Daily Kos

Weekly book diary-what makes a good book? With Poll!

by JLongs

Sat Jul 16, 2005 at 09:00:54 PM PDT

What makes a good book?

There are as many answers as there are people.  From the formulaic to the fabulous, from the unique to the unspeakable, everyone has certain criteria for what makes a book a worthy read.  Some of us are more eclectic than others, some are addicted to certain genres, to certain writers, or to certain styles.

In this week's book diary, I'm inviting you to share what you makes you love a book.

Continued-

This is a different kind of theme for the book diary but its all good.  I love to hear what people like to read and why they like to read it.

Ticking off my favorite authors, I look for common traits.
Salman Rushdie
Umberto Eco
Terry Pratchett
Stephen King
Alice Walker
Arthur C. Clarke
Greg Bear (a new-ish find for me)
Stephen Baxter
Robert Heinlein
Margaret Atwood
Peter Straub

What ties them together?  Possibly scholarship.  Possibly that they have something "different" to offer, weird and new ideas, twisted plots, exceptionally literate writing, and wordplay.  

I look for a good story first.  Judging a book by its cover isn't supposed to be a good idea, but being a science fiction fan, sometimes you can get a good idea of what the story's like by the cover.  For instance, if it has a dragon, a unicorn, or a heavily armored buxom lady on the cover, I'm pretty likely to give the back a cursory glance just in case and put it back on the shelf.  I don't like fantasy (Pratchett excepted).  Not crazy about shoot-em-up militaristic space opera.  But I do love hard science fiction, like Stephen Baxter, Arthur Clarke, Asimov, and Greg Bear.  

In horror, I'm very, very selective.  I've been disappointed too many times, and tend to restrict myself to King and Straub.  It's got to be a good story, and the author has to make me believe it.

In general fiction, the author has to be literate, willing to take chances with the plot, and not leave anything hanging.  I despise one-dimensional characters, and I love characters that change through the course of the story.

So what makes a book a book you want to read?  What brings you back to an author over and over again?

And, as always, what have you read lately?

Poll

What makes a good book a good book?

22%9 votes
10%4 votes
25%10 votes
22%9 votes
2%1 votes
0%0 votes
2%1 votes
0%0 votes
15%6 votes

| 40 votes | Vote | Results

Tags: (all tags) :: Previous Tag Versions

Permalink | 69 comments

  •  Tip Jar and Recent Reads (4.00 / 15)

    Haven't done much reading this week-still working on "Cryptonomicon", started a new Greg Bear (Legacy) and off and on rereading "Going Postal".

    I'm about 350 pages into the C book, it's just not one you skim... there is a lot of information there.  And work's been a bear.  I know, I know, I'm slacking from my usual consumption.

    Sorry this is so late, we were out playing NTN trivia and I lost track of time.

    KO sez..."All Hail the Prophetic Gut!" Also, Visit Scenic Buttercupia!

    by JLongs on Sat Jul 16, 2005 at 04:01:55 PM PDT

    •  Some thoughts... (none / 1)

      Here we go, settle in:

      1.  "Cryptonomicon" made me laugh harder than just about any book has recently.  My brother in law thought it was unbearably wordy.  The memo, in the second half of the book, is one of the most brilliant pieces of laugh out loud satire I've ever seen.  But that may just be me.
      2.  Read Alastair Reynolds.
      3.  After sailing through several other genres, I've meandered into hard scifi, which I find interesting because it's plausible and not escapist, but still talks about where we're going.  That said, one of the best books I've read recently - of any genre - was Michael Flynn's The Wreck of the River of Stars, which is virtually the definition of "character-driven."  There was one moment at the beginning where I realized something about a character and it pissed me off until I realized, five pages later, that it was intentional; towards the end, when resolution starts to happen, I had real reactions to some of the characters.  
      4.  There's always Mary Doria Russell.
      5.  If you can't tell, I'm a character person.  I want to read about interesting people (I read a lot of biography), and I can't tolerate a poorly-built character, even if there's a great plot for him or her.  That was my problem with "Ilium" - Hockenberry was a little bland (though the little moravec thing was a great character).
      6.  I can't wait for the bar exam to be over so I can actually read a lot again...

