Memed Again!

The lovely, bright and beautiful Mónica, of La aventura de ser Moni, has memed me! I'm to look at the list of books below, and bold the ones I've read, italicize the ones I might read, cross out the ones I won't read, underline the ones on my book shelf, and place parentheses around the ones
I've never even heard of. So here you go Mónica! (By the way, Mónica has a delightful blog. She writes from a very interesting perspective; she is from Bolivia, but is doing graduate studies in New York. She's a very smart, charming young lady who has an amazing family, I must say. And she's a book-luster, just like me!)

So my list... lots I haven't read! And thankfully only one I haven't heard of. Oh, and I could have listed many more book recommendations, but I do have to get to bed soon!

So if any of you feel so inclined... meme away!

Hmmm... I just realized that I forgot to underline ones that I have on my bookshelves. All the bolded books I have on my bookshelves! And actually I do have The Alchemist on my bookshelf, but cynic that I am, I simply could not get into this book. And what's really terrible is that it was lent to me by someone that I used to work with years ago! I wonder if he still grumbles about me and his book....

Comments

[zhoule]

The Curious Incident is a really great book, despite the Motherless Brooklyn similarities -- on the surface. They are two very different books in tone. Curious Incident's a fun read, and I'm not just saying that given that the main character of the book and I have the same condition. (I actually read the book a few months before I was diagnosed, and, while I was reading this, I was strangely really relating very closely to the character. Haddon really nails it, or a perhaps more extreme version of it.)

[Shelly]

The only thing that the curious incident of the dog in the night-time and Motherless Brooklyn have in common is that both deal with disabled characters (as does Elizabeth Moon's The Speed of Dark) and both have a mystery. However, the mystery in Haddon's book is a minor part of the story, a plot device. The book is a coming of age story for an autistic boy, from his pov, as he gains confidence and learns a bit about life.

Motherless Brooklyn is a quirky noir with a protag who has Tourette's which means his verbal tics can erupt at any time. In some ways, Haddon's book has a bit more in common with Moon's book which, while not a mystery, deals with autism as the protag, who is autistic, and others with his condition are offered a chance to be "cured," ie to become like "normal" people. It deals with prejudices and attitudes toward the disabled and how a high functioning autist views the world.

I read all 3 books last year and found each special and uinque in its own way.

[patricia]

Thanks for this info! I will eventually read 'Curious' with a much more open mind.

Though I will argue that Lionel Essrog in 'Motherless' is also trying to proved himself, battling attitudes that just because he has Tourette's that he is stupid.

[Erin]

His Dark Materials is actually the name for a trilogy -- if you've heard of The Golden Compass, The Amber Spyglass or The Subtle Knife, you can take the parentheses off with a clear conscience.

And I concur with everyone else on Motherless Brooklyn and Curious Incident being enjoyable for very different reasons.

[patricia]

Thanks for the extra info re: His Dark Materials, Erin, but....I'm still in the dark about this author! (But curious).

[patricia]

Hmmmm....on second thought...after reading a bit about those books...I probably wouldn't go out of my way to read them. I'm just not a Fantasy Fiction kind of person. I read the Hobbit once, and was not impressed. Will never read any more Tolkien ever again. Only got one hour into the movie and turned it off due to extreme boredom. Only will try Harry Potter just to see what all the fuss is about (and the fact that my Mom has all the Potter books, so there is the easy access factor).

[zhoule]

Shell: Thanks for the heads-up on the Moon book. Will have to check that out.

Pat: Shell really articulated the differences well between MB and CI. I should also note -- and this is only a very, very minor "spoiler" -- that the "mystery" of what happened to the titular dog is actually solved about 1/4 or 1/3 of the way through. The rest of the book is how the main character processes another "secret" that comes out as a result of the solved case, and how he grapples with that emotionally.

So it's a book not so much as about a character being accepted by society insomuch as how said character -- who is really on a different wavelength of much of society -- has to grapple with some information that basically turns his life entirely upside-down. People with Asperger's have social impariments which makes them these control freaks (ahem!) who need a certain amount of order or regiment over their emotions and environment just to be able to function at a much higher societial level: they're often blind to what other people are thinking, which kind of creates an artificial paranoia. (And, yes, I kind of speak for myself here.) So that becomes the real "mystery" of the book: how is this kid ever going to survive outside of his tiny, suburban bubble?

There's not much battling external attitudes in the book, as much as he's trying to defeat himself, in a way. I guess that's something shared by Lionel in MB, but that book is much more wrapped up in genre (ie. crime and Mafia fiction) than Haddon's book.

Wow! I really care about this subject more than I thought. :-)

[zhoule]

And just a quick follow-up to this: "There's not much battling external attitudes in the book, as much as he's trying to defeat himself, in a way." That's how I read it, at least, when I sat down with the book a year ago.

I think I missed or glossed over the last line of Shell's initial post at first, so I thought I was responding to a preception, which I now realize is an error. But that's also not to take away from anyone's remarks at the same time. Just opinion. I didn't really see any moralizing in the book. That's all.

[bookfraud]

haven't and won't read the great gatsby! horrors! in some ways, it is the great american novel...certainly captures an era better than just about any book ever.

and (to get on the soapbox), you must read one hundred years of solitude. it's a change-your-life type of book.

and glad you added cat's eye. a classic.

