Daily Diary discussion

Whew. Just finished Travels in the Scriptorium and it reminds me once again what an effing genius Paul Auster is. I have now read every novel he has published and some of his nonfiction and seen one of his movies.... If you don't know Auster, please discover him. No one else does what he does now. He's a fantasist, an existenialist and a literary master. I could not put Travels down.... it was fascinating and scary and gorgeous. Oracle Night and the Brooklyn Follies are good places to start.... but if you get hooked then go backwards. I know he is a bit of an acquired taste for some, but hey, he is more than worth the effort to get out of your reading "box."

And I have just begun reading Little Children by Tom Perrotta, it having sat on my bookshelf for over a year as I vowed not to see the movie until I had read the book (haven't seen the movie, yet, sigh). It's good. It's really good.

Cheers.

Little Children was a film..didn't know that. STill immersed in the final book of harry potter and jane austen's northhanger abbey.

Lisa,

How do you compare the book "Little Children" to the movie? I saw the movie and loved it but haven't read the book. Normally I read the book first but didn't get a chance with this one. I'm curious to hear your thoughts on the book vs. movie.

Also, do you feel that reading the book now would still be good, knowing how the movie ended?

Still waiting to see the film! Will let you know what I think....

I don't think knowing the ending would spoil the book. THe writing is wonderful.... and would you really expect a different ending?

Reading The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shriver which is, hands down, one of the most creative, literate, spellbinding, interesting, and important novels I have read in years. Highly recommended..... absolutely brilliant.

Just finished Shriver's The Post Birthday World and have begun Richard Russo's The Bridge of Sighs.

Finishing the audio of the Golden Compass and finishing reading Pride and Prejudice.

Finally, Ed! What's your take on Pride and Prejudice?

As I'm trying to get them to sample more accessible classics, I purchased a Pride and Prejudice for my classroom library in hope that some girls at least might sample its wares. Hope springs (even in winter) eternal...

Hi. I just finished The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I thought this was a really good book. A lot of us have grown up with a lot of predjice toward Germans because of Hitler and the Holocost. This book is written from the prespective of the "grim reaper" and gives a look into the lives of the German people and how they were also victims of circumstance and one man's words. Most of us here would retrieve books from the burning pile like the book theif. If people were caught trying to help the plight of Jews,
they were punished or sent to the front in Russia or some such thing and they did not know a lot of what was going on in prison camps. Makes us think about being judgmental.

Just finished:
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Very different narration style. Easy to read. Interesting and enjoyable but I wasn't blown away by it.

The Thirteenth Tale
Now, this book, I loved! I liked the writing, I liked the story, I liked all the twists and turns in the plot. The narrator's love of (and respect for) books gave me something that I could really latch on to and identify with. Great book!

Just started:
King Dork
Queen of the Damned
Flesh and Spirit

On-going:
The Smoke Thief
I spend about 20 minutes, three days a week, reading this book. It's gonna take me a while to finish. I really like it so far though!

A Great and Terrible Beauty
I started reading this and then took a break to read the Thirteenth Tale. I'll probably get back to it soon (if I don't keep getting distracted by all the other books begging to be read, that is).

Curious Dog was pretty inventive!!!!

But The Thirteenth Tale was a treat.... everyone I have recommended this book to has really liked it.

I finished up Jane Eyre on Sunday night and started the Eyre Affair yesterday. After that I'm going to read Legacy of Ashes. This is a history of the CIA, has anyone read it? I'm also going to read Love Walked In for the Chick-Lit book club.

Just finished Eat Pray Love; next started The Rice Mother (which is very powerful, by the way; a great selection)

Just finished Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List and it was a pretty decent book, but the use of the icons with the text was distracting. The tiny graphics made it harder to get through the book than if there was just text.

Also just finished The Thin Man which is on my list of worst audiobooks. I'm not sure if I disliked the characters or just the narrator. He just tries too hard.

Also finished Erec Rex in one sitting, a recommended fantasy book that's fast and fun.

I've just started Chasing Tail Lights, which is a lot more sobering.

I just finished Sam's letters to Jennifer and liked it even though I am not a JP fan. I read Little Children and think I saw the movie but I can't be sure if I saw the movie on tv or in my head as I read the book....lol.
My next books is Life of Pi. I have been wanting to read this and Mermaid chair forever but never got around to either one.

Life of Pi (but not mincemeat) is a bit slow the first 80 pp. or so, where the Indian lad shows equal interest in the Muslim, Christian, and Jewish faiths (much to the chagrin of the "holy" men of all three).

