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If I Wanted Your Opinion I Would Ask For It
February 13, 2007
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I did read “Life of Pi” with my book group, and I thought it was a good story – although I didn’t like the ending. Everyone in my book group liked it, actually.
If you haven’t ever read anything by Jodi Picoult, I highly recommend any of her books! “My Sister’s Keeper” is my favorite, but all of them are extremely well written and surprising.
I read “Life of Pi” for bookclub as well and liked it. It was a good story, and I liked the characters. My only complaint was that I had a little trouble getting into it. But it was worth finishing.
“Reading Lolita” got rave reviews from my mother who reads EVERYTHING. It’s still on my list.
If you have “Devil Wears Prada” on there, remove it promptly and don’t look back. “The Memory Keeper’s Daughter” is pretty good as well. Nothing to rave about, but pretty good.
Go here.
http://crazedmommy.blogspot.com/2007/02/speed-reader.html
This book is awesome. Promise.
Shash
I’ve read them both. I loved LOVED Life of Pi. I liked it so much that when I got to the end and sort of GOT the secret message, I went right back to the beginning and read it again with that new information in hand. It’s an incredibly spiritual book with much deep hidden meaning, and either you get it, or you don’t. My son read it last year at 13, and he loved it too, but other friends didn’t like it much at all. I always recommend it, but I understand that if you aren’t into personal spiritual growth, it might not be the book for you.
Reading Lolita in Tehran was beautiful and so very sad. I read a TON of non-fiction lit about Muslim women, pretty much everything that’s ever been published on the subject, and this was NOT my favorite by a long shot, but again, if it’s the only book on the topic you’re gonna read, than read it. It is a literate book, with a lot of references to other works of literature, and it very much helps to be familiar with the books and authors being discussed. You get much more insight into the class if you get the subject matter, much like you do in David Lodge books about the MLA and Victorian Literature. I loved the book, but again, this is a topic near and dear to my heart. I just think that it needed some judicious editing, but that’s because the subject matter is more familiar to me.
I hope this helps.
My husband and I both read Life of Pi and enjoyed it tremendously. I agree with margalit. You either get it or you don’t. And for the record, we aren’t in any sort of book club. I bought it for him one Christmas, and he raved about it. So I read it.
I have not read either book, although I keep meaning to. A book I thought was funny was, “Autobiography of a Fat Bride.”
I’m in an online book club and we all hated Life of Pi.
I guess I’m one of those people who didn’t get it. What secret message is margalit talking about?
rrbookclub.blogspot.com is the site. it might have spoilers, but you could check it out if you want.
Delurking for the first time…
I’m a senior English major in college, so I have a couple suggestions based on what I’ve like lately.
Beautiful, amazing, with substance – The God of Small Things, by Arundhati Roy
Funny – Carpe Demon: Adventures of a Demon Hunting Soccer Mom, by Julie Kenner, or any of the Jasper Fforde Literary Mystery series
Funny AND substantial – Midnight’s Children, by Salman Rushdie
Loved Pi, hated Lolita.
Read Life of Pi for a bookclub many years ago. I remember liking the book, but not loving it. I had a bit of a hard time getting into it, but did finish it. I believe our club was split on loved it/hated it opinions.
How on earth do you have time to parent twins, blog on 3 (er…4?) sites AND read? I can barely read the mail, let alone an entire book. I’ve been reading To Kill a Mockingbird, which I was loving, for about 5 months and am still only about 125 pages into it. I’m embarrassed to admit that I graduated with a degree in English and NEVER read that book. What’s your secret?
Here was my take on Life of Pi (spoiler-free, I think)
http://thewaitandwonder.clubmom.com/thewaitandwonder/2006/07/a_book_club_of_.html
The book I enjoyed most last year was The Kite Runner, without question.
Both books were books I read in my book club!
I found Life of Pi to be very interesting. I wasn’t sure at first, but after getting through the first 50 pages or so, it got 100 times better! At the end, I was very glad I read it.
Reading Lolita in Terran (sp?) was good. I only got half way thru that book before my book club meeting. I never went back & finished it though. I guess it didn’t grab me like Life of Pi did.