      "Don't falme me pleas."

      by socratic on Sat Jul 16, 2005 at 04:28:44 PM PDT

      [ Parent ]

      •  Alastair Reynolds (4.00 / 2)

        My daughter's name is Ilia, based on the Volyova character from Revelation Space.  We didn't read the other books until after she was born, we still loved the Volyova character.  If she had been a boy, we probably would have named him Alastair, even though Ilia is a boy's name.  

        Reynolds is a powerful writer and Chasm City is one of his best books, IMO.  Great follow up to Neil Stephenson and Richard K. Morgan.

        Outta here, I don't deal well with sites that condone racism.

        by fabooj on Sat Jul 16, 2005 at 05:20:19 PM PDT

        [ Parent ]

        •  now THAT (4.00 / 2)

          is some serious dedication!  :)

          Chasm City is a great read for anyone who likes a good tale.  It's like the new Battlestar Galactica: don't let the fact that it's set in a sci-fi environment scare you (generic you, not you you) off -- it's damn good.

          His newest one was great too.  Some people complained about a deus ex machina, but, um, that was kind of the point (though not as self-referentially ironic as Dan Simmons' Ilium was...)

          I want to find out what it is that makes these physicists such good storytellers.. is it that to work in high energy physics, you have to be an artist as much as a scientist?  I just don't know.  That whole cycle of Brin/Bear/Reynolds/Baxter... they're so good.

          "Don't falme me pleas."

          by socratic on Sat Jul 16, 2005 at 05:26:09 PM PDT

          [ Parent ]

          •  Not much dedication (none / 1)

            We couldn't think of any names and I was reading the book.  My husband "apparently" suggested it before, but I shot it down.  Then I looked up the name and decided that I liked it enough.  There's a explanation on her not so updated website.

            What are you referring to when you say "his latest"?  The last book we read was Redemption Ark, but my husband says that Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days came out in the fall (though B&N says Jan.) and Century Rain just came out last month.  

            Outta here, I don't deal well with sites that condone racism.

            by fabooj on Sat Jul 16, 2005 at 05:40:41 PM PDT

            [ Parent ]

  •  Reading, reading, reading (4.00 / 2)

    I mentioned last week, I had just finished Market Forces, which is still reeling in my head.  I'm reading Olympos by Dan Simmons right now.  I'm glad it's only half the size of Ilium.  I spent almost 8 hours yesterday in the ER and got through a nice chunk of the book.  I must say, that so far I am pleased and it's a lot faster paced than Ilium.  I'm noticing that's a Simmons trait.  Hyperion was kind of slow, but Fall of Hyperion was breakneck.  Same with Endymiona and Rise of Endymion.  

    Dan Simmons is a great author and I have yet to read anything by him that was bad.  He has all the hallmarks of a good author:  great hero/heroine, terrific villians (no one will EVER beat the Shrike), awesome plot lines and a way with words that's amazing.  When I read other authors that I like, I feel like my own books/stories aren't so bad.  When I read Simmons, I feel like I have a long ways to go.

    Outta here, I don't deal well with sites that condone racism.

    by fabooj on Sat Jul 16, 2005 at 04:04:13 PM PDT

  •  A one night read. (4.00 / 2)

    That's my definition of a good book--one I pick up, read the first couple of pages, then think, "Damn, I have to get this one!"

    Then, after I do, I begin to read it as soon as I get home, and get so absorbed in it, I stay up reading until I'm finished!

    "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it." George Santayana

    by Street Kid on Sat Jul 16, 2005 at 04:12:51 PM PDT

    •  To me (4.00 / 2)

      that's discouraging.  It has to be LONG.  I read way too fast and furiously to want to deal with a short book.

