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What do you think of these?

Starseaker

New Member
Hey,
I've got quite a few unread books that I've collected over the past few years... I need to get through them. Has anyone read any of them? Are they any good?

*Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
*Veronica Decides to Die - Paulo Coelho
*Astonishing the Gods - Ben Okri
*On the Road - Jack Kerouac
*Rabit-Proof Fence - Doris Pilkington Garimara
*Girlfriend in a Coma - Douglas Coupland
*Wasted - Mikki Goffin
*Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
*Sense and Sensability - Jane Austen
*Crosses - Shelley R Stoehr-McCarthy
*I Never Promised You a Rose Garden - Joanne Greenberg

Thanks ... :)
 
Can't go wrong with Nabokov. After reading Lolita, trust me, you'll want to read his other works. Good pick!:cool:
 
*Rabit-Proof Fence - Doris Pilkington Garimara
*Sense and Sensability - Jane Austen
If Rabbit-Proof Fence is the source of the movie by that name I saw several years ago, it has to be worth taking a look at. It was a story of aborigine children in Australia who were taken from their homes by people set on improving them, that is, taking away their culture. They escape and make their way home by following the rabbit-proof fence, a symbol of the barrier against the creatures white Australians don't want to deal with.

I remember Sense and Sensibility with great pleasure. Two sisters - as in Pride and Prejudice - with different approaches to life and romance. Humorous and even, perhaps, more clear-eyed that P&P.
 
I'm big on disorder-esque books, so I Never Promised You a Rose Garden is one of my favourites, though it's been a long time since I read it. Basically, a girl has troubles staying in reality, goes to a metal hospital, and it's her story. It's really beautiful.
 
*Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
*Veronica Decides to Die - Paulo Coelho
I have read the above two and Lolita I would certainly recommend. However I read Veronica Decides to Die on the recommendation of a friend and didn't particularly enjoy it.

*On the Road - Jack Kerouac
My partner read this one and found the writing style to be rather strange, he said that the plot meanders and never seems to get anywhere.
 
*Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
I didn't particularly like this book but it is a classic and you should read it. Even if it is just so you can have your own opinion.

*Veronica Decides to Die - Paulo Coelho
Paulo Coelho is the first Brazilian writer in a looooong time to break it big internationally and, me being Brazilian, you might think that would make me proud. Well it makes me more embarrassed than anything else. His are bad self-help books (as if there is any other kind) masquerading as novels. Unless you are really into self-help I suggest you skip it.

*Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
I love Jane Austin and this is the sweetest of her books in my opinion.
 
*Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
Great book, among my favorites

*On the Road - Jack Kerouac
Another fantastic book. If I had not been stranded on a cruise ship when I finished it I would have immediately hit the road.

*Girlfriend in a Coma - Douglas Coupland
As previously mentioned, I've read it but can't remember a thing about it. Coupland is good, though, so probably is worth the read.
 
My partner read this one and found the writing style to be rather strange, he said that the plot meanders and never seems to get anywhere.

I thought of it more of a stream of consciousness thing.

He wrote the novel on a 120 foot continuous roll of paper. Here is a portion of it:

amedia.npr.org_programs_atc_features_2005_feb_kerouac_readscroll.jpg
 
You've got to read Lolita and On the Road. Lolita is fantastic, and though I didn't enjoy On the Road, I'm glad I read it. I would've hated being Kerouac's editor, though!

I liked Girlfriend in a Coma which is a post-apocalyptic 'Oh crap, we've screwed up the world, I hope we get a second chance' novel. Luckily I read it for a Literature and the Bible course so I was prepared for its preachiness. I must say that I'd recommend the song over the book ;-)
 
*Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
*Veronica Decides to Die - Paulo Coelho
*On the Road - Jack Kerouac
*Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
*Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

Like the others, I loved Lolita. Check out the extensive Lolita thread (or its various secondary threads) for some excellent discussion on Lolita and Nabokov.

I've read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, and so wouldn't recommend any of his works unless you've got nothing better to read, or just fancy a light-hearted and unchallenging short read.

I hated On the Road. I really don't understand what people who say they enjoyed it got from it.

Half a Yellow Sun doesn't have many good reviews, though I've not read it myself. Not read, and not interested in reading, any of the others.
 
I thought of it more of a stream of consciousness thing.

He wrote the novel on a 120 foot continuous roll of paper. Here is a portion of it: *

From what I understand that was simply one of the drafts, and not how the novel was originally written. Can't remember where I read that, though.
 
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