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Avid Reader Book Club - Have you read any of Kazuo Ishiguro's...

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From:	Jennifer_T	5/25/2006 10:35 am
To:	ALL	Poll (1 of 37)

11782.1

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From:	Jennifer_T	5/25/2006 10:36 am
To:	Jennifer_T	Poll (2 of 37)

11782.2 in reply to 11782.1

Hi everyone -

After you vote Yes or No, click [Reply] to tell us which books you've read and which are your favourites. What other authors do you enjoy?

I look forward to discussing Never Let Me Go with everyone soon!

-Jennifer

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From:	prunesquallor	5/25/2006 1:29 pm
To:	Jennifer_T	Poll (3 of 37)

11782.3 in reply to 11782.2

Remains of the Day - a wonderful, evocative book

Freak power!

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From:	hibby	5/25/2006 5:05 pm
To:	Jennifer_T	Poll (4 of 37)

11782.4 in reply to 11782.1

The Remains of the Day

An Artist of the Floating World

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From:	jamuna	5/25/2006 5:52 pm
To:	Jennifer_T	Poll (5 of 37)

11782.5 in reply to 11782.2

The Remains of the Day A beautifully written book, with a wonderfully realised 1st person narrator.

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From:	brainiac4	5/26/2006 1:25 am
To:	Jennifer_T	Poll (6 of 37)

11782.6 in reply to 11782.1

Hi Jennifer, back in 1994, I read "An Artist of the Floating World", which won the UK Whitbread Prize in 1986---picked up in Budapest for about two dollars. I remember it as a discerning, ex-pat comment on Japan and interesting at the time. I'm a great fan of Japanese literature in translation (strange though the translations sound sometimes), but Ishiguro writes in English, of course, and I suspect he's become something of a Londoner over the years. That makes him a little fish in a very big pool of writers. My real interest is the literature of the past, and so I probably won't read another Ishiguro this year. I'm currently rereading Fanny Burney's "Evelina" (1778), which I think is extremely funny. No huge knowledge of 18th-century London life is needed to enjoy it, as it concerns the wiles of men to trap a young woman, a pastime people still indulge in today when they're not too busy ordering books from ABE or chatting on their mobile phones. EDIT: Oops! I've just found a US first of "When We Were Orphans" on the shelves. Must have been a present. It's coming back to me: an evocative story of foreigners in Shanghai as WW2 looms.

Edited 5/26/2006 1:51 am by brainiac4

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From:	maudbook54	5/26/2006 4:40 am
To:	ALL	Poll (7 of 37)

11782.7 in reply to 11782.6

I've only read When we were orphans, I enjoyed it a lot, should try some others.

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From:	tabkistfresca	5/26/2006 9:07 am
To:	Jennifer_T	Poll (8 of 37)

11782.8 in reply to 11782.2

This discussion might interest me. Do you know yet when it will start?

tab*kist*fresca

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From:	OVRO	5/26/2006 2:45 pm
To:	ALL	Poll (9 of 37)

11782.9 in reply to 11782.8

I started to read We Were Orphans but didn't get very far. I remember not enjoying the book but I don't remember exactly why. Maybe I'll have to try it again. I am really enjoying Never Let Me Go and have just started part 3. I might try Remains of the Day before going back to We Were Orphans as I think that might be more my type of book.

Are there any recurring themes in Ishiguro's books? The very little I know of them would suggest not.

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From:	Iona	5/29/2006 2:18 am
To:	Jennifer_T	Poll (10 of 37)

11782.10 in reply to 11782.1

I have only read Never Let Me Go and I loved it. Thought it quite evocative and heartbreaking.

Iona

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From:	Xani	5/31/2006 1:54 am
To:	Jennifer_T	Poll (11 of 37)

11782.11 in reply to 11782.1

Oh dear - I haven't read any of his books yet but am looking forward to this one very much. I am very lucky to have been able to borrow it from the library - usually I have to wait for ages for popular books. I didn't realise he'd written so many books. I'd heard of Remains of the Day but that's about it. The story intrigues me already and the name Hailsham echoes to me of Miss Havisham in Great Expectations. I'll shut up now.

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From:	Nedmuffin	5/31/2006 2:50 am
To:	Jennifer_T	Poll (12 of 37)

11782.12 in reply to 11782.2

All of them, I guess you could say I'm a fan.

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From:	Nedmuffin	5/31/2006 3:02 am
To:	brainiac4	Poll (13 of 37)

11782.13 in reply to 11782.6

Hi Brainiac,

Yes, he probably is a bit of a Londoner these days but his Japanese roots still influence his writing.

For instance, I think Japan and the stifling, overly formal and rather cold hierarchical English society depicted in Remains of the Day have more than a bit in common. I don't believe that a 21st century English author could have captured that period quite as well as Ishiguro although Altman's Gosford Park came close.

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From:	Nedmuffin	5/31/2006 3:15 am
To:	OVRO unread	Poll (14 of 37)

11782.14 in reply to 11782.9

Many of his books have spectacularly unreliable narrators (Artist, Orphans and especially Unconsoled). Many also deal with the protagonist attempting to free themselves from their current situation in order to find emotional fulfilment.

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From:	brainiac4	5/31/2006 5:32 am
To:	Nedmuffin	Poll (15 of 37)

11782.15 in reply to 11782.13

Yes, there is a Japanesy flavour, you're right. My real trouble with him is, of course, that his novels aren't quite ripe yet---haven't been around for the requisite 50 years to prove their worth.

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From:	Nedmuffin	5/31/2006 6:10 am
To:	brainiac4	Poll (16 of 37)

11782.16 in reply to 11782.15

I'm afraid that Muriel Spark blows a huge great hole in that self-imposed rule of yours...and for that matter Wotan's rule about female authors.

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From:	dlfcsl	5/31/2006 6:15 pm
To:	Jennifer_T	Poll (17 of 37)

11782.17 in reply to 11782.2

I have read Remains of the Day after seeing the movie. I am so glad that I took the time to read the book.

Dianna

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From:	Browner	6/3/2006 7:24 am
To:	Jennifer_T	Poll (18 of 37)

11782.18 in reply to 11782.1

I have read "A Pale View of the Hills," "An Artist of the Floating World," "The Remains of the Day," and "When We Were Orphans." In fact, Ishiguro's is one of my favorite novelists. I love the subtle way he lets his stories unfold and how he portrays the often futile nature of his characters' voyages of self-discovery. His novels seem to always capture the best of both his Japanese and British cultural influences.

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From:	Moggie	6/4/2006 1:19 am
To:	Jennifer_T	Poll (19 of 37)

11782.19 in reply to 11782.1

I have read 'Remains of the Day', and quite recently, 'Never Let Me Go'. I wasn't aware of his other books, and obviously wasn't sufficiently impressed to want to seek them out.

My main impression is how sad these two are - I don't mean depressing, but they are about sad and unfulfilled lives. Well written, and I didn't give up on them, but temperamentally to me unattractive.

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From:	Jennifer_T	6/12/2006 1:53 pm
To:	tabkistfresca	Poll (20 of 37)

11782.20 in reply to 11782.8

Hi tabkistfresca -

The discussions are ongoing in this folder on the Forums throughout June. Join in any of the ones already started, or create your own new one if there's a topic you'd like to discuss. I'm excited to hear more from you!

-Jennifer