You will not believe the amount of reviews I have to write. The list below isn’t even complete! I’ve seen some other bloggers ask for questions on certain books that they will answer in their review post, so I thought I’d try that out as well. Please help me get out of my review backlog quagmire by asking me some questions about the following books. I will be in your debt! I’ve put my star ratings for each book below so you can guage my general reactions. Please, ASK AWAY!!
- The Help
by Kathryn Stockett - The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
- The Namesake
by Jhumpa Lahiri - The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
- The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
- The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
- A Thousand Splendid Suns
by Khaled Hosseini - The Inhabited World
by David Long - The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh
- The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff
- Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman
- Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
- Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
- Beneath a Marble Sky by John Shors
- Finn by Jon Clinch
- All the Living by C.E. Morgan
I’ve never read Alias Grace, but I loved Oryx and Crake and The Handmaid’s Tale. If you’ve read those, how does it compare? Is it dystopian? Does it share any themes with her other books?
I loved The Age of Innocence – just rad it for the first time last month. I’m reading Beside a Burning Sea right now – my first experience with Shors.
Sure- happy to help. Here’s a couple of quick questions for the one’s I’ve read.
The Poisonwood Bible – How did you like this compared to Kinslover’s other works? Was this what you thought the missionary experience would be like?
The Namesake – How well do you think the portrayed the immigrant experience in America? Did you see the movie – if so, which did you like better?
Beneath a Marble Sky – Did you think this was a good historical fiction novel? Was this what you thought it would be like when the Taj Mahal was built? How did you think the treatment of women was portrayed in that society?
Hope this helps!
If you’ve read other Indian fiction, how does the Namesake compare to those novels? Myself, being an Indian who grew up in the US, found it pretty lacking in being realistic to what life is like here, but others thought it was true to form.
For The Help- I’ve wanted to read that so long! Do you think it was part of the Mad Men-created phase making the 1960s so trendy now? How does life then compare to life now?
That is an impressive list of books!
Did you find any parts of the Poisonwood Bible slow?
1000 SS: Have you read The Kite Runner? Which book did you prefer and why?
Hungry Tide: I struggled with the number of characters in Sea of Poppies. Does Hungry Tide have a large number of characters too?
Good luck with all those reviews!
I loved The Poisonwood Bible, and I’d like to know who was your favorite character?
The Help — I just posted a review of The Help (http://www.carriesclassics.com/books/the-help-by-kathryn-stockett-book-review.html), and talked about a twist I thought might happen. What do you think of that possibility?
Alias Grace – what were your thoughts at the beginning and as you read through…guilty or not guilty?
Hope this helps!
I’ve read The Bean Trees by Kingsolver and enjoyed it. Was this your first read by the author? What did you think? If this wasn’t your first read, how does it compare to other works by Kingsolver?
What was your favorite story in Fragile Things? I love October in the Chair and read it every year.
The Namesake: Have your read any of her short storys. How do you think her novels writ5ing compares to her short story writing? Did you read the short story/ Author that the main character in the Namesake was named after?
Alias Grace is quite different from Atwoods other novels. Would you like to see her write more historical fiction?
I adored The Monsters of Templeton earlier this year, but I haven’t seen anyone love it quite like I did, I’m wondering what about it didn’t quite work for you and what did?
I read Wharton’s Ethan Frome in high school and I hated it so much, but now I’m thinking about giving her a second chance. Would Age of Innocence be a good place to try? And if you’ve read Ethan Frome, how similar are they?
How do you recommend reading Fragile Things? Should I read it all at once or read it on the side of other books? I’ve never read any of Gaiman’s short stories, are they similar to his novels?
This a great idea, thank you!
My question is simple and the same as Shannon : what didn’t work for you in Monsters of Templeton? I read it sooner this year, and enjoyed it even less than you did… so I’m curious to know what others think too!
I also notice you gave 5 stars to “A Thousand Splendid Suns”. So, simply put, if you had to pick one thing that made you fall in love with it, what would it be?
That’s quite simple, hopefully it still helps you!
On The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie… I just finished and also loved the book, but I had a hard time buying Flavia as an 11-year-old. As in, I just sort of pretended that she was an adult the whole time.
Did you have that same problem?
LOL I know about those growing piles of books to review! Another Mount TBR
Alias Grace is on the list of books that were recommended to me personally — but I have no idea why. 4 stars sounds like something that you might recommend to a friend as well. How would you promote this book if you met a friend in the bookshop while you were in a hurry?
Also, what is the alias about?
The Poisonwood Bible is attracting dust on my bookshelf. Is it actually religious? Should I mind if the pile of dust got so thick it would completely cover up the book and dissolve?
Good luck with your reviews! I’m looking forward to them
I don’t have any questions for you, but wanted to say I totally understand on being behind on writing reviews. I don’t think I’ve EVER been caught up!
My question is about The Namesake- What is it that you liked about this one?!
I mean I have read just one book by this author and that was a compilation of short stories- “Unaccustomed Earth” and I loved it! I really would like to know if this one is also as good as her previous works.
Another one is for A Thousand Splendid Suns-
In more than not, i felt this book as a great depository for information about Afghan’s political climate in the late 80′s to 90′s. I still can’t decide whether I loved the book because of the wealth of information, unknown to me that it provided or it is because of the touching story that made me cry a lot of times. Which was it for you?!
I hope this helps
Questions for THE HELP:
What was your favorite part of the book, and why? If you had to pick one quotation to represent the entire book, what would it be? If you could meet only one character from the book in real life, who would it be, and why?
I thought the book was amazing and am already planning out when I’ll have time to re-read it. I look forward to reading your review!
The Namesake. I have read all of Jhumpa Lahiris books. I think she is a phenomenal writer. I can picture the characters while I am reading. She takes you away to another place. For me, her short stories are too short. The Namesake gave me the opportunity to go on the journey of life with this beautiful family. It is a quiet story. The parents are immigrants to America. Their children want nothing to do with their Indian traditions. The son only wants to change his name. The meaning of his name is a vital part of the fathers history which he has yet to share with his son whom he desperately loves but has trouble showing it. This is life at its most tender moments. It happens all around us everyday. America is a melting pot of parents trying to hold on to a little of their past and children shooting into the American future. I personally cannot wait for ms. Lahiris next work.
Thanks for all these questions and ideas! I’ll definitely be putting them in my reviews!