In A Typical Year, Do You Read Any Literary Novels?

[Xangsamhua]

I only read fiction in the half-hour or so before bedtime, but I think it's important to read not only non-fiction, but also good fiction, classical or contemporary - stories and characters that stay with you and revisit your mind, sometimes unexpectedly. Hardy's Jude the Obscure had that effect on me in the past year - a little unsettling. I also enjoy some British and American detective stories by people like Reginald Hill, Minette Walters, Martin Cruz Smith and James Lee Burke. Recently I've enjoyed the multi-genre stories of Alexander McCall Smith, the Scottish writer.

The feel and look of a new book are significant attractors, but I intend to invest in a Kindle or I-Pad for reading some books as e-books, as I'm running out of storage space for my books and don't want to sell them or give them away. Not sure about I-Pad, but if Kindle I'll wait until they have a backing light.

[chantaal]

So my question is this. When you start a book and then you realize it bores you, do you always finish it anyway? If not, do you usually do what I did, skim it quickly just in case you are missing something juicy?

I will not usually force myself to read something that I do not enjoy, but on the other hand, I usually am very careful about what I buy. I open books at random and read a page or two in several places and if I do not enjoy most of what I am reading, I will choose something else.

This is why I have little interest in ebooks or ordering online. I am very aware that everyone does not like the same thing or the same styles of writing, so recommendations are only worthwhile as far as making me examine a book in depth to see if I like it - and that does not mean just the parts that the publisher wants me to read. I've got to hold a book in my hand and look through it to know if I want to spend time on it, or not.

I am the same!

I "forced" myself to finish a book only once in the last few years. I won't do it again. There is no point in making myself suffer.

[mauGR1]

A few years ago i forced myself to finish L. Tolstoj "War and peace".It was almost a agony.

It was the only time i did it,and i reached the indeed debatable conclusion that the book is overrated.

I mean that book,not his author,i enjoyed other works from L. Tolstoj,the shortest the better.

[SeanMoran]

A few years ago i forced myself to finish L. Tolstoj "War and peace".It was almost a agony.

It was the only time i did it,and i reached the indeed debatable conclusion that the book is overrated.

I mean that book,not his author,i enjoyed other works from L. Tolstoj,the shortest the better.

The best method to compensate for the demise of the English language over the last decade or two is to read, read, read. The crappy books teach us how to avoid the same mistakes just as the good books teach us how to write, and you won't learn that skill at university anymore.

[Ulysses G.]

A few years ago i forced myself to finish L. Tolstoj "War and peace".It was almost a agony.

It was the only time i did it,and i reached the indeed debatable conclusion that the book is overrated.

I mean that book,not his author,i enjoyed other works from L. Tolstoj,the shortest the better.

The only book I can remember forcing myself to read was "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens (who I normally enjoy). What a load of <deleted>. The first paragraph and the last are brilliant, but the rest is for the birds. I do admit that the last quarter of the book is OK, but nothing happens up till then.

The thing was so boring that I had forgotten what had happened in the beginning (not a whole lot) by the time I got to the good part at the end. I bought some Cliff Notes to figure out what I had missed and the first 3 quarters of the book were covered in one page and the last bit took about 30 pages to describe. I am just not willing to be bored for most of a book to get to a decent ending.

[caf]

Local markets can be good sources for books. Maerim and Maejo are very good. Used books largely from house clearances where often a farang's whole library can be on display. I've never seen prices over 90 baht, typically 30 , 40 baht.

Good condition too

caf

[SeanMoran]

If you ever come across a copy of Tom Robbins' Villa Incognito, in a book exchange for 60 baht or so, GRAB IT!

---o0o---

PS: I just remembered where I copied that old review on Shantaram, by Gregory David Roberts, so if you would like to get an idea of the first-person style, I did go to the trouble of typing out quite a good portion of the text HERE .http://sinzear.net78.net/rum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=44

Edited February 5, 2010 by SeanMoran

[dutchguest]

Today I read a piece in a book of Kahlil Gibran (Spirits rebellious, 1908), that remembered me a little bit of the life of farmers in Thailand, where I also still see some remainders of a system of feudalism and serfdom:

“Sheik Abbas was looked upon as a prince by the people of a solitary village in North Lebanon. His mansion stood in the midst of those poor villagers' huts like a healthy giant amidst the sickly dwarfs. He lived amid luxury while they pursued an existence of penury. They obeyed him and bowed reverently before him as he spoke to them. It seemed as though the power of mind had appointed him its official interpreter and spokesman. His anger would make them tremble and scatter like autumn leaves before a strong wind. If he were to slap one's face, it would be heresy on the individual's part to move or lift his head or make any attempt to discover why the blow had come. If he smiled at a man, the villagers would consider the person thus honoured as the most fortunate.

The people's fear and surrender to Sheik Abbas were not due to weakness; however, their poverty and need of him had brought about this state of continual humiliation. Even the huts they lived in and the fields they cultivated were owned by Sheik Abbas who had inherited them from his ancestors.

The farming of the land and the sowing of the seeds and the gathering of wheat were all done under the supervision of the Sheik who, in reward for their toil, compensated them with a small portion of the crop which barely kept them from falling as victims of gnawing starvation.

Often many of them were in need of bread before the crop was reaped, and they came to Sheik Abbas and asked him with pouring tears to advance them a few piastres or a bushel of wheatm and the Sheik gladly granted their request for he knew that they would pay their debts doubly when harvest time came. Thus those people remained obligated all their lives, left a legacy of debts to their children and were submissive to their master whose anger they had always feared and whose friendship and good will they had constantly but unsuccessfully endeavoured to win.”

You can read more on this website:

http://leb.net/gibran/

[tutsiwarrior]

just finished Evelyn Waugh's A Handful of Dust...expected it to be like Brideshead Revisited which is a prose tour de force...it ain't, it's much more minimalist, almost hemingwayesque...

Waugh is worth a read...

[Jingthing]

just finished Evelyn Waugh's A Handful of Dust...expected it to be like Brideshead Revisited which is a prose tour de force...it ain't, it's much more minimalist, almost hemingwayesque...

Waugh is worth a read...

Agreed. I have read most of his fiction. However, I have no desire to read him again. Yes, Evelyn was a dude for those who don't know. (No offense intended for men with lady names and/or British people.)

Edited February 13, 2010 by Jingthing

[Travel2003]

I read a lot, but the last 15 years it has been only non-fiction books.