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Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2010 18:13:34 GMT
I still haven't finished 'The Elegance of the Hedgehog' although I did progress a bit from the last time it was mentioned. Now it has disappeared again somewhere (my apartment is multidimensional, I think).
I did sort of like the movie, which I watched on a plane last year, but I don't know yet how much it differs from the book. The first part at least is very faithful.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 19, 2010 19:15:49 GMT
Thanks, Jazz. I get all my reading from the library. I only buy fiction if I like a book so much that I need to get a copy as a gift for someone else.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2010 22:25:25 GMT
Now there's a trip down memory lane,the discussion of The Elegance of the Hedgehog.I struggled with that book,start and stopped so many times and then finally once I got into about 60 pages I'm going to guess,I was hooked.I want to say it was my state of mind at the time...took awhile to wrap my head around it,and it was especially frustrating because people on here loved it so much.(So hard to really try and like a book?). Anyway,will be curious Kimby to hear your take on.
I really did not like Zadie Smith,only read White Teeth.(another book everyone raved about,not on here,but elsewhere)
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Post by Deleted on Feb 21, 2010 23:48:47 GMT
I just began "The Age of Shiva" by Manil Suri.His first novel was "The Death of Vishnu". Anyone know of him? The first page is one of the most erotic openings to a novel I have ever read! I picked it up Friday at the used book store upon the recommendation of the owner/friend.
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Post by bjd on Feb 22, 2010 10:12:32 GMT
I just started a biography of Gabriel Garcia Marquez by Gerald Martin. I read a good review of it in the IHT a few months ago. But it's 600 pages and I don't usually like to read biographies.
In the first few chapters, I discovered how much of Marquez's books, in particular 100 Years of Solitude was based on actual stuff of the author's life.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2010 10:40:29 GMT
I would be interested in reading this BJD. Although,600 pages is a bit daunting,for any subject,no matter how fascinating. I was aware that One Hundred Years...was partially autobiographical.Keep us posted please.
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Post by bjd on Feb 22, 2010 11:24:33 GMT
Casi, it might be shorter in English! This one is in French, which is generally longer than English, and a translation from the English original. It's also a large-sized volume that I got from the library.
Just googling, I find an English language edition is only 566 (that does include pages of bibliography and notes). My French edition is 598 pages of text.
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Post by bjd on Feb 22, 2010 11:26:42 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2010 11:30:03 GMT
Actually,now that I think about it,I've never really encountered a short biography unless it's some inane subject like Paris Hilton.When I was working in a used bookstore last year,the biography section was positively crawling with these.I was tempted to throw half of them in the recycle bin! I will check this out,thanks.I'm due for a good biography.
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Post by Kimby on Feb 22, 2010 15:47:42 GMT
Thank you Jazz. This is exactly what I hoped for when I posted my request. Based on what I read at the original thread you so kindly linked for me, I will definitely find the book and read it. It sounds like the kind of book I will want to return to and ruminate on and re-read someday, so I will buy it at the used bookstore instead of reading a library copy that I will have to give back.
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Post by spindrift on Feb 24, 2010 14:43:45 GMT
Because of Jazz's and Bixa's recommendation I have, today, bought a copy of The Elegance of the Hedgehog and I hope I won't be disappointed. I'll start reading it on my long flight tonight. Better be good, girls
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Post by Deleted on Feb 24, 2010 15:00:45 GMT
Does this mean that I am going to have to finish it, too?
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Post by spindrift on Feb 24, 2010 15:46:16 GMT
Oh! so you're saying it's not worth reading
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Post by Deleted on Feb 24, 2010 15:57:03 GMT
No, I'm just saying that I haven't finished it.
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Post by Kimby on Feb 25, 2010 16:58:37 GMT
Can I have your copy K2 when you find it? I am on the waitlist to get a copy at the used book seller.
Meanwhile I am starting Three Cups of Tea, a book that got good reviews, but since the author, Greg Mortenson, lives a couple hours from here I had assumed it was being over-hyped by the local media. Apparently not the case, as it's received awards and I believe been mentioned by AnyPort readers as one of their favorites on another thread.
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Post by traveler63 on Feb 27, 2010 1:59:48 GMT
I am just starting Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. It takes place in Henry VIII's reign. I think that someone posted that they were reading it or had just finished it. I will let you know what I think.
