This is a well-meaning novel about a young man haunted by the death of his younger brother . . . literally. After a car crash kills one and spares oneThis is a well-meaning novel about a young man haunted by the death of his younger brother . . . literally. After a car crash kills one and spares one, the living brother, Charlie, continues to interact with the one whose life was lost, Sam. Their story interacts with Tess, a woman training for a solo sailing trip around the world.
I found this one pretty unremarkable, a novel of its time. I can see why it became a film, as the plot is very movie-shaped, but it was a bit too earnest or straightforward for my dark-hearted Wednesday Addams tastes. Needs more cowbell, or something.
*note: I tackled this book as part of my 2023 reading challenge to read books from this crowd-sourced list of recommended standalone novels published between 1985-2007: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
Please know that I am a brittle and crotchety reader, so please don't take my opinions on these novels as universal....more
Is this the first book that pleased me this year? I think it is. How agreeable it is to discover my reader heart has not become a complete husk! The jIs this the first book that pleased me this year? I think it is. How agreeable it is to discover my reader heart has not become a complete husk! The jacket of this novel says it's about a bookstore haunted by the ghost of a longtime (and annoying) customer, but really, that's just an excuse for pages and pages of a classily written, Gilmore-Girls-esque collection of Native women living complex found-family lives in 2019-2020 Minneapolis. This novel is also full of books, as one would expect in a book about a bookseller, and I like the recommended book lists at the end!
The ghost plot gallops and then tip toes and then eventually shrugs along, which I think will drive some readers batty, but I generally felt the carefully drawn portrait of the main character Tookie was enough to pull me through. Speaking of Tookie, I read a few reviews here before I wrote this one and was surprised to find some people saying they didn't find her realistic or 3D—she reminded me so very uncannily of someone I know, both good and bad, that I felt Erdrich must have had someone like her very much in mind.
It seems appropriate that the first book to break me from my reader slump is a book about readers. A long time ago, I spotted a little girl reading a board book in a bookstore. When she got to the last page, she patted the cover and said "Thank you, book!"
If I'd known Ondaatje had a Booker Prize book (The English Patient) to his name, I probably would have considered myself warned; I bounce oNot for me.
If I'd known Ondaatje had a Booker Prize book (The English Patient) to his name, I probably would have considered myself warned; I bounce off Bookers like . . . like . . . what's something that bounces? Like jell-o bounces off a duck's back. I used to think I wasn't clever enough for Booker winners, and now I just think that Bookers tend to prioritize recursive, thematic novels without a lot of aggressive external structure, and I, a straightforward creature, love an aggressive external structure.
Use this information as you will.
*note: I tackled this book as part of my 2023 reading challenge to read books from this crowd-sourced list of recommended standalone novels published between 1985-2007: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
Please know that I am a brittle and crotchety reader, so please don't take my opinions on these novels as universal....more
This novel is a brief, delicate, slow-moving character portrait. The Housekeeper is a gentle but stubborn single mother who never finished school; theThis novel is a brief, delicate, slow-moving character portrait. The Housekeeper is a gentle but stubborn single mother who never finished school; the Professor is a math genius with a short term memory of only 80 minutes following a long-ago head injury. The plot of the book, in its entirety, is: will they become friends?
In between their first meeting and the ultimate culmination of friendship, there is a lot of math, baseball, and math about baseball. Personally, as someone who comes from a more genre reading background, I was really longing by the end for a little magic, or a little murder, or a little mayhem. I think it reads like a long-form poem about relationships and math and truth than a novel, and if that is what you are in the mood for, you'll love it—the stakes are quite low and the vibes are quite high. It reminded me ever so slightly of Elizabeth McCracken's THE GIANT'S HOUSE . . . I think if you adored that one, you might like this one.
*note: I tackled this book as part of my 2023 reading challenge to read books from this crowd-sourced list of recommended standalone novels published between 1985-2007: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
Please know that I am a brittle and crotchety reader, so please don't take my opinions on these novels as universal....more
This is a book about the South. Not the Sweet Tea Magnolia South, a favorite of authors everywhere, but the Marlboro Mosquito South, a favorite of a dThis is a book about the South. Not the Sweet Tea Magnolia South, a favorite of authors everywhere, but the Marlboro Mosquito South, a favorite of a different sort of author everywhere. Rash's debut (I think) tells the story of a man accused of murder, a wife desperate for a baby, a Korean war hero unsuited for civilian life. Also the Widow Glendower, who is not a witch, probably. There's lots of dialectin' and quilt washin' and plow horse shootin' (sorry, spoiler) and sheriffin' about.
Was it well written? Yes.
Did I like it? No.
