Upon first opening this, I thought “Ugh – a book told in letters.” But the letters are witty and quickly grabbed me. This is the story of Juliet Ashton, an author who wrote under the name Izzy Bickerstaff during the war. Tired of writing under her pen name and looking for something deeper than her war writing, she begins correspondence with the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. As the society was started after the German invasion to protect their local citizens, it is a story not only of well loved books but of a community’s survival in the face of adversity. Well crafted, witty, and with a light touch, this is a book I would highly recommend.

Ever is the only survivor of the car crash that killed the rest of her family. She moves to California to live with her aunt, but brings along something special – the ability to hear other people’s thoughts. Trying to survive high school in a hoodie and her ipod, she meets someone who is blissfully silent. Damen is handsome, clever, and hiding something. The first in a series of books, great for fans of Meyer.

The last of the Mortal Instrument series, this book picks up with Clary’s mother in a coma and her forced entry into the City of Glass. With a war about to break out amongst the magical groups, it is up to her and her friends to avert disaster and bring together all the warring factions (faeries, vampires, and wolves) to save their ways of life. A satisfying conclusion to a great series, which is going to be picked up with a prequel trilogy, and a future trilogy featuring a major character of this series. Looking forward to reading more of her work.

When Clay receives a package of cassette tapes in the mail, he never expects to hear Hannah Baker’s voice…because she’s dead. One of thirteen people who she says are responsible for her decision to end her life, he must follow her story to various places in town, and comes to understand how small decisions have large repercussions. Well written and handles the topic of teen suicide appropriately, it is a compelling read.

Vibes is the story of a troubled young woman. Kristi’s father has left her, her mother has buried herself in her work, and she thinks that Gusty (her crush) not only doesn’t like her but thinks her crazy. On top of that, she believes that she can hear the thoughts of others, and none of it is good. She cloaks herself in a hard shell of opera music and clothes made from found materials (an awning skirt, anyone?) and pushes herself even further off the school-cool radar. Bitingly witty, this is a quick read about what happens to a girl who doesn’t want to be normal.

City of Ashes continues the story of Clary and her newfound family; wishing her family would be ‘normal’ again won’t make it happen. Her mother is in a magically-induced coma, her best friend Simon wants romance, and her new-found father (Valentine) is hunting Downworlders. When the Soul-Sword is stolen, the Inquisitor arrives to investigate and places the blame on Jace. Clary must work to prove his innocence and stop the murder of Downworlder children. The series is set in New York City, but she doesn’t rely on location to further the story. The second in the trilogy is just as well-written and past paced as City of Bones; Clare does a great job of giving all characters (even minor ones) great depth and the writing is sharp.

City of Bones starts out an AMAZING trilogy with well rounded characters, smart dialogue, and solid action. Clary Fray and her best friend Simon wander into Pandemonium, only to catch a group of teens in the act of killing a ‘person;’ the ‘person’ is no person and she is drawn into the world of Downworlders and Shadowhunters. Clary discovers that the life she thought she had only hid her mother’s dark past and her own special abilities. This book has fantastic banter and a solid plot. What I thought was truly refreshing was the character relationships, particularly the interplay between Clary, Simon, and her love interest Jace. Worth reading.

This is a fantastic story of a boy finding his place in the world. Told through illustrations with interspersed pages of text, this is the tale of Hugo. Hugo lived with his uncle in the rail station and helped him keep the clocks running. When his uncle disappears, he must keep his disappearance a secret and keep things running smoothly. Sneaking through the station, he develops a growing relationship with the toy man and his daughter and discovers that nothing is what it appears. A great children’s story, but also a great read for adults.

I enjoyed this short novel. It has physicists and anthrolpologists, blind men, grad students, a psychiatrist, oh and a creature composed of nothingness (entirely made of the absence of anything) that has its own personality and is picky. It is a darkly funny and sarcastic story about love and obsession, while at the same time we are pulled through an academic discussion of what it is to have, and to lack.

I believe this book was the highlight of my summer reading. Aciman, in winning me over with this story, has led me to recently acquire his entire catalog of essays and memoirs, which I look forward to attacking as summer is ending. Short and (extra) sweet, it follows an over-educated 17-year-old seducing and being seduced by his father’s visiting scholar at their summer home in Italy. Coming-of-age stories, when done well, must speak directly to the romantic idealist, and this one succeeds by communicating straight to the heart.

The above paragraph was the short review I published in the Tartan this past August. Nothing has changed, I have fond memories of this story and it is the best fiction I have read this year.

Aiobheann Sweeney’s first novel was something while reading that I didn’t quite know what to do with. But now, months later, I have decided I it is worth some struggle. It is new and it is interesting. It is a story with people who are presented as characters. Events occur, the people take actions and also don’t take action. Later it ends. And then even later, I look back and decide that that was something I enjoyed reading.

Annie Dillard’s newest novel was one I was meant to enjoy, but while I didn’t not enjoy it (feel that praise), it is nothing to write home about. Thus, I will end here.

Murakami’s After Dark worked for me. I feared it going in, as I tend to get really angry at his short stories, as like his novels they are very outlandish, but with out the requirement of holding one’s attention for several hundred pages, I find the short stories too emphemeral. I can’t hold on to them even while reading, let alone after I put the book down.

After Dark, a novella for Murakami at less than two-hundred pages, did keep me (and really, him) linked to the story. But then the shortness of time (it takes place in a single night), and the lack of too much jumping between strange parallel universes (hey, it is still Murakami) kept things tied to reality. No really, it did.

