The Reader’s Nook - The N&G Book Thread

Teeeee said:
I'm halfway through Circe. I'm not loving it. I don't hate it. But I don't like it as much as ALL OF THE REVIEWS led me to believe I would.

@Tyr - I know you posted about this somewhere. What were your thoughts? Anyone else read it?
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I read it and quite enjoyed it. As someone who barely absorbed Greek mythology in middle school and hasn't delved into it since, it was a great primer/re-hash. The prose was good, and I felt emotionally keyed into the story. It maybe doesn't deserve all the praise it's received, but it's confident and brisk. I could definitely see it hanging around as a high school mainstay, a way to present a possibly-dry and convoluted set of concepts to the younger set.
 
Bennnnn said:
I read it. I too was a little underwhelmed honestly. I liked it, wasn’t blown away by it. It’s kind of slow, but it did get me back interested in mythology.
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Bull Shannon said:
I read it and quite enjoyed it. As someone who barely absorbed Greek mythology in middle school and hasn't delved into it since, it was a great primer/re-hash. The prose was good, and I felt emotionally keyed into the story. It maybe doesn't deserve all the praise it's received, but it's confident and brisk. I could definitely see it hanging around as a high school mainstay, a way to present a possibly-dry and convoluted set of concepts to the younger set.
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Yeah, I think the immense amount of praise it got set really high expectations for me. I like it but I'm also confused by the uniformly positive praise.

I agree - this would be a great book for high school curriculum.
 
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Teeeee said:
I'm halfway through Circe. I'm not loving it. I don't hate it. But I don't like it as much as ALL OF THE REVIEWS led me to believe I would.

@Tyr - I know you posted about this somewhere. What were your thoughts? Anyone else read it?
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Great memory @Teeeee ! I actually enjoyed it. Was it the best thing I read all year? No, but I did connect with the some of the concepts within it. I think my own personal history with emotional growth and change made me connect to different aspects in a way that was fairly personal.

I actually gifted a copy of it to a friend who was going through an emotionally difficult situation. I think it provided her some light during those dark times. And yes, I can definitely see how it would benefit young adults at the formative periods of their lives.
 
Just started Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. I read The Buried Giant and Remains of the Day in the past year and really like his prose style. I was intending this be a bit of a break from sci-fi and fantasy after the Jemisin trilogy but one chapter in and I'm getting some strong dystopian vibes. Looking forward to seeing where it goes.
 
Aelias said:
Just started Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. I read The Buried Giant and Remains of the Day in the past year and really like his prose style. I was intending this be a bit of a break from sci-fi and fantasy after the Jemisin trilogy but one chapter in and I'm getting some strong dystopian vibes. Looking forward to seeing where it goes.
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That book is so so good. I enjoyed Remains as well, but couldn't get very far with Buried Giant.

Here's a real real great chat between Ishiguro and Neil Gaiman about having one foot in the "literary" genre and another in the "genre" genre. Good stuff:
www.newstatesman.com

“Let's talk about genre”: Neil Gaiman and Kazuo Ishiguro in conversation

The two literary heavyweights talk about the politics of storytelling, the art of the swordfight and why dragons are good for the economy.
www.newstatesman.com www.newstatesman.com
 
I went with my dad to an Oktoberfest event/car show today and ended up at a bookstore because of course I did. I picked up Yoko Ogawa's The Memory Police and Sayaka Murata's Convenience Store Woman. I just finished Carrie Brownstein's book that I was reading for a book club (which I really enjoyed and would recommend) and I'm not sure which one to start first, but leaning towards The Memory Police.
 
Aelias said:
Just started Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. I read The Buried Giant and Remains of the Day in the past year and really like his prose style. I was intending this be a bit of a break from sci-fi and fantasy after the Jemisin trilogy but one chapter in and I'm getting some strong dystopian vibes. Looking forward to seeing where it goes.
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Never Let Me Go was really moving and beautiful.


WhiteDahlias said:
I went with my dad to an Oktoberfest event/car show today and ended up at a bookstore because of course I did. I picked up Yoko Ogawa's The Memory Police and Sayaka Murata's Convenience Store Woman. I just finished Carrie Brownstein's book that I was reading for a book club (which I really enjoyed and would recommend) and I'm not sure which one to start first, but leaning towards The Memory Police.
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I have The Memory Police on my list. Share your thoughts if you read it.
 
So I read the Secret Commonwealth (vol 2 of The Book Of Dust) last weekend and it was fantastic. I’d definitely recommend the first two volumes to anyone who enjoyed the His Dark Materials trilogy.
 
