the story was even. Yes, it must be lost on me.

5. David Lodge ~ Changing Places ~ 6/10

6. Carl Hiaasen ~ Nature Girl ~ 8/10 Ideal summer read!

7. Steven Millhauser ~ Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer ~ 7/10

8. Roddy Doyle ~ Paddy Clark, Ha Ha Ha! ~ 8/10

9. Robert Olen Butler ~ A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain ~ 9/10

10. Yann Martel ~ Life of Pi ~ 8/10

11. Paul Harding ~ Tinkers (N11) ~ 9/10

12. Horace McCoy ~ They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (N12) ~ 8/10

13. Junot Diaz ~ The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (P/N13) ~ 7/10

14. Stephen Kelman ~ Pigeon English (N14) ~ 5/10

15. Thornton Wilder ~ The Bridge of San Luis Rey 5/10

[krishna_lit]

Oh! Great Challenge...! Very much interested into it... This year i started a new author Michael Crichton with his path breaking book 'Jurassic Park.' And many more books of so many others lined up...! Looks like I'm already into the challenging race. Thank You for the contest

[Bustrofedon]

1. Aspects of the Novel E. M. Forster
2. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter Carson McCullers
3. Inheritance of Loss Kiran Desai. 3/4. Enjoyed this one quite a bit. Very quick read. The characters' stories weave in and around each other. There is a line in the book in which one of the characters is lamenting the way modern authors are all over the place unlike the linear narratives of the Victorian English novels. Desai is a modern author. On the last full page of the book Desai wrote this sentence: "She turned to look." It was printed as "She turned to cook." The last bit of a good book for me builds to a crescendo then crashes at the last sentence. Suspenseful, reading quickly, enthralled. Then I stumble over this terrible, ill-placed typo. Thrown off track at the very end. There were seven or eight typos in about the last 100 pages of the book. I don't think I caught any in the first 250. Was the proofreader too engrossed to notice or too bored to finish? Typos frustrate me, discombobulate me. Is this universal or idiosyncratic?

[Lykren]

1. Golden Notebook 7/10
2. Lady Chatterley's Lover 6/10
3. Of Human Bondage 7/10 Strangely moving. I couldn't make out the end, though, as it said shortly before their engagement that Philip did not love Sally. Huh? But I suppose really that that makes it more poignant. He accepts sort of a beautiful compromise. I've heard The Razor's Edge is another good Maugham book, so maybe in the future I will read that.

Currently on A Passage to India. Very interesting way of telling a story, somehow abstracted and indirect.

[Bibliophile79]

Update:

1. The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick
2. Beautiful Creatures by Garcia/Stohl
3. Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
4. Then We Came To The End by Joshua Ferris
5. Room by Emma Donoghue
6. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin
7. Touching the Surface by Kimberly Sabatini

[Bibliophile79]

Update:

1. The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick
2. Beautiful Creatures by Garcia/Stohl
3. Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
4. Then We Came To The End by Joshua Ferris
5. Room by Emma Donoghue
6. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin
7. Touching the Surface by Kimberly Sabatini
8. The Further Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Greg Matthews

[Nightshade]

Wait sorry to clarify but you mean 13 authors I haven't read before or 13 'new' authors?
In the event it is haven't read before. Read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins at last been meaning to since it came out.

[Bibliophile79]

13 authors you haven't read yet

[Bibliophile79]

Update:

1. The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick
2. Beautiful Creatures by Garcia/Stohl
3. Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
4. Then We Came To The End by Joshua Ferris
5. Room by Emma Donoghue
6. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin
7. Touching the Surface by Kimberly Sabatini
8. The Further Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Greg Matthews
9. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

[qimissung]

Hmmm, I am familiar with it, of course. Maybe one of these days I'll get up the nerve to actually read it.

1. A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan. 8.5/10 I loved this book so much more than I thought I would. Egan is a perceptive writer, and I loved her insights which were piercing, yet leavened with genuine humor and hope.

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Muriel Spark 6/10 I'm glad I read it, but it's kind of a downer.

Teacher Man Frank McCourt 8/10 I really loved this. It's the only book I've ever read that really describes what it's like to be a teacher. I have read most of the great 'teacher' books, and they follow the narrative arc and always have a teacher/hero at the helm. McCourt, who taught for thirty years, many of them at an elite high school in New York City, never forgot his early struggling days as a teacher, and his empathy for his students shines through.

[Bibliophile79]

Update:

1. The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick
2. Beautiful Creatures by Garcia/Stohl
3. Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
4. Then We Came To The End by Joshua Ferris
5. Room by Emma Donoghue
6. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin
7. Touching the Surface by Kimberly Sabatini
8. The Further Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Greg Matthews
9. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
10. World's End by T.C. Boyle

[Lykren]

Update:

1. The Golden Notebook.
2. Lady Chatterley's Lover.
3. Of Human Bondage.
4. A Passage to India. Very well written, I thought. I want to read Howard's End now as well. Can anybody offer some comparison between the two?
and 5. I'm currently reading Ivanhoe. Unfortunately, I'm unimpressed and even bored. Fortunately, Shakespeare is next on the program for me! Wheeee

[Bibliophile79]

Update:

1. The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick
2. Beautiful Creatures by Garcia/Stohl
3. Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
4. Then We Came To The End by Joshua Ferris
5. Room by Emma Donoghue
6. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin
7. Touching the Surface by Kimberly Sabatini
8. The Further Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Greg Matthews
9. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
10. World's End by T.C. Boyle
11. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn