Well, I finally finished reading One Hundred Years of Solitude yesterday. Maybe it was because I had to fit my reading in between cleaning up and chasing after Griffin and Sean, and actually finished the last part of it while sitting in a McDonald's watching Griffin play on the playground, but I just wasn't that excited about the book. I guess I'm not exactly in a literary state of mind. I picked it up because it seemed like I was reading a lot of books that had the same theme of heartache and dysfunction, and wanted something very different. Plus, it's a classic, Nobel Prize winning book that's on Oprah's book club, and I always trust Mama-O! It was interesting at the beginning, but the whole middle through the very end was long and complicated and just left me feeling like, "Where is this all going?" In the end, it went where I thought it would and I just kinda like, "Yep, that's how it had to end". I'm glad I finished it, and it wasn't terrible, but I don't think I'd put it on my top 10 list. I'm also not sure why it won a Nobel Peace prize. I guess I don't know what the criteria is for that, but I felt like the author had a pretty narrow view of human nature, and although you wanted to like the characters, they were all rather unsavory. I'm interested in hearing what some of my fellow reader's thought of it. As for me, I'm ready to move on to something new.
6 comments:
Next stop on the "Liz book club" Evening? Hope it is better
I have enjoyed you blog, and would try reading from you "favorites" list. This book would not be my first, I have a short attention span and it really has to pull me in or I move on to the many other things going on in my head. So what is a good suggestion? But what comes to mind...thank God Meghan didn't have this book for summer reading, after Grapes of Wrath, I couldn't take it!
I just want to also point out how happy I am just at the visual display of your blog! It always makes me smile and wonder at the same time...wonder why you put that little extra perfection to your backgrounds, while leaving the family one, just a little less cool and dazaling. Is your blog in competition with our blog?
I wonder....
Even as an English teacher, I have no tolerance for books that go on forever with no real point. It took me 2 months to get through the last book I read because it was so uninteresting. This author had won a Pulitzer for another book but this book was like having bamboo shoved under my nails! Finally I skipped to the end and skimmed the last chapter. I may be a cheater, but I feel good about it.
My books mostly consist of board, large writing, and few words. I stick to easy reading. Recently, I read Snugglepuppy and The Bear Snores On. We are waiting for No, David! Who knows what will be next??? Everyone Poops?
Hmmmmm....that book is in my big pile of books I want to read but haven't yet. You and I have pretty similar tastes in books. Should I read it eventually some day when my life is calm, or leave it be?
You should suggest Time Travelers Wife for Linda. Or I can. :^) That's one of my favorites that you recommended to me.
I've been reading The Shack since Christmas. Guess that tells you how much time I've spent reading lately.
This isn't the first "unsavory" opinion I've heard about this book. I think I'll skip it myself :)
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