Oh I have this novel. I bought it a very long time ago. I remember only reading a few chapters. I don't recall really what it was about.
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Spoilers What Book Are You Reading?
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Oh I have this novel. I bought it a very long time ago. I remember only reading a few chapters. I don't recall really what it was about.
It covers three generations and a little over a century (roughly the 1880s up to the mid 1990s) in the lives of a few families whose lives intersect over that time in India, Burma and Malaysia. The history of those countries over that period is a large element of the book.
I found it riveting, meticulously researched, full of interesting facts, and beautifully told, with a wealth of personal detail that can only have come from a large number of private family histories, stories and sources, the kind that are told and shared in kitchens at home, or on bar stools in faraway places during the sort of long lingering private conversations that one only has in a relaxed setting after some time has passed.
Now, I'll grant that some may think it starts slowly; my advice is to bear with it. In any case, I loved it and recommend it strongly.
Interesting storyline. I don't remember anything. I'll be honest, I bought it because of the cover. I will make sure to pick it up again. I'll have to read it from the beginning because I don't remember the chapters I've read.
The odd thing is that when I first saw it in a book store around the time of the millennium, I opened it at random, and found myself reading a number of chapters in the middle of the book.
Without realising it, I became absolutely fascinated and carried on reading. Whenever a book holds me in that way, I buy it. Realising that my feet were beginning to tire from standing for quite some time, I bought the book, and devoured it - starting from the beginning and reading through the night - some days later.
A number of years after that, while working abroad and when Skyping my mother, she asked for recommendations of books to read. I recommended 'The Glass Palace' and she took it to bed. Unknown to me - but as she informed me subsequently, when I next Skyped home - she, too, had opened the book at random, in the middle, and simply carried on reading to the very end. Then, as she liked it so much, she returned to the very beginning, and re-read the entire book, this time from beginning to end.
It is also a book I have strongly recommended to some of my former students who have become good friends, and they (both male and female) loved it.
Now, if the first few chapters seem daunting, or slow, well, maybe you could start in the middle, and track back. It seems to work .
When I get around to it, I'll start from the beginning. And if I find the first couple of chapters hard to get into, I'll try what you and your mother did. Even though I find it very odd
I just started reading Seeds of Earth and like it quite a bit so far. I love the space opera genre.
When I get around to it, I'll start from the beginning. And if I find the first couple of chapters hard to get into, I'll try what you and your mother did. Even though I find it very odd
It is not something I normally do myself, and would have thought nothing of it, but for the fact - unbeknownst to me - my mother did the exact same thing with the same book and ended up loving it, and discussing it for ages one night on Skype with me.
Anyway, good luck with it and enjoy it. As you are a reader, I cannot see any reason why you won't get into it. I found it fascinating.
No, I don't. Not in the slightest. What of it?
I do 'get' fountain pens…….and quills…..and parchment, though.
But, I am tolerant and broad minded. Each to their own. It takes all sorts, etc. etc…….
I'm in my 20s and I'm with you on Facebook. I had an account, but I never really got the point of it, so I deleted it. Seemed like every other day I was supposed to like a companies Facebook page for a promotion or something. And there was a constant reposting of memes and what not.
Well now I'm reading Amy Alstons book titled Good Manners for Nice People Who Sometimes Say *****. I was drawn to it after noticing a review that said
Im often the former and occasionally the latter so I went for it.
PS. I ditched my Facebook setup after ten days.
Im often the former and occasionally the latter so I went for it.
PS. I ditched my Facebook setup after ten days.
@LizKat sounds like a great book. Yeah, I was gone from Facebook within 7 days. Hated it...
Am about to reread Tall, Dark and Gruesome the first edition of Sir Christopher Lee's biography. Am slowly stumbling through Inherent Vice much like the hero of the book (no dope smoking here though.)
Am about to reread Tall, Dark and Gruesome the first edition of Sir Christopher Lee's biography. Am slowly stumbling through Inherent Vice much like the hero of the book (no dope smoking here though.)
I just finished an odd book called "The Other Side" by Alfred Kubin. It was a bit strange, but written in 1909 so maybe that thad something to do with it.
Just read the synopsis. Sounds very weird. Reminds me of Franz Kafka's strange stories. Written in 1908 by the way
Slight thread drift. For those that drive a great deal checkout libido.com. Most of the classics are there in audio and it's free
That sounds as though it is a genuinely extremely interesting book; let me know what you think of it when you have finished and whether you are of the view that it is worth ordering and reading.
Myself, between re-reading 'The Glass Palace' (and yes, I am seeing it with fresh eyes), I also flew through a really charming and beautifully produced book (for children, as it happens, but the production values were meticulous, the book is gorgeous, and great pains were taken with ensuring that they produced a high quality product) called "The Right Word: Roget And His Thesaurus" by Jen Bryant and Melissa Sweet.
Heh, Im afraid my mention of the Alston book in that section of this thread was a bit mischievous and Im back to reading Kapuscinski, or will be if I ever finish a wall hanging I decided to work on over the holidays. I must have thought Christmas lasted until February, and even that will be here in the blink of an eye. So back to needle and thread.
and Im back to reading Kapuscinski, or will be if I ever finish a wall hanging I decided to work on over the holidays. I must have thought Christmas lasted until February, and even that will be here in the blink of an eye. So back to needle and thread.
Just re-read Alexander McCall Smith's "2 1/2 Pillars of Wisdom", the Von Igelfeld trilogy. Love these books. There's 3 books here, (love the titles!) "Portuguese Irregular Verbs, Finer Points of Sausage Dogs and The Villa of Reduced Circumstances." Now going to read the 4th, "Unusual uses for olive oil". Great sort books for a dark and cold January!
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http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002TXZS...TF8&colid=2Q95HLXD2WV4R&coliid=I3UVFBREQCAMMO
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http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002TXZS...TF8&colid=2Q95HLXD2WV4R&coliid=I3UVFBREQCAMMO
I've read four books in that series. I think my favourite one is the second one 'The Coffin Dancer'.
Just finished the best book I ever read called 'The Brothers K'. Really brilliant.
Now reading 'Three Men in a Boat' which is very funny.
The Bone Collector is pretty good so far. Are you planning on reading the other books?
Never heard of The Brothers K or the author before. But I have added it to my list after reading the synopsis.
Heh, I’m afraid my mention of the Alston book in that section of this thread was a bit mischievous
Well, wall hangings can be magnificent - I stand in stunned and silent awe of the astounding series of tapestries 'The Lady and the Unicorn' which is currently to be found in what was the Cluny Museum - but is now the Museum of the 'Moyen Age' (Middle Ages) of Paris.
However, Kapuscinski is well worth reading, whenever you manage to return to him.
Meanwhile, I am flying through the fascinating book 'Brilliant - The Evolution of Artificial Light' by Jane Brox. Extremely interesting.
I might read some more of them but what I disliked was how each of them has a very similar pattern. It seemed to me that the author was using his one and only tactic of trying to not make the story predictable. Good stories though but spacing them out rather than bingeing is probably the best way to read them.