What's on your reading list?

[Nighthob]

Currently, the only thing on my reading list is the gradcafe.

Scratch that. Currently, the only thing I'm reading are rejection letters. Worst year to apply, ever.

Actually, I'm into Hoffman's Skylight Confessions, and it's awesome. For those of you who enjoy mixing modern lit with some myths and fairy tales, I recommend it. (Branwen, this means you!)

[Branwen daughter of Llyr]

Scratch that. Currently, the only thing I'm reading are rejection letters. Worst year to apply, ever.

Actually, I'm into Hoffman's Skylight Confessions, and it's awesome. For those of you who enjoy mixing modern lit with some myths and fairy tales, I recommend it. (Branwen, this means you!)

I protest! I read modern lit as well! I love Nick Hornby, Neal Stephenson, and Iain Banks too!! Just... I don't have a LOT of time right now, so I go back to reading what's easiest (like re-reading Harry Potter), or what's related to stuff I need to do...

[Nighthob]

I protest! I read modern lit as well! I love Nick Hornby, Neal Stephenson, and Iain Banks too!! Just... I don't have a LOT of time right now, so I go back to reading what's easiest (like re-reading Harry Potter), or what's related to stuff I need to do...

I didn't mean it as a comment on your taste!

Knowing your love of Gaiman's style and fairy tales, I think you'd really like Skylight Confessions. It's a super-quick read; throw it on your reading list for when you have a little time.

[littlenell08]

Hurrah for Neil Gaiman! I'm really glad to see some Children's Lit showing up on this forum, warms my little heart to see that I'm not the only one interested in this genre, even if I am the only one I know of trying to pursue a graduate career in it. Anyone else? Anyone? If so, PM me, I'd love to talk.

Has anyone else discovered simplyaudiobooks.com? It's like netflix for audiobooks and I adore it. I'm currently going through the Chronicles of Narnia because I apparently missed out on them as a child, and I'm loving them. You'd be shocked how much "reading" you get done simply by listening on your commute. I definitely wouldn't have gotten through undergrad without it.

I've seen a lot of talk about Moby Dick on here. I think I'm in the same boat as the rest of you (Pun! har har) in that I've started it but am unable to finish. However, I have noticed that I'm way more interested in it when I'm down the seashore, so maybe I'll wait until summer at the beach to pick it up again.

Other things I've read recently that rocked my world:

Geek Love - Katherine Dunn : regarding a family of circus freaks and their crazy ass adventures in the world of "norms;" exploring preconceptions of love and beauty. Funny, poignant and thrilling.

The Bloody Chamber - Angela Carter. Reworking classic fairy tales in a manner most beautiful and uncanny. I can read this book over and over again and never get sick of it.

His Dark Materials - Phillip Pullman. Okay, so I haven't read this one recently, but I've read The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass so many times that I could practically recite them. Anyone else?

Really love this thread, by the way. Being out of school for a year has kept me out of conversation with book nerds, and I really miss it.

[Branwen daughter of Llyr]

I didn't mean it as a comment on your taste!

Knowing your love of Gaiman's style and fairy tales, I think you'd really like Skylight Confessions. It's a super-quick read; throw it on your reading list for when you have a little time.

I know you weren't commenting on my taste I was just protesting in mock indignation. I know my reading is HEAVILY tilted towards the fantastical / children's. (despite reading a lot of modern stuff, as well. After all, Michael Chabon is modern, and I've recently developed a bit of an obsession about him). But I will take your suggestion and add Skylight Confessions to my list.

Hurrah for Neil Gaiman! I'm really glad to see some Children's Lit showing up on this forum, warms my little heart to see that I'm not the only one interested in this genre, even if I am the only one I know of trying to pursue a graduate career in it. Anyone else? Anyone? If so, PM me, I'd love to talk.

Has anyone else discovered simplyaudiobooks.com? It's like netflix for audiobooks and I adore it. I'm currently going through the Chronicles of Narnia because I apparently missed out on them as a child, and I'm loving them. You'd be shocked how much "reading" you get done simply by listening on your commute. I definitely wouldn't have gotten through undergrad without it.

