Tell us which book you read last and what you thought of it.
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Tell us which book you read last and what you thought of it.
I just finished reading "Tolkien: A Biography" by Humphrey Carpenter (who passed away earlier this year). Having read many of Tolkien works I enjoyed ever so much this biography. After reading about his life I am amazed that "The Lord of the Rings" was ever published! The following quote from the book may shed some light on this:
"'If you're going to have a complicated story you must work to a map; otherwise you'll never make a map of it afterwards.'" "But the map in itself was not enough, and he made endless calculations of time and distance, drawing up elaborate charts concerning events in the story, showing dates, the days of the week, the hours, and sometimes even the direction of the wind and the phase of the moon. This was partly his habitual insistence on perfection, partly sheer revelling in the fun of 'subcreation', but most of all a concern to provide a totally convincing picture. Long afterwards he said: 'I wanted people simply to get inside this story and take it (in a sense) as actual history.'"
The preceding quote is precisely why I love Tolkiens writings! :thumbs_up
angela
Last book you read as in finished, right? Not reading.. well, d'oh as there's another thread for that, oook *shuts up*
Jeanette Winterson - Sexing the Cherry
In short... it was very good ;), I like the way Winterson 'plays' with the language, every word is there for a reason. I don't know if there's a special name for it, but I like the way she uses certain expressions/sentences/situations more than once in her books, it's interesting comparing the two (or more in some cases) together and thinking about the differences (if any) in appearences, I mean, once it has one meaning and then you find it somewhere else and the meaning's changed from what it was earlier (or how the story/everything else changes and the 'repetition' still has the same meaning).
I read Samuel Beckett’s, Waiting for Godot last night.
It was a two act play where nothing happens,…twice.
I suppose you have to be in the right mood. I was. I dug it.
I’d like to go and see it. Does anyone know of a good production? This is an aside but rumor has it that (this was in some of the criticism), when Waiting for Godot opened on Broadway, the New York Taxicab drivers would show up in front of the theater during the intermission of the two acts because they knew a lot of people would bail.
Hehe! I'd believe it... Something very nice about absurdist theatre, but only if you're in the mood (or A mood, as the case may be...)
Last book finished? A Brave New World. First book I've read in its entirity online. Kinda nice.
It's a look at a potential future world where sickness and oldage and parents have been eliminated. Children are manufactured and socially conditioned. Without having given it great depth of thought (yet), it seems to me it's a commentary on the sacrifice of individualism toward the greater "good," and questioning what sort of "good" that must be.
I quite enjoyed it - I love hypotheticals - but like many of this genre, it isn't exactly upbeat and encouraging...
Just finished "The Catcher In The Rye" in between parts 1 & 2 of Don Quixote.
It was a damn powerful and fine read. Wasn't expecting that ending at all.
Snukes, you may be onto something there. Reckon I was in A mood.
Razeuz, I dug both those texts; particularly the last one, as my screen name may connote.
Yay! I finally finished Don Quixote.
I read this also, I agree not much happens, but it was a nice break. I'd give it 8/10, but then again I was thinking I need to adjust my ratiing system as everything seems to be 8.Quote:
Originally Posted by Scheherazade
H. A. Lindsay's Faraway Hill
Chronicles the life-story of a married couple in Australian outback who go on from being farm hands to bee-keepers and finally real-estate owners. Set between the two world wars. Solid prose, I was interested in the historical period (not to mention the intricate details of professional bee-keeping :p), which helped a lot in making the book endearing. If I absolutely had to rate it, I'd give it a 7/10.
For what it is worth, I'll also give the Seventh Son a 6. The end was a big disappointment for me. (though the initial premise was extremely intriguing)
Finished Brave New World 2 days ago. It wasn't as bad as I thought but I certainly won't be putting it on my 'fave books list' (not like I had one anyway :p)
The last one I read was The Nonexistent Knight, by Italo Calvino. Really liked it. In addition to the ontology, which came through both hilarious and dazzling (Agilulf the knight does not exist, in spite of actually doing things), the book had great metafiction, which is naturally not strange to postmodern literature - I just really love it (Calvino's If on a Winter's Night a Traveller is one of my all-time favorites). Of the famous trio of Calvino's allegory novels, this one just went pretty far at times in thematizing and actualising the fictive scenario's textuality. I can recommend it, and it's a really quick read anyway.
Sorry about some terms being wrong (allegory?), I'm not a native speaker.
The last book that I have read was A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. School assignment. I need to seriously get some new books to read. This book is boring the first time that I read it, but also I couldn't understand it. The next one we have to read is 1984 I forget who wrote it.
That would be George Orwell. You probably won't be bored.
