I Read Therefore I Am discussion
Books and Reading
>
Critics Corner - give us your reviews of your recent reading
message 51:
by
[deleted user]
(new)
Mar 09, 2014 02:02PM
Sounds amazing - on to the to read list
reply
|
flag
Mod
Stoner has been on my TBR for a while now, and will finally be read in April, after I made it a 'spring present' to myself. (always finding excuses to buy books ;))
Lee wrote: "The Courilof AffairLeon M is an old Russian Revolutionary - he was, as he says, born into the Party - both his parents were revolutionaries and after the death of his mother he was..."
This sounds like a heavy read Lee...? Interesting though :)
@Lee - This sounds like a heavy read...? Interesting though :) @Hil - added to the TBR! Thank for the review.
@ Angela - no it was actually very readable (and rather short) - just makes you think a lot.
Finished Battle Cry by Leon Uris and gave it 4 stars. It is definitely a 'niche' book which would appeal mostly to those who have served, or know someone who has, their country in time of war. The narrator is 'Mac', and he is a lifer in the Corps prior to the start of WWII. He and others like him are charged with the task of turning thousands of 18 year old kids into fighting Marines able to take on the Japanese in the Pacific theater. The story follows a squad of radiomen as they make that transition and as they are shipped out to New Zealand to await deployment to the forces which will invade Guadalcanal and Tarawa. We follow along with them as they do just that. The book is well written and left me with a deeper appreciation for the men and women who were caught up in that maelstrom, an appreciation that was pretty deep to begin with. True to life it accurately portrays that some of their tougher 'battles' were on the home front, and that the sacrifice was not only paid by those in uniform. Written by a Marine Corps veteran who served at both Guadalcanal and Tarawa, the concluding 150 pages or so are a stark reminder to me of what is meant by the phrase 'Freedom Isn't Free'. Recommended.
that's really interesting, Antipodes. I read Exodus and Mila 18 many years ago and loved them both. Exodus was of particular interest to me as my father was a soldier in the British Army in Palestine at the time of the book. It was strange to compare his view of the situation with that of the book. However, I thought Mila 18 was the better book. have you read either of those? Battle Cry sounds very diferent from them.
@Hilary - His other works that I have read are Exodus and Trinity, both some 30 years ago and both were excellent. I think Battle Cry may suffer a bit in comparison from being, I believe, his first work. I strongly recommend both Exodus and Trinity, the impression lasting over the decades and all. I got Mila 18 some months ago, the eBook, and have it in the wings. So many good books, so little time.
I've had a look on the website and have found that I've also read Trinity and QB Vll but no longer have them on my shelves. I remember lending them to someone but I can't remember who!
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
While laying low after running away from both his alcoholic, no-good father and the well meaning but restrictive attempts to civilise him by Widow Douglas, Huck Finn joins forces with Jim an escaped slave, they build a raft and sail down the river. On the way they encounter, amongst other things, rattlesnakes, con men, floods, thieves and murderers (the body count in this book really surprised me - I'm sure nobody died in the television show) in a series of adventures described to us in the unique and charming voice of Huck.
This book is funny, moving and exciting - Huck has a beautiful way of describing the river and it's surroundings and regularly treats us to his homespun philosophy. He is such an attractive character - kind hearted, loyal and much wiser than he gives himself credit for.
The real beauty of the book lies in his relationship with Jim and the way his growing love and respect for him slowly but surely undermines his prejudices.
There is just one thing I didn't like about this book - and that is Tom Sawyer, whose appearance in the last few chapters shipwrecks the book and came near to ruining it for me. I really do not like that bumptious and selfish individual.
I know I shall read this book again and again - but not the last few chapters.
Highly recommended.
While laying low after running away from both his alcoholic, no-good father and the well meaning but restrictive attempts to civilise him by Widow Douglas, Huck Finn joins forces with Jim an escaped slave, they build a raft and sail down the river. On the way they encounter, amongst other things, rattlesnakes, con men, floods, thieves and murderers (the body count in this book really surprised me - I'm sure nobody died in the television show) in a series of adventures described to us in the unique and charming voice of Huck.
This book is funny, moving and exciting - Huck has a beautiful way of describing the river and it's surroundings and regularly treats us to his homespun philosophy. He is such an attractive character - kind hearted, loyal and much wiser than he gives himself credit for.
The real beauty of the book lies in his relationship with Jim and the way his growing love and respect for him slowly but surely undermines his prejudices.
There is just one thing I didn't like about this book - and that is Tom Sawyer, whose appearance in the last few chapters shipwrecks the book and came near to ruining it for me. I really do not like that bumptious and selfish individual.