(Oh also, really hate that cover. Wish I would have had the Vintage International paperback to match the rest of my Murakami collection)

McEwan, the oft-called master of macabre’s newest novella, On Chesil Beach, is a return to form, a short and dark novel centered around a young couple’s wedding night. While the action is well-framed and the characters are true to their setting, after a number of longer and intricate novels (like his recently film-adapted Atonement, and Saturday ), I was left seeking details that were never imagined, stories and subplots never written, for this novella. Or maybe that is the goal here, to keep me wanting more.

Unaccustomed Earth Jhumpa Lahiri’s second collection of short stories after her debut Interpreter of Maladies and then her novel The Namesake, is a return to a form that I believe she is more uncomfortable in. While not as striking as her first volume, the first story is a clear stand-out (very much worth reading) and the final three stories form an extended look into the lives of two consistent characters.

Yes, this book is likely not going to revolutionize the way you think about short stories or Indian-American fiction, it is worth reading for its clean and elegent storytelling.

McEwan’s novel is based on the consequences of a single (bad) choice made by a young and observant girl. Precocious yet sheltered, she grows up understanding her responsibility and hopes to find a way to atone for the harm she has brought to her sister and her lover. I found myself caught up in Briony’s character but I did not find the other characters compelling.

Possibly in early January 2007 I was wondering a bookstore (probably Chapters) in downtown Toronto with Arpi, and he pointed out Londonstani, and said a friend was reading it and said it was quite delightful. However even a week later I could only remember that I was recommended to read some book with a pink tiger on the cover.

This pink tiger however, was, of course, only on the british edition and thus it took me quite a few months to figure out what book exactly I was meant to be reading, but I will say — the search was more than worth it.

Gautam Malkani’s debut novel, is honest and british, and has good trying characters that you want to fight for and you want to punch in the face. The dialogue, specifically his ear for slang, is very well captured, and I (obviously) highly recommend this short novel.

Philip Pullman’s second “little book” to accompany His Dark Materials trilogy provides the backstory for Lee Scoresby and Iorek Byrnison. While the story of how these two fellow adventurers meet will be of interest to those who hold the series in a Harry Potter-esque cult status (where every word out of J.K.’s mouth holds biblical worth), the simplicity will leave those who appreciate Pullman’s carefully constructed novels wanting more.

Amy Hempel is a goddess of short stories. This 2006 volume, now out in paperback (and as of this posting only $7 on amazon so go buy it), simply straps her four short story collections into one handy 400-page book.

I can’t recommend this enough. Hempel is a master of her craft, her stories each hold their own with a dark grace, a straight-forward and overly observant voice. She casts reality in a level and layered light, she brings her own humanity into every story, and you read each bracing for the impact of an abundant dose of humanity.

This was a fantastic (and quick) read that I did awhile back, before the movie hit the theatres. This is the story of Nick (a young boy stuck on his ex) and Norah (a girl who spends her life shepherding her drunken best friend from various NYC hot spots). Norah borrows Nick for a kiss and when he realizes Norah is connected to his ex, they join together for a madcap dash around NYC to find their favorite band. Full of fun band references, it is told from both Nick and Norah’s perspectives. A great read for young adults as well as adults.

I would have rated this book higher, but they killed Arkady. they should not have done that.

“The individual is, in his future and his past, a piece of fate, one law more, one necessity more for everything that is and everything that will be. To say to him ‘change yourself’ means to demand that everything should change, even in the past…”

A sequel to What If?, this book begins to include counter-factual history of all kinds. While generally the non-military essays are interesting some of them just seem to ramble on about remote political possibilities. So while still highly recommended this may not be for you if you really only enjoy military history.

What If is a collection of military counter-historical essays which while at fiction at there core end up being a great history lesson. Each essay has an in-depth introduction of what really happened, so you learn some history before twisting it into fiction. So, if you enjoy military history and want an interesting read it is highly recommended.

Here’s where the Ender saga got tough to get through. Granted Jane (the first artificially intelligent being) is cool and can do a lot, but the Chinese OCD people are a lot annoying and there is too much family drama for my taste. Still it’s Ender and he kicks ass, but this was much more difficult to get through.

Picking up 3000 years after Ender’s Game Ender becomes the Speaker for the Dead in penance for his destruction of the Buggers, another sentient species. He and his sister travel throughout the galaxy looking for a place to save the last Bugger Queen. In so doing they travel to a planet inhabited by Piggies, another sentient species that at the close of their second life turn into trees. The only trouble is the Starways Congress is going to destroy the planet because of a sentient virus.

Not as much of a must read as Ender’s Game, but still ok.

This story (while for young adults) reminds me of The Wonder Years in a book form. The year is 1967, and Holling Hoodhood is the only boy who does not attend either Catholic or Jewish classes on Wednesdays. He swears his teacher hates him (he’s too young to understand ‘free time’) and once he runs out of chores, she begins to make him read Shakespeare. An easy read, but enjoyable.

This is a funny yet heart-gripping read; a year after he loses his wife Doug Parker is looking back on his life with his wife and fears a future without her. He is far from perfect, which makes his story all the more ‘relatable.’ Stuck with a step-son who seems to respect him more than he does his own father, a family who constantly pushes and barges into his life, he works on coming to grips with moving on. He is wise enough to know that he will move on and create a new life, a new family-but isn’t ready just yet. I consider this author the american version of Nick Hornby.

Willie returns home after leaving her job in disgrace; pregnant and back in Templeton with her newly born-again mother, she must discover the true identity of her father. There is a second story line that runs along with her story, about a dead monster discovered in the lake, that brings the town closer together. Templeton is modeled after Cooperstown; since I am a local, it’s particularly fun to read a story based in a place I am so familiar with. A quick and enjoyable read.

