The prologue ("Night Fishing on the Delancey") promises greatness and shows off all kinds of strengths that a lot of writers would give thei...moreThe prologue ("Night Fishing on the Delancey") promises greatness and shows off all kinds of strengths that a lot of writers would give their right arms for. Then the rest of the book lumbers along carrying too much aspirational weight. It's a procedural that also tries to be deeply illuminating. I admired the attempt but didn't feel engaged enough to consider it a wholehearted success.
This clunky and expository book shows just how hard it is to write a thriller that merges ancient hocum with contemporary chase scenes a la Dan Brown....moreThis clunky and expository book shows just how hard it is to write a thriller that merges ancient hocum with contemporary chase scenes a la Dan Brown. (less)
There's a slow and dreamlike quality to Ash that is appealing and different from a lot of the typical pacing of so many YA books. I came to it after h...moreThere's a slow and dreamlike quality to Ash that is appealing and different from a lot of the typical pacing of so many YA books. I came to it after having read a couple reviews, and searched it out to see how same-sex fascination would play out in this genre. I appreciate what it's doing, but in the end wasn't completely grabbed. Though I will definitely check out whatever Malindo Lo writes next. (less)
Wow. I almost never like high-fantasy epics of m'lady courtliness, plus (ho hum) spooky old darkness, plus swords forged someplace awesomely dread of ...moreWow. I almost never like high-fantasy epics of m'lady courtliness, plus (ho hum) spooky old darkness, plus swords forged someplace awesomely dread of some kind of dreadly steel, plus, oh, dragons and prophecy and kitchen-sink Tolkien. Now I know why I'm so dismissive of that stuff - it always falls short. This book does not. The copy I have looks like any other pulpy doorstopper you might buy in a pinch at a drugstore before heading to jury duty, and yet I stayed up quite late reading and against my will and good sense went down the "Song of Ice and Fire" rabbit hole, even unto behavior like checking out George RR Martin's livejournal and reading of his football preferences, yea for several entries even. F*** it's now onto "A Clash of Kings" and more Westerossian madness for me and a futile attempt to shake free of books that slice like fine Valyrian steel through all my reading prejudices and plans. Bring on the dragons.(less)
I was curious about Christine Falls. Curious because John Banville (Black's alter ego) has such a towering reputation. Curious because so many reviewe...moreI was curious about Christine Falls. Curious because John Banville (Black's alter ego) has such a towering reputation. Curious because so many reviewers touted this as some ultimate meeting of literary achievement and genre satisfaction. And curious, also, because I read "The Lemur" when it appeared serially in the NY Times magazine and was not entirely compelled - though impressed in a rather disinterested way. There are some lovely descriptions in here - of light, particularly, the sky, and people's eyes and hair. There is a heavy weight of sin and fated tragedy that seemed, in the end, a little overwrought to me (the villain, if so he can be called, was entirely guessable from the beginning). Women are borderline hysterical creatures, crying one minute, and pushing their lipsticked mouths on our weary sleuth the next. (The story takes place in the 1950s, so perhaps that is the excuse for the general female drippiness.) In sum, a book I felt respectful interest in, impressive in many ways, in others, completely tedious and disappointing. (less)
I really loved this book and I totally have to praise the voice - wry, funny, deep, paranoid, and surprising. The setup hooks you immediately. Thanks ...moreI really loved this book and I totally have to praise the voice - wry, funny, deep, paranoid, and surprising. The setup hooks you immediately. Thanks to Big Machine I've become a Victor LaValle fan. (less)
I loved this book and I'm in awe of Peter Cameron. A couple months after reading it I still think of it, particularly when I'm at my kitchen sink, and...moreI loved this book and I'm in awe of Peter Cameron. A couple months after reading it I still think of it, particularly when I'm at my kitchen sink, and I remember the scenes that take place at the grandmother's house. It's only there and with her that James, the adolescent and definitely out-of-step protagonist, seems to feel at home. I really felt I knew that kitchen, where she made a pot of coffee and scrubbed her sink, and it's that incredible particularity of place and character that I found so gripping about the other Cameron book I read (and loved), "The City of Your Final Destination." The writing in "Someday" is beautiful and so skillful but never show-offy, and in this book Cameron has such a light touch it's amazing. (less)
So, I used to work with Eugene at a magazine called Corporate Computing, which was a Ziff Davis shop where they'd hired (and I'm not making this up) p...moreSo, I used to work with Eugene at a magazine called Corporate Computing, which was a Ziff Davis shop where they'd hired (and I'm not making this up) people who'd worked at People, because, like, the new world of enterprise computing needed this kind of human-interest approach, or at least that's what I think they were thinking. Little did I know it but this surreal and doomed environment was the perfect setting for a first encounter with Eugene, who is much nicer and warmer than you might think from the title of this book, but every bit as crazy. This book had me laughing and it also had me occasionally thinking - wow, I really wish I hadn't read that. But I would have been drawn to this book anyway even if I didn't know Eugene, because I love to know these crazy secret inside worlds, and Eugene - besides being an excellent writer with a twisted sense of humor - actually gets in the ring with these folks and brings personal experience to bear on these tales of ass kickers and kickees. Knife fighting, mixed martial arts, prison fighting, muy thai, and so on, it's all here - and often in full color. Which is why Eugene's commendable book is now on the top shelf of my closet where my seven-year-old son can't get to it. (less)
