Nickelini needs a nudge

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Nickelini needs a nudge

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1Nickelini
Editat: nov. 7, 2008, 4:37 pm

Yikes! The alteration in that title. Anyway, I can't read until December, but I just couldn't resist posting a picture. To fulfill my 888 challenge, I need to read one more CanLit selection, and one more Global (other than Canada, US or UK). I also want to read three more from the 1001 Books list so that I make one hundred 1001 books read by the end of this year (total read in my lifetime, not all this year). Before I get more confusing . . .







2Nickelini
Editat: nov. 7, 2008, 4:40 pm

You probably can't read all of these, so the list is . . .

left side:

Turtle Moon (no touchstone)
The Prime of Miss Jean Brody (no touchstone)
Amsterdam
Black Dogs
Unformed Landscape
The Wars
A Good House
Surfacing
Fault Lines
Kiss the Joy as it Flies
Generation X

4christiguc
nov. 7, 2008, 4:54 pm

As to Saramago--I wasn't a big fan of The History of the Siege of Lisbon. His books read as allegorical fables and, for me, don't hold for long books. However, I really liked his The Tale of the Unknown Island (a little over 50 pages). I won't nudge the Lisbon one though. Others may disagree.

The Crying of Lot 49, White Noise, Fault Lines--those are all solid.

I've just bought The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie the other day and love Muriel Spark, but I can't nudge it as I haven't read it yet. But, if I had read it, it might have been the one I nudged.

After all that rambling. . . I'll nudge Breakfast at Tiffany's. Capote is a smooth writer and enjoyable reading.

5Cariola
nov. 7, 2008, 4:58 pm

Surfacing blew me away when I first read it; on a second read a few years ago, not so much.

I haven't read many of the others. I love McEwan, but thought Amsterdam was middling.

6dylanwolf
nov. 7, 2008, 5:25 pm

Lots of good reads here. I think I'd choose Cry, The Beloved Country by Alan Paton above the others. It's a very moving book but not, I thought, at all sentimental.

I was exceedingly impressed by Timothy Findley's Famous Last Words but haven't yet read anything else by him - Pilgrim awaits on my shelves; so I can't comment on The Wars but I'd be interested to read it.

Neither Amsterdam, nor Surfacing are McEwan or Atwood at their best. Black Dogs is fairly middling too.

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie shows Muriel Spark's unique and refreshing style off to its best effect. Don DeLillo's White Noise is a great read too.

The Shipping News is a fine book, but a bit soapy for my taste. Death in Venice is rather less daunting an option than The Magic Mountain but I do find Thomas Mann more of a labour than a pleasure.

7torontoc
nov. 7, 2008, 7:14 pm

I think that Breakfast at Tiffany's would be my choice!

8amandameale
nov. 7, 2008, 7:51 pm

Good choices! Cry the Beloved Country most definitely. As Kevin said, a very moving book.

9aluvalibri
nov. 7, 2008, 8:07 pm

The Crying of Lot 49, Death in Venice, and I would nudge The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, which I have not read yet, but since I LOVE Muriel Spark, I think you cannot go wrong with that.

10BeyondEdenRock
nov. 8, 2008, 3:56 am

I am definitely nudging The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. I love Muriel Spark!

11akeela
nov. 8, 2008, 8:29 am

I'll nudge Cry, the Beloved Country. It's one of my top reads for 2008.

12dreamlikecheese
nov. 8, 2008, 8:46 am

Just in general, I would nudge Breakfast At Tiffany's. I read it a few weeks ago and fell in love. It's an amazing book, the movie just does not do it justice.

As for your various categories, for CanLit, I think I'd nudge the Coupland book. I haven't read Generation X, but I have read and loved Eleanor Rigby and Hey Nostradamus!. Breakfast At Tiffany's can fulfil your 1001 Books requirement, and for the global one, maybe The Goalie's Anxiety At The Penalty Kick, just because I like the title.