This is a light read for those of you fond of Canada and its rich history. It deals with everything a newbie should know about Canada – where to meet people, what to wear, good insults…even how to drive. Part of the fun of this book is turning the page to find out what ridiculousness the Ferguson brothers will think of next. An example: "In Toronto, traffic lights are interpreted in the following manner:
Green: “Don’t stop!”
Yellow: “Faster! Faster!”
Red: “Screw ’em, they deserved to die.” "
What is fantastic is that they are content to poke fun at themselves throughout this as well, throwing in personal stories to highlight their comments. Both have won numerous humor awards from Canadian reviewers, and their excellent writing skills are evident here.

Bernard Cornwell’s exciting story of the battle for London in 885 is actually the fourth book in his “Saxon Tales” series. Although you don’t need to read the first three books to understand the plot, you’ll want to read the first three books because they’re so good. This is historical fiction at its best.

The novel is narrated by Uhtred, a dispossessed son of a Northumbrian lord, who has sworn an oath to King Alfred who is trying to unite the Saxons against the marauding Vikings. Political wheeling and dealing, deceit, and violence abound. Meticulously researched, SWORD SONG delivers a thrilling reading experience and a painless history lesson.

Gemma Doyle is shipped to England after her mother commits suicide and her father is no longer capable of acting as a proper guardian. Her grandmother puts her into boarding school at Spence Academy, where she fights to build friendships with already made cliques. At the same time, she has begun to have visions, and things are happening that she has no explanation for. The big negative for this book is that there is a magical world where her and her “order” ventures, but all of the magical aspects of the novel are not detailed enough to make it understandable. This is part of a young adult series.

This novel juggles many story lines that sometimes seem overwhelming to the reader, even for someone who likes complexity. The main character of this story is ultimately Walker & Daughter, the yarn shop Georgia opens to support her daughter Dakota. The more successful the shop, the more women who visit and loiter and eventually the Friday Night Knitting Club evolves. The focus of the novel is on how knitting gives women a sense of community and each woman begins to build a new sense of self with the help of their new friends.

This isn’t quite as good as The Road, but for the creepiest experience of realization of an author’s work ever read this and then immediately see the Coen Brothers film.

Or just read this because I enjoyed it. McCarthy’s graphic landscapes and sharp, concise, nearly trivial (which is what makes it realistic – i believe) conversation fragments fit both post-apocalyptic England and the cowboys of the south/west quite well.

I wish I had not been told that this book was the prequel to The City of Ember. Actually, maybe it is okay that I knew, but it sent me into this really funny sort of expectant state. The novel is good and certainly DuPrau shows her ability to deal with reality just as well as her quasi-utopian giver-esque world. (And points for actually connecting the worlds.)

I was just so confused when I was twenty pages from the end of the novel and still had not figured out the connection from this book, to the first in the series. And actually although I was uneasy for two hundred pages, I think I have decided that I love this.

This is our second bookgroup book for December or January or whenever we get around to it. I have little to say about it because 1) I haven’t read any other Vonnegut (at least not the fiction) so I am told he develops some of these things later but not here and I guess that would have been cooler 2) I guess I am just sick of this genre and while I accept and understand that this is very very well done I can’t get past knowing that it is presently over done.

I just wish I had read this fifty years ago (you know twenty some odd years before I was born).

I think it is all about the vacuum.

Take a container with an opening, and a small hole in the bottom. Cover it with your finger, submerge it in water, save the bottom. Remove your finger. Water will enter where you have created the vacuum.

Or perhaps you will have created a trip that begins in a swampy village yet to become a city, yet to be reborn as a proper city that takes us as far as the kingdom of Prester John (which seems to not quite be all the way to Pakistan) and back, and possibly back again.

Baudolino speaks every language and lies in each of them, he is a master of facts and stories, though he has fabricated most of them and doesn’t know which. And so we follow him through his story into the kingdom of self-created myths, blending fiction and fact in such a way that eight hundred years later they are nearly impossible to tell apart.

Based on our bookgroup discussion one of Brianne’s professors stated that this was Eco proving he knows everything. And it seems like he might. Eco’s personal library is 30,000 books (think double my basement) and it shows. The historical fiction is filled with facts in far more places than I would expect and when actual events are absent the gaps are filed with mythology. Or possibly the gaps are just the interstitial vacuum between corpuscles.

But then nature fears the vacuum.

(I need to read more.)

- Bookgroup November 2007.

Oh Susanna Clarke and your dry and academic, magical British fairytales. I cannot get enough. These short stories, issued in collection by a fictional Australian professor of sidhe studies is short, often whimsical re-tellings of the most classic stories of the fairy.

She needs to just keep writing.

I got Francine Prose’s Primitive People while I was home last weekend at the Book Outlet, and in maintaining my read-a-bunch-of-short-books plan finished it this morning. It was pretty good, I did enjoy it, but it did not blow me away.

My favorite character, the vulgar and philosophical, sex-driven yet idealistic children’s hairstylist Kenny wasn’t used to his full potential. Actually I think that is generally my complaint, I wanted a bit more to happen, though I did appreciate the not so tidy ending. It is a well executed piece of writing, just unfortunately not too much more than that.

The Confusion is the second volume in the Baroque Cycle consisting of two books: Bonanza and The Juncto. These two books are interwoven in the novel so that the timeline between them stays consistent.