I know I shall read this book again and again - but not the last few chapters.
Highly recommended.
Thanks Angie - I find writing reviews very hard work - but I really like they way it makes you think about what you've read.
It IS hard work I agree, and everyone writes them so differently. I like yours because you don't tell me very single detail of the story. Those reviews are harder to read - I just want to know if the book was good or not and why/why not. Also, if it's someone you know who is recommending it, I find the opinion has more weight :)
That comment is so true Angela, if the review tells you everything about the book reading it is a bit of an anti climax.
I agree, themes supported by a few details, not the other way around, and that is not easy to do well. Read Huck Finn as a youngster, thanks Lee for that excellent review, I see I need to revisit it as an adult. Onto the TBR.
Closely Observed Trains
This little masterpiece (just 91 pages) is narrated by the entirely loveable and human Milos Hrma- an apprentice at a Bohemian railway station during the war.
It manages to be both a comic and affectionate description of the eccentricities of the railway staff and an exploration of mankind's capacity for cruelty, love, and courage.
I found some of the scenes upsetting and had I known about them in advance I probably wouldn't have read this book - this would have been a great shame as it really is rather wonderful.
I'm not sure whether I found it inspiring or depressing - maybe both.
5 stars
This little masterpiece (just 91 pages) is narrated by the entirely loveable and human Milos Hrma- an apprentice at a Bohemian railway station during the war.
It manages to be both a comic and affectionate description of the eccentricities of the railway staff and an exploration of mankind's capacity for cruelty, love, and courage.
I found some of the scenes upsetting and had I known about them in advance I probably wouldn't have read this book - this would have been a great shame as it really is rather wonderful.
I'm not sure whether I found it inspiring or depressing - maybe both.
5 stars
Stardust'Stardust': My first Neil Gaiman experience did not disappoint. No words are wasted in this short novel as the reader follows the hero from his own conception all the way to the happily-ever-after.
Tristran Thorn is love struck by the beautiful Victoria and promises her a witnessed falling star in exchange for her hand in marriage. This star, however, did not fall in his hometown of Wall but instead across the border and within the land of Faerie. After much cunning and paternal assistance, Tristran bounds through the barriers that try to hold him back and there finds that this fallen star is not what he imagined. This star is being coveted by more than one magical individual so Tristran must journey with his prize through treacherous rainstorms, dodging evil witches, accepting assistance from trees and unicorns and, most interestingly, taking refuge on an air-borne sailing vessel.
When he and his star arrive back in Wall, Tristran discovers that age-old lesson: what if what you wanted has been in front of you all along.
Neil Gaiman weaves a magical narrative, inviting the reader into a world of colour and imagination without any gothic subtext but just pretty, folkish fun.
Highly recommend.
Love the review, Angie. Have you read Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. I love it. it's been described as Jane Austen with Faeries.
It's set in an alternate 18th century England the northern half of which was ruled for centuries by the Raven King - a human brought up by Faeries.
The Raven King has been gone for a long time now and, slowly but surely, magic has drained away from the country. Until that is the arrival of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell.
The story is funny, thrilling, sad and tragic by turns the Faeries are wild and totally other and the magic is eerie and well, magical.
It's set in an alternate 18th century England the northern half of which was ruled for centuries by the Raven King - a human brought up by Faeries.
The Raven King has been gone for a long time now and, slowly but surely, magic has drained away from the country. Until that is the arrival of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell.
The story is funny, thrilling, sad and tragic by turns the Faeries are wild and totally other and the magic is eerie and well, magical.
Lee wrote: "Closely Observed Trains This little masterpiece (just 91 pages) is narrated by the entirely loveable and human Milos Hrma- an apprentice at a Bohemian railway station during the war...."
Lee, I've been meaning to read something by him forever now, I think your review has decided which one to go for :)
Mod
@ Jenny - hope you love it :0)
@ Lee - thank you :) That book sounds so amazing I read out your synopsis to my partner. I love a book with magic so that is going straight to the TBR!@Laurel - I watched the film the day after. It was great fun but I got annoyed at a couple of bits as you can imagine! Agreed about De Niro, so off-beat for him :)
Mod
At least he gets bumped off :0)
Agreed. He IS funny but I always get the impression he is playing the same character in all his work.
At the weekend I read Dying In the Wool which is a 'cosy' murder mystery. It's set in the 1920s, told in the first person by a well-heeled female sleuth, Kate, who sets out to solve the riddle of the disappearance of her friend's father. The story is set among the Yorkshire textile mills and the author succeeds in giving a good feel of place and time without being obtrusive. I found Kate a filled-out and likeable character and the plot is well-paced, with just a couple of loose ends. I thought it was an enjoyable light read.
