Cory Day’s
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(group member since Aug 18, 2012)
Cory Day’s
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from the Reading with Style group.
Showing 1,201-1,205 of 1,205
20.8 Veterans' DayGötz and Meyer by David Albahari
Review: 'Gotz and Meyer' is short and almost featureless, written in a sort of stream of consciousness style and in one long paragraph. It reads like a memoir, an investigation into a past that can never be understood.
The narrator is a man who is researching and teaching the history of the Holocaust in Serbia, where most of his family perished in trucks that functioned as moving gas chambers. In looking into the past, he runs across the names of the drivers, Gotz and Meyer, who haunt his present. The real-life men remain a mystery to him, interchangeable, but are always to some extent human. He says, "Anyone could have been Gotz. Anyone could have been Meyer, and yet Gotz and Meyer were only Gotz and Meyer, and no one else could be who they are," but questions what kind of humans they were. As much as they are no more than names, they were humans, doing monstrous things as part of their daily routines - and treating the Jews they murdered as interchangeable parts.
I've read quite a bit of Holocaust literature, but have never learned much about what happened in Serbia (perhaps because of more recent turmoil), and cannot remember hearing of the trucks that mostly predates the gas chambers in the concentration camps. The book had an occasional dark humor and quick pace, but in the end was as unsettling as a work like this should be.
+20 Task (Albahari published his first well-known collection of short stories, Opis smrti, in 1982, Götz and Meyer in 2002)
+10 Review
+5 Multiple*
Task Total: 35*
Grand Total: 120*
*Edited to fix the date of first book publication and to add +5 Multiple*
Ashes of Honor (Seanan McGuire) - 10.9 To be Continued...'Ashes of Honor' is the sixth installation in one of my favorite urban fantasy series. As usual, the main character, half-fairy October Daye, ends up in search of a child in trouble, getting herself and her friends into all kinds of trouble in pursuit of answers. Finding missing and hurt children is Toby's specialty, which can be heart-wrenching in a way that other mysteries would not, but spending time with the characters is always like hanging out with old friends.
The book takes place a year after the last, and while I wasn't a fan of the way things turned out in that one, the character development in this one finally moved the story forward. I wouldn't recommend starting with this one, I do highly recommend the series. (view spoiler)
+10 Task
+ 5 Combo (10.7 Monsterfest - the bad fairies are definitely scary)
+10 Review
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 85
20.8 Veterans' DayFreedom by Jonathan Franzen
Review: Freedom was on my list of twelve books from my to-read list I've been avoiding reading that I challenged myself to complete this year. I've heard and read things about Jonathan Franzen that put me off a little - his disdain of technology, his disdain of Oprah's book club... it just seems like every time I hear about him in the news, he's proclaiming his disdain of something. Nevertheless, I'd heard good things about his writing, and don't believe in equating an author's work with his public persona.
Unfortunately, I was either unable to separate the two this time, or Franzen's attitude pervades his work. I expect it was both. The story centers around a disaffected upper middle class couple, Walter and Patty, as well as their son Joey and Walter's best friend Richard, both of whom have lasting impacts on their marriage. None of the characters are particularly likable, although they have some redeeming qualities, and they are, for the most part, miserable. There is a loose plot, but it's far from the focus of the book, leaving the writing and the characters to pull the weight. Unfortunately, I've never been much for reading about the plight of upper middle class dissatisfied with their existence. Add to that large portions of the book that seem more like they belong in a textbook (or a sermon?) than in a novel, and the result is something just not made for me.
+20 Task (The Twenty-Seventh City published in 1988; Freedom published in 2010 and he continues to publish)
+5 Jumbo (562 pages)
+10 Review
Task Total: 35
Grand Total: 60
10.7 MonsterfestSeawitch by Kat Richardson
Review: I first read about Kat Richardson's Harper Blaine in a short story in one urban fantasy anthology or another, and that convinced me to read her novels. Seawitch is the seventh I've read, and while I still prefer the short stories, I'll be continuing to follow Harper's adventures.
Seawitch is plot-heavy and short on character development, but that seems appropriate for Harper's character. She's a slightly aloof self-described loner, so getting to know her fictionally feels similar to what it would mean to get to know her in real life. In this volume she's working on becoming a better friend by reducing the number of times she relies on those she loves to find answers she could search for herself; this stands in opposition to her tendency to rush headlong into things and NOT allow people to help her. If Richardson chooses to pursue this line of character development, I'd like to see it become a more integral part of the plot line.
The plot of Seawitch walked a nice balance between being creepy but not giving me nightmares, although I did feel many of the revelations were obvious to me much earlier than to the characters. It was good seeing Harper work with a police partner, especially as his character is beginning to be flushed out nicely. All in all, I enjoyed going back into Harper Blaine's world - it always feels like visiting with old (if slightly aloof) friends.
+10 Task (ghosts, sea monsters, etc.)
+5 Combo (10.2 Oktoberfest - author was born in the USA)
+10 Review
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 25
I'm new to all this, but I think I have two lists that work, in case I have time to read both. Here's the first; I can't deal with typing the second on my iPad right now. 1969 - Angelou, Maya - I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1070 Lexile)
1976 - Butler, Octavia - Patternmaster (listed as part of the omnibus Seed to Harvest at BPL as Sci-Fi, as opposed to some others Butler has written that have YA designations at some branches and low Lexile scores)
1978 - Colwin, Laurie - Happy All the Time
1980 - Doctorow, E.L. - Loon Lake
1982 - Eddings, David - Pawn of Prophecy (900 Lexile)
1983 - Foster, Alan Dean - For Love of Mother-Not
1984 - Gemmel, David - Legend
1985 - Hambly - Dragonsbane
1989 - Ishiguro - The Remains of the Day (1210 Lexile)
1990 - Johnson - Middle Passage (1150 Lexile)