      I do make one exception to that, though.  The poet Sapphire put out a hell of a book several years ago called "Push".  It's a novel that tells of a young girl's struggle growing up in the most deplorable, disheartening circumstances imaginable.  I read it in just under two hours and recommend it constantly.  An incredible, heartbreaking read.

      KO sez..."All Hail the Prophetic Gut!" Also, Visit Scenic Buttercupia!

      by JLongs on Sat Jul 16, 2005 at 04:16:40 PM PDT

      [ Parent ]

      •  Thanks! (none / 1)

        Sounds like a must read for me.  (Am also fast reader who shares your feeling re:  short books.)

        "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it." George Santayana

        by Street Kid on Sat Jul 16, 2005 at 04:21:45 PM PDT

        [ Parent ]

      •  For a good read/listening (4.00 / 3)

        Tess Gerritsen - a doctor turned writer who writes wonderful mysteries - full of twists and solid, empathetic characters, including a female ME and a female Boston detective.  I am packing up for a house move and put on her recent book on tape - "Body Double."  Time flies by.

        The recent 100 worst Americans poll that listed Barbara Kingsolver, one of our best Amrican writers, prompted me to reread one of her best books, The Poisonwood bible - a stunning book about America and Africa and a prescient tale of twisted southern American religion (yes, it all works, flows, dances, sings--) - a recent small book of essays of nature written with her husband (Mr. Hopp - I can't remember his first name) is on my nighttable now.

        The guy who wrote that list couldn't carry her pencil into a room much less make a judgment about her character.  An environmentalist, a human rights activist and a writer of splendid talent -- Barbara Kingsolver.  Read her if you haven't --

        Democrats, Make it Work. You have until November to bring your electorate in.

        by xanthe on Sat Jul 16, 2005 at 04:33:27 PM PDT

        [ Parent ]

        •  100 Worst Americans list (none / 1)

          Is that the new book by Bernard Goldberg? I saw him on the Daily Show the other night. Jon Stewart gave him a few things to think about. My favorite line was "You've got three conservatives on this list, and one of them shot an abortion doctor."

          Fritzburgh An'at--Politics, Culture, and Whimsy from a Chipped Chopped Mind

          by Bob Quixote on Sat Jul 16, 2005 at 04:36:51 PM PDT

          [ Parent ]

        •  My must read list is getting longer! (none / 1)

          Cool!

          "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it." George Santayana

          by Street Kid on Sat Jul 16, 2005 at 04:44:10 PM PDT

          [ Parent ]

          •  That happens when you read the book diaries... (none / 0)

            unfortunately, also when you write them.  My list is so long now I'll never get them all read.  But I'll keep trying!

            KO sez..."All Hail the Prophetic Gut!" Also, Visit Scenic Buttercupia!

            by JLongs on Sun Jul 17, 2005 at 03:25:06 AM PDT

            [ Parent ]

            •  Also happens when... (none / 1)

              you hit garage sales and find boxes of books people just don't want anymore, so they will take a couple of bucks for them!!!  (Also some used book stores, if they know you are a "regular".)

              I cannot believe some of my finds:  "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea", "Leaves of Grass", "Swiss Family Robinson", "The Hunchback of Notre Dame", "The Sirit of St. Louis", "Tormented Loyalty", "Mother Theresa--A Simple Path", "Chaplain--My Autobiography", to name just a few!  

              (I just don't understand how or why people can get rid of books--but then, I'm a pack rat.  I don't even loan books to friends--they are never returned!)

              Need more bookshelves...that' what I was really garage saling for last week and what do I come home with?  More books!!!!

              "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it." George Santayana

              by Street Kid on Sun Jul 17, 2005 at 04:45:30 AM PDT

              [ Parent ]

      •  I'm with you (none / 1)

        Give me something that takes me away for days. I loved A.S. Byatt's Possession for that. I finally got around to reading that last month. What a delicious treat! Great characters, foreign lands, mystery, love. A real vacation for the mind.

