I struggled with this one.
Starting this next
I am posting one book per day from my extensive to-be-read collection. No description and providing no reason for wanting to read it, I just do. Some will be old, some will be new. Don't judge me - I have a lot of books. Join the fun if you want.
This is day 3
#bookstoread #tbrpile
Purity is an incredible hall of mirrors where all characters form a web of commonalities and similarities, and just when the reader thinks she has a handle on all those things, one character comes right out and scoffs at the idea that these coincidences mean anything. Do they or don't they? Franzen does not tip his hand. He's a magician and this book might hold his best illusion yet.
“[H]er mind was like a balloon with static cling, attracting random ideas as they floated by[.]”
― Jonathan Franzen, Purity
#quotsyaug19 #balloon
Great book. Many plots that are perfectly arranged in a bigger one filled with secrets, manipulations and lies. His style is more coloquial and less polished but still a wonderful reading.
#Pureza #Purity #JonathanFranzen
#book #bookaholic #booklovers #ler #leitura #leitora #reading #instabook #instaread #instabooks #bookstagram #litsy #booklover #readingabook #amreading #books #vero #Sha2019
I know Franzen has gone out of style but I still enjoy him. This is the only novel I‘ve managed to finish this summer! Franzen just kind of zings you with these perfect paragraphs which, looking back, make up for the lackluster ending. And at the time, drive you forward. This isn‘t going to be the book you call in sick to finish, but it‘s a delight in its own way.
#MayPicChallenge @Syndelle777
Reading on the shore of Lake Superior. A little chilly and I definitely wouldn‘t go in the water. I love the big lake and wish I could read there every day.
#10authorrecommendations thanks for the tag @Redheadrambles I could probably easily have come up with another ten...but I love this squad! If you haven't done it already I nominate @ReadingEnvy @Libby1
Franzen gets mixed reviews. I loved The Corrections. Freedom was forgettable. So far this one is holding me. 👽
Phew. Reading reviews made this bail much easier. Maybe I just don't get it, or, is there anything to get? Gratuitous sex was too much to schlog through.
Themes of secrecy and privacy in the Internet age make Franzen's novel an interesting read. Like his protagonist Pip Tyler! See review at www.thecuecard.com
1. Never crack the spine.
2. Tea.
3. Character in a fantasy novel.
4. During the evening.
5. Own a bookstore.
#bookishwouldyourather
On your request @Tiffy_Reads - p.27 of my current read for #teasertuesday I just couldn't pick only 2 lines 😳
An interesting paradox, indeed.
Just finished Purity by Franzen. It was remarkable for the similarity to Infinite Jest. I was told that IJ has much influence in literature and am discovering how true that is. Encouragement to keep on reading IJ. #infintiejestbuddyread, @JenP
Really tried on this one, but found that I just didn't care about the characters or what happened to them.
Currently reading.
This has been on my #tbr for too long but man after scanning some goodreads and litsy reviews it's really putting me off.... oh well here goes nothing!
#riotgrams #onewordtitle
I love Franzen's writing but have yet to read this book. I think it's because I find the cover off putting though not sure why.
#ReadJanuary #SignedBooks Parnassus in Nashville was having a Jonathan Franzen lecture. I drove up I65 to attend that lecture! After the lecture was a signing. I stood in line to get my book signed and when I got up to the table Mr. Franzen asked me who I would like the book signed to and I said my name: Lisa Jo. Then I said, no E in Jo. He looked up at me and said, "Of course no E, you're a girl." So Franzen, so awesome.
Kill me now. Audiobook. Tons of triggers, out of order, sooooo long, so irrelevant. Author tangents to socialist politics. Confusing. I think the author tries to love how smart he really is. His characters are so weak. Ugh. This author won't get another chance from me. #litsyAtoZ
My first Franzen, so not fair to judge but here are my takeaways: doesn't like/understand women much, thinks they all have Daddy issues and men are mostly cowards with Mommy issues, dude can write and very effectively hold you hostage to the story but is sorely in need of an editor who's not afraid to yell CUT THE SHIT! There are moments of brilliance but on the whole found it just exhausting, deeply cynical, and kinda pointless.
Just when I think I can't take this book, he delivers a fabulous bit like this.
"The feelings of prey in the grip of a wolf's teeth were hard to distinguish from being in love." Were they really, though? I kind of doubt it. Call me crazy but this is not at all what love feels like. Ugh. So cringey! I'm starting to find Franzen's treatment of this character really hateful.
Starting this one today...a birthday present from my sister last August.? Planning to use #birthdaychallenge to make a dent in #TBRmountain Any German speakers want to help me out with this line? Google translate says "Who always wants evil and always creates the good" ?
Jonathan Franzen - Purity
Virginia Woolf - Orlando
Maxine Hong Kingston - The Woman Warrior (in Slovenian language it's just one word and it's literal translation)
Albert Camus - The Stranger
#photoadaynov16 #onewordtitles
Having a hard time getting into this one. Reading it because there is a book club I would like to join and this is the book for this month. But, have out it aside for now.
Library or book store. I'm going to start Purity soon and used it to post this non book picture. Lucky enough to still have a Barnes & Noble near me. So may have closed. I love a bookstore but also understand that, with all the digital reading I do, I'm part of the reason so many bookstores have closed. #somethingforseptember #septphotochallenge #Day12
We don't use any books at work. 😤 However, I did start up a book swap several months ago. It's interesting to see what my neighbors snap up and what they ignore. #workplacebooks #somethingforsept
I read "Freedom" a few years ago and really enjoyed it, unfortunately I didn't feel the same way about "Purity." It felt like Franzen took all the what he is usually criticized for and doubled down on it. I thought some of the themes Franzen explores, especially the idea of actually being moral vs. just want to appear moral, were interesting, but these ideas weren't executed the well. It also suffered from being about 200 pages too long.
I was telling my husband about the #augustphotochallenge and he wanted to participate in the stacking, hahaha. This is a his (left) and hers (right) #TBR pile for the near future. Completely different taste in books, but we make it work. 😛 #augustofpages #bookstacks
Wife shopping, me reading Purity on a Kindle with a strawberry lemonade iced tea in a nearby Starbucks. When she's done I will pick her up, door to door service.
If there was any doubt that Franzen is the best living American novelist, this crushes it. In addition to deeply drawn characters, unsurpassed erudition, & astounding prose, PURITY offers a drum-tight, globe-spanning plot. Nobody pushes harder into characters to reveal their flaws (& virtues), or more inventively dissects the preposterous aspects of our culture. I laughed, I squirmed, I gasped, but mostly I stayed up into the wee hours.-Rico
I really wanted to like this book because it's Franzen and it's set in the Bay Area, but at this point in my life, I just need chapters. And less millennial angst. Reading about a lost twenty-something - in loops because I could never figure out where I'd left off - wasn't working for me.