Books and Literature

[yuzupon]

I am currently painstakingly trying to finish Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder. It's heavier than I anticipated, and with all the mandatory readings I have to do for grad prog, I am drowning. :crazy:

 

Oh I love that book! :love: The first time I read it I was in primary school and skipped most of the philosophy for the curious story. Then in middle school I tried again, got to the Hellenism part and stuck there for another 3 years :P Finally in high school I picked it up again, this time listening to the audiobook in English. One chapter during evening walk everyday, less than a month and it's done! (I was on an exchange program in the U.S. by then, had so much more free time than when being a Chinese high school student:P) By then the wonder of philosophy finally got me fascinated, so I picked up a paperback copy & read through it again & again. Till today in my college philosophy classroom, I still get reminded of this book now and then. The approachable way it illustrates philosophers' core ideas really provided me with a huge buffer for entering the realm of some great thinkers, who refused to write or speak like a normal human being :space: And it really had a huge part in the forming of my world view. Ganbatte with your reading! You'll enjoy it eventually and it's so worthwhile!

 

Thanks!

 

I've read the somewhat abridged version of it once long, long time ago in my native language. And, yep, I also skipped all the philosophy parts for the story. Now, I'd like to read the full version (in English) of the book more carefully. If only my workload cooperated... :cry:

 

Bolded: :rofl2:

[xeyra]

I read Sophie's World when I was younger and I basically read over half of it in one afternoon in my library. To the point I didn't even notice the hours pass until I was told the library was closing for the day! I think this was the first book that made me go into a sort of reading fugue state of some kind.

[dd2_edge]

I aim to finish Thomas Friedman's Thank You for Being Late before summer hits. I want to re-read Anna Karenina this year, though I started A Japanese Mirror (also titled Behind the Mask) (Chinese TL), Ian Buruma's interpretation of Japanese culture, months ago;p

[dd2_edge]

meoima said:

I finished Fahrenheit 451 during the time in the hospital. It was such a great novel I can't take it down.

 

I haven't read Fahrenheit 451 but would like to recommend The Book of Heroes by Miyuki Miyabe. It is a fantasy novel with an interesting perspective on books. Miyabe is renowned for her crime and detective novels but she writes on a wide range of subjects, such as family & teenagers, super-natural, fantasy, and period.

[dd2_edge]

dd2_edge said:

meoima said:

I finished Fahrenheit 451 during the time in the hospital. It was such a great novel I can't take it down.

 

I haven't read Fahrenheit 451 but would like to recommend [link=https://www.amazon.com/Book-Heroes-Miyuki-Miyabe/dp/1421540835]The Book of Heroes[/link] by Miyuki Miyabe. It is a fantasy novel with an interesting perspective on books. Miyabe is renowned for her crime and detective novels but she writes on a wide range of subjects, such as family & teenagers, super-natural, fantasy, and period.

 

I didn't mean to poke at your privacy, just hope you are all right now as you mentioned "during the time in the hospital". 

[SparkleSalad]

I have probably taken the longest break with books because it had become very hard for me to pay attention for a long period of time, or get interested in the stories. Mostly, I read 1900 classics that we have in our bookshelf at home, but I also had a small period of Victor Hugo madness. Les Misèrables is still one of my favourite books, together with The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck and Ulysses by James Joyce.

I'm not into contemporary literature (I suck).

 

You sound just like me. I can't for the life of me be bothered with contemporary literature. The most recently written book I enjoyed reading was 2001: A Space Odyssey. I tried Murakami and found him more often than not to be a chore to finish.

 

Steinbeck is my favourite author. The first book I read was Of Mice and Men and it became my favourite instantly. Many years later I finally got around to The Grapes of Wrath. What a masterpiece. The final scene was so shocking and so profound, I felt frozen in that moment for days afterwards. I recommend Ken Burns' Dustbowl documentary as supplemental viewing.

 

I've been trying to finish Yukio Mishima's Enjo / The Golden Pavilion but reading a book feels like such a luxury with so much else to be done that I can't bring myself to relax enough to enjoy it. What I've read so far is beautiful - he's the most poetic writer I've ever come across. I knew all about his mad life and death before picking it up and I'd seen the movie (starring my favourite Japanese actor, Nakadai Tatsuya) so I expected it to be macho nonsense. But the sensitivity and beauty of the imagery is superb. It's perfect.

[dd2_edge]

wildstrawberry said:

tournesols said:

yay a book thread!

 

I love Murakami too! I'm currently reading Sputnik (I'm already in love with it after three pages lol) but my fave is probably Kafka. I also just finished reading a bunch of Banana Yoshimoto stories, I'd recommend them to anyone who likes Murakami, especially if you like his more "normal" books (think Norwegian Wood and South of the Border vs something like Kafka).

 

I'm very interested in Banana Yoshimoto,but so far I couldn't find the one I most wanted ('Kitchen'),I've only seen N.P translated in my language.

 

Another Japanese writer worth checking is Kazuo Ishiguro,even if he's kind of hit or miss for me.But his book 'Never Let Me Go' is one of my favorite books ever.(his style is very different from Murakami jsyk).I also want to read the tetralogy 'The Sea of Fertility' by Yukio Mishima since I bought 2 of the books at a mega-sale - unfortunately it's book 2 and book 4,book 3 is sold out everywhere for some reason,I just have to buy the 1st one at full price to get me started at least.(I say this as I'm sitting here 5 books behind for my yearly reading challenge...)