        I guess for me that's more the key for my fiction reading -- a vacation (and a puzzle) for the mind. Reading is my only source of travel until I my coffers fill up, so I love to travel to foreign lands when I read. That alone is not enough though. I love to solve the puzzle of a story. A really fun read for me was The Rule of Four. I loved the puzzle presented.

        BTW, I've been out of town (yes, I traveled! to PA to visit family) and missed several weeks of your diaries. I love to read them and hopefully, you'll see my comments. :)

        Even Pollyanna would have a hard time being sunny about this administration.

        by vlogger on Sat Jul 23, 2005 at 06:42:48 PM PDT

        [ Parent ]

  •  What makes... (4.00 / 3)

    ...a book good fer me is nice pictures cuz ahm not so good at readin' ya know.  Like that pet goat book, that wuz a good'n.
                                   -Dubya
                                 

    Fear will keep the local systems in line. -Grand Moff Tarkin -SLB-

    by boran2 on Sat Jul 16, 2005 at 04:15:51 PM PDT

  •  I haven't read much fiction lately (none / 1)

    too much nonfiction that I need to finish.  I've got Sarah Vowel's Assasination Vacation sitting on my bed table.  I love essays, so I devour anything by David Sedaris, Molly Ivins and Sarah Vowel.  Loved Maureen Dowd's Bushworld.  I like Nick Hornsby, Barbara Kingsolver and a lot of classics.

    Wake me up in 09 when the scary part is over!

    by KellyB on Sat Jul 16, 2005 at 04:19:59 PM PDT

  •  It's hard for me to say (4.00 / 3)

    what pulls me in to a book. I suppose the characters have a lot to do with it. They have to be interesting and I have to care about what happens to them. For example, The Godfather is an amazing book because all the characters are so complex and real. There isn't a stereotype in the whole book.
    Sometimes the ideas behind a book draw me in. An excellent example is Stranger in a Strange Land. The whole philosophy behind the book intrigued me. Of course, it helps to be receptive to the idea. In college, I devoured Atlas Shrugged because I was already sold on Ayn Rand's philosophy. Nowadays, I probably wouldn't have gotten past the first chapter.

    Fritzburgh An'at--Politics, Culture, and Whimsy from a Chipped Chopped Mind

    by Bob Quixote on Sat Jul 16, 2005 at 04:24:40 PM PDT

    •  If you liked the Godfather (none / 1)

      you may like what many consider his best book, The Fortunate Pilgram, a story of an Italian immigrant - a woman raising a family alone in the 30, 40s, 50s.  A book about America - as the Godfather ultimately is -- the idea of America and how it changes and shimmers through the eyes of one of its best immigrants.  If you are Italian - well, that's an added bonus but truly it could be any immigrant group.  

      Democrats, Make it Work. You have until November to bring your electorate in.

      by xanthe on Sat Jul 16, 2005 at 04:47:02 PM PDT

      [ Parent ]

  •  I like intricate plots (none / 1)

    with LOTS of details and references to history/mythology/religion/politics/ideologies...etc.

    The characters have to be well-developed. Sometimes I like the typical good vs. evil plot lines...Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Dan Brown's books.
    ..sometimes I need chick-lit to just NOT think for a while about anything but shopping and other useless stuff. Sometimes I need a real work of art.

    Obama, or McCain

    by Elise on Sat Jul 16, 2005 at 04:35:18 PM PDT

    •  I too like the details (none / 1)

      My favorite parts of Moby Dick are the long discussions on whaling and whales.  According to several books on writing I have read, that is a "no no."

      by daulton on Sat Jul 16, 2005 at 04:48:50 PM PDT

      [ Parent ]

      •  You liked Moby Dick? (none / 1)

        Are you ill? (Just kidding)

        I was forced to read it in high school by the same 4'10" midget who made me memorize the entire prologue to the Canterbury Tales in middle English.