Vertigo - How do you review a W G Sebald book when a W G Sebald book is a genre in itself? Vertigo is a melancholy and eerie travelogue/memoir/commonplace book - full of Sebald's musings on history, art, literature and life.
Like other Sebald novels I've read it takes a little while to acclimatise to yourself to - but before you know it you're mesmerised.
I came across W G Sebald quite recently and he has quickly become one of my favourite authors - so much so that I have an urge to ration those of his books that I haven't yet read.
Like other Sebald novels I've read it takes a little while to acclimatise to yourself to - but before you know it you're mesmerised.
I came across W G Sebald quite recently and he has quickly become one of my favourite authors - so much so that I have an urge to ration those of his books that I haven't yet read.
Your review hooked me Lee! I want to read it, like right now! :)
The Island (Victoria Hislop)The island is Spinalonga, just offshore from the coast of Crete, and a leper colony up to 1957. The book relates the family story of the ferryman Giorgis, his wife Eleni and 2 daughters Anna and Maria.
The family lives under the threat of leprosy and two catch the disease and are exiled to Spinalonga. Initially conditions are very poor but later the colony becomes a thriving community. In 1957 a cure is found and the residents are allowed to leave the island. But the social stigma of having been a leper causes shame that persists into the next generations.
Set against this backdrop is the growing up of 2 very different sisters, weddings, love affairs, births and deaths.
This book is informative (maybe too much so with its descriptions of the later stages of leprosy) and written in a calm, measured way – no extravagant metaphors or breathless purple prose. Not great literature, and definitely aimed at female readers, but a cut above the average ‘holiday’ book.
I read Sharp Objects very quickly over the weekend; definitely an easy read. This book is a mystery / thriller, centring on a newspaper reporter, Camille, who is sent back to her home town to investigate the deaths of two girls. The plot works and suspense was created - enough to keep me wanting to read on - but I did guess the outcome, more or less and it is quite dark and depressing. I wasn't sure if I really found all the characters believable - one or two are just so nasty you wonder how they have any friends or relationships. (view spoiler) Camille's editor and his wife are really just cyphers for 'good characters'; they have no depth at all.This seems to be a book like The Husband's Secret which I raced through but then felt dissatisfied with.
I haven't read Gone Girl. Not sure if I want to.
I sometimes think that books like that are rather similar to fast food - you wolf them down and then rather wish that you hadn't :0)
Gone Girl is much better than Sharp Objects, Joy. At least I thought so. It certainly wasn't a book whose plot I forgot. But I have spoken to people who, while thinking it was very good, thought it also very disturbing.
Lee - I think you're right with the fast food comparison. Trouble is I don't seem to have the energy for nourishing new dishes at the moment. Perhaps I should re-read some of my favourite classics.Hilary - Interested in your comment - thanks. I might try Gone Girl eventually. I've noticed on various boards that it has mixed reviews.
Carrington: A Life
Carrington (she disliked her first name and dropped it entirely) used to be known mainly for her relationship with Lytton Strachey and the position that this gave her on the fringes of the Bloomsbury group. In recent years however she has come to be seen as an artist in her own right.
She was a fascinating person - pursued obsessively by a number of men desperate to marry her,she fell in love all of a sudden with the predominantly homosexual Strachey and devoted herself to him for the rest of their lives.
You wouldn't necessarily need to be interested in Carrington and her circle to enjoy this book - all of them were highly eccentric individuals trying to find new ways to live. Their lives were full of drama- largely due to their tendency to fall suddenly and devastatingly in love on a regular basis - parts of this book read like a real life version of The Idiot and had me on the edge of my seat wondering what on earth was going to happen next.
This biography gives a well rounded portrait of the troubled but loveable Carrington. I read it straight through which I don't usually do with non fiction. 4 stars I think.
Carrington (she disliked her first name and dropped it entirely) used to be known mainly for her relationship with Lytton Strachey and the position that this gave her on the fringes of the Bloomsbury group. In recent years however she has come to be seen as an artist in her own right.
She was a fascinating person - pursued obsessively by a number of men desperate to marry her,she fell in love all of a sudden with the predominantly homosexual Strachey and devoted herself to him for the rest of their lives.
You wouldn't necessarily need to be interested in Carrington and her circle to enjoy this book - all of them were highly eccentric individuals trying to find new ways to live. Their lives were full of drama- largely due to their tendency to fall suddenly and devastatingly in love on a regular basis - parts of this book read like a real life version of The Idiot and had me on the edge of my seat wondering what on earth was going to happen next.
