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I have just read "1984" by Geogre Orwell for the 4th time, and the only thing I can say is fantastic. I love how this book ends, not a happy ending. But this ending makes readers to think about their country. Personally, "1984" is somehow the metaphor of China nowsaday
Okay, I have to post about this book - I'm reading Between the Sheets: The Literary Liaisons of Nine 20th Century Women Writers by Lesley McDowell. I think of it as 50 Shades for grownups .
Basically the author argues that Hilda Doolittle, Sylvia Plath, Simone DeBeauvoir, Anais Nin etc, were inspired by their lovers and found it necessary to their art. I'm not far enough along to say whether I agree with her but it's an interesting idea and she writes in an interesting way.
I've had trouble getting into any book so interesting is good. Now to go and do my outside work, which never waits, not even when I have a book I want to read.
I have just read "1984" by Geogre Orwell for the 4th time, and the only thing I can say is fantastic. I love how this book ends, not a happy ending. But this ending makes readers to think about their country. Personally, "1984" is somehow the metaphor of China nowsaday
I'm reading 1984 now. This is not a "happy" book so I'm not surprised that the ending isn't happy. Glad you liked it so much - inspires me to keep on reading...
Last edited by springfieldva; 01-30-2013 at 11:50 AM..
Okay, I know this thread is about what we are reading rather than what we gave finished, so I am going to post this even though I'm afraid that I'll jinx it and then not like the rest of the book, but I am loving May We Be Forgiven by AM Homes. She may be my female Jonathan Franzen!
A domestic dark comedy with some warmth and empathy towards the characters. Amusing in a wry way. Nicely written. Some critics have described it as Cheever country with a black comedy overlay...not sure about that since the characters are Jewish rather than WASPs. The hero, Harold, makes a lot of wrong moves, but ultimately he is likeable and real as he deals with aging, divorce, illness, sex, the next generation, and the aftermath of his affair with his SIL and his brother's murder of the wife. Sounds like a ball of laughs, huh? But in so many parts, it is...just like life, looking for the good/uplifting/funny along with the junky stuff....
(hmm, you're making me think about reading 1984 again)
I'm listening to Elegance of the Hedgehog for Book Club. It took a while for me to get into it, but now I'm enjoying it. I do think it would be better to READ than to listen to.
I have a dilemma. Next month I choose the book. This is my good Book Club, & we have great discussions. I have 3 titles in mind, & can't decide!! Angela's Ashes, The Watership Down, or Thousand Splendid Suns.
(hmm, you're making me think about reading 1984 again)
I'm listening to Elegance of the Hedgehog for Book Club. It took a while for me to get into it, but now I'm enjoying it. I do think it would be better to READ than to listen to.
I have a dilemma. Next month I choose the book. This is my good Book Club, & we have great discussions. I have 3 titles in mind, & can't decide!! Angela's Ashes, The Watership Down, or Thousand Splendid Suns.
Watership Down! Haven't read that in years and years. Love that book. That's the one I'd pick.
1984 is an....exhausting...read for me. All of that CONTROL makes me uncomfortable, uneasy. It's definitely a worthy read, though.
I have a dilemma. Next month I choose the book. This is my good Book Club, & we have great discussions. I have 3 titles in mind, & can't decide!! Angela's Ashes, The Watership Down, or Thousand Splendid Suns.
Making my annual book club pick is always such an ordeal for me! I perseverate over my decision and then second guess myself after I make the announcement! It is so funny, because, like you, I have a great book club and we always have good discussions even if the book was a stinker!
I just don't want to be the one that picks a stinker!
Okay, I know this thread is about what we are reading rather than what we gave finished, so I am going to post this even though I'm afraid that I'll jinx it and then not like the rest of the book, but I am loving May We Be Forgiven by AM Homes. She may be my female Jonathan Franzen! ... it is...just like life, looking for the good/uplifting/funny along with the junky stuff....
This was a GREAT write up and I hope you review all the books with as much vigor. It made me want to read it -- and I almost always come back to tell about mine after I finish, so I'm okay with that, too. (No one has ever scolded me yet! )
Quote:
Originally Posted by lolagranola
... I have a dilemma. Next month I choose the book. This is my good Book Club, & we have great discussions. I have 3 titles in mind, & can't decide!! Angela's Ashes, The Watership Down, or Thousand Splendid Suns.
I vote for the Thousand, because I've never read it and I want to know about it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by springfieldva
... All of that CONTROL makes me uncomfortable, uneasy. It's definitely a worthy read, though.
Driving home last night I heard a snippet of a discussion with unknown (to me) persons, and one said: "We talk about freedom, but none of us are free, we are imprisoned by our homes...." That really got me thinking about how all our social decisions have effectively sewn us up into very tightly controlled pathways -- and how many of us fall outside the confines. (While waiting for my interview I looked out the window to see tents on the outside of the highway barricades and was chilled to realize people were living there. )
Quote:
Originally Posted by pinetreelover
I just don't want to be the one that picks a stinker!
It could not happen. You have yet to rave about a stinker that I can recall.
I am still working away at "The Universe Within" that boggles my mind with each reading. Meanwhile I have two waiting unread, a third just purchased from Amazon Kindle at Ketabcha's insistence, and now THREE started but unfinished. Meanwhile, I spend my days at other things.
I didn't have time to add yesterday that I'm also reading White Horseby Alex Adams which at least one reviewer compares to The Road. I think I also read somewhere that it was a bestseller in Europe. What makes it more interesting to me is that the setting is Europe. What has always bugged me about dystopian fiction is that the world seems to end at the US border and I'm always wondering how the rest of the world is responding to the end of the world.
The book is written in the present tense, which may be off-putting to some readers (it's not my favourite tense but I can live with it if it is well done) and is more 'literary' than the usual dystopian stuff (imho).
And when looking for the link I saw that is is going to be part of a trilogy. I'll know after I've finished this one (halfway through) whether I'm interested enough to get the other books.
(Psst. Oh, all you jealous, jealous people! It is only -38C right now with the windchill. And it will be only -45C with windchill as the sun goes down. But please! Restrain yourselves. We can't handle millions of people hammering at our borders wanting to get in )
I was also reading Ringworld Throne, I see now, with the book by my head on the couch, but I can't seem to give a crap about the Ringworld series no matter how much I try.
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