Hooked on Books discussion

Members Starting the BR: Jenny and Sammy
Challenge: Book Quest Adventures
Book: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon

Anyone is free to join in this Buddy Read! Happy Reading!

I am a couple hundred pages in now, and I am loving this book so far.
I can see why it has been so positively reviewed.
Sam and Joe are great characters. So far, we have learned much more about Joe, and I assume that we will learn more about Sam later in the book.
What Joe did to get to NY is something I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have Benn able to do. I am not a fan of small spaces.

I was a comic book reader when I was a kid, but I never got into the superhero ones. I think read my first Superman comic in the late 80's when Superman died, and there were a bunch of "maybe it is Superman" comics that came out. I worked in a book store at the time, and I was curious. I still am not a big fan of the medium. I prefer print over pictures in my storytelling, so I tend to avoid graphic novels and comics. But, I love how these two are coming up with the stories, and how Joe can use the medium as a bit of catharsis.

I'll be starting this one in a couple of hours. hubby is out tonight, so hoping to finish up my kindle book first.
I know I really enjoyed this one last time.

I used to collect (early) Superman, Wolverine and Colossus comics. I definitely found the X-men stuff a lot more interesting than the majority of Justice league/Avengers characters (honestly, they're more fun in the movies!).

I used to also read 2000AD a lot in the 90s. don't know if that one made its way over to the States, but it was hugely popular here.

These days I only read Firefly comics.

And get annoyed at the fact that it seems Adam Baldwin is undrawable 😆

I have never seen a Firefly comic! Now I kind of need to.

As far as 2000AD, I have no idea. When I realized that I don't like the format, I stopped looking at that section in the bookstore.

I started on them because I just had to read The Shepherd's Tale to find out Book's story.

After that I just grabbed any and all of them, because Firefly is a lot like sex. Even when it's decidedly average, it's good 😆

2000AD was the home of Dredd, amongst other things. I always enjoyed that one.

Do you know if anyone wrote Shepherd's story in book form? I mean in prose? That I would grab in a heartbeat. I think I have a handle on Book's back story in my imagination, but I would love to read about it.

Nope, all we have is the comic, which is why I got it in the first place.

The story is by Joss Whedon's brother, who got the info from Joss and created the comic with it, so at least it's canon 😆

having said that, firefly books are being written, so you never know... maybe one day.

Rosa's dream journals sound amazing.
Now I have the problem of wanting to keep on with this and read Ulysses at the same time. I have to choose what I am going to read tomorrow. Maybe a bit of both.

I'm doing both. Mostly because I want to take Ulysses slowly. I think last time I read it in the hardback version I took 3 weeks over it.

I am definitely enjoying my second read as much as the first time (I rated 4.5 stars then).

It is funny though, how entertainment on a topic you care nothing about can be so enjoyable. I feel the same about The Devil Wears Prada (The movie, at least. The book is awful). I care less than nothing about fashion, but I LOVE that movie (Meryl Street and Stanley Tucci. Of course I do!).

If the skill of the author overcomes my indifference to a plot point or a profession or a location or whatever, then I am almost always amazed. That sentence didn't make a lot of sense. But, if I am to grab a cozy mystery or a romance for a task, it will take place in a bakery or a bookshop or something I enjoy in real life, and not at a brokerage firm or a cattle ranch.
Which is my way of saying that I am glad I didn't read The Devil Wears Prada. teehee

I think I have to dive into Kavalier today after errands and house chores, as I need to know if Joe gets his remaining family to the US, or at least if he reunites with them somewhere.

I never get taken to parties with a bunch of famous artists and the like, in order to save them from a weird underwater contraption! Dali sounds like a handful. Entertaining, but an insurance nightmare.

I can count the amount of parties I needed to dress fancy to go to (as an adult) on the fingers of one hand.

I probably shouldn't have married an engineer if I wanted champagne and canapes 😆

I have this compulsion that makes me pick up every single bookshop/library/etc. book that comes my way. I don't know why I bother, because most of them weren't very good, but I can't help myself!

Have you read How Can I Help You yet? Add it to your list.

I haven't. it's added.

As an aside, my favourite book featuring a golem:

It just so happens to be next up in my Discworld re-read. The plan is to make it the first book to read after we move 😁

Nice. I think I am going to do a complete Discworld read next year. I have been slowly amassing used hardcovers since Pratchett died. I prefer live authors get the money for their books, but once they are gone, I can buy them used.
I still haven't read the whole series.

Aaaaand I'm done!

I'd forgotten how hard Chabon nailed the ending!

I checked to see if there was a movie version of this, but no joy. Probably because no-one has thought to put Wes Anderson on it. His style would really suit the narrative voice of this, I think. (even if the subject matter is a bit darker than his usual stuff. I think he could pull it off!)

I'll join you for this one - but not sure when I will start it.

I keep putting off finishing this one as I am enjoying it so much.
At this point, I just want to find Joe and give him a hug. I am going to finish tonight, if I can stay up, or in the morning.
I had no idea really, what this book was going to be about, and how much I was going to care about Joe and Sammy.

I think I will start this one tomorrow. I need a change of reading pace...(not so heavy or tragic!)

And I read the summary....please tell me that it isn't a tragically sad story....

Not gonna lie, there is some tragedy. But it is also very funny, and once it grabs you, it doesn't let go.

Finished last night, and boy did I love this book.
This easily could have been called the Amazing Adventures of Job and Job. I mean, could there have been more crap that was thrown at them? Joe especially. Ok, now that Job came to mind, it might be time to reread the Heinlein book Job: A Comedy of Justice. Not that Heinlein has anything to do with this book. Just my brain making random connections.

Sammy, I agree, the ending is perfect.

Teehee! We used to use that Heinlein book as our emergency banknote hiding place (back when an emergency note to pay a taxi fare or something like that was still a thing, lol).
Our son chose it because job = money.

He makes random connections too 😆

I thought I might switch between this one a couple of others, but I won't start until after work, probably.

This one did not grab me! I wonder if I've read too many tragic books lately or if my mind wasn't in the right place. I usually like the books that you two like!

I'm disappointed that I didn't really like it and will probably read it again at some point in the future. Maybe my narrator just wasn't working for me. I did notice that there were at least 2 different narrations.

That's too bad. I read the print version. I do wonder sometimes if the audio is not the right format for some books.
I have definitely had the same reaction to recommended books when I listen to the audio instead of read it.

Then there are of course, the ones for which the audio is just the perfect thing.

I will read the print version when I re-read it.

Awww, sorry to hear it Angie. But I guess we can't win 'em all...

***This thread has been archived! If you would like to have this thread re-opened for use, please let a mod know by commenting below!***