a poll for books i read in 2009...

[ateolf]

they're listed in the order i read 'em...
[Poll #1506538]

Comments

[stacyinthecity.livejournal.com]

Pnin is one of my favorite books. I wrote several college and graduate papers on it. Love Nabokov. Love Pnin.

[ateolf.livejournal.com]

it's really good...not my favorite of his stuff that i've read, but still in the upper crust...

[keristars.livejournal.com]

Which Ionesco plays were they? I've only read one of his (for one of my French classes in undergrad) and greatly enjoyed it and feel like I should eventually read more. I also feel guilty because I saw the Rabelais on your list, and I have it on my shelf, too, but it keeps getting pushed towards the back of my TBR list. I ought to stop messing around with Internet so much and read more real books :/

[ateolf.livejournal.com]

it's the collection that also gets called "The Bald Soprano & Other Plays" in later editions (my old copy is just called "Four Plays), it has The Bald Soprano (of course); The Lesson; Jack, or the Submission; and The Chairs...and go for the Rabelais! i don't read a whole lot of stuff that old, but that's a good one!

[ateolf.livejournal.com]

oh and uh, whoops...i don't know who this Chris is, but i'm sure he wasn't tempted so much as any Christ...

[ateolf.livejournal.com]

oh, and uh, that's "Amerika" with a 'k' (speaking of which, you don't have to have read multiple translations to click it, that was just a personal note...)

and i REALLY meant to put a "none of the above" option...i wasn't thinking by the time i got to the end...if you haven't read any just click "submit poll" without checking anything and you'll at least be counted...

[helenze.livejournal.com]

That was my favourite of all of your books! LOL! Oh, but I do love me some Harold Pinter. Excellent list.

[ateolf.livejournal.com]

hey, thanks...the Kazantzakis wasn't my favorite...(actually, i think i liked the movie more, which is not something i usually say...) it was okay, but i guess it does more for other people than it did for me...

[the-unnamable.livejournal.com]

Great taste in literature! The Mustache was one of my favorite reads this year.

[ateolf.livejournal.com]

thanks! that's not a book i was expecting to get any votes, so it's awesome you've read it too...and yeah, it was a great book...i'd picked it up as a blind buy a while back so i was pleased it ended up being so good...

[mindspillage.livejournal.com]

The Gold Bug Variations is one of my favorite books. (I've read almost everything by Powers now, but I think that's the best one...)

[ateolf.livejournal.com]

it's the first by him i've read and i enjoyed it a lot...i could see how his others might not be as good as it (not that i expect them to be bad, just that it's so good in a certain way that'd be hard to replicate...) i have The Echo Maker on my shelves and i'm sure i'll get around to reading it some day as well...

[bibliofile.livejournal.com]

It's one of the few of his that I haven't read. It always takes me a while to get going with his books, but they're always so good. (I've had Generosity out from the library three times; I think I may finish it the next time.)

[absolution.livejournal.com]

You should totally rate them and list them in rated order.

[ateolf.livejournal.com]

well, they are rated on my librarything...maybe i could obsess and put them in order...

[moovelvet.livejournal.com]

I didn't read any of these, though there are a couple that I tried and couldn't get into.

[ateolf.livejournal.com]

which were you not able to get into?

[moovelvet.livejournal.com]

There Eyes Were Watching God and Lord of the Flies, are just two I can think of off the top of my head.

[ateolf.livejournal.com]

i didn't like Their Eyes Were Watching God, Lord of the Flies was somewhere between pretty good and okay...

[bibliofile.livejournal.com]

And I've read two of Hamsun's books, but the titles escape me at the moment. Not sure if the second one was Hunger.

[ateolf.livejournal.com]

Hunger, i believe, is his most go-to/well-known work...dude runs around Christiania/Oslo intermittently writing stuff and trying to get it published and being hungry and pawning everything and going crazy...not much happens, but it's pretty great...definitely one of the best books i read this past year...