I have read neither of those books. Reading Lolita sounds dull to me. Life of Pi is in my “to read” pile but I haven’t made it there yet. Have you read Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon? Excellent! If you like reading at all, you’ll love it.
Some recent favorites…
Sammy’s Hill by Kristin Gore (or is it Kristen?). Hysterical!!!
March–can’t remember the author but it is the story of the father of the “Little Women.” Fast and good…civil war historical fiction.
The Other Boleyn Girl–Phillipa Gregory Not on our book club list but we’ve all passed it around and there hasn’t been a disappointed reader yet.
I love having a huge list of “to reads.” When all else fails, there’s always a good book waiting!!
I just gave my cousin “The $64 Dollar Tomato” and it looks like a wonderful read.
I finished The Memory Keepers Daughter yesterday, and while it was a quick read, I found the dialogue between characters to be trite and predictable. The other parts were okay if you can get beyond how the writer penned the dialogue.
Our book club read two Picoult books and during the course of our discussions we went from liking her books to deciding they were crap. It was a funny thing as it caught us all a little by surprise. Sarah is in my book club, so she can tell ya more.
Carl Hiaasen books make me laugh. I especially liked Skinny Dip.
Didn’t like: “Reading Lolita…”, I still think it could be a great story, I just couldn’t get past the first 2 chapters.
Eeeehh: I read “The Memory Keeper’s Daughter” and, well, it just didn’t blossom for me. I can’t even tell you about it. It kind of put me in a fog everytime I picked it up. (Maybe I should try it again)
Loved: I thoroughly, THOROUGHLY, enjoyed “The Time Traveler’s Wife”. (and I was pretty sure it was going to be a silly book)
For a few laughs (and maybe a few tears), a very simple read, “Marley and Me”
Matt liked “Next” by Michael Crichton
I liked the character Pi, but I wasn’t crazy about the story. Too many references to feces. AS IF I don’t have enough feces in my life.
I liked Reading Lolita. In fact, I liked it so much I assigned it to my English class who each hated it with every fiber of their adolescent beings. After letting them bitch about it, I could kind of see their point. My aunt, however, liked it so much she sent me a copy without bothering to check to see if I had read it first.
OH! I forgot about “The Other Boleyn Girl”, I read that one over Christmas and enjoyed it.
I read Life of Pi and really liked it…lot of great ideas, good writing, interesting character unlike too many others I’ve encountered elsewhere. Thing is, there’s about a billion books that can meet those requirements, and I only know one other person besides myself who actually liked Life of Pi, so I can’t really say that it’s for everybody.
I loved Life of Pi. Basil liked it too.
Have you read The Time Traveler’s Wife? Easily one of my favorite books in the past few years.
Also, I really like Plainsong by Kent Haruf and the followup (though the title is escaping me right now).
Try “House of Leaves” by Mark Danielewski. Good stuff.
Okay, Life of Pi has officially become the running joke of the Supercoolest Book Club EVAH! I can’t get into it, either, but Kevin (IFLYG) has all these deep things to say about it. Maybe you just have to get to the end before everything comes into focus.
Pfhhhht.
Reading Lolita was heavy, with a side of heavy sauce, and sprinkled with raisins (I hate raisins).
Time Traveller’s Wife: Oh. My. LOVE.
I like what Margalit says about Reading Lolita. And I’m not well-read at all in the two areas she mentions – the classics or non-fiction lit by Muslim women. While reading it, I felt that I would enjoy the book more if I had read more of the classics. It’s really not a book about reading groups or even about books, though. It’s a book about the Islamic revolution in Iran and the effects of the revolution on thinking women from many different backgrounds. Nafisi merely examines that period of time in her life and her friends’ lives through the lense of classic literature. If you’re going to read it, don’t get hung up on remembering names of the characters or the books under discussion. I kept slowing myself down trying to remember all that before moving on to the next chapter. Don’t. You’ll get reintroduced to the books and the women again and again with plenty of detail, so you get to know them all very well eventually – without having to try too hard.
I think you know that I loved Life of Pi. I wrote about it here. My mom thought it was so-so. My friend Melinda led a book group at church that read it, and at least half of the folks in that group didn’t even like it enough to finish it. My take is that you will like it if you’re ambivalent about religion – if you’re interested in and fascinated in the beliefs and myths of many different faiths but have as many questions about faith as you do answers. If you are dogmatic about having faith or absolute about not having faith, or if you don’t like to think about the effects of faith on our lives, then you probably won’t be as interested. You also have to be prepared to spend some time on a boat. With a wild animal.