In Part II, where they're off with the zoo on the ship and it sinks (no such luck as Noah's), things take off the minute he puts a tiger in his tank (er, life boat).

I tell students who get frustrated with the beginning to jump to Part II and try it a stretch. Most finish it from there (it's the bulk of the book), and if skipping pages is sacrilege, I am guilty as charged for encouraging it.

I just couldn't get into the Life of Pi. I actually liked Part I better than Part II as far as I can remember. I got a little ways into Part II and just stopped reading. Not my thing.

Anyway, I just finished King Dork. It was... disappointing. The book seemed to have potential, I just don't feel like it was realized.

Now I just have to finish some of the other books I've managed to wade halfway into!
Let's see... There's:
Queen of the Damned
A Great and Terrible Beauty
Flesh and Spirit
Crime and Punishment
The Smoke Thief
The Birth of Venus

I can't read The Smoke Thief right now because it's a library book and someone else has it. Besides, I really should read Flesh and Spirit first since it's also a library book and I have it. Knowing me though, I'll probably end up reading some new and totally different book before finishing any of the ones currently on my list.
Ah well, there are worse crimes.

Just finished The Rice Mother, will get back to finishing The Epicure's Lament.
Symbol - The Birth of Venus is one of my all time favorits.

just finished Eat, Pray, Love and just started the Bastard of Istanbul

Listening ot the audio of Eat, Pray and love...what did you think of it?

Just finished 2 called ,, all by Janpanese Authors. They r d coolest writer i've ever read. Books r about Life ,luv,society....D sec book is about youth,teenagers' fantasy,idolatry,their confusions n stuff...

So, I finally finished a few of the books I've been reading. I managed to read Queen of the Damned and A Great and Terrible Beauty while on vacation. I'm almost finished Flesh and Spirit now. Only about fifty pages left!

I've got a hold on Rebel Angels at the library. I should have it in my hands by the end of next week! And I think that I might break down and sign The Smoke Thief out as well. It's just getting too good. I can't stand reading it in all these little snippets. The suspense will kill me! Especially when people keep signing it out so I can't read it for weeks at a time!!

I'll probably try to pick up a copy of Breath and Bone at some point as well. I've got a feeling that Berg is going to leave a lot undone at the end of Flesh and Spirit. Beyond that, I'll have to pick through my "to-read" list to see what strikes my fancy. I'm thinking I might want to read a play pretty soon...

That is a good book. I love Laura Lippman and just finished her latest Tess novel.... she gets better with each one. AND, which I did not know, her husband is the brains behind The Wire.

just finished the alchemist...and thought it was, not very good, to put it nicely.

i am about to begin the general in his labyrinth, because i finally found a copy.

finished the Prince

I just finished Mistral's Kiss and started A Lick of Frost.

I just finished The Story of Edgar Sawtelle this morning. Anybody else here read it? I have very mixed feelings about it. It was extremely literary. Parts of it were good, parts quite tense and had me quickly turning pages and parts of it dragged. The ending...hmm, I'm still not sure on that. I'd love to be in a book club for this one. It's the type of book that I think other people's opinion, viewpoint, would be helpful.
REBECCA- I read Love Walked In and enjoyed it a lot.
Not sure which book to choose next from my "to be read" stack.
But as the year draws to a close, I'd have to say the best book I've read this year was The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.
Anybody familiar with Penelope Lively's books? I have The Road to Lichfield and it looks pretty good.

Terri - If you want to discuss or be in a book club for Edgar, it is the Oprah select right now and they are doing a pretty decent job with questions etc. I loved the book. Remember it is a modernized version of Hamlet if that helps. I thought the way it was written was brilliant, it was so rich.

Also on Life of Pi, I thought that book was fantastic. I felt as though it was 2 books put together. I would love to talk to the author about that book.

I also thought Guernsey was incredible, and I did speak to the author. We had her at our book chat in another group here.

I am probably the only one that did not like The Road.

Meg....thank you so much. No, I must have missed that somehow. I had NO clue that book is a modernized version of Hamlet. I bought it early July as soon as it was released, simply because it sounded good. And then Oprah chose it for her book club, so I had no background on it at all.
And thanks for the tip about the book club on Oprah's site. I'll mosey over there and see what everyone else is saying. Maybe it will enhance the novel for me.

Anthony about Second Glance. I really liked the book. It scared me to death though all about the Eugenics. Eugenics started in Vermont, where I live. Hitler thought it was such a great idea that it became the basis of his "cleansing" and forming the Aryan race.