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April 20
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Tiffany
gave
to:
The Bell Jar (Paperback)
by Sylvia Plath
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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recommended to Tiffany by:
Sucheta Bal
recommended for: people feeling disenfranchised, confused, or alone; hobos
read in November, 2001
Tiffany said:
"I've heard The Bell Jar described as the female Catcher in the Rye, and I kind of felt that was apt. I got this as a gift as I entered college. I don't remember much about the details since it's been a while, but I just remember how good Plath is a...more
I've heard The Bell Jar described as the female Catcher in the Rye, and I kind of felt that was apt. I got this as a gift as I entered college. I don't remember much about the details since it's been a while, but I just remember how good Plath is at making you feel Alone. All Alone. Even when people are spinning all around you. And the main character isn't pathetically or courageously alone--she's kind of floating through, not unaware, but not really sure what to do about things. I identified with that. I loved this book. You should read it. ...less
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February 16
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Tiffany
gave
to:
Lost Horizon: A Novel (Paperback)
by James Hilton
bookshelves:
must-read-again
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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recommended for: Explorers/adventurers of any kind, anyone who wants to hear a damn good story
read in February, 2008
Tiffany said:
"The last time I loved a book as much as I loved this one was when I read Dune. Even though Dune is considered one of the masterworks of science fiction, I'm not really a sci-fi kind of girl, per se, I just love places that are so well-imagined by th...more
The last time I loved a book as much as I loved this one was when I read Dune. Even though Dune is considered one of the masterworks of science fiction, I'm not really a sci-fi kind of girl, per se, I just love places that are so well-imagined by the author that you can't believe they're not real SOMEWHERE. Lost Horizon presents Shangri-La as such a place.
More personally, though, I read this book at the precise right moment in my life. Conway, the main character, has a sort of dispassionate detachment from life as a result of having fought in WWI (the story takes place right after the stock market crash) and has subsequently become an official in the British Government. His job is sort of middle management, not a great deal of responsibility, but it takes him to odd corners of the world where he has opportunities for heroism by virtue of being in foreign, unstable lands during the last years of the British Empire. Basically, he's seen enough to have made him more or less unflappable, and because of this he often is viewed as calm under pressure and courageous; at the end of the day, though, all he really wants is peace and quiet.
When the English are evacuating India, Conway and three other passengers have their airplane hijacked, and they are whisked away to Shangri-La. I won't say anymore except that he and his companions find a great deal of mystery there, but Conway also senses immediately that he's found his place of repose.
I say I read this book at the exact right moment in my life because I can identify with Conway's dispassion at times. Not that I've seen nearly all of the world or have experienced anything as dramatic as war, but having lived in Asia for two years, I know what it's like to do something out of the ordinary and to then return to the everyday. I know what that hollow space feels like that you long to fill with something else amazing. The fact that his retreat also happens to be a place that reminds us of the evils of being shackled to the march of time and desire is also no small thing for me. The West truly is obsessed with time--doing things faster and more efficiently, and more importantly, getting angry when things aren't done on the timetables we expect. Then there's the element of desire; wanting what we feel we are entitled to, seeking accolades, craving attention and adoration, and everything we are willing to sacrifice for these things. We are willing to sacrifice no less than the wisdom of the world and of this earth. Lost Horizon goes into all of this and much more, and I loved every second of the philosophical exploration wrapped up in gripping mystery.
So, in case I haven't been clear enough--read this. It's a quick read, only took me two days, a few hours. It's well worth it.
...less
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February 15
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Tiffany
gave
to:
On the Road (Paperback)
by Jack Kerouac
bookshelves:
read-once
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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Tiffany
gave
to:
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream (Paperback)
by Hunter S. Thompson
bookshelves:
read-once
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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recommended for: Aging drug addict hippies, current drug addict hippies, hipster literary types
read in January, 2008, has a copy to sell/swap
Tiffany said:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Beyond the Audiobook thing though, I think I'm just a bit jaded to the 'drug scene' stories. Of all people, Heath Ledger said it well about one of the films he was in, playing a junkie: "We all know how to play a drug addict by now, it's been so well-documented." That's kind of how I felt reading (or listening, rather) to this story. Not ever having been a drugs enthusiast myself, perhaps I can't appreciate the right-on-edness of Thompson's telling, but after having seen Requiem for a Dream, Blow, even watching fricking Dave Chapelle imitating a crackhead, it was all lost on me. I felt like I'd heard/seen it before, and so by the end, it all went a bit flat for me.
