[superscience]

I am a feminist *and* a dyke. "Dyke" is how I identify. Many women-who-love-women don't identify with "lesbian" because of class/race implications. But, I shouldn't use the word that I identify with because it might make straight girls on the internet uncomfortable? I don't quite get the logic of that.

And, I was making a joke of "regular", hence the quotation marks.

[bunnyb]

um, whilst I'm trying not to bristle at the use of "dyke", I would suggest Patricia Highsmith and Jeanette Winterson's work but I know there are BUSTies around with more expertise than me when it comes to lesbian literature.

Oh fuck it: "regular" fiction implies that anything written by "dyke authors" is irregular, does it not? posting on a feminist board would suggest that you don't choose your words carefully but certainly refrain from using some.

[superscience]

Thank god, sybarite! It seems that everyone I know loved The Time Traveler's Wife, and I seriously *hated* it. Like, almost as much as I hated I Am Charlotte Simmons (which is a lot).

I'm reading Sarah Waters' The Night Watch right now, and really enjoying it. And, then I'm going to read the rest of the books on the Man Booker shortlist. Has anyone read Desai's book yet?

I just renewed my library card (finally) because I gotta stop buying so many books, and went a little crazy requesting books. Like, I may get notices next week that, like, fifty books are being held for me.

I'm in a dyke book club (that I'm reading The Night Watch for). Any suggestions on what to read next? We've been reading all novels by dyke authors so far, but may branch out a little to "regular" books.

[bunnyb]

I believe so, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

[vesicapisces]

Bunny, is Jack Finney the guy who wrote "Time & Again"? I loved that book.

[bunnyb]

syb, The Night Watch was up for the Booker but Waters was robbed yet again, this time by Kiran Desai (daughter of Anita).

Ulysses is undoubtedly one of the most over-hyped books. Saying that, it would be on my desert island list, as would Finnegan's Wake (I do want to read this). I have read parts of Ulysses but never in full and A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man was boring, dense and unentertaining. Not that all great works of literature have to be entertaining -obviously not- but it helps to make them my greatest literary reads.

Misleading chapter titles irk me; one would assume that when a chapter is entitled "Revelations" that it consists of them.

I've just managed to buy a copy of edited horror stories because it includes a copy of the story "The Love Letter" by Jack Finney; I'm hoping it arrives in time for Hallowe'en so I can curl up and read it.

[sybarite]

Catching up...

I just finished Shena MacKay's Dunedin which was weird but compulsive.

I really liked Sarah Waters' The Night Watch too. Great stories beautifully intertwined. I think it may be up for the Booker this year.

I'm sorry, I loathed The Time-Traveller's Wife. I kept waiting for something to happen and, rarely for me, I disliked both protagonists. And it's not that I don't like the soppy, because generally I do.

Bunnyb, I am appalled to say I haven't read Ulysses either (and this despite undergrad emphasis on it...) Apparently most people in Dublin haven't either though!

[mandolyn]

yes. right. gaiman it is. thanks, bunnyboo. *smooch*

[bunnyb]

Devouring books is a joy and it's lovely being able to do so. I loved American Gods for that reason; I'm now reading Joyce Carol Oates' We Were the Mulvaneys.

mando, The History of Love is beautiful but it IS depressing, very much so. I agree, maybe some heartbreak is not what you need just now. Read the Gaiman?

[mandolyn]

i devoured gods in alabama. felt good to devour a book, after such a long sad dry spell. it was fast-paced and humorous, if a little far-fetched in places. now i want to read between, georgia. i do loves me some southern-fried novels!

i'm a few pages into the history of love. lovely rich language, and i can already tell the story's gonna break my heart ... but it's a little depressing. not sure i need to read a depressing book right now.

[curioushair]

Right now I'm reading What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt. It's...expansive, not my usual style, but I love it.

[bunnyb]

American Gods rocked and was a better roadtrip then Kerouac.

[auralpoison]

I got some cool stuff from this site:

http://www.basbleu.com/stores/1/index.cfm

[mornington]

*sticks tongue out at mouse* that's me at my best there

I loved Nabakov's Pale Fire. And Salman Rushdie is brilliant once you get into what he's written.

yay mando!

there are many books I should have read that I haven't. I have never read any Dickens, for example...

[calpurnia]

A few of my recent faves (some already noted by other Busties):

Middlesex - Although the gender 'issue' and acceptance of self, as a primary theme, was a fascinating and intriguing story, what appealed to me most was the family epic - history, survival, love in its varius forms - I loved this book.
The History of Love - I love generational connections, anticipation of love eternal and a great 'linking' story.
The Life of Pi - this book really surprised me. I had not read anything like it before (perhaps a sheltered literary life!) - highly recommended.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time - written from the point of view of a young boy with Asperger's syndrome. An easy, but slightly uncomfortable read. My 13 yr old daughter also loved it.

Some old favourites:

To Kill a Mockingbird - my favourite book ever!
Wuthering Heights - well, I am a girl.
Junky by Burroughs
Anything by Annie Proulx
The Reader and Flights of Love by Bernhard Schlink
Notes of a Dirty Old Man by Bukowski
The Bride Stripped Bare (Anonymous)

[mouse]

me too! i actually read the deptford trilogy when i was way too young for it, i think i was maybe 11 or 12 and it was just lying around the house and i was a pretty voracious reader--mostly i just remember encountering the word "fellatio" and being like "uhhh....".

i re-read it a few times since then and i guess about four years or so ago i went through a devouring-everything-i-could-find phase. i even read his ghost stories.

something about his female characters, though.....i'd have to re-read them to put my finger on it again. he makes the really powerful ones hideously ugly, and the pretty ones are stupid--except for maria theotoky, but he won't shut up about her being gorgeous AND smart. and she's awfully "pure".....carrying water in a seive like the vestal virgins, ha!

[vesicapisces]

Mouse, I love Robertson Davies. I went thru a period after I discovered The Deptford Trilogy where I read everything of his I could find. Yum.

[bunnyb]

mouse, I'm sorry, I was just conscious of the fact that I was raving about nothing else! I haven't read The Way the Crow Flies yet but getting there soon.

Morven Callar is by Alan Warner (aside: my friend was taught my same English teacher and has similar writing style) and These Demented Lands the follow-up is also very good but his The Sopranos is fantastic.

[mouse]

*indignant* i only got excited because you guys had read it too!!

i can recommend other things!! harrumph!

--any carson mccullers, tennesee williams, or truman capote (i loves me some southern gothic oh my)
--robertson davies is fucking amazing
--salman rushdie (haroon and the sea of stories is beautiful, even if you're not a kid)
--morvern callar, by i forget right now and don't feel like googling it, incredibly upsetting and powerful book
--the cheese monkeys, by chip kidd (brilliant book about art school and the nature of design, while simultaneously being the most hilarious crazy story)
--banana yoshimoto's "kitchen" has been a favorite for years
--if you can find the short stories of linda sexson, you will not be disappointed
--anything by esmeralda santiago
--nabokov--everyone talks about lolita (which yes, is incredible and the first paragraph is quite possibly the most beautiful thing i've ever read aloud) but you really should read "ada or ardor"
--c.s. lewis' space trilogy
--anything by anne tyler
--tom robbins for fun reading, though sometimes he gets peculiarly misogynist...
--and the list goes on......


(bunny did you read the way the crow flies yet........?)

[bunnyb]

Have you read Fall on Your Knees? 'Cause everyone should.

/impersonating mouse .