What Are You Reading?

[adorefaith]

I loved Middlesex adorefaith; have you read The Virgin Suicides? It's wonderful too.

no I haven't NPJ. i'll have to put it on my list. for some reason i haven't been as drawn to it as to middlesex.

 

[barbaraaa]

^ I love both of those books and highly recommend them I am actually reading The Marriage Plot right now!

 

[Not Plain Jane]

^ Oh, is The Marriage Plot good?

adorefaith, The Virgin Suicides is definitely different than Middlesex, but I found it equally engaging. Middlesex is more of a family epic covering a lot of history but focusing mainly on the protagonist's liminality, whereas The Virgin Suicides is more about a particular time & place: the atmosphere in that book is so powerful. But both are philosophical in portraying that pivotal time of "coming of age".

 

[SevenWeeksLater]

Finished Outliers now reading On My Knees: A Memoir by Periel Aschenbrand. So its supposed to be pretty controversial considering the topic area, but so far I am enjoying it.

 

[YoninahAliza]

The Last Runaway Tracy Chevalier

A really compelling novel, it's about an English Quaker women living in America who becomes involved in the Underground Railroad. I was going to take it to read on the train to New York this weekend but I think I'll be finished with it before then! Will have to find something else just as good for my three hour trip.

 

[YoninahAliza]

Sorry for the double post, but I thought I'd mention that I found a book for my train ride. I purchased a copy of Jennifer Worth's Call the Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times, I'm a huge fan of the tv show and I've been meaning to check this book out, it sounds incredibly interesting.

 

[Miss Dalloway]

Art Lover, A Biography of Peggy Guggenheim by Anton Gill - One of the worst, and most annoyingly written biographies i have ever read!

 

[Not Plain Jane]

Wired: the short life and fast times of John Belushi - at first, I couldn't get into it, but as it has delved into his past I've started to become more interested.

 

[MissMagAddict]

The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner

 

[Mistique]

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

 

[barbaraaa]

^ Oh, is The Marriage Plot good?

adorefaith, The Virgin Suicides is definitely different than Middlesex, but I found it equally engaging. Middlesex is more of a family epic covering a lot of history but focusing mainly on the protagonist's liminality, whereas The Virgin Suicides is more about a particular time & place: the atmosphere in that book is so powerful. But both are philosophical in portraying that pivotal time of "coming of age".

I agree with this! I had always seen the books as very different (with the themes and the time span and whatnot), but now that I think of it thy are indeed coming of age books. Both very good too.

The Marriage Plot is being a fun read - a lot of perspective on feminism in the 1980s. Not as gripping as the two other Eugenides so far, but it might be that it isn't quite fitting my mood... Still good nevertheless!

 

[Miss Dalloway]

Audrey Hepburn, An Elegant Spirit by Sean Hepburn Ferrer

What a glorious book from a son to a mother, i cried. She truly was an exceptional human being.

 

[lostgirl]

I just started Ashenden by Elizabeth Wilhide.

 

[MissMagAddict]

Tristessa by Jack Kerouac

 

[Miss Dalloway]

Moderato cantabile by Marguerite Duras

 

[Deleted member 31441]

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

 

[MissMagAddict]

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

Me too!

 

[peacelover142002]

Transformations by Anne Sexton

and

Moon Palace by Paul Auster

 

[barbaraaa]

La Porte Étroite by André Gide, one of my favourites

 

[ChrissyM]

Just starting The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

Was recommended to me by a friend... we'll see how it goes.

Am still only partway through House of Mirth by Edith Warton, but I can't bring myself to really dive in at the moment.