false 47 110 77 true 5623853 read 9 true 588263 currently-reading 24 true 588262 to-read 10 false 647062 thecanon 6 false 2194000 nonfiction 4 false 591230 theverybesttrash 4 false 588285 comfortbooks 2 false 5612539 bookclub 2 false 2194001 horticulture 2 false 2386023 art 1 false 1254888 not-my-thing 1 false 2120345 interesting-but-not-amazing 1 false 795401 narrativecookbooks http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/39888095 to: Netherland (Hardcover) by Joseph O'Neill
One of the most enjoyable books I've read this year. While the narrative is awfully cerebral and detached for a book about passion (for cricket, for love, for assimilation), I suppose that makes sense for a Dutch narrator. The writing is full of delicious turns of phrase; every word is carefully considered. While only peripherally about cricket, the long, drawn-out game with its slowly circling structure is the perfect metaphor for the state of (be)longing. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76729647 Stiff (Paperback) by Shane Maloney
bookshelves: to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/42129209 to: The Perfect Scent: A Year Inside the Perfume Industry in Paris and New York (Hardcover) by Chandler Burr
bookshelves: nonfiction
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/70435959 to: The Emperor of Scent: A True Story of Perfume and Obsession (Paperback) by Chandler Burr
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/67181220 to: You or Someone Like You (Hardcover) by Chandler Burr
I love Chandler's nonfiction books about perfume (The Emperor of Scent, The Perfect Scent), and am now in the felicitous position of being friends with him. So I was a little nervous about reading his first novel--but shouldn't have been. It's a delightful reader's read, full of wonderful quotations from and allusions to great literature. (The narrator has a PhD in English, after all, and is running a book club for Hollywood's elite.) But more than that, the book is a lovely meditation on parenthood, marriage, and the power of literature, as well as being a fierce argument against religion. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/70434230 to: Swann's Way (In Search of Lost Time: Book 1)(Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) by Marcel Proust
bookshelves: bookclub, thecanon
I missed this translation in college by a year, but loved the Moncrieff version. My book club just decided to tackle Lydia Davis' version and I was reminded afresh of how much I love Proust. "Combray" is probably my favorite piece of literature, period. This translation is light and lyrical, and funny, too. I'm much more aware of Marcel's arch preciousness as he narrates; a few of my favorite passages from the old translation fell flat for me here, but maybe they were just burnished with too much love and familiarity. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/67176643 to: Portnoy's Complaint (Paperback) by Philip Roth
bookshelves: bookclub
I find it quite hilarious that my all-female book club chose this to read, but we wanted to read Roth and it was the only one no one had read before. An incredibly involved look at Jewish sexual guilt, it had me guffawing regularly, and blushing even more regularly. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/52779703 to: Blood Kin: A Novel (Hardcover) by Ceridwen Dovey
We read this for my book club, at least partly because it was written by a girl some of us went to college with, and it got mixed reviews. I enjoyed it; it's clear that it's a debut novel written by a young woman, but some of the images and descriptions have stayed with me. Dovey could definitely develop into an interesting novelist, but as with many contemporary novels, she doesn't quite seem to know how to end it. (Um, try happily for once?) Still, it's an interesting look at how power corrupts and how different people's relationships can be with the same person. A quick and easy read, nice for a train ride perhaps. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/52781750 Saturday (Paperback) by Ian McEwan
bookshelves: currently-reading
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/52779834 to: Emma (Paperback) by Jane Austen
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