Read a Trashy Novel
This is my first of a series of posts where I tell you about something I like.. something random… a song, a book I just read, food… anything.
When I was traveling to and from NY for the O’Reilly Factor show, I was stuck in the airport with nothing to read… so I picked up a Jackie Collins novel, and let me tell you something… I LOVED IT! For the next day I was engrossed in the book and didn’t put it down until I was done with it. It was so refreshing to read something light, and people have been telling me about Jackie Collins for some time… so I took a chance and had fun in the process.
After I read the book, I started to think about the fact that so many people I know, DON’T READ! And the ones that do read DON’T ENJOY what they are reading.
Let me clarify. When I ask most of my friends what they are reading, they invariably tell me “Oh, I’m reading 3 books right now” and the books are always self help related. I used to do the same thing.. and I would end up with 3 or 4 half-read books on my bedside table, until I realized that I wasn’t enjoying those books. So one day, I put the those books in the book-shelf, and went and bought the trashiest romance novel I could find and I polished the book off in a day! As opposed to months of reading for the other books!
So my advice to my friends and to you is:
Put those half-read books away and go buy a good fun trashy novel!
Whether it be a romance novel, or a murder mystery, or spy book, just get something fun to read… and start enjoying reading again!
It’s far better to read something fun that may not be so “educational” than it is to not read at all, which is what happens when you start reading these books that you never seem to finish!
For the women out there (and some of the men 
), here is a link to that Jackie Collins book I just read…. it’s called Married Lovers. If you want to read something fun and light, check it out
muggins on 
echo on 
neuroway on 
Greatest Potential on 
Hey MARINA: your grammy twitter/picture was linked…free audio book,too bees are good
Marina,
Didn’t you get some sexy reads recently? If so, how about a trade? A steamy title for a steamy title? Because I’m reading some real page turning material.
So hot it stings my fingers when I’m turning the pages (ouchie, ooh, owie)
Hi Marina! I’m so glad you are encouraging people to pick up trashy novels. I’ve been addicted to them for a couple of years now, and people look at me like I’m crazy when I say what I like to read. Since you’re a vampire and all, try the Southern Vampire series by Charlaine Harris (now made into the show “True Blood” on HBO) or the Carpathian series by Christine Feehan.
Not sure if you’re even around to read this but for everyone else out there check out novels by
Kurt Vonnegut completely hilarious trust me if you want entertaining that’s the man that can deliver it
I’ve been trying to tell people that for YEARS! I know few people outside my own family who LIKE to read, and fewer still can do so Well because they don’t do it much at all. Reading is all that’s kept me sane and alive for all my life, because I can pick up a book and fall right into it. No matter HOW Bad life may suck, give me a good book and it’s better than any drug. Not to mention it does NOT rot my brain. Not sure how things are in Europe, Marina, but if you’re at all curious about REAL Americans, and Real MEN, read anything by Louis L’Amour, especially Reilly’s Luck and Ride the Dark Trail. His short stories ain’t bad, either. You can’t enjoy reading if the subject matter is boring you to death, and I think most people don’t realize that there are OTHER subjects besides biology, Science, World History, Civics, or any of the OTHER over-condensed nonsense they teach in Public Schools. I look at books as my own version of Escapism. My worst fear is of going blind.
KY Jim
I’ll recommend one. “As I lay dying” by William Falkner…http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b_0_4?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=as+i+lay+dying&sprefix=as+i
That one is tricky. It’s a story of a mother in an extended family who is passing away during the story and the family members bring her to her burial plot, which seems to be a long way from where they originally come from. Each new chapter is titled by the characters’ name who sees the death and procession of their mother to her plot. The write as though this is their Point of View in a different chapter. Very interesting.
I was not able to get through “The sound and the fury” by the same author… http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b_1_13?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=the+sound+and+the+fury+by+william+faulkner&sprefix=the+sound+and&sprefix=the+sound+and
The first chapter is through the eyes of a mentally challenged child…..Whoa. A bit more then I could handle initially. I’ll take another crack at it sometime when I am a bit more courageous.
Happy reading.
I would recommend “Treasure Island” or “20,000 leagues under the sea”.
Classics have become a book that everyone talks about but no one reads. These books are AMAZING and among my favorite.
Novel might be a good word to research
My books are like my ice cream. I like variety. I will read fantasy stuff (Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time), science fiction, some non-fiction (a ton of history), historical fiction (John Jakes!) is my favorite. Sometimes, I will pick two or three at random. Mix it up. I wish more English teachers felt the way M does. A reading professor taught me a lesson that I will always remeber: “If we teach children to read and teach them to hate reading, what have we accomplished?”
