Kylie's Literary Adventures in 2011

[Raven]

^ Is that a smarty pants I detect?

 

No, I don't undertand the purpose of the list so I was asking!

[Kylie]

^ Is that reading one book a day?

 

^ Is that a smarty pants I detect?

 

No, I don't undertand the purpose of the list so I was asking!

 

Ha! See what happens when you get a reputation as a s***-stirrer? No-one ever takes you seriously.

 

The list is one of those questionnaire-type things that goes around (they're called 'memes'). It's a way to generate discussion and learn more about each other by answering the questions. You should try it, Raven!

[Kylie]

Have you ever given in to the urge? I did, just a month ago. I got the exact same edition of the Palmer Diary that I already had, but it was only for 1e and the money went towards my home-home town's library. So I consider it an act of charity and goodness of heart.

 

No, I've never given into the urge, but I'll feel much better doing so now that I know I won't be the only one! I thought I'd be the only one who got tempted like that.

 

Good to hear you are enjoying both! Can't wait for your review on TLP in particular.

 

Now that I'm home again my reading time has evaporated once again. I'll try harder tomorrow because I'd really like to finish The Little Prince. It's not at all what I was expecting, which is excellent news because I was expecting to hate it!

 

Ayn Rand: Night of January 16^th - wohoo for finding Ayn Rand!! You certainly have a knack for it. Or is that even a phrase. Well I mean that you seem to always be able to find a Rand anywhere you go

Yes, that's the correct phrase. I almost missed this one because it's such a slim novel. And I was thrilled to find it because it's one of the 'lesser' Ayn Rand novels. I remember nearly buying it on ebay a while ago, but I think I didn't because it was perhaps too expensive. This one's nice and cheap, so I don't mind that it doesn't match my other Ayn Rand novels (the edition, that is).

 

Salman Rushdie: The Moor's Last Sigh – I'm very curious about this, you'll have to let me know how you liked it

No worries, but I'll probably read The Satanic Verses first. It's on the 1001 list too. I nearly bought this one at the Canberra book fair but didn't because I already had two Rushdies on my TBR pile. Afterwards I realised it was on the 1001 list so I couldn't pass it up again when I saw it the other day.

 

Gary Shteyngart: Super Sad True Love Story – Have already said this, but yay for FTBC!

I can't wait to read this; it sounds really good. It was reviewed on the last episode of FTBC and I have absolutely no recollection of what the panellists said about it, so I'll have to go and watch it again.

 

Alberto Manguel: A History of Reading (I couldn't believe my luck when I found this!) - This one sounds like a really great one!

I would say that this is rather like his Library at Night, which was a collection of essays. It seems to cover a lot of different aspects of reading. Maybe I'll dip in and out of this one rather than read it all in one go.

 

Vicki Myron: Dewey (happy, Frankie?) - Frankie happy, frankie beaming! And Jasper curious

Maybe I'll read this out loud to Jasper. It might take a while though because I can only manage to hold his attention for about one second at a time.

 

Marcel Proust: Days of Reading (a Penguin Great Ideas book; I love the covers of these books - have you seen them, Poppyshake?) - Oooh Marcel Proust! Is it an autobiographical book?

It's a collection of essays. The blurb reads: 'In these inspiring essays about why we read, Proust explores all the pleasures and trials that we take from books, as well as explaining the beauty of Ruskin and his work, and the joys of losing yourself in literature as a child.' It sounds awesome, and I'm glad I finally own something by Proust. I'm a bit like Lorelai in the way that I will feel intellectual when I read Proust. Remember when she said she sometimes has an urge to say 'as Marcel Proust would say...'.

 

I truly did enjoy the first Anastasia book and can't wait to read the rest. Her parents are pretty cool too!

 

 

Edited April 29, 2011 by Kylie

[poppyshake]

Clare Allan: Poppy Shakespeare (thanks to Poppyshake!)

oh dear, I did warn you it's a bit out there didn't I?

Yes, you did warn me, but I think it sounds really interesting and right up my alley. The blurb on my copy suggests it is 'Catch-22 meets One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'. If that's true, then I'm in for a great read, because those are two of my favourite books. Besides, I'm very curious about the book that gave you your name!

