tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1603087915470708671.post1645558732223731689..comments2024-01-02T21:10:53.585-08:00Comments on Maggie Alderson's Reading List: HOLIDAY READINGMaggie Aldersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17576780843903768274noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1603087915470708671.post-5709836247044902972010-07-27T04:57:39.244-07:002010-07-27T04:57:39.244-07:00Have just read 'Mr Rosemblums List' - a de...Have just read 'Mr Rosemblums List' - a delightful holiday read, made all the better for the beautiful cover which i love to look at on my bedside table! Not able to take the next step to e - reading quite yet.........KGKelly Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04236852602203369436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1603087915470708671.post-50603977867527632062010-07-27T01:58:12.015-07:002010-07-27T01:58:12.015-07:00First up - get a kindle. You will never run out of...First up - get a kindle. You will never run out of books again. I was against it and now am converted.<br /><br />My recommendations are:<br /><br />Crime: Michael Robotham- Shatter<br />Classic best of the decade - The Road - Cormac McCarthy<br />Thrilling and tea dressy - Jamaica Inn, Daphne Du Maurier<br />Australian - anything you haven't yet read by Tim Winton<br />Weird - Imperial Bedrooms by Bret Easton Ellis<br />Graham Greene you may not have read - End of the Affair.Janehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02475155333546477042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1603087915470708671.post-9814655960784653832010-07-20T04:29:26.647-07:002010-07-20T04:29:26.647-07:00Saki: The Complete Works.Saki: The Complete Works.Zayinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04853111082537082684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1603087915470708671.post-81360370819341438832010-07-04T03:06:48.805-07:002010-07-04T03:06:48.805-07:00Thank for all your suggestions. Have read a good m...Thank for all your suggestions. Have read a good many of them already, so nice to know we are singing from the same score etc etc.<br /><br />The Spare Room by Helen Garner (suggested by Anon) was probably my fave book of last year. Highly highly recommend. <br /><br />Of Human Bondage (Catriona) = one of the books that changed my life. Read it at 15 and was bowled over by the emotional power of it.<br /><br />Partic thanks to Decoratrix - who told me about Prep a couple of years ago and I loved it. <br /><br />As her other suggestions - Summer After Funeral, Bonjour Tristesse and Jigsaw - are 3 of my favourite books, I am about to order all the others you suggest right NOW.<br /><br />Maggie xxxMaggie Aldersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17576780843903768274noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1603087915470708671.post-43557356125861975602010-07-03T19:44:41.789-07:002010-07-03T19:44:41.789-07:00I love coincidences ...I'm currently pondering...I love coincidences ...I'm currently pondering what book to take on my cruise (my first) in the August ....I'm also open to suggestion!<br /><br />And I must say I'm still laughing and so so so with you ...on dressing over 50 ...I'm half way to 60 and will NOT go down without a fight ...I'm thinking of donning a kimono ...undone of course over almost anything ...red shoes ...with anything ...and bangles I seem to be turning a bit gypsy frankly and I'm loving it!Sarah Luluhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05884012730205363096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1603087915470708671.post-87905712479653683432010-07-03T07:48:06.216-07:002010-07-03T07:48:06.216-07:00House of Mirth -Edith Wharton-you have probably re...House of Mirth -Edith Wharton-you have probably read it but I could read it a hundred times.<br /><br />I would love to read Tales of the City again. Perfect opportunity.<br /><br />The Mandelbaum Gate- Muriel Spark. Curious mystery set in Jerusalem and Jordan. You will love Freddy.<br /><br />The Summer After the Funeral-Jane Gardham<br />Heathcliff, an empty boarding school, Yorkshire moors, old aunts, vicars daughters, first crushes<br /><br />Prep- Curtis Sittenfeld<br />Waspy university, not fitting in, campus angst<br /><br />Away- Amy Bloom<br />escaping Russian pogroms, emigrating to America, a mother's search for a lost child- but not depressing at all, very entertaining<br />(and anything else by Amy Bloom)<br /><br /><br />Jigsaw: An Unsentimental Education- Sybille Bedford<br />I am always banging on about this. Perfect.<br /><br />Bonjour Tristesse- Sagan<br />good to read in a chic French summer settingdecoratrixhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14530367681855325861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1603087915470708671.post-81856877489520695042010-07-02T19:42:16.294-07:002010-07-02T19:42:16.294-07:00I had a wonderful reading experience earlier this ...I had a wonderful reading experience earlier this year - three fabulous books in a row and then I wondered, "Where to from here?"<br /><br />The books I enjoyed were 'Last Night in Twisted River' by John Irving (I am a huge Irving fan and have all the time in the world for his details)There is one scene in particular that is like a punch in the guts - Irving takes me by surprise in a way few authors can.<br /><br />The second book was 'Loving Frank' by Nancy Horan - amazing, insightful and an ending that leaves you speechless.<br /><br />Lastly, 'The Book Thief' by Markus Zusak - it took a bit to get into it but once I was there I can easily say that this is one of the most heartbreakingly beautiful books I have read in a very long time. Months later, I am still thinking about the characters.<br /><br />In regards to e-readers, I LOVE my Kindle but I never bought it as a book replacement, just a library supplement. I still buy books (lots of them) but I also buy e-books. It fits in my handbag and it's nice to know I have a hundred books at hand. The screen is anti-glare and really is just like looking at a page. That said, I've never dared to take it to the beach...not sure that Kindles and sand would mix.