I've seen a lot of talk about Moby Dick on here. I think I'm in the same boat as the rest of you (Pun! har har) in that I've started it but am unable to finish. However, I have noticed that I'm way more interested in it when I'm down the seashore, so maybe I'll wait until summer at the beach to pick it up again.

Other things I've read recently that rocked my world:

Geek Love - Katherine Dunn : regarding a family of circus freaks and their crazy ass adventures in the world of "norms;" exploring preconceptions of love and beauty. Funny, poignant and thrilling.

The Bloody Chamber - Angela Carter. Reworking classic fairy tales in a manner most beautiful and uncanny. I can read this book over and over again and never get sick of it.

His Dark Materials - Phillip Pullman. Okay, so I haven't read this one recently, but I've read The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass so many times that I could practically recite them. Anyone else?

Really love this thread, by the way. Being out of school for a year has kept me out of conversation with book nerds, and I really miss it.

Although I'm planning on doing my PhD on medieval lit mostly, I know I'll end up researching children's lit later on. My honors thesis was on children's lit, and I know I'll go back to that at some point.

His Dark Materials - discovered it as an adult, but read it MANY MANY times since. Was extremely disappointed in the movie. I LOVE Phillip Pullman - he's the kind of children's writer I aspire to be one day.

[Medievalmaniac]

For the new Doctorow fan - I loved Ragtime, taught it in my Jewish American Lit course. HIGHLY recommend it. You might also enjoy Saul Bellow's Seize the Day, and if you have never read any John Irving, I would start with A Prayer for Owen Meany and work my way through the canon - he's marvelous fun.

I just re-read As I Lay Dying, and am working my way through the modern and beat poets. (And you can all stuff it with the modern jokes, I am NOT amused by this....but by God, I am getting a 720 or higher on the subject test, and that's that. )

For refreshment when I just cannot take any more modern lit, I have my Riverside Chaucer. And also, Anglo-Saxon Culture in Old Norse Icelandic Texts - very excited to start this one!! And, A Celtic Miscellany.

just finished rereading for the fifty billionth time Donna Tartt's Secret History, and also the Dragonriders of Pern.

I think sometimes that reading is the only thing keeping me sane right now.

[Strong Flat White]

For the new Doctorow fan - I loved Ragtime, taught it in my Jewish American Lit course. HIGHLY recommend it. You might also enjoy Saul Bellow's Seize the Day, and if you have never read any John Irving, I would start with A Prayer for Owen Meany and work my way through the canon - he's marvelous fun.

I just re-read As I Lay Dying, and am working my way through the modern and beat poets. (And you can all stuff it with the modern jokes, I am NOT amused by this....but by God, I am getting a 720 or higher on the subject test, and that's that. )

For refreshment when I just cannot take any more modern lit, I have my Riverside Chaucer. And also, Anglo-Saxon Culture in Old Norse Icelandic Texts - very excited to start this one!! And, A Celtic Miscellany.

just finished rereading for the fifty billionth time Donna Tartt's Secret History, and also the Dragonriders of Pern.

I think sometimes that reading is the only thing keeping me sane right now.

That would be me [the new Doctorow fan]!  Yes, Ragtime is high on my list.  Thanks.  Saul Bellow, eh?  I'll take a look and add it to the long, long list...

[Alea Iacta Est]

I have a long reading list to tackle once I finish and submit my senior thesis.

- Elidor by Alan Garner. I read The Owl Service when I was a kid and remember being freaked out by it in the best kind of way. I'm hoping Elidor will do the same thing.

- Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman. I've heard mixed things about it. I love his novels and I loved most of Smoke And Mirrors but there are some stories that just didn't do it for me, and I have a feeling that this might be very similar.

- The Book Of Lost Things by John Connolly. Recommended by someone's whose taste I trust, and I love modern interpretations of fairytales.

- Misfortune: A Novel by Wesley Stace. Recommended by the same person, and apparently the book is full of batshit crazy characters, which makes me even more curious to read it.

