Sun - December 26, 2004
I Am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe
finished 12/26.............. contemporary
fiction.............. rating 5 (mixed)
Tom Wolfe may have got it all right in Bonfire
of the Vanities but in I Am Charlotte Simmons his attempt to give the same kind
of ironic, satirical treatment to college life falls really flat.
The only reason that I listened to this all the way to the end was because I cared about Charlotte and perhaps Adam and Jo-Jo, as well. Finishing was truly a chore; it was so boring that I was able to play video games and make a grocery list for New Years. He spends way too much time on each scene.
Why did it fall so flat? Several reasons spring to mind.
First, the sex is too much and too stupid. I felt sorry for everyone. Pathetic. I guess Wolfe won the Bad Sex Award from the Literary Review. Also mentioned by CNN.
Second, because his view of college life seems to be what he wants it to be, not what it really is. His readers know the college stereotypes from personal experience. Wolfe's stereotypes lack depth of any sort. Only Charlotte, who the reader may not "know" from personal experience, is more real. With Bonfire the stereotypes were less well known.
It's far, far too, too long, about 500 pages or 20 listening hours too long. Wolfe seems to ramble on and on, ad nauseum, regaling the reader with the limited self awareness of adolescents. The word "insouciant" got soooo old.
There's way too little discussion of the two philosophical points Wolfe raises in an off-hand way. The first is that an organism will change to meet necessity in a new environment, the second was that a person has about the same amount of free will as a thrown stone has mid-arc.
The vulgarity becomes tedius. It may reflect campus life but wolfe overdid it. The reader starts wondering what wolfe is getting out of this.
On the good side I did care about the characters, in fact, that's why I listened to the whole thing. I wanted to find out what happened to Charlotte. Also, I laughed out loud several times. And when this book was good it was very good, but when it was bad it was horrid.
Overall, I was very disappointed. Wolfe was good up to The Bonfire of the Vanities and then he started slipping badly.
The only reason that I listened to this all the way to the end was because I cared about Charlotte and perhaps Adam and Jo-Jo, as well. Finishing was truly a chore; it was so boring that I was able to play video games and make a grocery list for New Years. He spends way too much time on each scene.
Why did it fall so flat? Several reasons spring to mind.
First, the sex is too much and too stupid. I felt sorry for everyone. Pathetic. I guess Wolfe won the Bad Sex Award from the Literary Review. Also mentioned by CNN.
Second, because his view of college life seems to be what he wants it to be, not what it really is. His readers know the college stereotypes from personal experience. Wolfe's stereotypes lack depth of any sort. Only Charlotte, who the reader may not "know" from personal experience, is more real. With Bonfire the stereotypes were less well known.
It's far, far too, too long, about 500 pages or 20 listening hours too long. Wolfe seems to ramble on and on, ad nauseum, regaling the reader with the limited self awareness of adolescents. The word "insouciant" got soooo old.
There's way too little discussion of the two philosophical points Wolfe raises in an off-hand way. The first is that an organism will change to meet necessity in a new environment, the second was that a person has about the same amount of free will as a thrown stone has mid-arc.
The vulgarity becomes tedius. It may reflect campus life but wolfe overdid it. The reader starts wondering what wolfe is getting out of this.
On the good side I did care about the characters, in fact, that's why I listened to the whole thing. I wanted to find out what happened to Charlotte. Also, I laughed out loud several times. And when this book was good it was very good, but when it was bad it was horrid.
Overall, I was very disappointed. Wolfe was good up to The Bonfire of the Vanities and then he started slipping badly.
Posted at 11:49 PM
Sat - December 25, 2004
The Tale of Despereaux by Kate Decamillo
The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a
Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread ..... children's fiction /
Newbery Award .......... rating ? (excellent)
This is a magical story, a morality tale, a
tale of light and love and hope and greed and stupidity and the fight we each
have to overcome the darkness in our hearts. Like the long title says, it's the
story of a mouse, a Princess, some soup and a spool of thread but also a cook
and some rats and a King. It's about 4-6th grade reading material.
Posted at 10:17 PM
Fri - December 24, 2004
Chronicles Vol 1 by Bob Dylan read by Sean Penn
finished 12/24 .............. non-fiction -
memoir .............. rating 9
I listened to the abridged version but it was
really good and although I don't usually listen to abridged (in fact, they piss
me off) this one was worth it.
It's an odd memoir; it's not chronological and it kind of flows along from thougtht to thought. He uses a lot of metaphors but really, he's a poet. And the memoirs are very down to earth. He doesn't glamorize himself at all and mostly talks about other people, musicians. I try to take Dylan at face value and I think I understand him a bit better for having read (listened to) it.
There's an excellent October interview with Dylan at NPR :
It's an odd memoir; it's not chronological and it kind of flows along from thougtht to thought. He uses a lot of metaphors but really, he's a poet. And the memoirs are very down to earth. He doesn't glamorize himself at all and mostly talks about other people, musicians. I try to take Dylan at face value and I think I understand him a bit better for having read (listened to) it.
There's an excellent October interview with Dylan at NPR :
Posted at 04:00 PM
Thu - December 23, 2004
checking the year out
I missed a whole bunch more than one! I'm
going through the records of the reading groups I belong to and finding more
books that I never did get logged in. That's why this whole bunch is like this.
I don't even remember some of them but as I
look them up something comes back. I'm kind of overwhelmed by the number I
missed!
Posted at 08:46 PM
I'm reading fast now
because I want to get to 100 books
so I'm finishing some that I'd started earlier
in the year and reading some young adult fiction that was on my shelves mostly
dealing with local or family history. There was one straight children's book,
Happy Birthday To You by Dr. Seuss which I received as a birthday gift
from my niece several years ago but had never read. I have a whole lot of
children's books in the other room but that feels too much like cheating. I
think that I now have 4 books to go to get to 100. Whoopie!!!
Posted at 07:38 AM
The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean
finished 12/23.............. non-fiction
............ rating 7.5
This is a book about people, especially one,
who get obsessed with orchids, particularly the ghost orchid. It's a great book
when Orlean sticks to the subject but she has a tendency to stray into unrelated
areas for too long. John Laroche is an orchid thief, an obsessed orchid thief
who gets busted for helping/using some Seminole Indians to work with him in
"harvesting" (poaching / stealing) the endangered ghost orchid out of the
Fakahatchee Swamp.
Posted at 07:33 AM
An Untamed Land by Lauraine Snelling
finished 12/23 ................ general
fiction ............. rating 6
This is the story of a Norwegian family
settling in the Red River Valley, North Dakota, in the 1880s. It's not the
greatest literature but it's my family's story so it has a certain draw. Parts
were very interesting but I prefer Rolvaag.
Posted at 05:22 AM
Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino
finished 12/22............ fantasy, short story
collection ............ rating 8
Hilarious bunch of really fantastic stories all
based on some element of science, usually physics.
Posted at 05:14 AM
In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan
finished 12/22/ ............ general fiction
............. rating 6
Not nearly as good as Trout Fishing.
Posted at 05:12 AM
Trout Fishing in America by Richard Brautigan
finished 12/22 ................ general fiction
................... rating 9
I read some of this many years ago but I read
it more carefully now. It was better this time for some reason, perhaps because
I'm wider read; I have more experience with non-traditional texts. I don't
know. I really enjoyed it.
Posted at 05:11 AM
Wed - December 22, 2004
Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Chid
finished (more or less) 12/20/04
........non-fiction cook book ............ rating 9
Julia Child is mostly way over my head but I
used to have this cookbook many years ago so when my reading group read it I
bought it again. We're cooking something for the month of December. This is
rough. I looked at the potato dishes and they are laden with all sorts of
things I can't eat. I have browsed through this book to the point I have
actually skimmed it. I'll have to do further research.
Posted at 07:58 PM
Children of the Dust Bowl by Jerry Stanley
finished 12/22 .............. US history /
young adult ...........rating 8
Excellent review of what happened in Kern and
Tulare counties in the days of the "Grapes of Wrath" by Steinbeck. This is
where I live now and I have always been intrigued by the experiences of those
brave and hard-working people who came out west when the dust bowl destroyed the
Midlands. This book is very heavy on pictures and it's inspirational and
heart-warming.
Posted at 07:32 PM
The Journal of Otto Peltonen by William Durbin
finished 12/22 ........... non-fiction /
history / young adult ........... rating 8
My father's family was from Finland and settled
near Hibbing so this book was most appealing to me. I recognized many of the
names. My family did not work in the mines but had earned the money to homestead
while in Duluth. My grandmother's first husband immigrated to avoid the Czar's
draft. She followed him a year later. They worked in Duluth for about 2 years
and were able to buy a small farm on the Mississippi river. It was a very hard
life.
Posted at 07:05 PM
The Tarnished Eye by Judith Guest
finished 12/20 ........... mystery
.............. rating 4
An okay book. A serial murderer is on the
loose when a multiple killing takes place. Nothing to remember. I thought it
ended abruptly.
Posted at 03:53 PM
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
finished 12/22 ............ classic British
fiction (1927) ........... rating 10
Good book. Stream of consciousness through
several characters. Themes of relationships between men and women, chaos,
destruction and imo, WWI is very, very important as a theme and , in various
aspects, the signified.
Posted at 03:52 PM
Eleanor Roosevelt by Blanche Wiesen Cook
finished 12/20 ............. non-fiction -
biography .......... rating 8
This book is written from a feminist perspective,
and it shows a woman born of wealth taking up the causes of women,
Progressivism, charities and politics. She was anti-war and there were those who
called her a Bolshevik. After her husband (FDR) was found to be having an
affair Eleanor simply took her own life into her own hands and independently
forged her own identity.
The sexual information in this book is more than has been published in the mainstream prior to this and it has caused some controversy.
The sexual information in this book is more than has been published in the mainstream prior to this and it has caused some controversy.
Posted at 03:49 PM
Sun - December 19, 2004
In The Ghost Country by Peter Hillary
In The Ghost Country: A Lifetime Spent on
the Edge by Peter Hillary and John
Elder
finished 12/18........... non-fiction - adventure ........... rating 4?
finished 12/18........... non-fiction - adventure ........... rating 4?
This was a very odd book. Probably one of the
worst I've read this year. It seemed to be written for people who were very
familiar with explorers and adventurers as it really did not give enough
background info for the memoirs of Hillary. For this reason I found myself as
lost as the polar explorers at times.
I was expecting a book about the 1998 trip to the South Pole as made by Hillary and John Muir and Eric Philips. Nope. This was Hillary's version all interspersed with all his other adventures and all the people who have died as well as the trips and animosities of many previous explorations. The book was overwritten also so it was just plain hard to keep track of what was happening.
This may have been Hillary's problem too as he trudged through the snow and lost his mind.
But the book does not make sense either. Something is wrong. on page 331 it says, Day sixty-nine, January eleven... " and then on page 332 it says, "Day seventy-one, December thirteen..." who's getting confused? Is time going backwards? If the diaries are in error it's never explained. I think that the December entry is incorrect and should have read January thirteen. Typo? Bad one.
Another thing is that it seems to be implied but not spoken that there was an outpost of some sort at the South Pole with people waiting for them.
Bekah
I was expecting a book about the 1998 trip to the South Pole as made by Hillary and John Muir and Eric Philips. Nope. This was Hillary's version all interspersed with all his other adventures and all the people who have died as well as the trips and animosities of many previous explorations. The book was overwritten also so it was just plain hard to keep track of what was happening.
This may have been Hillary's problem too as he trudged through the snow and lost his mind.
But the book does not make sense either. Something is wrong. on page 331 it says, Day sixty-nine, January eleven... " and then on page 332 it says, "Day seventy-one, December thirteen..." who's getting confused? Is time going backwards? If the diaries are in error it's never explained. I think that the December entry is incorrect and should have read January thirteen. Typo? Bad one.
Another thing is that it seems to be implied but not spoken that there was an outpost of some sort at the South Pole with people waiting for them.
Bekah
Posted at 10:19 AM
Sat - December 11, 2004
The Beach House by James Patterson
finished 12/4/04 ........... contemporary
fiction / mystery ............... rating 6
Typical murder mystery in which brother of
deceased victim is an attorney who goes after the rich killers. A lot of sex
and action.
Posted at 10:03 PM
Baudolino by Umberto Eco
Finished 12/11/04 ......... contemporary
fiction - Italy ............ rating 8
Funny account of a young crusader trying to
find the land of Prestor John and collecting religious relics and ideas on the
way. This isn't nearly as good as "Foucault's Pendulum" or "The Name of the
Rose" but it's better than "The Island of the Day Before."
Posted at 10:00 PM
The Colony of Unrequited Dreams by Wayne Johnston
finished 11/14 ............. contemporary
fiction ............ rating 8
Interesting fictionalized version of the life
of Joey Smallwood, the prime minister of Newfoundland when it joined Canada.
The characters are great, the feeling for Newfoundland definitely there.
Posted at 09:57 PM
The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki
finished 12-2-04.............
non-fiction/business .............. rating 8
This is a very entertaining book about a theory
so simple that I'd call it common sense. The entertaining part is all the
examples of "group think." The simple theory is that appropriate groups come up
with better solutions than individuals.
Posted at 09:43 PM
We go to The Nutcracker in Fresno
Becky, Noelle, Grace and Nana went to see The
Nutcracker in Fresno. A great, great day!
The William Saroyan Theater in Fresno is really
beautiful and the ballet was perfect.
Posted at 09:20 PM
Fri - December 3, 2004
The Inner Circle by T.C. Boyle
finished 12/3/04 .............. contemporary
fiction/historical............ rating 7.5
Funny book about a weird guy as told by his
assistant. The sex gets tedious and boring for awhile but overall it's a pretty
fun read.
Posted at 10:06 PM
Sat - November 27, 2004
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
finished 11-26 ............... sci/historical
fiction ............... rating 8.5
Good book but not a 10. It's way too long
covering in 10 pages what a normal book would take about 5. This book could have
been half as long and done the same thing. But the length does get the
attention of readers and reviewers I
suppose.
That said, it's a fascinating look at cryptography and the history is very fun to read. I'm not that big on the war stuff but characters were great and the modern day computer sections held my rapt attention. The Greek mythology mentioned toward the end was a nice touch.
That said, it's a fascinating look at cryptography and the history is very fun to read. I'm not that big on the war stuff but characters were great and the modern day computer sections held my rapt attention. The Greek mythology mentioned toward the end was a nice touch.
Posted at 08:28 AM
Mon - November 22, 2004
August Short Stories
Rapuccini's Daughter by Nathanial Hawthorne, A
Very Old Man With Enormous Wings by Gabriel Marquez Garcia, Count Cagliostro,
The Moonlit Road by Ambrose Pierce
Rapuccini's Daughter by Nathanial Hawthorne,
A very interesting piece about a scientist his daughter and good vs evil.
A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings by Gabriel Marquez Garcia,
This was some early magical realism. great stuff. What would you do if you found an angel?
Count Cagliostro by Leo Tolstoy
Was he or wasn't he? Historical fiction of pre-revolutionary Russia with a lot of "truth." Moral tale from the master.
The Moonlit Road by Ambrose Pierce
Interesting study of ghosty stuff.
A very interesting piece about a scientist his daughter and good vs evil.
A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings by Gabriel Marquez Garcia,
This was some early magical realism. great stuff. What would you do if you found an angel?
Count Cagliostro by Leo Tolstoy
Was he or wasn't he? Historical fiction of pre-revolutionary Russia with a lot of "truth." Moral tale from the master.
The Moonlit Road by Ambrose Pierce
Interesting study of ghosty stuff.
Posted at 09:10 PM
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
finished November 20...............
non-fiction/science?.............. rating 3
I just don't care for reading about dead
people. The humor didn't help. Others may find this book great. It's truly not
my cuppa.
Posted at 09:01 PM
A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn
finished November 20................
non-fiction US history ................ rating 10
This is an important book. I don't agree with
the findings as I think there is too little evidence to support the weight of
Zinn's polemic but prior to this book there was virtually
none.
This is the story of the history of the US from the pov (as Zinn sees it) of the Native American, the slave, women, union workers, socialists, etc. All the underclass. He puts forth the idea that what few social reforms have been made, have been made to appease the middle class so that they will continue to compete with the lower classes and not look at the upper classes.
But the story of the Native, the Slave, and the rest of them has not been examined as perhaps we should. There is another side to the history books and this book is the outline. It needs to be filled in with footnotes and sources, it needs a less confrontational approach. Perhaps we will see more history written about these "people."
