Ooooh, @NJTheatreMOM – That 2nd quote you posted makes me a little nuts. An entire book like this? Not sure I could stand it.
It’s not just no quotation marks, it’s no punctuation at all. Yes, that would annoy me big time!
Did any one notice the use of present tense and think it helped or hindered in The last painting of Sarah de Vos? I read about it in a review, but I never remembered to think about it when I was reading the book.
Jiles does use some punctuation, and not all of her sentences are as bad as the ones I quoted, but there are enough of that type that I don’t think I could read the book.
I looked at writing samples from a couple of Jiles’ other books, and they were more “normal.” The style of News of the World must be a conscious choice that she thought would fit the story. It’s unfortunate.
I didn’t notice the present tense in Sarah de Vos.
I think we need additional titles suggested by additional people. How else am I ever going to increase my already unwieldy to-be-read list?
I know we’ve discussed choosing Fates and Furies as a discussion book in the past but no longer remember if someone vetoed it. Anyway, I’m reading it at the moment and do think it has/had potential for discussion. My only reservation: it’s time may have passed for us. In other words, I already feel on the late side getting to it now. I wonder how many people “have been there, done that.”
I’m happy enough with the choices listed but feel that having more would increase the fun of whittling them down.
I’m fine with all of the suggestions so far, but if we want a few more suggestions, I’ll jump in:
For a classic that is shorter and less weighty than East of Eden, how about:
– Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton
For new books by established authors, how about:
– Commonwealth by Ann Patchett
– Wonder by Emma Donoghue
I’m about to start:
– Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett
… which is supposed to superb but very sad.
What are people in the mood for? I’m so exhausted by the political process that I don’t know what I feel like reading.
Oh, actually, someone upthread mentioned:
– Waterland, by Graham Swift
I’d love to read that.
P.S. How do I do italics?
Imagine Me Gone sounds good. The raves in the editorial reviews section of the Amazon listing go on and on.
This group has read books by Patchett and Donoghue before, and there is sort of an informal rule against repeating authors.
I’m always in the mood for a classic!
[ ]italics[/ ]
Put an i in the space in the brackets (front and back) for italics; put a b in the space in the brackets for bold; put a u in the space in the brackets for underline; to quote, well, you get the idea.
To quote someone specific: quote=nottelling in the first set of brackets and /quote in the ending bracket.
Hopefully that made sense.
I was the one who mentioned the superb Waterland. I actually just bought a used copy for myself, because when I originally read it many years ago, I read a library book. I’d adore re-reading it with you guys!
I’m willing to break the informal rule of not repeating authors. I’d like to read Commonwealth by Ann Patchett.
Lots of good suggestions.
But…
While I would not veto any of the following, I am lukewarm about them:
Wonder by Emma Donoghue. Sounds sort of creepy.
Commonwealth by Ann Patchett. I was one of the few people in the world who disliked Bel Canto. Patchett writes beautifully, and I’ve admired her nonfiction, but I think she tends to go off the deep end with her fictional plots.
The Bone Gap by Laura Ruby. YA and magical realism…I dunno.
(News of the World by Paulette Giles is a veto – see post #179 above.)
For a modern classic I’ve never read Catch 22. I think it’s been on my to read list forever!
There was a nice write up of Colson Whitehead in the last issue of Harvard Magazine - it actually got me wanting to read some of his other books even more than the current one! http://harvardmagazine.com/2016/09/a-literary-chameleon Is there any reason for doing The Underground Railroad as a duo - it seems meaty enough to me to just read on its own.
Any one interested in Nathan Hale’s The Nix ? - it might be too long for December (625 pages). The NYT’s review describes it as “a sprawling novel with a bag of postmodern tricks”. Not necessarily my cup of tea, but it sounded interesting.
I’m still really interested in the Camus duo.
Definitely interested in The Nix by Nathan Hale.
Not interested in Catch-22 at all – but I wouldn’t veto. Can’t guarantee I’d get through it, though. I’ve tried before and have failed!
If we are open to 600-paged books, a Trollope might be fun. One of the Palliser books might be fun during the election season.
ETA: I think italics might be too tedious on my phone (with my phone being the only way I access CC).
Ditto!
I do like the idea of Trollope. I read his novel The Way We Live Now with another book group and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it.
I took off the two vetoes, but left on the “lukewarm” choices. (@NJTheatreMOM, the group hasn’t read anything by Emma Donoghue [that I can recall]). I also added the 1st Pallisers book.
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
The Gloaming by Melanie Finn
*Bone Gap/i by Laura Ruby
*The Water Museum/i by Luis Alberto Urrea
Old Filth by Jan Gardam
Duo: The Stranger by Albert Camus and The Meursault Investigation by Kamel Daoud
Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton
Commonwealth by Ann Patchett
Wonder by Emma Donoghue
Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett
Waterland by Graham Swift
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
The Pallisers: Can You Forgive Her? by Anthony Trollope
Okay, so now we have 12 titles, which is great for expanding our reading lists, but bad for voting. So if anyone has any outright vetoes, don’t be shy. (If no one comes forward with a veto, my next step would be to remove the lukewarms, but I’ll hold off on that for the moment.)
Amen.
Oops I got mixed up and thought the group read Room before I was a member.
- *East of Eden* by John Steinbeck OR *The Custom of the Country* by Edith Wharton OR *Old Filth* by Jan Gardam OR the Camus/Daoud duo OR Trollope's *The Pallisers: Can You Forgive Her?*.
2.The Gloaming by Melanie Finn OR Waterland by Graham Swift.
3.*The Water Museum/i by Luis Alberto Urrea OR Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett.
nottelling wrote:
I’m so exhausted by the political process that I don’t know what I feel like reading.
Yes,yes, yes …I agree
A lot of these look great. I’ll put East of Eden first, then any of the others.
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
The Gloaming by Melanie Finn
The Water Museum (short stories) by Luis Alberto Urrea
Duo: The Stranger by Albert Camus and The Meursault Investigation by Kamel Daoud
@NJTheatreMOM, you’re good with 9 out of the 12 titles! I’m impressed.
I meant to remove Catch 22 as a veto in the list in post #194. I’ll also remove Commonwealth, Wonder and Bone Gap since we have so many others to choose from. Any more vetoes or even “would prefer not to” (as Bartleby would say)?
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
The Gloaming by Melanie Finn
*The Water Museum/i by Luis Alberto Urrea
Old Filth by Jan Gardam
Duo: The Stranger by Albert Camus and The Meursault Investigation by Kamel Daoud
Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton
Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett
Waterland by Graham Swift
The Pallisers: Can You Forgive Her? by Anthony Trollope