Board 8 > B8 Books & Literature Topic 43 - Heathcliff it's me Cathy

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https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/110189.B8_s_Top_100_Books

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Wow I can't believe we're on the 43rd topic of this series. Great!

what is a book that has made you laugh out loud? i want a funny book. i've smiled at stuff recently but haven't really laughed out loud at anything since i think Catch-22 but that was years ago.

I thought the new Ta-Nehisi Coates book was out this week but it's out next week =(

I thought Naomi Klein's book was out in November but it was actually published in the Summer =)

kateee posted...

what is a book that has made you laugh out loud? i want a funny book. i've smiled at stuff recently but haven't really laughed out loud at anything since i think Catch-22 but that was years ago.

I like Stewart Lee's books, but I think you need to be a fan of his stand-up to read them.
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i hope to one day soon get to a point where i am aware of and actively able to keep up with new book releases.

Finished two books this weekend (after a relatively slow few months for reading).

* The Stone Sky, by NK Jemisin - final book in a trilogy (that began with The Fifth Season), released August 2017 (shout-out to @Gatarix for recommending the book series) - Satisfying conclusion, though a lot of it went over my head. Really interestin for the way it handles race and discrimination and hatred; really interesting for an entirely different fantasy dystopia; really interesting, unique world-building and lore.Not as hot on

* The Sense of an Ending, by Julian Barnes - novella about an old British dude revisiting his youth and a few key figures from it. Read this for my book club which met yesterday. I didn't love the book when I read it (despite having some hilarious prose - the phrase 'apocalyptic wanking' is used). But due to its postmodern structure and most specifically its themes of unreliable memory and the very limited POV, there wound up being a good amount to discuss for sure.

I am supposed to be reading, but might not finish by the time it's due (9/28):

* Everybody Lies. Literally still in the prologue of this book right now, but it's my usual jam - social psychology is always fun to learn about, even if you have to temper a lot of the conclusions with the disclaimers about replicability and/or sample size.

My favorite book I've read this year is actually a series called The Neapolitan Novels, by Elena Ferrante. They're told through a flashback framing device, with an old woman reminiscing on her entire life growing up in Naples, Italy, and especially her relationship with her best friend. The first book is called My Brilliant Friend and might feel slow, but the entire series is incredibly crafted and shows such a different story from what I'm used to.
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kateee posted...

what is a book that has made you laugh out loud? i want a funny book. i've smiled at stuff recently but haven't really laughed out loud at anything since i think Catch-22 but that was years ago.

Here are the books I'd classify as funny that I've read this year.

Hillbilly Elegy (JD Vance) - Not all of this book is funny, but it's about the writer's experience growing up with the Appalachian people of Kentucky and Ohio. Some extremely colorful characters, especially the protagonist's grandparents. It's also #politicallyrelevant if that matters.

Going Postal (Terry Pratchett) - Extremely funny book that's more dedicated to being funny than it is to anything else. If you've read Terry Pratchett before you probably know what I mean (though this is my only Pratchett); it's a lighthearted fantasy tale that satirizes both writing cliches and real life. Excellent read.

Men Explain Things to Me (Rebecca Solnit) - FIRST, TITULAR ESSAY ONLY - This is a collection of essays, not meant to be read together initially. The titular piece is the progenitor of the phrase 'mansplaining,' though it's not coined in the essay. But it's quite amusing to read her taking shots at the men who condescend to her. The rest of the book is a feminist primer with lots of badly presented domestic violence statistics, that didn't make me laugh, at all, but might be useful to some to learn.

Born a Crime (Trevor Noah) - Trevor Noah is the new host of The Daily Show, so it's an explicitly comical (but often dark/serious) memoir about Noah's biracial childhood in South Africa. Lots of funny writing, lots of crazy anecdotes, lots of heart as well. I thought it was a little too humor-writer-y at times, but probably just my being overly critical/hater-ish. One of my favorite stories is about how 'Hitler' is just a name in South Africa and not seen nearly as taboo.

Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions (Edwin A. Abbott) - Delightfully weird story about what life would be like if we all existed in a plane, and thus our vision were only a line. The humor comes mostly from the obviously limited POV of the narrator, the concerns of life in Flatland, and the obviously satirical attitudes, especially toward women.

The Sellout (Paul Beatty) - Satirical novel written in crushingly funny prose, about a black dude who revitalizes his ghetto neighborhood by reinstituting slavery. It's a pretty difficult read; I had some trouble following it, but setnence for sentence, it's hysterical.

A Man Called Ove (Fredrik Backman) - Schmaltzy, Swedish story about a crotchety old man whose crotchety-old-man-ness turns him into the darling of his neighborhood. Humor mostly comes from the crotchety-old-man-ness.

Howl's Moving Castle (Diana Wynne Jones) - Delightful YA fantasy with a really nice infusion of British whimsy. (The protagonist is convinced she's destined for a life of mediocrity because she's the oldest of her parents' offspring, and she doesn't seem super-bothered when placed under a devastating curse.) Really sweet story.
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Currently reading Kafka on the Shore, slowly working through Murakami's works.