This is the story of the history of the US from the pov (as Zinn sees it) of the Native American, the slave, women, union workers, socialists, etc. All the underclass. He puts forth the idea that what few social reforms have been made, have been made to appease the middle class so that they will continue to compete with the lower classes and not look at the upper classes.
But the story of the Native, the Slave, and the rest of them has not been examined as perhaps we should. There is another side to the history books and this book is the outline. It needs to be filled in with footnotes and sources, it needs a less confrontational approach. Perhaps we will see more history written about these "people."
Posted at 08:58 PM
Thu - November 11, 2004
JR by William Gaddis
finished 11/10 ............ general fiction /
postmodern ........... rating 8
I know that this is a fantastic, remarkable
novel. I think it probably gets much better on the second, third or even fourth
readings. The book is about how everything, particularly art and artists, sells
out to commodification, it becomes a commodity. The story is told in a series
of dialogues or scenes with no chapter breaks. The scenes just kind of merge
into each other. The phone might ring in one character's life, you read the
dialogue and when the phone hangs up the action takes place in the other
character's life. Or they meet on the street.
The hero is an 11 year old boy who goes on a school field trip to visit some business and stock companies. The class buys a stock. JR figures that this isn't so hard; he's a wheeler-dealer by nature, and he enters the fray. And fray is what it is. By the end of the tale JR amasses a fortune on paper with a phone booth office and a teacher front man. There are dozens of characters, some of whom are just plain funny and lovable and others who are sickening. You can tell who's who by the language they use but you have to learn how to do this.
The book is very, very intense and very, very long. Either nothing happens for pages - except Gaddis struttin' his stuff - or the scene changes and you have to reread. Overall, it felt like Gaddis had a really negative attitude toward everything when he wrote this. I guess people love or hate this book; me, I think I would love it if I could read it another couple times.
The hero is an 11 year old boy who goes on a school field trip to visit some business and stock companies. The class buys a stock. JR figures that this isn't so hard; he's a wheeler-dealer by nature, and he enters the fray. And fray is what it is. By the end of the tale JR amasses a fortune on paper with a phone booth office and a teacher front man. There are dozens of characters, some of whom are just plain funny and lovable and others who are sickening. You can tell who's who by the language they use but you have to learn how to do this.
The book is very, very intense and very, very long. Either nothing happens for pages - except Gaddis struttin' his stuff - or the scene changes and you have to reread. Overall, it felt like Gaddis had a really negative attitude toward everything when he wrote this. I guess people love or hate this book; me, I think I would love it if I could read it another couple times.
Posted at 01:10 PM
Tue - November 9, 2004
Rembrandt's Eyes by Simon Schama
finished 11/7............. non-fiction art
history ................. 10........I cannot say enough about this book!
This is the best non-fiction I've read this
year. At 700 plus pages it better be good but it's outstanding. Schama has a
wonderful style, knowledgeable and yet flowing. My criticisms would be that he
digresses way too much for the reader to be able to keep track of his main
point. Another criticism would be that he is a bit more flowery than the subject
calls for and a bit too reverent of his subject.
But Schama's main point is that although Rembrandt and Rubens are usually thought of as totally different types of painters, one Calvinist, one Catholic Baroque, Rembrandt was actually mimicking Rubens in many respects due to an "anxiety of influence."
I wrote about a hundred ks of info on this book. It's available at the history biography book group on Yahoo.
But Schama's main point is that although Rembrandt and Rubens are usually thought of as totally different types of painters, one Calvinist, one Catholic Baroque, Rembrandt was actually mimicking Rubens in many respects due to an "anxiety of influence."
I wrote about a hundred ks of info on this book. It's available at the history biography book group on Yahoo.
Posted at 06:20 AM
Fri - October 22, 2004
The Bell by Iris Murdoch
finished 10/20/04............ contemporary
literary fiction / England ............. rating 7.5
Taking place in a religious community
associated with an cloistered Abby, the characters in this book are all
painfully human and mostly searching for a way out of their own
confinements.
It reads like a murder mystery but there are nuances, symbolism, themes, and ideas (?) which make the story on many more levels than even the best thriller. Murdoch is always working on the idea of ideas (Plato) and their ultimate reality and this book is no different. Do ideals have to be modified to accommodate human nature? Murdoch is a master of describing human nature and each character is perfect. It's the relationships between the characters that are difficult.
Some of the more obvious themes are self-awareness and there are several characters who could use some. Religion and spirituality is another theme and the one that I kept coming back to was that of entrapment and confinement, surrender and release.
It reads like a murder mystery but there are nuances, symbolism, themes, and ideas (?) which make the story on many more levels than even the best thriller. Murdoch is always working on the idea of ideas (Plato) and their ultimate reality and this book is no different. Do ideals have to be modified to accommodate human nature? Murdoch is a master of describing human nature and each character is perfect. It's the relationships between the characters that are difficult.
Some of the more obvious themes are self-awareness and there are several characters who could use some. Religion and spirituality is another theme and the one that I kept coming back to was that of entrapment and confinement, surrender and release.
Posted at 09:02 PM
Death Comes For the Archbishop by Willa Cather
finished 10/4/04........... US literary fiction
................ rating 10
This book is set in 19th century New Mexico and
follows the stories of Father Latour and his vicar, Father
I read this fairly quickly and then realized that there was a whole lot more to it than met the eye. I was intrigued and went right back and read it again. I love doing that with the good books, the ones I can't quite put down, I want another go at this, while the plot is still fresh in my mind, and see what else is there.
And there was soooo much more there in this beautiful, yes spiritual, book. I found so many interesting themes, so much wonderful subtle symbolism and so much love for the people and the land and the Church. And there is so much difference between the Mexicans and the Indians and the French priests, all the love will not make them see religion or spirituality in the same way. They can't understand each other.
The book is loosely based on the true life story of Father Lamy and his work in the area. It is, imo, far and away Cather's best work.
I read this fairly quickly and then realized that there was a whole lot more to it than met the eye. I was intrigued and went right back and read it again. I love doing that with the good books, the ones I can't quite put down, I want another go at this, while the plot is still fresh in my mind, and see what else is there.
And there was soooo much more there in this beautiful, yes spiritual, book. I found so many interesting themes, so much wonderful subtle symbolism and so much love for the people and the land and the Church. And there is so much difference between the Mexicans and the Indians and the French priests, all the love will not make them see religion or spirituality in the same way. They can't understand each other.
The book is loosely based on the true life story of Father Lamy and his work in the area. It is, imo, far and away Cather's best work.
Posted at 09:02 PM
The Rubicon by Tom Holland
finished 10/22 ......... non-fiction / history
............. rating 5 (?)
Roman history is just not my thing. There is so
much senseless violence that I am repelled. The names are difficult. I enjoyed
the first half far more than the last half and there were some interesting
things scattered throughout but overall I was confused and frustrated. This was
a very hard book to read! Parts were very interesting but the Romans were
warlike and the book seemed repetitious. The interesting parts were about the
violence in Roman politics, and the little bit about the common people.
Posted at 08:57 PM
Sun - October 3, 2004
Naked in Baghdad by Anne Garrels
finished 10/3/04............ reporting Iraq
war ............... rating 7.5
Anne Garrels is an international correspondent
for NPR and has reported from all over the world. This time she lets us in on
the background of reporting in a war-zone. We learn about the ins and outs of
getting visas, hotel rooms, escorts and paying bribes. Interspersed are emails
from her husband Vint to their friends and family. The book is both funny and
intense, informative and personal.
Posted at 08:10 PM
Kristen Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset
finished 10/3/04........... world fiction,
Norway.................. rating 8.5
This is the story of a willful teenage girl
who, against her father's wishes, chooses the wrong kind of man for her future
husband with all the unfortunate results. The tale is timeless, the setting is
medieval Norway. Norwegian prose is sparse and Nunnelly translation is
wonderful, I think. I don't know Norwegian but I've read other books by
Norwegians and they are sparing with words.
The relationship and the battles between Kristen and her parents and her conscience and the Catholic church and her desires and what's "right" is outstandingly developed by Undset. I thought that really it was nothing more than a period romance but the underlying themes and ideas are all played out perfectly.
Also, Undset is the daughter of a scholar of medieval Norway; the "period" aspect is authentic.
The relationship and the battles between Kristen and her parents and her conscience and the Catholic church and her desires and what's "right" is outstandingly developed by Undset. I thought that really it was nothing more than a period romance but the underlying themes and ideas are all played out perfectly.
Also, Undset is the daughter of a scholar of medieval Norway; the "period" aspect is authentic.
Posted at 08:06 PM
Sat - October 2, 2004
Nice Work by David Lodge
finished in September .......... contemporary
fiction/British/Booker Prize ......... rating 8
Lodge uses the language to reveal differences
in language and in classes or environments. This is a pretty funny and
insightful book.
Posted at 12:41 AM
Sun - September 26, 2004
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fford
finished 8/15................. contemporary
fiction ..................... rating 5 (barely)
Most of this book was stupid humor and word
play. The theme, that you can enter a book, Jane Eyre, for instance, and
interact with the characters, possibly changing the ending etc. is so far
fetched that I couldn't buy it. This book is called a literary thriller and it's
sadly far more thriller than literary. Nevertheless, it did get a lot of good
reviews so I suppose I either missed the point or it's simply not my style.
Besides this, the reader, whomever it was, had a voice that was grating and it took quite a long time to get used to it.
Besides this, the reader, whomever it was, had a voice that was grating and it took quite a long time to get used to it.
Posted at 12:12 PM
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers narrated by Cherry Jones
finished 9/4 ........................ US
literary fiction .................... rating 10
This is a totally wonderful book and the
narrator is worthy of it. McCullers presents the story of several characters in
a small southern town in the early part of the 20th century. Althought there are
people around, basically these people are isolated in their lives except for a
deaf Jewish man, John Singer, who, although alone himself, "listens to" and
seems to understand each of them. The story explores racial, age, marital,
physical, financial and intellectual isolation. Some of these characters have
brought the isolation on themselves, others have been inflicted with it. They
are all reaching out to Singer, the deaf man, for connection.
At the age of 23. McCullers became an overnight sensation with this, her first book and it's now a classic for good reason. Although always in very poor health and plagued by marital problems, she went on to write many other wonderful works.
At the age of 23. McCullers became an overnight sensation with this, her first book and it's now a classic for good reason. Although always in very poor health and plagued by marital problems, she went on to write many other wonderful works.
Posted at 12:02 PM
About Schmidt by Louis Begley
finished 9/6 ............ US contemporary
fiction ............. rating 8
This was a very interesting book about a man
who has retired to care for his wife who then dies leaving the large country
home to their daughter as her aunt had wished. The daughter is marrying a Jewish
man. To sum this up, he's losing everything that makes him who he is. So he
figures and manipulates and fumes over his losses, and not without a certain
amount of self-pity while he takes up with a very young, dark-skinned waitress
and being plagued by a stalker.
Schmidt is a very sympathetic character but only because Begley has given us his point of view and to an extent, portrayed him that way. Otherwise he is a well-to-do, but selfish, bigoted, angry, sneaky, lying, manipulative, misogynist man. In fact, there are no really nice and likable characters in this book.
The themes are bigotry and loss. When Schmidt loses everything it seems like some of his real character comes out. But bigotry is not a definable and measurable or stagnant quality and I think that Begley is exploring this. The ending provided a high twist but there is a sequel so I may have to read that to find out what ultimately happens to these characters.
Schmidt is a very sympathetic character but only because Begley has given us his point of view and to an extent, portrayed him that way. Otherwise he is a well-to-do, but selfish, bigoted, angry, sneaky, lying, manipulative, misogynist man. In fact, there are no really nice and likable characters in this book.
The themes are bigotry and loss. When Schmidt loses everything it seems like some of his real character comes out. But bigotry is not a definable and measurable or stagnant quality and I think that Begley is exploring this. The ending provided a high twist but there is a sequel so I may have to read that to find out what ultimately happens to these characters.
Posted at 06:57 AM
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!
finished 8/25 ..........................
memoir..................... rating 8
This was a pretty interesting book. It's not
quite a memoir or autobiography; rather it's a series of anecdotes told to his
friend and set in chronological order. Whatever; it works, and really only
whets my appetite for more on this fascinating man his science although God
knows I don't understand it, his adopted little Russian country of Tuva (not
mentioned in the book) and the whole
thing!
Feynman does not say much about Arline, his first wife, in this book. Neither does he talk the Nobel Prize (1965) or his roll in the Congressional inquiry into the Challenger accident (1987). (But the book was published in 1985, prior to the the Challenger tragedy, so that's a given.) Feynman died in 1988. "What Do You Care What Other People Think?: Further Adventures of a Curious Character," the sequel to "Surely You're Joking..." was published a few months after his death.
There's a fascinating report at:
LA Times
From the LA Times (above):
"In his book, Feynman is almost flippant about this period, with only scant mention of his first wife, Arline, who was dying of tuberculosis in an Albuquerque sanitarium while he was working on the bomb. It took James Gleick's elegant biography "Genius" to put that time in perspective--writing about Feynman's weekly trips to visit Arline, the tenderness of their relationship and those last anguished hours as her life faded away.
Two years later, while he was teaching at Cornell, Feynman wrote a letter to his dead wife: "I adore you sweetheart. I find it hard to understand in my mind what it means to love you after you are dead--but I still want to comfort and take care of you--and I want you to love me and take care of me." As Gleick noted: "That he had written a letter to the woman he loved, two years after her death, could never be a part of the iconography of Feynman, the collection of images and stories that were already beginning to follow him about. The letter went into an envelope, the envelope into a box. It was not read again until after his death."
An excerpt from Gleik's biography is at:
Feynman does not say much about Arline, his first wife, in this book. Neither does he talk the Nobel Prize (1965) or his roll in the Congressional inquiry into the Challenger accident (1987). (But the book was published in 1985, prior to the the Challenger tragedy, so that's a given.) Feynman died in 1988. "What Do You Care What Other People Think?: Further Adventures of a Curious Character," the sequel to "Surely You're Joking..." was published a few months after his death.
There's a fascinating report at:
LA Times
From the LA Times (above):
"In his book, Feynman is almost flippant about this period, with only scant mention of his first wife, Arline, who was dying of tuberculosis in an Albuquerque sanitarium while he was working on the bomb. It took James Gleick's elegant biography "Genius" to put that time in perspective--writing about Feynman's weekly trips to visit Arline, the tenderness of their relationship and those last anguished hours as her life faded away.
Two years later, while he was teaching at Cornell, Feynman wrote a letter to his dead wife: "I adore you sweetheart. I find it hard to understand in my mind what it means to love you after you are dead--but I still want to comfort and take care of you--and I want you to love me and take care of me." As Gleick noted: "That he had written a letter to the woman he loved, two years after her death, could never be a part of the iconography of Feynman, the collection of images and stories that were already beginning to follow him about. The letter went into an envelope, the envelope into a box. It was not read again until after his death."
An excerpt from Gleik's biography is at:
Posted at 06:48 AM
Thu - September 23, 2004
Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil
September? ............. political-historical
non-fiction ..... rating 9
A very intelligent look at Eichmann and his
trial. Arendt examines the problem of establishing guilt. Really incredible
book.
Posted at 11:33 PM
The Art of Fiction by David Lodge
Finished in September ........ non-fiction -
literary criticism .......... rating 8
This book is comprised of a series of weekly
columns written by Lodge for a newspaper. Each essay deals with a different
aspect of fiction. It's interesting but it's a bit choppy as a book. It's a
great review type thing though, or overview of the basics.
Posted at 11:32 PM
By Way of Deception by Victor Ostrovsky
September ............ history - Israel
............. rating 6
This is the fascinating, inside story of the
Mossad, the Israeli spy network. It's almost beyond belief and the author was
"fired" from the group and now lives in Canada. It's exciting and good movie
material.
Posted at 11:32 PM
Sat - August 21, 2004
The Sot-Weed Factor by John Barth
finished 8/22........ general fiction / US
.............. rating 3 (don't bother)
You know how some fiction just draws you in and
you can't help but become totally involved with the story? Well, the reverse can
also be true. I was repelled by this book. The language pushed my out. Actually,
I read later in a review that this
was part of the point.
It was a total chore to read it. I was bored and frustrated with the Barth's verbosity. I'm not big on the picaresque anyway but this one just seemed convoluted beyond me. I read it and finished it only for a bookgroup. I'm curious as to what they'll say. I doubt very many even finished it.
