As the Page Turns (the Book Thread)

[annie_mg]

I'm currently reading Queen Esther by John Irving. I'm about 2/3 in and while the pace has picked up, I don't find this book to be as good as his past ones. He is still one of my favourite authors ever though. The stories he makes up in his head never cease to amaze me. I can just picture all the characters in action. I love him.

 

[MacMadame]

The Guardian makes one of those lists.

The 100 best novels of all time

The top 100 novels of all time published in English, as voted for by authors, critics and academics worldwide. How many have you read?

www.theguardian.com

 

[Wyliefan]

The Guardian makes one of those lists.

The 100 best novels of all time

The top 100 novels of all time published in English, as voted for by authors, critics and academics worldwide. How many have you read?

www.theguardian.com

And as always, everyone is miffed about it. I participated in some of the social media bellyaching.

 

[MacMadame]

All these lists cause a lot of discussion and disagreement, but this list is particularly weird IMO. Like whole genres ignored. And even within the genre of General Fiction, lots of good books left off in favor of things I've never even heard of let alone read.

Here are my complaints:
No 1984, Animal Farm, Farrenheight 541. All 3 of those books are better than Catch-22 which did make the list. (And isn't a bad book, just not as good as those other ones.)

Lots of Jane Austin (yay!) but Mansfield Park and Emma are on the list while Sense and Sensibility is not? Sure, Jan.

I also don't think Jane Eyre is that great a book. On the list, sure? But definitely not Top 10. I was pretty bored reading it and when I discovered my copy was missing the last 25+ pages, I just stopped and never bothered to find them somewhere else.

Anyway...

 

[Wyliefan]

One of my friends who hated Yesteryear keeps posting about it and posting about it. It's like an obsession. Meanwhile, I already posted my positive review of it (on the same platform), so now I'm just trying to keep my mouth shut and my head down. I did tell her right after I finished it that I liked it and I was so sorry, and she promised not to hate me for it , but now she's getting so intense about it that I don't think I want to engage further!

Anecdotally speaking, the book does seem to have that kind of effect on people who grew up in that sort of fundie environment. She did, and I didn't. Maybe that explains something, I don't know.

 

[Prancer]

First: "You With the Sad Eyes" (Christina Applegate) - my least favourite and one "sad" experience" after another.

I'm reading this right now; I don't care for her writing style.