Bill
took the never-ending book quiz.
| questions answered: | 657 |
| correct: | 565 (86.0%) |
| skipped: | 133 |
| best streak: | 17 |
| questions added: | 0 |
bookshelves: currently-reading
]]>
This is one of Borge's last books, and many of the pieces here are less than his best. "The Congress," however, is a tale of the microcosm as powerful and effective as "The Aleph" and "The Book of Sand" is also one of Borge's finest stories. "The Sect of Thirty" is an excellent short piece, and the theological implications of this account of heresy are both disturbing and illuminating. Don't expect too much, and you will enjoy watching an old master at work. ]]>
bookshelves: to-read
]]>
Re-reading the play this time, I liked it a little better than I thought I would. I thought the brutal treatment of Katharine by Petruchio would ruin the play for me, but it didn't. From the induction involving Christopher Sly, the text of "The Taming of the Shrew is full of so many transformations(tinker to lord, page to lady, servant to rich young man, rich young man to teacher of grammar, rich suitor to music teacher, wandering scholar to prosperous merchant, etc.) as well as so many literary allusions to Ovid and other metamorphoses, that Kate's transformation from shrew into obedient wife seems just one more mythological marvel produced by the magic of the stage, with Petruchio as the play's protean Prospero. But I'm making the play seem better than it is. It is a very slight entertainment indeed, a farce whose lack of even comic seriousness is one of the reason why its brutality and misogyny are relatively inoffensive. ]]>
There's a lot to recommend in this novel about a professional psychic--who really does see ghosts--plying her trade in the working class suburbs of London. The profession itself becomes an excellent metaphor for writing: the spirits though genuine are often difficult to discern, and even then they do not always appear, and so the medium often is forced to make do with psychology manipulation, theatrical effects, and charlatanry. The relationship between Alison the psychic and her manager Collete is effectively presented, the character of Morris the spirit guide--an obscene, dwarfish bookmaker--is entertainingly vile, and the hints concerning Alison's childhood are predictably dark and deftly placed with the narrative. Where Mantel really excels, however, is in descriptions of threadbare London neighborhoods, the mediocrity of British food, and descriptions of a spirit world equally threadbare and mediocre. The biographical revelations that end the novel are suitably shocking, but I have to admit that by that time I barely cared. The novel is, however, vivid in language and stylistically impressive. It is definitely worth a read. ]]>
]]>
Violet Paget (given-name of writer Vernon Lee) was a cross-dressing lesbian, disciple of Walter Pater and acquaintance of Oscar Wilde, so it should not be a surprise that these four tales of the supernatural are filled with gorgeous descriptive passages (particularly of Italy) and sexual ambiguity. What is a surprise to me is how well-crafted and scary these stories really are. Each tale (making allowances for a little inversion) is about a "la belle dame sans merci," a fairy temptress who leads the hero into a timeless world where he will be destroyed either through death or exhaustion. The fateful woman takes various forms: a prideful, bloody Renaissance princess, a six-year-old proto-Venus literally thrust forth by the sea, the fey mistress of a Jacobean country house who looks like her mysterious ancestor, and the voice of a famous castrato calling to a young Wagnerian composer across the centuries. All four stories are good, and two of them--"Amor Dure" and "Dionea"--are as good as any supernatural short story written by either M.R. or Henry James. ]]>
An unsuccessful but somewhat interesting Spenser. All the irritating Spenser things (motive-exploring dialog, Susan, the Tonto-ization of Hawk) are here, but the delightful things (snappy patter, vivid descriptions of places and people, drive-by literary allusions) are here as well.
To further complicate matters, the book's principal strength turns into its greatest weakness. Parker introduces an obvious Spenser character foil--Gary Eisenhower--whom Spenser likes and even somewhat admires. Sure.Eisenhower seduces and blackmails the wives of wealthy men, yet he possesses a code and even a kind of bravery--like our hero. The only problem with this is that Paker can't figure out how to make Eisenhower central to the plot, and the ending of the book seems anti-climactic and cobbled together.
Yeah, I know, I know. . . but I just can't stop myself from reading every new Spenser, and once I start I just can't put 'em down. ]]>
Amy DeNovo, Lily Rowan's young assistant, wants Archie to help her find out who her father is. The problem is an interesting one--and even more interesting in that it may very well be connected with her mother's hit-and-run death some months before. This is one of the best of Wolfe's adventures, with many twists and turns, at least three vivid minor characters, and a satisfying denouement. ]]>