::sigh:: Yet another shining example of how out of touch I am with the literary elite. I tried to read it. I really did. I started it and even made it...more::sigh:: Yet another shining example of how out of touch I am with the literary elite. I tried to read it. I really did. I started it and even made it a quarter of the way through before putting it down and never picking it up again.
I consider myself an avid reader- and I don’t read just one genre or stick to best sellers, I honestly try to go across the board but I just dont get what makes this book hit all the "Top" lists. Frankly, I found the narrative simply too confusing.
One cannot deny Morrison is great writer and deserves her accolades- since she gets so many of them. Perhaps her skill got in the way of the story as some others have suggested.
Perhaps I just need to finish the book. Maybe some day I'll give it a go once again. But I doubt it. Too many other stories to be tackled.(less)
Read this back before the movie was made but as soon as I got into The Da Vinci Code, I thought, "What a bunch of hooey, but dang, this is gonna make...moreRead this back before the movie was made but as soon as I got into The Da Vinci Code, I thought, "What a bunch of hooey, but dang, this is gonna make a good movie." So I wasnt surprised they went on to make it into a movie.
But I was surprised everyone found the twist "new". I just couldnt figure out why everyone got so hepped up about the "conspiracy". That particular heresy has been around since soon after Christ arose. Yep, I'd say the belief that the holy grail ...
Well I'm not gonna spoil that one for ya, you'll have to see the movie or do something really crazy like READ THE BOOK...
Anyway the conspiracy theory this books revolves around is in fact almost 2000 yrs old, yet people slap there hand over there mouth in surprise. "Well shut my mouth. How dare the Vatican hide this from us for so long?" They couldn't. And they didn't.
But its all right fiction reading. Perhaps not up to all the hype but entertaining enough.(less)
Now I know why many recent horror/sci fi story tellers count HP Lovecraft as an inspiration. This simple tale, told in bland documentary style, is the...moreNow I know why many recent horror/sci fi story tellers count HP Lovecraft as an inspiration. This simple tale, told in bland documentary style, is the bare essence of every alien movie ever made.
Salinger's literary style was for me the most intriguing part of the book ... that and the ending.
The oft banned and oft assigned to the high school s...moreSalinger's literary style was for me the most intriguing part of the book ... that and the ending.
The oft banned and oft assigned to the high school student Catcher in the Rye is a coming-of-age novel centered around Holden Caulfield, a seventeen year old prep school adolescent who shares his lonely, life-changing twenty-four hour stay in New York City. He experiences and exposits upon the "phoniness" of the adult world around him while attempting to deal with the death of his younger brother, a seeming need to lie, and troubling sexual experiences- almost to the point of tediousness.
The book was certainly ahead of it's time. Published in the early 50's, The Catcher in the Rye's language could not have been seen often in much of what was being published for public consumption at the time. Yet, I believe it will stand as a record of the language of the youth of America, and perhaps even how they thought, in the 50's and 60's.
In more recent times another sort of controversy attached itself to the book...
From a review of Salinger's novel by Brian Banks:
John Lennon's assassin, Mark Chapman, asked the former Beatle to sign a copy of the book earlier in the morning of the day that he murdered Lennon. Police found the book in his possession upon apprehending the psychologically disturbed Chapman. However, the book itself contains nothing that could be attributed with leading Chapman to act as he did - it could have been any book that he was reading the day he decided to kill John Lennon - and as a result of the fact that it was The Catcher in the Rye, a book describing a nervous breakdown, media speculated widely about the possible connection. This gave the book even more notoriety.
A conspiracy theorist wet dream- the aforementioned theory has yet to die.
Many reviewers say that Salinger's style and themes were intentional. I wonder. Did he sit down and write with expressed purpose or did he just fly by the seat of his pants and write what was in him to write?
Either way, it deserves it's status as a part of the greats in American lit- if for a record of a cultural shift alone.(less)
I finished reading The Secret Life of Bees in one night. Good story!
It seemed to me to be a cross between Fried Green Tomatoes and To Kill a Mockingb...moreI finished reading The Secret Life of Bees in one night. Good story!
