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August 11
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Elizabeth
marked as to-read:
Lilith's Brood (Paperback)
by Octavia E. Butler
bookshelves:
to-read
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my rating:
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July 28
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Elizabeth
gave
to:
People of the Book: A Novel (Hardcover)
by Geraldine Brooks
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in April, 2008
Elizabeth said:
"Having recently read March, I got a recommendation for this novel from one of my blog readers. I really enjoyed it, and am now firmly convinced Brooks is one of the best popular/intellectual/historical novelists writing today. This novel is about a c...more
Having recently read March, I got a recommendation for this novel from one of my blog readers. I really enjoyed it, and am now firmly convinced Brooks is one of the best popular/intellectual/historical novelists writing today. This novel is about a centuries-old Jewish illuminated manuscript, the Sarajevo Hagaddah (which really exists, by the way) and its travels from convivencia-era Spain to warn-torn Bosnia. Hanna Heath, an Australian book conservator, travels to Sarajevo to work on the manuscript, and finds a number of tantalizing clues to its history in its pages. Historical novels about anti-Semitism in Europe seem to be rather popular these days (see Ian Pears’ The Dream of Scipio, Grace Tiffany’s The Turquoise Ring and Ariana Franklin’s Mistress of the Art of Death) as are novels that focus on old books and libraries (i.e. The Name of the Rose and even The Da Vinci Code). But Brooks’ work is hardly derivative; this is an enjoyable and informative book....less
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Elizabeth
gave
to:
On Chesil Beach (Hardcover)
by Ian McEwan
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my rating:
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Elizabeth said:
"McEwan’s most recent novel makes rather an interesting companion piece to Saturday, since they both take place over the course of a single day, yet are quite different. This novel is about a honeymoon couple, Edward and Florence, and the unspoken t...more
McEwan’s most recent novel makes rather an interesting companion piece to Saturday, since they both take place over the course of a single day, yet are quite different. This novel is about a honeymoon couple, Edward and Florence, and the unspoken tensions and anxieties that lurk beneath the surface of their relationship. The novel moved me to tears in its final pages, and it’s short, so it’s a quick read, but I didn’t find it as compelling as the other McEwan novels I’ve read (Saturday, Atonement, Enduring Love). It feels more narrow in scope than its predecessors, and the characters weren’t quite as interesting as usual. But as a book-length elaboration of Matthew Arnold’s poem “Dover Beach,” (which McEwan used so beautifully in Saturday) it is lyrical, tender, and ultimately moving....less
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July 31
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Elizabeth
gave
to:
An Equal Music: A Novel (Paperback)
by Vikram Seth
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my rating:
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read in July, 2008
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July 28
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Elizabeth
gave
to:
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Hardcover)
by Junot Díaz
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my rating:
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read in July, 2008
Elizabeth said:
"This is a great book, unlike anything I’ve read before. Diaz tells the story of a Dominican immigrant family in New Jersey: overweight, sci-fi/fantasy geek Oscar, his rebellious sister Lola, and their fierce, repressive mother Beli (who has her own...more
This is a great book, unlike anything I’ve read before. Diaz tells the story of a Dominican immigrant family in New Jersey: overweight, sci-fi/fantasy geek Oscar, his rebellious sister Lola, and their fierce, repressive mother Beli (who has her own rebellious and harrowing past). The family is haunted by fuku (a curse) that manifests itself in various ways and has its roots in the Dominican Republic’s distant colonial past and the more recent dictatorship of Trujillo. (Details about Dominican history are filled in by witty, sarcastic footnotes). The novel is filled with continual references to Tolkien (Trujillo is likened to Sauron, for instance), so that the story becomes a kind of epic. Yet at the same time the narration is ironic, flippant, and full of Spanish vernacular, creating an energy that is immediately engaging and ultimately very moving. I highly recommend this book....less
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Elizabeth
gave
to:
Lost in Austen: Create Your Own Jane Austen Adventure (Paperback)
by Emma Campbell Webster
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Elizabeth said:
"Being a huge Austen fan, I couldn’t resist the premise of this book. You play Elizabeth Bennett, and your mission is to marry both for love and financial security. The book works just like those “Choose Your Own Adventure” books I used to read ...more
Being a huge Austen fan, I couldn’t resist the premise of this book. You play Elizabeth Bennett, and your mission is to marry both for love and financial security. The book works just like those “Choose Your Own Adventure” books I used to read as a kid, where Webster presents you with various options that take you in unexpected directions. The most enjoyable aspects of the book are the choices that take you into contact with characters and plotlines from other Austen novels (as Elizabeth, I got to hang out with the Tilneys of Northanger Abbey, Fanny Price from Mansfield Park, and Capt. Wentworth of Persuasion). But my main criticism is that if you are intimately familiar with the details of Pride and Prejudice (as I am), the trajectory of a successful quest will hold few surprises for you. I spent about two hours playing around with this book, and then decided that was enough....less
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Elizabeth
gave
to:
Freddie & Me: A Coming-of-Age (Bohemian) Rhapsody
by Mike Dawson
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Elizabeth said:
"I went to high school with Mike Dawson, and he’s a good friend of my brother’s, so I was excited to find this, his first full-length graphic novel, on the shelf at Book People in Austin. It’s a very enjoyable memoir, charting his childhood in E...more
I went to high school with Mike Dawson, and he’s a good friend of my brother’s, so I was excited to find this, his first full-length graphic novel, on the shelf at Book People in Austin. It’s a very enjoyable memoir, charting his childhood in England, teenage years in New Jersey, and emergence into adulthood, all through the lens of his lifelong obsession with Queen. What I liked most about it were his ruminations on the ways in which we create and capture memories; he uses the graphic novel form beautifully to evoke and comment on the process of remembering. Plus it got me humming some Queen songs I haven’t heard in years, and has halfway convinced me that I need to re-acquire some of their albums....less
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Elizabeth
gave
to:
The Book of Air and Shadows (Hardcover)
by Michael Gruber
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Elizabeth said:
"I got this book purely because the premise involves Shakespeare. It’s narrated by an intellectual property lawyer whose client brings him a 17th century manuscript that might indicate the existence of a hitherto unknown play by Shakespeare. The cli...more
I got this book purely because the premise involves Shakespeare. It’s narrated by an intellectual property lawyer whose client brings him a 17th century manuscript that might indicate the existence of a hitherto unknown play by Shakespeare. The client is violently murdered, and the narrator is drawn into a complex plot involving multiple ancient manuscripts, femme fatales, and Russian gangsters. It’s enjoyable enough, but not a great work of literature by any stretch. Gruber is obviously indebted to The Da Vinci Code (which he acknowledges openly), although with clear aspirations to create a more highbrow work of fiction. He succeeds only marginally, in my opinion....less
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July 16
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Elizabeth
took the never-ending book quiz.
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June 30
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Elizabeth
marked as to-read:
Black Swan Green: A Novel (Paperback)
by David Mitchell
bookshelves:
to-read
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Drama and Theatre
— 157 members
— last activity 20 days ago, 06:36AM
Houston
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— last activity 07/11/2008 03:15PM
Q&A with David Liss
— 43 members
— last activity 01/30/2008 04:54PM
Elizabeth, you knitted that green hat!
