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Marc Jacobs

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Help me pick my next book(s)
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I just finished David Copperfield. I'm ashamed to say that it took me like 4 months but I really started to loose steam around page 400. Anyway, I have a shelf full of books that I want to read but most of them are kind of harcore books like Anna Karenina and a bunch of Camus and I think I might need to cleanse my palate. I'm going to France in two weeks and I can usually blow through a few hundred pages on the flight so I don't necessarily mind something long if I can get really into it.


Right now I'm thinking of reading The Name of the Rose. It seems like it would be up my alley plus it has a medieval setting and I'll be reading it while visiting my boyfriend who is a professor of medieval music. Has anyone here read it?

Any other suggestions? Other contenders include In Cold Blood and I, Claudius.

My friend also recommended this French book called The Facts of Winter which is a series of fictional dreams supposedly dreamt by Parisians in the 1880s. That's super short though so I can probably read it in a week.

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Farrah


Marc Jacobs

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I have heard very good things about The Other Boleyn Girl.  I actually just ordered it from Amazon.com.

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halleybird


Hermes

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Haven't read any of the books you mentioned (though I did read The Other Bolelyn Girl), but they look interesting.


 I have been on a historical fiction/medieval-lit kick lately, though. Have you read Katherine by Anya Seton? It's about post-plague England and centers around John of Gaunt's mistress, who, by the way, was also Chaucer's sister-in-law. (A lot of people think  Troilus and Criselyde was about Katherine and John of Gaunt). It is pretty long, and while I wouldn't call it a page-turner, it's much faster than David Copperfield. I liked it because, though it's embellished fiction, it was extremely well-resarched.  


 I also bought The Pillars of the Earth, which is about the building of a cathedral in the 12th century, but I haven't opened it yet. And, though it's not fiction or medieval, I really like The Impossible Will Take Awhile  -- I am reading it for my book club, and it's really thoughtful and uplifting, but not in a Chicken Soup for the Soul kind of way.


 



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Maddie


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Oooh In Cold Blood! I love Truman Capote. I love his writing and the story is obviously quite a page turner.

One of my favorite short stories is his A Christmas Memory. My mom and I read it and cry every Christmas and we are not a weepy family.

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Christine


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Maddie wrote:
Oooh In Cold Blood! I love Truman Capote. I love his writing and the story is obviously quite a page turner.

One of my favorite short stories is his A Christmas Memory. My mom and I read it and cry every Christmas and we are not a weepy family.


Maddie, can you (really briefly) tell me the plot of A Christmas Memory? I'm curious because I love everything that has to do w/ Christmas!

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Maddie


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Here's Amazon's description...
"A Christmas Memory is the classic memoir of Truman Capote's childhood in rural Alabama. Until he was ten years old, Capote lived with distant relatives. This book is an autobiographical story of those years and his frank and fond memories of one of his cousins, Miss Sook Faulk."
It is soooo good. I love the way he writes; I think he finds the most interesting way of putting things with out being too showy of a writer. Not to mention the story is so touching (and I usually hate things that are "touching").

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Bastet


Kate Spade

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I really enjoyed I, Claudius.  I thought it was written very well, and the story was intriguing.   That said, I love Rome. :)


If you would like to read a good piece of fiction, Middlesex> is an excellent read. It's by Jeffrey Eugenides, who also wrote The Virgin Suicides.  Amazon does a better job describing it than I can.


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312422156/102-3969771-2088141?v=glance&n=283155&s=books&v=glance


I couldn't put that book down!



-- Edited by Bastet at 19:12, 2005-10-04

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DC Shopper


Dooney & Bourke

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this isn't exactly high literature, but it is a page turner if you want a palate cleansing. it's a really well-written and entertaining murder mystery.  It's sort of noir.  The protagonist is a Thai detective in Bangkok - probably one of my favorite characters in recent memory. my husband and I just finished it and we both enjoyed it.  it's fun but it's not fluffy.


It's Bangkok 8 by John Burdett:



http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1400032903/qid=1128472728/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/102-6363715-7856110?v=glance&s=books



-- Edited by DC Shopper at 20:42, 2005-10-04

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Marc Jacobs

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what about Perfume: Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind. i have a copy and can lend it to you.

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flknight24


Dooney & Bourke

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halleybird wrote:

Have you read Katherine by Anya Seton?

Katherine is such a great book!  I also liked The Other Boleyn Girl. 



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Marc Jacobs

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OK my very next book wound up being The Loved One by Evelyn Waugh which is a satire set in Hollywood funeral home and cemetary. It's really short so I figured I could blow through it before I went on vacation. I'm a little less than halfway through and so far it hasn't been great but it is steadily improving.

For my trip I ordered The Facts of Winter which is the collection of (fake) dreams set in Paris. It's also really short and the book is in both French and English (facing pages) so I'm totally going to bring it to cafes and make my boyfriend sit and read the French side while I read the English.

I also got The Name of the Rose which is long but really light and should be good for the plane.

And finally I had forgotten that I really want to read the Narnia books since I never did as a child and now the movie is coming out. So I ordered what turned out to be all the books in one huge heavy volume. Clearly that won't be coming in my luggage with me.


Bastet - I also love anything Roman (well anything classical really) which is why it is a shame that I have not read I, Claudius yet. I realized that I left it at my boyfriend's the last time I was in France so maybe I can start it if I finish all my other reading material before I leave. And while I'm rarely inclined to read contemporary fiction Middlesex has always interested me. I should add that to my Amazon wish list so I don't forget.

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kiwi


BCBG

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If you like historical fiction, An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears is also a great read.  The same incident is told from 4 different POVs, and it isn't (too) gimmicky.  It's about 400-500 pages, but not hard to get into and reads well



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Christine


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Maddie wrote:
Here's Amazon's description...
"A Christmas Memory is the classic memoir of Truman Capote's childhood in rural Alabama. Until he was ten years old, Capote lived with distant relatives. This book is an autobiographical story of those years and his frank and fond memories of one of his cousins, Miss Sook Faulk."
It is soooo good. I love the way he writes; I think he finds the most interesting way of putting things with out being too showy of a writer. Not to mention the story is so touching (and I usually hate things that are "touching").


Thanks Maddie! I think I will pick it up, or put it on my wish list!

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relrel


Marc Jacobs

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(brand new here, been on the luckymag forum for a while, so sad that my first post is about books. im such a nerd)


 


i agree, read the pillars of the earth. great book, plus it's thick enough that you won't finish it on the plane.



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halleybird


Hermes

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relrel wrote:

  i agree, read the pillars of the earth. great book, plus it's thick enough that you won't finish it on the plane.
not to hijack the thread, but I am glad someone read it. It's on my to-read list. Thanks! And welcome!

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