I have just finished "The Far Side of the World" (book seven or eight in Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series) and "Harry Potter". On vagansmom's recommendation, I am about to embark on "Atonement".
Summer is the only time I get to read so consistently. What a joy...!
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What are you reading this summer?
Started by
dirac
, Jun 03 2003 08:58 AM
104 replies to this topic
#77
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Posted 05 July 2003 - 07:37 AM
Treefrog, I LOVED "Atonement" and I'd be interested in what you and any other readers think after finishing it. Particularly about the ending ...
Farrell Fan, I just finished Laura Hillenbrand's piece on her illness in the New Yorker. Wow -- I don't think I've ever cried at the end of a magazine article before. Three cheers for her sweet and loyal Borden! It made me want to read "Seabiscuit" even though despite all the praise it's gotten it never seemed like my cup of tea.
I think for an upcoming trip, I'm taking "Empire Falls," a novel by Richard Russo that I started on a previous trip and never got around to finishing. It's about a man with all sorts of family-job-malaise-in-a-small-town sort of problems, written with a lot of humor and compassion. If it weren't for airplane rides, I'd never get anything read or finished!
Farrell Fan, I just finished Laura Hillenbrand's piece on her illness in the New Yorker. Wow -- I don't think I've ever cried at the end of a magazine article before. Three cheers for her sweet and loyal Borden! It made me want to read "Seabiscuit" even though despite all the praise it's gotten it never seemed like my cup of tea.
I think for an upcoming trip, I'm taking "Empire Falls," a novel by Richard Russo that I started on a previous trip and never got around to finishing. It's about a man with all sorts of family-job-malaise-in-a-small-town sort of problems, written with a lot of humor and compassion. If it weren't for airplane rides, I'd never get anything read or finished!
#78
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Posted 05 July 2003 - 08:26 AM
"Atonement" was on my last summer's reading list, and is still on the shelf. After next week, I really will be able to start reading again and hope to get to this one then. There have been several comments about "Atonement" and so I'm going to start a separate thread for it.
Continue!
Continue!
#79 Guest_Angel2Be_*
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Posted 09 July 2003 - 11:50 AM
Oh, what a great summer reading list! I'm jealous -- I'd love to read those books again for the first time! Please report in as you finish them -- we'd like to know what you think of them
#81
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Posted 09 July 2003 - 10:17 PM
Angel2be, your compulsory reading list sounds amazing. I read those books when I was about your age, and they are all excellent - each in its very different way.
The way my summer is going, I'll be lucky if I manage to slot Harry Potter V in. Oh, of course, I could cut down on my Ballet Alert reading. Then again, no, that doesn't sound like a very good idea
The way my summer is going, I'll be lucky if I manage to slot Harry Potter V in. Oh, of course, I could cut down on my Ballet Alert reading. Then again, no, that doesn't sound like a very good idea
#82
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Posted 10 July 2003 - 06:28 AM
To anyone who hasn't read SEABISCUIT yet - run out (gallop out?) and get a copy. It is a wonderful book, even if you are not into sports or horse racing. The characters are vivid and varied, and the racing events are so real that you will feel like you are on the horse with the jockey! Everyone in our Book Club at work watched the Triple Crown races this year, even though none of us was at all interested in horse racing before.
#83
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Posted 10 July 2003 - 11:58 AM
Mary J....read it; loved it. I love horses. Looking at the book and title you wouldn't think a non-horse-lover would enjoy it, but my husband and daughter did. I doubt the movie will measure up.
Giannina
Giannina
#84
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Posted 10 July 2003 - 09:14 PM
I took a brief detour to read "The Nanny Diaries". (Okay, not literature, I know, but good poolside and airplane reading.)
Here's what I want to know from you New Yorkers: just how much of an exageration was that? Are there families that even come close?
Here's what I want to know from you New Yorkers: just how much of an exageration was that? Are there families that even come close?
#85
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Posted 11 July 2003 - 05:07 AM
Alexandra, Did you start ATONEMENT yet? It's a great story & a great read.
I just finished Margaret Atwood's ORYX AND CRAKE. Not a light read for any season; it's a timely cautionary tale much darker than her earlier HANDMAID'S TALE or the sub-plot of BLIND ASSASSIN. Ms. Atwood is one of my favorite writers and this is among her best.
My goal by the end of summer is to start Mafuz's CAIRO TRILOGY.
I just finished Margaret Atwood's ORYX AND CRAKE. Not a light read for any season; it's a timely cautionary tale much darker than her earlier HANDMAID'S TALE or the sub-plot of BLIND ASSASSIN. Ms. Atwood is one of my favorite writers and this is among her best.
My goal by the end of summer is to start Mafuz's CAIRO TRILOGY.
