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Grex > Books > #3: What Was the Last Book You Read? | |
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| 25 new of 298 responses total. |
gerund
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response 157 of 298:
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Feb 1 03:29 UTC 1998 |
I finished Any Rand's "We The Living" last night. Deep depressing material
even for her first novel. She's conveyed a sense of hopelessness and
despair which she demonstrates to be the essential result in a society
dominated by the philosohpy of man living for the state. Lots of seeds
planted in this book for ideas which later see growth in "The Fountainhead"
and more than likely full development in "Atlas Shrugged", which I will
be reading next.
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atticus
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response 158 of 298:
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Mar 6 12:51 UTC 1998 |
John D. McDonald's Travis McGee novel "Dress Her In Indigo".
Like any other McGee book, great stuff.
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omni
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response 159 of 298:
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Apr 24 05:40 UTC 1998 |
I just finished "The Prince of Tides" by Pat Conroy.
This one is about Tom Wingo, his twin Savannah and older brother Luke.
Tom is the narrator. He starts out by introducing himself, and his family,
but then travels to New York to see about Savannah who has once again
attempted suicide. The doctor treating Savannah wants to talk to Tom about
the family, and the way they were raised. It is through flashbacks that we
learn about the family Wingo.
Father Henry is a Army veteran, and shrimp boat captain who is a rough but
loving father. He is abusive and rough, but there is love. The mother, Lila
is dedicated to Henry, but barely notices the kids. There is a lot more to
the book than I have time to relate here, but it is a must read. Conroy crafts
the language so well, and his descriptions are so vivid you will swear that
you are sitting in the same room with Tom, listening to him tell you about
his family.
"Man wonders, but God decides
when to kill the Prince of Tides"
Only when you read this book, will you know what that means.
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rcurl
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response 160 of 298:
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Apr 24 16:38 UTC 1998 |
Is this fiction or non-fiction?
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omni
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response 161 of 298:
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Apr 24 17:04 UTC 1998 |
It is classed as a novel. Probably fiction, but one never can tell these
days.
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mcnally
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response 162 of 298:
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Apr 26 06:25 UTC 1998 |
based on the number of people who seem to have enjoyed it the book must
be considerably better than the film..
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chandram
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response 163 of 298:
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Apr 27 05:40 UTC 1998 |
Just finished re-reading "The Lord of the Rings". Tolkien just doesn't stop
amazing me. Everytime I read anything he has written, I am overawed by the
imaginative powers of this creative genius. But somehow, the majority of
people I recommend this book to put it down before the first fifty pages are
barely past! I don't understand this at all ...
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mta
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response 164 of 298:
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Apr 29 14:26 UTC 1998 |
Tolkein is not an easy read -- very rewarding, but not easy. If you
don't put in the work to enter his world, you'll be bored pretty
quickly. One solution my friends and I found back in college was to
have "Tolkein parties". We'd get together with a bottle of wine, some
snacks, and a copy of the LOTR. We'd sit together and pass the wine in
one direction and the book in the other, each sighted person reading on
passage and then passing the book along.
Much of Tolkeins imagery needs to be heard to really be appreciated.
For people who imagine vividly when they read that's not a problem, for
those who don't, hearing it really helps.
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rcurl
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response 165 of 298:
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Apr 29 15:47 UTC 1998 |
I would say that understanding and appreciation improved as that bottle
circulated....
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mta
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response 166 of 298:
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Apr 30 20:53 UTC 1998 |
<laugh> That may be, but we were poor college students and there was one
bottle for 10-12 of us, so it's not like we had an endless supply or
anything.
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chandram
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response 167 of 298:
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May 1 04:58 UTC 1998 |
Going by Misti's experience( and modifying it a bit, in the process), I read
Dune(Herbert) with a bottle of wine as (the sole) companion. And somehow, it
appears as imaginative and wel written as LOTR. I've read only the first book
of the Dune series, but I am HUGEly impressed. And to think of the time when
I thought tolkein had no parallel.....
