The Literary Society

Original post by Demon_AS

Salome was excellent. I don't recall Anne Hathaway all that much - but I remember some clever metaphors relating to language.

I enjoyed most of the poems, to be honest. The tongue-in-cheek stab at male dominance was cleverly done.

It is a really good idea and she exploits it well.

Reply 6743

Norfolkadam

18

Just bought The Children of Men by P.D. James in the £2 bookshop. Excited to start it on the bus home!

Reply 6744

Original post by Skaði

Sí

I'm looking into more books of his, though I don't think any can ever top One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Sorry really should have replied to this earlier. :colondollar:

You should try Chronicle of a Death Foretold. It's probably my favourite book by him. :yep:

One Hundred Years of Solitude is also - well, pretty much perfect :colondollar:

but the former is also incredibly well-crafted. :biggrin:

Have you read much other magic realism? I just need to go an finish off Isabel Allende's House of the Spirits, but I remember not being too impressed. It was fairly good and enjoyable, but I really didn't feel it went any way towards fulfilling all the hype around it. Not a patch on Marquez, certainly.

Reply 6745

I am half-way through Kazuo Ishiguro's 'The Unconsoled'. A very strange book, interesting plot and it definitely looks like the mystery will not be cleared up until the very end.

Reply 6746

Norfolkadam

18

Wow finished The Children of Men walking down the street under my umbrella on the way home. I had to know how it finishes and it was either that or staying on the bus all the way to UWE.

What a great book, I loved how the dystopian elements weren't hammed up and how it was all quite believable and balanced. The movie looks to be much more violent and extreme.

Reply 6747

Joist

Hey guys, first post in this thread.

Just finished my English Lit degree the other week! Currently reading the prose edition of The Odyssey with a view to re-reading Ulysses afterwards; we had a whole module on Joyce this year and the man is just a total, one-off genius. Went to Dublin with a couple of mates a few months ago and recreated the Ulysses journeys, and joined a reading of 'The Dead' in Sweeney's which was great. Obviously bought some lemon soap.

Anyway, besides that, being able to read for pleasure now, my to-read list is as long as my arm. I've started Fitzgerald's This Side of Paradise as well. Pretty high on the to-read list are some Murakami and some David Mitchell, the latter I've studied a little this year and really enjoyed but by many accounts, he is in many respects inferior to Murakami. There's easily 20 books that I'm equally as excited about reading, but have no idea how to choose where to start. Ulysses will take most of the summer though I imagine.

Reply 6748

weenomz

Hi everyone, as you can probably tell, I'm new to this thread, (only joined the society 10 minutes ago, and hope I am allowed in lol).

I absolutely love Literature, and I am currently going into my final year (eek!) of my undergraduate degree - BA Hons English with Education.

I have been a "bookworm" for as long as I can remember, and some of my favourite authors include:

-Jane Austen (classic)
-The Bronte Sisters (again, classic)
-Nicholas Sparks
-JK Rowling (love the HP books!)
-Suzanne Collins
-Daphne Du Maurier (in particular, Rebecca)
-Trisha Ashley
-Bram Stoker (Dracula)
-Katie Fforde
-Jane Costello
-Jodi Picoult
-Dorothy Koomson
and many, many, many more! (Too many to list!)

Oh, and I am currently reading Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen.

:smile:

Reply 6749

KingMessi

19

Original post by weenomz

Hi everyone, as you can probably tell, I'm new to this thread, (only joined the society 10 minutes ago, and hope I am allowed in lol).

I absolutely love Literature, and I am currently going into my final year (eek!) of my undergraduate degree - BA Hons English with Education.

I have been a "bookworm" for as long as I can remember, and some of my favourite authors include:

-Jane Austen (classic)
-The Bronte Sisters (again, classic)
-Nicholas Sparks
-JK Rowling (love the HP books!)
-Suzanne Collins
-Daphne Du Maurier (in particular, Rebecca)
-Trisha Ashley
-Bram Stoker (Dracula)
-Katie Fforde
-Jane Costello
-Jodi Picoult
-Dorothy Koomson
and many, many, many more! (Too many to list!)

Oh, and I am currently reading Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen.

:smile:

Hi.

How are you finding 'Sense and Sensibility'? That, and 'Mansfield Park' are the only two Austen novels I haven't read thus far. I appreciate Austen's technical writing abilities but find her novels rather conservative and dull. I've been listening to all of the HP books on audiobook over the last fortnight for nostalgia's sake - begun 'Order of the Phoenix' this evening. :love:

What did you think of 'The Hunger Games'?

I haven't read 'Dracula', but it's high up my list...

Reply 6750

weenomz

Hi

So far, I love Sense and Sensibility :smile:

. Hated Mansfield Park - studied it for A level, and just found it so dull!

Loved The Hunger Games - read all three in a day and a half lol

Dracula is good - don't be put off if you find the beginning a tad boring - it soon gets better :smile:

Reply 6751

Just finished 'The Unconsoled' by Kazuo Ishiguro. Well, that was weird but interesting! It is certainly different from anything I have read before.

Reply 6752

Original post by Obsidian

Just finished 'The Unconsoled' by Kazuo Ishiguro. Well, that was weird but interesting! It is certainly different from anything I have read before.

Been meaning to read Ishiguro for a while now. :colondollar:

Have you read any of his other stuff? I've got A Pale View of The Hills and Nocturnes.

Reply 6753

Original post by Abiraleft

Been meaning to read Ishiguro for a while now. :colondollar:

Have you read any of his other stuff? I've got A Pale View of The Hills and Nocturnes.

I have read 'Never Let Me Go' and bought 'The Unconsoled' from a charity shop - probably wouldn't have picked it up otherwise! He has a certain style but reading up on 'The Unconsoled', it is different from his other works.
I believe that 'A Pale View of The Hills' was his first novel but I'm not entirely sure :smile:

Certainly give him a go :biggrin:

Reply 6754

Finished 'Othello' today :smile:

I love summer :biggrin:

Spoiler

Reply 6755

Original post by Obsidian

Finished 'Othello' today :smile:

I love summer :biggrin:

Spoiler

Did you like it? I was involved in a production of it during my A-levels. :biggrin:

Reply 6756

Original post by Abiraleft

Did you like it? I was involved in a production of it during my A-levels. :biggrin:

Yes, Shakespeare's usually pretty good. He really quickens the pace after the first couple of acts, doesn't he?
Wow! Did you play one of the parts or did you help out backstage?

Spoiler

Extra Spoiler:

Spoiler

Reply 6757

LeSacMagique

9

Original post by Obsidian

Finished 'Othello' today :smile:

I love summer :biggrin:

Spoiler

You might find this funny: http://www.angelfire.com/oh5/spycee/rymer.html
It's this late seventeenth-century critic who found the whole play (and particularly the business with the handkerchief) totally ridiculous.
"So much ado, so much stress, so much passion and repetition
about an Handkerchief? Why was not this call'd the Tragedy of the
Handkerchief? "

Reply 6758

Original post by LeSacMagique

You might find this funny: http://www.angelfire.com/oh5/spycee/rymer.html
It's this late seventeenth-century critic who found the whole play (and particularly the business with the handkerchief) totally ridiculous.
"So much ado, so much stress, so much passion and repetition
about an Handkerchief? Why was not this call'd the Tragedy of the
Handkerchief? "

Wow! He was a little harsh I think - though funny :biggrin:

Reply 6759