#86
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Posted 11 July 2003 - 10:17 PM
Victims and Survivors (Bob Moore), I Capture the Castle (Dodie Smith).........also planning a re-read of The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (Giorgio Bassani) and Mansfield Park (Jane Austen).
I was pleased to recently learn that the delightful English period novel, I Capture the Castle, has finally been made into a film. It's being released (limited) this summer - I doubt that it will ever make it to Utah.....I'll have to wait until it comes out on video.
It's currently being shown in NYC and LA - has anyone seen it?? The book is classic and a delight to read!
I was pleased to recently learn that the delightful English period novel, I Capture the Castle, has finally been made into a film. It's being released (limited) this summer - I doubt that it will ever make it to Utah.....I'll have to wait until it comes out on video.
It's currently being shown in NYC and LA - has anyone seen it?? The book is classic and a delight to read!
#87
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Posted 11 July 2003 - 11:22 PM
Yvonne, you will probably enjoy this report from NPR's All Things Considered.
#88
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Posted 12 July 2003 - 07:35 AM
Dear Treefrog, although I have not read "The Nanny Diaries" - I would have to guess that there really are people in existence in NYC like that... From what I've heard about the book, and the interview I heard on NPR a while back, I have to say they exist in other places as well. 
When my own daughter was little, I was often the only mother at the playground in our suburban town and the stories I heard from the local "nannies" were quite something! :green:
Hmm, just think, a new generation E for entitlement?
When my own daughter was little, I was often the only mother at the playground in our suburban town and the stories I heard from the local "nannies" were quite something! :green:Hmm, just think, a new generation E for entitlement?
#89
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Posted 12 July 2003 - 02:27 PM
Yvonne, I read I Capture the Castle a couple years ago and found it delightful as well. I've recommended it to many students and have been surprised that none had heard of it before.
Love Mansfield Park. So does my husband, a Jane Austen fan who rereads her books every couple of years. A funny story about him (there are ALWAYS funny stories about him
) is that he rented the video soon after it first came out. It's quite different from the book. It implies all kinds of political doings that aren't even hinted at in the book. So husband was upset that the director of the movie had decided to make the book politically correct.
When he returned it to the video store, the poor clerk made the mistake of asking, by rote, "How was the movie, sir?" Husband said, "Terrible!" and proceeded to sadly launch into all the reasons why. By the time he was done, the clerk had refunded his money!
He's now reading Joan Aitken's "Mansfield Park Revisited". This ought to be interesting.
Treefrog, now you've piqued my curiosity. Would you give an example of the kind of family you alluded to?
Love Mansfield Park. So does my husband, a Jane Austen fan who rereads her books every couple of years. A funny story about him (there are ALWAYS funny stories about him
) is that he rented the video soon after it first came out. It's quite different from the book. It implies all kinds of political doings that aren't even hinted at in the book. So husband was upset that the director of the movie had decided to make the book politically correct. When he returned it to the video store, the poor clerk made the mistake of asking, by rote, "How was the movie, sir?" Husband said, "Terrible!" and proceeded to sadly launch into all the reasons why. By the time he was done, the clerk had refunded his money!
He's now reading Joan Aitken's "Mansfield Park Revisited". This ought to be interesting.
Treefrog, now you've piqued my curiosity. Would you give an example of the kind of family you alluded to?
Edited by vagansmom, 12 July 2003 - 02:30 PM.
#90
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Posted 12 July 2003 - 10:31 PM
Oh yes, the recent film adaptation of Mansfield Park is dreadful! 
Now, if you had NEVER read the book, didn't know the story or the characters, the movie would be entertaining enough..........
The producer of this film even admits that she never liked the character of Fanny Price - yet she's producing this movie. It's almost as if she was trying to turn Fanny Price into Elizabeth Bennett! And Fanny never, never would have said yes to Mr. Crawford's proposal, much less allow him to kiss her!
Tell your husband to rent the BBC production of Mansfield Park. It was made in the 1980's, low production standards, and looks as if it was videotaped, but it is very true to the story
Oh..............and that whole thing about Tom and his father and Antigua and the picture book of the slaves.............totally NOT accurate. A dreadful, dreadful adaptaion - poor Jane Austen would be rolling over in her grave!!
Now, if you had NEVER read the book, didn't know the story or the characters, the movie would be entertaining enough..........
The producer of this film even admits that she never liked the character of Fanny Price - yet she's producing this movie. It's almost as if she was trying to turn Fanny Price into Elizabeth Bennett! And Fanny never, never would have said yes to Mr. Crawford's proposal, much less allow him to kiss her!
Tell your husband to rent the BBC production of Mansfield Park. It was made in the 1980's, low production standards, and looks as if it was videotaped, but it is very true to the story
Oh..............and that whole thing about Tom and his father and Antigua and the picture book of the slaves.............totally NOT accurate. A dreadful, dreadful adaptaion - poor Jane Austen would be rolling over in her grave!!
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