Sunday, February 08, 2009

Adventures in Books


Googling around looking for other book related stuff, I came across this beautiful image - actually one in a series of adverts produced for Anagram Bookshop in Prague.

And it's a good opportunity to ask you guys - what are you reading - or what have you recently read? I love to hear about your recommendations because I discover all kinds of new stuff that way ... and also because it lets me know what interests you most.

I've been a terrible nibbler lately - jumping in and out of a whole lot of books. I'm savouring the last one or two stories in Shi-Li Koh's Ripples - about which more later. I'm happily dipping into Amir's collection of funny politician sayings. I think i'll pick up Brian Christy's The Lizard King next as I really need some non-fiction in my diet and this is a topic close to my heart.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

have you tried any of Jodi Picoult's books? i know u are a contemporary addict but she is really really good.

Happy Reader said...

sharon, I recently read "Say You're One of Them" and liked it a lot. You might want to give it a try

mel said...

Orhan Pamuk's 'My Name is Red'. Each chapter has a different narrator (i.e. one of the characters in the story) & every one of them actually sounds the same. Their voices aren't distinct enough. Although it's a murder mystery (sort of), I don't find myself too anxious to know who did it.

Anonymous said...

i recommend to you Black Rain by IBUSE Masuji, the classic novel about the Hiroshima aftermath.

Anonymous said...

Give Slumdog Millionaire (aka Q&A) a miss. Very disappointing.

- PPDD

Buddhaphish said...

I recently read (and enjoyed) Geraldine Brook's 'Year of Wonders'. It's a historical fiction about a 17th British century village inflicted with the Plague, and based on an actual village that had volunteered to isolate themselves as to stop the Plague from spreading. Witch-burning, superstition, bubonic plague.. all the good stuff. If you enjoyed Philippa Gregory, you'd probably enjoy this one too (although Year of Wonders has the less of the chick lit feel).

Currently reading The Soul of Malaya by Henri Fauconnier - a fictional account of a plantation manager in Malaya. This was originally published in French as Malaisie, and won France's highest literary award, the Prix Goncourt. Book comes with wonderful illustrations too. I'm really enjoying some of the scandalous(perhaps?) pantuns in the book as well.

Buddhaphish said...

KL readers can pick up The Year of Wonders for cheap at Book Xcess.

Unknown said...

I have read the Year of Wonders, and My name is Red, and found both fascinating.

Currently reading Updike's Rabbit is Rich, and Alice Sebold's Lucky, and I recommend both.

Anonymous said...

i'm reading the last of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series, A Breath of Snow and Ashes. If you like a highland historical romance with a twist of fantasy (but based mostly on actual history and combined with mystic in form of druid stone circles, etc) you really should give this a try - if you haven't already.

DG writes beautifully and her work is exceptionally well researched.

Anonymous said...

there's a group of hardcore Gabaldon fans in Canada, who formed The Ladies Of Lallybroch. search them out on the Net if you're interested. one of the Ladies is a good friend of mine, though i've never read a single one of the novels.

Anonymous said...

Hi Sharon,

I'm new to KL and a new reader of Bibliobibuli -- thank you for all this good information. I finally made it to Skoob last weekend and lugged home a huge bag of finds. From that pile I pulled out a late-80's Faye Weldon, The Heart of the Country, which has a nice bitter edge to it.

Millicent

Martin Bradley said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Martin Bradley said...

Adrian Mole 1999 - 2001 - Sue Townsend, which I also was asked to review.

Making Money - Terry Pratchett

and last but not least

The Pursuit of Happyness - Chris Gardner.

All excellent in their own way.

Anonymous said...

Just finished My Ear At His Heart by Hanif Kureishi. I've had a thing for writers' memoirs (even when I've never read a particular writer's fiction) ever since reading Education of a Wandering Man by Louis L'Amour when I was a teenager.

Anonymous said...

'Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.'

The old would be a re-read of Evan Jones' "American Food - The Gastronomic Story". Classic, and still good after all these years.

The new would be Haruki Murakami's "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running' and once again I am wowed by Murakami in yet a different way from other his other books.

Borrowed, blue. . . I'll have to muse on those for a bit. :)

rara_avis said...

Hi Sharon

Have to confess to being a lurker for some years now and have enjoyed every moment of it. Revolutionary road by Richard Yates is what I am reading at the moment and am enjoying it.