Comments | indira14: Meme

indira14

Meme - Get Bookish!

Jun 23, 2010 23:24

Gacked from hungrytiger11

BOLD the books you have read.ITALICIZE the ones you’ve heard of/only read part of. The BBC says if you've read more than seven, you've read more than the average person.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Ring s- JRR Tolkein
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter Series- J.K. Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird ( Read more... )

recs, books, meme, author: daphne du maurier, author: gabriel garcia marquez, author: charles dickens, help!

Comments 53

istne_pieklo June 23 2010, 20:10:19 UTC

I used to love Jane Eyre as a kid. Now I'd probably find it a bit boring. It's a typical English book of that period.
Gone with the Wind is awesome. One of my favourite books of all times. What I love most is Scarlett's personality. She's hardly a typical female character in a setting like that.
1984 is a very powerful book and very depressing too. Personally I dropped it at first, but I picked it up a while later and finished it. Couldn't stop shaking by the end of it.
Lolita is gorgeous. Sensual and incredibly written and a bit sick)))
Anna Karenina - I'm biased about Tolstoy. I hate him. I was forced to read War and Peace twice and I did start Anna Karenina once, but I can't help it. So my opinion shouldn't really count here.
Madam Bovary - I remember that I loved it, but I don't remember much about it.
Count of Monte Cristo - typical Dumas. A bit too long in places, but still fun and adventurous)))

indira14 June 24 2010, 19:57:27 UTC

ETA: Sorry, my html coding just keeps getting messed up.

I'm thinking that perhaps I should read Jane Eyre, since I just borrowed the book from my friend today... and if I don't read it now, I'll forever be wondering what the hype's about. And is it just me, or do people have starkly contrasting opinions about the main character?

Couldn't stop shaking by the end of it - yum, that sounds, uh, delicious for lack of a better word. *is obsessed with dark, dark books*

And I do think I'm going to like Gone with the Wind! I'm not sure if my flist knows this, but I just dig strong female characters.

Lolita is gorgeous. Sensual and incredibly written and a bit sick))) - Sounds like something I'd reallyreallyreally like. nodnod.

Madam Bovary - I remember that I loved it, but I don't remember much about it. - Lol, that reminds me of my experience with A Tale of Two Cities - I read it about four years ago and I don't remember much except that I was crying shamelessly near the end. XD

Count of Monte Cristo - typical Dumas. A bit too long in ( ... )

istne_pieklo June 24 2010, 20:03:37 UTC

I like Jane herself... well, liked back then, not so sure how I'd feel about her now. It's just that some parts might as well have been shorter and the book really wouldn't have been any worse for it.
If you like dark, depressing books, then 1984 is perfect for sure)))
Strong female characters win! There aren't nearly enough of them((
I don't really know how to elaborate. It's just that I read a lot of books by Alexandre Dumas (Count of Monte Cristo) being among them, but it was in my childhood. They're perfect for children really. All the adventures, mysteriesm excitement, the atmosphere... I really can't say how I'd feel about them now. But if it counts, I still like some movies based on them. I think those are the kind of books you'd really want to grow up with.

primavera June 23 2010, 21:24:14 UTC

Look, it's simple. Pick up the book, read the first page. If you want to turn the page, it's a keeper. If you don't, forget it.

indira14 June 24 2010, 16:09:38 UTC

Thank you for the kind advice but I'm afraid it's not that simple. At least, not for me. For eg, the first time I read One Hundred years of Solitude, I couldn't get past the first 3 pages without yawning, so I put it back down thinking it wasn't worth my time. Needless to say, I was very, very wrong.

It was the same thing with Pride and Prejudice - the writing style was too... dry, if you know what I mean and I gave up reading after the first chapter. On a whim, I picked it up again a few days later and was very surprised to find myself enjoying it.

I'm still trying to get through the philosophical jargon that is The ground beneath her feet, hoping to discover some redeeming qualities. I should tell you that the first page of TGBHF was a real page-turner, yet the rest of the book is so dull that I can't help but read it without working up some level of indifference.

So no, for me, the first few pages of a book does not decide how good it is. *sigh*

tanglewoodscrt June 25 2010, 08:16:53 UTC

Agreed. In about 2001 I read the entire Carnegie list, one book each day, until I got to the Amber Spyglass. I had it for a week and couldn't get past the first chapter. When I finall DID though, all the lights came on.

indira14 June 28 2010, 21:36:37 UTC

Glad you do!:D

enleve June 23 2010, 21:45:56 UTC

I liked A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth. It's my favourite book that's set in India. I like Seth's books a lot more than I like Rohinton Mistry's books (A Fine Balance is on the list, so I thought I'd mention that.)

I'm glad I read 1984 by George Orwell. It's too relevant to our world today in a depressing sort of way.

Of the children's books, I like the Winnie the Pooh stories by AA Milne, and Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame.

Jane Eyre was ok, but wasn't to my taste.

indira14 June 24 2010, 20:27:37 UTC

Vikram Seth? Have you, by any chance, heard of Anita Desai or Arundhati Roy? I reallylove heir writing styles and if Mr. Seth's style is anything similar, I'm sure I'd love is works too.

relevant to out world today - okay, now I'm really getting excited about this book! (Although some do claim Animal Farm is better...)

I'm not sure I'd like Winnie the Pooh but this acquaintance of mine said it's good - I don't know if I should take her word for it since ou literary tastes don't exactly coincide.

archersangel June 23 2010, 22:56:27 UTC

out of those 10, i've only read gone with the wind. i liked it. it's not much like the movie since it's such a long book, but worth the read IMHO.

indira14 June 24 2010, 16:22:46 UTC

I'm considering it - reading the novel, that is - but someone mentioned it consists of more than a 1000 pages, so yes, I'm a bit intimidated by the length. D:

lilacmermaid June 23 2010, 23:31:31 UTC

Jane Eyre is honestly one of my favourite books ever. I read it when I was thirteen, and loved it. I had to read it again for school about ten years later, and I was afraid that I had built it up to much in my mind and that I wouldn't like it as much, even though I'd been telling people for a decade that I had.

I also love His Dark Materials, The Time-Traveler's Wife, Sense & Sensibility and Anne of Green Gables, and can't recommend any of them highly enough.

indira14 June 24 2010, 21:25:53 UTC

I just read the first page and the language has kept me interested so far.

I suppose I can relateto you about building something up too much in your mind - it occasionally happens when you write fanfiction, although I'm not sure if our experiences are quite the same...

I'm considering His Dark Materials and Miss Austen's Sense & Sensibility. I've been hearing about S&S forever, about how Miss Austen always gives the men a chance to explain themselves, but I haven't had the chance to read it yet.