On the good side, I will say that the part of the plot dealing with the hero's trying to make a romance out of keeping his virginity was pretty funny and unique. The finding of John Smith's journal and hunting and trying to piece it together for genealogy was pretty inventive and the treatment of the Natives was unique as far as I know.
All that does not make 700+ pages worthwhile.
It was a total chore to read it. I was bored and frustrated with the Barth's verbosity. I'm not big on the picaresque anyway but this one just seemed convoluted beyond me. I read it and finished it only for a bookgroup. I'm curious as to what they'll say. I doubt very many even finished it.
On the good side, I will say that the part of the plot dealing with the hero's trying to make a romance out of keeping his virginity was pretty funny and unique. The finding of John Smith's journal and hunting and trying to piece it together for genealogy was pretty inventive and the treatment of the Natives was unique as far as I know.
All that does not make 700+ pages worthwhile.
Posted at 08:17 PM
Sun - August 8, 2004
The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot
read several times 8/04 ................ post
WWI poetry Amer/Eng............. rating 10
This is a very complex poem which deals with
WWI in a variety of ways. Eliot uses different voices and settings, all in
London, for his post-war work. There are five chapters, the first deals with
the origins and the war itself, the second with the immediate aftermath. That's
as far as I've done studying. I'll get more later. I'm really doing a careful
reading of this one with the help of a reading group at SeniorNet.
:)
Posted at 01:35 PM
Thu - August 5, 2004
The Book of Illusions by Paul Auster
finished 8/5 .............. contemporary
American fiction .......... rating 8
Another book about films and reality.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune says, "it's part of Auster's signature achievement, and an indication of his breadth as a novelist, that he so deftly leads readers through a tale that blends melodrama, farce, romance and tragedy."
Indeed and a find lead it is, too. Literature professor David Zimmer's life seems to end with the death of his wife and two boys in an air crash. He hides in the silent movies of Hector Mann, a star who never made the switch to the "talkies" and actually disappeared, went missing, completely. He was assumed dead until the publication of Zimmer's book on his craft. Then Mann's wife phones him for a meeting with the great man and from then on the story takes the reader from Vermont to New Mexico and into the mind of a master actor.
As Auster details the plots of the movies and the life of the actor we see that they are parallel and that the actor never stops acting whether in life or on celluloid.
The plot is suspenseful and riveting. I would have to say that the film descriptions would be material for a second reading to see where the correlations to his life are. But the first reading the reader only wants to find out how it ends.
Very satisfying but complex
click below for a
Good review on Auster's site
The Minneapolis Star Tribune says, "it's part of Auster's signature achievement, and an indication of his breadth as a novelist, that he so deftly leads readers through a tale that blends melodrama, farce, romance and tragedy."
Indeed and a find lead it is, too. Literature professor David Zimmer's life seems to end with the death of his wife and two boys in an air crash. He hides in the silent movies of Hector Mann, a star who never made the switch to the "talkies" and actually disappeared, went missing, completely. He was assumed dead until the publication of Zimmer's book on his craft. Then Mann's wife phones him for a meeting with the great man and from then on the story takes the reader from Vermont to New Mexico and into the mind of a master actor.
As Auster details the plots of the movies and the life of the actor we see that they are parallel and that the actor never stops acting whether in life or on celluloid.
The plot is suspenseful and riveting. I would have to say that the film descriptions would be material for a second reading to see where the correlations to his life are. But the first reading the reader only wants to find out how it ends.
Very satisfying but complex
click below for a
Good review on Auster's site
Posted at 12:58 PM
Tue - August 3, 2004
A Night at the Movies by Robert Coover
finished 8/3 ........... postmodern
................. rating 6 (liked parts of it)
This book was so hard to follow. It's a
collection of themed stories based on movie genres so one story is a Western and
another a horror and comedy and romance. And they are very *very* vividly
described; it's like reading a movie but not the script, reading the film
itself. But they are very confused and don't come together enough. I think it
could have been a lot better.
Posted at 08:28 PM
Mon - August 2, 2004
Dirt Music by Tim Winton
finished 8/2.............. general fiction /
Australia / many prizes & Booker short list ............... rating
8.5
This book started slow and rather difficult
because it didn't seem like I was understanding the Australian lingo and the
author was not telling all that was important. But it grew on me and as the
story filled out, the interest increased.
The setting is a small, isolated fishing town north of Perth on the west coast of Australia. The three main characters, Georgie an independent-minded female, Jim, a successful fisherman and Lu, a sensitive musician, are emotionally wounded people, as isolated as the setting, seeking escape, comfort, love, change. The plot revolves around the clashing needs and unresolved histories of the characters and the townspeople.
Tim Winton writes with his own unique form of minimal but highly evocative prose, as minimal as the landscape or the resources of the characters, as evocative as the sunset on a deserted beach.
The setting is a small, isolated fishing town north of Perth on the west coast of Australia. The three main characters, Georgie an independent-minded female, Jim, a successful fisherman and Lu, a sensitive musician, are emotionally wounded people, as isolated as the setting, seeking escape, comfort, love, change. The plot revolves around the clashing needs and unresolved histories of the characters and the townspeople.
Tim Winton writes with his own unique form of minimal but highly evocative prose, as minimal as the landscape or the resources of the characters, as evocative as the sunset on a deserted beach.
Posted at 12:37 PM
Sat - July 31, 2004
Possession: A Romance by A.S. Byatt
finished 7/31.......... contemporary fiction
(Booker Prize 1990) .......... rating 9
At it's core, this is an excellent story on
which way too much clap-trap is attached I think that Byatt fell in love with
the whole thing and extended it in many ways beyond her original intent. And
yet it works, for some reason, a testament to the skill of
Byatt.
who displays her skill with writing poetry, narrative, criticism and modern fiction.
The academic detective work surrounding historical greats is fascinating and the characters involved in this book are involved in unraveling every nuance of 19th century poet extraordinaire Raymond Ash's life. They are also fiercely competitive. So when Roland Michell finds a scrap of a note inside an old work by the poet which reveals a possible extra-marital love affair the chase is on.
But inside that academic detective work is the poetry of the man as well as his lady love. It is their story which is unraveled as pieces of journals and letters come to light. And the story of the love crossed poets parallels, to an extent, the story of the detectives, Roland and Maud.
It's been said in reviews that Umberto Eco (The Name of the Rose) was an influence. If so, no wonder I like it. :)
who displays her skill with writing poetry, narrative, criticism and modern fiction.
The academic detective work surrounding historical greats is fascinating and the characters involved in this book are involved in unraveling every nuance of 19th century poet extraordinaire Raymond Ash's life. They are also fiercely competitive. So when Roland Michell finds a scrap of a note inside an old work by the poet which reveals a possible extra-marital love affair the chase is on.
But inside that academic detective work is the poetry of the man as well as his lady love. It is their story which is unraveled as pieces of journals and letters come to light. And the story of the love crossed poets parallels, to an extent, the story of the detectives, Roland and Maud.
It's been said in reviews that Umberto Eco (The Name of the Rose) was an influence. If so, no wonder I like it. :)
Posted at 07:33 PM
The Trial by Franz Kafka
finished 7/29........... Classic 20th century
European............ rating 7.5
I don't "like" Kafka but I'm fascinated by his
life and works and I appreciate his talent.
This book is the unfinished manuscript that was not meant to be published but was collected and preserved by Max Brod Kafka's long time friend. I don't much care for Kafka and altogether the whole thing reminded me of a combination of Bleak House by Dickens, Jorge Borges' The Library of Babel and Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. It's the story of interminable and insensible bureaucracy and existential alienation.
The Trial is the story of how Joseph K. is suddenly arrested and eventually charged for a small banking infraction. Over the ocurse of the following year he tries with and without legal assistance to untangle the threads of the judicial system which hang over his head. Kafka is a most incredible writer, bringing to life (or death) the claustrophobic attic court rooms and unfeeling magistrates that frustrate K. But even though he's remarkably talented and perceptive, it's not something that I really want to read. (I think that college sophomores might like this.)
I think that Kafka wrote all this as a surreal way of presenting what he was feeling. He didn't actually "see" life this way, he portrayed it this way in his writings because he felt it this way. He was torn with guilt and anxiety due to his Jewishness, his father and his own chemistry. But he was smart and he had a good idea of where his "voice" and ideas were coming from and he used it. He was self-aware.
Kafka skillfully has his characters circle some ragged, existential abyss while drawing the reader closer to the edge and then the reader has to watch while the character falls (or is pushed) into that emptiness.
The bureaucracy is portrayed as a dark, claustrophobic and threatening labyrinth. Family felt dark, claustrophobic, threatening.
Kafka's protagonists feel incredibly weak and hopeless in the face of almost anything smacking of judgement or fate. An individual is unable to meet all responsibilities and obligations. The world, or a segment of it, even his own body, could turn on an individual rendering him powerless. And in this world, to Kafka, if an individual is powerless he will be crushed. Kafka's characters
usually assume the attitude of bugs in the face of an oncoming windshield.
"The Court" in The Trial seems to almost come alive with tentacles reaching out through the passages to the attic rooms and out to the world where . It's like a monster with a mind of its own.
Kafka needed to portray this fated, alienated, existential, hopeless inadequacy in extreme and personalized form; the stories and novels are exaggerated renderings of his ideas. He did work for many years as an insurance lawyer, he seemed like a moderately successful and loyal employee. His writings were found after his death.
I wonder if our fascination with Kafka is not in part because he was not much published in his lifetime. He wrote these things while living out a mundane life. This idea brings him and his ideas even closer to ourselves in that most of us are living out our lives in the our own little mundane ways, teaching, selling, doctoring, lawyering, and having imperfect family lives.
In fact, generally speaking, Kafka was a charming, intelligent, and humorous individual, but he found his routine office job and the exhausting double life into which it forced him (for his nights were frequently consumed in writing) to be excruciating torture, and his deeper personal relationships were neurotically disturbed. from: Kafka
So the idea that Kafka, who was similar to us in general, could have (would have) written these tales alone in the middle of the night says something about us. It's not just the tale, it's Kafka himself writing the tale that lends itself to reality. "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." H.D. Thoreau (but not much else of his is similar)
Another excellent site with many photos: Kafka-Franz
This book is the unfinished manuscript that was not meant to be published but was collected and preserved by Max Brod Kafka's long time friend. I don't much care for Kafka and altogether the whole thing reminded me of a combination of Bleak House by Dickens, Jorge Borges' The Library of Babel and Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. It's the story of interminable and insensible bureaucracy and existential alienation.
The Trial is the story of how Joseph K. is suddenly arrested and eventually charged for a small banking infraction. Over the ocurse of the following year he tries with and without legal assistance to untangle the threads of the judicial system which hang over his head. Kafka is a most incredible writer, bringing to life (or death) the claustrophobic attic court rooms and unfeeling magistrates that frustrate K. But even though he's remarkably talented and perceptive, it's not something that I really want to read. (I think that college sophomores might like this.)
I think that Kafka wrote all this as a surreal way of presenting what he was feeling. He didn't actually "see" life this way, he portrayed it this way in his writings because he felt it this way. He was torn with guilt and anxiety due to his Jewishness, his father and his own chemistry. But he was smart and he had a good idea of where his "voice" and ideas were coming from and he used it. He was self-aware.
Kafka skillfully has his characters circle some ragged, existential abyss while drawing the reader closer to the edge and then the reader has to watch while the character falls (or is pushed) into that emptiness.
The bureaucracy is portrayed as a dark, claustrophobic and threatening labyrinth. Family felt dark, claustrophobic, threatening.
Kafka's protagonists feel incredibly weak and hopeless in the face of almost anything smacking of judgement or fate. An individual is unable to meet all responsibilities and obligations. The world, or a segment of it, even his own body, could turn on an individual rendering him powerless. And in this world, to Kafka, if an individual is powerless he will be crushed. Kafka's characters
usually assume the attitude of bugs in the face of an oncoming windshield.
"The Court" in The Trial seems to almost come alive with tentacles reaching out through the passages to the attic rooms and out to the world where . It's like a monster with a mind of its own.
Kafka needed to portray this fated, alienated, existential, hopeless inadequacy in extreme and personalized form; the stories and novels are exaggerated renderings of his ideas. He did work for many years as an insurance lawyer, he seemed like a moderately successful and loyal employee. His writings were found after his death.
I wonder if our fascination with Kafka is not in part because he was not much published in his lifetime. He wrote these things while living out a mundane life. This idea brings him and his ideas even closer to ourselves in that most of us are living out our lives in the our own little mundane ways, teaching, selling, doctoring, lawyering, and having imperfect family lives.
In fact, generally speaking, Kafka was a charming, intelligent, and humorous individual, but he found his routine office job and the exhausting double life into which it forced him (for his nights were frequently consumed in writing) to be excruciating torture, and his deeper personal relationships were neurotically disturbed. from: Kafka
So the idea that Kafka, who was similar to us in general, could have (would have) written these tales alone in the middle of the night says something about us. It's not just the tale, it's Kafka himself writing the tale that lends itself to reality. "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." H.D. Thoreau (but not much else of his is similar)
Another excellent site with many photos: Kafka-Franz
Posted at 06:45 PM
Fri - July 30, 2004
Short Stories July
These are short stories which I read weekly for
a reading group.
I have heard it said that in order to
understand a really good short story one has to read it at least 5 times. I
don't know about 5 but I advocate 3. There is so much crammed into those few
pages that it has to be read to the end for the gist of the plot, read again for
the meaning of the beginning of the story (and therefore the ending), and read a
third time to put that all together. Each reading reveals more.
7/ 30........ "A Respectable Woman" by Kate Chopin
This story is about a woman's needs, her physical and emotional ones. The ending is ambiguous but that's only by 21st century standards. To assume that there was a sexual overtones in the ending is to presume something that I don't think Chopin intended. These were the years in which "A Doll's House" by Ibsen was banned. The idea that women had needs and that they could be discussed was consciousness raising enough .
7/31......... "Desiree's Baby" by Kate Chopin
This story is quite direct and the ending has a profound impact on the reader. Again Chopin is making distinct feminist statements. A southern woman although white in appearance but of indefinite heritage (race) marries and has a child. It is discovered that the child is "of the race that is cursed with the brand of slavery."
7/31..... "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin
When Mrs. Mallard is informed that her husband has been killed in a train accident she does not experience the normal grief. Again, totally feminist statements.
The stories are very short and seem insubstantial at first reading, but when reader responses are shared it is discovered that there are vast differences of understanding as to character motivation and other aspects which Chopin does a lovely job of hiding in subtle ambiguity. Second and subsequent readings are incredibly profitable. These stories are all about women in trouble. All the women have strong family support apart from their husbands and it is through that support that the women (with one possible exception) survive. This was true of Chopin's life as well. Kate Chopin was born and raised a free thinker and free spirit and her husband supported that as well. Many of her works raised feminist issues, especially in mid 19th century America.
This story seems short and simple on the surface and then comes the questions about character motivation.
7/ 30........ "A Respectable Woman" by Kate Chopin
This story is about a woman's needs, her physical and emotional ones. The ending is ambiguous but that's only by 21st century standards. To assume that there was a sexual overtones in the ending is to presume something that I don't think Chopin intended. These were the years in which "A Doll's House" by Ibsen was banned. The idea that women had needs and that they could be discussed was consciousness raising enough .
7/31......... "Desiree's Baby" by Kate Chopin
This story is quite direct and the ending has a profound impact on the reader. Again Chopin is making distinct feminist statements. A southern woman although white in appearance but of indefinite heritage (race) marries and has a child. It is discovered that the child is "of the race that is cursed with the brand of slavery."
7/31..... "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin
When Mrs. Mallard is informed that her husband has been killed in a train accident she does not experience the normal grief. Again, totally feminist statements.
The stories are very short and seem insubstantial at first reading, but when reader responses are shared it is discovered that there are vast differences of understanding as to character motivation and other aspects which Chopin does a lovely job of hiding in subtle ambiguity. Second and subsequent readings are incredibly profitable. These stories are all about women in trouble. All the women have strong family support apart from their husbands and it is through that support that the women (with one possible exception) survive. This was true of Chopin's life as well. Kate Chopin was born and raised a free thinker and free spirit and her husband supported that as well. Many of her works raised feminist issues, especially in mid 19th century America.
This story seems short and simple on the surface and then comes the questions about character motivation.
