Cortney (92 books)

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Tropic of Cancer
by Henry Miller

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Tropic of Capricorn
by Henry Miller

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Cortney rated a book 3 of 5 stars

The Cellist of Sarajevo
by Steven Galloway

read in March, 2013

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This book was stressful to read because the author did a very good job of building the feeling of constantly wondering if you were in the cross hairs of a sniper's gun. The descriptions of day to day life were harrowing, and I had to take a few break...more This book was stressful to read because the author did a very good job of building the feeling of constantly wondering if you were in the cross hairs of a sniper's gun. The descriptions of day to day life were harrowing, and I had to take a few breaks to really sit and try and process what it must have been like to know that any time you were outside you could be shot and killed, or to know that any time you were in your house it could be bombed. The novel is written in the popular style of multiple narratives, some of which overlap. The cellist, referenced in the title, is based on a true story in which a cellist played at the site of a bombing for 22 days- one for each victim. Two other men and a female sniper protecting the city round out the narratives. The stories of the men, and how they intersect with the sniper, were interesting and felt realistic. They felt the most intense, and gave me the most authentic feeling for what it might have been like during the city siege. The female sniper, on the other hand, felt forced. Her story seemed overly sentimental and unbelievable. Her inclusion is what leaves me on the fence with this book. Had her story been left out, I think it would have been a solid, thoughtful, and moving book. As it is, her story taints the rest of the book with a sappy sentimentality that annoyed me. The driving question of the book is how one remains civilized and retains humanity in the midst of civilization crumbling all around them. The characters are all searching for ways to hold on to their humanity, and even more than that, trying to understand what they're trying to hold on to in the first place, and why. This leads me back to one more whinge about the female sniper. The way she chose to hold on to her humanity was totally unrealistic and excessive in some kind of magical Hallmark moment way. However, my quibbles with the female sniper aside, I would still say that I am very glad to have read this book. It is well researched and well written in general, and really drives home the terror of life in Sarajevo during the siege. I found myself thinking of the book as I walked through the streets, wondering what it must be like to have to run through intersections knowing that you had seen someone shot there the day before. Scrounging for food and carrying water, all while the specter of death hangs over you constantly. I cannot grasp that kind of all encompassing fear and dread.

The part of the book that really hit me and made me cry was when one of the men mentioned that a man with whom he worked had committed suicide when the war started. This man had lived through two other wars. His suicide was not because he couldn't live through another war. It was because he couldn't live with the knowledge that the pain and suffering and destruction of the previous wars had so clearly been forgotten, since people were still engaged in causing pain and suffering and destruction in a new war.(less)

Cortney rated a book 4 of 5 stars

Beyond the Sky and the Earth by Jamie Zeppa

Beyond the Sky and the Earth: A Journey into Bhutan
by Jamie Zeppa

read in March, 2013

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When I began this book, all I knew about it was that it was about a Canadian woman who moved to Bhutan in 1988 to teach in a remote village. As it turns out, very little of the book is about teaching. Most of it focuses on Zeppa dealing with her own...more When I began this book, all I knew about it was that it was about a Canadian woman who moved to Bhutan in 1988 to teach in a remote village. As it turns out, very little of the book is about teaching. Most of it focuses on Zeppa dealing with her own coming of age "What do I want out of life?" questions against the backdrop of fantastic descriptions of life in Bhutan. There is little about teaching in and of itself, and most of the time it seems that's because she did very little teaching. Her descriptions of the classroom were usually through the lens of culture shock (at her first placement) and, later, frustration and insecurity (at her second).

