The Book Thread Book • Page 34

The first 50 pages of The Hobbit were a chore even in Middle School

 

The Hobbit was always one of my favorite books. But LOTR was a chore to get through

 

Shadow of the Wind is Easily in my top 5 as well. Such a great book. I still need to read Angel's game

 

The Hobbit turned 80 yesterday.

 

Harry Potter was fun and I see why it has such a huge following. Well, from book one at least! Just finished Hardboiled and Hard Luck by Banana Yoshimoto. Anyone read her? I am a pretty big fan.

Any other Japanese authors to recommend?

 

Yoshimoto is soooo good! Definitely check out Asleep if you haven't already.

Other Japanese authors:
- Haruki Murakami
- Yoko Ogawa
- Kobo Abe
- Ryu Murakami (no relation to Haruki)
- Taichi Yamada

 

Read my first Murakami novel a couple months back and it blew me away. Totally reinspired me to start writing fiction again

 

Finished Final Girls by Riley Sager today and feel very meh towards it

 

I absolutely loved Asleep! I will definitely check those out. Thanks so much!

 

Which one was it? I've only read A Wild Sheep Chase.

 

I actually heard it was very mediocre.

 

Premise is great! Execution is not and ending is just batshit insane.

 

Hahaha the premise does sound really cool but I'll definitely put it all the way at the bottom of my to be read list haha

 

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. So good.

 

Now that I'm a little bit into it I'm not so tentative to say I'm working on Infinite Jest. It's kinda slow going because I find a lot of it to be emotionally exhausting--there's a passage that's just James's father talking to his son that fucked me up, and it's followed almost directly by this transcript of one of Mario's films read by Hal that is equally painful. I think about that second one a lot especially, it's sing-song in style but it plays out like a drill, the institution and the father pounding routine and ideology into Hal's life. It's especially heartbreaking considering that James is dead and he won't be at the school forever, but these things never wanted linger on regardless.

ANYWAY I'm really enjoying it and learning to relax and go at a steady, slow clip. That means that I have time to read some other stuff too, so I just started Compass by Énard and I'm immediately thinking about music and musicology in literature and I'm not deep enough to know exactly what it is I'm thinking on that subject but I'm mulling it over haha.

 

I have to read Pride and Prejudice for class and while I’ve read before in high school, I remember almost nothing. Anyways, I’m really not a fan. Like, I get that the characters are superficial on purpose, but there is almost nothing here for me to care about or relate to. They feel like cartoon characters and not real people.

 

aw man I liked Pride and Prejudice when I read it in high school. I can see how they'd appear to be distant or difficult to care about though haha, although I do remember being interested (and appalled) at the portrait of the courting process at the time (and the ways it could be defied--especially this part).

my least favorite book I read in high school and again in college was Frankenstein.

 

I’m not too far into the book so my opinion might change, but as of now the thought of spending the rest of the book with characters so daft is daunting.

I haven’t read Frankenstein, but I have read some of Shelley’s short stories and poetry and I liked it.

 

If i recall correctly I think the sisters get a lot more interesting once you get a little further in and they get a little more distinct. It's been a while though so I could be wrong haha.

I associate that one with Wuthering Heights because we read that one right after and I definitely prefer it--love that doom and gloom. I should read that again one day.

 

I read it for the first time this year and I was expecting to feel like this but I absolutely loved it. I was so surprised. I really got into it and found the characters engaging and loved how they all were proud and prejudiced.

 

The thing is, I’m not necessarily opposed to the genre, but it just ain’t workin for me. I’m very curious to read Sense and Sensibility though because I absolutely adore the film.

 

Frankenstein is worth reading. A lot different to how I'd imagined it would be. (Hadn't read anything or seen films based on it)

I read Wuthering Heights at the end of last year but preferred Pride & Prejudice. It's been great trying to read classics I've never read. Reading Bleak House at the moment.

 

Some of the older books, particularly in this genre (compared to the horror of Shelley or the sci-fi of HG Wells), drag for me. That was why I was surprised I love Pride & Prejudice so much.

 

I found Frankenstein to be really disappointing but some passages / moments were really interesting and good which made it overall worthwhile

 

I'm about a quarter of the way though the wind up bird chronicle and I'm not loving it yet. I wasn't expecting murakami to be so dry