(no subject)

[lesbiassparrow]

Ehab_it suggested I do this a long time ago. So five billion weeks behind everyone else here it is a book meme thingy.

Prose or Poetry?
I veer between them; I like poetry for intense short reading, prose for longer periods

Book(s) you're reading now:
Kingsolver - The Poisonwood Bible (only because I vowed to finish it)
Dante - The Inferno
Green Imperialism - I can't remember the author.

Last book you've read:
Sputnik Sweetheart by Murakami

Next book you're going to buy/read:
Next week I plan on going to the nearest bookshop and buying a) Why Societies Collapse and b) anything I can find by Murakami

Book you've read the most times:
probably 'Travel Light' by Naomi Mitchison or the Narnia Books

Longest book you've read:
Clarissa by Richardon

One book you wanted to read that disappointed you:
Crime and Punishment

Have you read books in a language different from yours?
Yes. I read Charterhouse of Parma in French because I love it so much and I've read Greek and Roman literature (does that count) mainly in the original

Writer you've read the most books from:
Jane Austen
Sheridan LeFanu
Anthony Trollope
Thackeray
Wilkie Collins


Some books you like (not necessarily your faves):
Paul Bowles, The Sheltering Sky
Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
Sheridan LeFanu, Uncle Silas
R. Syme, The Roman Revolution
Conan Doyle, all the Sherlock Holmes stories
Homer, Iliad
Canfora, The Vanished Library
Henry Fielding, Tom Jones
Naomi Mitchison, Travel Light
Mervin Peake, the first Two Ghormenghast Novels
R. Darnton, The Great Cat Massacre and The Kiss of Lamourette
J. Rose The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes
Veblen, The Theory of the Leisure Class
Auden, Collected Poems
Flann O'Brian, At-Swim-Two-Birds
Thackeray, Vanity Fair

3 books you don't like:
Crime and Punishment, the last Ghormenghast novel, Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse

Comments

[ehab-it.livejournal.com]

Oooh good list.

I remember with great resentment being forced to read To the Lighthouse my freshman year of college. I failed to appreciate it.

On the other hand, The Sheltering Sky, Vanity Fair, Pride and Prejudice, and The Charterhouse of Parma - yay!

Now I have a new reading list - thank you! I think Travel Light and Sputnik Sweetheart may go to the top of the list. I need something to wipe away the memory of The Time Traveler's Wife - Blech Ptoohie!

[lesbiassparrow.livejournal.com]

Was The Time Traveller's Wife really bad then? Because people keep telling me I should read it and I haven't yet but I'd rather not bother if it's awful. I don't want another 'Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightime' experience!

I just read Murakami after years of a friend recommding him and I really should have listened to her before. I enjoyed his 'Wind up Bird Chronicles and the End of the World' even more than 'Sputnik Sweetheart'. It has two completely different stories running at the same time (one of which is more fairy tale like and which I preferred - and I think you're supposed to prefer it) but it comes together marvellously at the end.

[ehab-it.livejournal.com]

I thought the Time Traveler's Wife was pretty bad. I had absolutely no idea why I was supposed to be interested in these characters.

There was one character, Ingrid, who though not likeable at least seemed interesting. But in the end her story was not the one that was told.

The 'wife' seemed awfully Mary Sue-ish to me. These were pretty traditional folks in traditional roles and except for a little time-traveling, not much was really happening.

Personally, I'd skip it if I had the choice to make again.