Ronny

This is one of my favorite books, I gave a copy to my cousin as we have very similar reading tastes and she hated it, so I know it can come of in very different ways. I may have to think over some of the questions further but I will start with what jumps to mind right away. 1. The book is a pretty massive volume. Did you find it difficult or easy to read? Indeed, was the length inherently important to the impact of the book? It was a large book and yet it went by quite easily for me as it took me up completely into the story and I don't know if a shorter version would of been able to do that as well. 2. The book is a classic example of a story told by an omniscient narrator, one who makes it perfectly clear that they are directing what the reader 'sees' and 'hears'. What, if any, impact did this deliberately intrusive style have on your reading? The narration style went well with the story, I think it set the right tone, almost like a tour guide to another time & place. 3. The depth of historical research is worn very clearly on the author's sleeve, with extensive detail in places. Did you enjoy this, did it enhance your reading, or did you find it intrusive? To what extent did it affect the story? Didn't it take Faber 20 years to research and write this book, I think it all shows really well and was completely worth the effort he put in. 4. The theme for this month was 'The Great Wen' - books that included London as a character in its own right. Did Faber achieve this. If so, in what way(s), and if not, what prevented London fulfilling this role? How has your impression of Victorian London been influenced, if at all? London was a huge character in the book, it could not be removed and be the same story or as good. Ooops, I have to go but I will come back tomorrow to finish this, sorry 5. What did you think of the characters? 6. What are your feelings/views on the (at least to me!) very surprising ending?

I just finished this book and agree with all the positive views above. I was not sure at first if I should try it as I did not care for Slammerkin very much but my library had it so I thought I'd take a peek and I'm so glad I did. I also was wondering what other characters were thinking but I am glad they stuck with just Jack's take on everything, otherwise the book may have lost something.

Jacob's Ladder, A Story of Virginia During the War by Donald McCaig 5/10 I really wanted to like this book, the cover compared it to Gone With the Wind and Cold Mountain, both of which I liked very much. But the characters were very bland, stereotypical and unlikable, the dialog was flat, and the interactions of the characters left a lot for you to guess at, sometimes they were just down right confusing, characters that were supposedly driven by great passion one moment, didn't care at all the next. They did things that made no sense, or were not in their established character and the author felt no need to explain why. He also tried to show the complex relationship between the slaves and the planters, how dependent and intertwined they each were with the other, but he failed to make it clear or put the needed emotion into it. Most of the descriptive writing was focused on the graphic, gory details of the war, the battles, the field hospitals, the living conditions of the southerners. I think the author wanted to paint a vivid picture of just how gruesome the Civil War really was but he needed to make you care about the characters first to do that well and he just didn't.

Bookcrossing allows you to mark your books with a tracking number, make a journal entry and release information, so that when you give them away they can possibly be tracked. Of course the person receiving them has to be willing to participate, of the hundreds of books I've registered and released only about 6 have made journal entries. It also allows you to see "wild' book releases in your area so that you may go pick them up. I think it's a fun site, I wish more people in my area would make entries though

Oh, and my hubby keeps reminding me Ender's Game is supposed to be coming out this year as well.

Thanks, I'll go over and see your profile

I've been slowly adding books to goodreads, I like it, I especially like the quotes area. I haven't had as much time lately to add books. I wish I could import my listal books in My name is Ronny there as well.

These are all books I've read and would love to see as a movies, except for Blindness, It was such a gruesome book I hated it and I don't think I'd want to see the movie, of course sometimes I can't help myself and have to watch anyways. Thanks for sharing them Kell

chuckmuck

I've loved the 2 (Five Quarters of the Orange and Sleep Pale Sister) I have read by her too and I just ordered Chocolat & Holy Fools.

Hello Jo

I think that is part of my problem, if I hear people talking favorably about an author, I don't want to miss out so I read some books by them. If I don't like the books I feel I'm missing something and want to find it, so I keep reading but sometimes I never do find out what all the fuss was about. I have found Zadie Smith's characters a bit un-engaging and or flat, for me the potential is there but never realized. While they are somewhat interesting and/or realistic, they just don't act the way I want them too or make me feel much for them.

Ah, yes I know I have started a book, not really liked it, put it down for a few months, given it another go and really liked it.

I'm a bit curious about how other readers handle this. How many books will you read by an author that has failed to thrill you? Do you just give them one chance, two or three? Or maybe just judge on a book by book basis? What if they seem to pull a lot of good reviews & praise? For example, I have heard many great things about Zadie Smith so I bought 3 of her books at a used book shop and over the winter have read in this order On Beauty(I liked it best of the 3, still didn't love it), White Teeth (was ok) and the Autograph Man (really didn't like it). I also have read 3 books by Ursula Hegi during this time Stones From the River (I loved it, one of my all time favorites), Sacred Time (was ok) and The Worst Thing I've done (I really had to push myself through it) so I think had I read these books in a different order would I of given up and read no more? missing out on the 2 books I liked? There are so many authors with multiple books I want to read but have been disappointed by the books I have read, like Joyce Carol Oates, I didn't really like We Were the Mulvaneys but I still have a few more by her I wanted to read. So what do you do in these cases? Keep trying them, casts them aside as not your cuppa? Question someone that liked the books endlessly in an attempt to understand them better (as I did with Faulkner though it did me little good).

