Well hello there...
After I have posted about The Colour Purple, we will only have 3 books left to read from this years read a long! Wow, it's gone fast hasn't it.
I would therefore love it, if you could give me some book ideas, preferably classics that we could read. And maybe some contemporary reading that I could like. Heck, am I missing out on the new next big thing in Young Adult (YA) fiction that I really love, with a touch of dystopian fantasy that I like? Recommend away....
And just for some eye candy here is Jensen Ackles reading. I know, you can thank me another time...
I love a good gif!
19 comments:
Hi Sol. I would recommend Jude The Obscure: Thomas Hardy.
I would definitely second Dave's suggestion. The best Hardy in my view. I have noted the comments on some of the classics, not least Wuthering Heights, and that some struggle with them. Here's a couple of other suggestions that others might find both readable and enjoyable. The Old Wives Tale by Arnold Bennett. A short one, but a little bleak: Therese Raquin by Emile Zola.
Hey Dave, I will look that one up. Will you join us on a re-read of it?
Hello Phillip, I will have a look at these also. I really want to expand the horizon. Looking back at my scores it would seem that I enjoy a good American classic, as I have also read Hemmingway and got on well with the few I have read.
Off to google those books now.
When I taught high school literature, these were a few of my favorites:
Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" and Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World"
and, from the US writers: "Farenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury, "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien and "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver. These last two are on my personal Top Ten favorite books list.
YA books are difficult as they tend to be written as series nowadays but I have two teenagers who recommend: Wonder, Number the Stars, Freaky Green Eyes and The Hunger Games. Oh, and Night by Elie Wiesel.
Cheers
I agree with Dave, Jude the Obscure is a good read but you need to be in the right mood for it! A well crafted Thomas Hardy is The Mayor of Casterbridge and by far now my favourite Hardy and not so depressing as Jude!
For other books, I don't know what you have read and what you haven't so forgive me if you already have read these:
Karl Ove Knausgaard A Death in the Family, an autobiographical novel, brilliant and unputdownable in that Norwegian way.
The three Stieg Larsson Girl with Dragon Tattoo books are brilliant, as is the fourth one written after his death by David Lagercratz, The Girl in the Spiders Web and I can't wait for the fifth one to come out very soon. Lagercratz stands up well against Larsson with his own style which complements Larsson well.
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn is a good contemporary read. The film is also good, and is one time when both the film and book are good in their own right.
I promised suggestions some weeks ago, Sol, but the possibilities are so many that I haven't been able to whittle them down to a manageable number. However, so as not to disappoint, and straight off the top of my head, here's just a few:-
Joanne Harris - almost anything by her, but 'Chocolat' is as excellent a place as any to start.
John Steinbeck - 'The Grapes of Wrath' - impressed me profoundly on my first reading bout 30 years ago.
Joseph Heller - 'Catch 22' - maybe a bit obvious but it has justifiably now stood the test of over half a century with no diminution of its appeal.
Michael Cunningham - 'The Hours' - an astonishing book from which an astonishing film was made, talk about the latter being unfairly dominated by Nicole Kidman's prosthetic nose. It's still extraordinary in both written form and a film which follows the book very closely.
.........and don't forget my previous mention of Daphne du Maurier's 'Rebecca', still one of my very favourite of ALL novels, and she was still so 'disgracefully' young when she wrote it! - though I must point that it out is a book on the rather long side, so that itself might (alas!) limit its appeal.
That should be enough to be getting on with! :-)
End of the world running club was a great read.
I hesitated about making suggestions because I don't participate, but how about The Great Santini by Pat Conroy? Then there's my all-time favorite novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Love,
Janie
Hey Mrs Armstrong, loving the idea of Frankenstein. I will have to look at Brave new world I havent come across this before. I think I need to read more American classics as they seem to suit me. I will google all of the recommendations left in comments. (the hunger games are one of my favourites!)
Hi Rachel, I have read the mayor of casterbridge a few times, I find it a quick read it would be nice to see what others think of it. I have read all of the dragon tattoo books, as my sister gave them to me as a present. I will look up a death in the family. I havent heard of that one before.
I have heard good things about gone girl I will add this to the voting list! Thanks for the comment, lots to look at there
Hey Ray, I also had grapes of wrath on the list to add to the voting, so I say we add that to the list as a positive book tick! I havent heard of the hour, I will look that one up and refresh myself on catch 22. I think I have read it already, but that doesnt mean we shouldnt read it again.