13polutropos
Editat: nov. 8, 2008, 9:25 am

Cry the Beloved Country is terrific. Breakfast at Tiffany's good fast read. Prime of Miss Jean Brodie enjoyable. Shipping News one of my favorite books, therefore my first choice. And for you CanLit choice, I would suggest something not in this pile, but probably on another pile in your house LOL, Vassanji: the new Assassin's Song or No New Land or of course Vikram Lall. All are better books than the Atwood, IMHO. The Findlay is a fine book, too, he said grudgingly, and short.

14media1001
Editat: nov. 8, 2008, 12:05 pm

Of course, all my nudges and background derive from the 1001 list.

White Noise is the only Don Delillo book that I have read that I really enjoyed.

The Crying of Lot 49 is a book I have considered reading myself because I haven't read Pynchon yet and it is pretty short. I understand Pynchon can be a bit challenging to read, so maybe a short book would be good.

Breakfast at Tiffany's is a very short "novel" (more like a short story or novella) but I didn't like it very much.

The Third Man is in my TBR pile as well, fairly short read. I have Brighton Rock ahead of it right now because I really want to get a Greene book under my belt finally and randomly picked Brighton Rock before The Third Man. I did see the film adaption of The Third Man...it is a classic of British film noir, so the novel should be pretty good.

I read Death in Venice fairly recently. Didn't like it much at all. Maybe it would be a good Mann novel to tackle, however, since it is, again, a fairly short read (starting to see a pattern here...).

I read The Life of Insects about a year ago...strange novel, surreal and a bit difficult to follow, but not bad. Another short novel as well :).

Overall, I would nudge The Third Man, even though I haven't read it. My nudge from the ones I have read: White Noise or Life of Insects.

-- M1001

15Nickelini
nov. 8, 2008, 10:01 am

Hey, Media -- glad you could make it! You noticed my trend with the 1001 books, huh? I figure if I want to read another three this year I probably would be more successful if I didn't pick Proust or War and Peace.

Okay, your turn. Let's see your stack of TBRs.

16MarthaJeanne
nov. 8, 2008, 3:41 pm

The Third Man is very good, and the film remains popular here in Vienna. It catches the feel of postwar Vienna - not that I experienced it, but I have talked to many people who did.

Death in Venice is a good place to start if you want to try Mann. If you like him you can go on to some of the others, but as media1001 says, it is a managable length. I think his others tend to be better, but they take more staying power.

17Teresa40
nov. 8, 2008, 5:11 pm

I am definately going to nudge Breakfast at Tiffanys, a wonderful little book.

18nancyewhite
nov. 8, 2008, 7:31 pm

I just finished The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and really loved it so I'm nudging that. My second choice would be The Shipping News which I also enjoyed.

19FlossieT
nov. 9, 2008, 6:19 pm

I would de-nudge Amsterdam. It's not dreadful, but it's way down the list of great McEwan. I think I've read it twice now, the second time because I'd forgotten I'd read it once before and it took me most of the book before the bells rang.

Breakfast at Tiffany's is def worth a read - a little darker than the film. And I also enjoyed Generation X - probably not his best, but good (and, after all, the book that coined the phrase, so worth reading as a piece of cultural history!).

20Nickelini
nov. 9, 2008, 9:03 pm

You know, I don't think I've heard anything good about Amsterdam, yet it won the Booker (or something), didn't it? And I've loved the other six McEwan books I've read, so I expect it to be decent at the least.

Yeah, I bought Generation X exactly because of the cultural history thing. I expect it to be a quick read once I get around to it. Douglas Coupland is one of those local author-celebrates that I keep getting close to (for example, one of my friend's brother was friends with him in high school, that sort of thing). And the one book of his that I've read, Eleanor Rigby was brilliant.

Thanks for your comments!

21kiwidoc
nov. 9, 2008, 9:19 pm

Great pile, Joyce.

