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

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This is the best book I've read this year, and maybe in the last 5-10. Highly recommended for fans of post-apocalyptic stories in the vein of Cormac McCarthy's The Road, albeit a MUCH more character-driven narrative. This is just a beautifully written book.
 
as a librarian I feel it is my duty to report to y'all all the new subject headings that get added in my subject area. Check out all the HOT NEW library of congress descriptors for the ARTS:

150 Absence in art [Not Subd Geog]
150 Art and transnationalism [May Subd Geog]
150 Augmented reality [May Subd Geog]
150 Baskets--New York (State)
150 Baskets--Ontario
150 Bronze figurines, Kulango [May Subd Geog]
150 Conspiracy in art [Not Subd Geog]
150 Ephemeral art [May Subd Geog]
150 Full-length portraits [May Subd Geog]
150 Gardens--Iraq
150 Global Award for Sustainable Architecture
150 Huave textile fabrics [May Subd Geog]
150 Mixed reality [May Subd Geog]
150 Pyramids of Giza (Egypt)
150 Sculpture, Balinese [May Subd Geog]
150 Seneca baskets [May Subd Geog]
150 Seven Wonders of the World
150 Virtual reality [May Subd Geog]

Lemme tell ya, those Pyramids of Giza have been a long time coming, they deserve this IMHO.

MORE LATER
 
sjaygray said:
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This is the best book I've read this year, and maybe in the last 5-10. Highly recommended for fans of post-apocalyptic stories in the vein of Cormac McCarthy's The Road, albeit a MUCH more character-driven narrative. This is just a beautifully written book.
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I thought this was very nicely written, although I can't say the specifics of the plot really stuck with me in the long run. Bits and pieces of it took root in my memory and come back occasionally as fragments that I can't quite place, until I'm reminded of the book, read a synopsis, and go 'oh, that's what that is.'
 
sjaygray said:
51VY9i6ckiL._SX322_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg


This is the best book I've read this year, and maybe in the last 5-10. Highly recommended for fans of post-apocalyptic stories in the vein of Cormac McCarthy's The Road, albeit a MUCH more character-driven narrative. This is just a beautifully written book.
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Well, I'm sold. Your description and reference to The Road make this an insta-buy for me.
Thank you!
 
I challenged myself to read 52 books in a year. I'm on book 38 (or 39?) The year ends on July 1. I don't think I will make it. But that's ok. I really had no point of reference for choosing 52 in a year other than that would be a book a week. I'm going to challenge myself again this next year and I do think I'll make it.

Some of the books I really enjoyed:

The Divers Clothes Lie Empty - fiction, almost Hitchcock-esque. Super easy read. A woman travels to a foreign country and is robbed of her passport and money.

Trouble Boys - about the replacements. Goodness they were deliquents!

Men Explain Things to Me - a collection of essays. I'm sure you can deduce what they are about. Loved it!

The Sleepwalkers Guide to Dancing - a woman of Indian descent walks us through her father's downward slide into poor health. Touching and really well written.
 
I also read Bird Box earlier and just ahead of the Netflix hype/hilarious memes. It is another really solid work of fiction in that same dystopian, world-gone-to-shit arena. For some reason the author's description drove me nuts. "Josh Malerman is an American author and also one of two singer/songwriters for the rock band The High Strung." I don't know why but I can't help reading that as, "This writing thing will do until my band takes off." Dude, you literally just hit the jackpot. I'm WAY more interested in you as a writer than you as a "rock star."
 
Has anyone read The Night Circus? I'm in an MFA program and it's on the book list for the course I'm taking next term. It seems a little outside my normal wheelhouse, but there isn't much else on there that is calling out to me. The only other one two I am considering are Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake and Ursula K. LeGuin's The Left Hand of Darkness. If anyone has anything to say about any of those, I'd be glad to hear it!
 
sjaygray said:
Has anyone read The Night Circus? I'm in an MFA program and it's on the book list for the course I'm taking next term. It seems a little outside my normal wheelhouse, but there isn't much else on there that is calling out to me. The only other one two I am considering are Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake and Ursula K. LeGuin's The Left Hand of Darkness. If anyone has anything to say about any of those, I'd be glad to hear it!
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I read Oryx and Crake when I was in ninth grade and I remember loving it, but Atwood is pretty much required reading up here. I would like to reread it at some point, especially since the sequels weren't out yet back then.
 
