_Pride And Prejudice And Zombies_ is the worst idea ever conceived.
― suggest bainne (gyac), Tuesday, 16 November 2021 15:03 (two years ago) link
Someone bought me Pride and Prejudice and Zombies as a present and I just did not know how to respond to that. Hopefully my face did not betray me.
― emil.y, Tuesday, 16 November 2021 15:11 (two years ago) link
voted for the novella exclusively concerned with the technicalities of London bus punctuality, because I could, obvs
― imago, Tuesday, 16 November 2021 15:35 (two years ago) link
Ah, the era of monsters crossing over with history in popular novels.
― Legalize Suburban Benches (Raymond Cummings), Tuesday, 16 November 2021 16:14 (two years ago) link
I’ve read Inherent Vice and 1Q84. Gonna have to think about which I prefer more.
― Legalize Suburban Benches (Raymond Cummings), Tuesday, 16 November 2021 16:15 (two years ago) link
Had genuinely no idea about Mantel's TERF stuff. Fuck.
In that case, The City & The City.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Tuesday, 16 November 2021 16:30 (two years ago) link
Yeah I kinda felt I had to include Pride & Prejudice & Zombies just because it was such a product of its time but not expecting anyone to vote for it.
― Daniel_Rf, Tuesday, 16 November 2021 16:35 (two years ago) link
i want to re-read a gate at the stairs; i remember liking it quite a lot but all i have seen is ppl say they dislike it
― johnny crunch, Tuesday, 16 November 2021 16:36 (two years ago) link
it's definitely likable, i just hated the bloggy voice it was written it and also the emotional manipulation toward the end
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Tuesday, 16 November 2021 17:02 (two years ago) link
both pet peeves of mine where i can see someone else approaching them and thinking it was down-to-earth and moving
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Tuesday, 16 November 2021 17:03 (two years ago) link
The City & The City is fine, but I think I prefer Mieville when he's in a 500 page novel with tons of ideas mode rather than pursuing one specific conceit. Despite a few stumbles, and initial handicap of East European cop with slight garble, you betsky, which I got used to, he's got enough ideas 4 hot pursuit of alt-polcier, which I'm a sucker for anyway ( incl. Yiddish Policemen's Union, The Demolished Man, more in that sense Blade Runner than source Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) Also, as usual, I'm voting for the only one I've read (will try Inherent Vice again: more weird detection, after all!)
― dow, Tuesday, 16 November 2021 17:03 (two years ago) link
Inherent Vice v. Wolf Hall.
― hocus pocus, alakazam (PBKR), Tuesday, 16 November 2021 17:25 (two years ago) link
watching the Inherent Vice film made it pretty clear I'd not have to read the book tbh
― imago, Tuesday, 16 November 2021 17:31 (two years ago) link
The book is better
― Legalize Suburban Benches (Raymond Cummings), Tuesday, 16 November 2021 17:43 (two years ago) link
you're wrong lj it's worth reading
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Tuesday, 16 November 2021 17:45 (two years ago) link
and despite PTA lifting whole chunks of the text verbatim, the two have a completely different vibe
― Number None, Tuesday, 16 November 2021 17:45 (two years ago) link
As much as I like Lorrie Moore, A Gate At The Stairs read like an experiment in a voice and style that she couldnt' bring off.
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 16 November 2021 17:45 (two years ago) link
inherent vice is so good
― Linda and Jodie Rocco (map), Tuesday, 16 November 2021 17:46 (two years ago) link
Brooklyn was a minor thing quite well done, like the film adaptation.
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 16 November 2021 17:46 (two years ago) link
Oh yeah, nice film. Especially liked speculating about how things went after the ending.
― dow, Tuesday, 16 November 2021 17:52 (two years ago) link
Yeah I liked Gate at the Stairs but couldn't get past the extent to which it is not as good as classic LM
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Tuesday, 16 November 2021 17:59 (two years ago) link
I gave up after about 50 pages of Brooklyn, it was like reading an album by The Lighthouse Family.
― namaste darkness my old friend (ledge), Tuesday, 16 November 2021 18:02 (two years ago) link
Was between Wolf Hall, City & the City, and Lacuna for me of the 7 I'd read. Voted Lacuna.
― Jaq, Tuesday, 16 November 2021 18:57 (two years ago) link
I missed Brooklyn. I liked it a lot (and the film).
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Tuesday, 16 November 2021 19:58 (two years ago) link
Huh. I would've guessed "My Struggle: Book One" would be the one to beat before reading this thread. Guess it's not as popular as I thought. It gets my vote over "The City & the City" which is the only other one I've read.
― o. nate, Tuesday, 16 November 2021 20:08 (two years ago) link
“My Struggle” is definitely something I intend to read.
― Legalize Suburban Benches (Raymond Cummings), Tuesday, 16 November 2021 20:26 (two years ago) link
I was going to suggest The Other City by Michal Ajvaz, and The Golden Age for 2010, but I guess they were written a while earlier and those were only the English publication years.
1Q84 basically made me lose interest in Murakami altogether, the first book was enjoyable enough but it was an utter slog by the end.
It’s kind of dumb but I loved Lethem’s Chronic City when I read it.
― JoeStork, Tuesday, 16 November 2021 20:29 (two years ago) link
I recall enjoying 1Q84 but can't remember why it needed to be almost 1000 pages long. On reflection it probably didn't. The City & The City, like most Miéville post The Scar, is a great idea in search of a point. Er, that's all I've read! Which is two more than the 2008 list so at least I get to vote this time.
― foley track out of sync (Matt #2), Tuesday, 16 November 2021 21:53 (two years ago) link
oh i’ve read my struggle book one and have never felt the need to read the rest. it was pretty good still
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Tuesday, 16 November 2021 21:57 (two years ago) link
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead vs Wolf Hall with Plow just winning out.1Q84 is the only murakami book I don't like.
― oscar bravo, Tuesday, 16 November 2021 22:58 (two years ago) link
Knausgård Knausgård Knausgård Knausgård Knausgård Knausgård Knausgård Knausgård KnausgårdKnausgård Knausgård Knausgård Knausgård Knausgård Knausgård Knausgård Knausgård Knausgård
― 《Myst1kOblivi0n》 (jim in vancouver), Tuesday, 16 November 2021 23:07 (two years ago) link
My Struggle book one is really great - I have read most of the others, enjoyed them all, but the first is clearly the best
― Zelda Zonk, Tuesday, 16 November 2021 23:08 (two years ago) link
I finished My Struggle, is the best I can say about it.
The Fat Years is an interesting alternate history of China (post Tiananmen) which is very informative about the actual pre Tiananmen history.
I'm also dithering between Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead and Wolf Hall but going for the latter.
― namaste darkness my old friend (ledge), Wednesday, 17 November 2021 10:33 (two years ago) link
that name again is Mr Plow...
only one i've read 8(
(and then only last year)
― koogs, Wednesday, 17 November 2021 11:49 (two years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Thursday, 18 November 2021 00:01 (two years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Friday, 19 November 2021 00:01 (two years ago) link
Lots of voters this time, good.
― dow, Friday, 19 November 2021 15:36 (two years ago) link
I love Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead, it's my favourite of his; a great book about music, food, adolescence. As I was reading it, it really reminded me of Richard Ford: it has that feel of a writer setting out to document in detail the everyday events of a few characters over a few weeks. I've since learned of the history between Whitehead and Ford, so the comparison is pretty screwed.
― fetter, Friday, 19 November 2021 16:32 (two years ago) link
Wherein We Elect Our Favourite Novels of 2010
― Daniel_Rf, Tuesday, 23 November 2021 15:23 (two years ago) link