Hello Marina,
I understand what you mean. I even do it with books from the library that I thought would interest me. If I can’t get thru it, I just return it. Sometimes you just got to go with what makes you to continue to read. And read things you don’t think would interest you too. You would be amazed by what you thought you might not like, then find that you did.
I’m currently reading “The Pillars of the Earth” by Ken Follett… it’s excellent, though it’s very long (over 900 pages). I agree with you, Marina, when you say that people often start 2 or 3 books and are only partly finished each one… I used to do the same thing myself! Now I read one book at a time, focusing on books I enjoy.
shelby
I just finished reading The Genesis Code by John Case (NY: Ballantine, 1997). It was one of the best thrillers I have read. The title sounds like it will be all techy with stuff about DNA, etc., but there’s none of that; somebody’s killing all the mothers and sons that used a fertility clinic. It’s just a good “relentless bad guys after the good guys to kill them/ you can run, but you can’t hide” kind of novel.
It’s about time that people become more interested in literature. Reading is an essential part of life, go out and find something you like… its really easy and lots of fun!!!!! Yeah for Books!!!!!!
Milaya Marina,
My (now ex-) wife was reading a book by Judith McNaught, and I said, “McNaught…as opposed to Hidalgo?”
Sorry, I just had to tell that joke to someone who would get it!
marina,
if you like fantasy novel I suggest reading the wheel of time by Robert Jordan.
by far it is the best fantasy I have ever read and I don’t think I will be able to find such a novel.
I sometimes enjoy short stories with an ironic twist or two. But mostly, I like reading for research of something which piques my curiosity. I take pleasure in the learning of new things even moreso than in travelling to imaginary worlds through literature.
I like this addition to the site very much, as well, and very much look forward to future ‘episodes’!
Marina,
Just finished a very good action/adventure novel.
Guys version of a trashy romance novel.
Had one section of Russian cultural stuff I wanted to ask you about.
Have you ever heard of Federal’naya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti?
Just wondered if it was real.
Thanks!
That’s the Федеральная служба безопасности Российской Федерации to you, sir! (Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation.) Check it out at http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/world/russia/fsb.htm
That is a great
. Thanks!
terry c
i like this link! http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0312341814/ref=sib_dp_pop_fc?ie=UTF8&p=S001#reader-link
Can I shamelessly advertise a favorite author of mine?
GARTH NIX, especially the Old Kingdom series. I highly recommend them.
do you know, Marina .. speaking to you like this on this thread feels rather like laying flowers on a grave.
(.. getting in the mood for #10 and halloween ..)
Haha nice…so, in disguise, you decided to give a shot to the amazon affiliate program ?
Your link certainly suggests so!
Your amazon affiliate id is: hofowo-20 !!!
Wow people! Does it actually want you to read this ? Hmm…
(Or just buy this ?)
I get half through those Jackie Collins novels and the pages keep sticking together on me.
signed,
dog eared and reckless
.. as per my suggestion below, Marina .. (using an anonymous alias and being an ordinary poster in a newspaper forum) …
… it’s a good way to toughen up, too. After all this time being a star you could be getting psychologically flabby.
so .. for instance .. if you joined the Guardian site, i recommend you firmly plant your feet in a palestine-israel thread and get involved in a rigorous debate for a couple of days. .. i guarentee you’ll come out battle scarred and toughened to abuse beyond anything anyone in the real world or YouTube or on this site could possibly throw at you.
Nice one mijj!
Hi Marina,
I concur with you and your friends about having a hard time with self-help books. They all seem to have the answer to the woes of life… and after awhile they get monotonous.
May I suggest a book “The Essential Crazy Wisdom” by Wes Scoop Nisker. He turns the world updownside and finds great examples of our own journeys towards delightenment.
If I’m going to read more novels, I wil have to finish my Evelyn Woodhead “Sped Redin’ course”.
Oh crap… the “login” window wasn’t there before. try this & open the little speaker thingy… sorry about that.
Good one.
you have a good idea there, Marina … give the brain a stress free holiday. (speaking as a trashy person, i think trashy stuff is underrated .. there’s skill in taking the mind on a holiday)
I have another suggestion too …
You can’t really relax in this site and freely express yourself or exchange opinions. You’re on a pedestal surrounded by fans – and you’re always expected to be on good behaviour. And no matter what your opinions are, we’ll always tell you they’re great. etc.. (and so on and so forth)
One thing worth trying (for the sake of sanity and perspective) is getting an anonymous alias and going to a newspaper site forum and be just one of the crowd. (I’d suggest GuardianUnlimited, but then i’d be forever paranoid). You’ll be able to just generally chat about stuff that’s on your mind or where you want to test your opinion. You wouldn’t be afraid people are telling you what you want to hear; your opinions wouldn’t be considered to have weight because of who you are.
ahem.
so .. you agree.
oh yeh, alex … you’re a fawning toady like the rest of us.
