Comments on: Great Fiction! http://21stcenturygirl.net/index.php/read-these-books/books/ A long time vegetarian who recently learned to knit, loves exploring creativity and blogs about knitting, crochet, recipes and the environment. Mon, 06 Sep 2010 12:14:56 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.5 by: Fred / Bob http://21stcenturygirl.net/index.php/read-these-books/books/#comment-14 Wed, 21 Dec 2005 20:12:00 +0000 http://21stcenturygirl.net/index.php/read-these-books/books/#comment-14 I've read or attempted to read 2 of the books in your Summer List. I cannot force myself to finish Life of Pi. It's so tiny but I keep falling asleep every time I pick it up. Perhaps, I should pay someone to read it out loud to me. Hmmm... I love to read but I often don't have enough time to read everything I WANT to read, so I up my quantity with audio books [audible.com membership]. I LOVE my iPod and relaxing in Go Transit train. iPod isn't just for music - it's great for downloading podcasts and storing audio books. Of course, quantity is not equal to QUALITY because often, some of the audio books are really dull-ass narrated snoozefests. The experience of reading a book is more intimate [it is after all, YOUR VOICE in your head] and unique and it isn't the same as listening to audio books. A book in your hands is a tangible feel. Even the smell. When reading a book, it is your "mind's" voice that interprets whether i.e. a character is sad, happy, scared, etc. and a skilled audio narrator with excellent 'voice acting'will key you in immediately on how you should feel at certain moments. A good audio book is like hearing a great ghost story and feeling the goosebumps or listening to my father weaving stories of his youth and how spellbound I always am when I hear them. A'great' audio book can be like slow burn, cerebral meditation or as thrilling as a roller coaster ride. With that said, I still prefer paper books. ;) ... well, it's like comparing theatre play and movie... different experience, both with merits... My top 5 *** memorable reads/listens of 2005 in no particular order are: *** memorable ranges from 'wow, awesome' to 'ok, that wasn't the best book ever written, but it sure wasn't dull' 1. "Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides 2. "Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West" by Gregory Maguire 3. "Memoirs of a Geisha" by Arthur Golden 4. "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole 5. "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert M. Pirsig [audio book] My top 5 honorable mentions of 2005, again in no particular order are: 1. "The World is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman 2. "My Life" by Bill Clinton [audio book] 3. "The Universe in a Single Atom" by His Holiness the Dalai Lama 4. "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini ... although, technically, I haven't actually finished reading it. I'm not certain as to why I can't seem to finish it as it's pretty good. I suppose, it should go under "2006" list or whenever I finish it. ;) 5. "Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching" by Ursula K. Le Guin I told you I ramble. Later days. I’ve read or attempted to read 2 of the books in your Summer List. I cannot force myself to finish Life of Pi. It’s so tiny but I keep falling asleep every time I pick it up. Perhaps, I should pay someone to read it out loud to me. Hmmm…

I love to read but I often don’t have enough time to read everything I WANT to read, so I up my quantity with audio books [audible.com membership]. I LOVE my iPod and relaxing in Go Transit train. iPod isn’t just for music - it’s great for downloading podcasts and storing audio books. Of course, quantity is not equal to QUALITY because often, some of the audio books are really dull-ass narrated snoozefests.

The experience of reading a book is more intimate [it is after all, YOUR VOICE in your head] and unique and it isn’t the same as listening to audio books. A book in your hands is a tangible feel. Even the smell. When reading a book, it is your “mind’s” voice that interprets whether i.e. a character is sad, happy, scared, etc. and a skilled audio narrator with excellent ‘voice acting’will key you in immediately on how you should feel at certain moments. A good audio book is like hearing a great ghost story and feeling the goosebumps or listening to my father weaving stories of his youth and how spellbound I always am when I hear them.

A’great’ audio book can be like slow burn, cerebral meditation or as thrilling as a roller coaster ride.
With that said, I still prefer paper books. ;) … well, it’s like comparing theatre play and movie… different experience, both with merits…

My top 5 *** memorable reads/listens of 2005 in no particular order are:

*** memorable ranges from ‘wow, awesome’ to ‘ok, that wasn’t the best book ever written, but it sure wasn’t dull’
1. “Middlesex” by Jeffrey Eugenides
2. “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” by Gregory Maguire
3. “Memoirs of a Geisha” by Arthur Golden
4. “A Confederacy of Dunces” by John Kennedy Toole
5. “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” by Robert M. Pirsig [audio book]

My top 5 honorable mentions of 2005, again in no particular order are:

1. “The World is Flat” by Thomas L. Friedman
2. “My Life” by Bill Clinton [audio book]
3. “The Universe in a Single Atom” by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
4. “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini
… although, technically, I haven’t actually finished reading it. I’m not certain as to why I can’t seem to finish it as it’s pretty good. I suppose, it should go under “2006″ list or whenever I finish it. ;)
5. “Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching” by Ursula K. Le Guin

I told you I ramble. Later days.

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