January 2012
1 post
September 2011
1 post
3 tags
June 2011
1 post
Thought for Food: Books I Can't Recommend Enough →
noraleah:
Inspired by SuiteP’s question, here are the books I’m currently telling my friends to read, already!
In no particular order, with links to their previous mentions on ye olde blog….
A Visit from the Goon Squad
Bossypants
The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of…
April 2011
1 post
June 2010
2 posts
“The reason the World Cup is in South Africa is because FIFA made a conscious...”
– In Defense Of The Vuvuzela
April 2010
1 post
July 2008
5 posts
So...Catch-22
I haven’t ever read this before. I got about a chapter into it when I left it by my chair at the pool and someone swiped it, thus the suggesting to read it now. I am normally a really fast reader and I am finding this really chewy? It is so intricate sometimes that I have to reread paragraphs, which is fine, but now I am wondering what kind of crap do I normally read that makes this a...
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
by Junot Diaz
It’s like Gabriel Garcia Marquez on crack. Set on the East Coast and in the Dominican Republic. With ample political commentary. Sexual repression. And the hot hot Caribbean heat.
Must. Read.
READING IS THE NEW BLACK
Ok, given the e-mails and posts on here, we are going with Catch 22. Don’t kill me if you’ve already read you some Heller. That’s just how we are going to roll this month, majority rules. Try to read it by August 1.
XOXO. Rach.
let’s get this party started!
this weekend at the beach is a great time to get some summer reading in!
June 2008
19 posts
So did we decide? Rach, you get the final call.
Catch-22
A friend chose this book for me today. Must be fate…
I vote On the Road too. I could go either way, but this one is already sitting on my shelf.
My votes for On The Road. I’ve never read either book, but isn’t On The Road supposed to be like, the book that defined a generation (I vaguely remember an english teacher saying so…)
My vote’s for Catch 22…
I’ve actually never read it…
Sad I know…
I vote for Catch-22. I read that 11 years ago and I feel like it’s time for a re-read!
we should decide
I’m cool with both Catch 22 and On the Road…
… but I kinda feel a decision SHOULD be made !
I’ve always wanted to read Catch-22.
I’m up for anything - I’m just ready to get started. As far as old school goes, I’d love a Kurt Vonnegut book. I’ve never read anything by him. I’ve never read Catch-22 either.
anyone want to go old school and read something like catch-22?
I, for one, would LOVE to read On The Road!
Friday
Yay! It’s Friday - that means a new selection will be forthcoming very soon. Rach - don’t keep us in suspense for too long. The weekend is the perfect time to pick up a new read!
WatchThe Colbert Report Official Site | Comedy Central
The Junot Diaz interview, yesterday. Awesome.
??
How about salman rushdie’s new book, enchantress of florence? suppossed to be good.
What about What Remains? It’s a non-fiction account of the lives of JFK Jr. and his wife as told by a close friend.
I’d also like to read The Geography of Bliss and Never Let Me Go. I’ve also never read On The Road. I’m sure many of you have, but I’d be up for it!
Also on an unrelated note I am reading Sadia Shepard’s “The Girl From Foreign” right now which comes out in earnest next month and I can’t recommend it enough. It’s this great story about a girl who is half Pakistani, half American and finds out that her grandmother, from India, is really Jewish, part of a rare tribe of Jews that landed outside of Bombay. She goes in...
Suggestions...
Okay these are my totally selfish suggestions - i.e. they are all books piled on my night table gathering dust and making me feel guilty.
Instead of a Letter - by Diana Athill
The Late Mattia Pascal - by Luigi Pirandello
The Lake - by Kawabata
Jesus’s Son - by Denis Johnson
The Sheltering Sky - by Paul Bowles
Matthew
“Guess what? It’s time to choose a new book since Brief Wondrous Life was...”
– xoxo—Rach
Email: tumblrbooks {at} gmail.com
Thanks...
…to whoever picked this book. I probably wouldn’t have read it or it would have taken me a few years to actually read if it weren’t for the choice to read it for the bookclub…Such a great read. Diaz is a great writer…Anyone else going to read Drown now?
May 2008
7 posts
Are we going to discuss this book? Choose one for next month? I’m getting antsy! :)
WatchInterview with the writer. Will be doing a segment on him next week. Enjoy.
I'll admit: my Spanish is poor.
I finished the book yesterday, and thought I’d respond to something that really caught my attention while reading the interview Emily linked to. This was probably the most impressive comment (in my mind) Diaz made in the interview: I’ve almost never read an adult book where I didn’t have to pick up a dictionary. I guess I participate more in my readings and expect the same out of...
Junot Diaz interview with Slate magazine →
I enjoyed reading this. Because we already discussed the footnotes (and because this question gives nothing away) I thought I would share this one: Slate: The book is full of footnotes, especially at the beginning, forcing the reader to break away from the narrative to take in information that may or may not be “external” to the story. What made you decide to put footnotes in the...
Yesss….who’s ready to kick this off?
I’m done! And so ready to discuss.
inquiry
i had a date on saturday night, and being the badass conversationalist that i am started talking about book clubhouse. i told him we were reading junot diaz’s new book and he said “oh, i have been hearing a lot about her lately”. now here is the question, on a scale of 1-10, how bad is it that i wanted to get really snobby w/ him and say “oh wow…this isn’t...
April 2008
30 posts
sort of interesting list of Junot Diaz's top 5... →
Started reading the book on my flight to DC tonight. I love how smoothly he integrates his sci/fi-fantasy references into the plot - Respectability so dense in la grande that you’d need a blowtorch to cut it, and a guardedness so Minas Tirith in la pequena you’d need the whole of Mordor to overcome it.
I ordered the book from amazon today. I also ordered Armageddon in Retrospect by Kurt Vonnegut in order to get super saver (free) shipping. Because of this, it will take 5-7 days before it arrives. I will be having a reading night when it does. I’m very excited about that…
“It’s never the change we want that changes everything.”
– page 51
great choice totally loving this book
$14.97
Actually, it appears the regular Amazon price has recently gone down to just $14.97. Pretty much a bargain, I’d say.
relax, people, they have 50+ used/new copies on amazon starting at $14.71.
So I went to Powells.com, my favorite Amazon alternative, and they had one copy left…for $250. Sure, it’s a signed first edition and everything, but yeesh.
Ah! Like most things, this book must not yet be popular in the Midwest because all the bookstores I’ve been to - and I frequent all of them in town - have tons of copies. I actually got two for my birthday and had to return one. I wish I would have known people were having such a hard time. I could have sold it to the highest bidder :)
i was hoping to borrow it from the library, but it looks like it’ll be a very long wait =( i’ll go hunt for it tomorrow.
newbie
i still need to get the book! i’m working on it… p.s. you should check out: http://www.newyorker.com/online/2007/06/11/070611on_audio_danticat
everyone's out
apparently everyone who’s ever picked up a book has picked this one up! who knew so many people had heard of that pulitzer prize thing? did i even spell it right? i will find it though, i will prevail!