11 July 2010

Sunday Salon: Recaps and Requests

After finding an interesting article about books that are unfilmable, I wanted to see which books bloggers thought could not be made into films. Head over here to add your thoughts!

I got quite a bit of reading done in the past week, but only three reviews went up.  My favorite, by far, is Fyodor Dostoevsky's The House of the Dead which was a stunning look at life in a Siberian prison. I started a new series by K.A. Applegate (new for me, not new for the world) and I'm really excited to read the remaining 11 books.  I also read Jekel Loves Hyde by Beth Fantaskey, and while I enjoyed it, I was a bit too hung up on the sexuality and gender issues.

This past week I also finished Manhood for Amateurs by Michael Chabon, which was a close second to House of the Dead, and I read Charlaine Harris' Dead and Gone, book 9 in the Sookie Stackhouse series. Reviews for those books will be going up sometime this week...I hope.

I quite happily finished my mid-year reading report, and with 67 books read at the mid-way point, I'm a bit ahead of my typical reading pattern.

~~~~~~~A Request~~~~~~~
From August 9 to 18, I have a family reunion/small town festival.  During that time, I will be pretty MIA online. If anyone is interested in writing a guest post to be published here while I'm gone, I'd love it.  If you want a guest post from me in exchange, I can do that too.
If you are fresh out of ideas, here's a brainstormed list I came up with: the joys and/or hardships of eclectic reading, a history of your favorite genre or a post on why that genre makes for great reads, a description of any small town festivals you've been to or a review of a book which features a small town festival, etc. I'm really open, so any thing you'd like is fine.

If you are interested, email me at eclectic[dot]eccentric[at]hotmail[dot]com!

13 comments:

  1. When I went to Poland last summer, I had some people kick in some reviews for me. It does just help with covering all of your bases. Let me know if you want one of my reviews!

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  2. Have you read any Solzenhitzen (sp)? He's a more modern (mid-1900s) Russian author who also wrote about the prisons/work camps in Siberia. I read One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich last year and really enjoyed it.

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  3. I love that picture that you posted! How cool.

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  4. Sandy - I emailed you!

    Amanda - Thanks for the suggestion. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the whole Siberian prison angle.

    Christina - Thanks! It's a good chunk of my family at my grandparents 50th anniversary party at the last reunion/festival.

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  5. wow, 67 books? that's a ton! i'm waaay behind you. as for 'manhood...', i borrowed it from the library and never got to it. now i'm disappointed. in related news, i just finished a book by chabon's wife--ayelet waldman. it was a really great read. i can't imagine what it's like to be an author married to an author...

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  6. House Of The Dead sounds amazing! Really! I am going to have to look for that one.

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  7. Nat - It's been a heavy reading year for me so far. I think Waldman wrote a motherhood book, and I'd like to read that one too as they sound like companion books.

    Sheila - It really was a great read. So thought provoking.

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  8. Can't wait to hear what you think of Chabon's essays :)

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  9. That is a great picture!!! and what a great family. janet

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  10. I'd love to do a post on small town living...my town is very small, and took some adjusting. do you take humor??

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  11. I'm glad to hear you liked House of the Dead -- I thought it was a fascinating book. The Christmas scene alone made it worth reading.

    If you're interested in more Russian prison camp fiction, Amanda's suggestion of Ivan Denisovich is always a good one. I liked Solzhenitsyn's First Circle even better: it's longer and, I think, even more interesting because it's about a special kind of imprisonment. If you prefer short stories, Varlam Shalamov's Kolyma Tales are excellent; Shalamov is very respected in Russia.

    That's probably a lot more than you bargained for in one comment... somehow, I've come to read a lot of prison camp fiction.

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  12. I think I've decided to write my guest post about a little niche that I adore (things people do for a year) and why I like it so much and give some book recommendations from it. Does this sound good to you?

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  13. Ana - I think my review of Chabon posts tomorrow; it was fantastic!

    Janet - Thanks for stopping by!

    Alexandra - I'm excited you'll be writing a guest post!

    Lisa - Thank you so much for the suggestions. I really enjoyed HotD!

    Jenners - I can't wait to read it! Sounds great.

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