*slap*
wtf.
ow
no.
are you sure? … you don’t seem to expressing a view. … just a word.
i thought that word sort of expressed a view. hm. oh, well. why don’t you ask her.
,,|,, ò.Ó ,,|,,
erm .. no .. you didn’t express a view .. i don’t think you have a view to express.
if you did, you’d express it.
saying you’re not seeing my view isn’t saying what your view is. Now is it?
i do see your view, i just disagree with that sentence of yours that i quoted.
(plus, i don’t have have to express each and every one of my views just because i have them. having a view doesn’t automatically force you into expressing it. just because you can’t see something doesn’t mean it ain’t there, does it?)
well .. to put it simply ..
saying you don’t agree with my view …
.. that’s not expressing what your view is.
if you dont agree with my view, you must have some other view.
simply saying you don’t agree with my view – that’s not a view .. that’s parsing – no meaningful thought process there at all. – a machine could do that.
coming along and simply saying “i dont agree” is utterly useless. of no value whatsoever.
it’s the alternate view that’s useful.
the fact of the disagreement is useless.
if you arent prepared to say what it is about your opinion that differs, there is no value.
disagreeing with someone’s view involves thinking. if you don’t think you can’t disagree.
and since i, how you just stated, must have an other view because i don’t agree with yours — well, that tells you that i do have a view.
and, i disagreed with that one sentence of yours. there is not much room for a lot of other views in this case, you know. “we’ll always tell you they’re great.” — “no.” now, what view do you think i’m expressing?
a machine can identify statements and issue disagreements. … where’s the value in that?
there’s no value at all in you simply saying you disagree.
it’s where the two views disagree that has the value. .. if you arent prepared to show how your view differers, then there’s no point you saying you disagree. – you might as well be a machine.
look, this isn’t really too complicated, you know.
i disagree with “we’ll always tell you they’re great.”
that leads to:
“not: we’ll always tell you they’re great.”
by disagreeing with your sentence, i actually disagreed with your use of the word “we.”
in other words: you’re using “we”, a universal quantifier, which you shouldn’t: “∀x” is just not true.
lol… there’s a whole spectrum of views other than the diametrically opposed “not”.
you can’t just assume that your view is the only alternative – even if it’s obvious to you that there’s only one possible other view, it may not be obvious to someone else who can think of two or three alternatives.
lol.
no, that doesn’t matter. it’s simple. either your statement is true, or it isn’t. a statement is true if that what it expresses corresponds with reality.
and “we’ll always tell you they’re great” just doesn’t correspond with reality.
(don’t give me crap about what reality is.)
like i said .. there’s a whole spectrum of ways that a statement can be disagreed with. If you’re not prepared to say what your particular way is, then it’s pointless …
… but .. eventually .. we get to the point that your particular disagreement with the statement is the use of “we”.
… nothing there about the view at all really … just a mechanical technicality.
i’m not sure why you bothered. Picking at the use of a word? .. no view to express?
ps …
“a statement is true if that what it expresses corresponds with reality.”
“(don’t give me crap about what reality is.)”
if you’re able or willing to substantiate your position, .. don’t introduce it.
and .. i gather .. for the sake of discussions involving alex, alex is the arbiter of truth.
is that right?
.. ahem .. insert the word “not” into the appropriate place above.
i’m sure you can spot the position.
i’m just saying that your statement is false. it is just not true. you don’t need any views for that. in fact, you can’t have any views on that.
you said: “every x has F”.
i said: “no”, meaning “it is not true that every x has F”.
there are no views to be expressed. your statement is false, and i can prove you wrong. i just have to find one x that does not have F to show you that your statement is wrong.
there are no views involved. you can’t see it either that way or the other. what you said was just wrong.
statements you could’ve given: “some x have F”, “most x have F”, “at least one x has F”.
lol .. i know you eventually got round to saying you think the statement’s false .. and i’m saying it’s a worthless comment.
you must have got that drift by now.
ok .. you think the statements false .. so what?
i think the statement’s true.
if you aren’t willing to substantiate why you think it’s false, then it’s a worthless disagreement.
…
i don’t care that you think it’s false .. i think it’s true. If you dont back it up then your disagreement’s a comment to be ignored.
fine.
i will not always tell her that they’re great.
so there. i just proved your statement wrong. and that’s that.
yeh … all you have to do is link to a statement where she expresses a personal opinion on something and you say she’s fulla shit or something … i mean .. you could be severely deluded about countering M .. hard evidence is needed.
