Author Topic: Rate the last book you read.  (Read 194368 times)

Junior

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Re: Rate the last book you read.
« Reply #20 on: November 13, 2008, 04:36:29 PM »


Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter.

From some reviewer at Amazon.com:

Quote
Sophie, or "Fevvers," is billed as "Is she fact or is she fiction?" Tall, commanding, and winged, this half-bird Amazonian captures the interest of Jack, an American newspaper reporter who initially tries to pick apart her story of being half-bird as a sham, but soon is mesmerized by Fevver's eloquent autobiography, macabre adventures working in brothels, and outgoing personality, enough that he joins her circus as a clown and follows them to Russia.

The third book in a row that I have read for my Modern Lit class that I really liked. It's fun and inventive and exciting and crazy. All the good adjectives. I wish the page layout was better (bigger margins are always preferable) but it didn't detract. I have a feeling that somebody will get this for a dictator club book soon.

A.
« Last Edit: November 13, 2008, 04:39:38 PM by Junior »
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facedad

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Re: Rate the last book you read.
« Reply #21 on: November 14, 2008, 12:17:51 AM »
Mine was fantastic.
You're just jealous! Nobody loves you because you're tiny and made of meat!

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edgar00

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Re: Rate the last book you read.
« Reply #22 on: November 14, 2008, 12:40:11 AM »
Mine was fantastic.

That's always nice to hear. Cool.
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FifthCityMuse

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Re: Rate the last book you read.
« Reply #23 on: November 17, 2008, 12:37:23 AM »


Darkmans, Nicola Barker

If you wanted to get specific about it (and Beede always got specific) his life and his career had been irreparably blighted by the arrival of the Channel Tunnel; more specifically, by the eleventh-hour re-routing of the the new Folkestone Terminal's access road from the north to the south of the tiny, nondescript Kentish village of Newington (where Beede's maternal grandmother had once lived) in 1986.

Then under that: .................. PPS. Going to Africa to become a Saint! [followed by a little drawing of Africa - which looked nothing like Africa - with a small halo above it] WHA!!!!!!!!

It is fitting that a novel where language is such an obsession plays with it, recreating it, until it is almost a dialect of its own. It's a book I love, a modern book, a tricky a book, a book with unlikeable characters, a confusing plot (if there is a plot at all) and no real resolution. It's a book about history, primarily, but more than anything else, a book about how history shapes the future, plays with the future, and how we use it to our own ends.

There are references in this book to Alias, of all things, and on one page there is a specific website, a url address, which I don't think I've ever seen before. It is totally, pressingly now, and I wonder how it will age. It's a funny novel, but its also very dark, and one scene in particular I found very disturbing.

I've only just finished it, so my thoughts are still a little scattered, but to conclude...

I think it's just a step short of greatness. It is very good, very good indeed, but there is just... something that is missing. That said, I think she's a fascinating writer, and its an achievement in and of itself that it is a novel compelling enough to demand my attention less than 10 months after I first read it. And I can't wait to read it again.

Highly recommended.

arcnyc

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Re: Rate the last book you read.
« Reply #24 on: November 17, 2008, 11:21:32 AM »
The Man Who Was Thursday - G.K. Chesterton

The thing about sam0711 is I don't seem to dislike much of what he likes; I dislike that he dislikes a lot of what he dislikes.  This book was on his top 20 and it's quite deserving.  I would have been done with it in a night if I didn't have work and school (complete with other books to read) to contend with.  If you're looking for a fast, gripping, eloquent read, this is the first one I would recommend. 

A-

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Rate the last book you read.
« Reply #25 on: November 17, 2008, 06:01:00 PM »
The thing about sam0711 is I don't seem to dislike much of what he likes; I dislike that he dislikes a lot of what he dislikes.
You and everyone else.

I'm glad you liked the book. G.K. Chesterton has a wit like none other.

Wilson

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Re: Rate the last book you read.
« Reply #26 on: November 20, 2008, 07:06:19 PM »
Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami

Loved it, loved it, LOVED IT.

worm@work

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Re: Rate the last book you read.
« Reply #27 on: November 20, 2008, 08:51:35 PM »
 :D. Awesome!

Basil

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Re: Rate the last book you read.
« Reply #28 on: November 20, 2008, 09:09:43 PM »
The Terrorism Trap, Michael Parenti
Stupid.
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Junior

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Re: Rate the last book you read.
« Reply #29 on: November 20, 2008, 09:18:16 PM »
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