I think those who read SERENA and loved it will probably like this one, too, the sensibilities are the same; I didn't realize they were the same author until I got to the section narrated by the wife and thought A-HA HM YES I SEE. For me, it was just a little too joyless. Either the characters or I need to be having a good time at some point in a novel, and this was . . . well, it was a lot of marlboros and mosquitos, without ever saying marlboro or mosquito.
I'm beginning to doubt if truthfully chronicling my experience of reading my way through this list* is a good idea; I'm going to look very crotchety indeed by the end. It's worth emphasizing once again that I am a brittle and crotchety reader, so please don't take my opinions on these novels as universal.
*note: I tackled this book as part of my 2023 reading challenge to read books from this crowd-sourced list of recommended standalone novels published between 1985-2007:https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/......more
A 9-11 novel, narrated by a precocious 9 year old who lost his father. I feel strongly that folks who are currently adoring Fredrik Backman or Matt HaA 9-11 novel, narrated by a precocious 9 year old who lost his father. I feel strongly that folks who are currently adoring Fredrik Backman or Matt Haig's work would also enjoy this one. It has the same way of using a variety of devices to look right at unpleasant things while not being unpleasant to read. It also has an amiable and optimistic view of humanity. Foer introduces us to a massive cast of characters, who are all generally doing their best.
The nattering first person style means that pages turn quickly and easily, and the specificity of the setting means you really feel you've been taken somewhere real.
For me, however, it was ultimately too sweet. I needed it to either be 150 fewer pages, so that the thought exercise could really shine, or I needed it to be a little less gentle in its handling of the reader. JOSTLE ME. JOSTLE ME!
Also note: I tackled this book as part of my 2023 reading challenge to read books from this crowd-sourced list of recommended standalone novels published between 1985-2007: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
I am a brittle and crotchety reader, so please don't take my opinions on these novels as universal....more
As a thought exercise, a puzzle-in-narrative-form, I liked it very, very much. I see what you did, McEwan, and you did it very well.
As a novel, I didnAs a thought exercise, a puzzle-in-narrative-form, I liked it very, very much. I see what you did, McEwan, and you did it very well.
As a novel, I didn't like it very much at all.
Your mileage may vary.
(I did not see the film, but I assume it's more lush and romantic, as it surely must rely less on the clever trick of the prose-version and more on the narrated events, which are very overwrought and passionate when taken at face value)....more
I knew very little about this novel (published in 1945, absurdly well known, adapted to miniseries the year I was born) going in, and what I did thinkI knew very little about this novel (published in 1945, absurdly well known, adapted to miniseries the year I was born) going in, and what I did think I knew turned out to be wrong. It's funnier than I expected, which surprised me, and also more truthful than I expected, which pleases me. Mostly, I expected a class-based melodrama; instead, it is an often discomfiting portrait of a family, sometimes zoomed in to the most intimate and squirmy image, sometimes sprawled over a grueling and lengthy battlefield....more
Years ago, I stayed at a brand new Vegas hotel for a conference. Brand. New. This shining black tower of decadence had been decorated only a few monthYears ago, I stayed at a brand new Vegas hotel for a conference. Brand. New. This shining black tower of decadence had been decorated only a few months before I got there. It had all the ambiance of a freshly vacuumed rental car. In time it would wear Vegas, or vice versa, but for now: it was the new, gormless kid on the block.
So imagine my surprise when, on the last day of my stay, I was tormented all night long by something that turned on the jets in my hot tub, stomped heavily to and fro every time I turned the lights out, and, eventually, after I told the room audibly to "cut it out, I've got an early flight," slammed a shaking blow into the headboard directly beside me to remind me who had seniority in this place. In the morning, I confessed to the front desk I'd had a bit of an exciting night, and not in the usual Vegas way. With a glance at the room number, the clerk said he bet that I had.
Later, I found out the brand new hotel had only been a few weeks old when a man had jumped to his death from one of the rooms; the stylish glass balconies I'd enjoyed were an aftermarket part, designed to keep other tortured guests from following suit. Unclear if my room had been the unlucky suite. Unclear if my room was like that because the man had jumped, or if the man had jumped because my room was like that.
So: that's The Shining.
I'm sure I'm the last person in the world to have read the book (I haven't seen the film still, but now I will), but better late than never, right?
Sucks to shine in a hotel hungry for it, I guess....more
This slender 1968 novel surprised me by being funny. Not outrageously funny, not slyly funny, but dead-pan-I'm-not-going-to-spell-it-out-for-you-funnyThis slender 1968 novel surprised me by being funny. Not outrageously funny, not slyly funny, but dead-pan-I'm-not-going-to-spell-it-out-for-you-funny. The subtly smirking dialog-heavy action made short work of an already short book. Mattie is a crotchety and impossible teen narrator, and there are few truly happy endings on the old open range, but I was still left ruefully smiling.