        Tarheel born, tarheel bred! And when I die, I'll be tarheel dead.

        by NCYellowDog on Sat Jul 16, 2005 at 04:53:48 PM PDT

        [ Parent ]

      •  I know it's the great American novel (none / 1)

        (I think the gan is The Great Gatsby) but you're the first person I've ever met who liked that book.  And I've spent a lot of time with literary types.  You're to be congratulated.

        Democrats, Make it Work. You have until November to bring your electorate in.

        by xanthe on Sat Jul 16, 2005 at 11:13:10 PM PDT

        [ Parent ]

    •  Dan Simmons (none / 1)

      If you haven't read the Hyperion Cantos you should, then follow up with Endymion and Rise of Endymion.  Talk about complex characters.  Simmons also addresses politics, religion, societies, etc. in those books.  It's astounding really.

      Outta here, I don't deal well with sites that condone racism.

      by fabooj on Sat Jul 16, 2005 at 04:58:59 PM PDT

      [ Parent ]

  •  Remember "the banality of evil"? (none / 1)

    With Bush, it's the "evil of banality."

    Why would the Anti-Christ need to be a genius? Stupidity is enough to start a war; to melt the ice caps; to smirk for the cameras.

    I recall someone once said; too bad stupidity is not a sin. I say, it is.

    by daulton on Sat Jul 16, 2005 at 04:43:09 PM PDT

  •  ANYTHING BY JEFF NOON (none / 1)

    especially:

    VURT
    POLLEN
    NYMPHOMATION
    and
    AUTOMATED ALICE

    http://www.vurt-feather.co.uk/

    OIL UBER ALLES says "MORE WARS" McCain

    by KnotIookin on Sat Jul 16, 2005 at 04:57:20 PM PDT

  •  I don't read fiction anymore (none / 1)

    But if I did, it would be Alice Walker or Anne Tyler. I love Heinlein, too. And Frank Herbert. I could go on and on here.

    Last fiction I read was DaVinci Code, which I didn't care for at all.

    Right now, on top of my bookstack is the unopened copy of "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Kidd, which a friend insisted I read, and I haven't been able to yet because I can't even keep up with my nonfiction appetite.

    Or my dKos appetite, but that's another story.

    Tarheel born, tarheel bred! And when I die, I'll be tarheel dead.

    by NCYellowDog on Sat Jul 16, 2005 at 05:04:09 PM PDT

  •  I like (4.00 / 2)

    heroic German Shepherds, fires, and families in peril.

    by QueenMizz on Sat Jul 16, 2005 at 05:06:07 PM PDT

  •  great characters (4.00 / 2)

    Harlan Ellison, Michael Moorcock, Ray Bradbury, Frank Miller, Robert Heinlein, Neal Stephenson, William Gibson, Andrew Vachss, John Sandford, Tony Hillerman ... all create very vivid characters with strong motivations and backstories.

    One Tin Liberal Street Fighter Rides Away ...

    by Madman in the marketplace on Sat Jul 16, 2005 at 05:17:26 PM PDT

  •  Reading, for Adults (4.00 / 2)

    Current reading:  Gilgamesh (book on CD), translation by Stephen Mitchell and "American Empire: Roosevelt's Geographer and the Prelude to Globalization" by Neil Smith.

    I highly recommend Moby Dick, the book on tape version, and forget your High School or even College classes. . . . .Now that I'm solidly middle age I realize how almost everything we read for classes was written for much older people than we were. . .  .Too bad they ruined so much for us!

    To me, a good book probes the human heart and mind. I also greatly appreciate wit, keen observation, and excellent use of language. I love the opportunity to "visit" places, times, and people I wouldn't ever know otherwise.

    For fiction I prefer short stories, especially Guy de Maupassant. Devilish.

    I adore Bill Bryson. Highly recommended observations/travel in USA, UK were my favorites. Also as books on tape.