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Post by tillystar on Mar 1, 2010 10:03:48 GMT
I am nearly finihsed The Senator's Wife by Sue Miller. Recommend it, its quietly special. I picked it up in a charity shop and thought it looked okayish but hasven't been able to put it down all weekend.
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Post by bjd on Mar 1, 2010 11:05:15 GMT
I'm about halfway through the Garcia Marquez biography. I'm rather torn about reading biographies, especially of authors. When I like their books, I find that the writers turn out to be rather unpleasant people (Bruce Chatwin springs to mind). Garcia Marquez too doesn't sound like someone I would like very much.
But it is interesting because he is set within the larger context of South America, Mexico (where he spent several years) and Colombian politics, of which I know nothing.
What is interesting too in this book is how much of Garcia Marquez's books are based on things that happened, or people who actually existed. It's certainly a well-written biography.
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Post by Jazz on Mar 2, 2010 21:20:02 GMT
I tend to be the opposite, bjd. If I really enjoy an author's work, I read his biography or autobiography to have it all in a total context. The Marquez bio sounds very good.
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Post by Jazz on Mar 2, 2010 21:35:36 GMT
I'm in the middle of reading Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell. He has some fascinating thoughts about how we come to make decisions, his theory of 'thin slicing'. I highly recommend this book if you tend to procrastinate and feel that you must examine and analyze every conceivable option before you act.
One lengthy example (real life, enacted in 2000) is particularily good...the simulated war games with the Blue side (american state of the art war approaches) vs. the Red side (intuitive, think on your feet, war is messy and unpredicatable and you never know what the enemy is thinking) . For this enactment which was designed to evolve their war approach, a brilliant ex-marine was chosen to be the 'rogue commander' of the Red side. Red won, against all odds.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 2, 2010 23:02:40 GMT
Blink is fascinating, as are all his books. They're hard to describe, because you can't imagine how happily you'll be carried along on a stream of interesting facts and graceful but not facile reasoning.
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Post by bjd on Mar 3, 2010 9:17:46 GMT
I can't say that I was a big fan of Garcia Marquez. I did read 100 years of Solitude back then, when I was at university, but hadn't especially read anything else by him. I only started again because of reading in Spanish and I found a book of his short stories in a local book store. He is difficult for learners, but I do appreciate his writing more and just bought Love in the Time of Cholera.
Re the Gladwell Red vs Blue, I don't quite see why all the odds would be against the Reds winning. Just remember the various guerilla wars being fought over the past decades, and it's obvious that the American State of War approach doesn't necessarily win. Sorry for threadjacking.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 6, 2010 18:52:13 GMT
Having gone from one absorbing book to another recently, I need to report on three together. If I read a profound book, or one that that really provokes various emotions, or one that is exceptionally well written, I like to follow it with something lighter and more for entertainment. I scored on all counts with the latest three. First I read Perma Red. I'd have to give it a mixed review, although overall I'd say it's a worthy book with an author worth watching. Please click on the title for two Amazon reader reviews which well capture my feelings about the book. I followed that with Locked Rooms. I'm a big fan of Laurie R. King and this series just keeps getting better. The plots and character development are always complete enough that you feel you're getting real reading value from her books. (try Folly -- quite different from the Russell & Holmes books) But the jewel in this little group was E.L. Doctorow's Homer & Langley. Whew -- what a book, and what a feat of writing. It's brilliantly imagined and the voice of the narrator pulled me in immediately. The story line kept me enthralled, but it's the poetic, philosophical feel to the whole thing that makes it into art and that should make this book a classic.
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Post by bjd on Mar 10, 2010 12:36:51 GMT
I finished the Garcia Marquez biography yesterday. It's quite interesting and well-written, although I read it in French. Martin's original is in English. I hadn't realized how rich GGM became after 100 Years of Solitude and that everything else he wrote afterwards sold in huge amounts simply because of his name.
I have bought Love in The Time of Cholera in Spanish and will start it soon, but right now I am just reading a couple of detective stories I got from the library.