I really don’t have much to say about this book that differs from my review of Quicksilver. Stephenson continues expanding on two main story lines and their corresponding characters, and at times the effects from one novel are seen in the other. The scope is now widened (mostly in Bonanza) to include the Middle East, India, Japan and Mexico / Central America. I do not want to go into too many details of the plot as the stories are long and convoluted and may spoil events in Quicksilver. The end of the novels set up well for the final volume of the series.

Again I greatly enjoyed the books and recommend them.

Sammie’s parents decide to give their marriage a “break” – her father moves to California and she and her mom move out of their home in Ithaca to spend the year in New York City. This is a pretty formulaic coming of age story, with not much to make it stand out. She is bitter since she is closest to her father, and her mom hides in her room,unwilling to find a job as an art teacher and incapable of being an adult and parent. While often with young adult books an older reader may question how much is the narrator’s view of being neglected, this is clearly a disturbed woman unwilling to drag herself out of bed or take care of her child. So in this sense, the narrator is very accurate with less teenage family angst. Not a book I would recommend unless you are really interested in this specific type of fiction.

Berry’s sister Laura is brutally murdered while doing volunteer work in South Africa. Her father forces her to go with him to present money to the community, as well as join him for a few business meetings. Her parents’ marriage ended bitterly, and her father is far from being a good parent (at least in her eyes). He sees her as lacking ambition and motivation, without seeing her vulnerability. Short read; adults reading this will feel a disconnect since her extreme emotional volatility will be difficult to grasp or relate to.

This story revolves around teenage parenting. Bobby’s girlfriend becomes pregnant, and the decision is made that he will keep the baby. The story is told through chapters called “then” and “now” which switch every chapter. This makes an already short story go quickly. It is a very interesting perspective – what it’s like for a boy who isn’t ready to be a father but chooses to take responsibility anyways. The ending is surprising, in that I wasn’t expecting how Bobby and Nia’s relationship ends. A short read – well done, but far from a favorite.

Megan Meade is an army brat, and when her parents have to move to South Korea she decides she isn’t going. As a compromise, her parents move to South Korea and she moves to Boston and in with the McGowans – and their seven sons. This story revolves around a girl who’s never had siblings and is awkward with boys, and the story is told through her narration and emails to a friend about “facts” about boys. While it is formulaic, it was a fantastic read – the author has a way of making the reader cringe at the boy’s pranks, high school cliques and parties.

A read for my YA Literature course, I thought this book could have handled so many of the issues it deals with with much more grace and subtlety. Jacob Todd goes to Amsterdam in place of his grandmother Sarah as a remembrance trip for his grandfather, who passed away there during the Second World War. It is told by him and Gertruui, a woman who knew his grandfather during his time there. The plot is obvious-while YA books can sometimes lack depth that more mature novels provide, this should be something better developed-particularly when handling questions of gender and sexuality. I felt that this book could have had a better ending and allowed more character development. Definitely not a book I would recommend.

This was my selection for “realistic fiction” in this semesters’ Young Adult Literature class- and surprisingly I loved it! 15 year old Ginny’s best friend goes to Walla Walla for the year, and Ginny doesn’t know what to do. A “chubby” girl who everyone remarks how pretty she would be “if only she could lose twenty pounds,” she feels adrift in a family of “perfect” people. Only she finds out her perfect brother Byron is not so perfect after all. A well written story about self esteem, high school drama, and rape-this is fantastic coming of age story. Ginny comes to realize how important it is to find yourself and be happy about who you are instead of allowing someone else to dictate who you should be.

Epilepsy, electricity, Electricity.
A unique, zany narrative of emptiness.
An abrupt character, Lily, with epilepsy lost in the story of her own life, looking for answers to so many questions after her mother (the reason for her epilepsy) dies.

Written interestingly and perfectly shapes and reflects Lily’s scatterbrained bluntness with its expression and style. Her quirkiness and seizures pull you through the story while her passion and determination push you. The story is as striking as the character.

I couldn’t tell the difference between menstruation and protractors or compass. Big words like that just make me feel sad.

Quicksilver is a volume consisting of the first three Baroque Cycle books, Quicksilver, King of the Vagabonds, and Odalisque.

The series is based in the mid 1600’s to early 1700’s and is based predominantly in Europe. It is a fictional work although it features many historical figures as characters and follows historical events.

I am greatly enjoying this latest series of books by Stephenson as they provide a rich complexity provided not only by a fascinating story over a backdrop largely based on actual events and the political, religious, and scientific intrigues and machinations of the characters, but by Stephenson’s abilities to play on words and situations that bring you out another layer of abstraction above the story.

Stephenson paints with a wide brush in this series, covering in detail everything from the early experiments of the Royal Society to the operations of Amsterdam’s economy and trade, to adventures in Vienna. (This makes for some hefty volumes, each of the three being 800-900 pages long). It is clear that Stephenson has done his research on the time period, although much is clearly fiction in the name of telling a good story. It has certainly piqued my interest in an era that I did not know much about, and has presented it in a way that has often sent me to Wikipedia to learn more about the actual historical figures and events (and also renewed a desire to learn various European languages). Highly recommended.

I understand Neal Stephenson has a bit of a reputation by now for writing books and, er, not stopping. The three volumes of the Baroque Cycle, for instance, have never been read by human eyes, but they have been used successfully in several recent late-night muggings, as blunt weapons.

