I'm now reading "To the Lighthouse", which is my very first Woolf experience. I find it dull in places and lovely in others. I'm setting goals about how much I need to read each day, because I do want to finish it, but I can already tell she won't be on my favorites list.

posted by Vonini at 5:38 am (EST) on Jul 13, 2008

Elsewhere you mentioned having trouble with "Canticle for Leibowitz." I recently reread it and found it tough going, but interesting. ~~~~However with so many books in your world don't fret if you abandon it!

posted by Esta1923 at 10:32 pm (EST) on Jul 6, 2008

Thanks for marking my library interesting. I love your philosophy of reading--I am big on varying my books, too. I love me some dystopias, though, ;-). I'm off to check yours to see if there is anything that I need to add to my tbr list--LibraryThing is so dangerous that way!

posted by sussabmax at 2:30 pm (EST) on May 19, 2008

I'm so happy you liked Flowers for Algernon :-D

One more recommendation: Have you read The Time Traveler's Wife? It's one of my all time favourite books. If you like Flowers you will probably love that too.

posted by marvas at 3:21 am (EST) on Apr 24, 2008

If anybody knows which group the thread "6-word stories" belongs to, please let me know!

The thread has just re-surfaced, it's in

Group: Writer-readers
Topic: Six-word stories

http://www.librarything.com/talktopic.ph...

posted by AsYouKnow_Bob at 9:43 pm (EST) on Apr 15, 2008

In the discussion where someone posted the Lit-map, you mentioned finding one with music. Can you give me a link for that? I sure would appreciate it.

posted by emaestra at 10:46 am (EST) on Apr 3, 2008

Hi! I just saw your comment in my profile. You're the first person I've met who has Petronella as one of her names. Well, I should say the second person because my grandmother on the maternal side was also a Petronella - I was named for her.

posted by Petronella63 at 2:24 pm (EST) on Mar 26, 2008

Every one gets so caught up it Capote's "In Cold Blood" (a good book)
they forget the wealth of wonderful work he did before that.

posted by usnmm2 at 5:06 am (EST) on Mar 9, 2008

I'd love to hear what you picked and what you think about it. Good reading!

posted by marvas at 5:50 pm (EST) on Mar 5, 2008

You asked for recommendations, that's a serious question, I had a long look at my book sheles and here's what I came up with:
Dystopian books:
Oryx and crake by Margaret Atwood, while I did not love it, it does keep popping up in my head. Thinker.
Flowers for Algernon (Daniel Keyes), heartbreakingly good
Cloud atlas (David Mitchel), mesmerising whirlwind of a novel
Cat's cradle (Kurt Vonnegut), satirical and funny, I've just finished this and I very much liked the style.
Brief history of the dead (Kevin Brockmeyer) A very different sort of dystopian book. Oryx and Crake meets The lovely bones sort of. Touched my heart.
How I live now (Meg Rosoff) Brilliant, fantastic, cannot praise it enough
The pesthouse (Jim Crace) Next on my list because of the haunting opening sentence. ("Everybody died at night.") I think anyone who loved The road will love this as well.

Just very good books which I loved and I think everybody should read:
The stone diaries, Carol Shields, indescribably beautiful
American Gods (Neil Gaiman), you have no Gaiman in your library I saw, based on your love for Terry Pratchet, I think you will like him a lot.
Walk two moons (Sharon Creech) Wonderful, very moving. The last book I finished. One of the best emotional punches ever delivered in a book.

posted by marvas at 2:16 pm (EST) on Mar 4, 2008

Thanks for the comment! I will definitely keep an eye out for This Perfect Day, it sounds like just the kind of book I like.

posted by sussabmax at 7:54 pm (EST) on Mar 3, 2008