I read Mortensen's Three Cups of Tea last year. I didn't find it very well written, but thought it worth reading. Also waiting for me is Ahmed Rashid's Descent into Chaos, which deals with the same areas (Pakistan, Afghanistan,...) but, of course, from a different point of view.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2010 2:14:48 GMT
I'm in the middle of reading Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell. He has some fascinating thoughts about how we come to make decisions, his theory of 'thin slicing'. I highly recommend this book if you tend to procrastinate and feel that you must examine and analyze every conceivable option before you act. One lengthy example (real life, enacted in 2000) is particularily good...the simulated war games with the Blue side (american state of the art war approaches) vs. the Red side (intuitive, think on your feet, war is messy and unpredicatable and you never know what the enemy is thinking) . For this enactment which was designed to evolve their war approach, a brilliant ex-marine was chosen to be the 'rogue commander' of the Red side. Red won, against all odds. Jazz,you may be interested in reading Gladwell's newest book,"What the Dog Saw" (late 2009) which is a compilation of his pieces written for The New Yorker (he is a staff writer for). In it are some fascinating pieces on various topics.Most of them are available on line however,but a good read for Gladwell fans. His latest piece in The New Yorker 2/15&2/22 I found utterly fascinating and if you can get your hands on it,do. The piece is called "Drinking Games",and is under the Annals of Anthropology section.It is a lengthy treatise on alcohol consumption and goes into culture and customs and how they help shape the way alcohol affects us,and how much people drink may matter less than how they drink it.Again,fascinating. On the fiction front,I am in an Iris Murdoch phase (again),and am reading her "Message to the Planet", which is interesting, given the goings on these days.(the novel was written in 1990,she is quite a visionary it seems,or was,given her current state of health sadly.)
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2010 11:15:50 GMT
I would love to hear an update on the Marquez biography BJD,if you recommend etc.
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Post by bjd on Mar 12, 2010 12:43:41 GMT
Casi, look at reply 233. I don't know if that's much of a recommendation. I'm glad I read it and I found it interesting, but I don't know whether I would recommend it to someone who has a big pile of books to read. I guess it depends on whether you have read a lot of GGM and want to know more about his life, in which case, yes, it's worth reading. I was trying to find links to professional reviews, like the NY Times one that made me want to read the book but couldn't access them. However, on www.goodreads.com/book/show/5741575-gabriel-garcia-marquez you can scroll down a bit and see some readers' comments.
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Post by Jazz on Mar 12, 2010 13:44:18 GMT
His latest piece in The New Yorker 2/15&2/22 I found utterly fascinating and if you can get your hands on it,do. The piece is called "Drinking Games",and is under the Annals of Anthropology section.It is a lengthy treatise on alcohol consumption and goes into culture and customs and how they help shape the way alcohol affects us,and how much people drink may matter less than how they drink it.Again,fascinating. Thanks, Casimira. I would like to read this article. I know that I am convinced that why people drink alcohol is much more significent than how much they drink.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2010 16:11:20 GMT
Thanks BJD, I have read most all Marquez,and yes, would be interested in checking his bio out.(I missed your earlier post,lots of catching up to do on here)
Jazz, the Gladwell piece I speak of is not so much about WHY, but, HOW people drink which is the fascinating part. (customs and culture feature prominently in the piece).
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 12, 2010 16:13:07 GMT
Just finished a book that probably could be characterized as chick lit, although I enjoyed it a great deal. I really like stories about settling in the west in the early days of the US if the author includes solid historical detail. The Diary of Mattie Spenser fills the bill beautifully, in the form of a journal written by a bride who leaves Iowa for Colorado. Once the book hit its stride, I found I was absorbed by and identifying with Mattie -- a satisfying reading experience. I don't know if The Blood of Flowers, which I just started, will turn out to be chick lit or not. This short review: www.thebloodofflowers.co.uk/ will explain my ambivalence. Still, I got pulled in by the writing immediately, as it so far has managed to avoid the preciousness that can mar this kind of period piece. Re the Gladwell Red vs Blue, I don't quite see why all the odds would be against the Reds winning. Just remember the various guerilla wars being fought over the past decades, and it's obvious that the American State of War approach doesn't necessarily win. Sorry for threadjacking. I don't think this is threadjacking, Bjd. Every time I read this thread or add to it, I wish we'd all comment on each others posts a little more.
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