Posted at 12:03 PM
Thu - July 29, 2004
A Bend in the River by V.S. Naipaul
finished 7/29............ post-colonial
literature (Nobel) ......... rating 10
This is the story of a Muslim Indian
shopkeeper, a long-time resident of Africa first on the Eastern coast then
inland, as he observes the changes in a country very much like Zaire. The
themes revolve around changes and exile or immigrant status. The Indians and
Asians came to Africa and were replaced by the Europeans who then left and were
replaced by the Native populations. At least 3 decades of turbulent change mark
the chronology of the book and country.
Naipaul best explores individual response to this change through a variety of characters and each sees the world and the changes in different ways. It is Salim who says, "My wish was not to be good,...but to make good," which tells something about moral high point. Along the same lines, his friend I says, 'It isn't that there's no right and wrong, there is no right."
What is real and what is an act? What is a cultural identity and what has the state decreed? What is a personal identity and what is an act? These are questions that Naipaul asks along with the nature of security and its cost.
There are distinct parallels to Conrad's Heart of Darkness (whose heart is dark?) and Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses (what kind of idea are you?)
.
Naipaul best explores individual response to this change through a variety of characters and each sees the world and the changes in different ways. It is Salim who says, "My wish was not to be good,...but to make good," which tells something about moral high point. Along the same lines, his friend I says, 'It isn't that there's no right and wrong, there is no right."
What is real and what is an act? What is a cultural identity and what has the state decreed? What is a personal identity and what is an act? These are questions that Naipaul asks along with the nature of security and its cost.
There are distinct parallels to Conrad's Heart of Darkness (whose heart is dark?) and Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses (what kind of idea are you?)
.
Posted at 01:50 PM
Mon - July 26, 2004
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
finished 7/25........... classic American
fiction ............. rating 9.5
This is another heck of a book. My Dad had
told me to read this for years. I think I tried one time and gave up. This
time, as background for A Bend in the River by V.S. Naipaul I was hooked into
the story from about page 5. I
The first thing that interests me is Conrad's reaction to European Imperialism's creation of post-colonial Africa. He despises it and focuses on some of the worst aspects. It's almost a little section of that kind of history but there is a bit too much fiction. Another feature was the way in which there were so many layers, there was the first reading plot, then there was the history and economics, the psychological aspect, the nature aspect and the racism. (And that's probably for starters.)
Conrad used a lot of symbolism on all levels in this book and, again, I'm sure I didn't get all there was. I did notice, however the dark and light, the silence and the deafening noises. I noticed the use of all the racial slurs and extremely harsh language. There is irony also so many places. If the Congo is dark, then Europe is light? But what has Europe brought? So what is light? All that glitters is not gold.
I need to read this a couple more times because I know there is more there. This may get a 10 before I'm done. (lol)
Conrad and racism and other matters
The first thing that interests me is Conrad's reaction to European Imperialism's creation of post-colonial Africa. He despises it and focuses on some of the worst aspects. It's almost a little section of that kind of history but there is a bit too much fiction. Another feature was the way in which there were so many layers, there was the first reading plot, then there was the history and economics, the psychological aspect, the nature aspect and the racism. (And that's probably for starters.)
Conrad used a lot of symbolism on all levels in this book and, again, I'm sure I didn't get all there was. I did notice, however the dark and light, the silence and the deafening noises. I noticed the use of all the racial slurs and extremely harsh language. There is irony also so many places. If the Congo is dark, then Europe is light? But what has Europe brought? So what is light? All that glitters is not gold.
I need to read this a couple more times because I know there is more there. This may get a 10 before I'm done. (lol)
Conrad and racism and other matters
Posted at 10:34 AM
Absalom, Absalom by William Faulkner
finished 7/25/04............. American Classic
............. rating 10
When I first started this book I absolutely
hated it. It's the first Faulkner I've read, except for short stories, and his
style is so complex, so convoluted that it's very difficult just to get through
the sentences. But it sets a mood for a long involved history. And then the
structure of Absalom, Absalom is another matter in that it revisits the same
events through the eyes of different characters (all of whom speak with pretty
much the same voice). There's an enormous amount of repetition. It took about 3
times as long to read this book than it would usually take me to get through 300
pages. It was exhausting to read for many reasons..
By the middle of this book I had developed an appreciation for Faulkner's style and a vague idea of what he was trying to do and say. The themes abound and I was fascinated by the history. I kept going. I had also become actively engaged in Faulkner's incredible plotting and the wonderful characterizations. I was watching some themes develop through the style, the plot and the characters. I'll admit that Faulkner is brilliant, if challenging. His work is original (which is definitely a part of the challenge) and I can see where he influenced many later writers.
And by the time I finished the book I had become accustomed to and almost enjoyed the 10 line sentences and the 5 page paragraphs and the rambling, stream of consciousness that, from what I hear, characterize most all of Faulkner's work. I'm interested in reading more Faulkner, maybe As I Lay Dying or The Sound and the Fury or even more short stories, but it'll be awhile.
By the middle of this book I had developed an appreciation for Faulkner's style and a vague idea of what he was trying to do and say. The themes abound and I was fascinated by the history. I kept going. I had also become actively engaged in Faulkner's incredible plotting and the wonderful characterizations. I was watching some themes develop through the style, the plot and the characters. I'll admit that Faulkner is brilliant, if challenging. His work is original (which is definitely a part of the challenge) and I can see where he influenced many later writers.
And by the time I finished the book I had become accustomed to and almost enjoyed the 10 line sentences and the 5 page paragraphs and the rambling, stream of consciousness that, from what I hear, characterize most all of Faulkner's work. I'm interested in reading more Faulkner, maybe As I Lay Dying or The Sound and the Fury or even more short stories, but it'll be awhile.
Posted at 10:10 AM
Fri - July 23, 2004
The Essential Lewis and Clark edited by Landon Jones
finished in July sometime.............
historical journal............. rating 10
This was a great book! Jones, the editor, took
the best parts of the voluminous journals of Lewis and Clark and made them into
a book. Not only that but the book is beautifully read by
Peter Friendman and Tom Wopat. I really felt like I
was there with them. If you're at all interested in this journey, and don't
feel like hitting the massive tomes, read this book! (It made me want to get
the big books, though.) (g)
Posted at 11:31 PM
The Story of Lucy Gault by William Trevor
finished in July ............. contemporary
fiction-British-Booker Prize ........ rating 8.5
Interesting tale of a woman who, as a child was
given up for dead. She's not. She lives out her life with friends while her
parents try to forget their pain in various parts of the world. I guess it's
about loss.
Posted at 11:30 PM
Thu - July 22, 2004
The Troll by Johanna Sinisalo
finished 7/22.............. Norwegian
contemporary .............. rating 8
Well, I finished it and it is really quite an
interesting book. It seemed to start a bit light and it took me a bit to get
used to the structure (I couldn't figure out who those people were! I thought it
was all one 1st person with chapter headings. But no! The name of the chapter is
the name of the 1st person of the time! I had to go back and reread a
bit.
Overall, I recommend it as a somewhat enchanting, suspenseful, fun, little piece very successfully combining the age of myth with the computer generation.
Overall, I recommend it as a somewhat enchanting, suspenseful, fun, little piece very successfully combining the age of myth with the computer generation.
Posted at 02:32 PM
best historical novels
I love historical fiction and they were falling
off the best of all time list so... I made a little list for them.
:)
The best historical
fiction:
The rule is that I have to have read it and it has to mostly take place before the dawn of the author’s cognitive memory.
Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz
Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon
Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
The Mercy Seat by Rilla Askew
True History of the Kelly Gang Peter Carey
Shogun by James Clavell
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Fire in Beulah by Rilla Askew
The rule is that I have to have read it and it has to mostly take place before the dawn of the author’s cognitive memory.
Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz
Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon
Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
The Mercy Seat by Rilla Askew
True History of the Kelly Gang Peter Carey
Shogun by James Clavell
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Fire in Beulah by Rilla Askew
Posted at 10:23 AM
Mon - July 19, 2004
True Notebooks by Mark Salzman
finished June ?..... non-fiction, memoir.....
rating 7.5
This is the story of how Mark Salzman, Pulizer
nominee, goes into a Los Angeles Juvenile Hall to teach writing classes to
teenage murderers etc. Paul Boehmer does a fine job of reading, I live in
California and he has those accents down without making a big deal of it. The
Houston Chronicle has a nice review
of the book.
I forgot to log this when I finished it. (lol) I knew that would happen.
I forgot to log this when I finished it. (lol) I knew that would happen.
Posted at 08:35 PM
Fri - July 16, 2004
Aztecs: An Interpretation by Inga Clendinnen
finished 6/1? ............. non-fiction history
................ rating 8
Inga
Clendinnen's account of the Aztecs recreates the culture of the city of
Tenochtitlan, magnificent centre of the Aztec empire, in its last unthreatened
years before it fell to the Spaniards and their Indian allies. She covers all
aspects of Mexica life and from limited resources including the Botorini Codex.
There are chapters on the city, human sacrifice, warriors, women's roles,
rituals and the final defeat.
Clendinnen's style is dry and dense but the subject matter is fascinating so I stayed with it.
Botorini Codex.
Clendinnen's style is dry and dense but the subject matter is fascinating so I stayed with it.
Botorini Codex.
Posted at 02:23 PM
Thu - July 15, 2004
Growth of the Soil by Knut Hamsun
finished 7/15.......... Norwegian literature
(Nobel) .......... rating 9.5
Growth of the Soil tells the story of a simple
Norwegian man who pioneers a piece of land back in the mountains and lives his
life on it, developing it through hard work and honest simple living. He
marries and has children, the area grows and he prospers. His wife, children and
neighbors fall into various forms of the deadly sins, pride, greed, envy, sloth,
gluttony, lust, and anger and suffer as a result.
Hamsun is a strict moralist and he was very opposed to cities and consumerism because they took people into artificiality. Real was nature and hard honest work to keep yourself and family together.
It might be noted that Hamsun was a supporter of Adolf Hitler and Hitler admired Hamsun's work. Hamsun was condemned to a mental ward (he may have also had some mental problems) and then convicted and fined for being a Quisling (Nazi sympthizer) I personally don't see the connection. Hamsun's wonderful work is about good, plain, simple, hard-working and highly moral folks.
Hamsun is a strict moralist and he was very opposed to cities and consumerism because they took people into artificiality. Real was nature and hard honest work to keep yourself and family together.
It might be noted that Hamsun was a supporter of Adolf Hitler and Hitler admired Hamsun's work. Hamsun was condemned to a mental ward (he may have also had some mental problems) and then convicted and fined for being a Quisling (Nazi sympthizer) I personally don't see the connection. Hamsun's wonderful work is about good, plain, simple, hard-working and highly moral folks.
Posted at 10:14 PM
Tue - July 13, 2004
Fire in Beulah by Rilla Askew
finished 7/13.... historical fiction US.......
rating 8.5 .......... more
Good book! This is the story of the race
riots in Tulsa, (there are many good web-sites out there, many
photos, some interviews with survivors) Sept 1921 as seen through the eyes of
two fictional women, one white well-to-do, the other her maid, black and poor.
As I looked into it, most of the story is true to the facts as documented.
Askew even uses many of the names from the real riots. And the story of the
women interwoven into the real story shows Askew to be a gifted storyteller, a
character creator as well as a plot developer. This one is a real page turner
and a very literate page turner as well.
I read Askew's The Mercy Seat a few years ago and enjoyed it so much that I always meant to get to her other works. I now have Strange Business on my Amazon Wish List.
I read Askew's The Mercy Seat a few years ago and enjoyed it so much that I always meant to get to her other works. I now have Strange Business on my Amazon Wish List.
Posted at 09:18 PM
Rashomon and Other Stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa
finished 7/11........... literary fiction,
Japanese ............ rating 9.5
This is a small collection of short stories by
a Japanese master. Akutagawa looks at human nature and its contradictions
especially in terms of love, death, authority, power and desire. These are not
happy stories but they are brilliant. One story is told from multiple
perspectives, none agreeing and probably none "true." One story is about how
myth develops and one is about attained desire.
Posted at 07:45 AM
Kaddish For a Child Not Born by Imre Kertesz
finished 7/9 ........... literary fiction
(Hungarian / Nobel)......... rating 9.5
A very short work, a novella really, about why
the narrator won't have a child. Ghe author's unborn child is the supposed
reader of this narrative in which Kertesz details the horrors of trying to find
meaning in life considering Auschwitz and being Jewish. The narrator is paranoid
and overly introspective. The narrator is very depressed and although his wife
(ex-wife) tries to help him, it seems he can't or won't be helped. He at once
hates himself for his Jewishness and yet hates all who hate Jews. This is all
done in a non-linear, stream of consciousness fashion with long sentences, and
few paragraph breaks, no chapters. This suits the book as the narrator
describes himself as being pathetically logorhetic. The book is heavily
philosophical and uses contradiction to explore the essence and meaning of
life.
Posted at 07:24 AM
Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
finished 7/9.... general American fiction
......... rating (unratable).... more
I finished it. Yes, it's a work of genius but
imo, the major appeal is probably to literate, 20-something males who think that
war, death and sex are all that are really worth writing about. Basically, it's
a literary wet-mare. It's sex, drugs, guns and rock n' roll all in graphic
detail, along with paranoia, connectedness and technology. I'm sure I didn't
understand 1/10 of it and I'm sure I'll never bother to read it again. At best
it's a 9, at worst a 2. It's both best and worst many times. I can't rate
it.
http://www.themodernword.com/gr/
http://www.themodernword.com/gr/">A graphic summary
Terrific graphic art for book
http://www.themodernword.com/gr/
http://www.themodernword.com/gr/">A graphic summary
Terrific graphic art for book
Posted at 07:16 AM
Mon - July 12, 2004
Sacagawea's Nickname and Other Essays by Larry McMurtry
finished 7/9 ......... non-fiction history
............ rating 8
This is a collection of pre-published essays on
the literature of Western History. Who better than McMurtry for readability,
right?
New York Review of Books
It's quite interesting and very readable and fun if you are interested in the history of the west and those who write about that from Lewis and Clark (the very best) to Louis L'Amour (down the line somewhere) to Ned Buntline. McMurtry tidily deconstructs the "myth" of the American West, showing how the real West was created in large part by the myth of the West and vice versa. He included two women important in western writings, Janet Lewis and Angie Debo, both excellent as well as fascinating historians. McMurtry writes about Native Americans, the reality, the myths. And he writes about the literature of the West in his own unique way.
I'm following the Berrybender series right now and want to read more of his work, particularly the non-fiction.
New York Review of Books
It's quite interesting and very readable and fun if you are interested in the history of the west and those who write about that from Lewis and Clark (the very best) to Louis L'Amour (down the line somewhere) to Ned Buntline. McMurtry tidily deconstructs the "myth" of the American West, showing how the real West was created in large part by the myth of the West and vice versa. He included two women important in western writings, Janet Lewis and Angie Debo, both excellent as well as fascinating historians. McMurtry writes about Native Americans, the reality, the myths. And he writes about the literature of the West in his own unique way.
I'm following the Berrybender series right now and want to read more of his work, particularly the non-fiction.
Posted at 11:02 PM
All The King's Men by Robert Penn Warren
finished 7/8.... general fiction (American)
.... rating 9... more
I don't usually care for southern fiction, the
sentences are too long and thick and it's just not my taste. But this book is
different; I liked it, I really liked it. It's a page-turner with a lot of rich
themes and great characters . The setting is a Southern state where a common
man fights the graft and corruption of city hall and becomes governor only to
become corrupt himself. Meanwhile, the first person narrator, an idealist by
his own description but more like a cynic's cynic, follows the career of his
friend trying to stay clear of the mud but getting pretty dirty himself.
All the King's Men is supposedly based on the life of Governor Huey Long of Louisiana.
I rate this 9 because it's one of those books that I think there's enough there for a second read even if I did read pretty carefully the first time.
All the King's Men is supposedly based on the life of Governor Huey Long of Louisiana.
I rate this 9 because it's one of those books that I think there's enough there for a second read even if I did read pretty carefully the first time.
Posted at 10:41 PM
Mon - July 5, 2004
Current listening notes
I'm currently listening to
No Ordinary Time: Franklin
and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II by Doris Kearns
Goodwin and narrated by Edward Herrmann. This is quite a long book, 38 hours
total. I've listened to 8 hours so far and have put in another tape, The
Essential Lewis & Clark edited by Landon Y. Jones. These are selections
of the voluminous Lewis & Clark journals. I'm going to Portland, Oregon
tomorrow and thought that would be appropriate listening.
Posted at 09:18 PM
SOUL MOUNTAIN by Gao Xianjing
finished 7/5/04........... literary, Chinese,
fiction .......... rating 10 ... more!
