I just finished reading "The Road". I thought it was okay. The ending to me was kind of a let down. Not sure what all the fuss was about.

quote:

Originally posted by Ishmaelscoffin:
I have given up on Atonement; giving up on a novel is something I rarely do...I can't get a flow with mcEwan...sorry kendo...

Now I'm onto The Idiot....good for the cold rainy days here...

I'm stunned. Did you ever read "Amsterdam?"

Still, I can't fault you on "The Idiot." I last read it in High School, age about 17, but I still occasionally think about it. I've been toying with re-reading Dostoevsky. I worry that his are young mens' books. Raskolnikov, in particular, seems to me to be a bit arch and ridiculous when you get past the age of 30.

quote:

Originally posted by musicfanatic:
I just finished reading "The Road". I thought it was okay. The ending to me was kind of a let down. Not sure what all the fuss was about.

I thought that the end really made the book. Up until then it's really just a cabinet of horrors. At that moment, I think it becomes transcendant. The boy takes on a messianic character. He becomes "the One."

kendo old mate, just for you, I'm gonna try to finish Atonement. I really dislike giving up on books....
I will put my abandonment down to the Chinese weather and give Ian another chance...

I haven't read Amsterdam. Is that yr pick of his works?

Yes. Amsterdam is short, clever and nasty. Makes me think of Roald Dahl, a lifelong favorite.

Ni hao!?

During my vacation, I read Michael Crichton's "Next." Utter shite. Entertaing enough, but obvious and, ultimately, reactionary and reprehensible.

Back to Cloud Atlas. I'm about midway through. I understand the conceit. The whole story within a story within a story. Russian dolls, and all. I'm liking, but not yet loving it. So far it seems like short stories with a little thread running from one to the other. Like any short story collection, some are better than others. I'm hoping/expecting the one great unifying surprise at the end that bowls me over.

Just starting on "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole.

Oh Wow!
I envy you reading "Dunces" for the first time.

After I finished it, I was so blown away; I had been raving about it during my reading of it to my friends; and so, subsequently, 3 of my mates read it straight after me, and equally adored it.

quote:

Originally posted by Ishmaelscoffin:
Oh Wow!
I envy you reading "Dunces" for the first time.

After I finished it, I was so blown away; I had been raving about it during my reading of it to my friends; and so, subsequently, 3 of my mates read it straight after me, and equally adored it.

Funny, I wasn't crazy about "Dunces." I hated the main character so much, I would dread reading it. I understood that he was meant to be a buffoon (using the term in the sense of Italian commedia del arte) and that that is what was meant to be funny, but he just made me angry.

In a similar style, but ultimately, I thought, more satisfying, was the book "Absurdistan," by Gary Steyngart. Similar main character, but ultimately more sympathetic, and eventually veers off into Kurt Vonnegut type teritorry.

So, kendo, do you strongly require a sympathetic main character to truly enjoy a novel?

Or were you just particularly annoyed by one unsympathetic character?

Because Ignatius is certainly a very well drawn personage, even if annoying...

Maybe I do. I hadn't ever really thought about it that way. Perhaps it's not that I need a sympathetic character, but one with whom I can, at least on some level, identify.

Take Ahab, for example. Terribly unsympathetic character. But I understand him. I have a bit of him in me, and I think most of us do.

I hope I haven't got any Ignatius in me!

Sporting a peg leg, are ye?

Metaphorically speaking, aren't we all?

Touche!

Currently reading Clive James' essays on slate.

Terrific excerpts from his forthcoming book on 20th century cultural figures.

I agree with everything he says for the most part, but when he criticises John Coltrane, he is way off base, seemingly having heard only the abrasive stuff....

I'll be stoned, but I am just not enjoying Atonement...each line I read i have to read again as the essence of the book seems to just disappear into the ether....

Can't.....get.......in....to......it........

I didn't like Atonement all that much. I liked the beginning, but after everyone went their separate ways, I thought the story kind of fell apart. I just lost interest. I did carry on, though, to the end and I liked the end.

I'm having a heck of a time getting through The Age of Innocence. I like the story (have already seen the film), but I just can't seem to get into that book. The style is off-putting for me. It distances the reader, I think. Or maybe it's just this particular reader. I wouldn't be surprised.

Ah well, I'll have to concede, then, that McEwan is not for everyone.

I'm nearly done with Cloud Atlas, and now enjoying it immensely. A "don't want it to end" sort of enjoyment.

I especially loved the central sections. Very much a Philip K Dick sort of feel. I still think that on some level, the sections can be understood to be a parody/hommage to genre fiction, and that there is no overarching emotional core to the book, but the individual sections are quite affecting. In this way, it's quite different from Black Swan Green which threaded the emotional/nostalgic element throughout.

kendocubano, I'm sorry I couldn't arrive at a love for McEwan as you have, but I'm thrilled you are loving Cloud Atlas...

I have found it the most striking read of the last few yrs..

Finished Cloud Atlas. I really enjoyed it, but had a bit of trouble getting past the "gimmick" aspect of it. A satisfying read overall.

Tonight I started "What is the What," a fictionalized autobiograpy of one of 'the Lost Boys of Sudan,' essentially written by David Eggers. Harrowing, so far, but interesting.

i just finished, "the perks of being a wallflower" because it seems like everyone has read it; i hate to feel left out :P i actually really enjoyed it, pleasantly surprised i also read "the average american male" which cites maddox for praise on the back cover so you can guess what kind of book it was... i think it was supposed to be shocking and funny and ironic, but really, eh.

i'm currently reading "our word is our weapon" about the Zapatista movement... seems really good so far.