Is this an argument… or a contradiction?
lol .. even better than the original.
that was a 3 hour argument – well worth the money.
Marina replied on August 21st, 2008 4:43 pm:
[...] but then I worry about it splitting everybody off into clicks. I liek the freshness that the new videos causes with the discussions.. I worry that BB’s are possibly passé.
aLx replied on August 21st, 2008 7:07 pm:
they’re not passé, they never will be. something like a forum is more or less the core of internet communication. there a billions of forums out there. for a good reason. [...]
well .. come on .. that’s not really an opinion that matters .. it’s a technical matter.
i was thinking something like:
Marina: “i think kittens are lovely.”
alex: “i wipe my bottom with kittens and flush them when i’ve finished.”
or perhaps …
Marina: “that George Bush. Sometimes i wonder if he’s sane.”
alex: “i wish he was my father”
what are bb’s….. blulleting boards,blackboards,the yellow things you shoot out of a bbgun?
bulletin boards.
it’s this discussion about forums, or, like, if it would be a good idea to add a forum to this site. i think it is, but … oh, well.
what do you mean, not an opinion that matters? wth.
it’s not substantive to her being. it’s not a significant contributing factor to her personality (i hope).
it’s an extraneous technical matter.
you’re on safe ground criticizing the font of this page, for instance.
… but .. i dont know if M actualy expresses any real personal opinions here. …. but .. that was the original point of my post … that i don’t think she has much freedom to post real personal opinions as Marina of HotForWords on this site.
“it’s this discussion about forums, or, like, if it would be a good idea to add a forum to this site. i think it is, but … oh, well.”
i dont think it would be easy to add a forum to this site, even if M wanted to …
… i had a little peruse of various Content Management Systems (of which Wordpress is one) .. wordpress does what it does well .. but forums isn’t it .. i think you could bolt one on . but it’d be messy.
I think the best option would be for a seperate forum installation which is linked to from within here. but M’s said she doesn’t like the idea because it might drain some of the energy from here.
On the other hand .. forums with their classified sections don’t continuously thrive. Unless there’s a *vast* number of active participating members, they’re usually empty.
A forum would be best for discussing technical detail of the site or long term matters.
bbPress.
oh .. integrates with Wordpress, eh? .. i wonder if there’s any working examples around to visit.
i found some info on bbPress here …
http://www.opensourcecms.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2204&Itemid=1&catid=75
this is a good site for getting a look at various forums (and other Content Management Systems) …
http://www.opensourcecms.com/index.php
+
i guess if it was serious, you’d have to have a good idea of exaclty how and why and how often, etc people would use it.
+
who’d do all the work!?
yeah, there’s examples.
what work? like, setting it up?
work .. such as …
first of all there’s the straight technical matter of exactly what needs to be done to set up a working system.
then there’s the design
but… let’s assume this site at the moment is very important, we can’t assume all will go well with implementing the add on. … my engineering background tells me to keep well away form adding complexity to an important working system. .. more complexity = more possiblitites for catastrophe … but putting that aside ..
.. the importnace of this site means the implementation should be trialled .. .. eg. create a copy of this site and implement the addon to the copy of the site.
… then have some people running round the site for a few weeks trying their hardest to see if they can break it somehow… but even if they can;t its not a ful test because there wont be big numbers of people that there are on the working hfw site.
so .. ok .. lets say this works on the trial system .. then .. the working system has to be implemented. .. and maintained too. … i’m not sure what would need to be done to the working forum part of the site.. but it’s sure to need some kind of attention from time to time ..
… i dont think it’s reasonable to expect M to deal with all this on her own…. it’d have to be a really big deal for her to attempt all that work. … i’d say, if M was offered $1,000,000 for implementing it, she might have a go. But .. the off chance that a handful of people might find it useful .. but no guarentees .. i dont think it’s worth considering if M doesnt have help .. and it’s not worth getting help just for that.
Miss M,
One more quick thought! In college a group of us had a blast reading (and re-reading) the James Bond novels authored by Ian Fleming. They are short wonderful books with vivid imagery and great stories (which the movies don’t follow). Your note reminded me of this joyful reading experience.
Thanks! Q
I read some of the James Bond novels as well, and Fleming is an AMAZING author! His books are SOOOO much better than the movies (except for the most recent Bond movie that seemed to be the closest to the novel.)
Fleming also wrote Chitti Chitti Bang Bang which is a great kids book.
