Frostbrand's 2007 Books: Which of these have you read?

posted 10-Jan-2008 12:16pm

Harry Potter and Dune.
These are the books I read last year:
A Whistling Woman, by A. S. Byatt
On Beauty, by Zadie Smith
Shalimar the Clown, by Salman Rushdie
Mexico, by James Michener
The First Man in Rome, by Colleen McCullough
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by J. K. Rowling
The Yiddish Policeman's Union, by Michael Chabon
The Imported Bridegroom and Other Stories, by Abraham Cahan (thanks, RGirl!)
Blindness, by Jose Saramago
I'm currently reading The Grass Crown, by Colleen McCullough; I started it in 2007, but I haven't finished it yet. (Her books are really long.)

Galomorro

posted 10-Jan-2008 12:36pm

None of these, though if I find "Cross" by James Patterson at the library I may check this one out.

Biggles

posted 10-Jan-2008 12:48pm

1) Jennifer Government a few years ago - it was okay, but a little strained I thought. More about the message than the writing.

2) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in August - I quite enjoyed it, but it was a bit dull in the middle. A reasonable end to a reasonable series, but they aren't the best books I've ever read.

3) The Lovely Bones a couple of years ago. Mawkish, sentimental, sickly pop fiction.

4) Neverwhere about 10 years ago. Absolutely loved it. Brilliant. Much better than the original TV series (Gaiman apparently hated the TV show so much that he rewrote the series as a book to be truer to his original intentions) although I enjoyed that too. "Do we not bleed, Mr Vandemar?"

thecomic22

posted 10-Jan-2008 4:04pm

I have not read any of these, but I was reading a sweet little romance novel the other night called ''Jimmys Girl.''

ausfox

posted 10-Jan-2008 4:07pm

Harry Potter and The Lovely Bones

smurf

posted 10-Jan-2008 8:58pm

Most of these I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole. Seriously not my sort of thing. The only one I've read is 'Cross' by James Patterson, and I plan to read 'The lovely bones' by Alice Sebold. You can have the rest

bill

posted 11-Jan-2008 7:34am

I read The Lovely Bones last year too! I didn't think much of it, honestly.
I read Dune many years ago, it's a great book.

bill

(reply to Enheduanna) posted 11-Jan-2008 7:37am

any you'd recommend or not from your list?

(reply to bill) posted 11-Jan-2008 11:23am

I wasn't hugely keen on Mexico, mostly because it had a lot about bull-fighting, and sometimes that was a very difficult to read. In general I love Michener, though. Some others of his that I would recommend are Hawaii and Centennial. They're both excellent.

Blindness I read because Saramago is the favorite author of a friend of mine. It was also a little difficult at points, in a somewhat Orwellian or Lord of the Flies kind of way--it's about an epidemic of blindness that hits a town in Portugal, and the people don't all behave especially well toward each other. I was glad that I toughed it out, though, because it was an excellent book. His writing is great. He's Portuguese and lived through the totalitarian government they had in the 70s and 80s (I think those are the dates), and I gather that this book reflects that experience quite directly. I don't think his other books are quite as harsh, and even Blindness had much to mitigate the harshness.

The Yiddish Policeman's Union was very good, although not as good as Kavalier and Clay. Since you sent me that one (which I have now passed on to my father) in the book swap a couple of years ago, I'd be happy to send this one to you.

The others were varying levels of good--A Whistling Woman wasn't especially memorable. On Beauty is in part about academics in a small town outside of Boston which is mostly modeled on Wellesley, I think. It was very good, but maybe you have to know a lot of academics to appreciate it! Shalimar the Clown was good, but Midnight's Children, which I think I've recommended to you before, is a much better book. The Colleen McCullough books I'm really enjoying--they're a series of 6 books about Rome in the late 2nd and early 1st centuries BCE, leading up to and including the time of Caesar and the end of the Republic. Each one is something like 800-900 pages long. I happen to love long historical fiction (cf. Michener), but if that's not your thing, I wouldn't recommend them. The Imported Bridgegroom is about Jewish immigrants in New York in the late 19th century. They're short stories, many of which are kind of sad, but it's an interesting look at the immigrant experience. And Harry Potter probably doesn't need any comment...

bill

(reply to Enheduanna) posted 11-Jan-2008 12:52pm

I've enjoyed most of the Hemingway I've read in the last couple years (which surprised me a little). But, he's got a book that is all about bull-fighting that I don't think I'll ever read. I can see where it's culturally interesting, but it's really barbaric too. That's right, I even made a survey about it. I think that was shortly after I read The Sun Also Rises.

I have this aversion to long books, so Michener kind of scares me off. Jen had mentioned to me that The Source is excellent, it looks like most of his books are 1000 pages or more. I hate feeling bogged down in a book. I should get over that. I'm sure I will eventually. I have read some long books that were great.

I'm not that psyched to read Yiddish Policemen's Union. Don't feel like you owe me anything. I'll always owe you for recommending Motherless Brooklyn which I still think was just great. Did I mention Edward Norton is making a movie of it, with him playing Lionel Essrog... I really should read more Lethem. I liked Kavalier and Clay, but I'm not sure if I'm such a big Cabon fan.

Jen is reading Satanic Verses right now. I think she's a little bogged down in it. Apparently, one of the main characters has been a goat (or something like that) for a while now. I plan to give it a try some time after her. I think you had recommend it. So, Midnight's Children is good too, eh? How does Satanic Verses compare to it?

