Most Recent Book(s) You've Finished + What You Thought Of It

I just finished The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut. As most of his writing, it was a very entertaining read and I never fail to be amazed by some of the ideas that he came up with. His prose is very easy to follow and understand which is just another reason for everyone to read it.

 

That's a great book. I really like that period of his writing, starting with that, then Mother Night, Cat's Cradle, Slaughterhouse-Five, Breakfast of Champions and ending with God Bless You Mr. Rosewater. I also really enjoyed Hocus Pocus.

 

I have also read Slaughterhouse-Five, but I am yet to read more by Vonnegut. I try my best to read novels by different authors, but I might have to come back to K.V. soon again.

Another great series that I can't stop talking about is His Dark Materials. Well worth the time to read.

 

My favorite Vonnegut books are Breakfast of Champions, Hocus Pocus and Slaughterhouse-Five in that order. You really can't go wrong with Breakfast. It's one of those books that puts you in a place you haven't ever been before.

 

Faulkner was a pimp

I read this book about half a year ago and I can see where you are coming from. The first section of the book especially requires focus just because of the type of person Ben is. I am reading As I Lay Dying for the second time right now and I am pretty sure that I prefer it over The Sound and the Fury just because it is easier to follow and has some wicked interesting imagery

 

Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer. I was very interested in it, though I didn't like how it just ended as it did. I guess it will make the new one that comes out in August better, but I never really liked Jacob Black, so, yeah. Not the best of the three, but way better than New Moon in my opinion.

 

I just finished Twilight (in eight hours by the way, damn I'm good ). My conclusions.

Good Book. Edwards a moron. Bella and Alice rulz .

I probably read New Moon soon as I have the opportunity to buy it.

 

I hated New Moon compared to the other three. I finished it in six hours, but I was very upset with it.

 

I gotta read it though. Must have, conclusion, to storyline.

 

It's not 'bad'. Just not the best of the three so far. That and if you fell in love with the storyline, you might get disappointed.

 

There's a Twilight Series thread I just posted too if you wanna talk about the book.

 

Lolita by Vladimir Nabakov - This is one of the best books I've read in a very long time. The quality of writing here really puts most other writers to shame. Lolita is about a man named Humbert Humbert who falls in love with a 12-year-old girl named Dolores Haze who he affectionately calls Lolita. Besides A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, I've never read a love story that really grabbed me like this one did. I can't recommend this enough.

 

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer - This book didn't impress me at all. The writing was really bland, and the last 150 pages of it were flat out awful. The only part I liked was when they went on their little hike in the meadow. Other than that, this was a major disappointment.

 

The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain. I came across this book in a stack of books that my mother had picked up from the local library's book sale. Oddly enough, there was a receipt for the book from 1940 when the library must have purchased it. I don't really know if my opinion of this book really matters all that much, seeing how most people are familiar with the story. I do enjoy most of the notes on the text that the book features at the end. I always enjoy Twain's opinions on monarchy and social status that carried over to his views on the American South.

 

I have just read The Shinning by Steven King and Kiss the Girls but I cannot remeber who that was. I really liked the latter.

 

Kiss the Girls is by James Patterson. I think it's one of his best books, although I'm not a huge fan of the guy.

 

I was trying to remember a title from Edger Allen Poe, so I ended up reading "The Murders in the Rue Morgue."

 

I've read some short stories recently...

The School by Donald Barthelme - He's a great writer with a very unique style. This story was very well written, although short.

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien - Normally I don't much care for war stories, but O'Brien really has a way with words.

Pet Milk by Stuart Dybek - I found it really easy to relate to the protagonist in this story. This is the first time I've ever read anything by Dybek but hopefully won't be the last.

Fiesta 1980 by Junot Diaz - I guess this guy won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction this year with a novel that he just wrote. I enjoyed this short story, but I didn't think it was anything worth of winning a Pulitzer. The novel must be a lot better.

 

Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx - This is the first time I've ever read anything by her. I found that I really enjoyed this story quite a bit. It was really depressing, but she managed to paint an excellent picture of the American west, specifically the Wyoming area. A couple of years ago, a boy named Matthew Shepard was murdered in that same state because he was homosexual, and I couldn't help but think of him as I read this.

 

Remember Me by Lesley Pearse.

It's the story of Mary Broad, one of the first convicts to be transported to Australia and the tale of her escape. I found it to be really interesting. It made me shed a tear too. Any book that can do that can't be bad.

 

Reread Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows. Wasn't as good the third time through. The ending still throws me off. I would have just let Harry AND Voldemort die.

 

Terry Pratchett's "Reaper Man"

Brilliant.

 

aye, I ejoyed reading it immensely.

I am trying to read Dean Kootz, The Face but I cannot get into it. I want to reas Hanibal again but I know it will make me sad so I don't know if I am going to

 

Hmm, yeah, that would probably have made the best ending.

Finished The Memory Keeper's Daughter. It was quite good, I liked the idea and all. But I think she spent too much time on the characters who didn't mean that much, and not enough on the ones around who the entire story revolved. Too much repetition of ideas and such, too.

But like I say, it wasn't bad. I'm just about to reread some Robin Jarvis now

 

I just read some more short stories...

This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona by Sherman Alexie - We watched the movie that came out of this story, Smoke Signals, in class last semester. The people who made the movie really added a lot, which ruined the story. I didn't enjoy the movie where as I enjoyed the short story.

Raymond's Run by Toni Cade Bambara - I felt neutral to this story. I can't say I'd really recommend it.

Errand by Raymond Carver - This ended up being about the last days of Anton Chekhov. It was interesting and fairly well written.

White Angel by Michael Cunningham - I liked this story the most. It was about some kids who did a lot of drugs in Cleveland in the early 1970's. Cunningham is a really good writer. I think he won the Pulitzer Prize a few years back.

Ghost Girls by Joyce Carol Oates - The last time I read something by Oates, I hated it. This was a bit better, but I can't say that I'm in a hurry to read anything else of hers.