tnt: recommendations!
Jul. 28th, 2010 11:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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inkstainsReminders: Editing Post, and Week 2 Topic!
Hello everyone! Today we're having an open T&T thread, for book recommendations!
Each recommendation should give a brief summary of the book and why this book has earned a place as one of your favourites. A simple 'because I liked it' usually isn't enough to convince someone, so tell us why we should pick it up ourselves. :-)
I'll go first!
title: If on a winter's night a traveller
author: Italo Calvino
why: You are trying to read a book called If on a winter's night a traveller. As you venture further into the book, it comes apart at the seams: the walls between fiction and reality start to fade. Little mysteries in the plot come together (like how the titles of the chapters make up a coherent sentence). A definite must the next time you want an armchair adventure.
Hello everyone! Today we're having an open T&T thread, for book recommendations!
Each recommendation should give a brief summary of the book and why this book has earned a place as one of your favourites. A simple 'because I liked it' usually isn't enough to convince someone, so tell us why we should pick it up ourselves. :-)
I'll go first!
title: If on a winter's night a traveller
author: Italo Calvino
why: You are trying to read a book called If on a winter's night a traveller. As you venture further into the book, it comes apart at the seams: the walls between fiction and reality start to fade. Little mysteries in the plot come together (like how the titles of the chapters make up a coherent sentence). A definite must the next time you want an armchair adventure.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-28 07:02 pm (UTC)Author: Jasper Fforde
Why: It's a book about books. About visiting books and living in the 'book world'. Where the characters in the books are real, in a sense. It's very very quirky. It's followed by a series of books so don't read this unless you're willing to read the rest of the series!
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-29 12:22 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-29 05:54 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-29 01:04 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-29 05:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-29 12:32 am (UTC)author: Orson Scott Card
why: I love most anything by OSC, and I have absolutely nothing against rereading them, but this is one I pick up exactly once a year - it's close enough that I remember why I love it and don't get antsy to read it, but it's far enough apart that I'm still surprised by what happens a little bit. It's a fun sci-fi/fantasy read, but it's got a lot of social commentary underneath that, which is what I really like.
The other book I read each summer, which I haven't yet this year because my friend is borrowing it, is also a huge amount of social commentary, though without the sci-fi coating:
title: Atlas Shrugged
author: Ayn Rand
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-29 05:51 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-29 07:27 am (UTC)author: vikram seth
why: the description is so sensory it draws the reader in; it has as its backdrop the independence of an ENTIRE COUNTRY and manages to make that work; and it blends comedy with tragedy in an effortless mix of bitterness and wryness. it doesn't shy away from big themes (queerness! race! caste! religion! colonialism!), and it packs a hefty punch.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-29 10:52 pm (UTC)Author: Sophie Kinsella
Why: Although it pretty much is a guilty pleasure, it's earned a nearly top spot for having a ridiculously addictive inner monologue. I have never read an inner monologue that is so fluid and entertaining before. I can seriously read each book in this series in a day because it's so addictive.