This is the story of a man, an artist, a
writer, who is wandering the mountainous areas near the Yangzee River because he
has just been given a reprieve from cancer and also because the Chinese
government may be wanting to stop his writing. The main tale (the frame) is
semi-autobiographical but as the writer wanders he gets lonely and invents a
woman. Then he tells the woman his stories. Then he meets people in the
mountains who tell him stories. Then he invents a man and the man leads him
further into the areas where stories are created. This is a very, very Chinese
book. I've read other Chinese authors and it seems that the ones who really are
from China (Dai Sijie, Ha Jin, Jung Chang) present a very sad and lonely
picture.
This book does not have a plot in the usual sense of the term. It's got a lot of characters because these are people that the narrator meets as he goes. But "I," "You," and "He" are consistent throughout the book and have their own chapters. It's not that hard.
There's a lot of sex in the book, presented in very different ways; sometimes it is warm and loving, other times erotic and other times it's distance from emotion.
The book is about the search for creativity, women, love, memory and a whole lot more.
One friend has called it a Chinese picaresque, another has said it's a travelogue of self-discovery. Some say it's self-indulgent, other say it's a kind of Carlos Castaneda type journey, in search of the mystic shaman.
http://www.imaginaryplanet.net/essays/literary/soulmountain.php
http://www.imaginaryplanet.net/essays/literary/soulmountain.php">A good review, A Daoist Pilgrimage Gao Xinjian's journey through time and tradition. http://www.imaginaryplanet.net/essays/literary/soulmountain.php
http://www.imaginaryplanet.net/essays/literary/soulmountain.php">
a not-so-good review Gao Xingjian and "Soul Mountain" : Ambivalent Storytelling
and an interesting essay The Shaman's Journey: Ascending the Soul Mountain
This book does not have a plot in the usual sense of the term. It's got a lot of characters because these are people that the narrator meets as he goes. But "I," "You," and "He" are consistent throughout the book and have their own chapters. It's not that hard.
There's a lot of sex in the book, presented in very different ways; sometimes it is warm and loving, other times erotic and other times it's distance from emotion.
The book is about the search for creativity, women, love, memory and a whole lot more.
One friend has called it a Chinese picaresque, another has said it's a travelogue of self-discovery. Some say it's self-indulgent, other say it's a kind of Carlos Castaneda type journey, in search of the mystic shaman.
http://www.imaginaryplanet.net/essays/literary/soulmountain.php
http://www.imaginaryplanet.net/essays/literary/soulmountain.php">A good review, A Daoist Pilgrimage Gao Xinjian's journey through time and tradition. http://www.imaginaryplanet.net/essays/literary/soulmountain.php
http://www.imaginaryplanet.net/essays/literary/soulmountain.php">
a not-so-good review Gao Xingjian and "Soul Mountain" : Ambivalent Storytelling
and an interesting essay The Shaman's Journey: Ascending the Soul Mountain
Posted at 08:53 PM
Wed - June 30, 2004
Charlie Wilson's War by George Crile
finished 6/30........... non-fiction
international politics/action .............. rating 9
This is one good rootin'-tootin' book and I
highly recommend it just for the read.
That said, conservatives might like this book somewhat more than liberals because the "hero," Charlie Wilson, is a big old cowboy from Texas and he's as Israel supporting and anti-commie as it gets.
And he wants to help the Mujahidin in their fight to get rid of the Soviet invasion.
But the US government is currently involved in the Ollie North scandals so it's not real kosher to go busting any rules to get the US involved in Afghanistan. So Charlie and his buddy Gust ? of the CIA have to find a way through the labyrinth of military funding and Middle East security to get all the money and weapons they can to the poor freedom fighters of the hills.
Osama is not mentioned that much in the book so don't look for him. He was hidden away with his own group (the al-Queda - "the base") training and going on some strikes. He was pretty much self-supporting, getting his own funding.
The liberals might like it, too. I did. :) It's not a terribly partisan book. Just a fascinating peek at how the Mujahidin got some of their excess weapons.
I did have a few problems with it though.
First, the book seems to give the impression that Wilson brought down the Soviet Union. Well, I have to agree that he helped enormously but there were a great many things happening in the Soviet Union at the time and to give anyone that much credit is a bit exaggerated. So I fault Crile for being remiss in failing to report more on the background of the Soviet Union and its collapse. I'll admit that might be outside the scope of this book, well then, don't exaggerate the importance of Wilson.
Second, even if it was the war in Afghanistan which brought down the Soviet Union, more than Wilson were helping the Mujahidin! These religious warriors were supported by aid from the United States, China, and Saudi Arabia. It was all channeled through Pakistan and Iran. Crile didn't seem much interested in the idea that others were involved. But he didn't correct the impression that it was US dollars and weapons that won the war for the Mujahidin.
Third, I'm not sure that I liked the fact that Crile seemed to have no editorial type comment about the appropriateness of Wilson's actions. Wilson defied (for all practical purposes) the spirit of US foreign policy at the time. Is personal unilateral warfare the kind of action the US wants? Are we going to privatize war? All Crile did was kind of circumspectly cheer him on.
Other than that it's a fine book and I recommend it to anyone who'd like a cowboy ride through US government funding and support for various world efforts.
That said, conservatives might like this book somewhat more than liberals because the "hero," Charlie Wilson, is a big old cowboy from Texas and he's as Israel supporting and anti-commie as it gets.
And he wants to help the Mujahidin in their fight to get rid of the Soviet invasion.
But the US government is currently involved in the Ollie North scandals so it's not real kosher to go busting any rules to get the US involved in Afghanistan. So Charlie and his buddy Gust ? of the CIA have to find a way through the labyrinth of military funding and Middle East security to get all the money and weapons they can to the poor freedom fighters of the hills.
Osama is not mentioned that much in the book so don't look for him. He was hidden away with his own group (the al-Queda - "the base") training and going on some strikes. He was pretty much self-supporting, getting his own funding.
The liberals might like it, too. I did. :) It's not a terribly partisan book. Just a fascinating peek at how the Mujahidin got some of their excess weapons.
I did have a few problems with it though.
First, the book seems to give the impression that Wilson brought down the Soviet Union. Well, I have to agree that he helped enormously but there were a great many things happening in the Soviet Union at the time and to give anyone that much credit is a bit exaggerated. So I fault Crile for being remiss in failing to report more on the background of the Soviet Union and its collapse. I'll admit that might be outside the scope of this book, well then, don't exaggerate the importance of Wilson.
Second, even if it was the war in Afghanistan which brought down the Soviet Union, more than Wilson were helping the Mujahidin! These religious warriors were supported by aid from the United States, China, and Saudi Arabia. It was all channeled through Pakistan and Iran. Crile didn't seem much interested in the idea that others were involved. But he didn't correct the impression that it was US dollars and weapons that won the war for the Mujahidin.
Third, I'm not sure that I liked the fact that Crile seemed to have no editorial type comment about the appropriateness of Wilson's actions. Wilson defied (for all practical purposes) the spirit of US foreign policy at the time. Is personal unilateral warfare the kind of action the US wants? Are we going to privatize war? All Crile did was kind of circumspectly cheer him on.
Other than that it's a fine book and I recommend it to anyone who'd like a cowboy ride through US government funding and support for various world efforts.
Posted at 01:22 PM
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne
finished 6/? (and I forgot to note it as I was
leaving for Portland)..... classic English fiction..... rating 8.5
Well this is one big fat stream of
consciousness before it was the rage. Shandy, the story goes, is writing his
autobiography but only get to 6 years old (after hundreds of pages) because
he's too busy digressing on all manner of things peripherally related and the
accidents that happen en route. Shandy goes through the problem of his
conception, his name, his education, his travels and the window sash. All of
these things have more to do with his father than with him. There is another
tale here which seems somewhat unrelated to Tristram specifically and that is
the life of his uncle the war hero who is crippled and rides a hobby horse while
bridges are built and a widow is courted.
All in all it's an ingenious and funny book but not one that I'll be revisiting.
It's an important book because of how it takes novel writing to it's logical end (stream of consciousness with a discussion of reader response) only about 100 years after Cervantes put the first novel together (Don Quixote). If this is truly a study of word association, then why is it so difficult? (or is it?)
All in all it's an ingenious and funny book but not one that I'll be revisiting.
It's an important book because of how it takes novel writing to it's logical end (stream of consciousness with a discussion of reader response) only about 100 years after Cervantes put the first novel together (Don Quixote). If this is truly a study of word association, then why is it so difficult? (or is it?)
Posted at 11:56 AM
Sun - June 27, 2004
What the "Ratings" really mean
The numeric 1-10 scale is defined with
examples. (lol)
I use
the ratings from The Bookgroup List
:
10 One of the best books I have ever read
9 Terrific; couldn't put it down
8 Very good
7 Good
6 Enjoyed parts of it
5 I didn't particularly like it or dislike it; mixed review
4 An "okay" book, but I don't recommend it
3 Poor, lost interest
2 Awful; didn't finish it
1 Don't waste your time
0 One of the worst books I have ever read
But I've had to work out my own definitions of those ratings. So...
A rating of 10, "One of the best books I've ever read, " means that this book is one of the top 20 or so books I've ever read in my life,
(The list is growing as I age and I can foresee 50 on it eventually.) These are books that either changed me, somehow or in some way, just by reading them or are simply so exquisitely that they occupy the top shelf in my bookcase. I have Anna Karenina and Shogun and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and The Satanic Verses up there along with Pale Fire and Jane Eyre.
The 9 rating, "Terrific; couldn't put it down" is a mental project. I had to work this out a bit because "couldn't put it down" can mean one of two things. First, it could mean that I, quite literally, stayed up very late late reading and popped it open the first thing in the morning. I read this book instead of eating dinner. But that could be true of any good suspenseful book that, in all reality, is of only mediocre quality , so I've decided that I don't mean that .
What I'm meaning by a 9 in my current and future ratings is that I can't get the book, it's characters, it's ideas, it's style, out of my mind, for positive literary reasons, even long after I've read it. The book has a kind of spell on me, I mentally can't put it down and maybe this means that I need to read it again. (Nabokov's Speak, Memory is definitely like this.)
A 9 means that there's more to this book than what a first read will give a reader. That's for sure true of some classics which were quite easy to put down physically, but the hold on me, for future reference, for reading again, for whatever reason, is compelling. Ulysses is actually in this category because I've only read it once and know that there is a whole lot more to it than what I got the first time. I recognize that there is some mighty deep water there and want to get back to it.
The 8, "very good," can be a lot of things but mostly, although I can't see rereading it and it didn't "change my life" it was a wonderful book providing me with a new insight or just great enjoyment for one of many reasons. The Ladies #1 Detective Agency by Smith is an 8 as is The Mercy Seat by Askew and The Sea, the Sea by Murdoch. There may be a number of works by Dickens in this category while others go in the 9 category and a few in the 7.
A 7, "good," could mean a lot of things but mostly these are filler books and I like them for what they are, not for what I expect from a classic. Bitter Grounds is like that. It was okay for what it was. Bel Canto was a 7 for me, as was Honk and Holler by Letts. There are lots of books like this. They're likable fluff, imo, and I really appreciate them after a good hard day at Nabokov. (lol) Atwood is a kind of 7.5 for me at this point although Alias Grace was an 8.5 when I read it but that was my first Atwood. Good James Lee Burke, like Dixie City Jam and Purple Cane go here, too.
A 6, "enjoyed parts of it," is usually pretty fluffy or controversial or has some real problems or, perhaps, just was *not* my cuppa. Here we have the stuff that is is okay sometimes and that keeps me going but there are other parts that are a distinct turn-olff. Most of Barbara Kingsolver is here and Anne Tyler. Savannah Blues is like a 6.5. I know it was fluffy-fluff, and I didn't like it all, but it suited me at the time. The Girl With the Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier is here. Imo, too much emphasis on a mediocre love story will put a book in this category. The suspense of Grisham can earn him a spot at 6. (lol)
A rating of 5, " I didn't particularly like it or dislike it; mixed review," is okay; so what; pisses me off; whatever. Kindred was like that. I just "got through it" enjoying a little section or two but sometimes thinking it was dumb. A Conspiracy of Paper by Liss and In the Fall by Lent were 5s. Okay but ... lacking. These books don't even have the suspense factor to keep the rating up.
I wonder why I finish the 4s, "An 'okay' book, but I don't recommend it," but maybe I have to read them for a group or something so I finish. Anything by A. Manette Ansay is here. They're "okay" but that just means that they're better than "not okay." (g) I won't read it unless I have to for a group or because I visit my brother and there's nothing else in the house except Cheerio boxes.
A 3, "poor, lost interest," is like, well... try White Teeth by Smith. I read it; I finished it; I lost interest and skimmed hard. But a lot of people love it so ... The Left Behind series is like that. I read the first book and won't be reading any more (while with the Ladies #1 Detective Agency I read all 5). . But if White Teeth is what someone else wants to read... so be it. It got great reviews and won an award, I think.
A 2, "awful; didn't finish it," is like Being Dead by Jim Crace. I would tell people that I didn't care for it but if they like it, well, I understand that it may be due to differences of opinion. Stephen King is very much here. There are many who love his works, but me??? I can't do that kind of gore and Master and Commander"because I just could not abide all the technical boat talk. I can't read this stuff but if you can, that's your choice and I do not in any way hold it against you. It's just a preference.
A 1, "don't waste your time," means that I will actually steer people away. I won't steer them away from the 3s and 2s, Crace or King or even Smith. But I will steer them away from "Lila" by Pirsig (what a total disappointment). The 1s are usually very poor efforts from known authors. The Ground Beneath Her Feet by Rushdie is a 1. It's just a rehash. Vonnegut's Timequake is a rehash. Reading these is like watching a brand new Mercedes get totalled in a wreck.
And a 0, "One of the worst books I have ever read" is Son of Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin. What a total rot of a book. The book is not even worthy of a 1.
10 One of the best books I have ever read
9 Terrific; couldn't put it down
8 Very good
7 Good
6 Enjoyed parts of it
5 I didn't particularly like it or dislike it; mixed review
4 An "okay" book, but I don't recommend it
3 Poor, lost interest
2 Awful; didn't finish it
1 Don't waste your time
0 One of the worst books I have ever read
But I've had to work out my own definitions of those ratings. So...
A rating of 10, "One of the best books I've ever read, " means that this book is one of the top 20 or so books I've ever read in my life,
(The list is growing as I age and I can foresee 50 on it eventually.) These are books that either changed me, somehow or in some way, just by reading them or are simply so exquisitely that they occupy the top shelf in my bookcase. I have Anna Karenina and Shogun and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and The Satanic Verses up there along with Pale Fire and Jane Eyre.
The 9 rating, "Terrific; couldn't put it down" is a mental project. I had to work this out a bit because "couldn't put it down" can mean one of two things. First, it could mean that I, quite literally, stayed up very late late reading and popped it open the first thing in the morning. I read this book instead of eating dinner. But that could be true of any good suspenseful book that, in all reality, is of only mediocre quality , so I've decided that I don't mean that .
What I'm meaning by a 9 in my current and future ratings is that I can't get the book, it's characters, it's ideas, it's style, out of my mind, for positive literary reasons, even long after I've read it. The book has a kind of spell on me, I mentally can't put it down and maybe this means that I need to read it again. (Nabokov's Speak, Memory is definitely like this.)
A 9 means that there's more to this book than what a first read will give a reader. That's for sure true of some classics which were quite easy to put down physically, but the hold on me, for future reference, for reading again, for whatever reason, is compelling. Ulysses is actually in this category because I've only read it once and know that there is a whole lot more to it than what I got the first time. I recognize that there is some mighty deep water there and want to get back to it.
The 8, "very good," can be a lot of things but mostly, although I can't see rereading it and it didn't "change my life" it was a wonderful book providing me with a new insight or just great enjoyment for one of many reasons. The Ladies #1 Detective Agency by Smith is an 8 as is The Mercy Seat by Askew and The Sea, the Sea by Murdoch. There may be a number of works by Dickens in this category while others go in the 9 category and a few in the 7.
A 7, "good," could mean a lot of things but mostly these are filler books and I like them for what they are, not for what I expect from a classic. Bitter Grounds is like that. It was okay for what it was. Bel Canto was a 7 for me, as was Honk and Holler by Letts. There are lots of books like this. They're likable fluff, imo, and I really appreciate them after a good hard day at Nabokov. (lol) Atwood is a kind of 7.5 for me at this point although Alias Grace was an 8.5 when I read it but that was my first Atwood. Good James Lee Burke, like Dixie City Jam and Purple Cane go here, too.