Zodiac is from before he developed this habit. It’s snappy, fun, full of golden Neal Stephenson wit, and just the right amount of confusing and plot-twisty. Sangamon Taylor is a typical Stephenson hero, a super nerd who makes you wonder why your super-nerdy life isn’t nearly as exciting as his. In this case, it involves zipping hither and thither in Boston Harbor on a crazy custom boat that gives the novel its name, fighting ecological bad guys straight out of “Captain Planet”, having sex and angst with hot, assertive, ultra-granola chicks, and continuing to be surprised at how he almost gets killed like every other chapter.

I don’t know nearly enough about the scientific details to know whether he’s totally getting the chemistry wrong in several places, but hey, the story about Randy doing unix and X11 programming in jail in Cryptonomicon was spot on, so for all I know it’s probably right.

This book is fantastic. Its aimless wanderings really have no reason, and yet this makes it all the more humorous. Since the book has been reviewed previously, I won’t go into detail, but you should check out the comic strip about this book….
http://www.unshelved.com/archive.aspx?strip=20060423

The story begins with the news that Paula Spencer’s husband has died. She is struggling to maintain dignity while battling an addiction to alcohol and come to terms with the death of her abusive husband. Her bitterness over her “body’s betrayal” as a child is gripping. These troubled teen years shape the relationship with her children and her lack of self worth. Doyle’s choice of writing in both the past and present, as well as the simple sentence structure brings the reader to a better understanding of Paula, who as a child believed that life held endless potential now feels as though she has lost everything.

Wow, that’s weird.

I waited and waited for this to come out and i jsut realized that i didn’t post about it (probably because i couldn’t remember my username and password)

So the latest for GGK (Guy Gavriel Kay). It’s a real departer for him. This novel is actually set in modern day. And somehow he manages to link together alot of my favorite things, archaeology, photography, storytelling, magic.

A photographer and crew including his son are summering in the south of France (the poor things) when Ned (the boy) stumbles into a 2500 year old love triangle that dates to when the Celts lived in France and the Greeks were just beginning to explore it.

So much is purposfully left unsaid that i dont’ feel right giving more away, but the prose is poetic and thoughtful and very refreshing.

Some things are so central that they eventually must be covered by authors who span a complete discussion of the human condition.

You live in a world inundated with branding, with consumerism, with media making decisions for you, impacting your life, driving you. Reading the novel is an exercise in understanding the form, but even with the suburban details, the plot, the airborne toxic event, and the characters are strong. This is combination is really well captured, well detailed, I could only wish for a bit more impact of Hitler into the storyline, but certainly that is due to my own tastes. Overall, quite a good piece, but then as it is DeLillo I am biased.

The first chapter of this book actually tells you the entire story.
It only makes sense, however, after you actually read the book.

The story of Rant is told by conglomerated tidbits of stories told by friends, enemies and neighbors. Rant is probably one of the strangest characters ever. He has odd talents associated with scent and taste (which are rather disturbing), as well as odd addictions (which, again, are rather disturbing). He scares me.

The subject of the book is truly creative. It keeps you contemplating for a while.

Also consider that someday, when you’re dead and rotted, kids with their baby teeth will sit in their time-geography class and laugh about how stupid you were.

Shane’s life is a mess. He’s the prime suspect for a murder he may not have committed. He drinks. A lot. He works at an insurance company alphabetizing papers, but really he spends it making sculptures out of paper clips and sitting on the toilet. But Shane doesn’t care ( about much of anything ). Just like Neilan didn’t care about the plot.

But that’s okay, because the book was so deliciously bitter and witty. You could probably relate to book, if you ever looked around you and said under your breath, “Where am I and how did I get surrounded by these stupid people?”

My one major complaint is that the salt shakers really didn’t mean anything beyond being a common material object easily stolen from public places. Well that, and they’re funny.

confusing wonderful weird.

this person really liked this book.

I have been told that i need to comment on this book. So i read it between 1 and 8 am on July 21st. I really enjoyed it. I liked how all the places and all the people that harry has come in contact with over the previous six books came back. right down to gringotts, and even sirius’ motorbike.
The use of the short little references has been a strength of the series but i thought we had seen most of them. I didn’t expect Grindlewald to be as important as he is. I am glad to know more of Dumbledore’s past, and to know even the little things like how dumbledore’s nose was broken. I knew that the room of requirement was important and especially the room where harry hides the half blood prince’s book. the diadem being there was super cool.
there was a lot of death, the only one i didn’t expect was Dobby and that was the only time i cried during reading. i’m torn about harry’s death/not death. part of me wanted expected and thought he had to die. and yet part of me is relieved that he didn’t die.
the epilogue, i have mixed feelings on this as well, i see that JK wanted to show that the trio were happy and that the wizarding world has been rebuilt and all, but it was a lot on the corny side. i have been more satisfied by the interviews.
I may write more later this laptop and my fingernails are driving me nuts.

This “novel” is written in the style of an oral history: it consists solely of, what we are told are, direct quotes from people associated with one Buster L. Casey. Because of this we must assemble the narrative of the book in our minds as we are only told revolving fractions of events that friends, acquaintances, and so called experts fill in.

The device of an oral history works very well here because it allows a method where theatrhoe cannot be expected to fill in all the details or make the story consistent; it can remain partially shrouded in the mystery of people’s memories, of the past, and of the future.

Um, no comment?

Kinda disturbing funny.

As books go this is about as good as it gets. Written by two titans in the world of literature now, it was when it was originally released written by two fairly unknown authors. I have already previously stated my love of anything written by Gaiman, so allow me to expound upon the virtues of Terry Pratchett. Terry Pratchett’s main series of books called the Diskworld novels center around a flat disk world that rests on the backs of four elephants that ride through space on a giant turtle cause frankly what else would it do. They are hilarious, they are well written, and whats more they have developed into cutting edge satire.

