Re: [summer reading] book club note/the go-between

[Sweta Agrawal]

i like sadia's idea about making this more of a group for book enthusiasts, and I hope everyone will share their thoughts on other books too. If anything what i appreciate most about this group is good book suggestions, often books that I would not have thought to read myself. I'm someone who enjoys reading but doesnt get to do it often, and was woefully out of practice until this summer =)

i just finished the go-between recently, which was a fast and really enjoyable/relaxing read, if anyone just wants to curl up with a book on a rainy day. Its a sorta british schoolboy novel in many ways which is responsible for most of its charm. I can't say i cared for the writing style at times, but there were other times when hartley was just a master at portraying how the main character, an english boy named leo, felt.

the book is from the innocent pov of a 13 year old who doesnt really realize what is going on around him, and he gets involved in things without realizing it. All the while you have it narrated from the point of view of leo many years later (now 60 years old), remembering back to this time, and its interesting because in many ways the old leo is still a child, is still trapped by his past.

it wasnt an amazing book, but a thoroughly enjoyable one, and like i said, perfect for just curling up in bed one day and reading.

--sweta

On Tue, Jun 17, 2008 at 1:59 PM, Sadia Latifi <sadia....@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi all,

Hope everyone is doing well. Raleigh is treating me well, for the most part. (I have a blog assignmentraleigh.blogspot.com if you ever want to read about my really bad luck this past week)....

First off, a note about this group...Yes, it's slow. No one is really participating. I'm not losing any sleep over it, and I hope you aren't, either. It was my hope that this group would inspire lively discussion, but I think it's understandable that everybody has their own thing going on. As far as I know, many of you are actually reading the books on the list, which is great in and of itself. The group is here if you want to share your thoughts so feel free to do that, but really, whatever. If you're reading books NOT on the list (ahem, like  if you're taking classes over the summer), feel free to share your thoughts on those, too. I think it's perfectly acceptable for this to evolve into just a discussion group for book enthusiasts.

That being said, I did finish Lush Life this week. It took me a million years to get into it (something about it being 110 degrees down here and the style of the first chapter being less than user-friendly), but I finally finished it. It was laborious, and I am glad to be able to move on to something else.

I don't really read thriller/mysteries too often, though I am a fan of watching them on television. Something about reading the genre just didn't translate for me, though. About 200 pages into the book, the whole crime/mystery unwraps itself for the reader and you spend the next 200 pages waiting for the characters to figure it out, too. I found this to be too much time. I found myself skipping through sections of dialogue because I was just trying to get to the conclusion. Since Price wrote for The Wire, let me try to make a comparison. With The Wire, you are forced to consume a certain amount of plot at a time, which may be what makes it more exciting. But with this book, I knew all the answers were there, so I just wanted to get it all over with.


Meh. Basically, not the best summer read, I think. I know Tyler's reading this right now (yeah, I called you out) and Beth just gave up on it, so feel free to share your thoughts.

I'm not sure what I'm reading next...Oriana gave me a copy of Benazir Bhutto's autobiography before I left New York, so I may spend some time with that before moving back to what's on the list.


Take care, ya'll. (Oh yes, my Southern accent is INTENSE.)

Love,
Sadia



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Sadia Latifi
sadia....@gmail.com
703.475.3308