M,
Thanks for the comment! I liked Casino Royale very much (though not as much as the Sean Connery movies). I can’t wait for Quantum of Solace which will be out soon. BTW, I think you would be terrific in a Bond movie. Let me be the first to nominate you!
Q
Dear Marina:
What a wonderful message! One of my all time favorite page burners is “The Secret History” by Donna Tartt. It’s still in print and is one of the best written and most gripping novels I have ever read.
Cheers! Q
Just how trashy is this line of novels? I have a incorruptible mind.
So would a man like it 
no way. “married lovers”? come on!
Just like a chick movie. lol
yeah, check it out:
“Cameron Paradise, a stunningly beautiful twenty-four-year-old personal trainer, flees her abusive boyfriend in Australia and ends up in L.A. Cameron soon gets a job at a private fitness club where she encounters the city’s most important players. She has plans to open her own studio, and while every man she meets comes on to her, she is focused on working hard and saving money to achieve her goal. Until she meets Ryan Lambert, that is. An extremely successful independent movie producer, he’s married to overly privileged Mandy Lambert, the daughter of Hamilton J. Heckerling, a Hollywood power-player son-of-a-bitch mogul. Ryan has never cheated on his demanding Hollywood Princess wife, but when he meets Cameron, all bets are off. Only internationally bestselling author Jackie Collins knows what happens when lust and desire collide with marriage and power. And the results lead to murder.”
–> link.
Oh ok I thought maybe it was the kind of book like we read when we were kids just to get a hard on.
Alex… the point of the post was that it was a random book I picked up and I thoroughly enjoyed the mindless escape of ready a trashy novel… which, I will go on the record as say, is BETTER THAN NOT READING AT ALL.. which is what is happening in the world.. people are reading less and less.
A trashy novel still works your imagination better than TV or a movie and without the ability to have a great imagination, some of our most famous inventions or discoveries may not have happened when they happened.
i know.
When is the next one coming?
.
Hello Marina,
You mention picking a novel at random. That requires a strong stomach, especially if the novel turns out to be horrible!
Listed below are some “pulp” items that I have enjoyed. I did not discover most them on my own, most of they were recommendations from someone else. Item (6) is links to two short poems — worth looking at them now!
1) Mickey Spillane, detective stories — The Long Wait, One Lonely Night.
2) Donald Hamilton, detective/adventure (some consider his Matt Helm series of novels to be an America version of the James Bond series).
3) As a rule, I do not enjoy Agatha Christie’s books. But the following four are exceptions: Death on the Nile, And Then There Were None, The A.B.C. Murders, and The Mysterious Mr. Quin.
4) In the past, I have watched (1 hour, black and white) Perry Mason shows on TV several times. I threw away my TV — if I had a TV, I would find it hard to resist watching them every time they came on! Also, Kojak and Streets of San Francisco.
5) There are also some movies I have enjoyed, but will skip this for now — except for mentioning Chocolat.
6) Poems: Rudyard Kipling’s If and Badger Clark’sThe Westerner(especially the last two lines).
–Hs4Mm
.
I agree with Marina. I have never seen a movie that was as good as what I read in the book version.
I do admit that I am an infrequent reader, though. It would take me a lifetime to learn by reading what I do by watching the Discovery Channel, History Channel, National Geographic channel, etc. (A wild and crazy guy, huh?)
In my China Culture class, my prof said that Mao Tse Dung read every book in the library. So much for any of his 5 year plans. My father’s advice was, “Everything in moderation.” Do you think I listened? Heck no, full steam ahead! But, why is it his words remain on my mind?
do you have a wife /fiance /girlfriend …?
Marina
You should check out my cousin’s website! Here’s the link: http://tropicaltimes.com
She has written one Romance novel it’s called Revenge Gifts.
t’s a really weird book! However, I find her personal writting more intertaining! Cllick on loose thoughts, that’s where the really good stuff is! Her Christmas letters are a must read during the holidays!
My bad the article page is where her letters are!
Here’s the link to that page: http://tropicaltimes.com/Articles.aspx
Hey Cufan what is that picture on your cousins Web Site
Never mind it’s mini lobsters. I went further into the gallery and saw a photo with the caption under it.
In fact she made some people upset after her book came out also!
I’m having a hard time reading what’s posted above. My mind is still fixated of that “fetish” video.
Marina,
I read a “Trashy Novel” for a China Culture class while in college. It shocked me, but I couldn’t put it down. I read it until midnight for a report due at 8:00 AM, hence burned by my strategy. I assume young males are fans and I am unsure whether to publish the book’s title on your blog. The book is X-rated, historical novel, with sections set in 1926, 1937, 1944, 1949, 1967, and 1983. Let me know if you want the title.