Black dogs for the general pick.

The Wars for your Canadian pick - Findley is a really underrated author, IMO.

22dylanwolf
nov. 10, 2008, 2:55 pm

I'd second that about Findley, Karen, if Famous Last Words is anything to go by.

23rachbxl
nov. 11, 2008, 5:27 am

The Shipping News!
Amsterdam wasn't bad, I didn't think, but it wasn't great - I'd agree with others who've said that it's not McEwan at his best, and likewise Atwood with Surfacing.

24Booksloth
nov. 11, 2008, 7:32 am

Just to be difficult here - I'm invariably disappointed my Ian McEwan (though I did love On Chesil Beach) and thought Black Dogs was marginally less disappointing than some. My pick would definitely be Jean Brodie - a book I've read about a million times and can still read again any time. Didn't get The Shipping News at all.

25urania1
nov. 11, 2008, 6:20 pm

I can't pick here, so I'll name three: Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, and The Crying of Lot 49.

26Embejo
nov. 20, 2008, 9:27 pm

I'd nudge Cry the Beloved Country. It's an excellent read, beautifully written and moving. One of my favourites of all time. It's not overly long and a good one to get you going.

27staffordcastle
nov. 21, 2008, 1:34 am

I'll nudge The Castle of Otranto - I read it many years ago and was mightily amused. Not, of course, that that was Walpole's intention ;-)

If you enjoyed Northanger Abbey then Otranto is a must read.

28timjones
nov. 21, 2008, 5:50 am

I have read books by most of the authors in these piles - the problem is, I have read one or more of these authors' other books, which makes nudging difficult. The only three books here I have read are The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, The Third Man and The Shipping News. Of those, The Prime of Miss Brodie was the most memorable, although I did enjoy The Shipping News when reading it. So I guess that's a nudge for Miss Jean Brodie.

Of the other authors, I've found that you generally can't go too far wrong with Atwood or Saramago, and on the basis of his A Werewolf Problem in Central Russia, I think the Pelevin would be worth reading as well.

29sanddancer
Editat: nov. 21, 2008, 7:32 am

I would definitely nudge Breakfast at Tiffanys, very different from the film but well worth reading if you put aside any preconceptions you may have from the film (I'm assuming everyone has seen the film although this might not be the case!)

I read White Noise and The Crying of Lot 49 at university and enjoyed both so a little nudge for each of those.

I love the later Douglas Coupland books but really just didn't like Generation X at all, despite being very much of Generation X myself. If you haven't already read them, I would suggest ditching this one and substituting it for Hey Nostradamus. Again with The Third Man I was disappointed with it - I love Graham Greene but this wasn't anywhere near as good as the film or many of his other books and he apparently thought the same.

30theaelizabet
nov. 21, 2008, 7:38 am

I haven't read many of these, but some are on my TBR pile. I will, however, happily nudge both Breakfast at Tiffany's (don't think of the movie) and Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

Otranto would be fun, as staffordcastle points out, if you have wondered about it and Mysteries of Udolpho since reading Northanger Abbey. I've read some of Proulx's short stories and enjoyed them, but Shipping News seems to elicit either love or hate.

31avaland
nov. 21, 2008, 8:53 am

The Life of Insects is my favorite Pelevin. One may not know exactly what he is satirizing, but it's strange and funny nonetheless. I still think about some of the scenes in the book - like the mosquitoes discussing various human landscapes. . . (My husband's favorite Pelevin is Homo Zapiens.

32Nickelini
nov. 21, 2008, 10:56 am

Lots of activity, thanks everyone! I'm counting the hours until Dec 2, when I can start reading stuff *I* want to read.

I haven't read Northanger Abbey yet, and I thought I'd save it until I'd read some of the earlier gothics, such as The Castle of Otranto, first.

I've seen the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's about twenty times (I adore Audrey Hepburn), so not sure how well I'll do with mentally separating them, but I'm up for the challenge.