Good Omens itself focuses on the story of well the end of the world. There is a complete list of characters spanning from nuns to Tibetans to aliens. Its a story about the Antichrist named Adam, an angel, a witch, and a demon who did not so much fall from heaven as saunter vaguely downward. Heck you even get 8 horsemen of the apocalypse. War, famine, death , and pollution (plague kinda got down when penicillin was invented) are all there, but so are Grievous Bodily Harm, Answering Machine, Cruelty to Animals, and Things That Don’t Work Quite Right Even After You’ve Given Them A Good Thumping (but secretly No Alcohol Lager). Its a fun novel basically unmatched when it comes to just random funny absolutely hilarious writing. It has become a cult classic and for good reason.

The bottom line if you like to laugh pick this book up.

No one.

Short stories are eloquent, but they can also be humorous and heartfelt. I really like Miranda July, and I really like her short stories. She has the new voice, she highlights the absurd and the uniquely beautiful, and so you should all just read this book because it is short and complete and complicated and simple and true.

Then Sue suddenly stepped out of the bathroom holding her robe in one hand, naked. She had discovered she couldn’t put it on because it wasn’t really a robe, it was nothing.

No one belongs here more than you.

Oh Ian McEwan, because of this novel I nearly purchased a large belt buckle at the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo that was covered in hot air balloons, but then I realized that this would be a morbid act and a reminder of death in the shape of hot air balloons.

So while I did not purchase this buckle, I did enjoy this book, which kept me reading, kept me interested, and kept me guessing on what was going to happen, who to believe, and how stable the mental health of the main character is.

Tying in science writing, a childless yet love filled relationship, an obsessed and devout christian stalker, and the search for truth, we find that enduring love is not what we might have thought.

Well I’ve had Stardust sitting on my shelf for some period of time, and I thought that I should give it a read before the movie comes out. After reading it I must say I’m a bit disappointed in myself for having waited so long. Anywho the book is by Neil Gaiman, who if you don’t know was the writer of the Sandman graphic novels. Mr. Gaiman won short story awards for those fantastic comics, until the people who give out awards decided that it was unseemly for a mere comic book writer to be winning them over and over again. Thankfully Gaiman then proceed to start writing short stories and novels just to keep winning the awards, or something like that, which is fortunate since every book he writes is amazing.

As to Stardust itself, the novel focuses on the quest of one Tristran Thorn. Thorn promises to bring his love the star that they both saw fall from the sky. However, living in the village of Wall, he must pass into the realm of Faerie to complete his quest. As his journey continues he discovers that stars are not so much metal as in our world as they are fantastically beautiful young women.

The novel is well written, the plot engaging, and the setting magical. While, I am unable to give this book 5 stars if only because I enjoy some of his other books more, you can not do much better than this when it comes to books, and thus I gladly recommend this to anyone looking for a good read.

The final book in the Harry Potter series, is a letdown. The author in her haste to tie up loose ends uses far too many contrived plots. This causes the book to feel significantly different than the rest of the series. The plot does not flow smoothly from event to event almost as if the author created a list of what had to happen and what plot lines needed tied up, and then wrote the events checking them off and sort of stuck them together. To be honest I would think the book should have been split in twain and then each half written up to the proper length. None the less the book is a necessary read even if it is a disappointing culmination to a fantastic series.

Watch for Green.

So without giving away any major plot twists, I think that the final Harry Potter book ties together a lot of the loose ends…and even important things that as a reader you didn’t realize were important until now. It certainly has a few slow points, but they build up the tension that you, as a reader, are feeling-knowing that the story is leading to something big. Normally after I have finished reading, I am left with this feeling of completion. This time, I was left emotionally drained; perhaps that is a combination of so many books coming together in one-but it took awhile to really sort out what I thought. I didn’t automatically think (as I would usually) – “what a fantastic book!” or “what rubbish!” it took some time to get there. This complexity of story is what makes her such a fantastic writer.

Update: Since everyone is discussing plot twists, I figured….why not. I think that the book started out strongly with the first chapter, and kept that pace for the first third of the book. When the trio set out on their own, it certainly slows down with their camping-and that’s where the book starts to disappoint. The buildup is necessary but slows the reader down. However the end was worth it; Snape turns out to be neither good/evil, just human. She doesn’t try to change him-the decisions he makes revolve around his love for Lily. Harry represents everything that he lost and at the end he still hates him. When Dumbledore’s background is slowly revealed it seems like such an important part of the plot I almost felt-DUH-why did I never really think about where he comes from, much in the way that Harry does. More later…

The story claims it will make you believe in God. Did it make me believe in God? No, I cannot say that it has. But it did make me wonder about what we consider good stories and how imagination can make any situation better. Or at least more interesting. For a better story of course.

Either way, great storytelling and a book you could think about for a long time.

Another excellent book by Vonnegut. His style of leisurely packaging up his thoughts on the end of the world by human greed and self-delusion is actually quite refreshing.

And there is a midget dancer; Russian, nonetheless.

Abortion is bad.

I like the nickname Jace for someone named Jason. I also like the idea of living in backwater England in 1982, except really I wasn’t born then. Plus stuttering closeted-poets who drive a humorous narration make for good reading.

The Falkland Islands were invaded by Argentina in 1982 which started the Falklands War (undeclared – because if you don’t declare your war then it isn’t as real). Interestingly while I expect the American populace – especially my own generation – entirely uninformed on the topic of wars that do not involve Americans; the British citizens in the book were quite excited/worried/obsessed. So quickly we forget. I suppose the things I am currently worrying about will also soon no longer matter, the world forgetting what has imprinted itself on my memory. The next generation building on a different foundation.

