Monday, August 09, 2010

Book Shopping | Small Find

Came across a new bookstore last weekend [which I fell in love with] and picked up two titles:

In Praise of Slow by Carl Honore
A book by Carl Honoré containing his analysis of the Cult of Speed, which he claims is becoming the societal standard all over the world. He discusses and gives praise to the Slow Movement and the various groups around the world representative of this movement. [Wikipedia]

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Link to Summary
  • I don't like to read the summaries of the classics before I read them, because I'm just plain odd.
  • Based on the size of David Copperfield, I have a feeling that I'll read 'In Praise of Slow' first.  It seems like a vacation book, so I'll probably get through it in either August or November.

6 comments:

Roof Beam Reader said...

Ah, I love discovering new book shops! I typically go to Half Price Books or two independent book stores in my area (Borders & B&N only as a last resort – and even then, I usually try Amazon first). I was super excited when I found the two nearby (sort of) independent stores. Half Price Books is my favorite, though. All of the books are used, but most are in good condition – and you can’t beat a 50% discount plus the fact that you’re saving resources.

I’ve had David Copperfield on my shelf for a while now. It may end up in 2011’s “To Be Read” challenge. I love Dickens, but this one is, as you say, a whopper. I don’t have any plans to read such a long book in the near future, after just finishing Vanity Fair and now working on Look Homeward, Angel (only about 600 pages, but pretty dense).

SocrMom78 said...

I have only read a bit of Dickens...as much of "Great Expectations" as I could force myself to read before giving up. It definitely wasn't my thing. I am a HUGE fan of Half Price Books and get almost all of the books for my blog there. They don't sell them if they're not in decent condition...and my wallet and husband thank me afterwards. :)

Eclectic Indulgence said...

Vanity Fair was the last behemoth I read too, and I did not enjoy it. It will be a long time before I ever read Thackary again.

In the bookclub I'm in, we don't read anything greater than 500 pages, as people find it a struggle to get that much read in a month (myself included). As such, I have a ton of epics that I haven't made it through that are just sitting on my shelf.

It seems unfortunate that all these epics are unread due to time... it feels like I'm doing an injustice to the author to limit my own experience of a work based on the size of a novel.

Eclectic Indulgence said...

The only Dickens I have read is "A Christmas Carol", I'm sad to say. It seems that many have an aversion to Dickens which limits people choosing the work in my book club.

Have you read anything else by him, Socr Mom? I have been told by many that "A Tale of Two Cities" is the ultimate... and I'm not sure if I'll start there or with "Oliver Twist."

Roof Beam Reader said...

Haha, SoccerMom! Great Expectations is, in my opinion, one of Dickens's best. A Tale of Two Cities was good as well, but I read it just after reading Hugo's Les Miserables and found it to be no comparison - a Hugo win, for sure (they're both on similar topics - family, class & the French Revolution).

Soon, I will be reading the unfinished Mystery of Edwin Drood and then Drood by Dan Simmons to complement it... if anyone would care to join, let me know. We could make a side-project out of it?

Ordinary Reader said...

I have books I'm not reading because of their size too. I love Dickens and have several to read, as well as Vanity Fair that I've started a couple of times and quit. Since I started blogging, I avoid the thick books because I want to be able to post a review once or twice a week. If it takes me two weeks to read a book, that would mean two weeks without a post, and I would expect to lose some readers. I'm not sure what the way out of that dilemma is. Any suggestions?