I loved it but I couldn't say it comes anywhere near 'Catch 22' .. that's just a phenomenal book .. I've never read 'One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest' so I can't say if it's similar .. I know they have the same subject matter. I have to say that I didn't study long and hard for my user name ... it was the book I was reading and enjoying and it seemed to fit. In retrospect I'm glad I wasn't reading 'The Idiot' Strangely though the main character in the book isn't called Poppy Shakespeare (Poppy is a side character) she's just known as 'N'. She's one of the saddest characters I've ever read about but funny too. I won't be offended if you hate it Kylie, as long as you don't hate me

 

Frank Baker: Miss Hargreaves

I love all the Bloomsbury titles and covers, hope it's a good read

I know you enjoyed Bloomsbury's Let's Kill Uncle, so let's hope they're all of the same quality.

I've heard good things about it so fingers crossed.

 

John Connolly: The Gates

... ooh what's this? must go and look it up

In case you haven't had a chance to look it up yet, here's the blurb:

Samuel Johnson has a number of problems. Samuel's dad cares more about his car than his family, Samuel's mother is lonely, and only Samuel's dog, Boswell, truly understands him. Oh, and as if things couldn't get any worse, Samuel's neighbours, led by the villainous Mrs Abernathy, are trying to open the gates of hell. It's up to Samuel to stop them, except nobody will believe him, and time is running out...Now the fate of humanity lies in the hands of one small boy, an even smaller dog, and a very unlucky demon named Nurd...

I like the sound of it, I'm really at home with fantasy and I like John Connolly .. have you read any Jonathan Stroud Kylie?

Salman Rushdie: The Moor's Last Sigh

I want to read some Rushdie .. is this your first Kylie?

I also have The Satanic Verses and Fury on my TBR pile, but I haven't read anything by Rushdie as yet.

'Midnight's Children' and 'The Satanic Verses' are on all the lists. I nearly downloaded 'Satanic Verses' from Audible the other month but chickened out at the last minute and went for something easier, it's still on my Audible wishlist though.

Edited April 29, 2011 by poppyshake

[Lucybird]

Midnight's Children is very good, although it takes some getting in to. Well worth the bother though

[Kylie]

Clare Allan: Poppy Shakespeare (thanks to Poppyshake!)

I loved it but I couldn't say it comes anywhere near 'Catch 22' .. that's just a phenomenal book .. I've never read 'One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest' so I can't say if it's similar .. I know they have the same subject matter. I have to say that I didn't study long and hard for my user name ... it was the book I was reading and enjoying and it seemed to fit. In retrospect I'm glad I wasn't reading 'The Idiot' Strangely though the main character in the book isn't called Poppy Shakespeare (Poppy is a side character) she's just known as 'N'. She's one of the saddest characters I've ever read about but funny too. I won't be offended if you hate it Kylie, as long as you don't hate me

I could never hate you, Poppyshake! You're only making me even more intrigued about it, though. It sounds very different (in a good way).

 

at your comment about not reading The Idiot when you were joining the forum.

John Connolly: The Gates

I like the sound of it, I'm really at home with fantasy and I like John Connolly .. have you read any Jonathan Stroud Kylie?

I have pretty high hopes for liking The Gates because of how much I enjoyed The Book of Lost Things (really, Frankie, you *must* read this, and soon! Don't you trust Poppyshake and I? ) I haven't read any Jonathan Stroud but I've been a little curious about him. Anything in particular you'd recommend?

Midnight's Children is very good, although it takes some getting in to. Well worth the bother though

 

Thanks Lucy. Is it a difficult style of writing or is it the story itself that makes it hard to get into? I do feel a bit daunted by reading Salman Rushdie. Have you read anything else by him?

Edited April 30, 2011 by Kylie

[Raven]

Ha! See what happens when you get a reputation as a s***-stirrer? No-one ever takes you seriously.

 

Don't go blaming me for your own paranoia!

 

The list is one of those questionnaire-type things that goes around (they're called 'memes'). It's a way to generate discussion and learn more about each other by answering the questions. You should try it, Raven!