The first half of the book is fantastic- she is endearingly human in her mistakes, she flounders, she has triumphs and failures, she deals with culture shock and illness, and she describes events that made me stop and read them aloud to my partner just because I was so in awe that she did them. She made hard choices, she pushed on, she was an active participant in her own life and was having an adventure the likes of which most people could never imagine. And then the second half of the novel happened, and I found myself shaking my head in confusion. I never would have expected the ending. *SPOILER ALERT*

After all of that introspection, after all of her independence and revelations, she decides to have an affair with a student, and within a few months she decides that she wants a baby. So, she gets knocked up and moves home to Canada, then gets married, moves back to Bhutan, and then gets fuzzy about how the hell all of that worked out for her. The second half of the book just really went off the rails for me, and I found myself wondering how the woman who lived the first half ended up making choices that led to her living the second half. Her narrative voice unravels at the end, too, and as the story tunnels down into a romance that is now taking place in her living room, I found myself pushing through just to get to the end. The novel ends abruptly, with little explanation, and seems oddly cold towards events as life changing as having a child and getting married. Zeppa went into great detail as to how she learned to light her stove, or how the mountains looked in the rain, or how her students behaved in class, or how she fell in love. Apparently her prose ran out by the end because then it's just oh yeah I got knocked up and married and then you know Canada sometimes Bhutan sometimes that's how life goes. This threadbare narrative seems forced and is in glaring opposition to the open searching and exploration of self that characterizes the first half.

Despite the weird ending I really enjoyed this book for the glimpse it gives into the day to day life of villagers in Bhutan. The sheer isolation of it is palpable, and Zeppa's writing is at its most effective and engaging when she is describing the people or the landscape, the food and the weather, or her day to day experiences.(less)

Cortney rated a book 3 of 5 stars

Three Elegies For Kosovo
by Peter Constantine

read in March, 2013

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I find myself at a loss as to how to accurately rate this book. On the one hand, I found it interesting because I'm currently living and working in Albania. On the other hand, that might be the only reason I found it interesting, and that's not much...more

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A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
by James Joyce

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The Roads to Sata: A 2000-Mile Walk Through Japan
by Alan Booth

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Cortney rated a book 4 of 5 stars

On the Road
by Jack Kerouac

read in March, 2013

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Chronicle in Stone
by Ismail Kadaré

read in January, 2013

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I have fallen woefully behind on my reading. This summer involved a lot more than I ever bargained for, topped off with a month long trip that was also a move to Albania to teach at an international school. I picked up this book at my school library...more

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Cortney is currently reading Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
May 22, 2013 10:29am
Cortney wants to read Tropic of Capricorn by Henry Miller	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Apr 21, 2013 09:39pm
Cortney rated a book 3 of 5 stars The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway read in March, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This book was stressful to read because the author did a very good job of building the feeling of constantly wondering if you were in the cross hairs of a sniper's gun. The descriptions of day to day life were harrowing, and I had to take a few break...more
Apr 04, 2013 11:30am · see review
Cortney rated a book 4 of 5 stars Beyond the Sky and the Earth: A Journey into Bhutan by Jamie Zeppa read in March, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
When I began this book, all I knew about it was that it was about a Canadian woman who moved to Bhutan in 1988 to teach in a remote village. As it turns out, very little of the book is about teaching. Most of it focuses on Zeppa dealing with her own...more
Mar 26, 2013 02:59pm · see review
Cortney rated a book 3 of 5 stars Three Elegies For Kosovo by Peter Constantine read in March, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I find myself at a loss as to how to accurately rate this book. On the one hand, I found it interesting because I'm currently living and working in Albania. On the other hand, that might be the only reason I found it interesting, and that's not much...more
Mar 26, 2013 02:30pm · see review
Cortney is currently reading A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Mar 26, 2013 02:12pm
Cortney wants to read The Roads to Sata: A 2000-Mile Walk Through Japan by Alan Booth	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Mar 26, 2013 02:11pm
Cortney rated a book 4 of 5 stars On the Road by Jack Kerouac read in March, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Mar 19, 2013 12:43pm
Cortney rated a book 3 of 5 stars Chronicle in Stone by Ismail Kadaré read in January, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I have fallen woefully behind on my reading. This summer involved a lot more than I ever bargained for, topped off with a month long trip that was also a move to Albania to teach at an international school. I picked up this book at my school library...more
Jan 24, 2013 08:49am · see review

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