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Showing posts with label Fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fiction. Show all posts
Thursday, March 26, 2015
Book 5 (2015) House of Mirth **** by Edith Wharton
I read this for a UBC course and found it most entertaining. Hilarious writing, although Ira Nadel thinks Wharton overwrites (compared to Virginia Woolf). Apparently, there is controversy over whether Wharton says the heroine committed suicide on purpose or accidentally. And a new letter to Wharton's doctor can be taken either way. Other contemporary books by friends of Wharton's (e.g. Daisy Miller) had heroine's committing suicide at the end. It was a serialized book and the ending was not written when the serials started, so perhaps that accounts for the ending, and accounts for the arguably overwritten last two chapters. All a little too reminiscent of high school literature course nitpicking on novels that are essentially unrealistic entertainment with an overlay of meaning and allegory.
Book 2 (2015) The Corrections ** by Jonathan Franzen
At first I liked it
better than his first book, Freedom, for his writing about the older couple (funny but not original) and their adult children, but toward the middle it got boring as the characters ran around frantically as though in a pointless movie, and then toward the detiorated into a mess. Good history of Lithuania? I couldn't be bothered to read carefully.
See review of Freedom on this blog.
See review of Freedom on this blog.
Book 1 (2015) Land of the Painted Caves ** by Jean Auel
| 5th and final of the set, finally. Readable. Story of a woman set 25000 years ago. |
Book 6 (2014) March **** 1/2 by Geraldine Brooks
Australian writer, Civil War story --- mixed with Little Women.
She won the Pullitzer Prize for this novel. I found it riveting.
She also wrote Year of Wonders and People of the Book.
She also wrote Year of Wonders and People of the Book.
Book 4 (2014) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time *** by Mark Haddon
Very good. In the voice of an autistic boy. Not painful.
He won the Whitbread Award, Guardian Prize, and Commonwealth Writers Prize for that work.
He won the Whitbread Award, Guardian Prize, and Commonwealth Writers Prize for that work.
Book 29 (2013) The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry
I can't remember whether I finished this book or not.
Book 28 (2013) Life After Life **** by Kate Atkinson
Very very unusual premise, and I normally abore the dead person story, but this was very well done, enjoyed the book. Her best book yet.
Other books by this author:
Behind the Scenes in the Museum
Started Early, Took My Dog **
When Will there be Good News ****
Other books by this author:
Behind the Scenes in the Museum
Started Early, Took My Dog **
When Will there be Good News ****
Book 27 ( 2013) Medicine River **** by Thomas King
Excellent story, funny, wise, great writing, interesting about natives business people on and off reserve.
Book 26 (2013) Corduroy Mansions ** by Alexander McCall Smith
Good one,satifying, not as good as the Bertie series or Dalhousie series.
Book 24 (2013) Falling Man * by Don DeLillo
A tedious book about the aftermath of 911. Ira Nadel of UBC thinks it's fabulous.
Book 22 (2013) (zero) Death Comes (zero) to Pemberly by P.D. James
A disaster, terrible writing, half hearted attempt at romance? Gave the book away.
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Book 1 (2013) The Slap ***1/2 by Christos Tsiolkas
Written by an Australian man --- not usually a good portent. The hook was the story line, "at a suburban barbecue, a man slaps a child who is not his own", and the aftermath of that.
A great book, with lots of very surprizing insights. I gave it the extra half point because of all the original truths, but not the full 4 stars as it held my interest all the way through but not enough to make me insist all my friends read it. There's lots of sex, typically male in that way. But you can really see why it needs to be there sometimes for the next part of the story to work.
He writes from the viewpoints of several characters, showing their pain and their humanity. For example, one of the most innocent characters, an Indian veterinarian, has married her husband for his looks, and the marital sex is not very satisfying. Tsiolkas reveals this artfully and something as mundane and shallow as this marriage becomes understandable.
There are several young families, singles, older generations, and ethnic groups represented. I found the inside of an older Greek couples marriage quite interesting. I really think Tsiolkas must be listening to a lot of women to get some of the things in this book. Good for him, he got it.
Not too lucid this morning, not enough practice writing this last year.
A great book, with lots of very surprizing insights. I gave it the extra half point because of all the original truths, but not the full 4 stars as it held my interest all the way through but not enough to make me insist all my friends read it. There's lots of sex, typically male in that way. But you can really see why it needs to be there sometimes for the next part of the story to work.
He writes from the viewpoints of several characters, showing their pain and their humanity. For example, one of the most innocent characters, an Indian veterinarian, has married her husband for his looks, and the marital sex is not very satisfying. Tsiolkas reveals this artfully and something as mundane and shallow as this marriage becomes understandable.
There are several young families, singles, older generations, and ethnic groups represented. I found the inside of an older Greek couples marriage quite interesting. I really think Tsiolkas must be listening to a lot of women to get some of the things in this book. Good for him, he got it.
Not too lucid this morning, not enough practice writing this last year.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Book 24 (2012) Kennedy's Brain ** by Henning Mankell
A crazy meander, not nearly as good as Mankell's The Eye of the Leopard. But for the story about AIDs in Africa, I could not recommend it at all.
Book 22 (2012) The Sense of an Ending*** by Julian Barnes
He won the Man Booker Prize for this one, but can't remember the story now. I thought Arthur and George was a stunning book.
Book 21 (2012) The Importance of Being Seven** by Alexander McCall Smith
Another great read, with my favorite character, Bertie. Very funny -- his mother is accidentally shipped to eastern Europe in a container full of used clothing.
This is 6th book in the 44 Scotland Street series.
This is 6th book in the 44 Scotland Street series.
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