I just finished reading...

cabrasopa said:

Under the Skin - Michel Faber
My first Michel Faber book but it won't be my last, great story, great writing, tensions builds slowly, parts of the book are quite disturbing.
Read it very quickly.

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I was looking at this in a bookshop last night. I read two of Faber's novellas last week (The Courage Consort and The Hundred and Ninety-Nine Steps) and, while they were both slightly lacking, there's no doubting that Faber is a great author. His The Crimson Petal and the White is a great piece of work and I recommend it to you.

Stewart said:

I was looking at this in a bookshop last night. I read two of Faber's novellas last week (The Courage Consort and The Hundred and Ninety-Nine Steps) and, while they were both slightly lacking, there's no doubting that Faber is a great author. His The Crimson Petal and the White is a great piece of work and I recommend it to you.

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Just bought The Crimson petal.. on e-bay yesterday, waiting for it to arrive, looking forward to reading it.

Anansi Boys & The 3 Incestuous Sisters

Yesterday I finished reading Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
It was a funny little story in which the main character reminded me of Arthur Dent from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Cute tale about gods and their family. Not highly recommended, but if you want to read it, I don't think you'll be wasting your time.

Finished "The Three Incestuous Sisters: An Illustrated Novel" by Audrey Niffenegger. It took up about 5 minutes of my life and I kind of want those minutes back. I think the book is about $30... a definite waste of money. I don't care for the minimal text nor the "Gorey-esque" illustrations (love E. Gorey though).

The Historian

OH MY God! I just finished "The Historian" and boy is she long winded. I think I now am and neo-expert on Eastern European history, and the Ottomon Empire. Whew! There were a few pages that I thought I wasn't going to make it. I finally forced myself to just get through those pages and get on with it. I'm glad I did. It was a good book, not great, but good.

hmmmm, What shall I read next?

Sonya Hartnett - Surrender

Lani

I just finished reading The Funhouse by Dean Koontz. It was my first Dean Koontz book, and although I didn't much care for this book it will not be my last by Koontz.

The book is about a woman married to an abusive carny giving birth to a creature that is definately not human, so she decides to end it's life. Her husband Conrad comes home to find his son murdered, in a furious rage he kicks her out promising her that he will one day have his revenge on her future children. After two kids later (Amy and Joey Harper) the carnival is back in town...

The book was okay, but not great. The reason I didn't much care for this book was because it had ALOT of a beginning, no middle and not much of an end.
Are there any Dean Koontz fans out here? What other Dean Koontz books would you reccomend? I recently bought a whole bunch of em, so I have alot to choose from! Not sure which to read next.

I finished Reinenventing the Enemy's Language, ed by Joy Harjo. It is an anthology of stories, poems, and prayers by Native American Women. In most cases it was like stealing someone's diary and slinking off to read in a corner. The book is full of intimate glimpses into these women's lives. Some stories were hard to read. Not because the writer lacked skill, but because of the horrible mistreatment portrayed in them. I'm glad I read them anyway. Perhaps I'll feel a little less self-satisfied and content to let old prejudices go unchallenged. I definately will seek out more writings by Native Americans.

abecedarian, you may enjoy In Search of April Raintree by Beatrice Culleton Mosionier. About a couple of Metis children as they go from foster home to foster home.

Allison, do a search for 'Dean Koontz' and you will find multitudes of recommendations from people on this board. Which books they liked, which they did not. In the authors section alone there's one massive thread.

Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake. This is the second of the three books and the further in I get, the more I appreciate them. They are definitely unlike anything I've read before, which is a good thing. Peake's use of language is absolutely amazing. I have to remind myself to slow down and just appreciate what he is doing. The only way I can describe them is to say that you become completely immersed in each scene. There are whole chapters where seemingly nothing really happens, just a glimpse into some dusty, secluded part of the castle and yet when I close the book and look around I feel a bit disoriented, like I just woke up from a dream and have to get my bearings again. That said, the last 75 pages of Gormenghast were action-packed and had me riveted. Instead of reading in smaller chunks and pausing to let it sink in (like I've been doing through most of the first two books) last night I found myself up way past my bed time, bleary-eyed and frantically reading to see what would happen. I'm a little wary going into Titus Alone, having read about Peake's ailing health and the negative effects it had on the book but having journeyed this far, there's now way I could leave off now.

Sick Puppy by Carl Hiassen. I laughed out loud several times and the characters were very compelling.

MonkeyCatcher said:

The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket. A very quick, humerous read. I will probably be picking up the other books in the series in a short while - I found the first one to be quite entertaining.

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i've read one or two of those when i was younger.. i dont really remember why i stopped. i think maybe cause it was to many unfortunate events for me =P

Just finished Palahniuk's Stranger than Fiction. It's a collection of essays and non-fiction material that he's written over the years. Reading it led me to two conclusions.
1) Palahniuk is a great writer.
2) We live in a weird world.
It's not for everyone, but if you like his stuff, you'll really like this.