    Best Diary of the Year? http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/2/23/03912/3990

    by LNK on Sat Jul 16, 2005 at 05:18:17 PM PDT

    •  Good point (4.00 / 3)

      Animal Farm, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, A Brave New World...I had to read these books in 9th grade.  Granted it was an honors course, but I don't think these are age appropriate books.  I mean at the age of 13, Machiavelli meant nothing to me.  When I re-read the books in college, I didn't go the typical psuedo-intellectual route most of my friends (and most college students) did.  I still didn't "get" them.  That is, until I started relating them to my world.  Of course, at the age of 32, I understand what is going on and I'm sure that at the age of 52, I'll see a whole other level.  

      Outta here, I don't deal well with sites that condone racism.

      by fabooj on Sat Jul 16, 2005 at 05:24:56 PM PDT

      [ Parent ]

      •  Exactly (4.00 / 2)

        I pretty much got Brave New World; it was in my genre at the time, but on the whole I agree.

        I don't which is worse. Making someone read Moby Dick in 2 weeks, or expecting him/her to relate to it and understand it in that much time.

        My HS English teacher was horrible about that. "In 25 words or less describe the significance of Gatsby's shirts."  We tried. She had a 25-word sentence that was much better. The problem was that e were 17 and had only read the book once. She had taught it at least 20 times by then.

        When I got to college my senior year I had a professor look at things completely differently.  Same book - The Great Gatsby- he asks, "Do we like these people?"  That was a nice approach.

        Gotta make it somehow on the dreams we still believe. - R. Hunter.

        by mungley on Sat Jul 16, 2005 at 06:00:16 PM PDT

        [ Parent ]

      •  Interesting point (none / 1)

        Even though I read Animal Farm in middle school and got it just fine. Amazing how Orwell nailed the Soviet Union--right down to its end.

        Fritzburgh An'at--Politics, Culture, and Whimsy from a Chipped Chopped Mind

        by Bob Quixote on Sun Jul 17, 2005 at 04:06:29 AM PDT

        [ Parent ]

  •  Oh good - you made Recommended (4.00 / 3)

    you know what makes a good book - writers who are in love with the rhythm and sound of words and the mystery of human nature. And it's often what's artfully unsaid than inartfully said.  Cf. Hemmingway.

    Democrats, Make it Work. You have until November to bring your electorate in.

    by xanthe on Sat Jul 16, 2005 at 05:28:08 PM PDT

  •  I can't really say.... (4.00 / 4)

    ...what makes a good book.  If, as I'm reading it, I don't want to stop, that makes it a good book.  If, when I reach the end, I wish there were more of it, then it's a good book.  Over the years, books that have nothing in common have met those standards for me.  Some are complex.  Some are not.  Some have intricate plots, others have virtually no plot, or seem to be carried by attitude, or use of language.  Some are classics, some might be called by the uncharitable or the snobbish "junk."  Favorite authors include Thomas Hardy, Sinclair Lewis, Raymond Chandler, Philip K. Dick, Homer, Robert Parker, Michael Connelly, Sara Paretsky, Mary Renault.  See a pattern?   Me neither...

    Books I've read more than twice:  Catch-22, The Long Goodbye, The Once and Future King, most of Kurt Vonnegut's output (at least up until Breakfast of Champions), lots of PG Wodehouse, Rex Stout, and quite a few of Terry Pratchett's.  Each time I re-read one of those, I go a little slower.  That, too, is a mark of a good book.

    Right now, I'm reading Ilium by Dan Simmons.  Took awhile to get into it, but it's got me now.  This is the first thing I've read by Dan Simmons, although I've read good things about him over the years.  I'll probably check out Hyperion fairly soon.

    Greg Bear was mentioned upthread.  I wholeheartedly recommend The Forge of God and Darwin's Radio.  Both have sequels, but Bear's sequels tend not to be terribly strong, in my opinion.

    And I really enjoyed Cryptonomicon.  I read it in a very leisurely manner.  Some books are like that -- best taken a chapter or so at a time.  I recently finished the first book of John Dos Passos' USA -- took me a couple of months 'cause I don't think I read more than 25 pages in one sitting, and that was every few days at best.  

