Wait, “Wild Swans” or “Black Swan Green”?

I’d like to plot all his novels from before he had his son and after and see if I can recognize any changes in his writing. Like Utopia seems so different from his other stuff (although maybe it’s more along the ones I haven’t read yet), I wonder if becoming a dad, especially to a special needs boy, made him want to write something more hopeful (? I’m not sure if that’s the right word, but less dark).

The scent

You definitely can read it that way, the 2nd half of the book isn't really episodic and is amazing (as others have said in this thread).

There probably wouldn't have even been a part 2 if someone else hadn't written a terrible fake sequel that Cervantes felt compelled to expose as fake and replace in everyone's minds with a "true" sequel.

I would be very careful about romanticizing used bookstores. As many people have found out already book hoarding is a very VERY serious issue. Books are an especially devious type of item because they can easily create feelings of attachment as well get attributed illusion of value. I am a book hoarder and even though I collected many good books, I still wish I had never started.

The smell of books, the color of the old papers, and the diversity of genres can't be found in any bookstore that focuses on only selling books. That's my idea.

I have been looking for a book through second hand bookstores across the world. Yes I could buy it of Amazon, I would take it from the library if they had it but I really want to find this particular book in a second hand bookstore, I have come close I found traces of it but no luck yet.

I think Mitchell is a pretty worldly or well travelled guy, so something I really like about Ghostwritten is the sheer number of interesting locations and tidbits about the local culture.

Especially as I'm of an Irish extraction, and have spent a fair whack of time in Japan and Hong Kong.

I'd also say the 'Holy Mountain' chapter is seminal. Feels rather like a very condensed version of 'Wild Swans', beautifully told. Then the Mongolia chapter takes things from interesting, odd, random connections to a whole new level.

I just finished Slade House last night, and it was indeed very very scary. I'm guessing that we will see a bit more from Norah, and Enomoto in future novels.

I also assume Hugo Lamb and Holly Sykes grandkids will show up somewhere down the line.

Least favourite, but only just, probably Utopia Avenue - and I really enjoyed that one anyway. Although I probably should have read it after Bone Clocks.

Banks is a head trip - this is odd indeed; Iain M. Banks tells crazy SF stories.

I gave this book a 1 star rating as well. It’s such a damn drag for such a short book and it was my first Hoover book as well. It instantly became my last especially with all the stuff that has come out about her as a person as well (the Colouring book and situation with her son)

I liked nobody in this book and the weird obsession Lowen had with Verity was just so damn weird, like girl you really be tilting your hips while he’s coming into you while his wife is staring you down from the stairs really?? The fact that she even had the audacity to create a whole new version of the book people had to buy for that one extra chapter of absolute garbage is so ugly to me

If you think you’d be interested, check out the book The Incarnations by Sue Barker. I had just finished that book and was looking for something similar when A Tale for the time being was recommended.

It’s got the feel of David Mitchell’s books (like Cloud Atlas), and souls mysteriously linked through time. I like A Tale better, but I really enjoyed this book too.

Omg!! I saw your title and did a little happy dance in my kitchen that was ridiculous given my age. That was the first book of hers I read and I fell absolutely in love. It was so gorgeously done and one where I really didn’t predict where things were going, and she just blew me away.

I’ve read two of her other books, All Over Creation, and A Book of Form and Emptiness. Hi really enjoyed those as well. I don’t think either was quite the pinnacle that A Tale was, but still so damn good.

I’m waiting on reading “My Year of Meats” because I feel like it would turn me vegetarian, and trying to cook dinners all my picky family will eat is hard enough.

First I choose the subject of the book that I would like to read (novel/history/philosophy/management...) , than I go to aisle that is suitable and begin to the read the title that intrigues me enough I pick it up and read sometimes I go back home with a book that I will 100% will enjoy but sometimes it won't be the case .

I loved Ghostwritten!! I thought it better than Cloud Atlas, but it’s hard to say exactly why. I think because Ghostwritten has a more vague concept at first, and it’s only at the end that you really understand these weren’t all just various tales about mostly unconnected people and places, but they were linked together to culminate in that final tale which is foreboding (to me), but a bit open ended.

By having the common narrator in Cloud Atlas, I felt it gave that “Aha!” moment away. But maybe that’s because I’d already read Ghostwritten and I’d have felt differently if I read CA first.

I also loved The Bone Clocks, and then Slade House. I found Slade House to be more sinister and frightening than Bone Clocks, which is odd since >! The villains in BC could move around while the Slade House had to lure people to come into the house !<

Utopia was entertaining, but felt very different from the others, but I haven’t yet read “The Thousand Summers…”, Black Swan Green, or Number9Dream.

Why would you say Ghostwritten was your favorite? Which was your least?

This is one of my favorite books too. She has a new one out, I haven’t read it yet (too busy) but I’m excited just to know it exists haha

I wasn't that familiar with McCarthy's peculiar vernacular, certainly didn't get every reference, but he had me at "See the child" and the payoff for going with it was huge. Have you ever read Russell Hoban's "Riddley Walker"? Wonderfully worth the effort of struggling with Riddley's narration. It's ultimately beautifully moving and is an irreducible part of that world and those characters. It's interesting to deconstruct these kinds of mastery of language and, of course, it's subject to critical analysis and no one has to like it or even acknowledge its objective merit. I had the instinct to just keep reading and not be distracted by the elements that I didn't fully understand or deverted into trying to lock in each passage's meaning line-by-line. It's high art, not an instruction manual. I don't imagine I'll ever fully understand Blood Meridian but I look forward to reading it again.

It can be like when someone gets hung up on Vermeer's painting technique - - the quality of the work invites that sort of interest - - but that's not the first or most striking thought when you look at "View of Delft".

The shadow of the past from LOTR

i agree with you that from a prose perspective it's uninspired. the scifi market was not particularly interested in classical prose tho. in the case of Foundation, it's more about fiction as a vehicle for thought expiriments, in this case about astronomy and political science. in that regard i think it's pretty revolutionary, but don't keep reading if you're nor interested in that, it will disappoint you

OMFG I read this book while taking a class dedicated to it in college. Honestly if you could find a class with someone who could help you analyze the book, it would be amazing.

I absolutely loved it. It has so many layers, and there's so much additional historical significance layered in at times, that it's nice to have a scholars input as you go. I can't understate how fun a time this was. I think an alternative would be as part of a book club? It's just so good.

So stoked for you and I hope you keep enjoying it!

Vellichor is another specific to used bookstores.

McCarthy ain’t easy but very edifying if you stick with it. Probably one of the most impressive American writers in the last 100 years.

Yes!!?

I put that book down and restarted 3 times before I read it all the way through.

Save it for when you need something biblical/ complicated.

One of my all time favorites, despite having almost hated it for a long time.

Sorry, I did immediately think of the actor. Which is funny he played Shakespeare in Upstart Crow. William Shakespeare was accused of having ghost writers, a few episodes joke about it.

I will check out David Mitchell the authors books. Thank you.

I think it’s great that you made it a habit to try and get through your novel. I like to blast through my books rather than few pages at a time. I just want to finish it but it also means i have breaks between reading.