yeah, I heard about that, but all I thought was - "ugh....now I'd have to wait FOREVER to read it T_T because everyone would be borrowing the book from the library and I don't that THAT much money to spare to buy one :("

Oh yeah, that's true. Library book clubs always plan so far in advance that everyone has a chance to get their hands on a book before the discussion. Twitter probably expects peeps to have a lot of disposable income. D=

I actually think it's a HUGE promotion for the book :d I mean, since people can't borrow it, they'll buy it, right? :(

Yeah, that makes sense. I'm not following it, though so I can't see how blatant the summary is, or whatever.

In any case, this club is so much better. =D

I love that book. Own it too.

Never was big on book clubs though.
The ones I joined either died because no one read, the book was horrible, or I would finish the book way before everyone else.

Lilith>> you own a copy? be prepared to have people ask to borrow it XD and I have never joined a book club before, I've heard of them, but I've never joined any because it sounded troublesome :P

Yep, I actually found it at a Good Will store for 75 cents.
The greatest find of my life.
lol, I doubt anyone asks me since the only person I know that reads is my mom and she is reading Stephen King right now.

I joined one in high school but quit right away because we were given a month to read a 300 page book.
And I've joined a few online and they were even worse.

This thread is a book club, really. =D It's just one with a realisitic attitude.

Don't forget the wine and cheese club variety of book clubs either. D=

The ones that give you a really long time to read the book are more about time management. Like I mentioned with the library kind, it's to make sure everyone has access to the book, they're not really expecting everyone to read at the pace of a snail.

I don't really "do" bookclubs either, but it's just as well that they're around.

So I finished The Two Lives of Miss Charlotte Merryweather last night while waiting for the rebroadcast of Dr. Who and Life on Mars (apparently I have an inner geek.) Adding to the issues I had with the first 92 pages, the ending wasn't too hot. But the middle had some good ideas in it, thank god. One problem, saying a book is "funny and quirky" repeatedly does not make it "funny" or "quirky". ._. There was only one part of the book that I thought was at all funny, which was the chapter where the main character went clubbing, and it wasn't really all that, either.

The first hundred pages were the biggest problem though. When you create characters that you want to grow in a book, you can't just write characters that have nothing going for them. You have to give them a couple of likeable characteristics for the reader to hold onto while waiting for the epiphanies or whatever. And the author just gave the reader nothing. ._. There was some other stuff that could have used tweaking. I don't want to spoil the book for anyone who might want to read the book, it's adequate light reading for most of it, but say, the part where the younger self and the older self meet. She could have given funny reasons as to why the younger self didn't recognize the older self -- because let's face it, in the grand scheme of things 21 and 31 are not that far apart. I've looked the same for 25 years, outside of hair styles. So yeah, basing on some of the themes of the book, the older self could have had a nose or eye job, or less controversial I suppose, she could have had her hair lightened and straightened, etc. Just *something.*

And the resolution was sort of quick, like if you blinked you might have missed it, so yeah, not so enjoyable there.

But there was character growth, and the author was not afraid to let her main character make mistakes, so it was not a terrible book. Just what I mentioned. ; ;

-- Updated my list, apparently I missed adding The Anarchist.

I'm just not big on the ones were you have to read the same book as everyone else.

That's part of the discussion, though. ._.

Well I went through the new book shelves and didn't find any fiction that looked good yesterday, so I started reading a book of essays: Why Translation Matters by Edith Grossman. I've always found translations kind of fascinating, why certain choices are made versus others, and a couple of years ago I listened to a fascinating radio documentary on translations on Canadian Radio (via NPR).

I have nothing really profound to say today though, way too irritated. The woman sitting next to me at the computer might as well be hitting her keyboard with hammers she banging on it so loudly. Not knowing how to type is probably half of the problem.

Oh yeah, I feel bad about ranting about the Two Lives book yesterday, I don't think it's as bad as I made it out to be, but those first 100 pages are torture, and it's not that long of a book. D=

well.....the only books I will be tempted to read are the ones I actually like.....the others are like....unreadable >.> 100/300 books are a breeze if you like them....but if you dislike them, you might notice that 50 pages are even hard to finish v.v

what's Milan Kundera about? and congrats on graduating collage :) I'm graduating High School next year XD

Milan Kundera is a czech who wrote the Unbearable Lightness of Being. He was actually discussed a bit in the book on translation by Edith Grossman I just finished reading. =D

I haven't read The Joke, it sounds very good. I have to say, after reading those essays on translation, I really feel like reading a lot of foreign novels right now. =D

essays on translation @[email protected] what? how does that make you want to read foreign books?

Because the process is so fascinating. =D

But, I didn't pick up anything yet, except a short cartoon book by Jules Feiffer and his wife Jenny Allen that was very satisfying: The Long Chalkboard. Not great, but nice to read. It was funny, I saw the book at the library (not a new book) and I was like, I'd really like to see some old style cartoon technique, so I checked it out and read it. Then Jules Feiffer happened to be on the Charlie Rose show that night promoting his new book. =D

lol, personally, I think the process of translating is neck-breakingly painful - especially if you don't know the language that well XP

Finished 2 more books :sweat:

The Court of the Air by Stephen Hunt - this was really good - it's kind of a gritty fantasy, almost like a steampunk fantasy actually - I tore through it

The other one is Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang - it was pretty funny - quick easy snarky humor read. :yes:

I'll go check it out Knerd ^^

*goes to check out the thread*

I wonder what it's about @[email protected]

I need to update my list for this year. I just finished the 1079 page Infinite Jest, plus ten or more other novels. Ridiculous! I have too many lists!