I like what Margalit says about Reading Lolita. And I’m not well-read at all in the two areas she mentions – the classics or non-fiction lit by Muslim women. While reading it, I felt that I would enjoy the book more if I had read more of the classics. It’s really not a book about reading groups or even about books, though. It’s a book about the Islamic revolution in Iran and the effects of the revolution on thinking women from many different backgrounds. Nafisi merely examines that period of time in her life and her friends’ lives through the lense of classic literature. If you’re going to read it, don’t get hung up on remembering names of the characters or the books under discussion. I kept slowing myself down trying to remember all that before moving on to the next chapter. Don’t. You’ll get reintroduced to the books and the women again and again with plenty of detail, so you get to know them all very well eventually – without having to try too hard.
I think you know that I loved Life of Pi. I wrote about it here. My mom thought it was so-so. My friend Melinda led a book group at church that read it, and at least half of the folks in that group didn’t even like it enough to finish it. And you have to finish it. Kara’s right – the end is essential. Overall, I’d say you will like it if you’re ambivalent about religion – if you’re interested in and fascinated in the beliefs and myths of different faiths but have as many questions about faith as you do answers. If you are dogmatic about having faith or absolute about not having faith, or if you don’t like to think about the effects of faith on our lives, then you probably won’t be as interested. You also have to be prepared to spend some time on a boat. With a wild animal.
Others? A recent read I’ve recommended before: Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight. You’ll laugh. And cry.
- life of pi is on my i should finish book list. i liked the first few pages but they didn’t suck me in, so i quickly got distracted by another book
- I felt very noble reading lolita but i felt like the book got really boring in sections
books that have sucked me in lately:
- Baby Catcher: Chronicles of a Midwife (peggy vincent)
-Operating Instructions (annie lamont)
- Lamb: The gospel according to biff (hilarious!)
YES to “The Other Boleyn Girl”
Also, I enjoy anything by Dennis Lehane, and Carl Hiaasen’s “Sick Puppy” was funny.
I just re-read “Memoirs of a Geisha” for the 1,285 time. And next is the entire HP series before July. It’ll take me that long, because for some reason, I have less time than the mom of the Goon Squad. I have no idea how that’s possible……
Oh yeah– operating instructions= excellent.
I love all of Phillipa Gergory’s stuff (she wrote The Other Boleyn Girl).
Carl Hiaasen is my fav. stuff to read at the beach
Started both Life of Pi and Reading Lolita. Finished neither of them.
YES! YES! YES! to dcfullest’s suggestion of Lamb. Or you know, just read your way through all of Christopher Moore’s books. I think I’m in love with that man.
Everyone I know who has read Life of Pi really liked it.
I have not read it yet…
I am having the worst luck with books. Everything I pick up just does not impress me at all. Same with movies and TV….sort of a seasonal malaise I think.
SKip Haunted by Chuck P.
Trying to get into Pi too. Oye.
I have loved time travelers wife but I think you have already read that.
Sarah, I started reading Pi and I can so-far sum it up in one word: meh.
IN other words, it hasnt drawn me in yet… but I have hope.
very liked pi.
very not-liked lolita (noble woman who needed an editor, and bad).
recent LOVES:
- haven kimmel – everything she’s written
- haruki murakami – kafka on the shore
- sara gruen – water for elephants
- jonathan safran foer – extremely loud and incredibly close
- michael pollan – the omnivore’s dilemma
- marisha pessl – special topics in calamity physics
- barbara kingsolver – poisonwood bible (i was late to the game)
I would second Melissa’s Jodi Picoult recommendation. I like her so much I taught her book, My Sister’s Keeper, with my ninth grade gifted students. Trust me, you really have to like a book to read and discuss it 6 times a day. Also you might want to check out My Daughters Fortune.
‘Beloved’ by Toni Morrison
So between the comments on this post and the last I’m overwhelemed with new music to download and new books to read. You?