    "I'm not negative - I'm ANGRY!" -- Howard the Duck

    by Roddy McCorley on Sat Jul 16, 2005 at 05:38:47 PM PDT

  •  Good question (4.00 / 2)

    I'm a fairly slow reader, so tend to take recommendations. I'll also stick with one author if I've enjoyed other works for that same reason.

    Kurt Vonnegut
    Larry Niven
    Toni Morrison
    PJ Farmer
    James Joyce
    William Gibson
    Shakespeare
    Mary Shelly (well just the one book)
    Gonna read Harry Potter 6 soon.

    My wife turned me on to these:
    Jasper Ford
    Lawrence Block - Burglar series
    Agatha Christie
    Sir AC Doyle

    She just finished the Da Vinci code but didn't recommend....  She has suggested Umberto Eco though.

    What I like is language. Toni Morrison is so poetic in her writing that it's fun to read.  
    Joyce pushes language to the extreme, so it's more of a puzzle.

    Good Sci Fi is acceptable writing with enough of a plausible story to make it work.

    Some fantasy is good. Some is so bad it hurts. Robert Jordan was good a few years ago until he just go boring and repetitive.  

    Mystery is good for escapism.  Fun to guess anyway.

    I also like realistic mundane stuff.  Is it in "The Stranger" by Camus where there's a bit where some guys are arguing about their favorite opera singers? One accuses the other's singer of bellowing.  Taking the time to write that kind of stuff is great.  (Same thing I like in pop music too)

    I also like the 'classics'. Still working on Don Quixote, but it's really enjoyable.  Great to see what people enjoyed a few hundred years ago.

    Gotta make it somehow on the dreams we still believe. - R. Hunter.

    by mungley on Sat Jul 16, 2005 at 05:47:15 PM PDT

    •  Didn't read DVC (none / 1)

      and don't intend to-Angels and Demons was such a piece of dreck that I'll never pick up a Dan Brown book again unless I'm moving it to get to something else.  It very much wanted to be Foucault's Pendulum when it grew up.  I understand DVC is much the same.

      KO sez..."All Hail the Prophetic Gut!" Also, Visit Scenic Buttercupia!

      by JLongs on Sun Jul 17, 2005 at 03:32:03 AM PDT

      [ Parent ]

      •  how interesting.... (none / 1)

        i LOVED angels and demons much more than the davinci code...its a fast read and had an interesting premise and i was kept amused by the obvious deep seeded problems dan brown has with the roman catholic 'church'  SHEEEESH  :)

        when i read DVC i couldnt understand what all the hub bub was about...

        but then, I am not a follower of the Christian religion so i dont have a dog in the'religious' fight that has grown around this book.

        OIL UBER ALLES says "MORE WARS" McCain

        by KnotIookin on Sun Jul 17, 2005 at 06:29:06 AM PDT

        [ Parent ]

    •  Forgot Douglas Adams (none / 1)

      Smart. Smart. Smart.

      Gotta make it somehow on the dreams we still believe. - R. Hunter.

      by mungley on Sun Jul 17, 2005 at 07:46:08 AM PDT

      [ Parent ]

  •  I was about to say 'intuition' (none / 1)

    I've just started reading The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead, because I liked the title and it seemed.. imaginative and out of the ordinary.  We shall see.

    I cannot stand writers who think you are stupid and have to fill in all the blanks for you, and I pretty much despise wish-fulfillment sort of nice comfortable endings.  Am also deeply annoyed by contemporary authors who work with a collection of eccentricities in lieu of actual style and personality, this could also go for the whole twee McSweeney's type of thing.  (Admittedly this is a gross generalization, apologies for that..)  I prefer some degree of mystery and ambiguity and works that hold up to several readings and seem to be about different things each time.  Also, the use of language itself matters quite a lot to me, the way the words flow and sound, the style of it.  

