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Original poster

Coming off a literary high - please help

438 replies

CoteDAzur · 07/04/2012 09:40

I just read Cloud Atlas and This Thing Of Darkness in quick succession, both epic, fantastic books of great scope and vision.

Now I don't now what to do with myself. Read another book, but what? What can I read now that won't be a huge disappointment after these two wonderful books that I have just finished?

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Original poster
CoteDAzur · 16/04/2012 22:27

london - I think you will find that it has been marketed as a "young adult" (i.e. teenager) book, not a children's book.

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animula · 16/04/2012 22:26

... still interrupting ...

but I'd also recommend "Being in Time" by Genevieve Lloyd. It's not literature, it's a meditation - personal and emotional - about ... being and time. Beautifully written, and exploring literature. You'll want to go back and re-read Woolf's "Jacob's Room" afterwards.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 16/04/2012 22:19

I didn't think much of 'Lyra's Oxford' but loved the Lee and Hester one. Don't want to say too much for fear of spoilers but oh my gosh 'that' scene in the main trilogy with those two is so, so moving. I can't remember which book it's in.

londonlottie · 16/04/2012 22:18

Yes, Curious Incident was very much marketed as a children's book (as well as an adult one). A superb read.

Jajas · 16/04/2012 22:15

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
CoteDAzur · 16/04/2012 22:14

Again, I haven't "dismissed" His Dark Materials, just said I didn't get much out of the first book as a 41 year old and asked if it gets any more mature in the following two books.

I will definitely be giving it to DD in a few years.

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RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 16/04/2012 22:13

Always worth a try and do shout if you think there's anything else I might like. Just to warn you that Cote and I are probably equally fussy and hard to please! :)

animula · 16/04/2012 22:13

"Hallucinating Foucault" by Patricia Duncker is a wonderful "little" book, much under appreciated, all about the passion of reading.

I know I'm interrupting a conversation about the relative merits of books that are technically for children but I am popping up with a recommendation.

Original poster
CoteDAzur · 16/04/2012 22:12

OK, maybe we don't mean the same age group when we talk about "children".

I was talking about pre-pubescents, aged 9 or so at the most. Not "children" in the legal sense of "everyone under 16", for example.

Sure, they can read Curious Incident but what would they understand from it? Would they understand that his mum had an affair and left, for example?

Yes, its vocabulary is simple so children can read it, but if they can't be expected to get some major events in the plot, can you consider that book a "children's book"?

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Hobs · 16/04/2012 22:10

Ah well! Worth a try!

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 16/04/2012 22:08

Thanks Hobs - can't stand Garth Nix though!

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 16/04/2012 22:06

The point is that all of those books are ones that can be read on several different levels - a 12 year old will get one thing out of it, a teen another, an adult another - to dismiss HDM as a 'children's book' whilst saying that Curious Incident is 'not a children's book' is to grossly (and inaccurately imho) over-simplify. I know loads of children who read and enjoyed Curious Incident - are we to deny their enjoyment just because they might have read it on a different level of meaning than we did?

Hobs · 16/04/2012 22:06

I read HDM when it was first published. I even waited for years from him writing the second book to publishing the third and devoured it in one setting. I was in my teens then, I'm in my late 20s now and I still love HDM trilogy.

I think it does have layers of meaning to it - I find something new every time I read it and it never gets old for me.

I love Lee Scoresby and Hester! Did anyone read that little teaser book he brought out a few years ago? I heard rumours there was going to be a book about the back story of Lee, but it hasn't appeared yet. I want it!!

I have heard HDM has a lot of similarities with Paradise Lost. I've not read that, but a friend of mine studied it at uni and said it added a whole new dimension for her.

Remus Have you read the Garth Nix Sabriel trilogy? Much more of a children's book than HDM, but I think if you like children's lit, you might enjoy it.

Original poster
CoteDAzur · 16/04/2012 22:04

Sorry, I keep forgetting that most of the world hasn't read Moby Dick as a children's novel (long story). I've probably said this before on MN, as well.

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RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 16/04/2012 22:02

Lottie - Only the first one so far. I enjoyed it a lot, except for the last few pages which I thought were unnecessary. Enjoyed the film too. Not as well written as HDM though and much more obviously 'teen' than 'crossover' in the way that I think HDM is. And Lyra is a much more interesting main character than Katniss, who whilst not being Bella Twilight, is a bit irritating at times.

Jajas · 16/04/2012 21:59

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
CoteDAzur · 16/04/2012 21:58

I loved Curious Incident but that wasn't a children's book. Some of the themes and all of the mathematics in there would be inaccessible to children.

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Jajas · 16/04/2012 21:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
CoteDAzur · 16/04/2012 21:57

I'm not interested in the zombie premise, either. However, I would have said the same for the vampire premise until I read Interview With The Vampire, which was interesting. My interest didn't stay alive long enough for any other vampire franchise, though.

So, intelligent book can make something out of an otherwise uninteresting premise imho.

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londonlottie · 16/04/2012 21:56

Remus - oft discussed on MN, have you read the Hunger Games trilogy? I haven't read much in the realm of 'teen fiction with adult appeal' but really enjoyed that one. I agree with you that a book shouldn't be criticised just because it's a children's book - they can have a simplicity which cuts through you. I particularly enjoyed 'The Curious Incident...' book for that.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 16/04/2012 21:56

'Moby Dick' a children's book?

Original poster
CoteDAzur · 16/04/2012 21:54

Well, Alice In Wonderland or Moby Dick are also children's books but they also work for adults because there are layers of meanings there. I was wondering if there is a similar attraction for adults or if it is only a children's book.

I'm not criticising it but just saying it seems to be only a (very good) children's book.

Does the story and its narration "mature" in later books?

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londonlottie · 16/04/2012 21:53

I thought HDM was a good yarn, but yes definitely a children's book in the first one. The next two books become increasingly obtuse and I'm not sure I can see many children having the determination to finish the third. Having said that, I struggled to finish the third too, it just had too many components and he really was heaving towards his atheistic conclusion, throwing in everything but the kitchen sink to make it stick.

Nothing more to add to this thread at the moment, pottering through This Thing of Darkness (and waiting for Darwin to hop aboard - when when when? Am 11% of the way in on Kindle and no sign yet...)

Have almost no interest in anything Zombie related. I think you're either into that kind of premise or... you're not Wink I just don't get excited by it, intelligent or otherwise.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 16/04/2012 21:52

Oh and I'm 42. Can't remember when they were first published but deffo after I was 25! Grin

Original poster
CoteDAzur · 16/04/2012 21:51

Were you in your 40s when you first read them? Or were you revisiting an old favourite?

I'm 41 this year and at least the first book read like a children's story. Does it "mature" in later books?

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