I am all for reading a “trashy” novel -it is better than not reading at all. And why not read something and fantasize a bit.
… not that I read these
(or hardly read them) because there are way tooooooo many great books around.
One of my favorite books lateley was “Peony” by Lisa See. It is a journey of love and destiny, desire and sorrow.. ah but not trashy in my eyes!
marina,
i cannot even begin to explain how strongly i agree with this. i’ve been trying to explain this to friends for years!! i don’t necessarily agree with your choice of authors, ha ha ha, but to each their own. i’m more of the stephen king dean koontz camp, but over the years have also found the writings of jonathon kellerman, tony hillerman, walter mosley, orson scott card, dean brown, bill bryson and michael chabon, not to mention the brilliant j.k. rowling! hopefully everyone will take your advice and READ!!!
..I read Michael Chapon’s book: The Amazing Adventures of Kavelier and Clay and enjoyed it very much.
i’ve read almost all if his works, if you’re interested in more, try Summerland, kinda geared towards a slightly younger audience maybe, but a wonderful read. and i also enjoyed The Yiddish Policeman’s Union. (needless to say, his big two, Wonder Boys and Mysteries of Pittsburgh are worth picking up also)
i love adventure novels. while i was in baghdad i read all of dan brown’s works and the dark tower series by King. those were all a really good read!
Marina, thank you for your new series of posts. At first, I thought, why doesn’t she do this series in a video, but I must confess, I love reading your penned autographic compositions.
Your video lessons are great, and your writing is excellent and I enjoy reading every bit of it. Just consider this; look what happened to JK Rowling. Yikes, I could have, should have…. well, you know the rest.
Maybe you could name your (permanent?) series, “Marina’s Diary” or “Marina’s Journals” or “Marina’s Reflections” or “HotForWriting” or something like that.
I absolutely agree with your recommendations above and also echo Bob’s comments way down there below. Hi Bob.
One of my English teachers in High School highly recommended pulp fiction (not the movie, but trashy paperbacks) and comic books like Mad Magazine and the like, besides the classics and highly touted authors like Dostoevsky, Hemingway and hundreds of others.
You know how at parties and various discussions, the subject that is often discussed is that women don’t understand men and men don’t know what women want. Right?
Well, I met this woman many years ago who recommend that if I wanted to know what women want, to start reading those trashy love novels one sees at the drug stores, especially the ones written by women. (That’s a hint guys – also watch Marina’s lesson on Women’s Dictionary 1 and 2 – Excellent videos)
Dang, I’ve got a thousand more things to say, but I better shut up for now. I want to read more about “Marina’s Thoughts and Reflections”
Hi, Klaus, I agree it would be nice to have a Marina’s diary/blog/whatever to complement the multimedia content of her web site.
Also I’d like to suggest a book review section where Marina, or anyone else, could say what they’re reading and whether they like it and for what reasons.
Thanks Bob, that was one of the thousand things I was going to say. I liked what you said about being “hooked on new areas of interest.” That has happened to me so many times.
Interestingly, some of the people that I may have disliked in the past, have become unwilling authors whose books I have enjoyed reading. Soooo much to read…. so little time.
I know what you mean. I used to read incessantly at one time in my life, then I gave in to the trend to playing with computers and got out of the habit of reading anything except magazines, manuals and screens.
{Note to self}
Must get back to reading for fun instead of just for knowledge.
reading:
charles bukowski, sibylle berg, maxx barry, frédéric beigbeder, philippe djian, michel houellebecq, tim staffel, matthias politycki, ludwig wittgenstein, michel foucault, noam chomsky, max goldt, tommy jaud, t. c. boyle, sven regener, funny van dannen, douglas adams, irvine welsh, chuck palahniuk, kinky friedman, stephen fry, charlotte roche, jeff noon, tom sharpe, selim özdogan, manuel vázquez montalbán, jeffery deaver, iris johansen, benjamin kunkel, franz kafka.
A very good list aLx and especially some of my favorites chomsky, kafka, wittgenstein and many others.
thanks, karl.
as you can imagine, this list is a short one and very incomplete, but i didn’t really feel like looking through all those books in my shelves.
plus, that stupid bitch of exex-girlfriend kept all of my kafka and djian books. that’s like, 14 books or something. and that really sucks.
I like Stephen King
Very Good
In highschool they decided to teach “english skills” using sports literature but, I , as an elective course pursued poetry ect.. Since Marina, you are so bright,! how about lyrics as a request to justice-fy for your gifted work 
I should share a treasure I discovered this year: P.G. Wodehouse’s “Jeeves” series…audio books. There’s this one terribly British fellow, who sounds like Terry-Thomas, who reads these light novels with great skill. His name is Jonathan Cecil. I normally read history, biography or literature, but I decided to try Wodehouse at the recommendation of Christopher Hitchens.
