Let me know how Lunar Park turns out. I didn't know he finally wrote a new one. American Psycho is still one of the funniest books I've read, but his other books are a mixed bag.
Dialogue between kitchen and bedroom earlier this evening:
Savannah (loudly): Oh, har dee har har har. Aren't you just so fucking clever. Jeremy: Eh? Savannah (holding up Nick Hornby book, then tossing it aside with great hostility): Nick Hornby.
I'll try it again when I'm in a better mood. :P
The Ellis book is really interesting so far. It appears to be a novel about a novelist named Bret Easton Ellis who wrote the bestsellers The Rules of Attraction and American Psycho and is now, with great trepidation, starting on his first new novel in awhile, Lunar Park. Sort of like If on a winter's night a traveller, but less cracktastic, so far. He could still crash it with excessive cutesy self-consciousness, but so far so good.
American psycho is funny, though it was funnier when I was 15 than when I read it again at 17, but I'm not sure if that's to do with my views and levels of experience of sex and how they changed in that time... I still sort of admire it, I'm not sure I fancy reading it again.
It was funny, but mostly I was too freaked out to laugh because it seemed way too realistic to me... it probably gets scarier and less funny the older you are.
I am not sure whether I hate Nick Hornby or not, because I've only read High Fidelity and though I find the things depicted in that book morally repugnant, I'm not sure whether Nick Hornby is endorsing or merely documenting them. I don't like this new book so far, though.
Nick Hornby is a good example of that 'nice guy' shit you were talking to me about. Puts my teeth on edge. Like patronising or idealising women is any way to have decent relationships with them. And he's way too sympathetic to his wanker male characters to be "merely documenting", I think. *above comment does not make me dateable material*
Dude, EXACTLY. So my rambling did make some sort of sense, heh. I actually started to mention High Fidelity as an example and then I decided I'd already gone on long enough.
"Nice guys" are sort of an in-joke with me and Jeremy. The other day we were watching X-Files and this episode was about a mutant who spent months sweet-talking lonely overweight women in order to eventually kill them and feed on their corpses, and Jeremy and I were both like, "Oh, he's a nice guy!"
I read the first... chapter-ish, and prognosis is not good. I'mma try again, but... man, Nick Hornby can be a real piece of work. And I don't think he likes women.
Joan Aiken: One of my heroes. Have you read her other books? She writes gothic romances for adults (along with really creepy ghost stories) and has a number of interesting books for children. You would probably like the Dido Twite series, beginning with Wolves of Willoughby Chase.
Sherryl Jordan: Secret Sacrament kind of irritated me, but I like this author generally. Raging Quiet is fairly compared to Thomas Hardy (while being fantasy for young people); and her Hunting of the Last Dragon I found to be incredibly poignant. Her older books need to be reprinted so I can read them.
Forever Amber: This falls into the category "books my grandmother read." My gma loved this book so much she named her children after Amber's children. (I think she probably saw the movie first, which is the case with most of her favorite books.) I inherited her book collection, and this has always been a special book category for me. She died when I was a teenager and never got to see me grown. I have
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Dress reform is covered under physical health. Girls can't run around and leap fences and bring a healthy glow to their cheeks as nature intended while encased in whalebone, don't you know. Cold baths and roomy underwear for all!
I've read a few of Joan Aiken's works, mostly ones for children. I do like her. I'll have to check out her ghost stories; with her flair for imagery I bet she's a dab hand at creepy atmospherics.
I strongly recommend Winter of Fire, although the heroine has a nasty habit of being allegedly unbeautiful and yet irresistibly attractive to every single man in her life, which is always irritating. Vicky in A Ring of Endless Light has the same problem. But I love both books, so that's okay.
I gathered from Winner of the National Book Award that Forever Amber was pretty trashy... Dorcas says something about "what Amber wore to look beautiful for her first rapist," from which I gather that it's one of those sweep-me-away-my-beating-heart-under-your-hand romances. I definitely want to read it, it sounds...
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I wouldn't consider what happened to Amber a rape. It was clearly irresponsible on the part of her partner and his intentions toward her; but Amber isn't exactly unwilling.
