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Old 07-02-2007, 03:23 AM
 
2 posts, read 7,815 times
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What's the last book you read? What was it about? Did you like it?
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Old 07-02-2007, 04:23 AM
 
Location: Oxford, England
13,032 posts, read 24,556,154 times
Reputation: 20164
"The Poe Shadow" by Matthew Pearl and I found it quite disappointing and really quite dull ! I thought I would love it because I am a great fan of Edgar Alan Poe but it did not live up to the blurb on the book cover. I started getting bored after a few pages but felt I had to wade through it as I had started it.
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Old 07-02-2007, 05:03 AM
 
Location: in the southwest
13,396 posts, read 44,896,426 times
Reputation: 13599
I am in the final pages of the engrossing Suite Francaise.
It is the story of daily life in France during the Nazi occupation in WWII.
The talented author was Russian-born, originally Jewish, and entrenched in French life.
I don't want it to end, partly because I already know what happened to the author, and partly because this book has been so many things: poignant, vivid, funny, dark.
I am glad this book was found, I very much appreciate its author's talent (the manuscript was written months before she was arrested!) as well as the translation.
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Old 07-02-2007, 06:27 AM
 
Location: Oxford, England
13,032 posts, read 24,556,154 times
Reputation: 20164
Quote:
Originally Posted by cil View Post
I am in the final pages of the engrossing Suite Francaise.
It is the story of daily life in France during the Nazi occupation in WWII.
The talented author was Russian-born, originally Jewish, and entrenched in French life.
I don't want it to end, partly because I already know what happened to the author, and partly because this book has been so many things: poignant, vivid, funny, dark.
I am glad this book was found, I very much appreciate its author's talent (the manuscript was written months before she was arrested!) as well as the translation.
That is supposed to be wonderful. I had bought it for my grand-mother before she died ( less than a month ago)but She never got to read it sadly . My great uncle spent 3 years in death camps and my great-grand-father ( my Grand-Ma's Dad) died escaping from Auschwitz so I'm afraid I find it really difficult to read this kind of books . I grew up being told lots of stories about the war and all its horrors and I just can't do it. Having visited a lot of concentration camps, I couldn't bring myself to see "Schindler's list" at the movies. But "Suite Francaise" is supposed to be one of the best books about the subject.
I find it amazing that it was only "re-discovered" recently.
It's a huge bookseller here in the UK.
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Old 07-02-2007, 07:34 AM
 
Location: in the southwest
13,396 posts, read 44,896,426 times
Reputation: 13599
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mooseketeer View Post
That is supposed to be wonderful. I had bought it for my grand-mother before she died ( less than a month ago)but She never got to read it sadly . My great uncle spent 3 years in death camps and my great-grand-father ( my Grand-Ma's Dad) died escaping from Auschwitz so I'm afraid I find it really difficult to read this kind of books . I grew up being told lots of stories about the war and all its horrors and I just can't do it. Having visited a lot of concentration camps, I couldn't bring myself to see "Schindler's list" at the movies. But "Suite Francaise" is supposed to be one of the best books about the subject.
I find it amazing that it was only "re-discovered" recently.
It's a huge bookseller here in the UK.
Actually, Suite Francaise barely addresses the camps at all, though of course, that is where the author died. The book is more about daily life dealing with occupation in France.
In the link I posted, the reviewer mentions that perhaps the author had intended to write about this aspect of WWII in a later section of the book, which was supposed to be a 5 novel cycle but was only an unfinished manuscript.
This is what blows my mind: this book received little if any editing/polishing.
It was found many, many years after it was written.
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Old 07-02-2007, 08:18 AM
 
Location: Oxford, England
13,032 posts, read 24,556,154 times
Reputation: 20164
Quote:
Originally Posted by cil View Post
Actually, Suite Francaise barely addresses the camps at all, though of course, that is where the author died. The book is more about daily life dealing with occupation in France.
In the link I posted, the reviewer mentions that perhaps the author had intended to write about this aspect of WWII in a later section of the book, which was supposed to be a 5 novel cycle but was only an unfinished manuscript.
This is what blows my mind: this book received little if any editing/polishing.
It was found many, many years after it was written.
Thanks Cil. I know it's not about the camps but I just find anything to do with that period of history just really difficult to deal with. I think because I grew up on all the stories about the occupation and the resistance ( both my great-grandfather and great uncle were in the resistance and were "red triangles" in the camps, political prisoners) , and because we did so much of it at school and I read so many books when I was younger dealing with the subject I now find myself getting upset about it all.

Knowing about the author's demise is enough to put me off. I know it probably sounds silly and I also know from other people that it is a wonderful book though.
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Old 07-02-2007, 03:27 PM
 
Location: San Antonio, Texas
219 posts, read 716,670 times
Reputation: 114
Principles of Neural Science by Eric Kandel, James Schwartz, and Thomas Jessell. It's an extensive (1400 pages) neuroscience text. Very in depth. If anyone is interested in learning about the detailed workings of the central nervous system - this is the book that'll do it.
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Old 07-03-2007, 01:22 PM
 
Location: On a windy ridge in ID
185 posts, read 251,176 times
Reputation: 249
The last book I read was "The Other Boleyn Girl" by Philippa Gregory. A bit of historical fiction which I do not usually read but the almost 700 pages seemed like three hundred.

Next up was "Middlesex" but with all the talk of "Suite Francaise" I may rearrange the list.

BTW, is there a trading forum for books?

Shelley
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Old 07-04-2007, 03:59 PM
 
Location: Now in Oregon!
378 posts, read 1,200,732 times
Reputation: 321
Well the above posts are going to make me look like a low-brow but my current book is THE CAINE MUTINY, which I just started and can't put down. (Actually, I DO put it down long enough to spend a few "minutes" on the CD Forum). I like reading some of the older best sellers. Recently re-read GWTW and it was like brand new though I've read it at least half dozen times.

It must be my form of not letting go of the past!
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Old 07-04-2007, 04:16 PM
 
7,991 posts, read 12,217,330 times
Reputation: 4348
Blindness, by Jose Saramago

It's not for everyone, but I thought it was SUPERB!!!!!
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