By dumb luck, I ordered a Jonathan Cecil CD and it was funny. I’ve listened to all of his stuff, now, and tried other readers of this series, and Jonathan Cecil is the one I recommend. Pick them up used at Amazon.com. I suppose you should start out with “The Code of the Woosters”, “Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves”, or “Jeeves in the Morning”. You’re in for a treat.
Hi Marina I have a word request Garbage this hole fucking world is garbage
Try the Necroscope Series by Brian Lumley,not all that much sex but when it does happen it is intense! Just imagine I was a Wampheri and instead of stroking I was growing(protoplasmic flesh of shape-changer)into You! and that’s the tame stuff! when Harry Keogh and the Lady Karen get together they *really* GET TOGETHER!!!
tryant
My Dear Teacher,
Although I agree with you that reading something one is interested in is certainly better than reading something one does not care for, I must say I don’t share your taste for “trash.” I’m rather the opposite; when I was fourteen, my father gave me a short story to read. It was about a clerk who only dreamed of having a warm coat. Finaly, he got one. Then, while walking home in his new coat, we was robbed and the coat was stolen. He froze, got sick, and died. Thus was my introduction to Russian literature and the story was The Cloak by Gogol. As you can see from my story and the fact that I am writing here – I am still hooked
See, the power of great literature is that it stays with you for life. Trashy stuff gets you through layovers in airports.
However, for you, my dear teacher, I would buy you an ankle length coat of sable (faux, if that’s your sensibility) and would not care if you kept Pushkin or Amanda McIntyre in your pocket.
Lucky
I hunt faux for breakfast.
I am hungry fur something real.
Be careful you don’t make a faux pas.
Hey HFWs, wondering if you can help me here please?
Recently, I completed some exams/ tests which threw a spanner in the works… According to ‘they’, they say that I scored highly, approx 90% in each Spanish, Italian, French and German but really poorly in English, gaining a low 25% understanding of the language, which is my native tounge! I have never stidies these other languages before, maybe a little of French at school years ago but not enough to speak with.
Am some what troubled by the outcome of these results. One of they, did kindly call me to say that maybe at school, I was never tought English Grammer correctly but could not explain why I should have scored highly in the others! Any thoughts or advice on this from anyone please? Is most perplexing, something I would care do about to help improve on. I do read, I can write, I do understand English, so what can the issue be here?
Any thoughts or advice most welcomed….
Did the test contain many words from Spanish,Italian,French and German that have been incorporated into English? Some test are kinda tricky/wierd like that.
tryant
not sure to be honest. I know what you mean, these were a mixture of words which instinctivly made sense rather than remembering or seeing a similar patterns in words before. I think I may have even guessed most of them!
I know my spelling is awful plus verbal quite poor, somewhat stutteringly articualte mixing up words incorrectly with English, hense my interest here with HFWs as with my loveing bond with the OED since I can recall, to try and better myself.
Remembering also when travelling through Asia, I could quickly grasp the basics in both verbal and written over the short time I was there, managed very well, picking words up very easily as with verbal pronounciations. More focussed maybe, not taken for granted as with English??
…as Marina here suggests, reading more would be an advantage, just have a very short concentration span at the best of times if its not grabbing me I do get bored very soon. Altough 100% if is of interest to the point of knowing and perfecting every little detail….can be dibilitating at times, either way! Frustrating. Always happy to face my week points just like to know the best way to go about it to kick the gremlins aside! Cant really explain!
Hello matalexwolf, I understand and relate to your anxiety and your concern and I have a similar story to tell. My first language is German, but when I came to the US, I knew zero about the English language, but excelled in it in three years winning spelling bee contests and graduating in the top 10%.
All the professionals and friends who tried to come up with a reason for why this happened, have failed. A met a person many years ago who hit the nail squarely on the head with his explanation.
I’m sure that you are familiar with measurements of IQ and possibly EQ (emotional quotient) and other psych type measurements. Where the measurements fail is to account for the subject of nurture and alienation. Of course, some of these psych tests will reflect some of this in the metrics, but you don’t want to hear about numbers. You want answers to your question like the one you asked above; “…so what can the issue be here?”
I would be happy to share my experiences with you that may shed some light on yours. Send me a message on YT. Click on my username.
It seems to depend on what “they” meant by “understanding of the language”.
Fair enough, I see spelling errors and typos in your posts, (do you use a spell-checker? Firefox has one built in.) but they are perfectly comprehensible. Maybe “they” were getting sniffy about your writing style which “they” might have felt is too colloquial.
