What books grabbed your emotions recently? Is there something you loved that you want to share? Is there a book so horrid you want to ensure no one else goes through that kind of pain?

Do you feel like when you start a book you have to finish it even if it's bad?

-- Anonymous, December 06, 1999

Answers

I used to think I was passionate about books. I used to read the same books over and over (Catcher in the Rye, To Kill A Mockingbird, A Separate Peace, etc.) Now, I read v e r y ...v e r y ...s l o w l y and skip around from book to book and hardly ever finish one. At the moment I have at least 5 open books on my nightstand and don't ask me the names of any of them, because I'd have to go home and check before I could answer. I always finish John Irving though.

-- Anonymous, December 06, 1999

I almost never leave a book unfinished, even if it's atrocious. I read "Hannibal" all the way through even though it was unbelievably stupid (although the upside was, it was SO bad it made me laugh right out loud a few times.) I try to make myself only read one book at a time now, otherwise I'll have four or five going at once and drive my poor husband nuts because I leave halk-read books all over the house. Right now I'm having far too much fun reading Harry Potter. Very good subway reading.

-- Anonymous, December 06, 1999

I've been reading a lot of books by Colette recently, so I decided to pick up her biography, Secrets of the Flesh, by Judith Thurman. I highly recommend it - I haven't been able to put it down! :)

I'm also reading The Motley Fool's You Have More Than You Think: The Foolish Guide to Investing What You Have, which is an amazing book for anyone interested in managing their money. Can't say it grabs my emotions, though. ;)

My favorite book ever: Skinny Legs and All, by Tom Robbins. I just can't read that book enough.

As for books I haven't finished...the only book like that recently for me was Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder. Maybe it was just the mood I was in when I was reading it, but I just couldn't finish it. I'll have to try again some other time.

-- Anonymous, December 06, 1999

Passionate about books? Of course. My wife says I go into withdrawal symptoms if I don't have something to read. I haven't read 'TIS yet, but I read ANGELA'S ASHES, and there were times I had to force myself, partly because the poverty was so grinding.

It has to be a real stinker for me not to finish it, though, and I DID finish ANGELA'S ASHES, at least, and think on balance it was a very good book.

Books to recommend? The GORMENGHAST trilogy...a very non-Tolkien fantasy, set in an immense castle--so immense that the inhabitants think no other place EXISTS. Inhabited by very interesting, if grotesque characters....Dickensonian grotesques in a setting out of Kafka.

Oh, by the way, Pamie, appreciate your sympathy after my son died that you mentioned in the journal last week.

Al of Nova Notes.

-- Anonymous, December 06, 1999

I'm trudging my way through Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar stories again; I do this every few years when I realize I can't afford to support my old book habit.

I just noticed yesterday at Barnes & Noble that Spider Robinson has succumbed to the same thing that has claimed Larry Niven's soul: he's taking all of his previously-published books and combining them together into really thick, expensive books, with different titles, sort of novel-anthologies. I have been known to buy these by accident, not realizing I had already paid for these stories; I have also been known to tear these books apart ("There. Back to being 2 books again, just as god and the author originally meant.").

-- Anonymous, December 06, 1999

The best of late has been The White Bone by Barbara Gowdy...a must read in my opinion. I am currently re-reading Mansfield Park by Jane Austen prior to seeing the film. And yes, if I start it I finish it, even it becomes a penance of sorts!

-- Anonymous, December 06, 1999

Yes, I have terrible guilt if I don't finish the book I'm reading. Someone told me once that life is too short for a bad book, so I am now giving a book until 75 pages to prove to me that it's worth it. I'm getting tough. Best book this year? "Animal Husbandry" by Laura Zigman and "The Funnies" by I forget who.

Nancey

-- Anonymous, December 06, 1999

I'm particularly passionate about the Ender series by Orson Scott Card. I've been trying to find time to re-read the first four books to totally capture the essence of Ender's Shadow, the 5th book in the series. Note: The books can be read on a standalone basis. Great insight on how the human condition works and resiliency of spirit.

I've been meaning to read Angela's Ashes for some time now. I better get on the stick, I guess, so I know what everyone's talking about.

I usually read all books from start to finish, no matter how dumb they are. Once I get into the world of a book, I want to see how it ends. That is, if it ends. I've been frustrated by some books that don't tie up loose ends.

The worse book I think I ever read was Clive Barker's The Great and Secret Show. Let's just say I'll never read another novel from the horror genre again.

-- Anonymous, December 06, 1999

I'll second Animal Husbandry....it was hilarious!