<br /><br />Happy holiday!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1603087915470708671.post-6819498319592812582010-07-01T05:32:18.446-07:002010-07-01T05:32:18.446-07:00Aha! I'm perfectly placed to advise you, havi...Aha! I'm perfectly placed to advise you, having just come back from a week of sun lounging and reading. My tactic (due to lack of funds) was just to take whatever was on my bookshelf that I hadn't read. The enforced reading time of a holiday usually means I read books I might not have persevered with in 10 minutes bursts on buses. I've certainly never bought into buying trashy books just for the beach. <br /><br />But this time, I discovered that I needed a break between serious books. After reading Disgrace by JM Coetzee and Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham, I couldn't face any of the others I'd brought. I ended up having to borrow the execrable 'Wife in the North' from a friend. It felt like a waste of reading time, but it did give me a day of light reading that I needed before getting back into another book. I can't recommend that book, but I definitely do recommend taking something lighter - but not trashy or bad - to read between 'serious novels'. <br /><br />The Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell was the next book I read. WARNING - it's fat, heavy, has very small type and the prose in the first book in insanely dense and off-putting. Also nothing much happens and it seems like it's just an exercise in showy-off pretentiousness. But then, in the second book, everything turns on its head and it gets better and better. So good that I eschewed all the movies on the plane home so that I could carry on reading. So that's my qualified recommendation.<br /><br />A couple of good books I've read recently:<br />The Glass Room by Simon Mawer<br />Suite Francaise- Irene Nemirovsky<br /><br />And on holiday my friend was reading White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, which she said was really good...<br /><br />Oh, and I totally agree with the above person who recommended Kate Atkinson's crime books. They're brilliant.Katyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05690468957555001273noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1603087915470708671.post-70865529881370645472010-07-01T04:53:47.551-07:002010-07-01T04:53:47.551-07:00Maggie I am an e-book addict. Also love reading b...Maggie I am an e-book addict. Also love reading books but when life gets really busy the e-book is something you can listen to while exercising, cooking, sweeping leaves etc. My house looks immaculate since embracing the e-book! I also enjoyed listening to books while on a recent holiday in Bali - just sat by the water with my hat over my face and drifted into story land. My palette is probably not as sophistocated as you but I love the Diana Gabaldon series - Outlander read by Davina Porta. You can sample the sound at audible.comAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1603087915470708671.post-29404026680108270742010-07-01T04:52:53.193-07:002010-07-01T04:52:53.193-07:00Thanks Maggie, as a fellow booklover I really iden...Thanks Maggie, as a fellow booklover I really identify with today's blog (especially suitcase space)! I am really loving the new $10 Penguin Classics collection (I'm in Sydney but I think they started them in the UK too), I might never have read Love in a Cold Climate, Kingdom of Heaven or Handful of Dust otherwise.<br />I am currently reading People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks, I'm really enjoying it, a book about a book appeals to me as a booklover and lover of history. <br />I've also read and loved all 3 of Chelsea Handler's books this year (the US comedian with a talkshow on the channel E!), but they probably don't appeal to everyone, she is extremely crude. I laughed at some of her stories (which often involve her making up ridiculous lies) harder than I can remember ever in any book.<br />I've also recently enjoyed Tales of the City (Armistead Maupin), possibly because I love San Francisco, but also because it just gives an interesting window into a different period and different lifestyles (1970s setting, gay and straight characters).Pruenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1603087915470708671.post-39435187878687619872010-07-01T04:47:13.201-07:002010-07-01T04:47:13.201-07:00Spare Room - Helen Garner (beuatiful spare aching ...Spare Room - Helen Garner (beuatiful spare aching book) <br />How The Light Gets In - MJ Hyland (now in penguin orange!!) <br />Breath - Tim Winton<br />Truth - Peter Temple (crime but GOOD)<br />Indelible Ink - Fiona Mcgregor<br />The Family Law — Benjamin Law(funny)<br />After America - John Birmingham (OK i haven't read it as it came out today but I will)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1603087915470708671.post-28416201709738843402010-07-01T04:47:02.102-07:002010-07-01T04:47:02.102-07:00A couple more thoughts:
Ever tried Kate Atkinson?...A couple more thoughts:<br /><br />Ever tried Kate Atkinson? Behind the Scenes at the Museum is one I enjoyed quite a while ago now.<br /><br />Since then she's moved into the crime genre, but a bit different to your stock standard stuff - with the chief protagonist Jackson Brodie. The books thus far are:<br /><br />-Case Histories<br />-One Good Turn<br />-When will there be good news?Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00699921985112272194noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1603087915470708671.post-68603048543000896382010-07-01T04:42:31.404-07:002010-07-01T04:42:31.404-07:00Far from the classics Maggie, but if you enjoy the...Far from the classics Maggie, but if you enjoy the odd page-turner in the crime genre (always good when you want to stay glued to a banana lounge), try Donna Leon's detective series set in Venice. Her stories focus on Commissario Brunetti and strike a nice balance between the Venetian lifestyle, with food descriptions scattered throughout and the requisite crime and investigation. Happy Holidays!Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00699921985112272194noreply@blogger.com