Maya's profile

471 ratings | 278 reviews
avg rating: 3.56

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Maya's recent updates (rss)

October 09

Maya read and liked Jafar's review of Disgrace (Penguin Essential Edition):

"Let me start with a digression. Ever read a book or seen a movie (usually, but not necessarily, French) in which a fat balding man in his fifties (usually a divorced college professor) is having a torrid affair with a pretty little thing 30 years you...more Let me start with a digression. Ever read a book or seen a movie (usually, but not necessarily, French) in which a fat balding man in his fifties (usually a divorced college professor) is having a torrid affair with a pretty little thing 30 years younger than himself? Well, unfortunately for the old fat college professors, these things don’t really happen very often. The writer/artist is a man in a similar situation as the man in the book/film, and he’s just putting down his sexual fantasies. He’s also putting down his fears and insecurities. There’s always a young bravado in the story who turns up and steals the girl from the poor sad geezer. It’s really that simple. You don’t need to be Freud to see through the writer/artist when he’s so blatantly obvious. (I don’t want to guess what portion of arts and literature is produced, on more subtle levels, by sexual desires and tensions.)

More digression. Once an aspiring novelist friend of mine asked me to read and review his manuscript. When I got to a point in the story in which a certain man was doing certain things to a certain woman, I knew I was reading his fantasies. I had to confront him. I put down the book and called him. “You’ve just written down your own fantasies, you wanker, haven’t you?” I told him. I mean, the guy had the woman of his fantasies in his book down to the precise shape of her nipples and her waist-to-hip ratio and the way she moved her body under him. There’s something distasteful about reading the fantasies of another man whom you know personally. I gave him a harsh review.

Ok, so, back to this book. I saw the movie Elegy (based on some novel) last weekend (Ben Kingsley is the divorced professor in his fifties who’s having an affair with his student Penélope Cruz), and then this week I read this book. The first half of the book is the story of this divorced professor in his fifties who… Oh, no, not that again. Fortunately the book redeems itself in the second half. The professor falls into disgrace and gets fired and moves in with his daughter who’s living on a remote farm. There’s rape and violence. The story turns into an analysis of the guilt and violence of the post-apartheid South Africa. Overall, a nice and endearing story.
...less "

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Maya gave

to:
Disgrace (Penguin Essential Edition)
by J.M. Coetzee

my rating:

recommended to Maya by: Copenhagen!

Maya said: "There was some sort of consensus that updating goodreads while on vacation was inappropriate.
I think not!
Disgrace is pretty good, but the daughter character was wooden. I think this book is provocative and well-written, and nice and short. Bu...more "

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September 30

New comment on Rakesh's review of Middlemarch (Signet Classics)

Maya wrote: "Wow, Sarah M is reading this too. What a coincidence. I love this book! "

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September 28

Maya gave

to:
The Coming Economic Collapse: How You Can Thrive When Oil Costs $200 a Barrel (Hardcover)
by Stephen Leeb

my rating:

Maya said: "As someone who knows very little about money, I found this to be pretty educational and interesting. "

1 comment

September 26

Maya gave

to:
The Hunger Games (Hardcover)
by Suzanne Collins

my rating:

Maya said: "Page turner. That Gale guy was not played up enough. I kind of wanted a little more moral ambiguity--I wanted the girl whose name suddenly escapes me--to actually have to kill one of the nice characters...can't wait to read the other books as I fee...more "

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September 20

Maya added:
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier (Hardcover)
by Ishmael Beah

my rating:

Maya said: "I had a difficult time getting into this. It seemed like an extended article. While the facts of the situation were fascinating, I also wanted a whole lot more. More about Sierra Leone, more about this guy's feelings. More characterization. It f...more "

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September 19

New comment on Maya's review of The Pillars of the Earth

Maya wrote: "AUGH!! Writers House and Princeton collide! "

(see all 2 comments)

September 14

Maya gave

to:
The Book of Calamities: Five Questions About Suffering and Its Meaning (Hardcover)
by Peter Trachtenberg

my rating:

Maya said: "Tough, painful read. Struck fear in my heart.
Sigh! I don't know if I should have read this. In some ways more than an exploration of suffering, for me what stood out was the close up confrontation of death. Just a sad moment realizing this is...more "

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September 09

New comment on Shayla's review of Revolutionary Road

Maya wrote: "Yeah I got pretty bored by the one thing I tried to read by him. It wasn't this. "

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New comment on Maya's review of Bar Flower: My Decadently Destructive Days and Nights as a Tokyo Nightclub Hostess

Maya wrote: "You should! Request it from the library! (not worth buying). I think it would be interesting to ge...more "

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