-- Anonymous, December 06, 1999

I normally don't get gaga over a book; I usually don't try and force a book on anybody, especially non-readers. But all of that is going to change. Everyone MUST read the border trilogy by Cormac McCarthy. Right now. It is beautiful and brilliant. I don't care what you are doing. Stop it and read all three books.

They are great.

-- Anonymous, December 06, 1999

i *love* books... passion doesn't even begin to describe it.
the Ender books were wonderful (i work in a bookstore, and try to sell them to anyone who seems even remotely interested in my beautiful, wonderous sci fi/fantasy section) Mercedes Lackey makes me happy too.
right now i'm in a lack-of-book slump, i've been so busy with work and evil things like that, but next on my list - Theo's Odessey (a twin to Sophie's World, Theo discovers the history of, gasp, theology, while Sophie discovered philosophy. i loved Sophie, btw), the Thomas Covenant books by Stephen R. Donaldson (i started them in grade five and got so lost i had to give up. i try them every few years, but by now i've gotten so used to getting that 10 year old kid confusion that i can't even get through the first three books. this year, i swear, will be different)
The Death Gate Cycle is, i think, on par with the Ender books. it totally blew me away the first, second, and third times i read it. and now you all can read it just once because *finally* all the books have been published!
Marion Zimmer Bradley is one of my favorite authors, so is Melanie Rawn, Sherri S Tepper, Terry Goodkind, Patricia Keanealy-Morrison and Barbara Erskine.
heh.
i love my books. adore them.


-- Anonymous, December 06, 1999

Damnit, Pamie, you couldn't have found out that 'Tis sucks BEFORE I went out and bought it?? Now it's sitting on my bookshelf mocking me "Pamie thinks I suck. Now if you read me and like me, that means YOU suck too!"

I have only once began a book and not finished it: The Horse Whisperer. Oh, wait, make that two. I got one chapter into Border Music (by Robert James Waller, Mr. Madison County himself) and couldn't bear to read another word.

Most of the time, though, I give the book the benefit of the doubt. "Maybe it'll get better," I say to myself, right up to the very last page. "Maybe this last page will make it all worth it.. Maybe this last paragraph will pick up... This sentence could be really good...Hmm. That book kinda sucked."

http://www.bitchypoo.com/bitchypoo.html

-- Anonymous, December 06, 1999

Books! Ahhhh books. Wow. Yeah, I'm a little passionate on the subject. I just bought the second, third and fourth book of Stephen King's Dark Tower series for a friend for Christmas. Sort of a 'you HAVE to finish this series' present. :) It's only fair. He did the same thing for me for my birthday, sending me the last few books of Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy. If you like fantasy at all, YOU MUST READ THESE BOOKS. Williams does the Tolkienesque thing almost better than Tolkien did. Truly marvelous stuff. I also adore Sharon Kay Penman. She's a historical novelist, with an emphasis on 'historical'. She wrote a great trilogy about Wales circa 1200: Here Be Dragons, Falls The Shadow, and The Reckoning. While she's historically accurate, she made the characters just leap from the page. I was completely sucked in. I also completely adore A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. As far as 'eh' books. The first book of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, Eye of the World, is sitting half-finished on my nightstand. I keep eyeing it like a windmill I need to joust. The only book I've ever thrown across a room was Anne Rice's The Witching Hour. Don't get me wrong, I loved it, but the ending is cliffhangerish, and after reading 800+ pages pissed me off to no end. I wanted to slap the main character. Damn. I need to go dig out some of these books again. Lisa
Till Human Voices Wake Us...

-- Anonymous, December 06, 1999

*sigh* And one of these days I'll get the HTML coding of this thing right. :)

-- Anonymous, December 06, 1999

Let's see...once read three books in two days. Yes, I suppose I am a book person. (The books were Homebody, by Orson Scott Card, which was decent, and not as subject to preachiness as some others by him; Stars and Stripes Forever, by Harry Harrison, which I wanted to like, but just seemed too contrived and rushed; and In The Beginning, by Peter David, based on the B5 TV movie, which I thought was emotionally affecting, but only because I'd seen the TV movie and was thinking about that.) The best book I've read recently? Hyperion, by Dan Simmons, which I picked up in a used bookstore, is one of the best sf novels I've ever read. A very good book. Of the seven main characters, not a single one has a boring story.

-- Anonymous, December 06, 1999

God I used to be, but now with a new baby in the house it's no longer possible. Now I read about that GD big-ass dog named Clifford and I find myself almost looking forward to what Big Bird is up to today (almost). *Sigh*, I miss the Oprah book club.... Tell me what it's like to read a book cover to cover....I've totally forgotten!