A 6, "enjoyed parts of it," is usually pretty fluffy or controversial or has some real problems or, perhaps, just was *not* my cuppa. Here we have the stuff that is is okay sometimes and that keeps me going but there are other parts that are a distinct turn-olff. Most of Barbara Kingsolver is here and Anne Tyler. Savannah Blues is like a 6.5. I know it was fluffy-fluff, and I didn't like it all, but it suited me at the time. The Girl With the Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier is here. Imo, too much emphasis on a mediocre love story will put a book in this category. The suspense of Grisham can earn him a spot at 6. (lol)
A rating of 5, " I didn't particularly like it or dislike it; mixed review," is okay; so what; pisses me off; whatever. Kindred was like that. I just "got through it" enjoying a little section or two but sometimes thinking it was dumb. A Conspiracy of Paper by Liss and In the Fall by Lent were 5s. Okay but ... lacking. These books don't even have the suspense factor to keep the rating up.
I wonder why I finish the 4s, "An 'okay' book, but I don't recommend it," but maybe I have to read them for a group or something so I finish. Anything by A. Manette Ansay is here. They're "okay" but that just means that they're better than "not okay." (g) I won't read it unless I have to for a group or because I visit my brother and there's nothing else in the house except Cheerio boxes.
A 3, "poor, lost interest," is like, well... try White Teeth by Smith. I read it; I finished it; I lost interest and skimmed hard. But a lot of people love it so ... The Left Behind series is like that. I read the first book and won't be reading any more (while with the Ladies #1 Detective Agency I read all 5). . But if White Teeth is what someone else wants to read... so be it. It got great reviews and won an award, I think.
A 2, "awful; didn't finish it," is like Being Dead by Jim Crace. I would tell people that I didn't care for it but if they like it, well, I understand that it may be due to differences of opinion. Stephen King is very much here. There are many who love his works, but me??? I can't do that kind of gore and Master and Commander"because I just could not abide all the technical boat talk. I can't read this stuff but if you can, that's your choice and I do not in any way hold it against you. It's just a preference.
A 1, "don't waste your time," means that I will actually steer people away. I won't steer them away from the 3s and 2s, Crace or King or even Smith. But I will steer them away from "Lila" by Pirsig (what a total disappointment). The 1s are usually very poor efforts from known authors. The Ground Beneath Her Feet by Rushdie is a 1. It's just a rehash. Vonnegut's Timequake is a rehash. Reading these is like watching a brand new Mercedes get totalled in a wreck.
And a 0, "One of the worst books I have ever read" is Son of Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin. What a total rot of a book. The book is not even worthy of a 1.
Posted at 12:18 PM
Best Books update
This is an entry that is regularly updated.
:)
Underworld by Don
DeLillo
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov
If On a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco
Soul Mountain by Gao Xianjian
The Cairo Trilogy by Naguib Mahfouz
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow
Independent People by Halldor Laxness
100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Mao II by Don DeLillo
The Names by Don DeLillo
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Ulysses by James Joyce
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Huruki Murakami
Swan by Gudbergur Bergsson
Shogun by James Clavell
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenence by Robert M. Pirsig
Growth of the Soil by Knut Hamsun
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov
If On a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco
Soul Mountain by Gao Xianjian
The Cairo Trilogy by Naguib Mahfouz
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow
Independent People by Halldor Laxness
100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Mao II by Don DeLillo
The Names by Don DeLillo
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Ulysses by James Joyce
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Huruki Murakami
Swan by Gudbergur Bergsson
Shogun by James Clavell
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenence by Robert M. Pirsig
Growth of the Soil by Knut Hamsun
Posted at 10:32 AM
Sat - June 26, 2004
Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman
finished 6/25 ................... non-fiction
essays........... rating 8.5
Warm and funny, the collected essays of a bone
fide and self-proclaimed bibliomaniac tell the story of a life-long love of
books and reading.
Posted at 11:52 PM
Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood
finished 6/26 ............. general fiction,
Canadian ............. rating 7.5 ... more!
This is standard Atwood; woman has immediate
issue (an artist's retrospective show) and goes through a series of back-flashes
to wind up and a bit of a surprise ending. I like Atwood's willingness to
experiment with subject matter and genre but her structure, characters and re
all pretty standard. Actually, there may be some intertextual play with
Shakespeare's King Lear character Cordelia and Atwood's bad girl. .
The obvious, surface similarities between the Cordelias are that they are both the youngest of three daughters and that they both have tragic (due to their own flawed characters) endings.
Shakespeare's Cordelia is good and loving daughter until confronted by her sisters' greed-driven insincerity, then she says things which, although on the surface are honest, may be somewhat disingenuous and were obviously hurtful to the egotistical Lear. She cannot openly admit to the depth of her love as though in a contest.
Atwood's Cordelia is friendly (kind of) to Elaine until one day for no reason that I can see, the three girls put Elaine in a hole that Cordelia dug. They say she is Mary Queen of Scots. ? (Of course, Lear didn't see the rationale behind Cordelia's apparent change of heart.)
After this there is a distinct change in the girls' relationship and Grace, Carol and Cordelia are very mean to Elaine, saying they are trying to improve her. In a way, I suppose, this could be Cordelia going away (to France as in the underpants poems the girls sing at school).
But later Mom Cordelia really does go away. ?
If Elaine is Lear then Elaine is heartbroken that Cordelia will not openly admit to the affection she alludes to having at first and Cordelia goes away in both cases. Both Elaine and Lear have tragic endings based on their own Cordelias.
So the Cordelias come back, Shakespeare's Cordelia is mistaken for a ghost; Elaine's is a ghost in her imagination. Lear wants to reunite with his Cordelia but she is dead. Elaine goes to visit her Cordelia but she is deadened. Lear dies broken-hearted. Elaine is a haunted artist, unable to free herself of Cordelia and returns to Vancouver.
Elaine never has the pride of Lear. No one, at least during the time frame of the inner story, is ever vying for her affection and material goods. The girls are trying to influence her, I suppose, in a way. They say they are "improving" her. And they are lying like Shakespeare's sisters.
Atwood's Cordelia never has much love for Elaine whereas Shakespeare's Cordelia does love her father dearly.
But, as a friend on a booklist suggested, "maybe the similiarity of the Cordelias would be the respective ways that they effect Lear and Elaine. It is Elaine's love of Cordelia that enables Cordelia to hurt her, as it is Lear's love of his youngest daughter that gives her the power to wound him. They both lose perspective on their lives and have given too much over to some false ideal of love and friendship. Elaine and Lear relinquish their power through love, take their power back through pain, lose their love objects and in the end are left with regret perhaps because they failed to understand those whom they have loved and also because their expectations of love/friendship were flawed and unrealistic." (Thanks, Trudy!)
The obvious, surface similarities between the Cordelias are that they are both the youngest of three daughters and that they both have tragic (due to their own flawed characters) endings.
Shakespeare's Cordelia is good and loving daughter until confronted by her sisters' greed-driven insincerity, then she says things which, although on the surface are honest, may be somewhat disingenuous and were obviously hurtful to the egotistical Lear. She cannot openly admit to the depth of her love as though in a contest.
Atwood's Cordelia is friendly (kind of) to Elaine until one day for no reason that I can see, the three girls put Elaine in a hole that Cordelia dug. They say she is Mary Queen of Scots. ? (Of course, Lear didn't see the rationale behind Cordelia's apparent change of heart.)
After this there is a distinct change in the girls' relationship and Grace, Carol and Cordelia are very mean to Elaine, saying they are trying to improve her. In a way, I suppose, this could be Cordelia going away (to France as in the underpants poems the girls sing at school).
But later Mom Cordelia really does go away. ?
If Elaine is Lear then Elaine is heartbroken that Cordelia will not openly admit to the affection she alludes to having at first and Cordelia goes away in both cases. Both Elaine and Lear have tragic endings based on their own Cordelias.
So the Cordelias come back, Shakespeare's Cordelia is mistaken for a ghost; Elaine's is a ghost in her imagination. Lear wants to reunite with his Cordelia but she is dead. Elaine goes to visit her Cordelia but she is deadened. Lear dies broken-hearted. Elaine is a haunted artist, unable to free herself of Cordelia and returns to Vancouver.
Elaine never has the pride of Lear. No one, at least during the time frame of the inner story, is ever vying for her affection and material goods. The girls are trying to influence her, I suppose, in a way. They say they are "improving" her. And they are lying like Shakespeare's sisters.
Atwood's Cordelia never has much love for Elaine whereas Shakespeare's Cordelia does love her father dearly.
But, as a friend on a booklist suggested, "maybe the similiarity of the Cordelias would be the respective ways that they effect Lear and Elaine. It is Elaine's love of Cordelia that enables Cordelia to hurt her, as it is Lear's love of his youngest daughter that gives her the power to wound him. They both lose perspective on their lives and have given too much over to some false ideal of love and friendship. Elaine and Lear relinquish their power through love, take their power back through pain, lose their love objects and in the end are left with regret perhaps because they failed to understand those whom they have loved and also because their expectations of love/friendship were flawed and unrealistic." (Thanks, Trudy!)
Posted at 12:01 AM
Fri - June 25, 2004
The Swan by Gudbergur Bergsson
finished 6/25.......... fiction, Iceland
.......... rating 10 .... ( more)
A couple of years ago I read Halldor
Laxness'
Independent People (a true classic) and loved it, so, when The Swan
was nominated in a reading group, I didn't hesitate. The first 40 pages or so
felt like this was going to be a book for young teens. Perhaps that was just
Bergsson's way of approaching the story and setting up the point of view (a
child's). The harsh reality of life for a troubled young urban girl sent to a
farm in rural Iceland blended with the terse but still magical (ala Gabriel
Garcia Marquez) and mystic style of Bergsson gradually drew me entirely in. (I'm
still a bit spellbound.)
There came a rough spot and I was nervous that it would be about child abuse but that aspect ended, too. I think that event was symbolic and meaningful. This is a sort of "coming-of-age" story of a girl in Iceland who goes from an insipid seeming, urban ignorance to a harsh rural existence that is only partially softened by the mysticism.
If you liked Independent People, I think you will like this more contemporary story. It's short, but it's not a quick read. I had to go back and read several parts a second time. In fact, I think I'll read the whole thing a second time but I don't know if I'll "get it" even then, as I'm not Icelandic but Norwegian American. I'll bet this book was soooo fine in it's native language.
Another book that I was reminded of was Plainsong by Kent Haruf because of the relationship of the modern people to very basics of life, the rural ways, the land, the animals, the sense of the brutally and beautifully physical in the world.
**
There came a rough spot and I was nervous that it would be about child abuse but that aspect ended, too. I think that event was symbolic and meaningful. This is a sort of "coming-of-age" story of a girl in Iceland who goes from an insipid seeming, urban ignorance to a harsh rural existence that is only partially softened by the mysticism.
If you liked Independent People, I think you will like this more contemporary story. It's short, but it's not a quick read. I had to go back and read several parts a second time. In fact, I think I'll read the whole thing a second time but I don't know if I'll "get it" even then, as I'm not Icelandic but Norwegian American. I'll bet this book was soooo fine in it's native language.
Another book that I was reminded of was Plainsong by Kent Haruf because of the relationship of the modern people to very basics of life, the rural ways, the land, the animals, the sense of the brutally and beautifully physical in the world.
**
Posted at 05:44 PM
Satanic Verses reread (update)
reread... rating 10!.... ( ...
more)
This is such a fine book. I didn't understand
everything that Rushdie was putting in there the first time around> I did
well to get the characters and the gist of the plot. I just basically turned
level 1 reader and to figure out "what happened," if possible. The second
reading was incredible. I saw the themes of migrant and assimilation vs masks
and reality intertwined with choices and Satan and love. Every word was
important this time. Every idea nuance three ways. (lol) Great book!!!
Posted at 05:34 PM
Fri - June 18, 2004
Mr Paradise by Elmore Leonard
finished 6/17 ................ crime
fiction................... rating 6
Good if you like Leonard, it's his standard
fare. I used to really like him, the first half dozen or so. But then it got old
and he turned true genre; hard-boiled and sexy, cop shop books.
Posted at 07:47 PM
Tue - June 15, 2004
The Memory of Running by Ron McLarty
finished 5/?/04................... general
fiction ................... 7
This book was very simple but quite good. It
is the story of a seriously overweight, cigarette smoking middle-aged man who,
in recovering from the sudden death of his parents, takes off on a
cross-country bicycle odyssey. He needs to find his sister in LA. The book is
not that good from a literary standpoint and the plot is really a series of
anecdotes but the subject-matter is so heartwarming that overall it's a fun
listen. The LA Times did an interesting piece
on McLarty .
Posted at 05:55 PM
Sun - June 13, 2004
LIVING HISTORY by Hillary Rodham Clinton
finished 6/13.............
biography/memoir.................. rating 8
I'm not big on biographies or memoirs although
I do read them. This one held my interest far better than most. Perhaps it was
Clinton's style, her humor or the subject matter; I don't know. I'm a fan, that
couldn't have hurt. (g) But overall, the book held my interest almost all the
way through.
Posted at 02:00 PM
Fri - June 11, 2004
A CUPBOARD FULL OF LOVE by Alexander McCall Smith
finished 6/11............
UK
fiction................rating
8
This was the last book in Alexander McCall's
Smith's series about Mma Precious Ramotswe, a "Lady Detective" with her own
offices in Botswana. I think I liked the first 4 better but this one was also a
very fun read. It's not heavy or difficult in any way. It's a beach read, but a
kind of literary, very delightful and marvelously different beach read.
I recommend reading the books in order:
The Ladies #1 Detective Agency
The Tears of the Giraffe
Morality for Beautiful Girls
The Kalahari Typing School for Men
Cupboard Full of Love
I recommend reading the books in order:
The Ladies #1 Detective Agency
The Tears of the Giraffe
Morality for Beautiful Girls
The Kalahari Typing School for Men
Cupboard Full of Love
Posted at 09:23 PM
Sat - June 5, 2004
MY BEST BOOKS LIST
These are the best books I have ever read (so
far and very open to change). I'll keep adding until I reach 30 and then I have
to quit adding and start editing. (lol)
Underworld by Don
DeLillo
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov
If On a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco
The Cairo Trilogy by Naguib Mahfouz
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Soul Mountain by Gao Xingjian
Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
Independent People by Halldor Laxness
100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Mao II by Don DeLillo
The Names by Don DeLillo
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Ulysses by James Joyce
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Huruki Murakami
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov
If On a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco
The Cairo Trilogy by Naguib Mahfouz
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Soul Mountain by Gao Xingjian
Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
Independent People by Halldor Laxness
100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Mao II by Don DeLillo
The Names by Don DeLillo
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Ulysses by James Joyce
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Huruki Murakami
Posted at 03:07 PM
Bitter Grounds by Sandra Benitez
finished 6/5/04........... fiction US
............ rating 9 (couldn't put it down but... )
Set in El Salvador between the years 1932 and
1978 this is the story of how 2 families, the women particularly, survive those
turbulent years full of radical change. The generational tale includes the
very rich and the very poor as the women make their independent ways. These
are stories of jealousy, stubbornness, love, heartache and betrayal with the
stirrings of revolution always in the background. Also in the background are a
soap opera and coffee, the things they share.
Benitez has managed to show both sides but I think she does have a distinct liberal view. Nevertheless, the women, rich or poor, are all portrayed sympathetically. Click the blue for a " Great review! "
Benitez has managed to show both sides but I think she does have a distinct liberal view. Nevertheless, the women, rich or poor, are all portrayed sympathetically. Click the blue for a " Great review! "
Posted at 01:29 PM
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
finished 6/3/04........... literary (science)
fiction............. rating 9.5
The story of a dystopian world, which could be
ours tomorrow, has the sole survivor of world-wide catastrophe trying to
maintain his existence while putting together the story of what happened.
Snowman now lives in a tree and scavenges for food and supplies among the
Crakers, the people his best friend Crake created. He finds himself doing a lot
of religious type story telling as the story of how this situation came to be
evolves in his head. Oryx is the woman of Crake and the desire of Snowman.
This is typical Atwood in that the protagonists are trying to make sense and tell the story of what happened and they only get to the crisis point at the end of the novel. So the beginning of the story is at the end of the book. During the book we are treated to the events leading up to the crisis point and the events following it, but we don't get the main question, "What happened ?" answered until the end. Maybe Atwood prefers the term speculative fiction because that's what the reader does... speculates.