True Grit is nearly three quarters of a century old, with all the caveats that come with that, but if you're a critical and considering reader, it's a fine way to spend an afternoon, loping in the company of the extremely memorable Mattie Ross....more
A claustrophobic nautilus of a novel. The summary touts this as a time travel story but to me, it seemed less interested in time travel and more in a A claustrophobic nautilus of a novel. The summary touts this as a time travel story but to me, it seemed less interested in time travel and more in a novelist's wistful musings on the harrowing transformation from *a writer, quiet observer of the world*, to *a writer, performing being a writer*— on what it means for her identity and time to be consumed as well as her novels.
I understand why the summary lingers on time travel; there is plenty of it in this book. But to me the book really boils down to one scene, one moment: Olive, the writer, has to excuse herself from the hotel restaurant, where she is trying to charge her meal to her room, in order to ask the front desk to remind her what her room number is in this particular hotel, this particular city. She can't remember, all times are one, all times are unreal. That is what this book is about....more
Here are some things you can expect to find in this book, which is solidly in the Mean Mommy Thriller Genre (a subcategory of the Lululemon Murder LadHere are some things you can expect to find in this book, which is solidly in the Mean Mommy Thriller Genre (a subcategory of the Lululemon Murder Ladies genre, which sometimes features Mean Mommies but not always): •trains •alcoholic beverages of all kinds, big ones, small ones, glass bottles, plastic •blunt trauma •sexy real estate agents •sexy nannies •sexy independently employed freelancer IT professionals* •sexy therapists •sexy therapy •babies (both tots and angels)** •unreliable narrators •unreliable therapists •reliable trains •puke
*I'm not entirely clear how this works but I assume it is a Gross Pointe Blank but with laptops situation **according the John Mulaney Child Classification System
A perfectly solid entry in the category and a good way to occupy oneself during a cross country plane ride....more
Gwen Terasaki's memoir about being the American wife of a Japanese diplomat during WWII is not a new book (there is even a '61 film featuring based upGwen Terasaki's memoir about being the American wife of a Japanese diplomat during WWII is not a new book (there is even a '61 film featuring based upon it), but it is new to me. I will be thinking about some of the images from this memoir for a very long time– small kindnesses and large horrors....more
An outrageously good time. Tomsky can write circles around most novelists, this one included.
A slick, caffeinated memoir of a philosophical hotelier tAn outrageously good time. Tomsky can write circles around most novelists, this one included.
A slick, caffeinated memoir of a philosophical hotelier that doesn't stick the landing, but only for the usual human reason memoir endings sometimes don't work: the author is still living the story inside and doesn't yet know the ultimate meaning of the most recent events. It's why I do not intend to write my own memoir until I am dead, a fool-proof plan.
I'm incoherent with my love for this graphic novel. I bought it based upon the prologue alone—I thought, if the rest of the book is even half this speI'm incoherent with my love for this graphic novel. I bought it based upon the prologue alone—I thought, if the rest of the book is even half this specific, wry, and surprisingly observed, I'm in.
It's better.
Written and illustrated by Will McPhail, whose cartoons often appear in The New Yorker, IN is about a young, intelligent man who wants to feel, but can't. His journey to letting emotional truth in is laugh-out-loud funny, eye-burningly sad, and strikingly true. And the art—THE ART, THE ALLCAPS ART. McPhail's use of gesture is unbelievably precise, describing the sorts of people we recognize with just a single shoulder slouch, spread open palm, twist of the hips, narrowing of the eyes. Do I have time to talk about metaphor? No. No. I will let you admire it for yourself when you buy it.
IN is less a graphic novel and more a sweet, brutal poem about facing the world head on. Instant favorites shelf 5ever....more
This one's a classic; nearly everyone—reader or watcher—will have seen a piece of media inspired by it (in fact, we only recently rewatched Clue here This one's a classic; nearly everyone—reader or watcher—will have seen a piece of media inspired by it (in fact, we only recently rewatched Clue here in Stiefvaterland). Supposedly it is the world's best-selling mystery. I expected it to be dated (originally published in 1939 with an eye-buggingly problematic title), and the details were, of course, but the structure was as elegant and modern as anything you might hope to find today. It's a sparse, wicked thought exercise. With ten main characters, it's also a masterclass in juggling reader attention; Christie takes very little time in making sure we can easily tell them all apart.
Christie wrote: "I don't say it is the play or book of mine that I like best, or even that I think it is my best, but I do think in some ways that it is a better piece of craftsmanship than anything else I have written."
I don't know about that, but I do know it's effortlessly deserving of its classic status....more
Loading...
