What are you reading? 📚

[angieram]

Contrast the above with "Remarkably Bright Creatures", by Shelby van Pelt, where the characterisation of even the minor supporting cast members is very well rounded and the novel is full of small details and observations on life.

This book was my choice at Book Group yesterday, @B4’s Sister, after you recommended it earlier in the thread. There's a lot of us so I had to wait several months to get it on the list! 

For that reason, and of course the central theme of coming to terms with loss, the book will always remind me of Daniel. 

I introduced the book with a summary of our friendship, and passed around photos after the group was over. So, for a couple of hours yesterday, Daniel was centre- stage in a small café in Chesterfield! A good way to remember him coming up to the first anniversary. 💜

Everyone loved the book, BTW, although a few thought there was too much background and that it suffered from first novel "kitchen-sink" syndrome, proving it's hard to find a level of detail that suits everyone! 

[B4’s Sister]

35 minutes ago, angieram said:

Contrast the above with "Remarkably Bright Creatures", by Shelby van Pelt, where the characterisation of even the minor supporting cast members is very well rounded and the novel is full of small details and observations on life.

This book was my choice at Book Group yesterday, @B4’s Sister, after you recommended it earlier in the thread. There's a lot of us so I had to wait several months to get it on the list! 

For that reason, and of course the central theme of coming to terms with loss, the book will always remind me of Daniel. 

I introduced the book with a summary of our friendship, and passed around photos after the group was over. So, for a couple of hours yesterday, Daniel was centre- stage in a small café in Chesterfield! A good way to remember him coming up to the first anniversary. 💜

Everyone loved the book, BTW, although a few thought there was too much background and that it suffered from first novel "kitchen-sink" syndrome, proving it's hard to find a level of detail that suits everyone! 

It’s lovely to hear people talking about Daniel. Thank you for helping to keep his memory alive. I loved Remarkably Bright Creatures and will definitely read it again at some point. Another book with an octopus character that I recommend is The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley. My book club loved it. 

[Crewton]

Anyone who has read "The Nickel Boys" by Colston Whitehead, and enjoyed it, might be interested to know that a film version is about to be released. I hope they've done it justice.

[B4’s Sister]

58 minutes ago, Crewton said:

Anyone who has read "The Nickel Boys" by Colston Whitehead, and enjoyed it, might be interested to know that a film version is about to be released. I hope they've done it justice.

Thanks for sharing. Will definitely see the film. This was another book loved by my book club. One person said Colson Whitehead doesn’t waste a word. The Underground Railway is on Prime TV. Not watched it yet. 
Another film being released soon based on a good book is Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan. 

[Crewton]

4 hours ago, angieram said:

We did that recently at Book Group and I agree with you. I loved the book, but felt some of the character development was lacking for me.

I think Ishiguro is so popular that he is under pressure to churn out a new book maybe before he's had full time to nurture them.

He's also getting on a bit! 

Perhaps the lack of character development is deliberate? Klara is the narrator, and her ability to analyse the personalities of those she encounters (and thus describe them) is possibly limited by experience and programming? She learns, but cannot speculate? 

Anyhow, it's interesting to read what you and @B4’s Sister thought of it. Coincidentally, my wife recommended it to her book club.....and very few of them finished it, with only one other person enjoying it!

It shows how personal literature can be.

I'm not sure about your last two comments though - it was his first novel in 6 years and he's 'only' 69! 😅

[ariotofmyown]

On 10/10/2024 at 12:32, Crewton said:

Perhaps the lack of character development is deliberate? Klara is the narrator, and her ability to analyse the personalities of those she encounters (and thus describe them) is possibly limited by experience and programming? She learns, but cannot speculate? 

Anyhow, it's interesting to read what you and @B4’s Sister thought of it. Coincidentally, my wife recommended it to her book club.....and very few of them finished it, with only one other person enjoying it!

It shows how personal literature can be.

I'm not sure about your last two comments though - it was his first novel in 6 years and he's 'only' 69! 😅

I came on here to say I had finished Klarna and the Sun and it seems it's the biggest news in town!

@Nuwtfly think it was your recommendation I originally followed, but it could have been yours @Crewton

Either way, I'm holding you both fully responsible for a great read! I agreee with the above too, it was Klarna's interpretation of people that made the characters as they were.

Which other book by the same author does anyone recommend the most? I've not seen Remains of the Day, so is that the obvious one to go for?

My next waiting book is Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. Think I saw someone mention it on here but not sure. I've deliberately avoided finding out much about it so we'll see how it goes. I don't think I've ever really read a book I didn't enjoy, so I'm probably easily pleased.

I do like reading a book knowing nothing about it. Klarna and the Sun was like that. Had no idea what it was about. 

[Eddie]

Two utter tripe novels:

'Eruption' - the collaboration between James Patterson and Michael Crichton's corpse. Whilst fun, and entirely predictable, it is thoroughly trashed by the underlying sub-plot (trying to avoid spoilers here, but the site's resident conspiracy theorists will probably think that's the most believable part).

'Holly' - Stephen King. Serial killers come in many forms, so why not septuagenarian academics? 

A good job I quite like tripe.

[B4’s Sister]

23 minutes ago, Eddie said:

Two utter tripe novels:

'Eruption' - the collaboration between James Patterson and Michael Crichton's corpse. Whilst fun, and entirely predictable, it is thoroughly trashed by the underlying sub-plot (trying to avoid spoilers here, but the site's resident conspiracy theorists will probably think that's the most believable part).

'Holly' - Stephen King. Serial killers come in many forms, so why not septuagenarian academics? 

A good job I quite like tripe.

I’m looking forward to reading Holly. She appeared in the Mr Mercedes trilogy and The Outsider. I’m a big Stephen King fan, but some of the newer books are a bit hit and miss. I recently read Fairy Tale. The first part of how the story came about was good but once it went into the actual fairy tale, I really didn’t enjoy it. 

[Tyler Durden]

Psycho by Robert Bloch 

Wedge my bathroom door shut every time I use the shower now 

[Nuwtfly]

3 hours ago, ariotofmyown said:

I came on here to say I had finished Klarna and the Sun and it seems it's the biggest news in town!

@Nuwtfly think it was your recommendation I originally followed, but it could have been yours @Crewton

Either way, I'm holding you both fully responsible for a great read! I agreee with the above too, it was Klarna's interpretation of people that made the characters as they were.

Which other book by the same author does anyone recommend the most? I've not seen Remains of the Day, so is that the obvious one to go for?

My next waiting book is Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. Think I saw someone mention it on here but not sure. I've deliberately avoided finding out much about it so we'll see how it goes. I don't think I've ever really read a book I didn't enjoy, so I'm probably easily pleased.

I do like reading a book knowing nothing about it. Klarna and the Sun was like that. Had no idea what it was about. 

The Buried Giant - my favourite Ishiguro book by some way!

[Eddie]

4 hours ago, B4’s Sister said:

I’m looking forward to reading Holly. She appeared in the Mr Mercedes trilogy and The Outsider. I’m a big Stephen King fan, but some of the newer books are a bit hit and miss. I recently read Fairy Tale. The first part of how the story came about was good but once it went into the actual fairy tale, I really didn’t enjoy it. 

Fingers crossed you enjoy it - I started reading 'Holly' when on holiday a couple of weeks ago and found it to be a useful distraction to the stuff my wife was watching on Amazon (some cop drama series that just seemed to be very formulaic and predictable). I picked it up again a couple of days ago in order to finish it off. It's set during the pandemic, so perhaps it's best to wear a mask.