Thanks for all your comments. I will try to read most of these books over the next six months or so, but you've given me a good idea where to start.

33staffordcastle
nov. 21, 2008, 1:20 pm

Ah, good plan - you'll enjoy Northanger so much more if you have Otranto and Udolpho under your belt. :-)

34lauralkeet
nov. 21, 2008, 3:19 pm

Late to the thread, and SHOVING Cry the Beloved Country !!! It was one of the first books I read this year and it's still my top read. I doubt anything will unseat it.

35Nickelini
nov. 22, 2008, 7:06 pm

A question for those of you who have nudged . . .are any of your nudges light or refreshing reads? I'm badly in the need of light and refreshing--my brain needs a break from dark, deep and complex.

36polutropos
nov. 22, 2008, 8:07 pm

Hmmm, Joyce,

I don't know. You said you have seen the film of Breakfast at Tiffany's so you know approximately how light the book will be. Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is an easy read but thematically not exactly a picker-upper. I think you will have to read something not on this list to get light and refreshing. Pick up a trashy novel of whatever genre does it for you and treat yourself. I do it every so often and it is always worth it.

37staffordcastle
nov. 23, 2008, 12:09 am

Well, Otranto is Gothic horror (the original phase of the genre), so the modern reader often takes it as light and amusing, even campy; I suppose it would depend how much you got sucked in to the story.

38tomcatMurr
nov. 23, 2008, 8:37 am

I would go for the Thomas Mann. He's a great humorist, a hilarious, comic genius in fact. Rather like Kafka.

39theaelizabet
nov. 23, 2008, 8:55 am

I hope this is allowed: My husband has read The Pleasure of My Company and says it would veer toward the "light and refreshing" read that you're looking for. Again, with Breakfast at Tiffany's you have to forget the movie. There is a melancholia that hangs over the book and the structure and ending are entirely different from the film. And polutropos is right about The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. I agree with staffordcastle's take on Otranto, so reading that might be fun.

40Nickelini
nov. 23, 2008, 11:03 am

I would go for the Thomas Mann. He's a great humorist, a hilarious, comic genius in fact. Rather like Kafka.
--------------

Now that you mention it, isn't there a movie version of this coming out with Chris Rock and Jim Carey?

41laytonwoman3rd
nov. 23, 2008, 5:09 pm

I don't know about "light and refreshing", but parts of The Shipping News made me laugh out loud.

42tomcatMurr
nov. 23, 2008, 11:34 pm

#40, yes, it's a musical. I think Baz Lurhman is directing. Should be good.

43Nickelini
nov. 24, 2008, 11:06 am

No way! Cool. Did you hear that Madonna is doing the soundtrack? The theme song is a disco remix of Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries." I'm really hoping she'll get the Oscar this time, considering she was absolutely robbed when she did that Dick Tracy song.

44A_musing
Editat: nov. 27, 2008, 7:31 am

Cry, the Beloved Country, The Crying of Lot 49 and Death in Venice all get HUGE SHOVES from me. If you want a wholly separate idea for Thomas Mann, try The Transposed Heads. But, I'm a Mann Fanatic.

Lot's of other good reading, but that pile is full of nudges, so I'm just giving you the shoves.

On light and refreshing - well, I find Crying of Lot 49 hillarious, and it's not the heaviness you get in other Pynchon, but it's a sort of riotious, wild hillarity with a bit of a dark twist here and there and is riddled throughout with foreboding paranoia. It is not a difficult read, but, again, you've got to find comical paranoia refreshing to get it to "light and refreshing".

45tomcatMurr
nov. 27, 2008, 9:07 pm

Awesome! I'm sure it will be way wicked. Not to mention her brilliant, totally brilliant performance in the cinematic masterpiece 'Evita'! I also hear that the part of Tadzio will now be played by Robert Downey Jr, in a body suit, following the success of his astonishing performance as an African American in Tropic Thunder. Seems his ability to impersonate ANYBODY is really being tested to the limit.