It seemed to me to be a cross between Fried Green Tomatoes and To Kill a Mockingbird. In fact, as I read, I questioned if the author wasn't inspired by Fried Green Tomatoes.
Fourteen year old Lily lost her mother when she was four to a tragic accident, one in which she's always felt guilty about.
She is raised by her mostly abusive father, T-Ray, and a black woman named Rosaleen. When Rosaleen stands up to three white men in their rural town while on the way to register to vote, she's promptly sent to jail.
Lily, who's had enough of T-Ray's ways, decides it's time to leave ... and takes Rosaleen with her. Lily leads Rosaleen to a town she only knows from something written on the back of a wooden cross that belonged to her mother.
In Tiburon, SC they meet 3 eccentric Black Lady's named May, June and August, who raise bees and make honey to sell under the label Black Madonna Honey. A label that has the same picture of a black Mary that is on her mother’s wooden cross.
I enjoyed the authors "voice" thinking it very apropos for the setting of 1964 in the south. I even laughed out loud at some of T-Ray's comments.
Comments like "Who do you think you are? Julius Shakespeare?" I suppose struck close to home being an avid reader as a child, with a father who was not.
Don't mistake this tale as another "white person saves the day" story simply because Lily starts off being the rescuer of Rosaleen. This is not the case, for in the end you will find it is Rosaleen and the three sisters who rescue Lily.
Anyway, I recommend it if you ever get the chance...(less)
Number of the Beast by Robert A. Heinlein is a pretty good read. Still, it took a bit to get into it. It started off well and good, grabbing my intere...moreNumber of the Beast by Robert A. Heinlein is a pretty good read. Still, it took a bit to get into it. It started off well and good, grabbing my interest with the premise of four intelligent people running from an alien menace ("The Black hats") into other dimensions. But it lost me until I was 75% through the book. As such it took me longer to get through it then most of my reads.
Too much of it got convoluted and just felt like discordant ramblings by the author, in my opinion. Still I do love the idea that other universes are made up of our stories and myths here on terra firma.
We saw the land of Oz and Alice's wonderland, and also apparently some characters and worlds from some of his other books. (I liked his teasing jab at himself as the characters commented on one of Heinlein's earlier works.)
I definitely want to pick up some more of his stuff and read more about this Lazeraus Long fellow too...
I felt a bit apprehensive picking up The Kite Runner, considering all the buzz about it. (I don't trust overhyped books.) But, thankfully, it lived up...moreI felt a bit apprehensive picking up The Kite Runner, considering all the buzz about it. (I don't trust overhyped books.) But, thankfully, it lived up to the publicity.
The story starts off set in Afghanistan, before the Taliban were in control and even before Russia began their campaign. It could have been set in the deep south of America prior to 1960 for that matter, or in Berlin right around the time Hitler reigned supreme, or perhaps more closely to regency England and colonial India- the climate is the same.
Two little boys, one rich Pashtun, one of the servant class Hazara, two litle boys who shouldn't care about each other, yet they are friends- or as close to it as two opposing classes can be.
My favorite stories are the ones that delve into the issues that darken a good man's soul. I love watching characters work their way to salvation. Some who didn't like TKR, say that Amir, the narrator and main character, is too selfish to be likable. And it's true, in the beginning, he is a bit selfish- he is not a nice little boy at times. In fact, his selfishness hits a low point when he sees his best friend, a servant boy named Hassan who is as close to him as a brother, viciously attacked- and stands by doing nothing to stop it. (It was a tough thing to observe as a reader!)
Still, I believe in hanging with a character to see where the author takes them. Hosseini did a fine job of rescuing Amir, in my eyes. The hero's guilt-ridden conscience is what proves to me that he is in fact redeemable, after such an act of reprehensible cowardice. If Amir had moved on without a glance back, I would have thrown the book at the wall and not finished it.
Thankfully I didn't have to. Eventually Amir grows to manhood, moves to America though not knowing what happened to his old friend (and too guilty to think about it), he marries, becomes a successful writer and, through it all, never lets himself find the forgiveness his soul so desperately wants.