But to give it its due (and explain its two stars) I DID like the whole insanity of the quest for the American dream, and the fact that it ends up (perfectly logically, in their drug-addled brains) to be a condemned building/current crack den. The portrayal of the police as hapless half-wits, ten years behind the drug scene, also seemed pretty apt. As a matter of important historical note, our hero tells us that uppers went out with Johnson and downers came in with Nixon, which I found to be an amusing sidebar.
So...yeah, I guess the balance of the above is that it had its amusing moments, maybe an ACTUAL read would be better, but all in all, Fear & Loathing didn't do much for me....less
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January 04
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Tiffany
gave
to:
The Da Vinci Code (Paperback)
by Dan Brown
bookshelves:
read-once
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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recommended for: Catholics, conspiracy theorists, people who like the literary equivalent of an action movie
read in March, 2004
Tiffany said:
"Okay, I know if I was a proper book snob I would hate this novel, but I didn't! I found the story compelling (maybe it was my Catholic upbringing and conspiracy theorist father) but that's not why I gave it 3 stars. There are plenty of crap novels ...more
Okay, I know if I was a proper book snob I would hate this novel, but I didn't! I found the story compelling (maybe it was my Catholic upbringing and conspiracy theorist father) but that's not why I gave it 3 stars. There are plenty of crap novels that keep you turning the pages that you would give 1 star at best (romance novels that I read in junior high, I'm looking at you). No, the reason I gave this book 3 stars was because Dan Brown did his homework. Now, make no mistake, this is not an E for effort kind of thing. Rather, I felt that a story as over-the-top as this could have felt fake as hell but for all of the research that went into the art, history, and Catholic dogma that he referenced. And I don't consider myself to be much of a feminist in the politically active sense, but my heart did a little skip when the main character fell to his knees at the end in supplication to Mary Magdalene. I don't know; hate on it for it becoming the phenomenon it was if you want to, I guess, but as a lapsed Catholic at a Catholic university (I read this when I was at Notre Dame) going through the most cynical period of her life, this book was perfect....less
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Tiffany
gave
to:
The Kite Runner (Paperback)
by Khaled Hosseini
bookshelves:
read-once
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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recommended to Tiffany by:
my bff Cyn
recommended for: the culturally curious, those not vexed by overly-convenient storytelling acrobatics
read in August, 2007
Tiffany said:
"Hrm...I have issues with any book that reads like the author had in mind the whole time that he wanted this to be optioned for a Hollywood script. I love movies; in fact, I am far more a movie snob than book snob. But one of the limitations of the ...more
Hrm...I have issues with any book that reads like the author had in mind the whole time that he wanted this to be optioned for a Hollywood script. I love movies; in fact, I am far more a movie snob than book snob. But one of the limitations of the movie genre is that you can't really effectively explore the inner workings of a character's mind. You can to an extent, but books lend themselves far better to this. So when a book is essentially a movie on paper, I feel like the author's kind of missed an opportunity to do so much more with a story. The saving grace of this book is that the convenient plot twists ran out by the end, so things ended OK but not as nauseatingly tidily as I feared they were going to. I was seriously worried. I kept saying things like, "Oh man, if that guy turns out to be--oh COME ON!" One huge thing I must give the author credit for is showing another side of Afghanistan. Like most Americans, I know the Taliban, I know the USA rampaged the country, and that's about it. You can tell that the author has a love for the place it used to be (magical to him in the same way everyone's childhood home is) and great sorrow for what has happened there socially and politically. For that perspective, if nothing else, it's worth the read. But the Hollywood undertones keep it from being great literature....less
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January 03
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Tiffany
gave
to:
The Stranger (Paperback)
by Albert Camus
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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Tiffany
gave
to:
Everything Is Illuminated: A Novel (Paperback)
by Jonathan Safran Foer
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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Tiffany
gave
to:
One Hundred Years of Solitude (Hardcover)
by Gabriel García Márquez
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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Tiffany
gave
to:
The Alchemist (Plus)
by Paulo Coelho (Goodreads author!)
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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