[mouse]

bb, read "ada or ardor" immediately!!

[bunnyb]

Lolita is fabulous; Nabokov is fabulous and I want to read more (other than Lolita I've only read Pale Fire). I think I have 3 copies of Lolita, it's so good! The annotated one is great, whether studying the text or just for pleasure.

[mouse]

say what they may about "lolita" (and i have known certain very literary types to turn up their noses at nabokov--though i personally love him), the opening paragraph is possibly the best ever written. even better if read aloud.

[punkerplus]

I've had that on my pile for ages nickclick but I've not read Lolita *hangs head in shame* so I feel I should do that first. Let me know how it goes though.

I ordered BitchFest from Word Power yesterday so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for funny yet nueron taxing essays.

[bunnyb]

nickclick, that's been on my reading list for some time; let me know how it pans out.

Recently I've read The Stornoway Way by Kevin MacNeil (v funny), The Island by Victoria Hislop (captivating family saga) and The Time Traveller's Wife (enjoyable). I'm now reading Zadie Smith's On Beauty (so far so good) and then it's Doris Lessing's The Golden Notebook.

[cinegirl]

I need to find something new to read... nothing has really grabbed me since Barbara bloody Vine at Christmas!

I completely relate--I've been on a spate of Vine & Rendell and because she's so prolific I feel like I'll be reading her forever

A Dark Adapted Eye is far and away my favorite.

Have you read any Patricia Highsmith (not just Ripley) or Shirley Jackson? If you like Vine you'll like those, I think.

[nickclick]

just started reading lolita in tehran by azar nafisi, a memoir about teaching western literature to young women in iran. so far so good, especially for lit nerds like me.

[faerietails]

oh, no, i loved the corrections!

right now i'm stuck reading books for thesis, but i've been buying "fun" books like no one's business! what i would give to be able to have the option of putting books down. come may, it's on! my current reading isn't too bad, though. the last thing i read was caramelo by sandra cisneros. i usually can't stand her style, but i did like that book.

i think when i finish writing this sucker, i'm just going to read pure fluff for about a month.

[deannareturns]

Yes Sybrarite, I tend to get queasy when I read 'lyrical evocation' or similar in reviews. Yet some of my favourite writers (Joan Didion for instance) are considered stylists. I like it both ways I guess, but I have to be interested in the subject matter, which usually means there has to be some sex in it, and preferably heart break and probably death.

[sybarite]

Doris Lessing once said that if you don't like a book, put it down, at the start, midway through, whenever. She said it in response to the idea that we can feel obliged to finish a book. I've been putting unfinished books down guiltfree ever since.

There's nothing that immediately springs to mind, but one thing that persistently puts me off is stylised prose. Wheh I'm reading for fun all's I really want is a decent plot, although good characterisation is always very welcome. Because of my anti-stylisation stance, I have yet to read many, many popular or award winning books that other poeple have raved about.

[crazyoldcatlady]

female chauvinist pigs had an interesting concept, but i don't think the author was able to stop jumping around long enough to make the text cohesive. it was like a poor-woman's manifesta.

i'm working on straight man by richard russo, and although it gets frustrating at times when it seems like there's no plot development, i am utterly in love with his prose style.

recent half-read books:
the corrections. i just can't do it anymore.
a widow for one year. editor, anyone?
the love wife. too oprah-y. and i feel bad that i can't finiish it because my sister got it for me for xmas and she keeps asking me what i think of it.

what are ya'll struggling with?

[curioushair]

I like Freakonomics, too, but at the same time wanted to pitch the book across the room. I got too much a sense of self-righteousness from the authors while presenting their data as "Just the facts, ma'am. Hey, I don't make them up."

Right now I'm reading Laurie Fox's My Sister From the Black Lagoon. I really wanted to like this book, but when the crazy-as-a-loon sister is missing, the story reads a little prissy.

[sybarite]

I keep meaning to read the Levy book.

I really like Jonathan Franzen; I think I liked The 27th City and Strong Motion even better than The Corrections. He seems to divide people though; friends of mine who read The Corrections can't stand him.

I need to find something new to read... nothing has really grabbed me since Barbara bloody Vine at Christmas!

[deannareturns]

Oh my old favourite thread!

I read: everywhere, but especially in bed. I sleep with books. Sometimes they poke me in my sleep, but I am sure there is some subconscious brain exercise going on that does me lots of good.

Currently reading:

'Mating' by Norman Rush - fun and clever and kind of sexy, though sometimes the first person protagonist isn't entirely convincing - Rush is writing as 32 year old PhD student researching in the wilds of Africa. His woman friends did give him some nice inside tips...

'Strong Motion' by Jonathan Franzen - having just finished his autobiographical essays 'The Discomfort Zone' - which generated some undeserved negative reviews. He's still got it (if you thought he had it to begin with).

'Female Chauvinist Pigs' by Ariel Levy - necessary reading, though I don't agree with all of her conclusions, such as they are.

[raisingirl]

I love reading everyone's responses!

I curled up in bed late this afternoon under the covers to read. Yum. I'm in severe denial about all the housekeeping crap I have to do tomorrow that I should have done today... oy.

[mouse]

hey, tommynomad, i read "a complicated kindness" recently too! if you look in the archives from right after christmas i posted a little about it. nomi is such a bustie-type, but her father was my favorite character. the scene with them at the dump was one of those rare moments when i actually stop what i'm reading, get out of the book's world for a second, and remark to myself "wow, this is so good" before going back in

[sybarite]

Crazycatlady, I liked Freakonomics, even though I'm not generally a fan of non-fiction for leisure reading (have to read too much for work). It takes ordinary, seemingly mundane scenarios and analyses them through an economic lens. Very readable too.

Supersci, I do that immediately too, if I'm lucky enough to have my own room. I can read on a train but not a car or bus; I too start feeling oogy...

Calpurnia, I see your geographical ID!

[mornington]

i'll read pretty much anywhere. while eating is a favourite if I'm alone, on the tube (or bus if i can get a seat, but I ride the north london cattletruck to uni so I'm more concerned with not standing with my face in a stranger's armpit), and generally any time I have five minutes to spare. I think it's inherited; mornMama, Boy Wonder and I will cheerfully sit and read our different books for hours on end. Coffee shops are always good

calpurnia, every now and again my mum looks at my bookshelves and says something along the lines of "I wish your father had let me keep ...." or "that's where my .... went." keep at it, it gets through even after a few years.

I just got all my Chris Brookmyre books back. And my beloved Eddings and Heyer. My bookshelves are overloaded. I'm reading Edding's Dreamers now. It is a little different from the old stuff, but it's quite similar to Althalus in terms of style. Still book-candy though.

[calpurnia]

I'm a mum (geographical identification ref there!) and tell my (early) teenage daughters there's no reading at the dinner table - but only for the greater good of actual communcation
Given that, they are passionate readers - which I fully encourage at other times - sometimes to the point of fanaticism - 'you must read this ... I did at your age ... it changed the way I thought about ... yada, yada, yada' you know - the tragic mother stuff that never goes down well ...
Personally, for me - reading happens on the bus to or from work, having gotten past any interest I may have had in others boarding ... and at night, before sleep, when I want to hold onto the characteres in teh book I'm reading, in sleep ...

[tommynomad]

Almost anywhere, but not in moving vehicles--makes me oogy.

Favourite spots: cozy chairs, cafes, and cozy chairs in cafes.

Just finished: a complicated kindness by Miriam Toews. The protagonist, Noni Nickel, is such a BUSTie!

Now reading: The Club Dumas.