February 21, 2009
February 02, 2009
Midnight's Children
Last week, we met to discuss the book Amy and I read: Midnight's Children. After Amy served us an amazing soup and secured a heart-breaking reading comprehension quiz victory, we went on to discuss why we didn't read Midnight's Children. Natalie explained how she can't read a book when she doesn't connect with the main character, while Or described the story of another sci-fi novel. I was too busy drinking to write down the title, although I do remember that:
- Amy is reading On Brick Lane, not to be confused with Brick Lane
- Natalie is reading Prague, a book on Hungary?!?!?!?
- I'm reading The Dark Half by Stephen King, and I'm trembling like a little girl
The absentees might think that they didn't miss much that night, but that would not be giving credit to Laure and Edouard! En effet, the blogosphere joins us in congratulating them as they are expecting!!! Will we be adding an eleventh book club member next year? Will Or and Karen serve burgers at the next book meeting? Will we be reading Teletubbies: An Outing at the Zoo over the Christmas break next year? I think so!!!
Until then, our next book club is on Feb 26, and we are discussing what will probably win the best book award of the year: The Good Earth. This is an easy read folks, so I expect everyone to have read it (that means you too Steve).
Read forever,
Tube Reader
- Amy is reading On Brick Lane, not to be confused with Brick Lane
- Natalie is reading Prague, a book on Hungary?!?!?!?
- I'm reading The Dark Half by Stephen King, and I'm trembling like a little girl
The absentees might think that they didn't miss much that night, but that would not be giving credit to Laure and Edouard! En effet, the blogosphere joins us in congratulating them as they are expecting!!! Will we be adding an eleventh book club member next year? Will Or and Karen serve burgers at the next book meeting? Will we be reading Teletubbies: An Outing at the Zoo over the Christmas break next year? I think so!!!
Until then, our next book club is on Feb 26, and we are discussing what will probably win the best book award of the year: The Good Earth. This is an easy read folks, so I expect everyone to have read it (that means you too Steve).
Read forever,
Tube Reader
December 15, 2008
Or's Top 5!!!
As you know, I would like to update the top 5 section on the right side of the blog monthly with someone's top 5 books of all time. I don't intend to create a post about it every time I change the section, but Or provided such good descriptions of his top 5 (after much procrastination) that I couldn't let this good work go un-noticed...
1. The Lord of the Rings / J.R.R. Tolkien - The ultimate narrative of the everlasting struggle between good and evil. On its initial review the Sunday Telegraph felt it was "among the greatest works of imaginative fiction of the twentieth century." The Sunday Times review stated that "the English-speaking world is divided into those who have read The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and those who are going to read them."
2. State of Fear / Michael Crichton - One of Crichton's, who died last month, most critical and thought provoking books on the relationship between science, capital, mass media and politics.
3. Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) / Jerome K. Jerome - First published in 1889, one of the most praised things about Three Men in a Boat is how undated it appears to modern readers; the jokes seem fresh and witty even today.
4. The Man in the High Castle / Philip K. Dick - A mesmerising novel depicting an alternative history in which Germany and Japan have won The Second World War. Like most of Dick's novels, the main themes touched upon concern life in a police state and a genuine difficulty (for both readers and characters) to ascertain what is real and what is false
5. Good Omens / Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett - Quite possibly the funniest book ever written, despite it mostly depicting the Apocalypse.
On another note, I'm devoted to keep a track record of the books mentioned during the meetings. Although I thought most people gave compelling reasons to read these books at the last meeting, I decided not to repeat them like I did in last month's post. This is a simple bullet point version of them:
1) Flowers for Algernon
2) Outliers: The Story of Success
3) How Ms Claus Saved Christmas
4) Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
5) We Need to Talk about Kevin
6) The Door
7) The Weekenders: Travels in the Heart of Africa
My guess is that Steve is reading "How Ms Claus Saved Christmas" and that Natalie is reading "Outliers: The Story of Success".
1. The Lord of the Rings / J.R.R. Tolkien - The ultimate narrative of the everlasting struggle between good and evil. On its initial review the Sunday Telegraph felt it was "among the greatest works of imaginative fiction of the twentieth century." The Sunday Times review stated that "the English-speaking world is divided into those who have read The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and those who are going to read them."
