Kyle’s Comments (group member since Jan 15, 2008)

Kyle’s comments from the Challenge: 50 Books group.

13. The Innocent Man John Grisham
14. Body & Soul Frank Conroy

12. Jim The Boy Tony Earley

11. Infidel Ayaan Hirsi Ali

9. The Time Traveller's Wife
10. On Chesil Beach

adding those 2 to my growing to-read...thx

wow. i'm quite impresssed chastity. by you AND joyce carol oates. i know she's professor of creative writing at yale or something and all that...but 50+ ?? i had no idea. ok. am gonna add Zombie right away, because i have a soft-spot for that genre (that sounds horrible, but you know what i mean!!).

ok. i just checked your bookshelf, and found we had 8% of our books read in common (we can raise that percentage), but 83% (or something up there) common recommendations on those books...pretty good! i'm gonna make sure you're on my friends list.

oryx and crake. wow. well....do you like margaret (like i know her)...do you like margaret atwood? i've only read 2 of her novels (handmaid's tale and oryx). handmaid's tale was much more direct, more beautiful description and language, and much earlier in her career, so perhaps reflective of a younger person writing about human weakness. oryx was a bit stylized for me...a bit abstract...though i completely appreciated it and, on the whole, must recommend it. do you enjoy post-apocalyptic literature? have you read mccarthy's the road? completely different...am just wondering. so take it off the shelf and enjoy! if i'm not mistaken, it was a 3 star for me (i may have reviewed...can't remember).

goodbye for now!

kyle

9. We Were the Mulvaneys Joyce Carol Oates
10. Run Ann Patchett

thx for the recommendation. i will pick up the waterworks for sure. yes, i enjoyed mulvaneys. i thought she was a bit wordy at times...probably 100 pages were unnecessary in my humble opinion, but she did an incredible job of painting the portrait of a family ***SPOILER*** in decline... it's actually my first novel by her!! would you please recommend my second??

9. We Were the Mulvaneys

Following is what i've read so far in 2008...

1. The Road Cormac McCarthy
2. Replay Ken Grimwood
3. Oryx & Crake Margaret Atwood
4. The Alienist Caleb Carr
5. Feast of Love Charles Baxter
6. The Emperor's Children Claire Messud
7. Hack: How I Stopped Worrying About What To Do with My Life and Started Driving a Yellow Cab.
8. The Glass Castle

thx for those suggestions...will look into them! happy reading, kyle.

it's nice to be wanted :) happy reading.

hi there judith. agreed. the alienist was an amazing combination of genres...or...it's own genre, i guess. and meticulously researched....that's what impressed me the most. the reader really learns what new york city was like back then, and gains a deeper understanding of a character like roosevelt. only reason i didn't give it 4 stars is because i felt the end was a bit contrived--not up to the level of the rest of the book. otherwise a wonderful read! i'd like to look at other books like it. hearing the devil in the city? or something like that is another one...it's somewhere on my humongous and growing to-read list.

kyle

below are the first 6 books i've read in 2008. i also joined the 100 book club for 2008, that is, before I saw this one!!! that one i probably won't fulfill...50 is more doable.

The Road Cormac McCarthy
Replay Ken Grimwood
Oryx & Crake Margaret Atwood
The Alienist Caleb Carr
Feast of Love Charles Baxter
The Emperor's Children Claire Messud

Enjoy your reading everyone.
Kyle