If swans weren’t real, myths’d make them up.

Also – no swans live in Black Swan Green (which is the name of the town).

This is an interesting novel based on accounts of Henry James’ life. Toibin is a highly respected Irish author, and his writing style is put to good use focusing on James at the point at which he is being eclipsed by Wilde, particularly during this period in which the theatre is gaining popularity. This book goes back and forth through his life to his childhood and Toibin makes this style appear effortless. He leads the reader through the author’s life, but at the same time the reader is left feeling as if some of the critical (and perhaps unknown) moments and aspects of James’ personality are left untouched.

This is the summer read that I won’t forget. While June wasn’t directly responsible for Marissa dying in a car crash, she feels responsible. So when she finds Marissa’s “20 things to do before my 25th birthday” list, she decides that she will finish them for her. She hopes that this will give her closure. The story focuses on the 6th month anniversary of the car crash on, when June decides to take her decision seriously, instead of caving (as she always does) and forgetting the list. Obviously more on the chick-lit vein, it is well written and thought provoking on many levels-at the end you’re left wondering about yourself and what you hope to achieve. That is certainly one of the factors for making it one of my “it” books.

This is an “easy read” mystery abut Cate Nightingale, who owns a small bed and breakfast in a small town that is thrown into upheaval when a suspicious stranger leaves something at her bed and breakfast, and mercenaries come into town and take over the small town. While unrealistic ( a band a mercenaries cuts off the towns only way out and all of their communication lines) it was well written and fast paced. I just wish it had a stronger plot.

This is a story about love and second chances. Bess and Michael are married, but Michael’s affair breaks up their marriage, leaving their children bitter and confused. Decisions made by their daughter bring them back together, and both must face their own responsibility in the break-up of their marriage and their children’s bad decisions. This book is what Spencer excels in-much like Danielle Steel, only with a real plot.

An acient artifact is stolen from a long forgotten crypt beneath Temple Mount. The corpse that the Catholic Church has stolen had been crucified. This story revolves around the mystery of who these “sacred” bones belong to, with many religious communities attempting to take control. Interesting read with a rather obvious plot. But a good religious mystery along the lines of the DaVinci Code.

This book is part of a two story series (so far) about Cotton Malone. He was a former operative who bought a rare bookshop in the hopes of settling down. Instead, his son is taken hostage and the book begins to look at the world of secret organizations while he works to fight the 72 hour timeline he was given to find the lost Alexandria Library. Well written with fast dialogue and surprising plot twists, I hope that there will be more books to follow.

This was an excellent mystery. Four teenagers go into the woods one night-two are found dead, and two disappear. Years later, one of the missing teenagers is found dead. This story revolves around Paul, the brother of one of the missing. He is a lawyer who begins to look into why the events of that night are being covered up by family and his community. While I was able to easily figure out the why’s and the plot itself, the writing style kept me hooked through the entire story-I finished it in a night!

I recently saw the movie Fur, about documentary photographer Diane Arbus (pronounced Dee-ahn, played by Nicole Kidman) which was a fictional biography. A fictional biography seemed like a bit of a strange idea to me, a story that could possibly have taken place in her life, smooshed between real events, but that was in reality – fabricated.

Then, I realized (I was already about halfway through this novel) – that I was reading a fictional biography. Michael Winter’s The Big Why is really that, a description of events that may or may not (but probably mostly did not) occur during the time Rockwell Kent (a real american artist, see: Rockwell Kent ) was living in Brigus.

It was most interesting to me to see Michael Winter’s style, very modern, very sexual & raw, very diary-like, and full of philosophizing over anything and everything – which I appreciate – used to tell a story nearly one hundred years old. That takes place in a small fishing community. Without running water. In the middle of nowhere Canada.

But I was pleased, it works really well. I like thinking all of this is real, that this happened.

Kevin B (who never comes to bookgroup) recommended this as a novel of historical fiction which is a family’s story over several generations of living in Pittsburgh. This novel has a compelling story, and is an interesting read especially for everyone in Pittsburgh – as you can connect with the names and places and the history as seen from a lower class (mill worker) point of view.

And you thought building fences wasn’t entertaining
(Alright after reading this – some of you will still think so)

I think I identify well with poets.

This was the novel we read for our March meeting of BookGroup. While I enjoyed it – and liked Ka, and his journey, others felt he was whiny and emotional and crazy? (I may not be accurately representing their views) However I did enjoy this novel, and the layers of fiction and truth it piled through using the narrator and shifting the truth as events occur, even when they are earlier forecast.

I still have not read Toibin’s The Master, his epic portraying Henry James, but after reading his new collection of short stories I have even more motivation to read more of this Irish master’s work. Each of these stories deals with (sometimes loosely) the relationship between a mother and her son(s). Each feels real and true and they are very classically told stories – nothing experimental really, just as if you were listening to him tell the story, as a master would.

November

July

October

September

December

I really enjoyed this a lot more than I allowed people to believe I would.

George Eliot’s classic Victorian novel covers a lot of ground, a lot of topics, and has a lot of characters. It has its failings–like where may I ask are the servants stories?–but in all is really quite a masterpiece. Nothing about it is intirely unpredictable, which the conclusion explains as irrelevant, the point being simply to tell the story of those unsung.

