pontalba

JULY -- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling 759 pages Disappointing. But since I am not a Fantasy fan not surprising, I mainly read it out of curiosity.

Me too! I loved this book!

This has been another slow reading month for me, but I did read three books, and of the three, one was excellent, excellent, excellent! Christine Falls by Benjamin Black [pen name for John Banville] is the first in a series of thoughtful mysteries by one of the better authors around today. I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows last night an although it is the only one I've read, I seriously doubt I'll read any more of them. I'm not a fan of fantasy to begin with, and I found her writing rather detached and unemotional, at least until the last 90 or 100 pages, then it improved a great deal, but was too little too late for me.

Welcome, I'm State side too, and I used to cut my last study hall in high school to run home and watch Dark Shadows. There! My secret is out!

I'm a bit late with a response here, but the above is the only one on that list that I've read. I did enjoy it quite a lot, but it was difficult to get into for me...but once I did I was very glad I'd finished. To me it was one of those books you just have to allow to wash over yourself and not try to analyze too much until the reread, or at least not till the last part. I didn't fully appreciate the characters until I'd finished and gone back and at least spot reread.

LOL I agree, and no you didn't make it complicated, but it is a bit complicated. Anytime we try to analyze enjoyment or non-enjoyment of a novel, trying to take all the ingredients into account sort of spirals. No one comes to the table with the same life experiences, so cannot have the same feelings, so will enjoy different perspectives, or the same perspectives for different reasons.... See what I mean? It just spirals away from ya.

I did buy Never Let Me Go, and that was one I did not and will not finish, also 100 Years of Solitude. I just could not get into them. I still have The Name of the Rose in one of the many stacks around here...I have the same disease. , buying more books than I will read in, oh...about 10 years or so. Well!, ya never know...might be a paper shortage.. Just anything could happen. Maybe there should be a thread for started and not finished books, or first 5 pages read and put aside for later, something along those lines.

I've not really analyzed my preferences throughly, but I'd have to say a combination makes it more interesting to me. We also have to take into account the reliability of the narrator, no matter if it is 1st or 3rd. I enjoy seeing inside the reasonings of the main character, but to step outside and see him/her from a different perspective can be interesting.

heh, heh...

Ahh, thanks. Makes sense. Also steady work. If someone likes a book, it shouldn't matter if it is popular or not. And that would be sort of like biting ones nose off to spite ones face.

I have never read any Harry Potter, seen any of the movies, nor do I plan to. I know they are a huge phenomenon, but I have not been attracted to them in spite of the hype surrounding them for years on end. Just not my cuppa. The only bit of curiosity I had the other day was wondering if the same actor will play out the series. Or will he be too old by the time the last movie comes out. And that only a vague curiosity.

I found it a bit on the slow side as well, but it also is a good set up for A Breath of Snow and Ashes which really clicked along. It's worth it in the end.

I wonder if he has read A War Like No Other by Victor Davis Hanson. Hanson juxtaposes the Peloponnesian War with present day conflicts and is supposed to be excellent. I have it to read right after Thucydides. Re Roman history...Cicero is probably my stand out favorite.

After I finished The Woman in White [a terriffic book BTW], I could not settle on anything...picked up and started 3 books. Finally found one I could finish, but barely. Now I am back in the swing with my old love. History. So I'll be reading Greek history for awhile now. Course that's not to say I won't pick up something else in between. I don't mind putting a book down that I am not able to get into and appreciate.....why beat oneself over the head with what is supposed to be a pleasurable passtime? Life is too short for that nonsense.

I have all of them, and love 'em. :mrgreen:But she is so slow, that when a new one comes out, I have to re-read some if not all of them, or at least a through skimming. I understand she will write at least one more and maybe two. Yay!! whoops, have to add, I don't care for the Lord John series that much. Read the first one and was not that taken with it. It is the Jamie/Claire/Brianna characters I care about and just plain enjoy.

I tend more to see shapes of people and things, ambiance -- not the actual thing or person, unless of course the author is quite specific about a certain characteristic. I do tend toward paintings that are impressionistic though, maybe that is why. [?]

So happy that on another book forum The Woman in White was chosen for the book discussion, I can't wait to dissect it throughly! Written in 1860 Collins was a contemporary of Dickens and led a bit of a scandelous life himself. This book does not disappoint one bit. Twisty and surprising to the very end.

June -- The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins 617 pages [not counting end notes etc.] Published in 1860, this twisty rollercoaster of a mystery/detective novel keeps one guessing until the last pages. Highly recommended. 5/5

You know about 3 years ago I found myself in the same predicament. I'd pick up a book, and was bored after 30 or 40 pages. That is when I knew I had to break out of my comfort zone. Up until then mostly all I was interested in was history [both fictional and non-fiction] and mysteries. That is when I discovered Nabokov. Lolita was waaay out of my comfort zone, and at first I had to be dragged kicking and screaming into it. But once ensconced....oh yes! All of Nabokov...the prose is just so heartrendingly beautiful! But I am not necessarily saying read Nabokov [really! ] but I am saying pick up something totally different from what you are used to and stick with it, it could be the one. Now I read so many more authors than I ever dreamed I would! Explore!

Hmmm...authors I avoid would be Stephen King, because he just got waaay too creepy for me, and Anne Rice. To me Interview With A Vampire was good, and only a fluke. The following were increasingly boring and repetitive. Genres I avoid would be Harlequin Romances and True Crime, and I don't care for Fantasy too much, although will occasionally like one.

All I've done this month is get side-tracked from one book after the next. At last I finished one! Hard Rain by Barry Eisler is the first in a series [of 6 to date] tracing the professional and personal life of an assassin. The character John Rain is interesting, and I have to think will only become more so as the series progresses. As all first in a series, this consists of lots of set up, so I look forward to the rest...which my local second hand book store just assured me they have at least the next three.

But someone like Diana Gabaldon...author of the Outlander series is difficult to classify. The books are historical fiction, fantasy, romance, perhaps sci-fi to as far as that goes. Have I missed a genre that is applicable? But to me they are just flat out good story telling, wonderful characters we have to care about, and fun. Er, I believe someone mentioned cowboy books..Yes! The Sacketts!

Yikes!!

You are not kidding! I wa not familiar with them, so Google being the friend it is..... http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=t&ie=UTF-8&rls=RNWE,RNWE:2006-12,RNWE:en&q=Nicholas+Brothers+video The first hit on that page gives you a [almost] 5 minute video. Cab Calloway opens, and the Brothers take over!

If Gene Kelly is dancing, I'm watchin'. I have not seen anyone to match him for the combination of skill and passion he brings to the dance. Or Fred Astaire, or Cyd Charrise and if they happen to be in the same film, all the better.