And as I will be moving to Daphne country we will add this as a positive tick to putting Rebecca on the list. :) Maybe for December or January when you dont want to go out into the cold so much.
Hey Kev, End of the world running club- I think this is one already on my list as a personal reading (its on my amazon wish list in the hopes someone will buy it for me! lol) but I will add it to the read a long vote to see what anyone else who joins in thinks. I will read it what ever as I know it is on my one favourite dystopian topics. :)
Hey Janie, I dont mind if people just recommend, I need the help to break out of my reading mould and read some classics and authors I wouldnt even pick up in a shop. (do people even do that anymore? I think we only ever meet in waterstones for a tea when it is raining! Waterstones is our barnes and noble over here)
The great santini is one that I havent heard of before so I will look that one up. And the great gatsby! Oh yes I think this one should be voted on.
So many fab recommendations all coming thick and fast. excellent. dont you just love the internet.
I wish you did not have comment moderation though. It is a pain to have to keep coming back to see if my comment has been published, see if you have replied at a later date, and then again to see other comments and replies. I regret to say it puts me off your blog.
Sol - The Great Gatsby is a great suggestion. a few more - Heart of Darkness and Lord Jim both by Joseph Conrad....both of which are said to be the reference point not only for T.S. Eliot's poem The Hollow Men, but also for the movie Apocalypse Now.
Waiting for Godot by Samuel Becket is actually based on a french play - but the book is an amazing read. and in 1990 the British Royal National Theatre voted it the most significant "english language play of the 20th century".
then of course there is Animal Farm and 1984 by George Orwell.
last but not least is Lord of the Flies by William Golding.
all of these books i have read and re-read since high school and college. excellent books and i think if you are looking for classics that deal with sort of end of the world, or at least a person's personal end of the world, i think you will enjoy these books!
sending love! your friend,
kymber
May I recommend Anthony Trollope and The Way We Live Now? It bears such a resemblance to our current lives. It is, so far, my favourite of his.
Hi Rachel, sorry you feel it is a pain that I have comment moderation on, Tom Stephenson also dislikes it that I have it. Thanks for voicing this to me, rather than never coming here again. Maybe I will do a little tab at the top about it so people can see my point of view on it.
Firstly I have it so that I can reply to each comment and not missing anyone by accident.
Secondly I had a previous blog where I had a few trolls who completely ruined it for me. They would say something nasty and then anyone who was a regular reader would tell them off and it became a battle as they loved it when they got the attention, one of them got reallly nasty and stupid me I published on instagram where and what I was eating for lunch etc and they put it together from instagram and what I had mentioned about my job and they sent me an email with my work address in. I closed that blog down as I was completely fed up with them. I am now a resistant to not be more in control.
I also know that it is a complete contradiction to have a blog putting myself out there but also trying to stay somewhat private. Stupid really. I like blogging, I have met (as in internet found) many peoples blogs that I love to read and have found many people who have super interesting lives and live somewhat in a style I wish I did. a rather voyeur/vicarious living really. In some ways it is a community of sorts.
I apologise that it is an inconvenience and completely understand if you no longer wish to visit my blog or comment. It would be a loss to me, as I like every comment I get and the interaction with someone out there in the internet ether, but I accept that I will probably lose readers due to this. I may change this in the future, but at present I will continue as is. I hope this gives some justification to my moderating the blog and I hope to see you here in the future if you wish to stay around :)
Hey Kymber! Love that you have given me so many ideas I will be looking at all of those also! Looks like some good ones, I had already thought about 1984 :) Off to google them now!
Ernest Hemingway
Graham Greene
John Steinbeck
Daphne Du maurier
Jerome k Jerome
Interesting reading all the comments. Great suggestions
Hey Toffeeapple, is it bad I have never heard of Anthony Trollope? I will google this and add to the list! Thanks for this as I seem to like comparing the writing to todays standards so this sounds like a good one.
Hi Linda. Defo need to read some daphne. It has to be done. I will look at the others, I am liking the idea of the grapes of wrath or east of eden. I read the sun also rises a few years ago. I will look at some more books of the other authors. Is there any one book you would like to join in with?
Not bad at all, Sol. You have now though.
Toffeeapple it is going onto the list. I think we may have 12 books! I am really excited as, although I havent really 'got' all of the books and feel like I am missing something that others see in the books, the process is really fun and I feel compelled to carry on. The blogging with it seem to make it an easier task. I am loving it and that everyone is so kind in offering up books that they have loved!
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