I loved writing English papers in college (in fact, got one of only 2 As freshman year at Michigan in a 400 level lit class I took because I thought it looked interesting – professor razzed the upperclassman about the frosh getting an A… he tried to talk me into being an English major, but I didn’t thinking parsing the work of other writers would be a very satisfying career for me). I think I am pretty good at literary analysis, I have a knack for finding patterns across the book and tying my theories together with evidence.
I can’t say I liked class discussions a lot, though. I have enjoyed going to hear authors speak if I already know their work and know I like it.
Dunno… but I am happy to just read along, picking up whatever interests me, and not really discussing it at length most of the time. I do talk with my kids about books sometimes. And @ignatius and I can be a book club of 2.
GoldenWest, I think Station Eleven is the CC book club pick for February and they’re going to start discussing it on the 1st of the month. Somebody please correct me if I’m wrong.
Ha, good point…I suppose it’s hard to say you “enjoyed” tales of deprivation, missing and dead family members, vast swaths of the population being wiped out, etc. However, I do enjoy them for some perverse reason, and this one was especially beautifully written, I thought. I loved seeing how all the little connections came together over the course of the book.
I’'ve just finished Everything I Never Told You. It’s absolutely stunning. The writing is beautiful, just beautiful. Reading the book puts you inside each of the main characters. I felt that I actually inhabited each of them. I’m having a hard time re-entering my own life after total immersion in the world of the book.
After reading several really good books last fall (noted in prior posts), I have recently read a slew of books I would rate as “meh”. Thankfully that seems to be changing as I started reading “The Boston Girl” by Anita Diamant yesterday and at 100 pages in am totally enjoying it.
Another yes for Station Eleven…and I also just finished Empire Falls (Richard Russo). Blown away by the narrative ability to make these people seem so real. Felt more like a trip than a book.
I somehow hadn’t heard of Station Eleven. It sounds great - I placed a hold on the audio edition at the library. I’m also going to read The Boston Girl, as well as another Diamant book I just learned about. I read The Red Tent years ago and loved it.
