books 2005: Reflections of Osiris, by John Ray

[supercheesegirl]

Full title: Reflections of Osiris: Lives from Ancient Egypt. Pretty interesting.

Just in case all of you were getting bored with reading my endless "Books I Read" posts, I thought I'd make things a little more interactive. Now you, my lj-friends, can choose the next book I read. Well, not the VERY next one--the very next book will be The History of Love by Nicole Krauss, because Farbs lent it to me with many squees and sighs, and also I needed to have the very next book lined up so I can start it right away, and I figure I'll give you a few days to fill out the poll. But the next book after The History of Love will be whatever book y'all choose in the poll below. I will abide by your decision.

Things to consider: please don't vote for more than three books. You can vote for just one, if you'd rather, but don't vote for more than three or else I'm afraid the results will get screwed up. I have linked each book to its listing on amazon so you can go check it out if you haven't heard of it. These are books that are sitting around my room currently, and this list does not include everything on my shelves waiting to be read (but it does include some recent acquisitions and some that have been staring me down for a few years, just for balance). If you want to recommend something feel free to do so in the comments but it will not likely be the very next thing I read. Also keep in mind that reading Robin Hobb has in the past been highly upsetting for me (edit: here's the post where I talked about that!), so if you vote for that you'll likely be voting for me to sob, puke, and generally obsess over not just the first book but the entire trilogy since I'm sure I'll need to go on once I start it. But if that's y'all's verdict I can deal. Oh, and Whitegirl is supposed to be really good according to Sara Nelson, which is why I bought it.

I included a question in the poll about several books I started in the past at some point but never finished. If I pick up one of those I will therefore finish another one as well and count them together as one book for the purposes of my book counting this year. I think that's fair.

Anyway, on to the poll:

[Poll #492717]

Comments

[allthefishies.livejournal.com]

I'm gonna be obnoxious and say none of the above - you should take sellevision from jorn and read that. It seriously won't take you more than an hour or two. And will cause you much much amusement.

and you are a skinny little thing. :-)

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

"and you are a skinny little thing. :-)"

It's actually a line from a video game. I wasn't thinking about it as applicable to myself!

[katkt.livejournal.com]

Now you, my lj-friends, can choose the next book I read
You know, I just picked up a new choose-your-own adventure book from woodwardiocom the other day.

If you choose to read, "The Dispossessed," turn to paragraph 7. Otherwise, turn to paragraph 312.

because i am wordy

[birdmaddgirl.livejournal.com]

if you read 'american gods' now, you'll be fresh and ready when 'anansi boys' comes out in september! squee!

i also put down 'a supposedly fun thing' and wandered away from it. when i came back, it was much better than i remembered it being! i don't know if dfw rewrote my pages while i wasn't looking or if i was just in a better mindset to approach it, but i ended up loving it after being pretty nonplussed on my first read-through.

Re: because i am wordy

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

It looks like American Gods is winning by a landslide, so that'll probably be my next read. It looks very... thick. But I'm sure I will like it.

I was skipping around in A Supposedly Fun Thing a lot. I loved the title essay (it probably helped that I'd just been on a cruise myself) and I liked some of the other essays, but then I started one about tennis and just lost interest. I'd like to read the rest of it someday.

Re: because i am wordy

[birdmaddgirl.livejournal.com]

american gods goes by much faster than it looks like it will. i actually had a funny 'thick book' moment today... i had thought about reading kavalier & clay, but decided it looked too bulky... of course then i decide to read jonathan strange & mr. norrell, which i insisted on having as a hardcover, and it's almost 800 pages. this morning i realized that k&c is not that big. = )

Re: because i am wordy

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's the main reason I'm not planning on reading Jonathan Strange. Also because I watched my mom read it and mumble about how the ending better be worth all the time she was putting into it, and then she didn't think it was. Hopefully you will like it, though!

Re: because i am wordy

[birdmaddgirl.livejournal.com]

i'll let you know how it works out for me, i've got about 75 pages left so i expect to be done with it either today or tomorrow. hooray!

Re: because i am wordy

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

Go you!

[queende.livejournal.com]

i love marge piercy but i don't think longings of women is one of my favorites!

unsolicited marge piercy recommendation: gone to soldiers or if you feel like poetry, circles on the water

:) have fun! i am thinking of going to the library tonight:)

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

I was wondering if you would have anything to say about Marge! I've read some of her other stuff but not the ones you recommended, so I will look into that!

I never go to the library here... the BPL is kind of far for me to visit it regularly, since I don't get downtown too often, and I *still* haven't found the library branch that is apparently in my neighborhood. But considering how many books I have sitting around, it might be better if I don't find the library any time soon...

[birdmaddgirl.livejournal.com]

the central sq. library is on pearl street (just a couple of blocks past the foot locker, on that side of the street)

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

I knew it was over that way... but no one could ever remember the name of the street it's on! And I'm too lazy to go explore all by my lonesome!

[birdmaddgirl.livejournal.com]

i happen to have a friend who lives two more blocks further down pearl, so i walk past it all the time, otherwise i might now know either

[lizabethanqueen]

My theory prof brought the cd version of Lucky into class and told us all to read it or listen to it. He said that when he listened to it, he felt like he understood what being a woman was like. Or something like that. Sebold is the narrator of the audiobook as well.