Oh well, read it and find out for yourself. I recommend getting a box of those frozen eclairs and reading it in bed. And honestly, even though we use the word "trashy" the book is much better than that. This isn't one of those heaving manhood kind of books. It compares reasonably well to Gone with the Wind in terms of the historical content and the ridiculous romantic arc.
Also, if you have never read Rebecca (Daphne Du Maurier) you really should.
Other books my grandmother read include: Mrs. Mike by Benedict and Nancy Friedman about a woman who marries a Canadian Mounty; Desiree by Annemarie Selinko, about Napoleon's first fiancee who winds up the Queen of Sweden (the movie version starred Marlon Brando as Napoleon!); and there's one more book about the California Gold Rush that absolutely blew my mind, but I can't think of it at the moment
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Also pls report back on the Hornby book. :)
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Savannah (loudly): Oh, har dee har har har. Aren't you just so fucking clever.
Jeremy: Eh?
Savannah (holding up Nick Hornby book, then tossing it aside with great hostility): Nick Hornby.
I'll try it again when I'm in a better mood. :P
The Ellis book is really interesting so far. It appears to be a novel about a novelist named Bret Easton Ellis who wrote the bestsellers The Rules of Attraction and American Psycho and is now, with great trepidation, starting on his first new novel in awhile, Lunar Park. Sort of like If on a winter's night a traveller, but less cracktastic, so far. He could still crash it with excessive cutesy self-consciousness, but so far so good.
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I hate Nick Hornby, a lot.
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I am not sure whether I hate Nick Hornby or not, because I've only read High Fidelity and though I find the things depicted in that book morally repugnant, I'm not sure whether Nick Hornby is endorsing or merely documenting them. I don't like this new book so far, though.
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*above comment does not make me dateable material*
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"Nice guys" are sort of an in-joke with me and Jeremy. The other day we were watching X-Files and this episode was about a mutant who spent months sweet-talking lonely overweight women in order to eventually kill them and feed on their corpses, and Jeremy and I were both like, "Oh, he's a nice guy!"
We were very pleased to stumble across this.
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Joan Aiken: One of my heroes. Have you read her other books? She writes gothic romances for adults (along with really creepy ghost stories) and has a number of interesting books for children. You would probably like the Dido Twite series, beginning with Wolves of Willoughby Chase.
Sherryl Jordan: Secret Sacrament kind of irritated me, but I like this author generally. Raging Quiet is fairly compared to Thomas Hardy (while being fantasy for young people); and her Hunting of the Last Dragon I found to be incredibly poignant. Her older books need to be reprinted so I can read them.
Forever Amber: This falls into the category "books my grandmother read." My gma loved this book so much she named her children after Amber's children. (I think she probably saw the movie first, which is the case with most of her favorite books.) I inherited her book collection, and this has always been a special book category for me. She died when I was a teenager and never got to see me grown. I have ( ... )
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I've read a few of Joan Aiken's works, mostly ones for children. I do like her. I'll have to check out her ghost stories; with her flair for imagery I bet she's a dab hand at creepy atmospherics.
I strongly recommend Winter of Fire, although the heroine has a nasty habit of being allegedly unbeautiful and yet irresistibly attractive to every single man in her life, which is always irritating. Vicky in A Ring of Endless Light has the same problem. But I love both books, so that's okay.
I gathered from Winner of the National Book Award that Forever Amber was pretty trashy... Dorcas says something about "what Amber wore to look beautiful for her first rapist," from which I gather that it's one of those sweep-me-away-my-beating-heart-under-your-hand romances. I definitely want to read it, it sounds... ( ... )
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Oh well, read it and find out for yourself. I recommend getting a box of those frozen eclairs and reading it in bed. And honestly, even though we use the word "trashy" the book is much better than that. This isn't one of those heaving manhood kind of books. It compares reasonably well to Gone with the Wind in terms of the historical content and the ridiculous romantic arc.
Also, if you have never read Rebecca (Daphne Du Maurier) you really should.
Other books my grandmother read include: Mrs. Mike by Benedict and Nancy Friedman about a woman who marries a Canadian Mounty; Desiree by Annemarie Selinko, about Napoleon's first fiancee who winds up the Queen of Sweden (the movie version starred Marlon Brando as Napoleon!); and there's one more book about the California Gold Rush that absolutely blew my mind, but I can't think of it at the moment ( ... )
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