Monday, August 27, 2012

Reading Notes

I've been trying to read this for months and it's just not hooking me. I don't think I'll give it up completely but just set it aside . . . again. Perhaps it's time for me to formally introduce a new label. How about the Not-Right-Now book? It's not exactly a Did-Not-Finish, yet, but still has some redeeming features that are worth further investigation. Normally I love stories set in the early 1900s with big families, large country estates and a changing world, but this one -except for a few cool scenes- is just so rambly and directionless 50 pages in. It could still work, though, just not right now.









I'm still working on this one but I am waaaay behind on the readalong schedule, so there's no telling when I'll wrap this up. Don't wait around. It's fun, though, in that wordy Victorian way.










This one was a total DNF. I love David Sedaris's personal stories from, say, Naked, or Me Talk Pretty, but his fiction has always been -meh-. I'm already not a big fan of fables with animals, so I don't know why I even pulled this off the shelf. Good thing it was only from the library.









This is the reason for all the recent spate of DNFs and NRNs. What can I say? I just really, simply, love F. Scott's writing and will forgo everything else just to get back into his world.










Alice Munro is a Canadian author I am not familiar with so I thought I'd give this collection of short stories a go. So far so good.











This is my stay-at-home, coffee table chunkster. I'm enjoying it but I'm taking my time. Social skills, he had none. Brilliant foresight, business sense, intuition and LSD induced vision, he had plenty.




He reminds me of this guy:

8 comments:

Sam (Tiny Library) said...

I have The Children's Book on my shelf and whilst I want to read it, I'm a bit scared to start it! I'm planning to read more Fitzgerald soon :)

Trish said...

It looks like a lovely book and story, doesn't it? You just have to be ready to deal with all the thousands of characters. And, yes, Fitzgerald. He gets better with every book I read.

laughingwolf said...

alice munro is, from all accounts, the best canadian short story teller

about jobs: all true

Trish said...

Yes, I've heard that about Alice Munro too. I don't know why it's taken me so long to discover her.

Yeah, Jobs. What an intriguingly weird guy.

laughingwolf said...

if you listen to cbc radio, 99.1, toronto, they have regular programs on the arts, where canuck talent is showcased, not just furriners, throughout the day and into the night...

saturday/sunday, special programming... like bob macdonald's science stuff, 'quirks and quarks', saturday at noon; sundays at noon: stewart mclean's, vinyl cafe - tons of canuck talent, including his own on-going audio stories...

cbc.ca/toronto should have info

i like eleanor wachtel's; unrelated is 'white coat, black art', about medicine; terry o'reilly's newest [he changed the name, i can't remember it]; saturdays give you randy bachman's 'vinyl tap', 7pm, i think, followed by holger petersen's 'saturday night blues'... there's more...

Trish said...

Yes, I like those cbc shows, especially stewart mclean's vinyl cafe and eleanor wachtel's writers and company. I also like Q with jian ghomeshi. Some great stuff on the radio if only I could remember to tune in at the right time!

Elizabeth said...

I like this post. Very interesting.

I am glad I am a blog subscriber so I can see all your creative ideas for posts.


Elizabeth
Silver's Reviews
http://silversolara.blogspot.com

Trish said...

Thanks for your kind comments, Elizabeth. Books seem to pass through my hands so quickly that I like to post regular round-ups of what's currently on the go. It helps me to sort it all out and perhaps gives others some ideas about what to read next, or not.

It's a work in progress.