Arukiyomi

I have a book blog called Arukiyomi where I've posted reviews of every book I've read since December 2006. I discovered Book Club Forum a few months ago and this place rocks. So, because I love you, I decided to post my reviews here as well... ... I should warn you though that I say it how I see it and the first review I'm going to post will give you a glimpse of that as it's probably the worst book I've ever blogged! Enjoy

have you read Seize the Day by Bellow or Herzog? They're the only ones I've read and I'd be interested to know how Humboldt's Gift compares.

ah... funny you should mention that book. I dusted my copy off the other day. I might well give Anna another read one of these days. Wonderful stuff indeed.

I think you've been very generous here. I hated this book. It almost made me never want to read Roth again, which would have been a shame. My review is at http://johnandsheena.co.uk/books/?p=215 FWIW

hmmm... I can see waterstones going the same way. Tim Waterstone must have mixed feelings watching his startup sell out to Amazon to stay afloat.

and here's what Tim Waterstone thinks of it all... http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/apr/06/tim-waterstone-attacks-amazon-tax-avoidance I wonder who the direct quote re Harrods etc is from... Poppy's link details the bar code scanning policy they advocate in the US... that stinks and brings us right back to Amazon's bottom line being the big fat buck at everyone else's expense. No doubt about it. If we continue to support online bookshops like Amazon (1 in 4 books in the UK are currently sold by Amazon online!), physical bookshops will vanish in 20 years let alone public libraries. I for one do NOT want that to happen. My mind's made up and I won't be buying anything from Amazon from now on after reading about their policies. If I'm buying physical books, I'll buy in the High St, not online and if I'm buying ebooks (for my Sony never a Kindle!), I'll buy from retailers who still allow me to walk around their stock and browse it in person. I can afford the extra few quid I'll pay for this privilege. Maybe me doing my little bit will prevent me living long enough to see the day the last bookshop closes its doors in the UK. So, am I just an old fogey or does the axe I'm grinding actually have an edge to it?

me neither. The Crow Road was much better... not great, but better than Wasp.

just started Kristin Lavransdatter... anyone out there successfully reached the end of this?

no plays but there is at least one versified novel, Eugene Onegin by Pushkin

aha... finally... someone else who takes pics of their books in the contexts they read them for their blog. How long have you been doing that for bookworm?

That mind v gut conflict is interesting... I wasn't aware that Satanic Verses has ever been banned in the UK. That's where I picked up my copy a few years ago. Lady Chatterley's Lover was banned in the UK until the 1970s I believe.

I'll keep on reading Murdoch off the list. The Severed Head springs to mind.... but no, these are just for the challenge. I'm reading through CS Lewis' space trilogy as well outside the list.

I'm curious... ever heard of Bar Hill?

Can you Banville fans explain why on anyone should read The Newton Letter? I thought it was terrible. What point did I miss?

March was a good month for the list: Theresa Raquin, Where Angels Fear to Tread, Elizabeth Costello, The Bell, The Talented Mr Ripley, The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Rasselas: Prince of Abyssinia and Kidnapped. Reviewed all these over at my book blog if anyone's interested... Well done... that's a bit of a tome. I just saw that you are in Cambridgeshire. You have read A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian haven't you?

a novel or a non-fiction book? The Name of the Rose is a novel by Umberto Eco set in medieval times and combines detective murder mystery with a very good insight into the workings of the medieval church. But absolutely the best book I've read on the subject has to be Distant Mirror: the Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara Tuchman. For non-fiction it's absolutely enthralling.

okay then, have a go at The Life and Times of Michael K by Coetzee. In my opinion, Coetzee will make McCarthy seem unnecessarily verbose. Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton: probably the most beautifully written novel most people have never read. The Waves by Virginia Woolf is about as sublime as you can get when it comes to painting with words. Before I'd read it, I wouldn't have believed prose of this kind was possible. That should keep you busy.

librivox is an excellent service. I have used it for years and listened to tons of books off it. But as "bad narration can ruin a story" remember that librivox books are read by volunteers and quality varies even chapter by chapter. There is one woman who has a voice like crushed gravel and who should have been banned from any form of public speaking, let alone audio books. Unfortunately, she seems fairly prolific on librivox. Another thing I hate on librivox is Dickens or Stevenson being read with a US accent. Just doesn't work for me. But hey, it's free... well, are you interested in hearing great stories at times when you can't physically read a book. I can't tell you how many books I've finished over the kitchen sink or in the car, or out jogging, or in bed in the dark... it isn't the same as reading a book no, but there are so many books out there and we have so little time. Audio books give us a way to pack as much literature in as we can manage!

that makes total sense and is not stupid at all. sorry to hear your news.

I'd say Invisible Man, although superb, is beyond teens. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee might be too close to the bone if they're from the US... and perhaps a bit too past history for them to think it relevant to their world today (although it obviously isn't to anyone with a bit of perspective). But what about books that deal with prejudice in general. Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime would work for that.

yay... the Suicides is excellent. I thought it was even better than Middlesex... perhaps.

couple to recommend: American Psycho - but not if you aren't into very graphic descriptions of what he gets up to... The Talented Mr Ripley - definitely not your normal serial killer...

hey in these post-postmodern times, surely everything is east AND west

what exactly is it about McCarthy that appeals to you? I've only read The Road and I'm not sure if all his books are like that or not.

congrats with that... what are you up to now on the list? The wife and I attempted to read One Flew aloud to each other... not the kind of book that lends itself easily to that. I ended up finishing it by myself what do you think you'll read next off the list?