MrCat

1Q84 is very Murakamish if I might say so. If you like his novels in general, you will like this too.

I mostly read classics so of course names like Don Quixote and Moby Dick are on the list. Ulysess, Middlemarch and Bleak House too. It's not the size of the books that makes me reluctant, but rather the probable disappointment that would follow. I had Gone With the Wind, The Name of the Rose, Les Miserables and Dostoyevsky's books too on this list and each one of them was disappointing. My TBR plie is out of control anyway but I feel that these books are must reads somehow and sometimes I felt bad for picking up Murakami instead of Joyce or Cervantes.

oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy !!!! Did I say OH BOY? There's something about this show, I don't know what, that just makes me warm and fuzzy on the inside.

Damn those prices. I got my Kindle for around 120 euros. Isn't reading from a tablet hurting your eyes though? edit: You could wait for some Black Friday deals next week too.

Acquired taste and not for everyone... C'mon man it's Neil Gaiman not Sartre or Homer.

I know the feeling of having a tiny bookshop. We have two or three here but I rarely find anything I need (not to mention I never find something in a different language). We have one secondhand bookshop but it's tiny and the selection is very random. So I just wait for the bookfair or whenever some publisher comes into town once per month and try my luck there. My local library is a life saver though and I also have my Kindle so all in all things are not so bad.

Finished reading Diary of a Short-Sighted Adolescent. It was quite interesting and I have to say it did speak to me on a personal level since I was too a dorky, short sighted, awkward kid. I also found my refuge in books and music but I feel that this novel speaks to every teen on a certain level. Everyone's shy misunderstood in highschool, these things come along with the age so even though this was written in the 1920s, one can still relate to it today. I think it is amazing how many authors and subjects these kids knew at their age, even the not so bright ones, not to mention Eliade himself. I mean I don't remember hearing anyone talking with ease about Balzac when I was in the 11th grade. I still like his books on religion and spirituality more but his novels are worth a shot too.

I mostly buy from bookshops because of three reasons: sometimes the font is really small making it hard to read, the book is thick so it's a pain holding it to read aaaaand... *drums sounds* I can smell the book. I am not kidding. I sometimes see people also doing it so it does not feel strange anymore. Some people still stare though.

Man, people praising Lovecraft left and right. I might do a Halloween reading and catch-up on him. I wasn't that impressed with him back when I read him the first time though.

I read this one in highschool but now I barely remember anything. It was my first Gaiman book and it did not hit the mark. I read Stardust afterwards but that was even worse. Maybe I could/should do a re-read with a fresh perspective and no expectations. I don't really understand the fanbase around Gaiman but maybe re-reading American Gods or reading something else by him will clear things up.

I stopped keeping a list and caring about one when I realized that I am not going to read so many books anyway. Now I just read whatever I feel like and I usually try to mix the genres up but of course I always come back to the classics. Maybe making a list for classics only would be readable.

Went to the annual book fair in my city and got myself a few goodies. Sadly There was only one shop selling in English so I only bought from there. I got: Orlando - Virginia Woolf Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka The Diary of a Young Girl - Anne Frank The Woman in the Dunes - Kobo Abe I read Orlando last year from the library but I just had to have the book for myself. It was THAT good. It's from Collins Classics and the writing is a little small though. The rest are from Penguin and they have bigger fonts so huuuurraaaayyy for my eyesight. Penguin editions have a much better quality overall but sadly the price is almost double. I hope these will be enough until the end of the year. I still have Demons by Dostoievski to read if not. I said would not touch his works again but this was a birthday gift from a girl. I also said that I would stop buying books when I got my Kindle but I knew from the start I was just lying to myself.

Edgar Allan Poe goes without saying. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is also short. As in around 100 pages. The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr Hyde is also great. Uhm uhm and Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu. I read this one aeons ago, after reading Dracula.

Hehe the Nobel committee can't get hold of Dylan to confirm if he will come and pick up his prize.

Well... he's mostly known for being a historian of religion rather than a novel writer so I am not surprised. In 1987 he was editor in chief of Encyclopedia of Religion which is a collection of 17 volumes regarding every aspect of religion written at the time by leading scholars in the field. It might not seem that much with today's information but back then his work was monumental and it is still today the standard reference encyclopedia on religion. if you are not interested in shamanism, Indian myths and religion then feel free to try some of his fiction. Miss Christina is a good gothic mystery novel with a vampire, a haunted castle and a spooky family.

Bump for resurrecting a three year old thread but I am currently reading one of his novels, Diary of a Short-Sighted Adolescent. Not his greatest work but it just shows how many genres can this author write in. I am more interested in his religious and mystical writings than his fiction.

Hello and welcome to the forums. I'd say Agatha Christie is a good choice if she like detective novels. Her books are not hard to read and they are quite good detective stories. The stories are a little dated but still enjoyable. Rebecca by Daphne Du Muriel is a great mistery novel. The Maltese Falcon is the classic default detective novel but I did not like it very much. There's also a lot of hype around Gone Girl but I have not read it. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco is a good detective/mistery novel but it might not be so easy to read.

No Bob Dylan isn't a poet. He's an amazing musician but calling him a poet is stretching it. A lot. You know who else won the Nobel for their poetry? T.S.Eliot and Yeats. And look, I love Dylan, he is awesome but putting him next to Yeats is silly.

Aaaaaaand the prize goes to... Bob Dylan? What? I thought I was reading The Onion at first but it turns out it's true...

Heyyya and welcome to the forums. Don't worry, your English is good.

Finished reading Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms. Excellent writing but... that's it? I mean there are no interesting characters, not a story in the traditional sense and the ending was simply disappointing. The Sun Also Rises at least had these elements besides the writing but this book seemed to go nowhere. Is this what they call modernist literature?

Ah another fellow vampire. Welcome and pleased to meet you.

The Nobel Prize in Literature will be announced next week. Who do you want to win? Murakami finally? Kundera or maybe Atwood? Or maybe someone from USA.

But can you sniff the Kindle? Can you?

I read half of the book in one day. The story is kind of meh so far (or maybe I am too used to other genres to be amazed) but some of the characters are good and the writing is so damn great. It's honestly the only thing keeping me hooked right now.