 

This reminds me of the Ishiguro book that I got last year, The Buried Giant. *looks at my to-read list*

His language is elegant and his story-telling is a wonderful mix of subtlety and intensity. There is also a sense of nostalgia and history. I've only read The Remains of the Day (because of the movie), and I always want to read An Artist of the Floating World.

 

I read Mishima's book about the art of writing, which is really inspiring. Regrettably I don't know if there is an English TL. He's also published his "lectures" on morals/sex, and romance respectively. *looks at my to-read list*

 

P.S. There was a TV drama adaptation of Never Let Me Go in Japan last year.

[wildstrawberry]

 

This reminds me of the Ishiguro book that I got last year, The Buried Giant. *looks at my to-read list*

His language is elegant and his story-telling is a wonderful mix of subtlety and intensity. There is also a sense of nostalgia and history. I've only read The Remains of the Day (because of the movie), and I always want to read An Artist of the Floating World.

 

I read Mishima's book about the art of writing, which is really inspiring. Regrettably I don't know if there is an English TL. He's also published his "lectures" on morals/sex, and romance respectively. *looks at my to-read list*

 

P.S. There was a [link=http://asianwiki.com/Never_Let_Me_Go]TV drama adaptation[/link] of Never Let Me Go in Japan last year.

 

I wanted to buy 'The Buried Giant' too,but I've read several negative reviews of it and,since,as I said before,he's kind of hit or miss for me in general,I decided to pass on it.Other than 'Never Let Me Go',I've read 'The Unconsoled','A Pale View of Hills' and 'Nocturnes(a collection of 5 short stories)'.I also own 'The Remains of the Day' and 'An Artist of the Floating World',but I haven't read them yet,and the latter will probably be the next book from him I'll read,but I don't think it's gonna happen this year.

 

Regarding adaptations of Ishiguro's books,there's a 'Never Let Me Go' movie from 2010,directed by Mark Romanek,starring Carey Mulligan,Andrew Garfield and Keira Knightley,and the movie is quite known and loved,especially on places like tumblr.I loved it too,but,in my opinion,the book is way better.

[sweetwater]

Thank you for creating this topic. It reminded me of my buried The Buried Giant I bought last year...

I read Fahrenheit 451, too, in Japanese after seeing a film version of it. They were both great so now I’m reading it in English. Those who love reading/used to love reading would love it.

I also love books by Oliver Sacks.

[dd2_edge]

wildstrawberry said:

 

I wanted to buy 'The Buried Giant' too,but I've read several negative reviews of it and,since,as I said before,he's kind of hit or miss for me in general,I decided to pass on it.Other than 'Never Let Me Go',I've read 'The Unconsoled','A Pale View of Hills' and 'Nocturnes(a collection of 5 short stories)'.I also own 'The Remains of the Day' and 'An Artist of the Floating World',but I haven't read them yet,and the latter will probably be the next book from him I'll read,but I don't think it's gonna happen this year.

 

Regarding adaptations of Ishiguro's books,there's a 'Never Let Me Go' movie from 2010,directed by Mark Romanek,starring Carey Mulligan,Andrew Garfield and Keira Knightley,and the movie is quite known and loved,especially on places like tumblr.I loved it too,but,in my opinion,the book is way better.

 

Thanks for the movie reminder. Keira has done quite some literature-based movies. And a little Andrew episode to share with you - I only found this out when I re-watched the documentary (post-Social Network):D

[meoima]

I finished Fahrenheit 451 during the time in the hospital. It was such a great novel I can't take it down.

I haven't read Fahrenheit 451 but would like to recommend [link=https://www.amazon.com/Book-Heroes-Miyuki-Miyabe/dp/1421540835]The Book of Heroes[/link] by Miyuki Miyabe. It is a fantasy novel with an interesting perspective on books. Miyabe is renowned for her crime and detective novels but she writes on a wide range of subjects, such as family & teenagers, super-natural, fantasy, and period.

I didn't mean to poke at your privacy, just hope you are all right now as you mentioned "during the time in the hospital". :pbow:

Aw, I am fine. I was in the hospital for 2 weeks for a major surgery (and because of that I am broke now lol).

 

I used to read a lot of books but recently I read quite less. Now I am picking up that old habit again.

 

Anyone here has read this book: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/343.Perfume

 

I like it a lot and I have read it again several times.

[wildstrawberry]

 

Anyone here has read this book: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/343.Perfume

 

I like it a lot and I have read it again several times.

 

I've read it some years ago and I've liked it a lot too,I think it's a very good book.Definitely one I would want to reread at some point,but I already have so many books waiting for a first read that I don't know when my wish will come true.My main objective this year is to be successful in my reading challenge (=80 books),and I've decided not to include any previously read books in it,even if they were read many years ago.

[yuzupon]

Anyone here has read this book: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/343.Perfume

 

I like it a lot and I have read it again several times.

 

Read it once in high school (again a translation, because I did not have access to English novels back then) and loved it. I have the English e-copy of it now, and will definitely re-read when I can.

[xeyra]

I also read Perfume quite a long time ago in translation. I remember really liking it at the time but it's not one of the novels I'd say I loved. Maybe because my tastes tend to go more towards other genres. I only read it once, though. Too many books, too little time, doesn't leave me much opportunity to re-read.

[GoldMedalist]

Right now, i'm reading "Tell me your dreams" (Sidney Sheldon).

I like crime novels, (especially Patricia Cornwell), but i like other genres as well. Some of my favorite books are "The last concubine" (Lesley Downer), Snow flower and the secret fan (Lisa See), some novels by Victoria Holt and Ruth Rendell.