Anyway, I don’t see you have much to worry about, unless you are trying to win a prize in a grammar competition.
Oh! Beowulf in Anglo-Saxon is a Must!
http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/asbeo.htm
I tried to read that once! ROUGH!!!
HeHeHe
I am sure you got farther than me..
The story of the original text is interesting too.
Saved from a fire
And stuff …
I read it school once, I liked it. It’s the classical heroic epic.
hmmm…lately, my favorite books have been nonfiction short stories about the stupid ways people off themselves & thereby improve the gene pool…The Darwin Awards, of course…
but others have included The Beak of The Finch by Jonathan Weiner and Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces…but I still enjoy re-reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes tales, H.P. Lovecraft, especially Dreamquest of Unknown Kadath and anything by Lord Dunsany…
lol…my age is showing, methinks…
What a nice idea to set up an “I like” category. I know that lots of women like to read “romance novels.” They usually have a happy ending for the heroine.
I hope you add other categories. For instance, I know you like the Blu Jam Cafe for breakfast, so I hope you mention food, sometimes.
Also, you said you are good at computers, so I hope you tell us what you like in software programs and video gadgets. (I need to set up a video studio, and now, I’m “reading books” to learn how to become halfway as good as you are at this.)
So, please keep informing your dear students, like me! seesixcm6
Here’s all I hve to say; print is slowly dying. I love reading, nothing educational, mostly Sci-fi stuff. (Yah I’m a total nerd) but Marina’s right, I polish off a good book in a day or two if I really enjoy it, anything else is just torture. You just gotta finda what clicks for you and you’ll be fine.
I have never heard that term: Polish Off a Book
It’s a fairly common expression in the UK – to polish something off means to do whatever you do with it quickly and completely.
Examples:- She polished off that meal in a flash.
He polished off the ironing in half an hour.
Contrast that with “dusting off” something, meaning to look at or access something which has been neglected for a long time.
Sorry, did I misspell it (polish or pollish?)
When I find an author I like I’ll read every thing this person wrote.
I do too! And then I get really bummed when I’ve read them all!
*sigh*
IAfter I read all of the books I get excited about the next book he/she is writting and sometimes start all over from the beginning and re-read the old books. For series this keeps all of the charactors fresh. I like Stephen Coonts, he writes action/adventures.
Almost anything by Kurt Vonnegut will
keep you interested like that. Very addictive…
Heinlein, Asimov, Clancy; all good reads..
If you like Jackie Collins, then Philip Roth
(Goodbye Columbus) or Anne Rice
(Interview with the Vampire) might interest
you. Westworld, Logan’s Run, The Firm…
all very quick reads – but fun for a day.
Fancy Font
One persons trash is an others treasure
I might start with this one; it seems to be about Marina.
Oh Uh Wow!
I am afraid of books now. That does seem like it would be fun to read Miss Orlova, but again I believe I have developed a phobia of reading books. I used to also read those self help books. The books I enjoyed reading were actually those Fantasy Novels. MAYBE I will pick one of those up, oh but there are so many and it’s like nothing is better then that book and or those series of books, so maybe I’ll go for a mystery or trashy novel.
Anyways, I read philosophy when I was younger but only when I was high.
I am sober now so that explains phobia of reading. I will tell you though that if I go out and get a book to read it will be this one. Because this is the first time in forever someone has recommended a book that isn’t self help book.
It seems there is an abundance of self help out there. But that is other help, not self.
Peace,
TOF
So I read the amazon preview and I’ve gotta say if the book was in my hands I wouldn’t set it down.
Alright the last word of the preview was “and”…
I am really afraid of books.
I would add that you can get just as stale reading romance novels, murder mysteries, or spy books, if that is all you ever read.
But I agree wholeheartedly that reading is a waste of time if you are not enjoying it. My advice would be to vary what you read.
By all means … by any means, follow Marina’s exhortation to read something light and enjoyable, but mix things up a bit and you’ll be astonished how much enjoyment you can get out of it.
I remember one wet weekend when I was stuck in an unfamiliar city, where I knew no-one and had nothing to do for three days. I went to the local library and just pulled off the shelves three books on subjects about which I knew absolutely nothing, and by the time I had finished them I was completely hooked on three new areas of interest.
Wow I agree,
If you read the same material it gets dry.
I first started reading really any books in the 7th grade when I broke my arm during Xmas vacation. My mom got me the first three harry potter books and I was hooked and glued to those from start to finish. I never did read ALL of the books though, I outgrew them and never wanted to go back. Again, I am afraid of reading books.