 

I still don't understand; is this something you post or e-mail to someone on a daily basis, or a list just post somewhere in one hit?

[Kylie]

Don't go blaming me for your own paranoia!

 

Haha. Nice try, my friend, but it's not paranoia.

 

I still don't understand; is this something you post or e-mail to someone on a daily basis, or a list just post somewhere in one hit?

 

Someone, somewhere, created this list of questions. Anyone can participate. The objective is to just post one question and your answer each day. I just posted all the questions together so I won't have to go hunting for them elsewhere every day. If you look at Poppyshake's reading list, she has already started answering the questions one at a time. There are no real rules, so you could answer them all in one go if you wanted (similar to some threads we have around here where someone posts a list of questions and everyone posts a reply with their own answers).

[Raven]

Ah, I see what you are getting at now; it's something people are posting in their daily reading lists.

 

I haven't had much time to read the board in depth recently so I have missed that.

 

 

[poppyshake]

I haven't read any Jonathan Stroud but I've been a little curious about him. Anything in particular you'd recommend?

Yes, his YA Bartimaeous trilogy .. infact I think he's added a prequel to them now but I haven't read it yet. The three books are 'The Amulet of Samarkand', 'The Golems Eye' and 'Ptolemy's Gate' and I think it's the titles that stop them from being more widely read because they sound as if they're going to be a bit hardcore when infact they're not at all, they're great stories, full of humour with lots of magic and mystery. You'll often see them being compared with Harry Potter (as most YA fantasy books are) and although I could never love any books about magic as much as I loved the Potter books, for me, these came a close second.

[Weave]

Hi Kylie, how are you? Have you read 'The Gates' yet? I love 'The Book of Lost Things' and I keep seeing 'The Gates' in every book shop I go to, its calling to me I think.

Edited May 2, 2011 by Weave

[Kylie]

Thanks Poppyshake. I'll add the Bartimaeous trilogy straight to my wish list; if you say they come a close second to the Harry Potter series, then how can I resist?

 

Hi Weave! I'm well thanks. I hope you are too. I'm a bit like you; I kept seeing The Gates around and being curious about it. I was thrilled to find it nice and cheap (and practically brand new!) in a secondhand bookshop. It sounds interesting, and it looks like a reasonably quick read, so I might try to read it sooner rather than later.

[Weave]

Thanks Poppyshake. I'll add the Bartimaeous trilogy straight to my wish list; if you say they come a close second to the Harry Potter series, then how can I resist?

 

Hi Weave! I'm well thanks. I hope you are too. I'm a bit like you; I kept seeing The Gates around and being curious about it. I was thrilled to find it nice and cheap (and practically brand new!) in a secondhand bookshop. It sounds interesting, and it looks like a reasonably quick read, so I might try to read it sooner rather than later.

 

Thanks Kylie, I think we will read it at some point, I am going to make a point of buying it, if I see it again.

Edited May 2, 2011 by Weave

[vodkafan]

 

Steven D Levitt & Stephen J Dubner: Freakonomics

 

 

Hi Kylie I just downloaded Freakonomics it looks interesting. Let us know how it reads!!

[Kylie]

Vodkafan, I'm only about 50 pages into it, but it's very readable. You would think it might be a bit dense or a slow read, but it just flies past because it's so entertaining. That goes for both the style of writing and the subject matter.

[Kylie]

I went to a closing-down sale for Borders today. I've resisted going for weeks in an effort to be good but they keep sending me offers every week with promises of even bigger savings. It's gotten to 50% off so I couldn't resist any longer. I didn't expect to find much...but I did!