I just read Gates of Fire by Stephen Pressfield. It was an amazing book that I was unable to put down, after reading it I wanted to go back in time and fight with the Spartan army.
I also (at the same time) read T. H. White's Once and Future King. It moved kind of slow at times because White often gets carried away in his beautiful discriptions of things, but overall I enjoyed it and felt connected with the characters.
All Of Us - a collection of poetry by Raymond Carver, edited and with a foreword by his widowed wife, also a poet, Tess Gallagher.
I have always loved Carver's poetry and short stories, even the little bits that I had read before getting this book, but not until completing reading it did I finally fall utterly in love with his work. :)
Shanataram
by gregory david roberts
there comes a point, whilst reading, i think, sometimes, that you run out of things to think and start plopping books into mental categories 'ok,' 'good,' 'excellent.' 'would read again' etc. questions like this really allow me to think a bit more about the book.
so i will initially place it in a category: 'excellent, would totally read it again'
and now i shall think....
this was truly one of the best books i've read in a long time. there are parts that move slow, there are parts that read as exagerated battles from kill bill, however, the way roberts portrays an entire country, and his ability as a 'traveler,' as 'the foreigner' is just superb. if you have ever visited another country, somewhere just so entirely different from your own, you must read this book. it captures the essence of being an inside outsider. i find the philosophy rather contrived, but if anything it's made me want to visit India. This man's life....the life he tells about in the book....is :banana: unbelievable. i urge anyone interested in other countries....in the human spirit and in genuinely really good writing....poetic in places....to get your hands on this. it's just an excellent, addictive read!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scheherazade
I just saw the second book in the booksotre and the cover said "Something happens in the book" of course I'm paraphrasing here.......
Today I read Robbe-Grillet's " The House of Assignation" and it was great. Pretty confusing at first but once you get use to his style it just flows. The plot not too intriguing but the narration itself is interesting.
Today, on a break before clinicals, having finished much of my paperwork early, I completed reading Jeanette Winterson's Art Objects. Beautifully written non-fiction book with very unique insights and opinions about art, particularly literature, that reflected much of Winterson's past personal experiences and intuitions concerning art, of which I agree much about, but not quite everything.
*edit long entry* - maybe I will just begin a thread, as another forum member perhaps thought it also a good idea.
My rating of the book: 9/10.
i have just finished reading Animal Farm by George Orwell. it was one of the greatest books i have ever read and everyone should read it. it is not too long and not boring. this book is very successful, makes you addicted to it :).
my rating is of the book is 9.5/10
On Saturday, I began and finished Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea; I loved it so much, and having a lack of things to do, regardless, I read it in one sitting at my favorite coffeehouse.
Amazing book! All throughout the story, I had to turn my head down to hide my tears, the symbolism seeming so rich, but in such a simple, poetic way.
My rating: 10/10 (easily).
:)
Just finished, 'The MOuntain is Young,' by Han Suyin (she wrote 'A Many Splendored Thing in the late 1940's). The author is very discriptive of Katmandu, Tibet, the approach to life taken by the peoples there, and their approach to love in particular. Interesting as hell for (another) love story. But I had heard so much about his great author I had to read something of hers, and this book miraculously showed up at my door. Its taken me quite a while to read it though, maybe a month, (reading it on and off......have to check posts in "what are you reading right now" to be sure.....) but the book is by no means an easy read (keep a dictionary taped to the back jacket) yet a great read all the same.......
When I was a baby, I was given an oriental looking doll. My parents loved the movie Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (it was a hit when they were teenagers I think) and named the doll after Han Suyin (the leading character in the movie). As I grew older, I accepted that the doll was called 'Hansin' and dragged it around until both of us were too old to carry on doing so... It must be somewhere in my parents' attic now... :)Quote:
Originally Posted by baddad
Sher, that is correct. In real life Suyin was both a doctor (her character in the movie) and an author. She led an incredible life, had a brilliant mind, and was involved in critical areas and times, during her life. I am ashamed to say I had not heard of her until recently........ But I gotta tell ya, she has a friggin complicated vocabulary......and that doll (if it still has arms, legs and a head) is probably worth money on Ebay......
It is not a 'Han Suyin doll'(i.e., not like the Britney, Spice Girl dolls in the market);just an ordinary doll looking oriental (as I grew up people thought we looked a like! :rolleyes: ). My parents named the doll Han Suyin because they liked the character so much...Quote:
Originally Posted by baddad
I am sure it still has all the body parts attached to it but in a less than perfect condition...
Two for the Dough by Janet Evanovich
Read this one yesterday while recovering from a cold. A crime thriller; adventures of a female bounty hunter (wannabe) told in a flowing, humourous language. Apparently, there are 12 in the Stephanie Plum (main character) collection. I would like to read them all.
