Just finished “The Fault in Our Stars.” Chose it because 19 yo S really liked it and because we have plans to see the movie when it comes out, and I hate reading books AFTER seeing the movie.
There was a lot I appreciated about the book but I didn’t think it was all that fabulous. Maybe I am too much of a literal thinker but I didn’t really get the metaphorical cigarettes. And towards the end I thought the plausibility factor with the writer (the fictional one, in the book) teetered over the edge into just not believable.
Anyone else read this book and have any similar feelings?
MathildaMae: I read The Fault in Our Stars quite a while ago, so no longer remember “metaphorical cigarettes” - total blank here. I do remember feeling much the same way about the writer in the story. I liked the book but nothing more than that. I read it in a couple days and moved on. (Should I remember “metaphorical cigarettes?”)
Ignatius: No, the metaphorical cigarettes are not a really big part of the book, I just didn’t understand the point. I don’t think I’m giving anything away to explain that Augustus “metaphorically” smokes (or doesn’t smoke)–he puts cigarettes in his mouth but does not light them.
I did like a lot about the book–I thought most of the characters were interesting and likable, and the terminal illness aspect was moving without being sappy.
Right, the boy with cancer fighting for his life takes a thing, that causes cancer and is risky, and rebels by “using” it (but without actually risking anything by lighting it) as sort of a middle finger to death/cancer.
It seemed to me as sort of a form of control or taking control of your own life/risk…like finding out you have cancer and going sky diving or bull riding.
Really enjoying “The Exiles Return” by Elisabeth de Waal, a heavily autobiographical novel about the return of WW2 exiles, many of the Jews, to post-war Vienna. There’s a lot about art stolen from Jews, pre- and post-war anti-Semitism in Austria, the destruction of the city by overzealous Americans & vindictive Germans, the post-war poverty, etc. Fascinating stuff, and highly readable.
I won “Mambo in Chinatown” in a publisher’s giveaway. It’s a really fun read. It’s coming out on June 24 but there are lots of reviews up on the usual suspects and almost everyone seems to have enjoyed it. It’s by Jean Kwok, who wrote “Girl in Translation,” which I also loved.
Okay. I’m a bad person. I cannot finish The Goldfinch. I planned to love it! but (and I know it won the Pulitzer, etc), I think it’s sloppily written, the characters get more and more unbelievable, and I haven’t located the story yet. I’m sort of curious about what happens in the last hundred pages or so that got everyone in a tizzy, but I can’t make myself get beyond page 459 to find out. Sigh. I must be a philistine.
I follow Nancy Pearl Rule of Fifty. If I don’t like or care an iota for the book after 50 pages or so, I toss it aside. Sometimes if the hype gets me curious enough, I may give it 100 pages but no more. I feel the same way about the Flamethrower. Could not care enough about the main character, just meh, to go past 60 pages. Life is too short and there are too many books, too little time.
I have actually mostly adapted that point of view, but I had high hopes for the book, and it started out as possibly interesting, but I finally realized I just wasn’t in a slow patch; I really started to dislike it. Lesson learned.
Lol… I am about 570 pages in, and love it. And I had not really planned to love it after reading some comments earlier in this thread. Now I don’t want it to end (which is saying something for a 700+ page book). I think her characters are very well drawn, and I don’t see them as unbelievable at all. And I don’t see anything sloppy about it… I was just thinking about Collum McCann’s “Let the Great World Spin” in comparison to this, McCann writes beautifully, but there is no plot or story behind it - I just found that book so dull because I thought there was no actual plot. Whereas I think Tartt writes beautifully AND this book has a pretty interesting story. And I am still guessing about how it ends (there was a plot twist in the last 20 pages or so that surprised me a lot and really has me guessing now). Guess every book isn’t for every person (good thing there are millions to pick from!)
I just want to thank MZBkiya and others for recommending Louise Penny and her Armand Gamache series. I wanted to read something light but I also wanted something interesting and well written. I am on the second book and really enjoying it.
I had originally thought I should read The Goldfinch - and I did like Tartt’s first book, but then I saw a few too many comparisons with A Catcher in the Rye, my least favorite book of all time, and decided I’d just give it a pass without feeling even a little bit guilty about it.
I have a problem with the tile of this thread - I hardly ever thing the current book I’m reading is worthy of the thread. I’m currently reading the 14th book in the Dresden Files series Cold Days. Obviously I like them since I’ve read 13 others, but it’s not the best book I’ve read in the last 6 months.
Mathmom- I like the Dresden Files too. Great escapism reading. May not be great literature but you and I both enjoy it and that is all that really matters.
Mathmom - I hate Catcher in the Rye. I guess now that you say it there is sort of a period in the middle of the book that might compare, but it really is a much better book than that. I think…
cartera, I just finished “Edge of Dark Water” last night. LOVED IT!!! The author’s voice is amazing and the writing was wonderful - I found myself laughing aloud and wincing at the same time. Lansdale really has such a way with words (“Uncle Gene was fat as a hog but without the personality.”)
I feel sad that I’m done with it, and I’ll never read about Jinx, Terry, and Sue Ellen again.
scout, I’m listening to the audiobook and the narrator is excellent. The next book that I’m reading (Fourth of July Creek) was recommended by Wiley Cash, author of The Land More Kind than Home, on his Facebook page. I liked his book enough to take his advice. It has received good reviews too.
I am actually not so keen on seeing the movie because I liked the book so much.