 

Fiction

Paul Auster: The Brooklyn Follies

Pat Barker: The Ghost Road

Italo Calvino: The Nonexistent Knight & The Cloven Viscount

Antoine de Saint-Exupery: Wind, Sand and Stars

Tove Jansson: The Summer Book

Lisa Lang: Utopian Man

Vladimir Nabokov: Despair

Vladimir Nabokov: Mary

Alan Paton: Cry, the Beloved Country

Paul Stewart & Chris Riddell: The Last of the Sky Pirates (Book 1, Rook Saga)

Paul Stewart & Chris Riddell: Freeglader (Book 3, Rook Saga)

Jonathan Stroud: Bartimaeus #2: The Golem's Eye

Jonathan Stroud: Bartimaeus #3: Ptolemy's Gate

Scott Westerfeld: Leviathan

Carlos Ruiz Zafon: The Angel's Game

 

Non-Fiction

Richard J Evans: The Third Reich at War

Anne Fadiman: Ex Libris

John Gross: The New Oxford Book of Literary Anecdotes

Jeremy Mercer: Books, Baguettes & Bedbugs (about the Shakespeare & Co bookshop in Paris)

[poppyshake]

I went to a closing-down sale for Borders today. I've resisted going for weeks in an effort to be good but they keep sending me offers every week with promises of even bigger savings. It's gotten to 50% off so I couldn't resist any longer. I didn't expect to find much...but I did!

 

Fiction

Paul Auster: The Brooklyn Follies

Pat Barker: The Ghost Road

Italo Calvino: The Nonexistent Knight & The Cloven Viscount

Antoine de Saint-Exupery: Wind, Sand and Stars

Tove Jansson: The Summer Book

Lisa Lang: Utopian Man

Vladimir Nabokov: Despair

Vladimir Nabokov: Mary

Alan Paton: Cry, the Beloved Country

Paul Stewart & Chris Riddell: The Last of the Sky Pirates (Book 1, Rook Saga)

Paul Stewart & Chris Riddell: Freeglader (Book 3, Rook Saga)

Jonathan Stroud: Bartimaeus #2: The Golem's Eye

Jonathan Stroud: Bartimaeus #3: Ptolemy's Gate

Scott Westerfeld: Leviathan

Carlos Ruiz Zafon: The Angel's Game

 

Non-Fiction

Richard J Evans: The Third Reich at War

Anne Fadiman: Ex Libris

John Gross: The New Oxford Book of Literary Anecdotes

Jeremy Mercer: Books, Baguettes & Bedbugs (about the Shakespeare & Co bookshop in Paris)

OMG yay, yay and thrice yay!! What a wonderful haul, well done Kylie and how clever of you to pick up the Jonathan Strouds, and just as we were speaking of them as well. I loved Tove Jansson's 'The Summer Book' hope you do too Kylie! and I love the sound of all the others, so many there that I want to read too.

RIP Borders .. they went from here long ago and I didn't manage to get any last minute bargains ... it was just the tat left by the time I got there (you know, books on how to fix your plumbing etc )

[Kylie]

Thanks Poppyshake. I thought you'd be particularly pleased with some of the titles. They didn't have any copies of the first Bartimaeus book, but I was pleased enough to find two of them.

 

I hoped Ex Libris would still be there after I saw it some months ago. I also saw Rereadings by the same author but, after quite a bit of deliberation, I decided against getting it because I have quite a few books about books to read right now. I actually put back 4 or 5 books, so I was quite restrained!

 

I also couldn't believe my luck in finding the book of literary anecdotes; I only found out about it and added it to my wish list today!

 

I probably shouldn't go through the books one by one and say how happy I am about them because clearly I am or I wouldn't have bought them. I can't help it; I just get so excited. The same thing happened last week when I found a truly awesome secondhand bookshop and bought about 20 books. I took one pile to the counter because my arms were full and I set them down and said to the owners excitedly: 'This is such a great shop! I can't believe I found this book, and this book, and this book...' and pointed to each book. They must have thought I was a bit crazy, but they were very nice and we chatted for a bit.

 

So, in a nutshell...I'm very happy with my haul too.

 

Did you know there's also a Winter Book by Tove Jansson? I very nearly bought it but figured I should just get the Summer Book, which is on a couple of my reading lists. And I already have a few Moomin books to read as well.

[AbielleRose]

I've heard only good things about Scott Westerfield's books. Nice haul, Kylie!

[Kidsmum]

Bet it felt good to give in to temptation Kylie I've a few Pat Barkers on my TBR pile as well & Angel's Game as well.

