Reading List: Second Half of 2010

[gilee7]

15. Anna Karenina by: Leo Tolstoy--- I've wanted to read this for awhile, but I've always put it off due to its daunting length and less-than-exciting synopsis. Surprisingly, however, I found myself unable to put it down once I started reading it. With Tolstoy, it isn't about what these characters do, but why they do it. It's an examination on

Comments

[2ndhandsunshine]

Ah, Paulo Coelho. I read The Witch of Portabello last year, and that was an entirely disappointing novel essentially about a Mary Sue with the plot revolving around her perfection. Enormously annoying, and even more so because it took itself so seriously as literature. Basically the same issues that you found with The Alchemist minus the self-motivating part. Which doesn't bode well for my wanting to read Veronika Decides to Die in the hopes that it's a better example of his writing...

Glad you enjoyed Anna Karenina. I liked Anna as a character, but I think we saw a lot more of Levin on an intimate level (not just what he thinks, but how he thinks)... though I really disliked Kitty and sort of wished he'd get over her and marry someone more mature and not so wishy-washy. Lol. But that's sort of a... superficial complaint.

Good reading list. What's on the menu for 2011? Do you have a particular set of titles you want to hit, or is it just whatever you happen to pick up?

[gilee7]

I actually liked Kitty, but maybe it was just because Levin liked her so much. I was happy for him when they finally ended up together.

So far this year I've read The Lie by Chad Kultgen, which I hated, and I'm currently reading Stephen King's Lisey's Story. As far as what's on the menu for this year, I have a few titles in mind, but mostly it'll just be whatever I happen to pick up. For Christmas my mom bought me all four of John Updike's Rabbit Angstrom novels, contained within one enormous volume, so I'll read those at some point.

[2ndhandsunshine]

I just finished The Vagrants by Yiyun Li a couple of days ago, and that was pretty good though the ending was sort of abrupt. For Christmas I got gift cards for Barnes & Noble and Borders, so that was cool. So far my to-read pile consists of: Peanuts: the art of Charles M. Schultz, Empires of the Sea (which I thought was non-fiction but apparently isn't), Those Who Save Us, City of Thieves, The Things They Carried, and The People of the Book which is a book club selection. Must say I'm pretty excited. Lol.

You write, right?

[gilee7]

I have a copy of The Things They Carried. I have no idea how I came about it. Somebody must have given it to me and I just don't remember. I may read it at some point this year.

I'm sure my reading lists seem very minor to you. The only way I could ever come anywhere close to reading 100 books in a year is if I read nothing but Goosebumps books or something. I usually start out the year with a pretty good reading pace, but it always seems to slow as the year goes by.

Have you ever read The Bell Jar? I think you would like it.

[jdroa]

i could have read 400 pages of levin's story. the pastoral descriptions and tolstoy's fascination with labor was addictive to read. i'm going to try and pick up in cold blood,, the bell jar, and the sound and the fury. i haven't read very much in the past five or six months though