Dan’s Comments (group member since Feb 08, 2017)

Dan’s comments from the IMDB books board group.

So far:

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain (finished) - I read Robert Coover's Huck Out West last month and loved it enough to seek out the source material again. Definitely a kids book; but still a fun read - 4 of 5 Stars.

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders (finished) - Definitely a different sort of read; but, once you get used to the style, it flows along pretty nicely. Very thoughtful and touching book. I loved it. 5 of 5.

London Fields by Martin Amis (still reading) - I am about half way through this and finding the experience fairly similar to the other M. Amis stuff that I've read (Money & The Information). I like the writing and the story; but the characters are so off-putting that I don't like to spend large chunks of time with them and thus I get through them fairly slowly (for me)

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (still reading) - see above for Tom Sawyer. Definitely a more "adult" book though. I am about 100 pages in.

To read this month (time permitting & if I don't change me mind)

- The Falling Man by Don DeLillo
- The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino
- Maybe something by Paul Auster or Margaret Atwood (I like both and have several by each on my shelf)

I read this in 2014 and enjoyed it. There is a definite Scooby Doo quality to it, but King makes it work. A quick, fun read; but not a major work.

I read Tales of Ordinary Madness and Hot Water Music 15 years ago or so after receiving them both as gifts. I recall liking them; but finding the ground he covered to be fairly redundant. And I haven't sought out anything by him since. .

I still have both books and may give them another try as neither is terribly fresh to me anymore.

EmpressOfGlasgow wrote: "CivilWarLand In Bad Decline by George Saunders"

I like this book a lot. Saunders may well be my favorite living author under the age of 60.

Finished the following this month:

The Circle by Dave Eggers - see above

The World According to Garp by John Irving - Part of this I absolutely loved and other parts left me a bit flat. Over all I would rate it highly. It is the first book in a long while that actually made be shed tears.

Warlock by Oakley Hall - One of the best Western novels that I have read. Not quite Lonesome Dove, but close.

A Hologram for the King by Dave Eggers - I grabbed the audio book from my library when neither of the others that I have on reserve had arrived yet. Like with other Eggers that I have read, I liked the ideas and the writing, but the characters are flatter than I tend to like. The Circle is better.

Huck Out West by Robert Coover - I absolutely loved this. It picks up Tom Sawyer & Huck Finn from where Twain left them at the end of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Funny and in places profound. Coover does a great job in catching Huck's voice. Made we want to go back and reread the earlier Twain books, which I last read over 30 years ago.

Still Reading:

The World of Wonders by Robertson Davies - The final book of Davies' Deptford Trilogy. I should finish this tonight and am still not sure what I think of it. The narrative technique that Davies uses for this one (the characters revealing themselves through backstory exposition) is a bit irksome at time. The trilogy as a whole is strong but this one is the least strong.

But What If We're Wrong? Thinking About the Present as If It Were the Past by Chuck Klosterman - About 40% through it and, so far, entertained. Klosterman has some neat ideas about but those in the future might view our present. but I am not sure I buy them to any great extent. Will hold off final judgement until I am done though.

Still waiti.ng for the library to get in:

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunder - guess it will be an April read.

I finished The Circle by Dave Eggers last weekend and liked it, but didn't love it as I found parts of it didactic and the metaphors were a bit obvious and on the nose. It did move well though and the ending paid off well for me. Eggers is one of those writers that I I appreciate and really want to love (sort of like Jonathan Franzen), but their execution never quite matches up to me expectation of it.

I am currently reading Warlock by Oakley Hall. A western novel from the late 1950's that was made into an excellent film staring Henry Fonda, Anthony Quinn, & Richard Widmark which also appears to be one of Thomas Pynchon's favorite books.

I am also currently listening to the audio book of The World According to Garp by John Irving. I am almost embarrassed to say that it is the first Irving that I have tried. I just started it, so no opinion yet.

I plan to listen to the audio book of Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders if the copy I reserved through my library arrives this month.

Probably at least one more book beyond these, but undecided as to what yet.

EmpressOfGlasgow wrote: "I read Lincoln In The Bardo a week or two ago....What an excellent read!

It was one of those rare instances where the minute I finished it, I wanted to listen to the audio book. You'll see why :)"

Base on your recommendation, I now have the audio book on reserve through my library system.

Another book that was just released and looks interesting to me is Huck Out West, by Robert Coover

4 3 2 1 by Paul Auster and Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders have both come out already and I look forward to reading them both.

I also have my fingers crossed that Cormac McCarthy's The Passenger finally sees release this year.

I read this about a year and half ago and found it totally intriguing. Part murder mystery, part historical journey into a culture completely foreign to me, part postmodern regression.

I liked it a lot.

Yeah, I am already registered for IMDB 2.0 and have noticed that it seems to be the most vital of the IMDb replacement boards.

At this point I am a bit wary of inviting the users there to join this group as I don't want to come across as trying to poach their users (which does seem to be a concern over there.)

I am more tempted to see how much of the IMDb book board conversation migrates over there on it's own and them maybe use this group in some way to enhance it in the future. Or at least take a wait and see, and have this group serve as a back-up should the energy need to maintain IMDB2 not prove sustainable.

I don't own the book, but I did a quick search on Abe Books and that title does appear to meet the physical description that you listed.

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Sear...

Okay. The IMDb boards are shut down.

So I guess now is the best time to discuss what we want to do with this group.

Shall we look to move the conversation here or is one of the replace the board more appropriate?

I have never been a huge topic starter; so, if we are going to bring things here, I am going to ask that others take the lead here. And, again, if someone else wants to run the group I am happy to add other moderators.

Thoughts?

Yeah, this feature is sort of clunky.

What I do is filter the results by format (hardback/paperback/kindle/etc.) and the sort by date published which gives you fewer pages of results to comb through.

Be aware that not all editions/cover art of every books in the database have been uploaded.

Introduce yourself here & please also give you IMDb handle (or not)

I am MrDanWest