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ram123
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response 168 of 298:
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Oct 14 06:30 UTC 1998 |
hi my name is sriram. i am entering this conference for the first time.
the last book i read was ICON by Fredrick Forsyth, pretty good book.
the author seems to have taken a break from the usual Russia -bashing
, he has tried to a take a look at the problems of russians,
ofcourse the hero does everything right in the end.
please give me your comments
ok
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jazz
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response 169 of 298:
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Oct 14 15:17 UTC 1998 |
_A Soldier in the Great War_, by Mark Helprin.
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mcnally
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response 170 of 298:
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Oct 15 05:44 UTC 1998 |
"Notes From a Small Island", by Bill Bryson.
Quite enjoyable, a humorous (or is that "humourous"?) account of
an American expatriate travel writer's last trip through Britain
before returning to the U.S.
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orinoco
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response 171 of 298:
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Oct 16 00:22 UTC 1998 |
"Spiritual Adventures of a Sushi Chef" by someone whose name escapes me at
the moment. I liked it the first time around, but it doesn't hold up on
re-reading.
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ram123
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response 172 of 298:
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Oct 16 04:49 UTC 1998 |
i read the book 'the eleventh commandment' by jeffrey archer,
quite a good book, but mightt not be woth reading again. Pretty
unbelievable at times..
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md
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response 173 of 298:
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Oct 16 11:19 UTC 1998 |
Birds of America, by Lorrie Moore.
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mary
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response 174 of 298:
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Oct 17 03:12 UTC 1998 |
That one is on my "buy soon list". It's had wonderful
reviews.
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md
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response 175 of 298:
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Oct 17 11:43 UTC 1998 |
I think it's wonderful, which I assume means you'll hate it. ;-)
I keep coming back to one story called "Which Is More Than I Can
Say About Some People," the last page of which brought a tear to
my eye. This is a great book of stories. I found out yesterday
that the story about the couple whose little boy has cancer is
autobiographical, which is very sad. In that story, Moore puts
on display her resentment at being a writer and being expected
to write about such things, and then she writes brilliantly and
tragically about it. A virtuoso performance.
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mary
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response 176 of 298:
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Oct 17 20:02 UTC 1998 |
Michael, you're weird. But in an endearing sort of way.
I bought the book.
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orinoco
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response 177 of 298:
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Oct 20 00:31 UTC 1998 |
I just finished voluntarily reading "5*" (that star should be a degrees sign;
just use your imagination) by Nicholas Christopher, who is my Favorite Poet
Of The Month. It wasn't as good as the other book of his I read, "Desperate
Characters", and it spent too much time sitting around being morbid, but it
was still well-written.
For a class, I also just finished the Oresteia, which I suprised myself by
liking. A lot.
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gerund
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response 178 of 298:
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Oct 26 07:36 UTC 1998 |
The last book I read was Steven King's "Wizard and Glass". Catching up
with Roland and hearing a tale out of his past. Cool stuff.
I'm still in the process of reading "The Gulag Archapalago".
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lise
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response 179 of 298:
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Nov 1 23:43 UTC 1998 |
Gerund, you do have my Gulag Archapalago!! You never answered my one of my
letters that asked you to return it. Caught ya! Well, enjoy. I wouldn't have
time to read it anyway these days. I hope you return in in the same pristine
condition in which it was once entrusted to your care! (yeah, right..) <kari
gripes about gerund but actually she loves him and does not care>
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gerund
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response 180 of 298:
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Nov 5 07:46 UTC 1998 |
I do. And I actually went out and bought my own copy of it too.
Guess that means it's time to return your book. I'm still reading it, btw.
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mcnally
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response 181 of 298:
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Mar 12 07:07 UTC 1999 |
Currently reading "The Shipping News", which made a big splash a couple
of years ago and has been on my list of eventual reads for quite some
time. Actually, though, I'm now glad that I didn't read it a few years
ago when it was first recommended to me. Since that time I've had a
chance to visit Newfoundland (last summer) and the book is very successful
at evoking memories of that forlorn and eerie place.
I'm enjoying it so far but unless there's a really *huge* payoff at the
end I'm not sure I'd consider all of the attention it received (including
the Pulitzer Prize) completely justified. I'd recommend it without much
reservation; I'm just not convinced that 100 years from now people will be
talking about it as one of the most memorable novels of the century...
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