Blog Readers Weigh In

From Becki McSwain–And in follow-up to Reading Around’s post on Jimmy Fallon’s bookclub, Annie Bot is a great read for those who wonder how we’ll be integrating robots with humans. It’s multi-layered and ethically thought-provoking. Word of caution: it’s very sexual. So if you find that offensive and you don’t want to skip over those parts, you might want to pass on this book. On the other hand…LOL.
Would love the chance to discuss with anyone who’s read it. Let me know and we’ll go to lunch.

(more on AI and literature in a post appearing soon)

From SueEllen Hanan–If you read Oprah’s current pick , Long Island, make sure you have read Brooklyn by the same author.  Long Island is a sequel.  
I highly recommend both books..

The two books SueEllen mentions are written by Colm Toibin, an Irish writer of twelve novels as well as short stories and essays. Toibin’s role model, so to speak, is Henry James. Toibin wrote a historical novel about James entitled The Master and also has a book of critical pieces about James. Toibin is perhaps best known for Brooklyn, which was published in 2009 and made into a movie. Toibin was very pleased with the movie, which is sometimes not the case when a book is turned into film. Long Island is the sequel to Brooklyn and begins with the herione of the series, Eilis, returning from Ireland after being away from the United States, her adopted country, for twenty years. In addition to Toibin’s superb writing, readers fall in love with Eilis while reading Brooklyn and have waited a long time to find out how she is doing!