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Post by darknessfish on Oct 2, 2019 12:16:10 GMT
I've read:
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo The Tipping Point The God Delusion Thinking Fast and Slow The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay True History of the Kelly Gang Atonement The Underground Railroad Sapiens The Curious Incident of the Dog in the NightβTime The Road The Plot Against America Cloud Atlas Never Let Me Go Wolf Hall
I've highlighted the books I think are good to great, though I think I enjoyed reading all of them. I mean The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a standard crime-thriller potboiler wrapped in an unnecessary financial tale with an astonishingly un-literary denouement, but it was fun. I think The True History of the Kelly Gang was probably the hardest slog to finish, but I've found his books tend to be like that for me.
I don't get this attitude that modern literature is inferior by definition of being modern, it doesn't make sense from any kind of perspective, to me.
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Post by RomyLovesMick on Oct 3, 2019 0:26:13 GMT
Only 18 years into the 21st Century, and already they're coming out with best books lists. I've read 32 of those on the list. Here are a few I found most remarkable:
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead - another superb novel by Polish writer Olga Tokarcyzk.
Tell Me How It Ends - Valeria Luiselli's book of essays about migrant children from Central America seeking asylum in the US.
Capital in the Twenty First Century - Thomas Piketty's bestseller on rising economic inequality.
Carlo Rovelli's Seven Lessons on Physics is an elegantly-written book that summarizes some complex concepts in modern Physics; it's not for readers looking for a comprehensive treatment of the subject.
The Silence of the Girls - Pat Barker's retelling of the Iliad from the point of view of Briseis, Achilles's concubine; one of the best new novels I've read in recent years.
Rebecca Skloot's The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - I'm going to assume that people who read books know who Henrietta Lacks was and why her story is both compelling and significant.
ZoΓ« Heller's Notes on a Scandal - read the novel, then see the film.
Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking - I would recommend this book to anyone, but particularly to those who have ever experienced intense grief.
Night Watch - Terry Pratchett's Discworld series is irresistible and so entertaining. It's a sad irony that such a creative man died of early-onset Alzheimer's at age 66.
Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 - Tony Judt's account of Europe following World War II. By far the most comprehensive treatment of the period and place I've encountered.
Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad is in the "must read" category.
The Plot Against America - Philip Roth's novel presents us with an alternative universe in which Nazi-sympathizer Charles Lindbergh is elected president in 1940, leading to a widespread persecution of the Jews in America. It can't happen here, right? But then some of us said the current POTUS could not be elected. It's actually not a bad idea to read Sinclair Lewis's novel It Can't Happen Here in tandem with Roth's novel to note the parallels.
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Post by Jep Gambardella on Oct 3, 2019 1:33:34 GMT
Only 18 years into the 21st Century, and already they're coming out with best books lists. In three months the first 1/5 of the 21st century will be over. I guess that is the motivation behind The Guardian's lists of the best movies, TV shows and books of the century so far.
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Post by nutsberryfarm π on Jul 1, 2020 22:48:50 GMT
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Post by Carl LaFong on Jul 1, 2020 22:56:13 GMT
No. I've never read him. Have heard about him though. German who moved to East Anglia.
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Post by nutsberryfarm π on Jul 1, 2020 23:09:18 GMT
No. I've never read him. Have heard about him though. German who moved to East Anglia. just got his rings of saturn book. is a German who moved to East Anglia significant? from the usa i don't understand.
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Post by theravenking on Jul 2, 2020 16:23:11 GMT
Iβve read 17 of these:
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire The God Delusion Coraline Thinking, Fast and Slow Gone Girl On Writing True History of the Kelly Gang Atonement Life After Life The Road The Corrections My Brilliant Friend Cloud Atlas The Amber Spyglass Never Let Me Go Gilead
The only ones I liked were Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, The Road and The Amber Spyglass.
I tried reading Wolf Hall, but gave up after a few chapters. I thought it was dull and depressing.
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Post by Carl LaFong on Jul 3, 2020 0:36:05 GMT
No. I've never read him. Have heard about him though. German who moved to East Anglia. just got his rings of saturn book. is a German who moved to East Anglia significant? from the usa i don't understand. Not really. East Anglia is a part of England (Suffolk and Norfolk mainly) I think he wrote in English rather than German.
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Post by Carl LaFong on Jul 3, 2020 4:42:49 GMT
just got his rings of saturn book. is a German who moved to East Anglia significant? from the usa i don't understand. Not really. East Anglia is a part of England (Suffolk and Norfolk mainly) I think he wrote in English rather than German. Talking balls, he wrote in German.
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