[maupi]

Don't be put off by the fantasy factor of Pullman's trilogy! I'm not a fantasy reader and Pullman is as fantasy as I'll go, but I went there gladly. I specifically liked the second book and then read the third one cause I wanted to know the ending. It was a good read. If you need escapism, go Pullman. It is definitely more intelligent than Harry Potter. More angles, more layers, more references, more more.
BTW, as to identify myself as a reader: I second most titles you'd like to add to the list (some I haven't read, so can't comment on them).

[Isabella]

You haven't read Jane Eyre? Gasp.

IMO, Curious Incident is vastly overrated and will fade from our memory within a decade. A much better written book, with better-drawn and more sympathetic characters, dealing with an obsessive-compulsive man's integration into society: Steve Martin's The Pleasure of My Company.

[Monica]

Thanks for answering the meme and for the wonderful things you said about me and my blog!!
I knew you would have read most of them. Could not agree with you more on the idea of not wanting to read something that was ripped of of something else. I actually have not read the Life of Pi because the author has also been accused of doing the same thing.. I don't have all the details, I read the article ages ago, but apparently some people in Brazil contend that the Life of Pi author stole the plot idea from a brazilian author who has only been published in Brazil. I might have to look into that again...

[Arethusa]

The first and second books in the Harry Potter series are terrible, IMO. Thankfully I had seen the first two movies and started off with the third one, thank goodness. "The Hobbit" is pretty crappy too. Read it twice, years apart, and it shares a major problem with the first two HP books: that god-awful, patronising "child author" tone. Ugh, ugh, ugh.

Your comment on Hemingway made me laugh. "Farewell to Arms" left me more or less impressed; "Sun Also Rises" made me sit up and take notice; "A Moveable Feast"s first story made me snort and throw the book across the wall. I'm now on "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and realising that Hemingway was kinda...I dunno. Simple and sappy? We'll see. I still like his prose (in everything (so far) except "Feast").

I'm glad I'm not the only one uninterested in "The Great Gatsby". However, it's been namechecked so often in things I've been reading I may check it out of the library solely for that reason. We'll see. I like this meme!

[Shelly]

Curious incident is not high literature, but it can stay with a reader. It's still fairly fresh in my mind a year after I read it. And it's gotten popular with teens. As an entry into how someone with autism thinks, it's quite good.

While any book with a disabled character will likely have similarities, curious incident deals with a teen while Motherless Brooklyn deals with an adult. There are flashbacks to his youth, but he's someone who has come to terms with his differences.

BTW, Elizabeth Moon (The Speed of Dark) is the mother of a son with autism and she's done extensive research on the topic. The book is set in the near future, but it's quite reality-based. It just assumes a medical "cure" for autism. The characters have to decide if they want to be "normal" or remain the way they are, which is all they've known. Would you give up what you are to be "normal"? And what is "normal"? What if you were told you had to have the cure in order to keep your job? There are some good questions asked in her book re: disability, society, and how "normal" people treat the disabled. I work with disabled people, so the issue is one I've considered for many years now.

And for the record, I haven't read nor am I interested in reading anything by Hemingway (I read all of 7 pages of The Sun Also Rises for school and faked my way through the quizzes) or The Great Gatsby.

[patricia]

Really, I cannot thank Mónica enough for this delightful meme! Such in-depth personal respones! I'm learning a lot today! Thanks everyone! (especially that clever Mónica!)

[Heather]

"Motherless Brooklyn" was good, a friend recommended it to me and I found that I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. And "...Kavalier and Clay" is on my shelves, just waiting to be read. I agree about the Hemingway, he's not doing it for me, although I've only tried to read one of his.

[zhoule]

Yeah, Curious Incident ain't high lit, but it's a fun pop book. I've seen a lot of Net commentary by people who thought it was over-rated or not very good, which is their own opinion. But let me underline: fun. I had trouble putting it down. I guess it all depends on if one finds the narrator and his compulsions/obsessions annoying or fascinating.

And that's all I have to say about that.

I am heartened to see, however, the anti-Potter folk here. I thought I was the only one who couldn't get into it. Reminded me way too much of Enid Blyton for some reason. I kept expecting Harry and his friends to crack open the ginger beer and have a picnic when I was reading the first one.

[Carl V.]

I love and hate lists like this...they always point out alot of great books but also point out how, despite being a voracious reader, there is so much that I haven't read.

I recently read To Kill a Mockingbird and loved it...it was not the book I expected. The book I expected is what kept me from reading it for so many years.

I highly recommend The Time Traveler's Wife (like my recommendation means anything..ha!) Read it and passed it on a bunch last year and was probably my favorite book that I read last year. Really spoke to me. The author is an artist as well and one of her characters is and I found that a really cool aspect of the book that you might also enjoy.

[Karen]

I read His Dark Materials last year...

I got off to a very slow start, and abandoned the first book after a few chapters. I picked it up again months later & was hooked. I agree with maupi, the second book is definitely the best. Sort of drifted off again with the third book, some of the intertwined plots nearly bored me to tears.

Personally, I wouldn't recommend this if you're not already a fan of fantasy. Or children's books. I would, however, recommend Harry Potter (though the second book is a bit of a drag, things definitely get better from thereon in).