-- Anonymous, December 06, 1999

Hey, Jon -- please don't give up on horror. There've been some really great books including most of what Dan Simmons and Stephen King have put out. (especially Stephen King. His non-horror stuff especially just gets better and better)...

I'm reading Memoirs of a Geisha right now and it just sucks you into this totally different world. I'm fascinated with the culture it presents.

Hearts in Atlantis was really good -- not as good as Green Mile or Bag of Bones, but good nonetheless

I was really unexpectedly moved by Girlfriend in a Coma by Douglas Coupland. It had the courage to completely change tone and become a different book about 3/4 of the way to the end and still say what it was trying to say.

Oh, and it took me five years to finally read it, but A Prayer for Owen Meany finally made its way to my nightstand and it was incredible. I absolutely loved it...

-- Anonymous, December 06, 1999

OK, there's a girl who responded named Carolyn who apparently is my kindred spirit. I *love* Tom Robbins. Pamie, you'd probably like him a lot, too. He's really quirky. He writes so creatively...I only wish I was half as incredible as he is. My favorite book of his is "Still Life with Woodpecker." I actually have two copies. One looks normal, and the other one is covered with notes in the margins and all the cool sentences and stuff are highlighted. I destroyed it. Another good one of his is "Jitterbug Perfume." People have made comments about both books on Amazon.com. Check 'em out.

I've been trying to read "Sophie's World" as of late, too. I think I'm up to Aristotle. THAT is difficult reading. I figured I'd learn a lot while reading fiction. It is interesting, but it feels like I'm doing homework. Hmm. I'm just wondering if it picks up at all.

-- Anonymous, December 06, 1999

I love books. When I was a kid, instead of surrounding myself in bed with stuffed animals, I surrounded myself with books while I slept. I went to St. John's - the "great books" college, where there were no exams or lectures. We just read philosophy and literature and discussed it in class. I love the Iliad, I want to read the new Fagles translation. I like to read most classic literature and ancient philosophy. I'm also into science fiction - especially Dan Simmons, Neil Gaiman, Gene Wolfe, Alfred Bester, and Philip K Dick. Oh yeah... I just read Watership Down - it is one of the best books I've ever read. I finish most books I start, but I recently put Godel, Escher, Bach down after several pages because it was so hard to follow. I hope to retry it soon.

Does everyone block the world out completely when they read? I've had bathtubs fill up and overflow, had dogs steal burgers off the barbecue I was supposed to be guarding, had meals burn in the oven, all because I became so immersed in a book that I forgot about the outside world.

-- Anonymous, December 06, 1999

Hey, Pamie...

Interesting to hear you're reading (were reading?) "'Tis." I just ordered it myself from Amazon -- it ought to be here any time now. Was it really that bad? I've heard similar things from other readers.

"Fight Club" is an interesting read. I'd have to say, of the three Palahniuk books in print at the moment, "Invisible Monsters" is probably his best (it's also his most recent, for whatever THAT's worth). I liked "Survivor" too, though, especially the framing device he uses to advance the narrative. I guess it's similar through all his work.

Vis-a-vis Palahniuk/books made into movies, I'd also have to say (since I'm saying) that Fincher's "FC" is one of the better adaptations I've read/seen lately. Another great one is Trevor's "Felicia's Journey," which of course is now on-screen from "Sweet Hereafter"'s Egoyan. The bit about the mother being a famous cook? Completely Egoyan's invention -- it doesn't factor into the novel at all. And you know, from my point of view, at least, it works! Of course, as another "epinions" reviewer pointed out, Egoyan had to fit his wife in SOMEWHERE, and there really wasn't any other role she could have played....

Other reads of late include "Cold Mountain" (bought, but not begun, until Thanksgiving...and now I'm stalled around the third chapter), Diane Johnson's "Le Divorce" (which I'm enjoying tremendously, and am almost halfway through, even though I just started it last night before bed!), and of course Wharton's "House of Mirth," said by p-b.com reader David to be currently filming, starring Gillian Anderson. Devastating!

Sei ---- pillow-book.com

P.S. Oh, and I almost forgot! I bought "Blood and Smoke," the latest from Stephen King, and enjoyed that as well. I listened to it during the drive to/from the California Central Valley, where my family lives. ...Did I mention it's available only on audio book?