Don't fret, Amir gets the chance to go back to his homeland and make things right. And he does so in a way that broke my heart. (The last scenes had me in tears!!)
Ok, I'll also agree with some other naysayers that say some of the plot resolutions for the characters were a tad convenient. But I seriously didn't notice it until I thought about it later- and read some of the reviews. I think I so wanted this to have a happy ending, I just went along with it.
Anyway, despite the fact that I'm in agreement on some of these issues,(a bit, just a bit), I think the good far outweighs the bad. This is the kind of tale that sticks with you, the kind that I obsess over, much like I did when I first got a hold of Les Miserables. In FACT, much of what I adore about Les Miz is in this one. (And the author references Les Miz briefly just to prove the point!) Both the stories share the search for the balance of justice and mercy, of familial love and hate, and also finding forgiveness and the strength to pick ourselves up when we find our faces in the mud of guilt and shame.
TKR is not a romance, but it is a love story. A love story between fathers and sons, and those we call brothers- of the heart, if not blood. Their story touches on the complexities of familial love and accurately shows that, at times, we can love and hate those we feel the closest too.
A story with a unique twist, I certainly fell for the writer's distinct narrative.
The story is told from a young girl's point of view watching the fal...moreA story with a unique twist, I certainly fell for the writer's distinct narrative.
The story is told from a young girl's point of view watching the fall out of her unsolved murder from heaven- her heaven that is. When Susie Salmon was 14 yrs old she fell prey to a serial killer, still living under the radar of the law though he's committed numerous murders in addition to hers.
Though, hopefully, few of us have had to deal with this in our own families, many of us have had to deal with the death of a close family member, and it is on this level I thoroughly connected with the novel. The stages of grief and how it can make or break a family is shown through Susie's eyes, who desperately wants to comfort her family, and is thereby unable to move on- as is her family.
It's not all sadness, there are some humorously touching moments and even a bit of the paranormal as Susie makes contact with a love she was just beginning to explore when her life was cut short on earth.
My one problem with the book was the ending. We know early on who the killer is- though Sebold made an effort to obscure him with a comment about everyone being suspect- as happens in most murder investigations. After she makes this comment, she reveals the killer, beyond a shadow of a doubt! I was scratching my head on that one. So, knowing the killer, we naturally want the man to be discovered by the end of the book and burned at the stake. He does get found out- in a way- but for me justice was not really served to my satisfaction. (Although it was for Susie!)
Because of the ending, I'm giving this one a 4 out of 5. Otherwise, I say it justly deserves the time it spent on the best seller lists!(less)
The Alchemist is a fable of sorts, full of not so subtle metaphors. First published in Brazil in 1988 it's been spotted in the hands of President Clin...moreThe Alchemist is a fable of sorts, full of not so subtle metaphors. First published in Brazil in 1988 it's been spotted in the hands of President Clinton and Julia Roberts, and is reportedly being made into a movie? Maybe has been already?? ::shrug::
Eh, that kind of press does nothing for me other than tell me I'm probably gonna be reading some sorta pop, self-affirmation, mumbo jumbo.
And in a way that's what this story is- which took it down a notch for me.
But it's also more than that.
The tale is told in simplistic language and, just like any good fable, has a lesson hidden in its depths.
The story revolves around Santiago, a Andalusian shepherd who has a dream of seeing the world. Becoming a Shepherd was just the first step in his journey, and after a particularly unsettling dream decides to take another step which brings him into contact with an ancient King who will officially launch him into his destiny.
Along his journey he meets the people who will become his teachers- gypsies, desert peoples of all classes, an Englishman, and finally, an alchemist- all of whom help him to learn the language of the soul of the world, and, thru an ironic twist, to complete his journey of wisdom and belief in himself.
To sum up the message of The Alchemist? God is in the details.