This is typical Atwood in that the protagonists are trying to make sense and tell the story of what happened and they only get to the crisis point at the end of the novel. So the beginning of the story is at the end of the book. During the book we are treated to the events leading up to the crisis point and the events following it, but we don't get the main question, "What happened ?" answered until the end. Maybe Atwood prefers the term speculative fiction because that's what the reader does... speculates.
Posted at 12:58 PM
Tue - June 1, 2004
The Floating Brothel by by Sian Rees
Finished in June ........ history ...........
rating 7
This book is the result of a thesis on family
history I think. It's the story of several women who were in prison in London
and chose to be put on board ship for Australia as part of the transportation
penal system. Parts were quite good, humorous. The organization could have
been better and it would have been less confusing if Rees had not included quite
so many names of women who were only mentioned once.
Posted at 11:31 PM
Mon - May 31, 2004
DEVIL IN WHITE CITY by Eric Larson (read by Scott Brick)
finished 5/30................. non-fiction /
history .............. rating 10
Excellent book about the Chicago World's Fair
of 1893 and the architects, politicians and a mass murderer who made it what it
was. It "reads like a novel" and the characters, setting, plot, and theme are
all there. But the background, which is vital to understanding what that fair
was to Chicago and the US is all there as well. It's well researched and just a
joy to read.
Posted at 06:47 PM
THE SATANIC VERSES by Salman Rushdie
finished 5/25/04 ............. fiction
Indian/post-colonial/UK............ rating 8 ( ... more)
This could have been an excellent book had
Rushdie not thought he needed to cover everything in the universe. It started
wonderfully although I had to go back and read some sections twice. Chapter
three was quite readable and Chapter 4 was funny. Then I hit Chapter 5 and
wondered if I was in the same book. One main character is changing between film,
religion second birth and reality. Who knows what dimension he's in? The other
character is stalwartly not changing himself but everything else metamorphoses
constantly. But that's the point, I guess. And the ending is very, very strong.
I've read other books by Rushdie and this is the best so far. His most
acclaimed, however, is Midnight's Children and I really do want to read that
one.
Posted at 06:42 PM
EATS, SHOOTS AND LEAVES by Lynne Truss
finished 5/11/04......................
punctuation advice ...................... rating 7
This is a funny book. I don't take punctuation
as seriously as some but it's good to know that there is no one, all time,
standard way to do some things. Truss has a good, easy style although the
authorial asides could get irritating.
Posted at 06:38 PM
Sun - May 23, 2004
The Death of Vishnu by Manil Suri
finished in May.............. contemporary
fiction - Indian ........... rating 7
A man dies in the hallway of an Indian
apartment house and no one will take care of him. The book reveals the stories
of the residents. Some is very interesting. I have the feeling that there is a
lot of symbolism in this book but it wasn't compelling enough for me to hunt for
it.
Posted at 11:30 PM
Mon - May 10, 2004
SNOW CRASH by Neil Stephenson
finished 5/9...............
sci-fi/cyber.................. rating 9
Hiro Protagonist and Y.T. two adventure
oriented young people go after the source of a new virus which can very
seriously affect both people and computers turning them to a commercial
religious enterprise. This book is so funny, informational and well written that
I just enjoyed myself tremendously. Much of the action takes place in 3-D
cyberspace where avatars fight it out amid. Other scenes are in the real world
where pizza delivery and couriers harpoon passing motorists to deliver their
vital supplies.
Excellent review at Babes in Space
Excellent review at Babes in Space
Posted at 07:39 AM
Thu - May 6, 2004
THE BONE PEOPLE by Keri Hulme
finished 5/3/04 ................ fiction New
Zealand/Maori............rating 8
This is the story of an abandoned boy in New
Zealand, his "adopted father" and the father's good friend (girl friend?).
Kerewin. Child abuse, family relationships and the Maori culture are the
themes. It's not an easy story to read but it's worth it. The last 1/3 is very
different from anything I've ever read; it's a kind of Maori Magical realism.
Winner of the Booker Prize.
Posted at 06:55 AM
UNDERWORLD by Don DeLillo
finished 5/2................... fiction
US...................... rating 10 (one of the best books I've ever read) ( ...
more)
This is the story of the baseball which won or
lost, depending on your perspective, the pennant race between the Giants and the
Dodgers in 1951. Starting with a prologue set at the game 1951 we jump, in
chapter 1, to the present time (1992) and follow the baseball backwards through
the decades. The main character, Nick Shay, has the ball in 1992 but the
question of this part of the whole story is how did it get to
him.
One of the major themes of this books is "garbage/trash/refuse" in all it's modes from art and emotional trash to nuclear dump sites. Being a consumer society we make trash as a part of the business, the economics. Where does it come from? What do we do with it? What is trash, what is not trash? Can we redeem or recycle it? Following this theme DeLillo shows that everything is connected. The title comes from the related theme or idea of secrets. Secrets are underground, inside us. There are actually many, many themes (or motifs) in this book, fathers and sons, art and trash, the bomb, paranoia, secrets, film, and more. They are all interconnected.
I love this book. This is the 3rd time I've read it. The language is astonishing. I have not done justice to the themes. The characters are wonderfully well drawn and we get inside them where their secrets are. Meanwhile, as the ball and the characters are going through their changes, the book traces the life of America in the second half or the 20th century. Nominated for the National Book Award and winner of the Jerusalem Prize.
One of the major themes of this books is "garbage/trash/refuse" in all it's modes from art and emotional trash to nuclear dump sites. Being a consumer society we make trash as a part of the business, the economics. Where does it come from? What do we do with it? What is trash, what is not trash? Can we redeem or recycle it? Following this theme DeLillo shows that everything is connected. The title comes from the related theme or idea of secrets. Secrets are underground, inside us. There are actually many, many themes (or motifs) in this book, fathers and sons, art and trash, the bomb, paranoia, secrets, film, and more. They are all interconnected.
I love this book. This is the 3rd time I've read it. The language is astonishing. I have not done justice to the themes. The characters are wonderfully well drawn and we get inside them where their secrets are. Meanwhile, as the ball and the characters are going through their changes, the book traces the life of America in the second half or the 20th century. Nominated for the National Book Award and winner of the Jerusalem Prize.
Posted at 06:48 AM
Sat - May 1, 2004
Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov
May .......... memoir ............ rating 9
(needs to be a 10 but I'd have to read it again)
This is Nabokov writing with mirrors and
crystal and fleeting images. Memories are like that but so is Nabokov's style.
Posted at 11:31 PM
Sun - April 18, 2004
A PROBLEM FROM HELL: by Samantha Power
finished 4/11............ history/politics
.............. rating 9
This is the very compelling story of Genocide
in the 20th century and how events of these times could have been avoided or
minimized. Power examines events in Armenia, Germany, Cambodia, Bosnia,
Yugoslavia. She also examines the lives of some of those who have been
committed to stopping the violence, Raphael Lemkin, Senator
Proxmire and Romeo
Dallaire , true heroes in every sense of the term .
London Observer
London Observer
Posted at 08:27 PM
THE MAGUS by John Fowles
finished 4/16................ fiction UK
................ rating 9
This is the third time I've read this and
although I would have ranked it a 10 (one of the best books I've ever read) in
prior reads, it came down a notch or two this time. It's still a good story but
the "point" never does get revealed (or else it's beyond me) and so I just tired
of the games. The first 100 pages were right up there with the best of all
literature. The remaining 500+ pages dragged.
Posted at 08:09 PM
Thu - April 15, 2004
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
finished April ............... memoir
............ rating 7
Interesting in places but it seemed to me that
she was going over and over the same stuff and that men and love were very
important to her. The Iranian "take" on Western literature was interesting.
Posted at 11:32 PM
Mon - April 12, 2004
THE CONFESSIONS OF MAX TIVOLI by Andrew Sean Greer
finished 4/12 ................ general fiction
................. rating 6
This is the story of a man who is born old and
gets more youthful with age. He falls in love at a chronological age of about
14 but he looks 56. The story follows his love for Alice, this first love, over
a lifetime. The setting is from about 1880 to the 1950's and takes place mostly
in San Francisco. His mother has told him to "Be what they think you are," and
Max remembers that. I think Greer did an excellent job with the historical
aspects.
Posted at 08:41 PM
Sat - April 10, 2004
PATTY JANE'S HOUSE OF CURL by Lorna Latvik
finished 4/10 ................fiction US
................. rating 7
Pure fluffy fun with all the ends tied up, for
the beach, but pretty well done for what it is. I needed the break between
Lolita, The Master and Margarita, and Reading Lolita in Tehran, The Magus and
Underworld. (lol)
Posted at 05:15 PM
THE MASTER AND MARGARITA by Mikail Bulgakov
finished 4/10 ............ Soviet fiction
........... rating 9.5
A stunning fantastical satire of the Stalin
regime. I don't know if I got even half of the references but it was a kind of
Russian magical realism with heavy moral overtones. A combination and very
darkly political, Leo Tolstoy and Gabriel Marquez Garcia
Posted at 04:49 PM
Sun - March 28, 2004
GIANTS IN THE EARTH by O. E. Rolvaag
finished 3/28 .......... classic US fiction
.......... rating 9.5.... (more)
This one was a second reading. I am getting
to appreciate more and more the second reading of a book; this is the part when
after you know "what happens" you take another look at characters, style,
themes, etc. to see more precisely what the author was saying and how. I only
read the very best books (a rating of 9 or 10) a second time.
Giants in the Earth is the story of the Per (Pair) Hansa, his wife Beret and their children, Norwegian immigrants, as they establish themselves as the pioneers and founders of a South Dakota community in the 1870's. The two main characters are both very good people but their responses to the prairie are diametrically opposed. Where Per sees the wide open spaces as a place for his boundless optimism and ambition, a place where hard work and a little smarts can assure success, Beret sees fearsome isolation and desolation, a place which would turn them into Godless uncivilized beasts. Per is energized from the beginning. Beret is fearful and depressed. Other characters are very "typically" Norwegian in their attitudes, beliefs and customs. The prairie itself could be seen as a third major character as it creates so so much hope and despair in the harsh realities of open possibilities. Although this work is a saga in the best sense of the term, it is also noted for it's sharp psychological portraits and insights. There are also heavy Biblical resonances.
Rolvaag was a Norwegian immigrant himself coming over in 1896. He worked on his uncle's South Dakota farm but then went on to higher education to write. Rolvaag knew the life of which he wrote. He had to write the original book in Norwegian because his English was still limited. This is a true and accurate picture of the hardships faced by the early South Dakota pioneers. I don't necessarily agree with the following essays but they do provide an interesting perspective.
Wheat and Potatoes": Reconstructing Whiteness in O. E. Rolvaag's Immigrant Trilogy.(Critical Essay)
Beret and the Prairie in Giants in the Earth
Giants in the Earth is the story of the Per (Pair) Hansa, his wife Beret and their children, Norwegian immigrants, as they establish themselves as the pioneers and founders of a South Dakota community in the 1870's. The two main characters are both very good people but their responses to the prairie are diametrically opposed. Where Per sees the wide open spaces as a place for his boundless optimism and ambition, a place where hard work and a little smarts can assure success, Beret sees fearsome isolation and desolation, a place which would turn them into Godless uncivilized beasts. Per is energized from the beginning. Beret is fearful and depressed. Other characters are very "typically" Norwegian in their attitudes, beliefs and customs. The prairie itself could be seen as a third major character as it creates so so much hope and despair in the harsh realities of open possibilities. Although this work is a saga in the best sense of the term, it is also noted for it's sharp psychological portraits and insights. There are also heavy Biblical resonances.
Rolvaag was a Norwegian immigrant himself coming over in 1896. He worked on his uncle's South Dakota farm but then went on to higher education to write. Rolvaag knew the life of which he wrote. He had to write the original book in Norwegian because his English was still limited. This is a true and accurate picture of the hardships faced by the early South Dakota pioneers. I don't necessarily agree with the following essays but they do provide an interesting perspective.
Wheat and Potatoes": Reconstructing Whiteness in O. E. Rolvaag's Immigrant Trilogy.(Critical Essay)
Beret and the Prairie in Giants in the Earth
Posted at 06:57 PM
THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME by Mark Haddon
Finished 3/27 .......... general fiction
UK.......... rating 7.5.... (more)
Very interesting premise and execution.
Christopher, a 15 year old boy with Aspergers
syndrome, a form of autism, is
able to do complex math problems but has severely limited emotional capacity and
communication skills. This boy discovers that his neighbor's dog has been
murdered and decides to become a detective and solve the problem. THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF
THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME is told from the first person, meaning that
the reader is treated to a case of Aspergers disease from the inside.
Christopher cannot abide lying so he is completely honest and direct down to the
point of avoiding metaphors. He has many peculiar obsessive compulsive traits
as well as hyper-sensitivity. At first I was totally sympathetic to Christopher
but towards the end I was becoming as exasperated as his parents who had their
own problems. It was a good book and I do recommend it. The reason that it
only gets a 7.5 is because it reminded me of Jonathan Letham's MOTHERLESS
BROOKLYN but not as well done. I'd say this book was "cute?"
Posted at 05:25 PM
LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov
finished 3/18 .......... literary fiction
US/Russian emigre.......... rating 9
This is a very well written book. It is so well
written in fact that it is supposed to take your mind off what Humbert Humbert
is doing to a 12 year old girl. It didn't work. Possibly because I'm female and
the response of the victim in this book was never mentioned. Humbert makes
allusions to what he perceives as her reactions but .... really ... I do believe
that Humbert Humbert is a seriously unreliable narrator.
I did read fast though; I couldn't put it down. And now that I'm finished I'm really tempted to have another go. The "plot" level in me is satisfied and I'd like to get on with a closer look at the narrative. I guess I'd look at style.
I did read fast though; I couldn't put it down. And now that I'm finished I'm really tempted to have another go. The "plot" level in me is satisfied and I'd like to get on with a closer look at the narrative. I guess I'd look at style.
Posted at 04:57 PM
Sun - March 21, 2004
SUPERFOODS by Steven Pratt M.D.
finished 3/15 .......... non-fiction
"nutrition and diet" .......... rating 8
Cool book, I'm using much of the info. It makes
sense, is easy to read, understand and incorporate. Good but limited recipes.
The 14 foods are: beans, blueberries, broccoli, oats, oranges, pumpkin, salmon,
soy, spinach, tea, tomatoes, turkey, walnuts and yogurt. (my kind of
food!)
Posted at 10:40 AM
Sat - March 20, 2004
THE LIVES OF THE MUSES by Francine Prose
finished 3/20 .......... non-fiction
(mini-bios) .......... rating 8
I enjoyed this far more than I thought I would.
It's the stories of 9 famous muses and the artists they loved. The focus is on
the woman. Only a few (1 or 2) are complimentary; mostly the author is critical
of the muses she describes. Included are: Hester Thrale (Samuel Johnson),
Alice Liddell (Lewis Carroll), Elizabeth Siddal (Dante Rossetti), Lou
Andreas-Salome (Neitzche, Rainer, Freud), Gala Dali (Salvador Dali), Lee Miller
(Man Ray), Charis Weston (Edward Weston), Suzanne Farrell (Balanchine) and Yoko
Ono (John Lennon).
Posted at 09:24 PM
ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
finished 3/17 .......... "magical realism" /
Mexico, literary fiction .......... rating 9.5
Original
NY Times Review:
This is a super book! A tale of enchanted love and memory and death and aloneness and colonialism and nationalism and everything in between. I've read it 3 times and I could read it again. It's one of those books you fall in love with and need to explore over and over.
This is a super book! A tale of enchanted love and memory and death and aloneness and colonialism and nationalism and everything in between. I've read it 3 times and I could read it again. It's one of those books you fall in love with and need to explore over and over.
Posted at 09:16 PM
Sun - March 14, 2004
THE KITE RUNNER by Khaled Hosseini
finished 3/13 .......... "literary fiction"
.......... rating; 8
Another coming of age story, this time about a
young immigrant from Afghanistan. The story revolves around the memories of the
first person, Amir, who is plagued with shame and remorse for childhood actions.
But the story is also the tale of Afghanistan from the 1970's through today.
The first large section of the book takes place in San Francisco with Amir
remembering the past, the last section takes place in Afghanistan. This is a
story of betrayal and redemption and fathers and sons and friends and countrymen
and feels like a memoir in its intensity and immediacy. It's read by the author
and his accent, although authentic, takes some getting used to.