Recently finished What If? Which was pretty interesting, I did skip through a few scenarios that I didn't really care about.

Read the Disaster Artist to prep for the movie, it was excellent, a funny read albeit sad.

Also got around to reading Evil and the Mask which I believe Icon recommended years ago. Really enjoyed that!
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kateee posted...

what is a book that has made you laugh out loud? i want a funny book. i've smiled at stuff recently but haven't really laughed out loud at anything since i think Catch-22 but that was years ago.

The Disaster Artist if you loved The Room!
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Been looking for a new read but little has caught my attention. Waiting on the next Stormlight Archive book to come out.
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SeabassDebeste posted...

Going Postal (Terry Pratchett) - Extremely funny book that's more dedicated to being funny than it is to anything else. If you've read Terry Pratchett before you probably know what I mean (though this is my only Pratchett); it's a lighthearted fantasy tale that satirizes both writing cliches and real life. Excellent read.

That's a terrible description of Pratchett and you should feel bad for several reasons.
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SeabassDebeste posted...

book club which met yesterday

i'd like to hear more about how the book club works and your experience in it. it's something i've always felt like i wanted to be a part of but predict i wouldn't "do well" in because of my reading habits.

SeabassDebeste posted...

I am supposed to be reading, but might not finish by the time it's due

you don't renew?

kateee posted...

i'd like to hear more about how the book club works and your experience in it. it's something i've always felt like i wanted to be a part of but predict i wouldn't "do well" in because of my reading habits.

We meet once a month at someone's apartment to discuss a book. The only real 'rule' is that you need to read the book to pick next month's book. It's been a mix of fiction and non-fiction books.

The extended group is like twenty people, but generally around 8-10 people show up each month, and maybe 4 people (myself included, every time...) actually read the entire book, usually. We've had as few as one or two people actually read it. In the absence of people really wanting to talk about something specific, we often just look up "Sense of an ending discussion questions" on Google and run through a list to get people's opinions.

The reason why we get so many people showing up who don't read is that this group of friends primarily met by playing board games. Most people are coming to play the board games after the 30-to-60-minute discussion. The board games usually go for at least 3 hours.

kateee posted...

you don't renew?

I renew when I can, but if there are holds on the book, then renewing is sometimes not an option. I'd say at 70%+ of books I take out, I do by placing holds. This might not apply to your library network and the books you choose, though.

On the plus side, I wound up reading the whole book in one evening. <_<
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once a month doesn't sound too bad actually. i always imagined a shorter time frame but once a month sounds very manageable to read one book. that being said,
SeabassDebeste posted...

We've had as few as one or two people actually read it

this sounds incredibly awkward and frustrating.

how'd you get involved in it? i'm assuming you weren't part of the original group who met for board games. what's the age range like?

Actually, I got involved by playing board games too! I actually bring many (most?) of the games that get played these days to the meetups. One day someone suggested running a book club, and everyone pretty much just agreed. The age group is heavily concentrated in the mid-upper-20s to mid-30s range and is around 50-50 male/female.

In our case it's been primarily join-by-reference. Friends of friends, often met via board gaming, and who are most often more interested in the board gaming than the discussion. That said, a few have joined who actually read.

It's hard to find luck like that, in fairness. During more adventurous times, I ventured on meetup.com. Plenty of book clubs where I live there; most of the ones I joined disbanded (or I wasn't able to make their meetings). The vast majority of them seem to meet monthly.

RE: when I'm the only person, or one of only 2-3 people who have read the book - no lie, it sucks. There's an inherent tension between the people who showed up wanting to discuss the book and those who want the discussion to end ASAP so they can play.

In July, we "read" The Handmaid's Tale. The couple who offered their apartment didn't read. It was only the person who recommended the book, and me, who read, and she showed up pretty late. The host couple invited three of their friends who never show unless the couple is hosting. We might have discussed legit only 15-20 minutes, kind of awkwardly and unsubstantively, while five or six people either interjected or just sat around bored.

This last month was actually way better. While only four or five of us read out of ten-ish, we held the meeting at the rooftop lounge of the host's apartment building. I managed to persuade the non-readers to start playing games while the rest of us discussed, so we weren't being interrupted/didn't have to babysit impatient people waiting to play.
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oh. i assumed otherwise because you didn't seem to include yourself initially in the post.

yikes i hope that Handmaid's Tale situation was the worst of it.

well, a core group was already formed by the time i started playing games with them!

and yeah. one of my closer friends decided to stop coming to our group a few months ago, which worried me. the month after that, our book club had an incredible discussion. that was immediately followed by the HT month, which was so bad i wondered if it was still worth it to have a book club (as i can read and play board games with others)

fortunately it's stabilized a lot the last few months and i'm happy about my primary monthly outing again lol
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