The usual yearly lists (plus a bonus anecdote)

[strangecreature]

The unexpected tribulations of being an Internet nerd... I was helping my mom at the animal shelter again, bright and early this morning. One of the volunteers from the other room ducked in, took a look around for something, and left.

Quoth my mom: "Hey! They stole my bucketAt which point I guffawed, was unable to explain why I found that

Comments

[apiphile]

25. Regeneration, Pat Barker
26. The Eye in the Door, Pat Barker
27. Life Class, Pat Barker
28. Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk
29. The Ghost Road, Pat Barker

That's like a list of ORGASM. UNF. (I had to stop reading Life Class for a bit, the description of gas gangrene upset me too much)

34.

...whut? Why?

[strangecreature]

Reading all of those in a row made my own writing go all weird and brutal for a bit, I can tell you that! (Life Class was a strange little book. I almost wanted the characters from her other novels to have a crack at that plot... I just didn't find anyone particularly engaging, although her writing is still amazing. I don't know what happened there.)

...whut? Why?

It is a book and I read it and so it goes on the 'Books I Read' list, dammit! You shall not convince me otherwise. *g*

PS - I think you'd enjoy the hell out of Raw Shark Texts, if I haven't recced that to you already. It's like a slightly less brain-breaking House of Leaves that you can read without having to get out the Post-Its.

[apiphile]

Man, I should consider alternating, say, Choke and Another World, given that I always wanted to sound like Barker filtered through P-Chuck.

I just didn't find anyone particularly engaging

I am actually finding that, yes. Elinor is no Sarah Lumb; Paul is no Prior. It's a shame, because so far I keep thinking it's such a textured and occasionally traumatic look at the era, to the extent that it feels like I'm walking around in it rather than reading it. Oh, Pat Barker, why can I not just BE you?

*cough*

ONE DAY I will make it an actual book and probably have an aneurysm trying to work out how to reconcile "I wrote this" with "it is a book". *is stupid*

I have had this recommended to me by BOTH of the strange$value's on my list now and I have to admit it sounds like a cracking read. I will stick it on the wishlist next to the other billion unread books and hope that one day I will get around to reading ANYTHING.

[strangecreature]

Alas, I haven't read either of those yet! (On that note, I read your Fight Club fic some time ago and shamefully neglected to leave feedback but, holy crap, yes, you can nail that style when you want to.)

Oh, Pat Barker, why can I not just BE you?

Because I suspect her style involves a truly horrifying amount of research about truly horrifying subjects...? (Beyond the Regeneration trilogy, do you have any favourites of hers? 'Stop buying books' ain't on my resolution list, I'm afraid. *g*)

Never fear! I can choreograph another rousing mime routine for the PtP fen to help remind you! I don't think it would be too hard to convey "Holy shit! This is a book! It is written by you! It is on a bookshelf!" in mime, eh?

Mwuahaha! You're are clearly destined to read it. :-D

[elebridith]

Wow. Have to go through this later. I'm just preparing my list which is sadly a lot shorter...

[strangecreature]

Mine was about seven novels shorter than last year too, but I seem to seriously lack reading time these days. :-P Darn homework, getting in the way of my fun!

[chlare]

How was Into the Wild? I've heard a lot of people jabber about it, but as someone from a cold place, I've had little desire to actually read it.

Also, if you wanted to say anything about the Sekrit Life of Bees or Letters to a Young Poet, that'd be cool. *rubs toe in dirt*

*luuurves yapping about books*

[strangecreature]

That one was absolutely amazing... Most of the book deals with Christopher's life as a student and his journey around the States before he heads up to Alaska, so you shouldn't get vicariously chilly reading it. ;-) Have you seen the movie? I found that pretty fantastic too. (Read: bawled my damn eyes out. Ha!)

Hee! Bees is very short, readable and an engaging story with great characters. A few serious ouch moments, but overall quite a hopeful feel to it. Since you like Proulx's stuff, I think you'd really like this one. I'm looking forward to seeing the movie! (What's with all the books I read this year getting turned into movies, eh?? Nine of them!)

Letters is definitely a book you'll have to read more than once. I was underlining and writing in the margins like mad when I read it, which I almost never do. Considering it really is just correspondence from Rilke, there's a heck of a lot of insight in there. I'd definitely recommend it for anyone who's ever tried their hand at writing. :-)

Re: *luuurves yapping about books*

[chlare]

Thank you my dear! I do love to hear you yap about books. Lets me live a little vicariously through you and your book reading. :) I think I need new glasses. /random thought on why I don't read as much any more

[remember_nomore]

It's so nice to see that Twitlight wasn't on your reading list...

*snickers madly*

[strangecreature]

I'm afraid that series and the sequel to The Da Vinci Code have actually landed on my lesser-known 'Books I Shall Not Read' list. *g*

[remember_nomore]

*giggle* Well you can always use them to prop up the coffee table if it ever gets wibbly. *snicker*

I swear, the two icons I made you that you still use [this and cowgirl] are my favorite that I've ever done. I miss that puppy....I know she wasn't mine, but still :(

[strangecreature]

Aw! Well, I can't take full credit for that. About ten of these were assigned reading for my one course. :-D (Did you hear that they're making a movie of that one?? I'm definitely excited to see what they do with it!)