The Book Thread Book • Page 108

I’m ~30% through Devolution, it’s weird how the lack of preparedness and denial reflect the current moment so well. Liking it so far

 

Looved Devolution

 

Carlos Ruiz Zafón, Author of ‘The Shadow of the Wind,’ Dies at 55

I was NOT ready to be blindsided by this news.

 

Sorry for your loss

 

I'm about to spam a few threads with this, but this is how important/good this novel is. This book just won the Hugo and Nebula Awards for best novel. (Side-Note: DO NOT SLEEP ON THE TOR EBOOK CLUB. Also - DO NOT SLEEP ON THIS SERIES.) This book is free for the next three days, so do this quick. It's an alternate history where an asteroid impact in the 1950s accelerates the space race. SO, so, so, so GOOD. Written by a woman, with a Jewish female protagonist, and challenging stereotypes of the genre and time period wonderfully.

Sign-Up for the Tor eBook Club here to get the free book. (The third book comes out next month.)

 

You're doing very well at getting me to read books these days.

EDIT: US/Canada only. DAMMIT.

 

Check your email.

 

Yay I like free things, good looking out @Garrett

 

Just finished the Silent Companions by Laura Purcell. It takes place in the 1800’s (and 1600’s) and is a pretty typical old, gothic ghost story.

But I loved it! Would love to see this turned into a spooky movie.

 

Has anyone read The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires?

 

Just finished it last week! It’s pretty solid. I read Save Our Souls by Grady Hendrix previously and def enjoyed the vampire novel much more.

I’m actually about to begin My Best Friend’s Exorcism so I’m hoping it’s great!

 

Maybe this is just me getting older and having more responsibilities but I feel like I’m a binge reader now. When I commuted 45 minutes each way to work on the bus, I used to pick a book and read it consistently everyday. My commute is a 10 minute drive now and I have to find time to read. When I do, it’s like this chunk of 200-300 pages at a time where I just spend a whole day reading, but then I won’t pick it up again for a week. This has become my reading routine pretty much at this point. Anyone else do that?

 

Why has it been so long since I’ve read Toni Morrison? Just started Song Of Solomon and it’s so good

 

finished normal people in about two days. sally’s the real deal. might have helped watching the series first, too

 

Same! Quickest I've finished a book in a while. I really adored the characters she created.

 

the vanishing half is excellent

 

Just finished David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas. Absolutely loved it, as much or moreso than I loved his Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet which I read earlier this year. The degree of difficulty Mitchell pulls off is legit mindblowing....in one book he writes in so many different voices, styles, dialects, and even genres and still makes the thing feel cohesive.

Hearing about the structure of Cloud Atlas scared me off for quite some time but I found it to be extremely readable and fun once I got a little bit into the first section. Can’t wait to read more from Mitchell (he’s got a new one out soon).

 

That was my first Mitchell book as well and I very much enjoyed it. Shame about the movie.

I've only read four of his books, including the ones you mentioned. My favorite one by far is Black Swan Green. It's much more straightforward and it's written in vignettes which makes it easy to read in sessions.

 

Mitchell is real good. I think Number9Dream is my favorite but it really depends on the mood I’m in.

 

Have heard great things about Black Swan Green, will definitely read that soon. Though I’ve heard people call just about every one of his books their favorite, which I think is testament to how good the guy is.

I liked Cloud Atlas more overall, but the last few pages and last sentence of Jacob de Zoet might be my favorite in any book ever.

 

Man I need to go back and read both of those

 

I have a beautiful hardback copy of Jacob de Zoet, and I've tried reading it twice but just can't get past the first couple of sections. I don't know what it is, I just completely lose interest.

I liked Cloud Atlas, though some of it felt more like a writing exercise rather than a novel.

I recommend Slade House if you haven't read that one, short ghost story, probably the one of his that I've enjoyed the most.

 

Currently reading Little Fires Everywhere. About 1/3 of the way through and pretty meh on it so far, really haven't been engrossed by/liked it as much as I thought/wanted to. Still gonna finish it because it's fine enough just hope it picks up a bit soon.

Anybody else read it?

 

Had to put down One Hundred Years of Solitude. Wasnt reading it often bc I always felt intimidated to pick it up. I enjoyed the prose but think I need to commit to it and I’d prefer something less sprawling and dense for now. I started Sarah Rose Etter’s delightfully surreal The Book of X, which I’m more than halfway through now. It’s incredible. Anyone ever heard of it?

 

I bought both Bone Clocks and Slade House while I was reading Cloud Atlas, so I think I’ll read those two and then the new one, and then circle back to his earlier works.

I too found Jacob de Zoet tough sledding early on; I found myself a bit disengaged in all the heavy seaman-dialect conversations with the shipmates and everything. Don’t remember when it clicked for me, but I eventually just got lost in it and found the last couple hundred pages riveting and the ending to be extremely powerful.