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I just finished reading "Princess" by Jean P. Sasson. its surely been an experience....to be able to understand the psyche of women from these male dominated countries. its just widened my outlook to a certain extent.
i was always aware of these situations which women face in Saudi Arabia through my relations who lived there once. but this was from the viewpoint of the sufferer. so it was different. i loved the book. will definitely read "Daughters of Arabia".
Well, JiaXiong, I would recommend Northanger Abbey and Pride and Prejudice, since both of them have a lot of comedy, especially Northanger Abbey. But I'm sure you'll like all of Austen's work.
I just finished reading 'The Kite Runner' by (I hope I spell it right) Khaled Hosseini. It is so good, ugly and true. It is about the life of a man named Amir and his relationships with the people who are close to him and his country Afganistan. So ugly and beautiful. This is Khaleds first novel and I hope not his last one...
I just finished "Dead Until Dark", the first novel in Charlaine Harris' "Southern Vampire" series. It's an intriguing (though not completely original) take on the whole vampire myth, with vampires having come "out of the coffin" and trying to live among humans. Putting it in rural Louisiana obviously gives Harris some possibilities to use racism as a metaphor (no, I'm not saying all Louisianans are KKK'ers) and it's a welcome shift away from New Orleans, at least. Harris has some great ideas, and occasionally the book gets real funny, almost Rice meets Pratchett... however, as a writer she's not really up to scratch. The whole book is written in the first person, and considering all that happens to her, our narrator really does seem a bit too... objective. She describes her bust size on the first page, that's character development for ya.
This will supposedly be made into an HBO series by Alan Ball, the guy who made "6 Feet Under" and "American Beauty". I can't help but think this may well be one of those few cases where the film (or TV series) is better than the book.
I just finnished reading 'Practical Ethics (2nd ed)' by Peter Singer. Very interesting - if somewhat controversial - and I agreed with many points although I definately would not call myself a utilitarian. I have a feeling that the next book I have to read for Philosophy will be a little harder to get through - Hobbes' 'Leviathan'. I'm guessing interesting but heavy going.
I enjoyed Leviathan. I had to read it and Locke's Two Treatises on Government at the same time - Hobbs work was much easier to get through in comparison - however, not the easiest thing I have ever read.
Sergei Lukyanenko's "Night Watch" was a fun read. Sort of a mix between Neil Gaiman and "Master And Margarita", if you can imagine that; a post-communist Russian realist fantasy novel. With vampires. And Ritchie Blackmore songs. About as good as the movie, which is to say really good but a bit too caught up in its own mythology - the story suffers at times under all the magical proficiency levels and other stuff that I really can't give a rat's posterior about. But I like the whole theme of good vs evil getting mixed up in grey areas and trying to figure out exactly who is who and exactly what it was you paved the road to hell with again... give it a 4/5.
The last book I read, which was about a week ago, was Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy. It’s the tragic story of a woman whose one big mistake in the life haunts her until her death. The story can get too coincidental at times, but I think it adds to the effect that Tess cannot escape her past. Thomas Hardy describes the scenery beautifully, and it helps to set the mood to this heartbreaking tale. Tess of the d’Urbervilles is a beautiful and touching story, a must-read. All I suggest is you have lots of tissues on hand. 9/10
Right now, I’m trying to read The Romance in the Forest, but schoolwork is getting in the way. I have 18 mini essays for Les Miserables due this Thursday, and I’ve only written four. I’m so screwed right now, but I guess that’s what happens to procrastinators… damn it.
um, just a suggestion. maybe a mod could make an alphabetical index of books and authors on the first post. i don't know if linking to each message would be too much hassle or what, but maybe some of us have a lot of spare time after all.
ahem.
I just finished reading The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl. I was a bit disappointed because the story had potential...but the author took a slightly different approach to writing it. It was a bit corny too, since the main characters were Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, JT Fields and James Lowell. It was kinda like the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen...
I think Pearl put too much emphasis on the lives of the poets and not enough on the killings and on the Inferno text.
It wasn't too bad...but I think it could have been way better than it is now.
Hmmmm. Having read Daniel Wallace's "Big Fish", I find myself in the not-too-common position of actually preferring the movie. Not just because I thought the movie was more coherent whereas the novel(ette) was a bit too episodic at times, or because the general schmaltz-porn of the story works better with Tim Burton's sense of humour added, but also because there's a pretty significant perspective shift; in the book, the son re-tells all the tall tales, but in the movie we hear the father tell them. I'm inclined to think that's a change for the better - it certainly works better with the ending.
But the book is still pretty good, a quick and often quite moving read. 3/5.
I've just finished reading Jonathan Safran Foer's EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE. At first glance it is reminiscent of Foer's first book, Everything Is Illuminated and of Mark Haddon's A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time because it is partly narrated by a boy (Oskar) of 8 (years old) out on a quest to solve a mystery...the mystery of a key. The other "narrators" of the story are Oskar's grandmother and grandfather, each telling their story in their own style. Oskar's father dies tragically during the 9-11 bombing of the World Trade Center in NY City, which ultimately leads him to the doors of strangers in hopes of finding answers to his questions. However as the story progresses, the novel takes on it's own unique identity - a sad but optimistic story of death, acceptance and letting go. Of knowing when to move on and when to hold on. It is a very very good book...It's one hundred dollars! Have a box of tissue ready while reading this!
OK, so I finished Zadie Smith's "On Beauty" last night. And I'm really not sure what I thought of it. She's an excellent writer and the novel is occasionally hilarious, but I can't help but wonder if there isn't supposed to be more to it. Much of the book is a really sharp satire on hipocrisy, both in thought and deed, a world in which people are so hung up on their ideas of life that they completely miss out on life itself. The main character is an academic so into deconstruction and theories on art and society that he is unable to say "this painting is beautiful", celebrate Christmas (because of the whole religious/cultural oppression thing - don't ask) or tell his wife of 30 years how he feels about her. His youngest son has grown up in a rich middle-class home yet tries to style himself a gangsta from the backstreets. His daughter crusades against discrimination but doesn't really notice that all the dirty work at her fine college is being done by blacks. Etc etc etc.
Problem is - I think the trick of the book is it lures you into asking the very same questions Smith satirizes - refusing to just say "this is beautiful" (because it is) or "this is funny" (because it is) but rather asking what her point is, what her agenda is, where she's going with it. None of the characters (except maybe the two fathers involved) is truly appalling, yet none of them are really appealing either. This is either a really funny and moving indictment of all sides arguing the future of our Western world, or a brilliantly written piece of fluff that goes nowhere. Problem is, I'm not sure which.
Finished "East of Eden". I think I'm slowly being converted to a Steinbeck fan. As a youngster I was forced to read "The Grapes of Wrath" and disliked it enormously. I think I rebelled against what I felt were overt political commentary. However, a few years ago, I re-read it and found that the political and social commentary, while still present, didn't bother me so much and I was able to see what a fabulous story was being told. Now, with "Eden", I'm becoming an actual Steinbeck supporter. After recently reading Faulkner and McCarthy novels, I found the Steinbeck prose to be a very pleasant change of pace. The story, which essentially is an examination of good and evil through the lens of the Cain and Abel story retold, was almost a page turner, you might say.
This is one of the books I will be reading this summer. I read some other Steinbeck books before and he is one of favorite authors - if not 'the'. I keep postponing this one because it seems so long! :goof:Quote:
Originally Posted by scoooter5