Excellent read for lazy, relaxed days. 9/10 KitKats for its entertainment value.
I just finished Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, about 3 seconds ago! I'm really sad that I've finished it! I get like that when I finish a good book! Yes I am that sad! I thought this book was great! I know from some posts on here that most people won't agree with me, but I loved it! The love story between Heathcliff and Cathy, although sometimes disturbing, was actually really beautiful, as even after death their love lived on! I couldn't put it down! Strongly Reccomend it!!
I finished The Confessions by Jean-Jacques Rousseau today - a beautifully written book that I started recently, but enjoyed so much that I read it continuously. Some of his "confessions" rather surprised me for his era of writing, but I suppose historical people could have seemed as unpredictable as society in present. Having read only little of Rousseau's work in the past, I found the work insightful to see the evolution of those ideas in his head, of which I admire.
Rating: 8.5/10. :)
The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was the last book I read. I'm reading 20,000 Leagues under the sea.
Yesterday, I finished The Picture Of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, and, also, from a most generous gift from Psyche, I additionally started and finished one of his popular plays, The Importance In Being Earnest, in one sitting. Both, in comparison, had such different styles - both had such witty, cynical characters, but had entirely different plots - one a dramatic . . . I cannot label it, and another a comedy.
My rating: both get 10/10.
I just finished Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov which I enjoyed much more so than his previous novel Crime and Punishment. I'd give it a 9/10.
Right now, I'm thinking of diving into Bernard Cornwell's historical fiction The Last Kingdom.
Just tonight finished reading, "Gates Of Fire", by Steven Pressfield. The book is a fictional recount of the Battle of Thermopylae (Greece) which took place in 480 B.C.
In this recounted battle, 300 Spartans and their allies battle to the death against a Persian army of 2 million. While the Spartans planned only a delaying action, they fought till all of themselves were dead, but inflicted the same end upon tens of thousands of their enemies. The tale is one of courage, sacrifice, love, devotion. The Spartan King, Leonidas fought alongside his handpicked men, and died with them there.
Today in Greece there remains 2 small monuments to their valour: one is a 2 word quote by King Leonidas when he was asked by the invaders to lay down his and his army's arms; "Monon labe" (Come and get them!). The second monument is ancient, words by the poet Simonides of Sparta, simply carved into rock: "Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by, that here obedient to their laws we lie."
It is claimed both soldiers, serfs and freepersons fought alongside each other in common effort at preserving their way of life. It is claimed that democracy's birth and its cradle lie in the heart of this tale, and in the heart of Greece.
I give this book a 10 of 10 for shear power of deliverance by its author, as there is little in the way of adornment, and a rapid pace of events.
The last thing I read was actually a reread, Anne Brontë's The Tennant of Wildfell Hall. Loved it, still. It's my favourite Brontë book together with Jane Eyre. Wuthering Heights just annoys me, though.
But, that leads me straight into what I'm reading now: The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. Loving it! It is so much fun...
The last book I read two days ago is Arms and the Man , a play by G.B.Show . I really like it . The idea that the great principles we may believe in ( war and higher love in the play) could be a lie made me feel more realistic with a painful feeling of bitterness. However, Show's ironic style with the very funny situations taking place once and another through the three acts of of the play kept me smiling most of the time ( laughing loudly sometimes :D ) . All in all , it was great.
The Phantom of the Opera- Gaston Leroux. Quite good, tragic love story. I recommend it.
All Through the Night by Mary Higgins Clark
Picked this one because it was at a library display. It is about an abondoned baby, stolen chalice and forged will, which are somehow related but since you are told the 'secrets' right from the start, there is no mystery element to it and you end up reading the next 150 pages for the sake of it (well, at least that is what I have done!)
It is the first Higgins-Clark book I have read and probably the last one... The story line lacks originality, the technique is ordinary if not boring.
4/10 KitKats!
hmmm...the last book I finished (re)reading was J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye I think, but don't trust my memory.
The last book I'v read was "The Family Reunion", a play by T. S. Eliot. It is a very beautiful piece of literature that I like much. It reveals a lot about the strugle between society and individuals. It is a poetic play and enjoyable to read. I'v learned a good lesson from it. Eliot's works are always fasinating.
Today, I finished The Complete Plays Of Aristophanes (translated by Moses Hadas), which mostly consisted of comedies. I cannot call Aristophanes my favorite among the Greek playwrights (maybe Euripides or Sophocles), but I enjoyed the collection immensely, especially that most contained elements of philosophy (particularly Sophism).
My rating: 8/10.