I've been watching the Rome series from HBO (on DVD). It's great, full of high drama but also many subtleties. Lots of sex and violence too!

(reply to bill) posted 11-Jan-2008 1:26pm

I've only read one or two things by Hemingway, but I wasn't a fan. I don't feel the need to read anymore of his work.

The Source is also excellent. I think the next Michener book I want to try is Iberia, although I'm a little worried that it'll have more bullfighting!

I've heard that they're making a movie of Motherless Brooklyn, although it seems like it's never actually going to come out! I've been hearing about it for a while. As far as I'm concerned, that was Lethem's best book. His earlier stuff is mostly fun but a little light. Fortress of Solitude isn't as good as Motherless Brooklyn, either.

Midnight's Children is, I think, a lot better than The Satanic Verses. I found that The Satanic Verses got a little too abstract and weird in places, jumping around in time and perspective. It's easy to get bogged down in it. Midnight's Children also has some of the dream-like magical stuff, but it's not quite as weird and abstract, so it's much easier to follow. I never felt bogged down in it.

I loved the series Rome--I'm so sad that there's no more of it. It's why I'm interested in reading the McCullough books. I think Vorenus and Pullo (my favorites) are based on historical characters, too.

JessicaWoman99

posted 11-Jan-2008 3:34pm

I have read none of these

bill

(reply to Enheduanna) posted 11-Jan-2008 5:57pm

I love Vorenus and Pullo ... I barely care about the other, more prominent characters.

(reply to bill) posted 11-Jan-2008 7:00pm

They're real scene-stealers! Did you watch the show Journeyman at all?

bill

(reply to Enheduanna) posted 12-Jan-2008 7:42am

I watched the pilot and thought it was OK -- didn't TiVO it, but it was before I had seen Vorenus.
They should do another historical series and just have those to actors grafted into things!

(reply to bill) posted 12-Jan-2008 11:43am

We watched Journeyman. It wasn't bad, although it very quickly got very predictable.
I do think the two of them had a very good chemistry together; probably having them both as different characters, but still together, on another show would work pretty well. Or they could just make more episodes of Rome. They've still got a few hundred years of Roman history left that they could cover! Although apparently the show was fantastically expensive to produce.

Biggles

(reply to Enheduanna) posted 12-Jan-2008 1:36pm

I would love to see Rome get up to the cult of Jesus...but I don't think they would dare.

(reply to Biggles) posted 12-Jan-2008 2:23pm

That would be great. I liked that they did have some Jewish figures and dealt a little with the issues around Judaism at the time. It would be very interesting to see what they would do with Jesus. It was a pretty bold show--I wonder how they would have dealt with that.

bill

(reply to Enheduanna) posted 12-Jan-2008 5:06pm

I saw a comment somewhere online that said "I, Claudius" basically picks up where Rome leaves off.

(reply to bill) posted 12-Jan-2008 7:23pm

I've never read the book or seen the movie (mini-series? show? whatever). Maybe I'll look into that!

they

posted 19-Jan-2008 11:26pm

Harry Potter and The Lovely Bones.

101 People Who Are Really Screwing America sounds interesting. I wonder if they'd have it at the library.

posted 21-Jan-2008 5:08am

Most of these books I'd rather eat glass than read.

(reply to Pomeranian) posted 21-Jan-2008 10:56am

Don't hold back, tell us how you really feel.

(reply to Frostbrand) posted 22-Jan-2008 2:55am

I might have overstated my point a little, and believe me it came from a good place. When I was at your point in life, I was more or less reading the kind of books you're reading now, and what I really want to say is, there are all of these great books that I am sure you'll just love, that I hope you'll give a try. Here's a list of stuff if you're interested:
"Infinite Jest" by David Foster Wallace
"The Algebraist" by Ian M. Banks
"Look to Windward" by Ian M. Banks
"Trouble on Triton" by Samuel R. Delany
"More Than Human" by Theodore Sturgeon
and anything by Jorge Luis Borges, Umberto Eco, or Stanislaw Lem

(reply to Pomeranian) posted 22-Jan-2008 8:55am

More Than Human is actually on my wish list, but what exactly is wrong with what I'm reading now? Commerical success doesn't automatically make a book bad, despite what the Literati in NYC would like you to believe.

(reply to Frostbrand) posted 22-Jan-2008 3:39pm

I'm sorry but the average human life span isn't long enough to include time for a CSI: Miami media tie in novel.

(reply to Pomeranian) posted 22-Jan-2008 5:19pm

You know, some media tie-in books are actually pretty good. Max Allan Collins is a well established writer who wrote the graphic novel that inspired the Oscar nominated Road to Perdition.

(reply to Frostbrand) posted 22-Jan-2008 6:41pm

I am aware of this. I have read Trek and B5 novels that I enjoyed as much as the shows that inspired them. But come on, CSI??? and CSI *MIAMI* no less? Give me a break.

(reply to Enheduanna) posted 22-Jan-2008 6:54pm

The books and the mini-series are both great. I make it a point to watch the series every couple of years or so and I never tire of it.

(reply to Pomeranian) posted 22-Jan-2008 7:42pm

I remember my parents always referred to it as "Iclavdivs" (all as one word) because the book they had used a Roman font with a v instead of a u. I always think of it that way.