Eleanor

  • Best European Fiction 2010 (421 pages) is an anthology I just finished. I feel like if this was the best Europe had to offer, maybe I need to try another continent? Out of the thirty five stories in this book, only three were enjoyable: Stephan Enter’s “Resistance”, Michal Witkowski’s “Didi”, and an excerpt from Andrej Blatnik’s “You Do…[Read more]

  • This is a weird request, but does anyone have any recommendations for self help-ish books? I don’t normally have much interest in this kind of thing, but I’m in a living situation where I don’t have a lot of people to talk to and could use a little general life guidance from the universe. Self Help Areas of Interest: Being More Zen, Surviving Your…[Read more]

    • Eh, self-help really isn’t my thing, but my mom has been reading a book called Quiet Your Mind: An Easy-To-Use Guide to Stop Chronic Worry and Negative Thoughts and Start Living a Calmer Life by John Selby. My mom has been dealing with clinical anxiety and panic disorders for years now, along with borderline compulsive behavior, and she says this…[Read more]

    • In terms of Being More Zen, I really liked Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Persig. It’s a memoir and a philosophical novel, and the author seeks the nature of truth especially as it relates to writing, as he takes a 17-day trip from MN to CA on his motorcycle.

      • I’ve heard good things about this!

        I don’t know if this is quite what you are looking for.. but I am currently reading Eastern Body, Western Mind: Psychology and the Chakra System as a Path to the Self by Andoea Judith and like it so far!

    • Hey everyone. Thanks for the tips! I’ll definitely check out those books- knew I could count on AS for a few ideas. Honestly, I think what I’m looking for is some kind of made up, really extended version of the No Fucks to Give/How to Deal with Non-Traditional Life Courses posts. Katrina should write this book and I will buy it

  • @internrachel @julia1

    Today I read The Golden Ball and Other Stories by Agatha Christie (279 pages).

    I really don’t like Christie’s short storries. The elements I dislike about her writing in longer books aren’t so bad. Like, in ‘The Clocks’ that stupid subplot about Colin Lamb “falling in love” and proposing to a woman he admits several times…[Read more]

  • @internrachel @julia1

    I had to read Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows (JK Rowling, 759 pages) again, because I went to the last movie and was all like “What? I don’t remember that!”. I feel like I read it way to fast the first time, this time around I definitely enjoyed it more. And I may have teared up at the last chapter, even though I was…[Read more]

  • I have, after a long emotional read, completed Possession by A. S. Byatt (555 pages). It’s about people who study Victorian poets (which is great because I like history/literature/academia), and the love letters they discover were written, and a race to find out what happened. I started out LOVING it, then I kept getting mad at it because it…[Read more]

    • Possession is one of my favorite novels! I just finished reading The Children’s Book, which I really loved, too. It’s interesting to read Byatt alongside someone like Sarah Waters to compare how they write contemporary fiction about queer Victorians…

  • I finished this a little while ago, but this summer I read Sue Hubbell’s “A Book of Bees” (177 pgs). It was given to me by a professor as a graduation gift in May and I absolutely loved it.

    I’m a beekeeper on an organic farm and Hubbell’s book is definitely among the best honey bee books that I’ve read. She writes about maintaining 300+ colonies…[Read more]

    • I find bee keeping fascinating. One of my friends from grad school became an urban bee keeper (she lives in Columbus, OH, which is a HUGE city) and I’m in awe of her.

    • OHHH, I would love to read this! going on my list.

  • @internrachel @julia1
    I finished Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, 415 pages. I had been meaning to read it for ages, really glad I finally got to it. It reminded me much of Kafka and Orwell (one of my favorite writers) and also of the craziness of war as depicted in Slaughterhouse Five, and yeah it was a great read.
    Should I read Closing Time?

    • I really like Catch 22 and Slaughterhouse 5. I don’t think Closing Time is meant to be all that great, but Something Happened is meant to be very good and some people think it’s even better than Catch 22. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jul/19/famous-wrong-book-vonnegut-waugh-ishiguro

      • Thanks, adding that to my wish list :)

        I have Sirens of Titan (Vonnegut) here, haven’t read it yet.
        I’m trying to find a balance between reading as many ‘important’ writers as possible, and reading more from the ones I really liked, not just the classics..

    • Catch-22 is one of my absolute favorite books of all time. Weirdly enough, I still haven’t read Something Happened, but it’s definitely on my list.

      • Yeah I loved Catch-22. Other favorites include Homage to Catalonia (Orwell), For whom the bell tolls (Hemingway) and Slaughterhouse-five (Vonnegut). There seems to be a theme here.. Although my all-time absolute favorite is On the road (Kerouac). Oh I love that book so much.