I have 900 to a thousand, I have over 900 listed on Listal but I haven't listed all my son's or hubby's books on there yet. And the number is always fluctuating, as I read I often get read of books and far too often get more books, even though I keep promising myself I'll finish the ones I have first. It was enough that we learned our first German cuss words as the movers had to take all the boxes of them up the stairs:blush:

June 51. Songs In Ordinary Time by Mary McGarry Morris 5/10 50. Island of the Sequined Love Nun by Christopher Moore 5/10 49. Cries Unheard, Why Children Kill by Gitta Sereny 4/10 May 48. Coyote Blue by Christopher Moore 7/10 47. The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Album 4/10 46. The Monsters of Templeton by Laura Groff 6/10 45. I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb 6/10 44. The Center of Everything by Laura Moriarty 7/10 43. Memory by Philippe Grimbert 8/10 42. Open House by Elizabeth Berg 6/10 41. Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst 5/10 April 40. What I loved by Siri Hustvedt 6/10 39. On The Edge of the Woods by Diane Tyrrel 6/10 38. Don't Know Much About History by Kenneth C. Davis 8/10 37. Poplorica by Martin J. Smith and Patrick J. Kiger 7/10 36. A Million Little Pieces by James Frey 4/10 35.Jacob's Ladder, A Story of Virginia During the War by Donald McCaig 5/10 34.Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert 6/10 33.In The Company of The Courtesan by Sarah Dunant 5/10 March 32.The Book Thief by Markus Zusak 7/10 31.The Woman In White by Wilkie Collins 8/10 30.The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World by A.J. Jacobs 8/10 29. Gentlemen & Players by Joanne Harris 8/10 28.Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips 7/10 27.Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani 7/10 26.Wonderland by Joyce Carol Oates 4/10 25.Holy Cow by Sarah Macdonald 6/10 24.To My Daughter In France by Barbara & Stephanie Keating 9/10 February 23.Broken For You by Stephanie Kallos 6/10 22.The Autograph Man by Zadie Smith 5/10 21.All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot 8/10 20.Windflower by Nick Bantock 6/10 19.Black Swan Green by David Mitchell 6/10 18.Inkspell by Cornelia Funke 7/10 17.Confessions of a Deathmaiden by Ruth Francisco 5/10 16.The Lessons Of Terror by Caleb Carr 7/10 15.The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories by Susanna Clarke 7/10 14.A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini 6/10 13.The Worst Thing I've Done by Ursula Hegi 5/10 12.No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy 6/10 January 11.Good Grief by Lolly Winston 8/10 10.Tales of Burning Love by Louise Erdrich 5/10 9.Sleep, Pale Sister by Joanne Harris 8/10 8. Captives of Time by Malcolm Bosse 5/10 7.The Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama 8/10 6.On Beauty by Zadie Smith 6/10 5.Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin 8/10 4.Inkheart by Cornelia Funke 6/10 3.Lilith by George MacDonald 4/10 2.The Forest Lover by Susan Vreeland 6/10 1.White Teeth by Zadie Smith 6/10 Unfinished Mrs. de Winter by Susan Hill ( Didn't care for it at all, gave up about 60 pages in) We Were The Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates 4/10, I tried to finish this book but it was far to slow paced.

It was one of my favorite reads last year, I think it did a great job portraying the dark, seedy part of circus life and yet it still managed to show the pull that it can have. I thought the author did a great job with the characters, the setting and as Poppy said telling it from a male point of view, had she used just her initials instead I may not of guess it was a woman. I want to read her other book Riding Lessons, about a teenage girl and her horse training for equestrian jumping in the Olympics, that has an accident (it looks as if she has two books about the same character/them because the other Flying Changes had much the same description as Riding Lessons. Has anyone read either of these or know if one is a sequel?). I saw she has a new book coming out in I think 2009 called Ape House while I was on Amazon too, but there was no description yet..

I loved Rebecca it has long been one of my faves and yet I've not gotten around to reading more by her. I do have a copy of the Glassblowers on my TBR shelf, I'll have to dig it out soon

Uhm, yeah, the movers didn't like me much:blush:

Before moving over seas I stocked up, as I was not sure how much I'd be able to get my hands on here, so I have around 500 books on my shelves TBR according to my listal tags.

I've only read The World According to Garp and really liked it, I always remember bits from it and how many emotions it covered, I laughed, cried and got angry throughout the book. I don't remember any other book cover such a range of emotion. I have A Prayer For Owen Meany, The Cider House Rules and Hotel New Hampshire on my TBR shelf. I think I'll read Owen Meany next as so amny have liked it.

I too, loved this book. I've liked all of Atwood's books so far except Surfacing, I think the Handmaid's Tale is one of her top 3 with Oryx & Crake and the Blind Assassin. . I'll have to track down the audio book.

I loved The Book of Lost Things, I had picked it up on a whim at the library (I liked the title) and enjoyed it so much I wish I'd bought it. I liked the way the story and characters were so familiar but not quite the same as my childhood faves (I loved fairy tales growing up).

If On a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino (unfinished) This started out well, the first few paragraphs were quite amusing but at some point it lost me and I just couldn't push my way though. I was disappointed because I know a few folks really liked this book and I wanted to but couldn't.