Posted at 07:16 PM
Wed - March 10, 2004
THE ELEGANT UNIVERSE by Brian Greene
finished 3/9 .......... "science"
.......... rating 8.5
Brian Greene, a prominent nuclear physicist,
explains string theory, what it is, how it developed, and where it may be
going. This book is for the layman with some background. Some of the analogies
are kind of cutesy but effective. Some of it is oversimplified and still not
easy to understand. I have a hard time with one dimensional things. I have
trouble with the idea of 16 dimensions. Some parts of this book were totally
engrossing, a few parts were boring and other parts were, quite frankly, over my
head. Nevertheless, I persevered and I do think I learned something; quite a
lot actually. Greene's stated goal was to get the theories across without the
math. I think he succeeded fairly well.
Posted at 08:00 PM
Sun - March 7, 2004
THE JUDGEMENT BY D.W. BUFFA
finished 3/7 .......... legal thriller
.......... 7
Super crime novel. I stayed up as long as I
could listening to this. I listened to it almost non-stop but I had to turn it
off about 2 am because I was afraid I might fall asleep just laying down with it
on. So I started sometime Saturday afternoon and finished up Sunday noon.
Wow!
Buffa, the author, is a criminal lawyer writing crime fiction much like Scott Turow. His protagonist attorney, Joseph Antonelli is a defense attorney for an upscale law firm. A truly rotten judge is murdered, an anonymous tip comes in, a homeless man confesses and commits suicide in jail. Then another judge is murdered in a very similar manner, another anonymous tip comes in and another homeless man is picked up. The situations are dense and interconnected, the characters are well drawn and fascinating, the is plot thick and juicy. The
This is not to say that the book is without problems. I found myself having to suspend disbelief a bit more than I usually like but it was worth it. And the opening chapters are pretty rough in terms of subject matter but that passes, it's not the plot of the book.
Buffa, the author, is a criminal lawyer writing crime fiction much like Scott Turow. His protagonist attorney, Joseph Antonelli is a defense attorney for an upscale law firm. A truly rotten judge is murdered, an anonymous tip comes in, a homeless man confesses and commits suicide in jail. Then another judge is murdered in a very similar manner, another anonymous tip comes in and another homeless man is picked up. The situations are dense and interconnected, the characters are well drawn and fascinating, the is plot thick and juicy. The
This is not to say that the book is without problems. I found myself having to suspend disbelief a bit more than I usually like but it was worth it. And the opening chapters are pretty rough in terms of subject matter but that passes, it's not the plot of the book.
Posted at 12:36 PM
Sat - March 6, 2004
WORD FREAKS BY STEFAN FATSIS
finished 3/6 .......... general
non-fiction .......... rating 8
This is the story of a journalist's journey
into the world of professional Scrabble. It's a story of obsession and
downright weirdness. Fatsis starts investigating and gets hooked. He plays in
the park, makes friends, studies word lists and goes to tournaments. In the
book he describes with great affection those characters who populate this tight
knit little subculture. There is also a history of
the game which is quite interesting in itself. This was a fun book. I used to
love Scrabble but could never play it the way these guys do. I like reading
about it though. Some of the characters" have photos
on the National Scrabble Association site.
Posted at 09:58 PM
STILL LIFE WITH CROWS by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
finished 3/5 .......... thriller
.......... rating 6
This is a gothic thriller set in Medicine Creek
Kansas. and about a serial killer. Preston and Child are well respected authors
in this genre but if I had known that it was quite gorey and about a serial
killer I wouldn't have got it. Nevertheless, it is suspenseful and gripping
and I enjoyed quite a bit of it (only the gorey descriptions sometimes got bad)
about the murders was bad) and . The characters Agent Pendergast and Cory were
thoroughly delightful.
Posted at 09:26 PM
Tue - March 2, 2004
Madam Secretary : A Biography of Madeleine Albright by Thomas Blood
March ........... biography ...........
rating 6
Albreight is a fascinating woman but this book
makes her boring. There were interesting parts. I wish I'd read the memoir by
Albright which has the same cover.
Posted at 10:32 PM
Mon - February 23, 2004
Mercy Among the Children by David Adams Richards
finished in Feb. .......... contemporary US
fiction ........... rating 6
I forgot I read this one. I had to go over to
Amazon to check out the review. Yup. I read it. It's an okay book. It made for
an interesting discussion on the bookgroup list about guilt and commitments.
Posted at 10:30 PM
Thu - February 19, 2004
FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE by Jonathan Letham
finished 2/19 .......... contemp.
fiction .......... Rating 9.5
great book! A white boy in a black New York
neighborhood makes friends with a black boy and they go through the comic books
and superheros, the music, the drugs and life of the 1970's. Letham gets it just
right. The tone stuck with me for a long time. It's a coming of age story in a
difficult age.
Posted at 09:19 PM
Mon - February 16, 2004
THAT'S MR. FAGGOT TO YOU by Michael Thomas Ford
finished 2/15 .......... essays
.......... Rating C
This is a collection of previously published
essays by a funny writer for gay publications. He's had many books published
prior to this one but it's only with the last few that Ford has attained real
commercial success. His insights into what makes society tick regarding gays
and lesbians is insightful and funny. Some parts are quite graphic but other
parts tremendously tender. I enjoyed reading this after page 100. It took that
long to get into it.
Posted at 08:01 AM
Thu - February 12, 2004
FEARLESS JONES by Walter Mosley
finished 2/12 .......... "mystery"
.......... rating 6
Fearless
Jones is noir mystery set in the 1950's LA (think Raymond Chandler) .
The protagonist of the title is the friend of the first person narrator, Paris
Minton, but the two are really a team. Paris is a black owner of a used
bookstore which, after a beautiful woman walks in. is burned to the ground while
he is robbed of his car and wallet. He lands in a bit more trouble and has to
bail his buddy, Fearless Jones, out of jail. The two of them proceed to unravel
the complex mystery of the beautiful woman, money, betrayal, a church and murder
with a motley bunch of characters who are never stereotyped.
Posted at 10:45 PM
Sun - February 8, 2004
NATASHA'S DANCE: A Cultural History of Russia by Orlando Figes
finished 2/8 .......... non-fiction
.......... rating 8
This is an incredible book; Figes has included
a massive amount of material covering the cultural history of Russia from the
prehistoric people up to today. His idea is that the reality of Russian peasant
life can be seen in brief glimpses of the art. The artists and the patrons were
Russian at heart and soul in spite of the French, Mongol, or other influence on
top. And the Russian reality, the national identity, can be seen in their works.
This identity is rich, complex and fascinating, Russian culture has fascinated
intellectuals for centuries and piqued enormous interest with the question, "Is
Russia a civilization of the East or the West?" It's neither completely, Russia
is Russian. January
Magazine.
Posted at 11:49 PM
BY SORROW'S RIVER by Larry McMurtry narrated by Alfred Molina narrator
finished 2/8
.......... "general
fiction (western)"
..........
rating 8
This is the third volume of the Berrybender
series. I'm caught up now but I understand there will be 4. I need a break.
(lol) But then I'll be the first in line to grab the 4th. (This is much like my
reaction to the Ladies #1 Detective Agency series I started last year and to
which I am devoted. McMurtry is not quite as good.)
If this is your first of the Berrybender series I think it would be very hard to catch on. Read these in order.
In this book we have the continuing saga of the aristocratic English Berrybender tribe and entourage crossing the US to hunt game e story continues with the group heading south from Montana to the Santa Fe area. . McMurtry uses the same strong characters and adds a few including several historical figures of the American West: Pomp Charbonneau, Sacajawea's son, mountain man and scout; Kit Carson another famous mountaineer; Le Partezon, the savage war chief; two European journalists flying their hot air balloon across the Plains writing for their readers back home; a band of Pawnee warriors; and a party of slavers.
The heroine is not exactly heroic, imo, her morals and taste in men are quite lacking. I want to shake her! There's a lot of sex in this book but that can be pretty standard McMurtry fare when he's stalled. It's not illuminating in any way, it's kind of filler.
Finally, about 2/3rds of the way into this one McMurtry finds his story and the book picks up then it ends rather abruptly, although not with a cliffhanger as I define it. Whatever, I'm now waiting for book # 4. One good thing is that I really* don't know how this will wind up; it could have a blissfully happy ending in the land of plenty or they could all die tortured deaths. There just is no telling; either would be consistent with the way things have gone so far.
Overall, if you're a McMurtry fan other than Lonesome Dove (his masterpiece, far and away better than anything before or since) you'll enjoy these, if not... well you might try them but start with number 1.
I have the feeling that if this were written a couple hundred years ago we'd have one large 1200 page volume ala Don Quixote, Ulysses, Count of Monte Cristo, not four different books plumped up with sex, and a bit of violence and farce.
If this is your first of the Berrybender series I think it would be very hard to catch on. Read these in order.
In this book we have the continuing saga of the aristocratic English Berrybender tribe and entourage crossing the US to hunt game e story continues with the group heading south from Montana to the Santa Fe area. . McMurtry uses the same strong characters and adds a few including several historical figures of the American West: Pomp Charbonneau, Sacajawea's son, mountain man and scout; Kit Carson another famous mountaineer; Le Partezon, the savage war chief; two European journalists flying their hot air balloon across the Plains writing for their readers back home; a band of Pawnee warriors; and a party of slavers.
The heroine is not exactly heroic, imo, her morals and taste in men are quite lacking. I want to shake her! There's a lot of sex in this book but that can be pretty standard McMurtry fare when he's stalled. It's not illuminating in any way, it's kind of filler.
Finally, about 2/3rds of the way into this one McMurtry finds his story and the book picks up then it ends rather abruptly, although not with a cliffhanger as I define it. Whatever, I'm now waiting for book # 4. One good thing is that I really* don't know how this will wind up; it could have a blissfully happy ending in the land of plenty or they could all die tortured deaths. There just is no telling; either would be consistent with the way things have gone so far.
Overall, if you're a McMurtry fan other than Lonesome Dove (his masterpiece, far and away better than anything before or since) you'll enjoy these, if not... well you might try them but start with number 1.
I have the feeling that if this were written a couple hundred years ago we'd have one large 1200 page volume ala Don Quixote, Ulysses, Count of Monte Cristo, not four different books plumped up with sex, and a bit of violence and farce.
Posted at 12:37 PM
Sat - January 31, 2004
BLUE LATITUDES by Tony Horwitz
finished 1/29
.......... adventure
..........
rating 6 I liked parts of it
This is the story of Tony Horwitz revisiting
the routes of Captain Cook to see what the places he found look like now what
with all the Western influence. It's not a pretty sight. But the best part of
the book is the description of Captain Cook's adventures in the South Seas. The
book is a travelogue/history and the places are more interesting than I thought.
There is so much to write about here that I'm afraid Horwitz would never have
been able to do it justice. I did enjoy the history though.
Posted at 09:12 PM
Mon - January 19, 2004
BLOOD MERIDIAN: THE EVENING REDNESS IN THE WEST by Cormac McCarthy
finished 1/19
..........
"literary fiction" US
..........
rating 10 (one of the best books I've ever read, truly)....
(more)
This is one heck of a good book. Actually,
this is a really "great" book, probably a classic except that it won't get read
enough. It is both one of the best books I've ever read and. without doubt, the
most violent. I don't like violence in movies or books if it's in any way
gratuitous. But "Blood Meridian" is based loosely on the true story of John
Glanton as partly told by Samuel Chamberlain in "My Confession."
Somehow this, along with McCarthy's style, puts the violence in a very realistic
contextual perspective. I wouldn't call it a horror genre, but it is horrific.
And I wouldn't put it in the Western category because actually it's
deconstructing the western myth of Zane Grey, Louis L'Amour and Larry McMurtry.
The west will never look the same to
me.
Blood Meridian is told by an ominscient third person in a totally non-judgmental way and It's as though King Lear meets the Wild Bunch as written by William Faulkner. (That's a variation on several statements I've read on the net, but it is so true.) The literary quality is without comparison, hard, strong, as merciless as the landscape. It matches also the characters who are mythically large and bad to the point of evil as they rape, kill and pillage their way from Texas to San Diego.
The story follows a poverty stricken, illiterate, violence prone boy, known only as "the kid," from the age of 14, when he is given a gun and joins a western raiding party, to the age of 45, when he meets up again with his literary counterpart, "the judge." I suppose it could be a "coming of age" story in the lawless land of manifest destiny. I am in total awe of Cormac McCarthy; this book is the work of a genius.
Sample sentence (and the whole book is jam packed with these):
"They grew gaunted and lank under the white suns of those days and their hollow burnedout eyes were like those of noctambulants surprised by the day. Crouched under their hats they seemed fugitives on some grander scale, like beings for whom the sun hungered."
Blood Meridian is told by an ominscient third person in a totally non-judgmental way and It's as though King Lear meets the Wild Bunch as written by William Faulkner. (That's a variation on several statements I've read on the net, but it is so true.) The literary quality is without comparison, hard, strong, as merciless as the landscape. It matches also the characters who are mythically large and bad to the point of evil as they rape, kill and pillage their way from Texas to San Diego.
The story follows a poverty stricken, illiterate, violence prone boy, known only as "the kid," from the age of 14, when he is given a gun and joins a western raiding party, to the age of 45, when he meets up again with his literary counterpart, "the judge." I suppose it could be a "coming of age" story in the lawless land of manifest destiny. I am in total awe of Cormac McCarthy; this book is the work of a genius.
Sample sentence (and the whole book is jam packed with these):
"They grew gaunted and lank under the white suns of those days and their hollow burnedout eyes were like those of noctambulants surprised by the day. Crouched under their hats they seemed fugitives on some grander scale, like beings for whom the sun hungered."
Posted at 10:16 PM
Thu - January 8, 2004
THE WANDERING HILL by Larry McMurtry
finished 1/11
..........
"general fiction (western)"
..........
Rating: 8
This is the second volume of the Berrybender
series. Again, bawdy comedy set in 1830's Missouri River area frontier. Same
characters with the addition of Kit Carson. "How much of this is true?" she
wonders.
This book is really funny if you like the bawdy, violent humor. The language is so hilarious but the situations deadly serious . Alfred Molina is the narrator of the whole trilogy and he has a perfect accent for the Berrybenders.
This book is really funny if you like the bawdy, violent humor. The language is so hilarious but the situations deadly serious . Alfred Molina is the narrator of the whole trilogy and he has a perfect accent for the Berrybenders.
Posted at 02:10 PM
Wed - January 7, 2004
THE NAMESAKE by Jamal Lahiri
Finished 1/2/04
..........
"literary fiction" US Indian
emigre..........
rating 7.5 .... (more)
Beautifully written story of a young Bengali
boy's coming of age in America. His parents acclimate differently and Gogol has
his own way. He is confused as to whether his Indian heritage is the reason he
feels different or if it's his name, the name of a Russian writer. I rated it a
bit lower than I might have because although it's beautifully done, I'm not sure
how memorable it will be. I think that the problem stems from the fact that
this is an expanded short story and Lahiri is primarily a writer of short
stories.
The title of the story comes from a short story by Gogol (Russian author) in which a man saves and saves and is finally able to buy a new overcoat. I think it has something to do with the love of French and European culture in Russia at the time. So too, have the new immigrants taken up the new culture of the US? (that's a stretch, I think.)
More likely the name Gogol was chosen because it could sound Indian but the boy knew and it made his life miserable.
The title of the story comes from a short story by Gogol (Russian author) in which a man saves and saves and is finally able to buy a new overcoat. I think it has something to do with the love of French and European culture in Russia at the time. So too, have the new immigrants taken up the new culture of the US? (that's a stretch, I think.)
More likely the name Gogol was chosen because it could sound Indian but the boy knew and it made his life miserable.
Posted at 09:57 AM
THE SIN KILLER by Larry McMurtry
Finished 1/6/04
..........
"general fiction (western)"
..........
Rating: 8
This is the first volume of the Berrybender
series. Funny, typical Larry McMurtry, with a lot of accurate details about the
history of the west. Lord Berrybender and family, a very wealthy English
bunch along with servants and kids, set out to find the frontier by traveling
up the Missouri by boat in 1830. Meet Clark, Charboneau, Pomp (his son by
Sakajawea). The historical aspect is delightful. Interesting characters,
McMurtry's specialty. I'm looking forward to the sequels. My only difficulty
is putting such violence with slapstick comedy.
Posted at 09:55 AM
Quick Links
Archives
Categories
Book Bytes
News & Views
My Old Bytes
Statistics
Total entries in this blog:
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Jun 06, 2008 11:35 PM
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Jun 06, 2008 11:35 PM