Talk Healthy

I saw this linked a few weeks ago and just found it again in my bookmarks. I'm looking through it now and just thought I'd share it here.

http://community.livejournal.com/ohnoth ... tml#cutid1

Agree? Disagree?

I'll only comment on the ones I've read:

Devil In The White City (2003), Erik Larson - I got this on audiobook and could NOT slog through it. It was so dry and boring and slow. NOT recommended.
The Blind Assassin (2000), Margaret Atwood - It was okay, but I wouldn't write home about it.
The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time (2003), Mark Haddon - Loved this. I thought it was brilliant.
Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince (2005), J.K. Rowling - I don't even remember which one this was. In general I've enjoyed the Harry Potter books but I'd never put them on a "best of" list.
Middlesex (2002), Jeffrey Eugenides - Really liked this. I don't remember much about it any more but I remember I enjoyed it greatly.
The Time Traveler’s Wife (2003), Audrey Niffenegger - I really liked this one as well. It had a few spots where I wasn't that into it, but overall I'm a fan.

I haven't read many of those, but here it is:

Atonement - good, but not for any moment. You have to be in the mood for more quality and less speed. I'm almost never in that mood anymore, but I was when I read the book.

Blind Assassin - I feel the same as Spudd.

Empire Falls - Boring as can be.

Never Let me Go - couldn't get past page 50. Holy boredom.

The Time Traveler's Wife - Loved it.

White Teeth - I don't remember anything about it, just that I didn't like it.

ETA: I was just reading their description of Empire Falls, and holy crap, how could that be anything but boring?? Nothing ever happens in that damn book until the very end.

Freakonomics (2005), Steven D. Levitt and Steven J. Dubner; This book really intrigued me. I remember telling everyone about it at the time.

The Tipping Point (2000), Malcolm Gladwell. LOVED this. Though, to be fair, I love anything that Malcolm Gladwell writes or says.

The Story Of Edgar Sawtelle (2008), David Wroblewski. I started this and didn't get very far at all. The first description of a starving dog had me slamming the book shut. I couldn't read it.

THAT'S IT? Not a very comprehensive list, IMO.

Yeah, it seems like a strange list, but to fair, it was posted on what is normally a celeb-gossip website. So, yeah.

From the list I've only read a few:

-Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime (loved it)
-Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (easily my favorite from the series; I love all of the backstory that got told...really helped to make sense of some things. But yeah, not sure that anything from this series should be on a best-of list)
-Middlesex (really enjoyed it but don't remember a ton about it; I read it like 4 years ago)

I did add quite a few from the list to my to-read list, though, so we'll see how I feel about those ones after actually reading them. I definitely want to read the Atwood one; the 2 I've read by her so far have been really good.

I liked White Teeth, so of course Silvia didn't.

I saw another article from the London Times that was the 100 most influential books of the decade. So, it included the big award-winners, but also The Da Vinci Code and Twilight - books that were poorly written but struck a chord with reading audiences. (For better or worse...)

That is a strange list, I think. Anyway, these are the books I've read:

The Blind Assassin -- loved it; seriously, one of the best books I've ever read

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao -- a really good book, but maybe too much Spanish in key passages (I had to have Kayley help me when I was reading it, because my rudimentary Spanish just wasn't cutting it)

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime -- I thought this was a pretty good book, but it was nothing that really grabbed me. I think maybe I heard too much hype about it before I finally got around to reading it, and there was no way it could have measured up.

The Road -- hated it; I am so not into post-apocalyptic stuff, and it was just way too bleak and hopeless. At least it was a quick read.