I happen to believe it is imperative to follow your dreams. In the end, it's good to be reminded of our dreams ... and to never give up on them.(less)
Billed as a YA, this isn't your Grandmother's typical young adult book- well not mine at least. Formatted as letters or more accurately, in "Diary" fo...moreBilled as a YA, this isn't your Grandmother's typical young adult book- well not mine at least. Formatted as letters or more accurately, in "Diary" format, the book covers a year in the life of Charlie, a sensitive, high school freshman who suffers from bouts of depression.
Starting with the suicide of a close friend, we follow Charlie as he makes his way through the morass of being a teenager- and a misunderstood one at that. He's not only sensitive- he's seems to cry at the drop of a hat- he's smart, firmly cementing him into "Freak" status. Despite his wallflower ways, he eventually befriends a brother and sister while at a high school football game. The former he soon discovers has a secret relationship with the star quarterback of the football team and the latter he falls in love with instantly. Charlie gets lost for a little while working through his lot in life, but he does eventually make his way out of it and I liked that most of all about the book.
This book is published by MTV of all things and it's got MTV written all over it. Anxst, Sex- gay and straight, though not graphic-, and Drugs, all mixed in with self-introspective "who am I?", is what it's all about and frankly, Chbosky doesn't put anything in "Perks" that we haven't already seen. We've raised a generation of innocence lost, after all. Yet, the book still manages to come off fresh in a strange sort of way.
In the end, I found it well written and I was totally floored by the ending- although I SHOULD have seen it coming a mile away. (Guess I was distracted by all the crying.)(less)
The novel begins on a winter night in 1964, when a blizzard forces Dr. David Henry to deliver his own twins. His son, born first, is perfectly healthy...moreThe novel begins on a winter night in 1964, when a blizzard forces Dr. David Henry to deliver his own twins. His son, born first, is perfectly healthy, but the doctor immediately recognizes that his daughter has Down syndrome. For motives he tells himself are good, he makes a split-second decision that will haunt all their lives forever.
Full of truth about the destructive power of secrets, I enjoyed this book on numerous levels.
Despite all the buzz about the book, I never bothered to read the back blurb or pay much attention to the gist of the book, because I knew I didn't want to spoil anything. I'm glad I didn't catch wind of the plot, because I would have missed the chance to be a bit shocked and to literally gasp out loud with a soft "holy ****, no he didn't."- (I love moments like that in books!)
The middle of the book (what I call- Norah's wallowing) I had to push through- but i really liked the premise and the rest the book.
An intriguing novel that deserves it's time on the best seller list as far as I'm concerned. (less)
Touted for its literary quality and lyrical, poetic prose; I of course had to work through that negative mark against it. (That kind of stuff always f...moreTouted for its literary quality and lyrical, poetic prose; I of course had to work through that negative mark against it. (That kind of stuff always feels pretentious to me.)
Despite all the annoying overwritten prose, use of Caps To Emphasize Phrases, Short. Sentences. and obvious affectation, I couldn't seem to put it down.
Set in Kerala, India, during the late 1960s the books tells the story of fraternal twins Rahel (female) and Estha (male). It circles around them and moves in and out between them as children and then as adults- most times in the very next scene, rather than chapter- so fast, it made my head spin.
The author uses obvious foreshadowing and builds up to revealing the night that Sophie (the twins' "English cousin") drowned, showing the family tensions that led to the twins' behavior on that night. And believe me there's a ton of tension. The men in the family are mean and abusive, and the women are bitter and resigned. This is not a romanticized view of family life in India. It's brutal and depressing.
The author also weaves in the political atmosphere of that time; when the effects of the caste system were still evident and communism was vying for position.
The story is mainly written from Rahel's POV, but there is one scene, haunting me even now, that gives a clue as to why her twin Estha retreated inside himself and refused to speak anymore. I believe the big climax involving their cousin's death seals it for him, but that other incident, set him well on that path to shutting down.
The techinical aspects took this novel down a notch for me, but for the haunting story I'm giving it a 4 out of 5.(less)
Great story that had me from the first word- much better than the movie, btw. It's a bit of a love story with a sci fi twist, and smartly done. The en...moreGreat story that had me from the first word- much better than the movie, btw. It's a bit of a love story with a sci fi twist, and smartly done. The ending is so piercing that it stays with you for quite some time after you read the last word.