    I read a ton of Stephen King and assorted other horror novels when I was about 14 and then never went back to the genre, really, but I should, they'd probably seem a lot different now.  Same for sci-fi, which often bothers me on some level, it's like religious mysticism for control freaks - I always want things to be uncertain and then the author names them with some clunky concept word out of a fake alien language, and that often drains all the weirdness right out of it.  My English major parents gave me a lot of classics to read when I was in high school, especially 19th century British and Russian novels.  I love Dostoevsky above all, but every Russian writer gets extra bonus points with me.

    on strike.

    by daria g on Sat Jul 16, 2005 at 06:43:52 PM PDT

  •  I really like "My Pet Goat." (none / 1)

    But apart from that...I don't read much political shit. Certainly not American political shit. Can't take it. Chomsky and Zinn being the occasional exception.

    Fiction-wise, I've gotta couple of recom's if anyone is interested...

    GAIN by Richard Powers - A cautionary Gatsbyish morality play, beautifully rendered, for the consumer generation. Rough synopsis: 150 years in the life of a consumer-goods corporation, paralleled with a few years in the life of a woman who uses its products. The writing's amazing; the story is monumental in scope; the tug at the emotions - unrelenting.

    SHE DROVE WITHOUT STOPPING by Jaimy Gordon - Skewed, clever beyond belief, funny as all hell (when appropriate) and not at all lacking in social satire, this young woman's coming-of-age/road novel careens through beat lit, hippie lit, po-mo, and oodles o' idioms, appropriating nifty bits from each and assembling them in a signature style that is entirely the author's own. Luvved it.

    An' a few favorite authors:
    Orwell. Period. 1984, of course, but DOWN AND OUT IN PARIS & LONDON and ROAD TO WIGAN PIER both occupy huge chunks of my consciousness.

    J.G. Ballard. CRASH and HIGH RISE are, I believe, the most visionary sci-fi written to date - largely by virtue of not really being sci-fi, but only slight extensions of processes already in process in western society. Brutal.

    Huxley. BRAVE NEW WORLD nailed it - we live there.

    Patrick McCabe - THE BUTCHER BOY and BREAKFAST ON PLUTO (soon to be a feature film!!!) are, to me, flip sides of the same coin: unflinching closeups of individual unravellings at the hands of societies which mow people down and just don't care. How he manages to be funny so often while recounting these frickin' tragic tales is beyond me, but a testament to his artistry.

    ...but THE book I've returned to over and over again for 20 years now: THE SUN ALSO RISES. Haven't run into another work of fiction that I've felt in my gut like that one. Still trying to make up my mind whether I'm Robert Cohn or Jake Barnes...

    It's called the american dream because you have to be asleep to believe it. - G. Carlin

    by RabidNation on Sat Jul 16, 2005 at 08:15:34 PM PDT

  •  There is no one thing that makes me . . . (4.00 / 2)

    want to read a book.  Although, there are reasons to go back to certain authors.  I like Rushdie and Eco for the same reason I like Nabokov  (I guess the set includes Stephenson, too)  because of their ability to play with the language.  It's hard to get Nabokov's jokes sometimes because one's gotta have somekind of knowledge of Russian and French to get the references.

    I'll say it, I liked Moby Dick.  There are parts that are knee-slapping funny.  Even dour Ahab has a joke at the expense of Starbuck later in the book.  Okay, I'm going to go out on a limb here, guys. . .some books are meant to be heard.  Moby Dick is one of those books.  The Lord of the Rings trilogy also fits.  Why, because they both are extensions of something we don't have much of in our culture, oral history.

    Currently, am reading --Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (which I will finish over breakfast--well, lunch), and have recently finished The Red Tent by Anita Diamant, Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi, and a strange, little book by Hitomi Kanehara titled Snakes and Earrings.

    Next up is a collection of papers about Haiti by Chomsky, etal.  That was prompted by Tracy Kidder's Mountains Beyond Mountains.  I've also got Stephenson's trilogy sitting there begging me to read it.

    National Immunization Awareness Month. I need s tetanus shot. What do you need?

    by Powered Grace on Sun Jul 17, 2005 at 02:37:17 AM PDT

Permalink | 69 comments