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Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
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Am I the only one who has found Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow to be a chore? It just doesn't have any sort of flow. I'm on page 35 and it's just so choppy and there's no one cohesive story going on. This isn't going well.
Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
17,330 posts, read 33,023,154 times
Reputation: 28903
I tried reading an advance reader's edition of In One Person by John Irving. I don't know if it's just because I don't like how he writes (I know I read and enjoyed at least one book of his, though I don't remember which one), or if I'm not interested in the story itself, or what... but I wanted to rip my hair out. And I only got 10 pages in. Feh!
I'm going to read some stories in The New Yorker Stories by Ann Beattie.
Am I the only one who has found Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow to be a chore? It just doesn't have any sort of flow. I'm on page 35 and it's just so choppy and there's no one cohesive story going on. This isn't going well.
I say skip it and see the musical if you ever get a chance. A local theater company put it on here in Queens a couple of years ago and it was outstanding! (sorry, I know that doesn't help you right now )
Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
17,330 posts, read 33,023,154 times
Reputation: 28903
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Time Baroness
I say skip it and see the musical if you ever get a chance. A local theater company put it on here in Queens a couple of years ago and it was outstanding! (sorry, I know that doesn't help you right now )
LOL! Thanks!
I will try the other Doctorow book I got -- World's Fair -- as that feels more promising. At least I hope so. I'll get to it at some point in the next couple of months.
Since the last time I posted, I have re-read "The Island of the Blue Dolphins" by Scott O'Dell and "The Incredible Journey" by Sheila Burnford, both beloved books from my childhood, and they have held up well - I thoroughly enjoyed re-reading both. I also finished "Bag of Bones" by Stephen King which was a good read as well, and quite spooky.
I also read "The Year of Wonders: a Novel of the Plague" by Geraldine Brooks, which completely immersed me in 1600s England. She is such a wonderful writer, and her stories are so well-researched - I have really liked all of her books to date. It is a pretty grim, depressing story, but then it is about the plague.
After that, I read "The Chrysalids" by John Wyndham, another post-apocalyptic novel I had not heard of before. It was a good premise, told well, but towards the end it was again another example of "telling" rather than "showing" - just too much dialogue and not enough action. It was still a good read though.
I have now started two books, "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss, and "The Outlander" by Diana Gabaldon, both of which I found through this thread. I've started Outlander first and am already enjoying it.
I just started "Silver Bells" by Luanne Rice. I thought I should try to get in the Christmas spirit with a Christmas book. I like her writing style. It's interesting from page one and keeps flowing along nicely.
I just finished Mary Boleyn The Mistress of Kings by Alison Weir, I was surprised how much I liked it. Not a novel but a well researched book on her life.
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