Lisa’s Comments (group member since Apr 08, 2012)

Lisa’s comments from the Exceptional Books group.

Karen wrote: "Karen wrote: "David wrote: "Dear Team,
The list is shaping up nicely.
Do we have genius novels to add from:
1) Australia
2) South Africa
3) Canada
4) Far East?"
Yes! We must include Alan Paton's "..."

As an Australian I feel that books like:- Patrick White's Capricornia; Kate Grenville's Secret River; Peter Carey's Oscar and Lucinda; Alex Miller's Journey to the Stone Country; Tim Winton's Cloudstreet; David Malouf's Remembering Babylon and Ransom; Richard Flanagan's Gould's Book of Fish; Ruth Park's The Harp in the South; Nam Le's The Boat and Rodney Hall's Captivity Captive should also be considered as worthy entrants.

Terri wrote: "As far as the discussion about reading more than 1 book at a time...I think different people have different needs. I'm a lifetime reader, and I always was comfortable reading a fiction and a nonfic..."

You're absolutely right about how different approaches to reading work for different people. For example I bought a kindle about 6 months ago and for a while it was great and then I found myself going back to books. The ereader now sits abandoned on the shelf and will only be used if no other books are available. I too would consider myself a lifelong reader and one of the things I read a few years ago was that despite what we think we can't really multitask efficiently and that trying to do too many things at once, reduces our attention, appreciation and comprehension of each activity - I have translated that to my reading. Another issue I suppose are the types of books you read simultaneously and ...why you read at all. I read because I love the ways authors manipulate language and produce imagery. I am not necessarily looking for just a good narrative. I look for originality, experimental approaches to story and those sublime moments when an author writes something so beautiful you just have to stop and relish the moment. Wallace Stegner or Murakami produce those moments for me. Therefore, I would find it hard to read more than one of those books at a time without losing some meaning or insight in the process.

Dave wrote: "Lisa wrote: "Dave wrote: "Hi everyone! Dave here. I'm an avid reader, read several books at a time, mostly fiction and memoirs."

I have never been a person who reads more than one book at a time. ..."
Yes I agree I could see how that what happen. I also find that I am fairly quick to stop reading a book if it doesn't grab me at that point in time - even if its a book I really want to read. You have to read and become immersed in a book at the right time.

Dave wrote: "Hi everyone! Dave here. I'm an avid reader, read several books at a time, mostly fiction and memoirs."

I have never been a person who reads more than one book at a time. I used to want to, thinking I would get through more books that way but, then I realized that I wanted to give each book their due. I wanted to relish them, spend time giving attention to a particular author's thoughts and way of writing. I even tried reading non fiction/fiction books simultaneously because they are written in different styles but...it seemed kind of irreverent. These people had spent time and energy writing these books and I was just trying to get through as many as possible, spreading my attention thinly. I feel bad enough going straight onto a new book after finishing the previous one. So...now I read one book at a time, concentrate on it fully and then, when finished, I move on.

Trina wrote: "Lisa wrote: "Rod wrote: "Great literature – that question is nagging at me – has to have the element of newness to it. And newness means risk and I am not sure that many writers want to go that wa..."

Haha that's why I picked up it up too and it's all true. It was one of the most unusual and refreshing books I have read in some time.

Trina wrote: "What is literary fiction?
It's great storytelling with exceptionally good writing. I'm not talking about the classics which have stood the test of time (and cover art from Penguin paperbacks). I'm..."

Also maybe:
The Stone Diaries - Carol Shields
Journey to the Stone Country - Alex Miller
The Wind up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Murakami
Ransom - David Malouf
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay - Michael Chabon
The Big Rock Candy Mountain - Wallace Stegner
The Electric Michelangelo - Sarah Hall
The Elegance of the Hedgehog - Muriel Barbery
The Gift of Stones - Jim Crace
The Bone People - Kerri Hulme
The Secret River - Kate Grenville
The War at the End of the World - Mario Vargas Llosa
Men of Maize - Miguel Asturias

Hermione wrote: "Woohoo! Great progress, y'all. The list seems to be shaping up! Keep the suggestions coming, as usual :)

1 Sharon Kay Penman
2 Anya Seton
3 Diana Gabaldon
4 Willa Cather
5 James Clavell
6 Philippa..."

Also maybe some of the Latin Americans - The War at the End of the World by Mario Vargas Llosa...or Men of Maize by Miguel Asturias.

Grace wrote: "I would recommend Wallace Stegner whose Angle of Repose won the pulitzer in the early 70s."

Yes I think his writing is truly beautiful - one of my all time favourite authors!

Nicole wrote: "Others that I would include are:

The Kite Runner (someone already add that?)

A Separate Peace (considered a classic?)

Memoirs of a Geisha

Schindler's List

The Pillars of the Earth"

If you liked Memoirs of a Geisha try The Tale of Murasaki by Liza Dalby. It was published at about the same time and is beautifully written. Also Edward Rutherford's book Sarum is excellent and similar to the Pillars of the Earth.

Rod wrote: "Great literature – that question is nagging at me – has to have the element of newness to it. And newness means risk and I am not sure that many writers want to go that way. That is why most storie..."

I really found The Convalescent by Jessica Anthony to be refreshingly different and new. It wasn't predictable and as the weird twist emerged it was really surprising and clever.

I have enjoyed films like:
The Red Violin
Babette's Feast
Antonia's Line
Akira Kurosawa's Dreams
Amelie
I've Loved You So Long
Passionfish
Everything is Illuminated
Me and My Sister
Dead Man
Cinema Paradiso

Sharon wrote: "Thanks for this list, Lisa. A couple of these are on my To Read list or Wishlist. I'll explore the rest; I love science books, too."