Indymisanthrope said:
Is anyone reading TNC’s new book? I’m surprised not to have heard more about it, especially with it being his first novel.
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I copped it through BOTM (which I was this close to canceling, as there have been two months in a row where none of the books really grabbed me, and it's starting to feel like a source for just-fine reads and nothing really striking); I'll probably get into it next month, or maybe into January (just after the holidays is a good time for a thoughtful, serious read).

The reviews have been mixed-to-good, though I don't take much stock in release-date book reviews. Overall I'd say the literary world has a criticism problem; with music, tv, and movies, usually people can process and project a clear take, whereas it feels like most book reviews hew to the bare plot details and boil down to a "maybe read" or "maybe don't read" rating, never "you must read this NOW" or "this is absolute GARBAGE."
 
In other news, I've been sticking to creepy reads for October. Finished Carrie earlier this week, which was good. I've seen the movie, so the book didn't really hold any surprises (except for a very detailed account of how the bullies rigged the pig's blood in the rafters), though I liked the epistolary chapter openings; it really opened up the world and implied far-flung ramifications for what appears to be a very intimate and internal story.

Currently getting through Ling Ma's Severance, which feels like if Otessa Moshfegh wrote a zombie story. It's not out-and-out horror, but it has this sort of displaced sense of dread, and the parallels between mundane office life and the politics of a post-apocalyptic survival crew are pretty tight.
 
A day of fine literature yesterday.
The Old Man and the Sea.
Seize the Day
Ethan Frome
Cold of God.
Looks impressive but they are all more of a novella. Still, pretty proud of myself.
 
Englishbob said:
A day of fine literature yesterday.
The Old Man and the Sea.
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Mr Moore said:
As far as concise storytelling goes, this is hard to beat in my eyes. So very good.
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One of my favorite books, just a fantastic story. I actually got really lucky and found a first UK pressing of it a while back for 50p. I still use my beat up copy to read though, as its one of a few books I read every year without fail.
 
John Hodgman’s new book comes out tomorrow. I loved his last one and wasn’t expecting another so soon but here we are. Won’t be able to catch him on this book tour, but I will be seeing a live show of Judge John Hodgman next month so that’s exciting.

I’m already reading three other books, sort of (one about the creation and history of Disneyworld, Jeff Tweedy’s memoir, and The Shining) but I have to keep putting other ones down cause a new thing pops up. Will be happening again tomorrow. This is the struggle I face.
 
Indymisanthrope said:
I mean, it's not bad! I just remember getting to the end and being like, "....AND? THAT'S IT?"
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SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Just finished Sourdough, and I agree with you...

I really liked the beginning a lot, how she has to choose a life in tech or this new found desire in baking and her struggles with that.
I had bigger hopes for the Marrow Fair, and that kind of awkward left turn into bacteria cultures.
Wished he would've gone deeper with the Lois Club and deeper into the Mazg culture
Thought the Marrow Fair was a huge snooze fest tbh...


EDIT: also, I would've loved to read about her and the Mazg guy open a restaurant together, instead of it being the ending
 
Recently finished Haruki Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. It was the first of his books I've read, despite having heard his name for years. This is my story (taken from my GoodReads review):

My first experience reading Murakami, it'd be stupid for me to say, "This isn't very good," but I'd also be lying if I said I wasn't bored silly for large stretches of time. It's obviously beautifully written – graceful and lyrical even in those passages where I didn't much care what was happening – and there were certainly moments where I was enthralled or heartbroken or intrigued. But I'm a narrative momentum guy. I want to feel like the story is going somewhere. Reading Murakami reminds me a lot of reading Pynchon: there's never any doubt that you're in the hands of someone who's a genius with the written word, but you've got a long way to travel for not much payoff. I finished the final sentence last night and literally thought, "That's it?"

And that's a shame, because there were chapters where I was absolutely all-in. But then there were other chapters where I found myself mentally composing grocery lists while I waited for Murakami to connect any dots at all. I hesitate to use the word masturbatory to describe his style, but I definitely need to read another of his books to decide if his literary journeys are worth the investment it takes to go on them. My 3-star rating splits the difference between those 5-star passages that grabbed me by the throat and the 1-star passages that had me fighting to stay awake.
 
Bull Shannon said:
That book is so so good. I enjoyed Remains as well, but couldn't get very far with Buried Giant.
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Thanks for the link, I'm surprised at the level of importance Gaiman seems to put on classifying genres. The Buried Giant was my jumping off point for Ishiguro, I liked Remains a lot but the story didn't draw me in as much as TBG. I think of TBG as a fable, but longer and with human characters.
 
Just finished my first Faulkner, Sanctuary. I can't say that I liked or disliked it, just that it was unlike any other writing style I have read before. I'm intrigued enough by him that I will try another. Absalom! Or The Fable. Anybody have thoughts on him?
 
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