Dark Debt by Karen Hall

never thought much of the book when i bought it. it's going cheap, cover was that interesting. turn out to be better than i expected. you get devil worshipping family, demons, priest... at times reminds me of the movie exorsist.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce. Easily the hardest read I have had up to this point. There were passages that were absolutely beautiful then the next page would be as baffling as the previous was beautiful. I'm going to study the book online and keep my library copy to reference because I know there is much more there than I absorbed. I recommend this book heartedly if you are going to give it the attention it deserves. Not a light read.

ions said:

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce. Easily the hardest read I have had up to this point. There were passages that were absolutely beautiful then the next page would be as baffling as the previous was beautiful. I'm going to study the book online and keep my library copy to reference because I know there is much more there than I absorbed. I recommend this book heartedly if you are going to give it the attention it deserves. Not a light read.

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I read that book for a lit class in college and felt much the same way. Even with annotations and a professor who was a Joyce expert I came away feeling baffled but also intrigued. It is still sitting on my shelf, tempting me and one of these days when, as you said, I can give it the time and attention it deserves, I will definitely read it again.

"The only demand I make of my reader," Joyce once told an interviewer, "is that he should devote his whole life to reading my works." - James Joyce.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I loved reading this book! So far it's my favorite of the first three. I plan to read Goblet of Fire soon, but I just started reading Left Behind after I finished POA. I've never read any of the books in the Left Behind series, so this will be my first.

Thanks Ions - I will do that. I'll have to do the same for the Left Behind series.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I loved reading this book! So far it's my favorite of the first three. I plan to read Goblet of Fire soon, but I just started reading Left Behind after I finished POA. I've never read any of the books in the Left Behind series, so this will be my first.

Thanks Ions - I will do that. I'll have to do the same for the Left Behind series.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. I /loved/ the whole idea of the novel - very clever and at times extremely humerous. I particularly liked the idea of conditioning, and all the reactions that came along with it, such as the reaction to the word 'mother'. Brilliant stuff. Definately a novel that ets you thinking.

And just a query to those who have read it - would this be considered a Utopian or a Distopian novel? Would it change depending on weither or not you thought their sacrifices were worth the world they created?

i actually just finished reading the stranger by albert campus about two hours ago

MonkeyCatcher said:

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. I /loved/ the whole idea of the novel - very clever and at times extremely humerous. I particularly liked the idea of conditioning, and all the reactions that came along with it, such as the reaction to the word 'mother'. Brilliant stuff. Definately a novel that ets you thinking.

And just a query to those who have read it - would this be considered a Utopian or a Distopian novel? Would it change depending on weither or not you thought their sacrifices were worth the world they created?

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i'm interested in reading brave new world. my sister read it in high school

Pearl said:

Me & Emma by Elizabeth Flock. I personally loved it, but near the end you could tell what was going to happen from a mile away.

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hm i hate it when endings are like that. i like surprises

Maya said:

East of Eden by John Steinbeck.
I wish it lasted for ever. Really. You simply don't want it to end.

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hm i considered buying it at one point. i decided to take a break at the time.. i just got through american literature that semester and grapes or wrath drained me

phil_t said:

Lord of the Flies by William Golding.
Dark, disturbing and all too realistic, this was a terrific book that I had put off reading for far too long. I wouldnt say I actually 'enjoyed' the book, but it is certainly thought-provoking.

Phil

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i read it for school in 9th grade. i agree with your opinion. it was an easy read compared to Les Miserables, but it was very thought-provoking. one of those books that i still think about a couple of years later.

Allison said:

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I loved reading this book! So far it's my favorite of the first three. I plan to read Goblet of Fire soon, but I just started reading Left Behind after I finished POA. I've never read any of the books in the Left Behind series, so this will be my first.

Thanks Ions - I will do that. I'll have to do the same for the Left Behind series.

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Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was definatly awesome. i loved it a lot the first 2-3 times i read it. i think i liked it even better the 2nd time. i was probably older and read slower. i dont remember if i even remembered the ending. nonetheless, it's a great book. it has enough darkness and innocence so it balances out. the last three books are just really dark. even though i still didn't read HP6, i heard its dark.

Maya said:

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo.
Darn, didn't know I was reading the abridged edition...

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i read the shorter version for high school in 9th grade. it was the first book they smacked us with. it was nice to get the hard book over with, but i think we were to young. i liked the context itself, but sometimes it was to difficult to follow. i'd read sparknotes and realize that i completely missed something important. there was some chapters that were a good read, but the whole barricade section just completely lost me.

Harry Gamblor said:

Yesterday i finished **** Machine by Charles Bukwoski.
Many of the short stories were pretty good, some were even great. Sometimes it gets a little repetitive, but most of the time the stories are fun to read. Some stories are quite unusual and weren't actually what i expected from Bukwoski, but it was a positive suprise.
All in all i would say it's a good, easy, entertaining and fun to read.

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**** Machine? i'd pick it up from the title alone..

Rigana said:

'Grapes of Wrath' by John Steinbeck, depressing but very impressive.
'Death on the Nile' by Agatha Christie. I guess I'll never make it and find the solution before Hercule Poirot solves the mystery.
'The Character of Rain' by Amelié Nothomb. Interesting point of view, told by a child of the age 3, but I like some of her other books better.

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i read Grapes of Wrath for school last semester. long. depressing, yes. but long. it didn't help that i'd have to make a deadline. i did laugh/snort out loud a few times.. but i didn't enjoy reading about the grandfather scratching his nuts or whatnot.. the whole messege/concept behind it was very good though