The books I listed are all over the place, subject wise but they were all well written. They're not dry old science stuff filled with diagrams or tables ...I tend to avoid those. They make you want to go out and explore the birds, trees and rivers around you.

Pam wrote: "Hi, everyone. My name is Pam, and I'm a big ol' book lover. I joined this group looking to get to know other avid readers, swap titles, and discuss literature. In real life, I teach English at a..."

Lian wrote: "Lisa wrote: "Lian wrote: "Lisa wrote: "I have gotten to the point in my reading life where I am always looking for beautifully written prose ..."

Lisa, I've read several of the books on your wonde..."

Welcome. I teach too and a few years ago my boyfriend at the time and I decided to brew up some ginger beer for the school fete. We must have done something horribly wrong and quite a bit of the beer festered and bubbled in people's fridges and cupboards before exploding in vast, sticky quantities all over their kitchens. Not a good result at all - luckily no one was hurt.

Sharon wrote: "I like Wallace Stegner, too, Lisa. He wrote so beautifully, it almost didn't matter what the story was about.

When you rate a book after reading it, what do you look for? Or what do you comp..."

All very good questions, Sharon. I have read a lot of books and I am fairly specific in the types of genres I keep coming back to, so I have many to compare each new read with. It's the prose I am drawn to at first - even if the plot is excellent, the concept really clever..I won't persist if the prose doesn't (I hate this word...) resonate with me. Once I have read the book my response to it is surprisingly simple - I don't consciously compare it to other books but because I have read so much I have all those books in my subconscious and I suppose I have the freedom to just react emotionally to the prose, the imagery and the characters without really pondering at length on them. It's a gut thing, as they say. It's like art - I have painted and drawn for years so I don't have to labour over technique any more I just know when something is working.

I love science and nature books and the ones that really stand out for me are ones where facts and ideas are explored but in a poetic, descriptive way. I especially like travel/nature memoirs where the author explores his/her reaction to a place, an event, a species/idea while travelling. This said..I would list the following as the most transcendent books I have read:
Arctic Dreams - Barry Lopez
Pilgrim at Tinker's Creek - Annie Dillard
The Bill McKibben Reader - Bill McKibben
The Secret Pulse of Time - Stefan Klein
The Whale by Moonlight - Diane Ackerman
People of the Deer - Farley Mowat
The Sixth Extinction - Terry Glavin
End of the Earth - Peter Matthiessen
The Way - Edward Goldsmith
So Shall We Reap - Colin Tudge
The Whole Hog - Lyall Watson
The Flight of the Iguana - David Quammen
The Big Year - Mark Obmascik
A People's History of Science - Clifford Connor
Hare Brain Tortoise Mind - Guy Claxton
Oak - William Bryant Logan
Carnivorous Nights - Margaret Mittelbach
Sweetness and Light - Hattie Ellis
Gum - Ashley Hay
Eve's Seed - Robert McElvaine
Seven Life Lessons of Chaos - J Briggs
The Web of Life - Fritjof Capra
By the Light of an Ancient Sun - Thom Hartmann
The Way of Ignorance - Wendell Berry
The Worst Journey in the World - Aspley Cherry Gerard
The Alphabet and the Goddess - Leonard Shlain
The Desert Smells like Rain - Gary Paul Nabhan

I suppose to explain whether or not something is well written is to explain your reaction to it. I have read many wonderfully plotted novels, stories that resonate for ages afterwards because of the dialogue or the unexpected twists the authors drop on you...but...two writers (and many poets) I have read recently have done more than this. I was sitting out under a big old ironbark tree reading Murakami's The Wind up Bird Chronicle one summer's day last year and suddenly I looked up from the pages and the world took on this sharpened vivid clarity. It was like reading Murakami's words made the world seem more vivid, more alive, more real. The plot of the book was forgettable...but the way he described even the tiniest moments made me more aware. Wallace Stegner also seems to have this affect on me. His prose is much more beautiful than Murakami's and his plots more interesting..but...his style of writing is similiar. Of course this is a very personal reaction to literature and because I love poetry and nature, these books appealed more powerfully. But in essence any book that stops you in your tracks, colours the world around you, pulls you into another reality or awareness...is surely well written.

I have really enjoyed: The Boat by Nam Le, Notwithstanding Louis De Bernieres, any of Richard Brautigan's collections and David Malouf's Every Move You Make.

Kato wrote: "Hello everybody,

I'm Kate and I'm happy to join this group.
A few books I consider exceptional are:

Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban
Oblomov by Ivan Goncharov
The Member of the Wedding by Carson M..."

I read A Good Man is Hard to Find by O'Connor last year and I am still building up courage to read more of her stories. They are sooo dark and disturbing. Wanting to explore Southern gothic more..I went on to read Daniel Woodrell's 'The Death of Sweet Mister' Tim Gautreaux's 'Waiting for the Evening News' and William Gay's I Hate to See that Evening Sun Go Down' - I recommend them all because there are shades of O'Connor's rich imagery sprinkled through them.

Anne wrote: "hi,
my name is Anne and I'd like say hello. I love reading, and I'm glad to see a title for Exceptional Books because I am always looking for the book that falls into this category. For me it has t..."

Yes I read Sebald's book last year and it is amazing. Have you also read Vertigo or The Rings of Saturn? They are fascinating too. His use of language is beautiful and though at times his meaning is obscure it doesn't matter because the prose is so gorgeous.

Colleen wrote: "Lisa wrote: "I have gotten to the point in my reading life where I am always looking for beautifully written prose and I had a discussion recently with my mother about it. She is an avid reader but..."
Thanks Colleen - I love being able to explore literature with like minded types all around the world. I live in a small western town in Australia and...(this is very embarrassing)...we don't even have a bookshop here so...discussing books is not high on many people's agendas.