46kiwidoc
nov. 28, 2008, 12:50 am

Everyone seems to be talking about Transposed Heads recently. It is a book that has just fallen into my virtual shopping basket!!

47Nickelini
des. 1, 2008, 6:49 pm

Thank you all for your nudges and shoves. I have a few things to finish reading over the next few days, and then the next book I read will be Surfacing--I know, I know, it performed dismally in this round, but the Atwoodian group is reading it this month, plus it's a 1001 book, and it will complete my CanLit category for 888.

Then I plan to read something light and not on this list, and then I will read The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Cry the Beloved Country (for my 888 Global category), and Breakfast at Tiffany's. This will complete all my personal challenges. Then I will continue to read through the other ones that received nudges. Around mid-December I may post another picture, just to shake things up a little.

48avaland
des. 1, 2008, 7:49 pm

>47 Nickelini: way to go! You killed three challenges with one book!

Surfacing might be a brutal read right now for you, but I'll be interested to hear what you have to say about it.

49Nickelini
Editat: des. 3, 2008, 12:31 am

So late this afternoon I decided to take out all the books in my various TBR piles and sort them. Of all the important and somewhat-important things I have to do, this was not one of them. Really, I just wanted to rememeber what I all have, and, well, to caress and fondle them. I'm sure you understand. Anyway, I had to go make dinner and left the stacks around my bedroom floor and bed. About an hour later, my eight year old daughter walked by the bedroom door and said in an uncharacteristically solemn voice: "Mommy, your books exploded." (No worries, everyone is safe and all the books are tucked away where my husband can't count them.)

50urania1
des. 3, 2008, 3:40 pm

Nickelini,

That story is hysterical. And don't worry, books explode regularly around my house as well, particularly when I'm working on a project.

51FlossieT
des. 3, 2008, 6:08 pm

I want to work on a project that makes books explode. Rather than computers.

Damn, I miss being an editor now.

52teathief
Editat: des. 3, 2008, 6:40 pm

Hi there! I suppose I'll nudge you toward The Shipping News - I rather enjoyed reading it in my university course, though I think I was in the minority of that particular class. Most people couldn't get past the way Proulx wrote, but I thought the progression of Quoyle's life was interesting. So I nudge! The Shipping News. Woo!

53Nickelini
des. 3, 2008, 11:43 pm

Well, I'll definitely read The Shipping News sooner rather than later. Mostly because I'm not sure if the person I got it from gave it to me or loaned it to me. Plus, it will fill in several blanks on my 999 challenge (which starts as soon as I finish my 888 challenge).

54urania1
des. 4, 2008, 12:22 am

FlossieT,

Meow ;-)

55Nickelini
des. 16, 2008, 3:17 pm

Just to let everyone know, I'm now starting to read your nudges. I finished Surfacing, and then I read The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick for my last global challenge, and I've read something light and frothy now, so finally, on to the nudges. I'm starting first with The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. Not sure what's next. I have to admit I've picked up Cry, the Beloved Country a few times, and it just looks sooooo unappealing. What is it about, anyway? I know people rave about it, but I'm just not motivated on this one.

56lauralkeet
Editat: des. 17, 2008, 8:57 pm

>55 Nickelini:: Nickelini, here's my review of Cry, the Beloved Country which you may recall I shoved your way earlier in this thread. Thought it might answer some questions and/or motivate you!

57akeela
des. 23, 2008, 8:45 am

That's a beautiful and apt review, Laura! And a second nugde for it from me, Nickelini :)

58lauralkeet
des. 23, 2008, 9:28 am

Thanks akeela!

59proudlycanadian
des. 30, 2008, 9:02 am

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60proudlycanadian
des. 30, 2008, 9:04 am

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61proudlycanadian
des. 30, 2008, 11:18 am

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