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"Uncle Petros and Goldbach's conjecture" (Don't let the title scare you )
"Sophie's world"
"The mothman prophecies"
If you want English Lit, try some George Eliot - start with Silas Marner its nice and short and has a happy ending.
Yup. Or should I say 'Da'?
Currently re-reading Cather in the Rye. Good book.
Books are cool I guess.
I have to agree that Shadow of the Wind has been one of my favourite reads this year. However it was topped by The Red Tent by Anita Diamant (feminist masterpiece) - it's incredible and one of the most underrated novels I've come across. I also read The Kite Runner recently by Khaled Hosseini - recommended by Jon UK in one of these threads I think and it's easily as good as Shadow of The Wind - one of those books that stays with you for ages and really makes you re-assess the way you think about life - most insightful.
We Need to Talk about Kevin is next on my list...
P.S Sophia that actually sounds quite fun!
Fup is a tiny title allegory, but it's magical whereas Stone Junction is simply a superb romp through outlaw America.
Other than that I've just finished Barry Gifford's Sailor and Lulu novels - fucking brilliant.
Look the idea of a book group.
Don't read them if you want character development though. They're just great fun and full of action all the way.
I tend to prefer autobiographies and non fiction travel books.
Or trashy women lit stuff to read in the bath. I just read one called Mums@Home by Sophie King which I enjoyed.
I like Emily Barr's books (eg Cuban Heels, Backpack, Baggage) but the last one was a bit boring and they've become a bit samey.
And I love the idea of a thesite book club - that would be fun but I guess we would have to choose books that most of us could find in the library because I'm sure we cant all afford to buy new books all the time.
If you do want to buy a book and its a newish mainstream type one - go to Tesco, they have them for £3.73
I'm sorry but I have to disagree about 'We need to talk about Kevin' - it was thought-provoking but I hated the way it was written and struggled to finish it. If you are interested in those kind of human tragedy stories, there are a lot better ones out there.
Right now I am reading 'perfect match' by Jodi Picoult and its brilliant so far, I cant put it down and have nearly finished it after 2 days reading - just hoping the ending doesnt disappoint me like the end of her 'my sister's keeper' did.
Mark Haddon - 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time'
Augusten Burroughs - 'Running With Scissors', 'Dry' (you have to read those two in that order...) and 'Sellevision'
Dean Koontz - Velocity
AND! littlemissy will know, I think she's read it - who wrote The Wasp Factory? Is it Iain Banks? Am I making that up?!!
I'm not a massive massive reader, but they're my favourites.
Even though she is best known for her poetry her prose is excellent - its quite a short book and very easy to read.
If you want something trashy and girlie then i reccomend the Au Pair novels or the Insiders Novels you can easily read one in a day - I also have a bit of a thing for Jacqui Collins novels but they are bigger.
If you like stuff that's true rather than novels then one of the most amasing books i've read recently is "The Great Escape" - its the book the film was based on and its a true story and amazing.
Also as lots of people have reccomended The Catcher in the Rye which is my all time favourite (I did it as my A-Level english dissertation thingy with the bell jar)
I want to join a thesite book club - if you do classics which are now beyond their copywrite date you can even pick up really cheap new copies of things - i've seen lots of Dickens esque stuff in the shops for under a pound.
xx
Ian Banks wrote the Wasp Factory. I didn't rate it much tbh. Didn't like it.
I would be up for a thesite book club. Great idea :thumb:
Absolutely! That's kind of what I meant when I said I'd re-read it more recently and still enjoyed it but I definitely didn't relate to Holden in the way I [thought I] did when I read it at a younger age.
I think it's a rite of passage reading it as a teenager and absolutely thinking that Holden Caulfield is the poster child for every single emotion and experience you're going through. Angry young people, eh. Ah, memories..
I mentioned a thesite book club on that "what are you reading now" thread and only talia and I were interested I do believe It would depend entirely on what kind of books it was as to whether I was interested, I'm not ashamed to admit I'm an unabashed book snob.
The Bell Jar is excellent, really good call Wyetry. I also read a fascinating biography of Plath recently though can't for the life of me remember the biographer's name, she is fascinating and I agree that her prose is vastly overshadowed by her poetry (which I also LOVE, especially "Daddy" and "Mad Girl's Love Song").
On the topic of the book club I like the idea of a classic so it's cheap for everyone - anyone want to start a thread for suggestions and to show who is interested?
Some time later, they told me about the part in the book where it gets its title from, and I was surprised that I didn't remember that part at all. I did go and read just this part again, and I'm still amazed about how someone that I disliked so much from the beginning could have the same dream I did at the time (and still do, to a lesser extent).
Just finished Hemingway's The Old Man And The Sea. It's great and very touching. And it's not a very demanding book.
I had to write a 3000 word essay on existentialism on that book, then you'll know how demanding it is. Though it is a brilliant wee story, my favourite ever.
Definitely have a scope of the His Dark Materials trilogy, I can't believe nobody's mentioned it yet!
For the veggies amongst us, have a read of My Year of Meat by Ruth Ozeki, its a cracking book, very thought-provoking.
I wouldn't touch Jane Austen with yours. She has to be one of the most overhyped authors of all time (although she's admittedly not as talentless or overhyped as Zadie fucking Smith).
I love this book.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee will always be one of my all time favourites and it's not too daunting either.
A really gripping book I couldn't put down was The Minotaur by Barbara Vine aka Ruth Rendell. It depends what genre you prefer. Currently I'm loving thriller
I forgot this one. It is amazing.
I mentioned it
Fact, it is an incredible book, I loved it.
Though when it comes to His Dark Materials, my enthusiasm fell off sharply after the first book. I really enjoyed the first one, but the second I thought was a bit crap and I couldn't even bring myself to finish the third.
The first one is the best of the three but I still thoroughly enjoyed the series.
yea, that one was really good!
i forgot about this one, I loved it and still have a copy sitting on my bookshelf.
I just finished 'perfect match' (Jodi Picoult) this morning and it was really great.
a fave