  • @internrachel @julia1
    Hi, I’ve been moving recently and got to my new flat to find a lovely gift from my penpal. It was Griffin and Sabine by Nick Bantock. It’s only 48 pages (I know this only counts as 24 because it’s a graphic novel) but I wanted to mention it because it’s wonderful and beautiful and creepy. It did take you away into Griffin…[Read more]

  • @internrachel @julia1

    Today I read Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain by Portia de Rossi (305 pages), even though I damn well know better than to read triggering books like this when I’m really stressed out and having anxiety attacks like I was today. Brilliant move, self.

    I think the fact that this book was so damn triggering is…[Read more]

  • @internrachel @julia1
    Yesterday I finished reading Just Kids by Patti Smith. 320 pages. I had it around for a long time and finally picked it up after reading Crystal’s review. I’m nervous to write this post because of the glowing reviews by everyone else on the site, and I think this is the first negative review.
    The story had so much potential…[Read more]

  • @internrachel @julia1

    Today I read Ash by Malinda Lo (264 pages).

    So good! So gay! This is a reimagining of the Cinderella (called Ash here) fairy tale, and I’m a sucker for that kind of thing. Lo manages to combine the really recognizable elements of the original tale (the evil stepmother and stepsisters, the ball that she has to rush out of…[Read more]

  • @internrachel @julia1
    I just finished Obsession by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker (366 pages), which is about Douglas’s experince with the Investigative Support Unit in the FBI and his other experiences in profiling violent criminals, and what lessons the general public can take from his experiences. I was amazed at how often violent offenders are…[Read more]

  • @internrachel @julie1
    I just finished Harry, A History: The true story of a boy wizard, his fans, and life inside the Harry Potter phenomenon by Melissa Anelli (of the Leaky Cauldron), 330 pages. I had started this book years ago but only read the first chapter (as indicated by a bookmark) and then for some reason set it aside. I had to make a…[Read more]

  • @internrachel @julia1

    Last week, I read a fascinating biography of Alice Roosevelt Longworth by Barbara Kerley and Edwin Fotheringham. What To Do About Alice focuses on her unconventional childhood and outlook on life, as well as the complicated bond she had with her father. The sometimes strained relationship between Alice and Teddy Roosevelt…[Read more]

  • @internrachel, @julia1, bookclubbers, greetings
    a few days ago i finished ‘a visit from the goon squad’, jennifer egan, 352 pages. i quite enjoyed this though it was quite different from what i expected – as a pulitzer prize winner i expected gripping detail and interwoven stories and strong characters. actually it had all those things but in a…[Read more]

  • @internrachel @julia1

    I just finished Island Beneath the Sea by Isabel Allende (457 pages).

    It follows a woman named Zarité, who was born a slave to the owner of a sugar plantation in Saint-Domingue (Haiti, back when it was still a French colony). The story doesn’t just focus on her, but on a whole cast of characters whose lives intertwine…[Read more]

    • it only took you 14 hours to read 457 pages? Dang girl! Did you read it in one continuous sitting? I wish I had that kind of free time to read :(
      On another note I love Isabel Allende and I’ve read almost all her novels, but I hadn’t heard of this one, so thanks! Another book to add to my must read list.

      • I’ve always been a fast reader, but I had to become lightning fast in grad school just to survive! My program was really, really heavy on the theory, so that meant unreasonable amounts of reading assignments. But I didn’t read all of that book in one sitting. I read about 100 pages the night before, then the next day I took a short lunch break…[Read more]

  • @internrachel @julia1

    This morning I finished Andrew Holleran’s Dancer From The Dance (250 pages). I had mixed feelings about it. Holleran’s writing style tends toward the overblown (overblown in an often lovely way, don’t get me wrong), and I think I just don’t romanticize the experience of gay discos enough to be taken in by his extended riffs…[Read more]

    • i’ve been meaning to check out that holleran book because it’s on so many lists of queer classics. another good classic to check out is ‘sexual outlaw’ by john rechy, which is an account of being a hustler in LA. he uses newspaper stuff from that period to talk about police violence against queers. and he’s generally an amazing writer but also…[Read more]

  • I read Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett (398 pages) and another one I’d forgotten to write about here, A Home at the End of the World by Michael Cunningham (352 pages). I’m trying to read more books from BBC’s Top 100 Books list and a bunch of friends have recommended Good Omens. I haven’t read fantasy-type books in a while and…[Read more]

    • I get pretty excited any time anyone says they’re reading Good Omens. I just needed to share that.

    • Good Omens! Love Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, separately or together. Reading more of the BBC top 100 sounds like a fun challenge to give yourself. If you want any recommendations as to what to read next, I thought the ‘His Dark Materials’ trilogy by Philip Pullman was brilliant and a lot of fun.

      • I actually have had that trilogy on my shelf for ages, I’ve been meaning to read it for years. One of these days!
        A lot of the books on the list that I haven’t read are ones I’ve been meaning to read anyway, so it’ll be fun, even if I never have as much time as I’d like to read.

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