Alison, I was just thinking the same thing. Lots of yummy books that I have to add to my “list o’ books to read” and new music I have to check out. Good thing I just re-built my computer and emptied my book shelves!
hi sarah, i wish i had some recs for you, but i will say i stopped reading lolita in tehran about 1 or 2 chapters into it. i don’t know, it was ok, but it felt like a waste of time.
I’ve read “Life of Pi” and liked it.
actually, i just thought of some books i have liked recently. i find michael crichton to be easy reading, and scientifically interesting too. i also have read all of anita shreve’s books. they are very fast to read and always a blend of romance, slight mystery, and just overall calm anda pleasant. “sea glass” was the first i read by her, and i was hooked.
I couldn’t finish “Reading Lolita in Tehran.” I agree with Laurie that she needed an editor. Haven’t tried Pi yet, but it’s on our shelves.
I recently finished the Memory Keeper’s Daughter. Like Devra, I thought the dialog was trite. It was a quick read that held my attention, and I liked (not loved) it. And, it’s about twins.
My sister, the English teacher, recommends Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl.
Our guest bedroom is full of books, and you’re welcome to anything. Instant review (or 2) included, free of charge.
Mom At Work, can I just come over and use your guest bedroom? I promise to sit and read quietly to myself. When my driveway gets plowed, I’ll be on my way.
Haven’t read Pi or Lolita in Tehran (but did give it as a gift to my literary brother-in-law), but wholeheartedly recommend the Liquor series by Poppy Z. Brite. Especially since you’re becoming a foodie. She’s a fan of Bourdain, but she writes fiction. Liquor, Prime, Soul Food, and some novellas so far. Easy, fun reads.
i had to read RLIT for a grad class last year, and i loved it. but i guess i should add that we only read the first 3 sections (though p155), but it was awesome. it didn’t feel unfinished, and maybe that would be the way to go because as the book goes on, it becomes more and more drenched in epistemology. i say read it, and if it stops interesting you just put it down and revel in the beauty of the first narrative parts.
(this isn’t to assume you woudn’t be interested in the rest. but i got a little bored at the end.)
and i can’t go away without reccomending my all-time favorite boooks:
skinny legs and all by tom robbins
the handmaid’s tale, oryx and crake, or the blind assassin by margaret atwood
the god of small things by arundhati roy
and middlesex by jeffrey eugenidies.
(i may have spelled the last author wrong, but he also wrote the virgin suicides)
anyway, sorry to ramble on–but i majored in literature! i simply cannot help myself.
in fact, i want to go re-read all those books right this minute.
You have to read The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. It was amazing.
My Sister’s Keeper was great, but Jodi Picoult’s others were just okay.
The Time Traveler’s Wife – absolutely wonderful.
The Other Boleyn was a great read too.
I did read both.
Did NOT like Pi. Was the lone dissenter in my book club.
Did like Lolita, but with some reservations. (Was her editor smoking pot? Hello, structure much? Thesis?) Was in the majority on this one.
My book club was uber anal. Group of professional writers, editors, etc.
If you have not read Russo, go, go right now to the book store or library. Start with Empire Falls.
I second Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl.
Do you want personal faves and classics? new releases? specific genres?
Smilla’s Sense of Snow, Purple Hibiscus, The Sparrow…I can go on and on for about forty-five straight minutes as fast as an auctioneer.
Do you liek mysteries? Funny and sassy? Have you gone to tartcity.com?
Try Sparkle Hayter’s Robin Hudson books and Lauren Henderson’s Sam Jones books if you liek sassy mysteries. Heck who cares, they are just good books, lots of fun, and well written.
‘The Life of Pi’ was great, despite the vitriol being spewed by ~half of your commentors regardinig the book. I recently read ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ by Elizabeth Gilbert, and I highly recommend it for both substance and wit. I’m also a huge Dave Eggers fan and I’m about halfway through his new one called ‘What is the What’…it’s sort of an autobiographical novel about one of the Lost Boys of the Sudan. Of course, his first book, ‘A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius’ is incredible. So, there’s some good stuff for you to chew on. Sooooooooooo many good books.
I couldn’t get into Life of Pi, I kept falling asleep. The Memory Keepers Daughter and the Memory of Running (not related) are 2 of the best books I have ever read. Run out now and get them.