2. State of Fear / Michael Crichton - One of Crichton's, who died last month, most critical and thought provoking books on the relationship between science, capital, mass media and politics.
3. Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) / Jerome K. Jerome - First published in 1889, one of the most praised things about Three Men in a Boat is how undated it appears to modern readers; the jokes seem fresh and witty even today.
4. The Man in the High Castle / Philip K. Dick - A mesmerising novel depicting an alternative history in which Germany and Japan have won The Second World War. Like most of Dick's novels, the main themes touched upon concern life in a police state and a genuine difficulty (for both readers and characters) to ascertain what is real and what is false
5. Good Omens / Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett - Quite possibly the funniest book ever written, despite it mostly depicting the Apocalypse.
On another note, I'm devoted to keep a track record of the books mentioned during the meetings. Although I thought most people gave compelling reasons to read these books at the last meeting, I decided not to repeat them like I did in last month's post. This is a simple bullet point version of them:
1) Flowers for Algernon
2) Outliers: The Story of Success
3) How Ms Claus Saved Christmas
4) Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
5) We Need to Talk about Kevin
6) The Door
7) The Weekenders: Travels in the Heart of Africa
My guess is that Steve is reading "How Ms Claus Saved Christmas" and that Natalie is reading "Outliers: The Story of Success".
December 11, 2008
Pulitzer Prizes enters the online era
This information might be of interest to some of you.
The Pulitzer Prizes in journalism have been expanded to include many text-based newspapers and news organizations that publish only on the Internet. The Pulitzer Board also has decided to allow entries made up entirely of online content to be submitted in all 14 Pulitzer journalism categories.
Most of you will naturally expect that your devoted blogger will shortly be nominated for this prestigious prize. However, that would be forgetting that the prize is only awarded to American newspapers and news organizations. Given the complexity involved in getting a UK visa, I think I will pass on applying for US citizenship!
The Pulitzer Prizes in journalism have been expanded to include many text-based newspapers and news organizations that publish only on the Internet. The Pulitzer Board also has decided to allow entries made up entirely of online content to be submitted in all 14 Pulitzer journalism categories.
Most of you will naturally expect that your devoted blogger will shortly be nominated for this prestigious prize. However, that would be forgetting that the prize is only awarded to American newspapers and news organizations. Given the complexity involved in getting a UK visa, I think I will pass on applying for US citizenship!
November 05, 2008
Farewell Michael Crichton
Michael Crichton passed away yesterday after a long fight with cancer. Personally, I have only read two of his books: Sphere (on Or's recommendation) and Prey, and wasn't blown away by them. I however have to admit that I like this genre, for which he pioneered.
Crichton's battle with cancer probably went back to more than 5 years, as he seems to have been the victims of delusions over this time period. For example, he was ferociously challenging that climate change is caused by man-made greenhouse gases emissions... Sad faith for such an illustrious scientific writer!
Which of Crichton's work did you prefer? Jurassic Park? ER? Airframe? Sphere? Congo?
November 04, 2008
Richmond Take 2
Laure and Edouard hosted our first real book club meeting, and I think I speak for everyone when I say that it was great fun! First, we found out that Laure was an amazing chef! I know Natalie particularly liked the surprise birthday cake. Major points go to the Luneaus for pulling this evening off!
Being literary geek (which we found out no longer bears a pejorative connotation), we also referred to and recommended numerous books and authors. I promised you the summarize those recommendations on this page, so here they are:
1) Laure is currently reading Catherine Hermary-Vieille's trilogy titled Le Crepuscule des Rois, which is apparently an entertaining and easy-to-read historical fiction. The author won the Prix Femina in 1991, a prestigious French recognition awarded yearly by a female jury.
2) The Tamirs have just finished a book of short stories from Haruki Murakami, After the Quake. They describe it as a dark, complex but rewarding read from one of the leading contemporary Japanese author.
3) As for myself, I just finished Michael Chabon's Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. This epic novel was an exhaustive account of how 2 American Jews delt with the impact of WWII on their life. I am comfortable recommending it!
4) Amy is currently visiting our graveyard section, as she is reading Half of a Yellow Sun from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. This allows me to point you that section of the site, which is full of cool recommendation.
5) Or also introduced us to a few geeky fantasy books, insisting particularly on Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch. It is a fantasy novel written in collaboration between Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. Go check out their pictures on wikipedia!