Just to cover a few things of interest, and general motifs that I took from the novel

• Marriage is only fun if you are stupid and complacent
• Chances are, you will fail in your largest ventures
• Women should have individuality and spirit (unless their husbands wish otherwise)
• Someone’s opinion will actually be accurate, it is just a matter of deciding which person is predicting the future
• Money & God are incredibly relevant in all aspects of life
• None of this matters because you will die and then simply remembered because you married an old and boring scholar and then within a year of his death you married his cousin–making you, not a nice person.

But the story is well told, and most of it stays quite interesting. I do not regret working through all 800 pages, my only sadness comes from only reading a single book in the month of September. I recommend this to fast readers or those with much patience and perserverance.

So honestly, he needed a better editor.

And I understand that when you are insane and writing the first novel that Russia has seen it is hard to find a good editor; and I understand that it was in vogue to be verbose, or as they would say – to eloquently describe every particular of the scene, but please – spare me.

Conceptually the story is interesting, from a literature theory point of view, he is using techniques that would come to define a style triumphed maybe fifty years later, but working through the text is difficult, and in the end not all that rewarding as the end of Part I is not conclusive, urging readers to look forward to parts II & III.

(Part III was never written, Part II was written twice and burned both times – though fragments (which I refused to read) remain.)

I think his short stories will be more promising – and I give him both those stars for cleverness and technique, not for creating a novel I wanted to read.

Book Group – June 2007

I read “Zoanthropy” the third short story in this collection, in the Best American Non-Required Reading … 2004, and I loved it. I think it remains my favorite in this collection though others come very close. Many of the stories are funny and the human aspects feel real.

Many people say that “The Devil Comes To Orekhovo” is the best – and I will say it is good, but not the best. Read “Zoanthropy”, “When the Nines Roll Over”, and “Merde For Luck”.

Novels are mostly written by authors. Sometimes they write about authors. Like this book – an author can’t finish his novel, even though it is done, and has been complete for quite a while. But maybe something isn’t correct or it isn’t as good as he feels it should be. So he rewrites and paces and rewrites and then seeks other outlets, crowds of people, photographers, travel, public speaking.

I enjoyed this book, and DeLillo is a master. He knows what he is doing, it is not long but it is epic and says just what it needs to as it pulls you to where you need to be.

And remember: “The Future Belongs To Crowds”

This was an excellent book, and I would highly recommend it for someone who enjoys the style of James Joyce or Virgina Woolf. Jones calls himself the “god” of the book, and as such he can reveal the characters’ futures before it happens. The plot revolves around Henry Townsend’s death-a black farmer and former slave, this story is about those that came before him and what he left behind. It has great depth for historical fiction, and delves into a very interesting and unexplored history of America.

I noticed that Patrick posted on this book, and wanted to comment as well. James Joyce is an amazing writer, who can play with words in a way that most writers cannot. This is a story of coming of age. It is about choice-Stephen Dedalus has to choose between family expectation of a “normal” life and his artistic dreams. It is semi-autobiographical, and this makes it all the more interesting, to get the chance to look into his mind. Joyce was a forward thinker who began to change the nature of writing itself. If you like his work, I suggest another title of his: Finnegan’s Wake.

This book was different. Taking place in the 50s, it is a son reflecting on his unusual upbringing. His father’s first wife (Madeline) was hurt in an automobile accident and was permanently brain damaged, forever a child. But his father and mother (the second wife) choose to keep Madeline with them instead of moving her to a home. It is certainly a new twist for a novel, but well done for the topic it addresses. His mother is dead, and it is just his father and Madeline, and he reflects on all the criticism his family received for their decision, and what it meant to him. I am not sure I would suggest this for a casual read, but the writing is well-done.

I really enjoyed this book. Another one of my early October reads, back before midterms exploded onto the scene was Anthony Burgess’s The Wanting Seed.
This is a wonderful half-parody of a dystopian society, not only is it incredibly well written, but it is a gripping moving plot with forced homosexuality, the necessity of cannibalism, and a fight between brothers who share a lover.

This makes me want to go read more Burgess, so that will have to get added to the to do list.

Oh I am so behind on posting. This is what grad school does to me.
So this was our first book, for the book group I have started to host. The discussion about the book was good, some people liked it, some not as much. A lot of people felt it was hard to get through, with the Irish vernacular and the obscure references to the culture that he lived in.

I enjoyed the novel, though more from a historical period piece on the coming of age of an artist and I really enjoyed both the aesthetic quality of the piece and the comments it had on aesthetics and beauty in general.

These two short novellas are an example of how a practiced writer can research and really capture the essence of a time period.

The first is an exploration of the early work that was started both in reaction and support of Darwin’s research, telling the story of a man who returning from his journeys where he lost everything is taken into the estate of a British family that then begins to absorb his life while he desires to return to the wild.

The second is another historical piece, this time capturing seances to communicate to the loved dead. The story centers around Emily Jesse, once betrothed to the brother of Alfred (Lord) Tennyson, but disowned by his family after her love, Arthur dies, and she decides years later to re-marry. Her efforts to communicate with Arthur while dealing with the people around her, the ghosts, and also the written legacy left by both Arthur and Alfred.

Note, these novellas are very dense and I believe many … current readers would find the entirely boring.

The Second in the Abarat series this is another picture book adventure of Candy in the Land of Arabat. This one gets more into the secrets of Candy and her connection to the crazy place.

This book is sparse and dark and brooding and brilliant. While it may be horribly depressing, the straighforward conversation between a father & son balances the grey scenes of post-destruction. I recommend this quite highly, and on gloomy ash-rainy days if possible so that the feeling of the book overpowers any of the happiness that may be in your soul.