Member: minerva2607

Noticed you liked Vernon God Little, and I was wondering if you'd be interested in reviewing my new novel and posting your comments here as well as a few other book-related sites. Thought you might like my novel since it's also southern (and a bit dark). I could e-mail you the novel in an e-book format if you'd like (I'm currently out of physical copies). If you're interested, send me your e-mail address (mine is mail@christophertusa.com), and I'll send you the e-book. Here's a link to a summary (and a sample chapter) in case you'd like to read more about the book before you commit:

http://www.christophertusa.com/

Thanks,

Chris

posted by cmtusa at 8:54 am (EST) on Sep 11, 2009

Oh yes, I admire its technique and whilst obviosuly, I'm very sympathetic to the point of view espoused, I still found it a bit contrived. It was a book that never really engaged me, but then, possibly that could be that for me it was not provocative or a challenge to my worldview.

posted by jaipur1 at 8:40 pm (EST) on May 2, 2009

Yes, I decided to get stuck into my non-fiction books. I've been cleaning out old ones too (from my uni days) - don't want to pay for their removal to Melb, so I'm getting down to the books I want to keep and I thought it would be useful to have them listed just in case...

Spent last weekend in Christchurch - read a Manuel Puig which I didn't enjoy, a stream of consciousness novel was not what a traveller needed. But, also finished In the Footsteps of Mr Kurtz, a non-fiction book on Mobutu. Enjoyed that a lot.

posted by jaipur1 at 7:00 pm (EST) on Apr 11, 2008

I enjoyed both books. The Road was certainly a better read than my previous outing with McCarthy.

posted by jaipur1 at 6:06 am (EST) on Dec 17, 2007

Now there are three of us with Geoff Page's Freehold. If you liked that one, you might like another of his verse novels, The Scarring.

posted by TePuruBeach at 7:15 pm (EST) on Nov 25, 2007

I read The Inheritance of Loss (Kiran Desai), The Naming of the Dead (Ian Rankin), Sacred Games (Vikram Chandra), Palace Walk (Naguib Mahfouz) and The Road (Cormac McCarthy). Total of 5, not bad for a 4 wk trip, but one book was 947 pages!

posted by jaipur1 at 4:01 am (EST) on Nov 13, 2007

I took The Gravediggers Daughter with me to Tasmania. It proved to be all I needed at 580 pages. I almost tossed it in and on Sat in Launceston I passed a bookshop and picked up The Road as an emergency. Back to the Oates, I gave it 2 stars. Its a long book, my first by Oates and almost certainly my last. I will, however, check some reviews and see where people fit this into her pantheon. Maybe she was in poor form. Its an easy read and I finished it, but I never got engaged with the main character and whilst the themes are important to me, I never felt very moved by it. For me, a lot of repetition and slow, laboured exposition.

As for Portugal, I'm taking two Ian Rankin Rebus books (for the plane trips), Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra (a big read) and 2 or 3 others that I'm contemplating - actually, if you look at my recent acquisitions, you'll see them. Maybe Palace Walk, A Thousand Splendid Suns, The Inheritance of Loss and Half of a Yellow Sun. But, two weeks to go, so its time to start making those decisions, planning my pack list and get all the paperwork together.

posted by jaipur1 at 5:00 am (EST) on Oct 3, 2007

Some great books in your list - I've not been near LibraryThing for awhile, hence my long delay in responding. I've had a bit of a lull in reading, but have renewed energy now.

posted by jaipur1 at 6:24 am (EST) on Sep 10, 2007