Overdue Book Reviews
November 16th, 2008
I’m such a slacker, I haven’t reviewed any books for weeks. Here’s what I’ve read. If you’ve read any of these and want to tell me what you thought, please do. I love hearing what other people (you!) think.
A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby
This is a book about people deciding whether to commit suicide. I wouldn’t have thought the subject could be fun or non-dreary, but it was. I like Hornby’s pop culture references and how he captures what it’s like to live in the modern world. His characters are realistic and *really* interesting. In particular, I liked JJ’s struggle with wanting to be a musician even though he might never be successful. I also liked Jess’s irreverence.
I loved the movie based on Hornby’s book, High Fidelity, too, so I’m def going to read more of this guy.
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera
This book is tewtally brilliant, and I liked it better than The Unbearable Lightness of Being. It’s full of thought-provoking ideas and characters I could relate to (like Tamina, who hates talking about herself). Kundera used lots of pr0n as metaphor, including a scene where a bunch of children rape a woman. (Interesting, huh?) It’s a *bold* book, and unapologetic for its shocking-ness.
The Shipping News by Annie Proulx
Mmmmmmmm. Here we sink into the world of Newfoundland shipping culture with Quoyle, one of the most likeable characters ever. Proulx explores family, fear, sex, love and life’s purpose through immersion in this dark and beautiful place.
The plot: Quoyle fails at everything growing up. He’s just a big lug. When his life finally falls apart completely, he moves to Killick-Claw, Newfoundland with his daughters and aunt. His family used to live there and were highly disliked.
The prose is difficult to get used to (I suspect part of the Pulitzer was given for her successfully experimental grammar), but worth the effort. It’s the sort of book you sink into and live in, and a world that will stay with you forever. *recommends*
(Btw, I’m having the best luck with Pulitzer winners…)
Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick
So, I really do like Philip K. Dick. He’s strange and sparse and builds entire worlds in a few sentences (though still leaving much of the world to the reader’s imagination), and I enjoyed reading this one while waiting in line at the DMV.
But (you could probably tell there was a but) his endings bother me a little. He builds a mysterious premise that makes me think he’s going to say something new and amazing about science or humanity, then he resolves it with convenient metaphysical answers like “Oh it was kind of a dream or didn’t really happen except to these people who don’t exist.” I guess I wanted an *actual* explanation for why his character disappeared from existence. I will probably read more of Dick’s books, because they *are* entertaining, and I do like the magic-realism-science genre, but I may continue not liking the endings.
Blindness by Jose Saramago
OMG this is like the best book evar. It’s tewtally disturbing and real and fascinating. Read it, yah. There’s a reason this guy won the Nobel prize.
Thus far, I have loved everything I’ve read by Saramago. He seems to be writing books for ME, ya know? He hereby officially replaces Atwood as my fave author. O.O (*dies*) Though I’ve got a few more of her books lined up to read next. Maybe I’ll change my mind…
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Hosseini gives an awesome depiction of life in Afghanistan, with realistic exposition of the culture and political tensions. But! The actual plot felt a little too heart-stringy to me. If you took the politics, oppression and tyranny out of the this story, you’d be left with, well, melodrama. (Think Nicholas Sparks.)
That said, it was indeed an enjoyable read. It was a well-crafted political novel, and since I like those, I liked this one a lot. I do plan to read his next.
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
This book makes me happy. Yay being alive!
I <3 Hem!!
The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
Murakami is the only author who can keep me reading for 1000 pages even though I know he’s never actually going to tie the loose plot ends together. Why? I don’t know. I just love reading this guy’s books. I liked Kafka on the Shore and After Dark better, but this one was still fabulous. It’s yet another sink-into book.
The story is hard to explain; this guy is looking for his wife, and he consults a psychic and has all manner of strange adventures while trying to find her, meeting people who were metaphorically relevant to important historical wars and events (the war stories were especially fascinating) and finally discovering the true evil culprit. The characters were so cool–I liked May Kashahara with her youthful strangeness and difficult resistance to the evil inside her. Murakami’s books are like very strange but interesting dreams you don’t want to wake from.
I’d recommend all of these, dudes. Fabulous reading material.