[poppyshake]

Hopefully you can pick up a copy of Jonathan Stroud's 'Amulet of Samarkand' soon and then you'll have the set ... well except for the prequel that is which he's only just published (I'm waiting for the paperback to come out.)

'Ex Libris' was another book I liked ... books about books.. you can't beat them or books with literary anecdotes in .. I love all that stuff I've been meaning to get her 'At Large and at Small' as well but haven't seen it on my travels yet.

 

I did know about 'The Winter Book' by Tove Jansson and want to get it at some point, but I think it'll be a very different animal to 'The Summer Book' .. it's not a follow on, it's a collection of short stories and I don't think they feature Sophia and grandmother .. which all of the stories in 'the Summer Book' do, I think it was a much later book too .. possibly put together after her death, all the same I expect it's great.

 

I went out into town today to the charity shops and bought 'A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius' by Dave Eggers and 'Veronika Decides to Die' by Paulo Coelho .. the latter doesn't sound like a laugh a minute but it's on the 1001 and after reading the back I thought it was worth a try, Alan will raise his eyebrows when he sees it because he doesn't like me reading, what he considers to be, miserable books.

 

I'm thinking of poor 'Billy' and how his back and sides must ache after you've loaded all your books onto him I've run out of shelf space and am stacking books in all sorts of inconvenient places .. must get organised!

[Ooshie]

If I remember rightly, "Veronika Decides to Die" is one of two books I have thrown out rather than give away after I read them, as I didn't want to be responsible for anyone else reading something so depressing. I was very depressed myself at the time, though, so it will be interesting to hear what you think of it and judge whether I overreacted!

[poppyshake]

If I remember rightly, "Veronika Decides to Die" is one of two books I have thrown out rather than give away after I read them, as I didn't want to be responsible for anyone else reading something so depressing. I was very depressed myself at the time, though, so it will be interesting to hear what you think of it and judge whether I overreacted!

 

Oh dear Oosh I'm a bit worried now, I'll make sure I'm in a good place before I attempt reading it and will mix it with something else more light hearted. If it's too dire then I'll abandon it and throw it back at the charity shop (would it be charitable to inflict such a book on anyone else? .. well, it came from there and I guess everyone is different, some people like gloomy books.) I think it says something on the back about it being life affirming so I thought it can't be all that bad (wrong obviously) ... and the other good thing about it is .. it's short

[Ooshie]

Hopefully you will enjoy it, poppyshake, I won't mind being proved wrong at all! Actually, thinking about the two books I threw away has prompted me to buy the other one again - Have the Men Had Enough? by Margaret Forster - because I do remember it being very well written, just totally depressing (it's about a grandmother's descent into dementia and the effect it has on various family members). So far I have no urge to re-purchase Veronika, but who knows...

[frankie]

No, I've never given into the urge, but I'll feel much better doing so now that I know I won't be the only one! I thought I'd be the only one who got tempted like that.

 

Always happy to make you feel better about your bookish quirks

 

Now that I'm home again my reading time has evaporated once again. I'll try harder tomorrow because I'd really like to finish The Little Prince. It's not at all what I was expecting, which is excellent news because I was expecting to hate it!

 

This might be rather bold, but who could hate The Little Prince?!

 

Yes, that's the correct phrase. I almost missed this one because it's such a slim novel. And I was thrilled to find it because it's one of the 'lesser' Ayn Rand novels. I remember nearly buying it on ebay a while ago, but I think I didn't because it was perhaps too expensive. This one's nice and cheap, so I don't mind that it doesn't match my other Ayn Rand novels (the edition, that is).

 

Excellent that you could hold off from buying the ebay copy, you must've had an internal force that saw a nice, cheaper copy in your near future BTW, have you found The Letters yet, or are you thinking about ordering them?

 

Gary Shteyngart: Super Sad True Love Story – Have already said this, but yay for FTBC! I can't wait to read this; it sounds really good. It was reviewed on the last episode of FTBC and I have absolutely no recollection of what the panellists said about it, so I'll have to go and watch it again.