sjaygray said:
Has anyone read The Night Circus? I'm in an MFA program and it's on the book list for the course I'm taking next term. It seems a little outside my normal wheelhouse, but there isn't much else on there that is calling out to me. The only other one two I am considering are Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake and Ursula K. LeGuin's The Left Hand of Darkness. If anyone has anything to say about any of those, I'd be glad to hear it!
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The Left Hand of Darkness is superb. It deserved that Hugo and Nebula.
 
sorcerer said:
I've only ever read one book at a time, and I've heard taking on multiple at once is better for keeping yourself interested in the medium, so I'm trying my hand at that.
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I'd never heard that, but maybe. I'm sure it really depends on the person. I normally only read one at a time, too, and when I read two, one has to be fiction and one non-fiction, or I can't keep them straight and end up not getting involved in either.
 
Dash said:
This is what I've read so far this year. It's been my goal to read at least 12 books for the past two years now.
  1. The Incomplete Guide To Running - Peter Sagal
  2. Medium Raw - Anthony Bourdain
  3. Beastie Boys Book - Michael Diamond/Adam Horovitz
  4. I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer - Michelle McNamara
  5. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
  6. Vacationland: True Stories from Painful Beaches - John Hodgman
  7. Let’s Go (So We Can Get Back) - Jeff Tweedy
  8. Maeve in America - Maeve Higgins
  9. Born to Run - Christopher McDougall
  10. Hot Sauce Nation - Denver Nicks
  11. Shortest Way Home - Pete Buttigieg
  12. Breakfast of Champions - Kurt Vonnegut
  13. All That You Leave Behind - Erin Lee Carr
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How did you like I’ll be Gone in the Dark? I was thinking about making that my next book.
 
Shellytakeabow said:
How did you like I’ll be Gone in the Dark? I was thinking about making that my next book.
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It’s disturbing, but really fascinating. It’s as much about the act of searching as it is about the search, it that makes sense. And obviously the fact that the author died and the suspected killer was caught adds another layer. It’s good.
 
sjaygray said:
Has anyone read The Night Circus? I'm in an MFA program and it's on the book list for the course I'm taking next term. It seems a little outside my normal wheelhouse, but there isn't much else on there that is calling out to me. The only other one two I am considering are Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake and Ursula K. LeGuin's The Left Hand of Darkness. If anyone has anything to say about any of those, I'd be glad to hear it!
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I quite enjoyed the night circus, I read it not long after reading Station Eleven. It’s got a nice, dreamy feel to it and is quite cinematic in the imagery, like a cross between a romantic Neil Gaiman, a Derren Brown live show and The Prestige.
 
Shellytakeabow said:
I’m currently reading Haruki Murakami - The Elephant Vanishes...I’m kind of hooked on him at the moment but haven’t read any of his novels yet just short stories. Any fans here? Where should I start?
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Yes - Kafka on the Shore and Wind-up Bird Chronicle are excellent. I also recommend one of his non-fiction books, Underground. I just finished After Dark, which was fine.
 
I’m currently reading ‘All the light we cannot see’ by Anthony Doerr and will then start reading ‘children of ruin’ by Adrian Tchaikovsky.

I’ve recently read:

Naive Super by Erlend Loe - a very simple and easy novel that sort of focussed on the little things in life, following a young man who decides to leave university and spend some time thinking. It was alright.

Meddling kids - Edgar Cantero - a bit of a pulpy comedy horror in which a group of kid detectives a la the famous five or the Scooby gang reunite 15 years later to investigate a creature suspiciously like Cthulhu. Fun but not to be taken too seriously. Quite juvenile.

Raft - Stephen Baxter - apparently a bit of a sci fi classic but I struggled to really enjoy it.

His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman - I read these novels a long time ago so I reread them at the same time as my girlfriend... not as fun the second time around but I’m looking forward to the tv adaptation.
 
Dash said:
It’s disturbing, but really fascinating. It’s as much about the act of searching as it is about the search, it that makes sense. And obviously the fact that the author died and the suspected killer was caught adds another layer. It’s good.
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Sounds good...adding it to my list 😁
 
Psymon said:
Yes - Kafka on the Shore and Wind-up Bird Chronicle are excellent. I also recommend one of his non-fiction books, Underground. I just finished After Dark, which was fine.
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Perfect, thank you...I’ll start there. I want to eventually tackle 1Q84, have you read it?
 
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