Haruki Murakami, Sally Rooney, and Jane Austen

Hi there, everyone! I just joined this “Books & Reading” group, and I’m excited to find new suggestions and opinions here.

I have been on a bit of a reading kick lately (at least, more than I usually do. I’m a very slow reader generally). In my efforts to procrastinate my homework for actual English classes, I have been reading a lot instead. Just this week I finished two books by Haruki Murakami, a Japanese author I’d heard a lot of good things about on YouTube (mostly just Jack Edwards, he’s basically all I watch). The books I read, “First Person Singular: Stories” and “What I Talk About When I Talk About Running,” were both very contemplative and thought-based. There was not a lot of plot, but I actually still enjoyed them a lot because of the fascinating ideas he was throwing around. The former is a collection of short stories (possibly about his own life?) and the latter was a memoir of sorts. Both were very good, and very fast reads. 4 stars on Goodreads.

I also just finished “Beautiful World, Where Are You” by Sally Rooney. I have heard SO much about this author, and this is the first book I’ve read by her. Honestly, I think it’s her lowest-rated, but that was fine with me because I still thoroughly enjoyed it. This was also very contemplative, but in a different direction. Lots of diving into relationships and sex. The main characters were so well-developed, down to the tiniest details, like a weird phone glitch. I read it so fast, I cannot wait to read some of her other books.

I’m currently enrolled in a class at my university about Jane Austen. So far, we have read “Sense and Sensibility” (my least favorite of her novels), “Love and Freindship,” “Northanger Abbey,” and “Lady Susan.” Next up is “Pride and Prejudice,” one of my all-time favorites! The 2005 film is my comfort movie.

Anyway, I’m excited to keep reading! My goal for the year is 45 books, and so far I’ve read 9. I try to start off strong to account for the drop-off in reading during finals season. Please let me now if you’ve also read and enjoyed these books; I’d love to hear suggestions! I look forward to using this page more!

Cheers,

Audrey

Cafh

Hi Audrey,

I love reading and am a slow reader too! But mine is due to reading comprehension issues so now I’m thinking that maybe you meant more that you just don’t get a chance to read that many books 😅 I only read romances usually though and I’ve been in a bit of a book slump. I’ve been rereading books to see if they hold up. I’m currently reading “By Your Side” by Kasie West. I think it’s a young adult book so not really for my age range anymore but I still like the simplicity of it. Especially during my book slumps or when I’m feeling drained.

I have had Jane Austen’s books on my “To-read” list on Goodreads for a good 4 years now but just haven’t gotten around to it. The only one I’ve read is Pride and Prejudice (so good!) and it’s one of my all-time favorite books even though I’ve only read it twice. I of course LOVE the 2005 movie and have these periods where all I want to do is go on Youtube and watch people react to the movie 😂

I’m not sure if I can suggest anything good to read since I tend to like fiction and like I said it’s usually romance but if you just wanna talk books in general then I’d be happy to chat. I would share my Goodreads with you but this account is anonymous and my Goodreads isn’t. So ya…

My reading challenge for this year is 50 for right now and I’ve already read 44 books. 7 of them are actual books and the rest are manga I’ve read that I want to keep track of. So like I said, can’t really recommend anything to you 😆unless you like manga and anime or wanted a new tv show to watch. Then in that case I got you covered! 👍🏼

1 reply

@cafh I love reading romances! I haven’t gotten to read a lot recently because of my classes, but romance is definitely my romance genre, and also the one I return to when I’m in a reading slump. I’ve actually read “By Your Side!” I definitely went through a Kasie West phase for a while; her books are so sweet and fun to read. I also always relate to her protagonists. Remind me… “By Your Side” is the one where two people are locked in a library together? I loved it, but it’s been a while. My favorite of her books was “Pivot Point,” which actually has kind of a fantasy element, but still functions as basically a rom com.

Speaking of romance… have you ever read anything by Sarah J. Maas? She’s a fantasy writer but her books are heavy on romance. I’ve read all of them and am about to start one that she just released this week. If you’re okay with the fantasy (which is very compelling, in her books) I’d highly recommend her. My favorite series is “A Court of Thorns and Roses,” which is kind of a loose retelling of “Beauty and the Beast.”

If you liked “Pride and Prejudice,” the next Austen books I’d recommend are “Emma” (the basis for the movie “Clueless!”) and “Persuasion.” Those are my three favorites! If you ever want to talk about them, I’m all ears. I also totally relate to the YouTube thing…. I like to just watch that one hand scene and just read through the comments 🙂 it brings me joy, haha.

I am SO impressed that you’ve already read 44 books!! What in the world?! And you call yourself a slow reader. I’ve never read manga, so I’m not quite sure how it compares, but honestly, even 7 books is a lot for it only being February.

I’ve never watched much anime, but I have seen some. Just to be clear—I cannot actually tell the difference between anime and other animations the seem similar. But I’m a big Studio Ghibli fan, and I’ve also seen “The Promised Neverland,” “Avatar,” and some of “Death Note.” If you have recs, I’m open to trying!

Sambuca

February 28, 2022

I love Jane. I also like the Bronte sisters. 🙂 As for poetry I love Oscar Wilde and Sergei Yesenin (Esenin). 🙂 Sergei Yesenin – Wikipedia