As I am a huge lover of "timeline/time travel" stories (I'm a Star Trek fan from way back!), I have seen my share of this plot in books, movies and tv. Because of this I am a bit jaded. It bugs me when I read or see one that clearly is not plausible. (Not that I think Time travel is plausible, but I at least like it to come close to making me believe it is possible!) This story I have to hold up as one of the best. The sequencing of the time traveling fits even though the author hops around a good bit. Even better the time traveling schtick becomes a character in it's own right!
The assumption for the lead character's time traveling is interesting to say the least and I think a new one for me. No "time machine" here. Henry, the lead, has a disease that displaces him in time. He shows up naked, and in true "Quantum Leap" fashion, not sure exactly where he has turned up in his own lifetime time line.
These displacements, are often centered around his once and future wife Clare. The first time she meets him, he is 36 and she 6. When he first meets her he is 28, she's 20, and she has known him for 13 years! Fun isn't it?
There are many other touching moments and some not so fun. But I don't want to give anything more away. Just get it, you'll love it! I swear!(less)
While overall I liked the book, still, some niggling thoughts ate at the corner of my mind as I made my way through Exodus.
Whereas this book is fictio...moreWhile overall I liked the book, still, some niggling thoughts ate at the corner of my mind as I made my way through Exodus.
Whereas this book is fiction, for some reason, I came to this thinking that what Uris put down is very close to fact. What worried me as I read it, is that it isn't. Why? Every Jew good, every Arab bad. (As well as the British who colonized Palestine at the time of Israel's independence.) That's too cut and dry for me. In every conflict there is a right and wrong, this I believe firmly, but too often the lines blur. There was no room for that in this book. As much as I want to believe it's all true, and it is what it was, I know that it is not.
Although, I do enjoy historical fiction more when based on facts- that's okay with me. It's fiction.
Stylistically, the story recounted a story rather than show one- which is unfortunate. The love stories were sweet but not terribly engaging (except for Karen and Dov- we needed more of that one!), and he had a habit of dropping characters off the face of the earth. (What the heck happened to Mark what's-his-name, the reporter at the beginning of the story?)
What I did like was the re-telling of the horrors of Nazi Germany and the History of the Jewish race from the "Jewish Pale of Settlement". (Not that I like to hear it, but because we need reminded of it every once and awhile), and how he introduced characters by their history and their family's history.
And yes, ok, I cried at the end. If you're at all interested in history, Jewish history in particular, you should pick it up, then tell me what you think.(less)
A memoir that reads like a novel, this story deserves it's time on the best seller lists. I read this one on vacation and was totally absorbed the ent...moreA memoir that reads like a novel, this story deserves it's time on the best seller lists. I read this one on vacation and was totally absorbed the entire time reading it.
The story begins with an adult Jeannette spying her mother rummaging through the trash on the streets of NYC. Ashamed of her parents' homelessness and more ashamed of her reaction to them- the rest of The Glass Castle sensitively details her life with engaging tales of all she endured while growing up with all too fallible parents.
Born to an alcoholic father and flighty, artistic mother, Jeannette never seemed able to lay down roots- mostly because her eccentric parents couldn't hold down jobs. From living in the desert to a series of places no more than hovels, the Walls often found themselves doing the "skeedadle", as her father put it, to beat the bill collectors. They also had little time to receive a "proper" education, much to Jeannette's dismay.
Although her parents were definitely flawed, each had a brilliance all their own which they imparted to their children. Partly because of this, but more likely because of their own determination, Jeannette and her siblings managed to become productive, and for three of them, successful members of society.
The Glass Castle, a reference to her father's pipe dream of one day building a glass castle for his family to live in, is an insightful tale of a young girl who navigates the land mines her parents seemingly blithely place before her to grow up to be a surprisingly unencumbered woman who takes charge of her life in ways her parents never could.
A real page turner and an easy read that will stay with you long after you read it! (less)
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