This biography gives a well rounded portrait of the troubled but loveable Carrington. I read it straight through which I don't usually do with non fiction. 4 stars I think.
In Olive Kitteridge, Elizabeth Strout weaves a tapestry whose threads consist not of material, but of relationship. That tapestry is viewed through a kaleidoscopic presentation of the relationship of Olive Kitteridge to her life, each twist a chapter, each turn of that wonderful kaleidoscopic instrument brought to us through the prose of Elizabeth Strout, illuminating a new and distinct thread within Olive's life; each its own unique pattern, yet somehow fitting perfectly overall when viewed from a distance.There is no constant single thread we follow from start to finish, no sequenced sensible continuity nor consistent viewpoint. But with each chapter we gain more and more sense of what it is all about, this kaleidoscopic tapestry woven from the thread of Olive's relationship. It is about life, and the living of it. About friends and family and acquaintances and the passage of time. How they and we so rarely turn out like we might hope or plan. About how it all can ever so slowly creep up and envelop us unawares, or just as easily instantly spring up and slap us down. And it is about how we cope with the vagaries of life, and how we don't.
If there is an enduring thread in this tapestry, it may be that the best glimpse of ourselves that we might ever aspire to view is the one that is all about us all the time, if we would but look; the one that is in the eyes and in the lives of our family, and our friends, and our neighbors.
Highly recommended. A solid five stars.
Wow- great review Antipodes - must bump this up the to read pile.
Mod
Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon was the choice of a member of my reading group who did warn us that it had a lot of Scottish dialect but it was worth persevering with. He was right! However, I would advise anyone trying this book to omit the Prelude at the beginning as I found it slow, boring and incomprehensible and if it hadn't been "requires reading" I would have abandoned it. It developed into a book that I enjoyed on many levels. Chris Guthrie, daughter of a crofter in rural Aberdeenshire is clever, perceptive and a really strong female protagonist. Forced to leave school and abandon her plans to be a teacher to help at home when her troubled mother commits suicide,she does so with good grace and begins a long and deep relationship with the Scottish landscape. All the characters are are well drawn and their struggles with the land, each other and the advent and repercussions of WWI make an engrossing, dramatic and moving story.I would definitely recommend it and it is easy to understand even though particular words might need to be looked up or guessed at. On a personal note I found it strange at times to see words in print that my Aberdonian parents in law would use!
I've seen a few good reviews of this - Isn't it part of a trilogy? I think the author was voted Scotland's favourite recently.
Yes, I didn't make it to my book group today because I'm suffering from a dreadful cold and have lost my voice. I've emailed the guy who chose it and asked if he has read the other two books and would he recommend them. I'll let you know what he says.
Oh dear - hope you feel better soon :0)
Thanks Lee. I've also now developed conjunctivitis! I've seen pleasanter looking faces in horror films that mine at the moment. I'm sure I'll be better soon, it already feels as though it's not 6 days I've felt ill, but an eternity. I should concentrate on Dante, that should make me feel less sorry for myself, I'm sure the punishments of Hell are worse than my current afflictions - well maybe.
The Woman Warrior is the semi autobiographical story of the author's early life as the daughter of 1st generation Chinese Americans. It is told in the form of interlinked longish short stories and within them the author uses Chinese folk stories and legends, family stories of her ancestors and episodes of her and her mothers past to explore what it has meant to her to be Chinese, American and female.
The result is quite unique - sometimes magical, sometimes shocking, sometimes upsetting but always fascinating.
The result is quite unique - sometimes magical, sometimes shocking, sometimes upsetting but always fascinating.
@ Hilary - you poor thing - good excuse to drink whiskey though :0)
Mod
Oh, no, Hilary! You poor thing, wrap yourself up, mix yourself a hot toddy and snuggle down with a good book. There's a rather vicious bug going round, I'm just getting over it myself, so I sympathise completely with you. Hope you feel better soon xxxx
Thanks Ellie, I can't remember the last time I felt so bad - just when I have a ballet to morrow and a gallery preview on Friday. Sod's Law,
I Read Therefore I Am
Books mentioned in this topic
The Rental Heart and Other Fairytales (other topics)Austenland (other topics)
Bridget Jones’s Diary (other topics)
City of Thieves (other topics)
The Crystal Cave (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Oscar Wilde (other topics)Tracy Chevalier (other topics)
Lyn Macdonald (other topics)
Ford Madox Ford (other topics)
Ford Madox Ford (other topics)
More...
