On another LJ-er’s recommendation, I got ‘Rabbit, Run’ by John Updike from the library. My first Updike experience wasn’t so great; was a collection of short stories, I think. I found his style of writing somewhat long-winded and overly descriptive. Well, maybe I missed the point.
In any case, ‘Rabbit, Run’ hasn’t cut any ice either. Started on it, struggled to keep my focus and attention intact, lagged on for a while… gave it up.
Was reading ‘Of Human Bondage’ by Somerset Maugham which I gave up in order to read Updike. Today I picked it up again… Off goes Updike!
The last book remaining is ‘A Prayer for Owen Meany’ by John Irving. Again, an earlier reading experience(‘The 158-pound marriage’) left me cold. Irving gets a second chance with this one.
Do I have a problem with authors whose first name is John? Not true; I love John Steinbeck.
All the time I read I have one continual grouse. I need to NEED TO NEED TO read slower. Ditch the ‘speed-reading’ style… Gosh!
rileen says:
You sound like you’d rather read a thriller 🙂
April 28, 2004 — 11:35 am
hariputtar says:
🙂
to borrow from a much celebrated desi (coffee) commercial from days of our youth:
… real pleasure never comes in an instant ..
savour, ruminate, go slow. ditch the speed-reading (maybe, after the GMAT though 🙂 )
April 28, 2004 — 11:53 am
Lakshmi says:
Re: 🙂
Yes.. have to constantly force myself to slow down.. My eyes fly vertically across the page.. almost as if I’ve got to get the gist of the page and explain it to someone in basic terms!
April 28, 2004 — 2:47 pm
Lakshmi says:
No, Rileen… Have outgrown thrillers, maybe.. Haven’t read one in years now…
April 28, 2004 — 2:45 pm
rileen says:
Arre, but speed-reading and thrillers are like Idli and Saambhar :-p !!
Just kidding – i too sometimes get the feeling that i’m not reading slowly enough to appreciate the writing.
April 29, 2004 — 2:41 am
Lakshmi says:
Not unless you read ‘The Da Vinci Code’ maybe..:-)
I haven’t read it yet so I dunno..
April 29, 2004 — 4:37 am
rileen says:
I did, last week – great page-turner, even if not quite among the best i’ve read.
April 29, 2004 — 11:04 am
Lakshmi says:
Heard that from a couple of friends…
April 30, 2004 — 4:53 am
radhika74 says:
of human bondage..what a,what a book!! is there anybody to beat maugham?? i doubt it.
April 28, 2004 — 6:52 pm
Lakshmi says:
O Henry, maybe?
This is my first Maugham, though. He’s heavily recommended by my Dad and sister.
April 29, 2004 — 4:40 am
lalunadiosa says:
jules et jim
Lux completely forgot to tell you about this book during our phone convo that day….its called Jules et Jim and its by Henri Pierre Roche…it is semi-autobiographical and its a pretty weird story but it has really touching poetic moments….it’s kinda slow but then it’s a romantic story….it was even made into a movie…I remember watching it followed by some physics guy talking about how he used chaos theory to model Kate’s love for Jules and Jim…in fact the dude used it as his Masters dissertation…talk about off-beat….any which way one book worth reading!!!!
April 28, 2004 — 6:58 pm
Lakshmi says:
Re: jules et jim
Sounds good!
Will look for it in the library next visit. That along with ‘The Unbearable Lightness of Being’ by Milan Kundera.
April 29, 2004 — 4:38 am
Lakshmi says:
Nahin, DD.. I welcome conversation. What I can’t stand is long-winded descriptions of places and roads.. That was a prob in ‘Grapes of Wrath’ but at that time, I somehow persisted.. Don’t have that kind of patience anymore..:-)
April 30, 2004 — 4:52 am