 

Jason must've had a really quiet night then, you would remember his thoughts on any book or subject

 

Vicki Myron: Dewey (happy, Frankie?) - Frankie happy, frankie beaming! And Jasper curious Maybe I'll read this out loud to Jasper. It might take a while though because I can only manage to hold his attention for about one second at a time.

 

I hope Jasper enjoyes it, Dewey would be such a great influence on him. Dewey was such a philantropist.

 

Marcel Proust: Days of Reading It's a collection of essays. The blurb reads: 'In these inspiring essays about why we read, Proust explores all the pleasures and trials that we take from books, as well as explaining the beauty of Ruskin and his work, and the joys of losing yourself in literature as a child.' It sounds awesome, and I'm glad I finally own something by Proust. I'm a bit like Lorelai in the way that I will feel intellectual when I read Proust. Remember when she said she sometimes has an urge to say 'as Marcel Proust would say...'.

 

This is so going on my wishlist! Yeah I remember Lorelai and her admiration for Proust, although I also remember how difficult a time she had trying to read the novel...

 

I truly did enjoy the first Anastasia book and can't wait to read the rest. Her parents are pretty cool too!

 

Yay!!! Her parents are the best. And her brother is so cool too. And some of the other characters in the subsequent novels but I'll say no more about them. You'll just have to read for yourself

 

I went to a closing-down sale for Borders today. I've resisted going for weeks in an effort to be good but they keep sending me offers every week with promises of even bigger savings. It's gotten to 50% off so I couldn't resist any longer. I didn't expect to find much...but I did!

 

I don't know why I started talking about Basement Books, I did read 'Borders' but I guess it was the B factor and I just flipped. I'm glad BB is still there. Do you mean one of the Borders branches closed down, or the whole deal?

 

 

Paul Auster: The Brooklyn Follies – I want!

Italo Calvino: The Nonexistent Knight & The Cloven Viscount – More Calvino!

Antoine de Saint-Exupery: Wind, Sand and Stars – You must've really liked The Little Prince and S-E

Vladimir Nabokov: Despair – I hope this is good as I know you like Nabokov

Vladimir Nabokov: Mary - ditto

Alan Paton: Cry, the Beloved Country – sounds familiar, a challenge book?

Carlos Ruiz Zafon: The Angel's Game – yayy!!! I hope it's good, I haven't dared read it yet. And I also want to re-read The Shadow of the Wind first. Non-Fiction

Richard J Evans: The Third Reich at War – interesting, I assume!

Anne Fadiman: Ex Libris - ditto

John Gross: The New Oxford Book of Literary Anecdotes - ditto

Jeremy Mercer: Books, Baguettes & Bedbugs (about the Shakespeare & Co bookshop in Paris) – ditto times two.

 

I probably shouldn't go through the books one by one and say how happy I am about them because clearly I am or I wouldn't have bought them. I can't help it; I just get so excited. The same thing happened last week when I found a truly awesome secondhand bookshop and bought about 20 books. I took one pile to the counter because my arms were full and I set them down and said to the owners excitedly: 'This is such a great shop! I can't believe I found this book, and this book, and this book...' and pointed to each book. They must have thought I was a bit crazy, but they were very nice and we chatted for a bit.

 

Which place is this? I like the sound of it, and I'm sure they didn't think you crazy at all. They are in the book business, right? This reminded me of the new place at the arcade, such a nice, clean one, the owner was nice, and I found my Doris Day biography there

 

I went out into town today to the charity shops and bought 'A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius' by Dave Eggers and 'Veronika Decides to Die' by Paulo Coelho .. the latter doesn't sound like a laugh a minute but it's on the 1001 and after reading the back I thought it was worth a try, Alan will raise his eyebrows when he sees it because he doesn't like me reading, what he considers to be, miserable books.

 

Excellent job on finding AHWoSG! I remember how you really liked the sound of that when I mentioned it in my book haul post. VdtD is not a laugh a minute -read like you said, but in my opinion it was readable. I don't remember much about it, but I remember it not being too depressive. Let's just say I read it, and I survived And it was certainly loads better than Alchemist, which I loathed.