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Post by nondescript spice on Feb 20, 2015 19:10:31 GMT -5
finished the lacuna, by barbara kingsolver, a few nights ago. very good, absorbing read, if you like historical fiction, which i do.
it's about the fictional harrison william shepherd - born with a mexican mother and american father. he's lived on both sides, but becomes involved with the rivera-kahlo household - as a cook and then a secretary of sorts. he becomes friends with frida and eventually lives in the house with leon trotsky until he is assassinated. it affects him deeply, and moves back to america, settling in asheville, north carolina, where he becomes a writer. the real interesting relationship - i would have thought it would be between shepherd and frida - was between shepherd and a widow who is hired to be his secretary. she becomes extremely important to him as he becomes a suspect during the whole communist witch hunt. i've read about it but i am only just beginning to understand how it devastated not only careers, but just human beings trying to live the american dream.
i'm almost halfway through gone girl now.
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Post by nondescript spice on Mar 22, 2015 14:32:22 GMT -5
well, this place is dead. wait, this whole BOARD is dead.
as i said somewhere around here - gone girl was a big disappointment. i liked it up until the ending. it was fast paced, kept you on your toes - then the ending was LAME, imo.
anyway, a friend lent me their copy of lolita, which i finished a few days ago. i had heard long ago that vladimir nabokov was inspired to write lolita from charlie chaplin, whose second wife was a teenager who went by the name lita that he married after knocking her up during the production of the gold rush. i don't know if it's true or not, that he was nabokov's muse for the book or not.
there were so many things that amazed me about this novel. first of all, when people hear about a "lolita" they automatically think of a sexy, barely legal girl. but if you are a lolita type, that really means you are nothing more than an annoying 12 year old girl. and for a book about a man getting it on with a young girl, it is somehow not obscene. it's actually beautiful in many parts. so beautifully written.
humbert knows he is a pedophile. he often refers to himself as a monster of sorts. but just when i was ready to be thoroughly disgusted with him, i'd think - but damn, he really loved her. did it make it better that ultimately lolita herself really made the first move that set the change in their relationship in motion? nah. did it make it better that humbert loved her even after she had obviously grown out of her "nymphet" phase? that he finally realized that he robbed lolita of her childhood and ruined her life? ehhh, not really, no. lolita was a fascinating character because she seemed to have no self awareness at all.
and quilty - a man who was no better than humbert, but then again, when i found myself comparing the two men, i was always in favor of humbert. that was the most disturbing aspect of the story for, that i found myself actually rooting for humbert. isnt that sick? but despite his terrible actions, i loved how outright stupid he could be at times in his decisions, how funny he could be is his derision for others, especially charlotte, lolita's doomed mother.
the symetry of it - lolita was the first word of the story and the last word. i couldn't get through it without google translate for all the french and latin phrases. i can't imagine the stir it must created when it was first released in 1958.
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Post by Weirdo Writer on Mar 23, 2015 19:02:28 GMT -5
Rum Punch by Elmore Leonard
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lipatti
Anteater
watch out for snakes
Posts: 9
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Post by lipatti on Apr 5, 2015 1:14:16 GMT -5
For class, Dante's Inferno. Outside of class, I'm reading an unpublished novel, League of Mortals by Duncan Cross, which is about a 17-year-old guy with Crohn's disease.
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Post by mitchell33 on Apr 25, 2015 2:06:52 GMT -5
i just read James Patterson's (2002) novel "Four Blind Mice' the 8th novel in the Alex Cross series. a really medicore book to be honest. and though i started it on Sunday and i was done by friday nite. i felt like i was reading it more days than that. and i had to force myself to finish it. a thing that's NEVER happen to me when it comes to his Alex Cross novels. which are normally pretty damn good in my opinion. i have no idea what i want to start next though. i think i'll sleep on that.
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Post by SoCalChevy on Apr 25, 2015 10:09:48 GMT -5
"Tom Slade: Boy Scout of the Moving Pictures". It's the 1915 novelization of a movie about a poor young troublemaker who is deformed when he joins the boy scouts.
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Post by mitchell33 on Apr 25, 2015 19:26:32 GMT -5
sounds good is it any good? anyways i decided on 'James Patteron's (2003)'s Alex Cross Novel which would be the 9th book in the series. 'The Big Bad Wolf' i had to take a break from it cause i'm getting a headach after reading for the past 5 hrs.
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Post by SoCalChevy on Apr 26, 2015 10:03:21 GMT -5
It's not bad so far!
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Post by nondescript spice on May 18, 2015 18:53:09 GMT -5
my mom picked up f. scott fitzgerald: classic works for me and i got it in the mail today! the beautiful and damned, this side of paradise and 19 short stories. i read them all a couple of years ago from the library and have been wanting to get my own copy. aaarrgghhhh! rockin good news!
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Post by mitchell33 on May 24, 2015 8:29:35 GMT -5
well i've read a few books since the big bad wolf which i just loved! anyways, than i read patterson's Now you see her' which also was a great book too. than i finished stephen King's "IT" that is prolly my favorite book of his, well that one and the uncut version of THE STAND, the other nite i finished 'From a buick 8' and i really enjoyed the hell out of that one. a LOT more than i thought i would to be honest. now i'm reading king's "Dream catcher' i just started that yesterday so i'm only on page 54 so far. so i've been quite busy as of late.
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Post by Weirdo Writer on May 24, 2015 19:06:09 GMT -5
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
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Post by mitchell33 on Jun 4, 2015 21:37:41 GMT -5
Dreamcatcher by-Stephen King and i'm really loving it so far and i'm now damn near done with it with about 130 pages left of it. i have no idea what i am going to read next to be honest.
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Post by Weirdo Writer on Jun 6, 2015 19:54:44 GMT -5
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
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Post by mitchell33 on Jun 10, 2015 20:33:21 GMT -5
well i finished it and i loved it! now i'm reading, Body of Evidence-by Patrica Cornwell it's the book in the Kay Scarpetta Series and an old one from (1991) i've had this sucker for at least over 10 years and now i'm finally getting around to read the damn thing. he he and i'm enjoying the hell out of it so far too.
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Post by mitchell33 on Jun 13, 2015 20:53:23 GMT -5
well i finished Body of Evidence and i loved it! even though i started the next book in the series which is called "All that Remains' from (1992) i haven't really decided just yet if i want to read another Cornwell right now.
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