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July 08
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Dorothy
gave
 
to:
Lives of the Monster Dogs (Paperback)
by Kirsten Bakis
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Dorothy said:
"Oooo-kay. It's been a while since I've read this one, but I saw it on a used book display the other day and couldn't believe my eyes. I had picked it up in my college library years ago, where I was looking for excuses to procrastinate.
The story...more
Oooo-kay. It's been a while since I've read this one, but I saw it on a used book display the other day and couldn't believe my eyes. I had picked it up in my college library years ago, where I was looking for excuses to procrastinate.
The story goes like this: Mad Scientist plays God and creates a race of super intelligent, upright-walking dogs. Mad Scientist abandons experiment in an hidden mountain town. Dogs develop and evolve, build communities and traditions, and speak fondly of the day when they will join civilization and walk as equals amongst humans. The only problem? They're stuck in the distant past, and are still dressing like Napoleon when they finally arrive in New York City. Also? They're DOGS. MONSTER dogs.
I have to give the author a thumbs up for thinking of such a great plot, but I also have to say that the book doesn't deliver on its initial promise. There are so many issues to explore, but she never really delves into them. For example, the leader of the pack is supposed to be a tragic figure, but he never really gets his Shylock moment- the one where the reader actually begins to empathize with his impossible dilemma. Still, I continue to think about this book, almost twelve years after I first read it, so that should be a recommendation in and of itself....less
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July 07
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Dorothy
gave
to:
The Winter of Our Discontent (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics)
by John Steinbeck
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in July, 2008
Dorothy said:
"I’m not exactly sure why it took me three tries to get through this book, but the third try was definitely a charm. Steinbeck is one of my all-time favorite authors, and even one of his lesser books is better than most authors’ best works.
...more
I’m not exactly sure why it took me three tries to get through this book, but the third try was definitely a charm. Steinbeck is one of my all-time favorite authors, and even one of his lesser books is better than most authors’ best works.
Ethan Allen Hawley is a Harvard graduate, the descendant of sea captains, and a grocery clerk in a small New England town. He loses his fortune through some bad investments, and his reduced status niggles at him, until one day he decides to take leave of his morals to make his fortune. It takes years of swallowing other people’s insults (including his own wife’s nagging) to get him to this point, but when he finally goes for it, his own boldness frightens him. Unfortunately, Ethan finds that he’s not quite as heartless as he needs to be to carry out his plans, and the fallout from only a few immoral decisions reduces him to anguish.
This is probably the closest that Steinbeck’s ever come to Dostoevsky, at least in the books I’ve read. Ethan’s internal struggle is very similar to Raskolnikov’s, and both are forced to pay an unexpected price for their misdeeds. Steinbeck’s tone is serious but not didactic, elegiac but not mournful. All in all, it’s a beautifully written meditation on morality, a kind of farewell to the Norman Rockwell past of America.
...less
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June 24
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Dorothy
gave
to:
Lincoln: A Novel (Paperback)
by Gore Vidal
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my rating:
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read in June, 2008
Dorothy said:
"You know how people at snooty movies laugh extra hard when an inside joke or obscure reference plays out onscreen? In short, that's what it felt like to read this book.
This was my first experience reading Gore Vidal, and it felt like an enduran...more
You know how people at snooty movies laugh extra hard when an inside joke or obscure reference plays out onscreen? In short, that's what it felt like to read this book.
This was my first experience reading Gore Vidal, and it felt like an endurance test sometimes. It's not a fictionalized account of Lincoln's inner life, nor is it simply a novel about him. It's told from the point of view of a number of politicians, so we see Lincoln through the eyes of his enemies as well as his allies. I don't even know if I would call this a book about Lincoln; it's more like a book about the political culture during his presidency. So I do have to say that my expectations for were completely wrong, which is probably why I found myself slogging through most of its 650+ pages.