-- Anonymous, December 06, 1999

Oh jeez. _King_ by John Berger. The Pat Barker _Regeneration_ trilogy. incredible in every way. And of course _Wicked_ by Gregory (?) Mcguire and _The Ventriloquist's tale_ by Pauline and _The Long Goodbye_ or anything else by Raymond Chandler. Plus, adn pamie if you can get hrough the cockney slang, I think you'd really like _Nights at the Circus_ by Angela Carter. Oh, and and and "Dawn" by Octavia Butler, and any of the Easy Rawlins mysteries by Walter Mosely.

for extended lists, y'all can check these pages on my site: http://www.heyoka.demon.co.uk/trouble/texto.html http://www.heyoka.demon.co.uk/trouble/books.html

okay enough for now.

-- Anonymous, December 07, 1999

Well, I finished Fight Club yesterday. I liked it, but I probably should have waited until the film wasn't so fresh in my head. I need to update my books list, which I'll try and do today.

I'm about to read the Cider House Irving book before that movie comes out.

Oh, and I don't know how or why Winona got to do the "Girl, Interrupted" film adaptation, but I know it won't be as good as the book.

-- Anonymous, December 07, 1999

I'll have to agree with Jon that Orson Scott Card's Ender Series is by far some of the best books I have ever read. I average about two books a week, so these are at the top of quite a list. They are sci- fi based but please don't let that stop you from reading them. Some of my non sci-fi friends like them as much as I do. Actually I have learned that you should never let a genre keep you from reading a book. Talented writers abound in all categories. I am hoping to see a book by Pamie on the shelves someday. Hell, it would be a best seller. You know it would. Sure Pamie, write for free; but get paid too.

-- Anonymous, December 07, 1999

OOOPS...looks like Lee caused some havoc somehow with his left open tag. Maybe I can fix it from here. So sorry.

-- Anonymous, December 07, 1999

Books books books----love 'em! I love Elinor Lipman (Isabel's Bed and The Inn at Lake Devine) but was disappointed with the latest The Ladies Man. Reading Lady Bird's bio but it has been laid down for a while...but not because it is boring. Reading the first Harry Potter book and it is wonderful! Wish I could have read it when I was nine. Loved The Comedy Writer by one of the Farrely brothers (Something about Mary) and I'm drawing a blank on some of the others I loved within the last couple of years. I should keep a list! Any and all Sarah Bird books are the best there are---especially for single women in Texas. Elizabeth Berg is very good---Joy School is a big thumbs up and What We Keep is a heart wringer.

My new year's resolution a year or two ago was to not go beyond 100 pages if I was bored with a book. I laid down Amsterdam and now people tell me it was really good and I should go back and read it. I think if they don't have me in the first 100 pages it isn't worth reading!! Should have laid down Angela's Ashes. Sorry, enjoyed bits and pieces but not the whole.

My new year's resolution this year was to buy less books. Not read less, just quit buying every book that looked interesting. Very successful the first six months of the year and then I moved to Austin and I've bought every book at every sale and the Book Festival was heaven on earth.

-- Anonymous, December 07, 1999

i love books so much i'm working in a bookstore over break and abusing my discount to the fullest. not a night passes that i don't leave without at least one new thing to read. the latest francesca lia block (violet and claire), for example, is wonderful even if you're an adult ...

-- Anonymous, December 08, 1999

Yeah, I love books. I'd even say I'm passionate about them. I find time for them every day. If only to read just a little. I have real definite tastes though; a bit of sci-fi, a bit of horror, lots of fantasy, and lots of historical fiction. I like my historical fiction to be based on facts as much as possible however.

I never really could get into mainstream though. For some reason, I am just not interested in mainstream fiction. I've always felt a bit bad about that.

One of the books I really enjoyed a lot lately is Rocket Boys by Homer Hickham (or Hickman...something like that). This is the book October Sky was based on. It was quite good. I also loved Hearts in Atlantis, by Stephen King, and really enjoyed The Autobiography of Henry the VIII by Margaret George.

I used to put down books quite easily when I was younger, but now I'm learning patience and to be a bit more understanding so I try a lot harder to finish them. I haven't put anything down for quite some time. One writer mentioned The Tales of Thomas Unbeliever by Stephen....Can't remember his last name. I've tried reading those three times myself, and have never made it through the first book. I hate it when there is a big series like that and I can't finish it.

I haven't read anything I rabidly hate since the last time I read Anne Rice. Can't stand her writing. No offense to those of you who love her. I do have a love/ hate relationship with Terry Goodkind. I've read all of his Sword of Truth novels except the last one. I enjoy them, in a sense...mainly I read him because its there, and its fantasy and he's got some interesting ideas at times. But I also hate his writing, and the last book I read (book four? three? The one before the last one published) I actually did throw across the room and then spent an hour and a half ranting about him to anyone who would listen. No offense to him or his fans, but his writing just pisses me off sometimes.

-- Anonymous, December 10, 1999