Good God! According to GoodReads I've been reading this book for over a year. I don't think I ever came to the end, actually. Despite the evident lack...moreGood God! According to GoodReads I've been reading this book for over a year. I don't think I ever came to the end, actually. Despite the evident lack of narrative propulsion, I did enjoy it in parts. It absolutely does capture the strange social interactions of cubicle workers and the leveling effect of the office environment, where the deepest happenings in people's lives feel somehow harder to address than inanities like somebody's ongoing crush or snack habit. And there were parts where I laughed out loud, which counts for a lot. (less)
I was amazed at how much I enjoyed this book. There's gobs of fine writing that made me tear out my hair in envy, excellent characters, a fascinating ...moreI was amazed at how much I enjoyed this book. There's gobs of fine writing that made me tear out my hair in envy, excellent characters, a fascinating setting in the West Point military academy of the 1830s, and, of course, gruesome crimes - horribly horrible crimes - that are fitting for any narrative that includes Edgar Allan Poe as a character (here he appears as a hapless cadet assisting with a murder investigation). Oh, and I forgot to say this book is funny. Or at least I found it so - even the phantasmagoric scene of satanic ritual in a secret underground chamber near the end. Come on - definitely funny. (less)
Where was City of Bones when I was fifteen years old? Not only does the book start in a nightclub (one called btw Pandaemonium) in NYC, but then it tu...moreWhere was City of Bones when I was fifteen years old? Not only does the book start in a nightclub (one called btw Pandaemonium) in NYC, but then it turns out just about everyone is cool, way cool. I could have had a major City of Bones book crush. So, even though I'm coming to it much later in life, I still can appreciate it and its dark allure. (And now I've had to delete several sentences because it seems I can't stop the snark - but really it's no different from a lot of books I've read, and it actually held my interest for a while, so maybe what I'm dealing with is sour grapes). Anyway, great opening scene, great moment when Clary our heroine goes home and discovers her mother has disappeared (yikes!), and much fun atmosphere. Bogged toward the end, though I don't hold that against it.
I bought this book when Cody's - historic, tragic Cody's as anyone in the Bay Area knows - was going out of business. It was 40% percent off, and I wa...moreI bought this book when Cody's - historic, tragic Cody's as anyone in the Bay Area knows - was going out of business. It was 40% percent off, and I was casting about for the type of book that would magically unlock the keys to moving plot forward and making pages turn since, ahem, I was having some slight trouble in that regard. I don't know if I learned anything in the craft dept other than that Jack Reacher is an awesome badass, stone-cold professional, crafty and smart hero who actually made me care about the sights on sniper guns. I'm not sure I will go out and read more of his righteous mayhem unless I am laid up with a broken leg or somehow get a vacation, but I would recommend this for good, clean riproaring fun. Actually, I was in awe of what I imagine is fairly basic in thriller land - the mastery of arcane detail and handling tons of exposition in a fast-paced manner, managing plot twists, not to mention all the research that must have gone into it. Plus, I couldn't believe I was pulling for a character who's almost a complete cipher. Ah, but he's a badass cipher. (less)
Loved the idea that magic comes at a cost - if you've got it, either you use it, and die young, or you hoard it and go crazy. Reason, one of the book'...moreLoved the idea that magic comes at a cost - if you've got it, either you use it, and die young, or you hoard it and go crazy. Reason, one of the book's young narrators, has to think quickly on her feet and figure out who to trust when her mother is put in a mental institution in Sydney. (less)
Flat-out ambitious in a way that reminded me strongly of "The Corrections," language sometimes mind-blowing but sometimes so stylized it got...moreFlat-out ambitious in a way that reminded me strongly of "The Corrections," language sometimes mind-blowing but sometimes so stylized it got in the way of my connection, and a great (great) relationship at its core between these two kids Dylan and Mingus. Still, for all that, I feel a slight reservation, a coolness, so that I cannot give it a total rave. Possibly I got more fascinated by a secondary drama - centered around the idea of Jonathan Lethem writing this book and making certain choices and wondering why he did some things and awed that he had the guts to do others.
But here's a great line (one of thousands) that made me think of my friend Chris. This is upon hearing Rick James's "Super Freak" at the first party of the year at Camden College (a thinly veiled Bennington) after Dylan's escape from Brooklyn:
"That easy appropriation of dance-floor funk was a first taste, for me, of something I desperately wanted to understand: the suburban obliviousness of these white children to the intricate boundaries of race and music which were my inheritance and obsession. Nobody here cared - it was only a danceable song."(less)
Totally funny (except when it's achingly poignant), this was a memoir that I gulped down. I know Mary but not closely - although maybe we're closer th...moreTotally funny (except when it's achingly poignant), this was a memoir that I gulped down. I know Mary but not closely - although maybe we're closer than I think, because not quite 20 years ago we did share the quasi-POW experience of being in a book club that chose Alexandr Solzhenitsyn's The First Circle as its kickoff book. (less)
Great zany steampunk that lovingly parodies the literary tradition of the intrepid British adventurer. There is an exceedingly cool house and lots of ...moreGreat zany steampunk that lovingly parodies the literary tradition of the intrepid British adventurer. There is an exceedingly cool house and lots of funny bits as siblings must navigate a host of dangers - among them world-ending diabolical spiders and (equally devastating) the problem of getting one's clothes mussed. Toward the end my attention flagged. It could be because all the pieces had fallen and then it was just a matter of getting through the pages. Or it could have been the sinus infection that made me hate everything that particular week I was reading this. (less)
This is a mind-blowing book about DNA and the human genome. Basically, all of humankind can be traced to one common ancestor. It's a page turner about...moreThis is a mind-blowing book about DNA and the human genome. Basically, all of humankind can be traced to one common ancestor. It's a page turner about science.(less)
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