6) Jodi Picoult got double the air time with mentions for her books My Sisters Keepers and Plain Truth. They are probably her best books, since both books have been adapted into movies.
7) Finally, the Canadian author Miriam Toews and her book A Complicated Kindness was mentioned by Natalie. It won the Governor General's Award in 2004, and spent more than a year on the bestseller list in Canada, for a resounding sales figure of 78 books.
Now, we also had the chance to discuss the brief wonderous life of our friend Oscar Wao, which was so rewarding that Or and I decided to meet up on Tuesday afternoon in a pub in London to continue the discussion. We concluded that Lola was a boring character. Sorry sister!
Being literary geek (which we found out no longer bears a pejorative connotation), we also referred to and recommended numerous books and authors. I promised you the summarize those recommendations on this page, so here they are:
1) Laure is currently reading Catherine Hermary-Vieille's trilogy titled Le Crepuscule des Rois, which is apparently an entertaining and easy-to-read historical fiction. The author won the Prix Femina in 1991, a prestigious French recognition awarded yearly by a female jury.
2) The Tamirs have just finished a book of short stories from Haruki Murakami, After the Quake. They describe it as a dark, complex but rewarding read from one of the leading contemporary Japanese author.
3) As for myself, I just finished Michael Chabon's Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. This epic novel was an exhaustive account of how 2 American Jews delt with the impact of WWII on their life. I am comfortable recommending it!
4) Amy is currently visiting our graveyard section, as she is reading Half of a Yellow Sun from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. This allows me to point you that section of the site, which is full of cool recommendation.
5) Or also introduced us to a few geeky fantasy books, insisting particularly on Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch. It is a fantasy novel written in collaboration between Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. Go check out their pictures on wikipedia!
6) Jodi Picoult got double the air time with mentions for her books My Sisters Keepers and Plain Truth. They are probably her best books, since both books have been adapted into movies.
7) Finally, the Canadian author Miriam Toews and her book A Complicated Kindness was mentioned by Natalie. It won the Governor General's Award in 2004, and spent more than a year on the bestseller list in Canada, for a resounding sales figure of 78 books.
Now, we also had the chance to discuss the brief wonderous life of our friend Oscar Wao, which was so rewarding that Or and I decided to meet up on Tuesday afternoon in a pub in London to continue the discussion. We concluded that Lola was a boring character. Sorry sister!
October 15, 2008
Future of books
What will the future holds for our beloved books? Do you think that we will still be reading books in 2050 the way we do today? To put things in perspective, I have researched the evolution of books:
12th century: The first book was produced by monks somewhere in Europe
1450: Gutenberg invents movable type in Europe, 400 years after Pi Sheng did in China, increasing supply to meet the increasing needs of university students
20th century: Lithography becomes widely used in book printing, allowing for an explosion in volume of books produced
My sense is that we are ready for another breakthrough. Surprisingly, e-books have been around for more than 30 years. Today, a few e-books reader start to get some air time in the news (the Amazon Kindle & the Sony Reader are the leading models). I just read that by 2018, more e-books could be sold than traditional books!
What do you think? Will e-books overtake traditional books the way digital songs are slowly winning the war over CDs? Are we missing something here?
Note: To access to more than 25,000 free e-books, check out the Project Gutenberg website. The project was launched in 1971 to digitize, archive and distribute cultural works. They don't spend time on the format of the pdf, which is a shame, but you can access most classics for free.
12th century: The first book was produced by monks somewhere in Europe
1450: Gutenberg invents movable type in Europe, 400 years after Pi Sheng did in China, increasing supply to meet the increasing needs of university students
20th century: Lithography becomes widely used in book printing, allowing for an explosion in volume of books produced
My sense is that we are ready for another breakthrough. Surprisingly, e-books have been around for more than 30 years. Today, a few e-books reader start to get some air time in the news (the Amazon Kindle & the Sony Reader are the leading models). I just read that by 2018, more e-books could be sold than traditional books!
What do you think? Will e-books overtake traditional books the way digital songs are slowly winning the war over CDs? Are we missing something here?
Note: To access to more than 25,000 free e-books, check out the Project Gutenberg website. The project was launched in 1971 to digitize, archive and distribute cultural works. They don't spend time on the format of the pdf, which is a shame, but you can access most classics for free.
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