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I'm reading The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. So far I love it--the story of a 14-year-old girl in the 1960s South who runs away from home.
I was kinda depressed last week and was at the library looking for something well-written but not heavy; something with a bit of light and uplift. I can tell that this was just the perfect find.
I haven't started it yet (except for the free online chapters), but the next book on my list is OSC's Magic Street.
Posts: 3149 | Registered: Jul 2005
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While expressing my opinion in class, I got a similar response. People saying that all authors have a distinct style and so there are bound to be similarities between the books.
I was just bugged by the small things. Every book begins at the end and then goes back and retells the story. Its a method used by other storytellers in literature and film but it was frustrating that it occured in every book. The first chapter of Choke is more of a "narrator's note" than reverse storytelling so it was refreshing.
And Palahniuk's refrains...its something that reads really clever the first few times but then starts coming off as a bad joke. Its like that friend who tells the same story at every party and doesn't notice when people stop laughing. Fight Club had "I am Joe's angry colon." Invisible Monsters had "Give me pretty. Flash." Choke has several which is one of my complaints about the book. They're repeated so much that they become hollow and and my eyes started to just skip them.
Survivor was interesting at the beginning and end but I found the middle complete agony. With Invisible Monsters I was interested to see Palahniuk use a female voice since the machoism of Fight Club left me feeling disconnected. Invisible Monsters, however, would have succeeded in disgusting me if it wasn't simply a fasion magazine set in type. Been there, done that.
Fight Club was all about finding oneself through destruction. We saw the same with the homicide/suicide in Survivor and its worse with Invisible Monsters where every character is trying to destroy their identities. Survivor and Invisible Monsters dealt with fame and appearance and vanity and well, I've just seen that story too many times already. It didn't feel to me like he said anything particularly unique.
Atleast with Choke I felt like I was seeing a complete person. Someone who did good things and had morals even if they acted without them. The narrator was someone who was stuck between wanting to be good and wanting to be disgusting. It felt more realistic to me rather than the typical caricatures.
Vonk, I go to a small liberal arts college in Louisiana. A good percentage of our courses are student-requested. Someone asked the philosophy professor for the class and he went for it. Its not that well laid out since he's reading the books with us as we go. Its just a weekly seminar with people discussing the novels. More like a Book Club with credit. I need the philosophy credits and some easy-reading.
Posts: 1733 | Registered: Apr 2005
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Soon I Will Be Invincible - Austen Grossman's debut offers two character's POV: Doctor Impossible the evil genius and Fatale a cyborg, rookie on The "New" Champions. This is a Hero book and fun like The Incredibles. Grossman will promote the book (released in June) at San Diego Comic Con.
Committed - Dan Mathews recounts early life, punk music, homosexuality, and PETA. This was a quick read and funny like Dan Piraro. He asked Henry Winkler to get The leather jacket from the museum and say "Cows Are Cool." This will be released on April 17.
Posts: 61 | Registered: Aug 2003
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I just finished The Dresden Files: Death Masks by Jim Butcher recently. I've been working my way through this great series! I like the tv series thats on the Sci-Fi Channel, but the books are even better! Summer Knight is my favorite so far, but Death Masks is definitly number 2 on the list.
I plan to read Blood Rites next. I have it ordred from another library. I also have the Dark Tower: Concordence by Robin Furth and Stephen King coming from another library. I'm hooked on the DT series and wanted to read this. Oh and I also have Legends Vol. 1 coming because it has a Dark Tower short story AND an Alvin Maker short story AND a Discworld short story. I'm definitly looking forward to reading all these books, especially Blood Rites and Legends.
DF2506 " And after those books, I hope to read books 7 and 8 of the Dresden Files: Dead Beat and Proven Guility."
Posts: 128 | Registered: Sep 2004
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I just discovered Antoine de Saint-Exupery...I'm reading Wind, Sand, and Stars in English class and I also just read The Little Prince. He's probably now my favorite author, (except OSC of course), mainly because my biggest (and craziest) dream is to fly an airplane. Both books are very poetic and beautiful. His language is truly unique, and by that I mean he uses zero cliches, even though he's describing things that lend themselves very easily to cliches. He just has a fantastic mind. Posts: 930 | Registered: Dec 2006
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Plato: Five Dialogues A.B Joshua: Three days and a child About time : Einstein's unfinished revolution / Paul Davies. The tangled wing : biological constraints on the human spirit / Melvin Konner. What is thought? / Eric B. Baum. Discourse on Thinking Martin Heidegger
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