Gore adapts a detached style (read: snooty and Harold Bloom-ish) most of the time, but he is not uncomplimentary to Lincoln (if he were, the novel would probably be a lot more interesting). He is fair to Mary, who often gets painted as the shrewish woman that Lincoln had to put up with, rather than the depressed wife whom he actually loved. He paints an amusing portrait of Salmon P. Chase, the treasury secretary who was desperate to be president, and his conniving daughter Kate. Gore focuses solely on the intrigues in Washington DC, and barely mentions Gettysburg or any number of huge and bloody battles. It's a liability, especially since he makes so much of Lincoln's guilt and agony.
The bottom line is, this book was 650+ pages of teeny-tiny text that basically gave me eyestrain. I should probably have put that energy into reading two good-sized, entertaining biographies about Lincoln, rather than one so-so novel....less
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June 17
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Dorothy
marked as to-read:
Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
by Ryunosuke Akutagawa
bookshelves:
to-read
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Dorothy
gave
to:
The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey (Paperback)
by Candice Millard
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in June, 2008
Dorothy said:
"Teddy Roosevelt was fifty-five years old when he journeyed through Brazil to explore the River of Doubt, a heretofore unchartered thousand mile body of water. The journey changed the map of South America, but it also proved to be the greatest test o...more
Teddy Roosevelt was fifty-five years old when he journeyed through Brazil to explore the River of Doubt, a heretofore unchartered thousand mile body of water. The journey changed the map of South America, but it also proved to be the greatest test of Roosevelt's adventurous life, and would eventually shorten the span of his years. In clear, unsentimental prose, Candice Millard uses the story of the expedition to paint the portrait of an extraordinary man. Roosevelt was a force of nature, as formidable as the Amazon itself, and the feats he accomplished were astonishing even for the golden age of bravura. As an added bonus, Millard introduces new characters who were vital to the success of the expedition, among them the Brazilian national hero and champion of Indian rights, Rondon, Cherrie the famous explorer and Roosevelt's own son, the melancholy Kermit. I found myself turning the pages much too fast in this book, and was filled with regret when I reached the end. ...less
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Dorothy
gave
to:
Shining City (Paperback)
by Conor McPherson
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my rating:
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read in January, 2008
Dorothy said:
"So-so. Not as good as The Weir, but McPherson's dialogue is as natural and true-to-life as always. It's a play about the changing nature of relationships, how some emotional ties grow weaker over time, and others are destroyed through lack of care. ...more
So-so. Not as good as The Weir, but McPherson's dialogue is as natural and true-to-life as always. It's a play about the changing nature of relationships, how some emotional ties grow weaker over time, and others are destroyed through lack of care. As is usual for McPherson, there is a supernatural element that adds to the tension and urgency. Worth a read, but The Weir did it better....less
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Dorothy
gave
to:
The Final Solution: A Story of Detection (P.S.)
by Michael Chabon
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my rating:
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read in April, 2008
Dorothy said:
"This book made me sad for days. It's the story of a boy who escapes from Nazi Germany with only his mysterious parrot. When the parrot gets stolen, it's up to the octogenarian detective next door to find out why.
Don't believe the book descriptio...more
This book made me sad for days. It's the story of a boy who escapes from Nazi Germany with only his mysterious parrot. When the parrot gets stolen, it's up to the octogenarian detective next door to find out why.
Don't believe the book description, because however much they try to classify the book as a mystery, it really, really isn't. So what if the parrot is given to singing out long strings of numbers? It's a story about a Jewish boy who is taken out of a concentration camp during World War II, do you really have to think hard to find out what those numbers mean? The Final Solution is worthwhile, simply because of the storytelling. Chabon has an amazing ability to hook you in despite his sometimes overwhelming verbosity. Short, sweet and sad, like an elegy....less
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Dorothy
marked as to-read:
A Moveable Feast (Paperback)
by Ernest Hemingway
bookshelves:
to-read
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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