- Nightingale Wood by Stella Gibbons. Because Cold Comfort Farm was made of awesome.

- The Peacock Spring by Rumer Godden. Recommended by someone whose taste I do NOT agree with, so I'm going to read it to see if I can shoot it down.

- The Girl's Like Spaghetti: Why You Can't Manage Without Apostrophes! by Lynn Truss. Because I enjoyed reading and empathised with the author's other ill-tempered rants.

- A Laodicean by Thomas Hardy. I'm interested to see how Hardy deals with non-OMG!TRAGEDY! themes.

- Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens. Started this a couple of months ago, but life got in the way.

- Gilgamesh. Because it's there, and I haven't done it before.

- And finally a couple of random P.G. Wodehouse novels. Because you can never have too much Wodehouse in your life.

Edited March 9, 2010 by Alea Iacta Est

[Branwen daughter of Llyr]

That would be me [the new Doctorow fan]! Yes, Ragtime is high on my list. Thanks. Saul Bellow, eh? I'll take a look and add it to the long, long list...

Saul Bellow is wonnnnnnnderful. Highly recommended.

I have a long reading list to tackle once I finish and submit my senior thesis.

- Elidor by Alan Garner. I read The Owl Service when I was a kid and remember being freaked out by it in the best kind of way. I'm hoping Elidor will do the same thing.

- Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman. I've heard mixed things about it. I love his novels and I loved most of Smoke And Mirrors but there are some stories that just didn't do it for me, and I have a feeling that this might be very similar.

- The Book Of Lost Things by John Connolly. Recommended by someone's whose taste I trust, and I love modern interpretations of fairytales.

- Misfortune: A Novel by Wesley Stace. Recommended by the same person, and apparently the book is full of batshit crazy characters, which makes me even more curious to read it.

- Nightingale Wood by Stella Gibbons. Because Cold Comfort Farm was made of awesome.

- The Peacock Spring by Rumer Godden. Recommended by someone whose taste I do NOT agree with, so I'm going to read it to see if I can shoot it down.

- The Girl's Like Spaghetti: Why You Can't Manage Without Apostrophes! by Lynn Truss. Because I enjoyed reading and empathised with the author's other ill-tempered rants.

- A Laodicean by Thomas Hardy. I'm interested to see how Hardy deals with non-OMG!TRAGEDY! themes.

- Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens. Started this a couple of months ago, but life got in the way.

- Gilgamesh. Because it's there, and I haven't done it before.

- And finally a couple of random P.G. Wodehouse novels. Because you can never have too much Wodehouse in your life.

Yay! Alan Garner! Wasn't The Owl Service amazing? I nearly analyzed it in my honors thesis, but ended up using only series - the Garner's single volume story had to be cut (don't you HATE cutting out amazing books?).

And Stella Gibbons - Cold Comfort Farm was one of my favorite books - one of the few books i read AFTER watching the movie (which was actually very very very good, tongue in cheek, kept to the spirit of the book, and has Rufus Seawell in it, whom I somewhat lust after LOL), and I enjoyed it immensely.

If you like fairy tales, of any kind, I recommend Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. it is SO good. And has a LOT of fairies in it (not very nice ones, mind you...). Lord Byron shows up as a character along the way, as well (as does mad King George, and his physicians).

[Alea Iacta Est]

Jonathan Strange And Mr. Norrell might just be one of my favourite books ever. The English Regency, the Austen-esque prose, the magic, and the footnotes. What's not to love?

Edited March 9, 2010 by Alea Iacta Est

[Kam]

I've been meaning to read Jonathan Strange for years now, but the size and weight of the book makes it so inconvenient for carrying around. Maybe this summer I'll finally get to it, since I'll be home with little to do.

[Branwen daughter of Llyr]

Jonathan Strange And Mr. Norrell might just be one of my favourite books ever. The English Regency, the Austen-esque prose, the magic, and the footnotes. What's not to love?

OMG - the footnotes!! I LOVED the footnotes! I wished all the books in the footnotes existed!