Friday, July 9, 2010

Early Post ...and literature

Today I am heading off to visit some friends in Pennsylvania for a few days. Very excited about it, but not sure I'll post while there. The Hubs is staying home, he rarely goes visiting with me.....And I have found some yarn stores along the route!

Last night I watched a biography on public television about Agatha Christie. I've never read a Christie novel. I think I might pick one up at the library this summer, any recommendations???...

I admit, I read alot of popular writers...but I've not had a good history with the "so called" literary writers...I think I was turned off of most of them because of my English/American literature courses. When I read, I read for enjoyment. I don't want to look for symbolism and all that other malarkey. Honestly, when Fitzgerald was writing "The Great Gatesby" he thought oh I'll put a billboard up with giant glasses and they will symbolize blah, blah, blah...If I had to read that book one more time, I'd poke myself in the eyes with knitting needles (I think I read it in every American lit class from high school through college)...and "The Old Man and the Sea" - Gag!

Is there a literary author that you would recommend? I do enjoy Jane Austen, but have not read any Bronte (I own Jane Eyre, but haven't read it) I love Louisa May Alcott and recently bought one of her adult novels...I will read just about any genre. I love historical stuff and I'm trying to get back into science fiction. I read alot of it when I was younger, but kinda dropped it as an adult...

This is what I am reading now:


It was slooowwww getting into it, but I'm enjoying it now. It got lots of really great reviews and Stephen King said it was the best of 2009. And I love Stephen King. The ghosty part of the story has really just started and I'm about half way through....can't wait to see where it goes (and I will read last pages of books, but am holding myself off!)

3 comments:

Shelby said...

I used to read alot of Agatha Christie, many moons ago. I recommend "And Then There Were None".
Mary Higgins Clark is also good for mysteries.
I too, hate to read for "hidden" meaning, I want to read for the fun of it. Guess that's why lit class and I didn't get along.
"To Kill a Mockingbird" was the straw for me.

Where the nodding violets grow said...

My husband is a real fan of Thomas Hardy. 'Under the Greenwood Tree' is a lovely book by him. Most of his others are tragic but well worth a read. When I first read 'Tess of the D'Urbevilles' it made me cry. I also liked 'The Mayor of Casterbridge' but they can be a bit heavy.

I like the Poirot novels by Agatha Christie. I can always picture David Suchet as Poirot and that helps.

I also love P G Wodehouse. Any book by him is a treat.

pip said...

imho the best historical novel is The Idiot by Dostoyevsky
A recent novel which i like is A thousand splendid suns by Khaled Hosseini.
The latter grabs from the first page and is an easy read in a literary sense (although certainly not in an emotional and real sense!) The former (for me) took a bit of effort to get through the first few chapters(mostly due to getting use to the various names each character can be called by in Russian novels ... this is always something I struggle with but you may not!) until I was totally grabbed!
pip