Last book you read?

Just finished The A.B.C. Murders by Agatha Christie.
Christie is such a troll, I love her.

 

Inferno

That book there is a mindf*ck

 

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

 

The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo is my current LBYR list topper. It's a revolutionary guide for changing your life by organizing your posessions and only keeping those that "spark joy". This lady is a mega-star in Japan - even being so popular that they'be made a dramatic television series about her tidying (I'm guessing Hoarders, just with a compelling script and lots of soap opera-esque camera-glances). She also has a three month waiting list.

The book was very good. She accurately describes every situation I've found myself in with regard to cleaning my house. I really loved the idea of thanking your belongings and kind of personifying them, as I do that already. I'm attempting to get my family on board with her methods so we can all revolutionize the way we live. It's a great read, which is a shining achievement for an organization guide.

Next on my list is Toast, Nigel Slater's memoir. I saw the film on Netlfix last year and absolutely adored it, so I can't wait to read that one.

This thread has brought about the realization that I read far too much nonfiction. I need to stop being so picky about my fictional reads and encourage myself to try more of them.

I also just read Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham. Definitely worth all its hype. I'm a huge fan of hers already, so it wasn't hard to enjoy.

 

It's great! I liked it
My last book was "The Overcoat"; "The Nose"; "The Calash" all tales by Nikolaj Gogol.

 

Vanity of Duluoz by Jack Kerouac - My third book of his and is well on his way to becoming a favorite author of mine. Though I really enjoyed and would consider this a favorite, there's a definite preference for On the Road and Dharma Bums if only because this novel is a little less focused which I think is due to the fact it covers a larger span of time [1935-46.]

Being the final novel published during his lifetime, it's interesting that he goes back to such an early stage of his development, starting off at the end of his high school life and ending during early adulthood after serving as a merchant marine during the Second World War and returning to Columbia University. One would expect that such a 'youthful' story might have a certain zeal that the earlier books I've read, which are set after this, had but as Kerouac's life and career went on he became more bitter, misanthropic which shows in this writing. To a degree that's what I liked about it. Partly due to my current mood, but also a sort of conflict between the subject matter which gradually builds up in a way to seemingly justify his pessimism through various events, actions and the prose. If the other books felt sad in a melancholic way, this was for me in an empathetic way, understanding how one could feel so let down after such experiences which create lasting impacts in one's memory.

 

Entwicklungspsychologie (Developmental Psychology) by Schneider & Lindenberger. It's a textbook though, not sure if this counts?

 

'The Lost Boy' it's an authors true story about child abuse.

 

The Joy of Hate by Greg Gutfeld. It's not as offensive as it sounds!

 

Subliminal: How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior by Leonard Mlodinow.

 

Carmilla by LeFanu.

 

currently reading The Mirage by Matt Ruff

 

Low Pressure by Sandra Brown

 

last book I read was Called Fragment. Short Version it's about a reality Program who finds a lost island of sorts and mayhem Happens. they find creatures unlike what we know. or is it. three thirds into it is revealed all Crustaceans Evolve from the very island they're on.

 

Black Lightning by John Saul. It was about a serial killer's ghost that possessed people and cut people's chests open. Sounds creepy, but if you like thrillers/horrors, definitely check it out.

 

The last book I read was The Help. The only problems i really had with the book was that some of the problems were just solved by coincidence, rather than characters actually trying to do something to solve whatever was going on. But the characters...man, the characters are what make this book. Each character is very well developed, and although there are some cliches, I have to say that the book sort of acknowledges them, or adds more specific characteristics to build on that familiar kind of character.

 

Christopher Isherwood's A Single Man.
The novel is about a day in the life of a middle-aged gay man, an English professor in Southern California whose partner recently passed away. The book was written in the 60s, so it was controversial when it was first published. It does go well beyond LGBT themes though, portraying a protagonist that is defined by his humanity and not his sexuality.