March 30th, 2009
Mara and Dann by Doris Lessing
Lessing is really cool! She’s literary speculative fiction. (!!) She won the Nobel Prize recently, so I checked her out because I loved Jose Saramago so much. This is a far-future sci-fi novel where humans are struggling to survive an ice age. Europe and North America are under ice, and the change in climate has made life *very* different and difficult in Africa and South America. Mara and Dann are trying to stay ahead of the drought, heading north from southern Africa, and we see the devastation along the way.
Dragons and giant insects and lizards have evolved, and there are flash floods and new types of humans. There are descriptions of old civilizations buried for thousands of years. Europeans are still around… but not doing so well. Mara and Dann try to learn all they can of what happened during the 15,000 years Earth was habitable and what happened when the civilizations fell. It’s absolutely fascinating. Lessing made it incredibly believable. I highly recommend this book and suspect most of the people I know would really enjoy it. Looking forward to reading more of her for sure.
The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
This is a retelling of the Penelope myth (she was constantly barraged by offers of marriage while waiting for Odysseus to return, and when he finally returned, he killed her twelve maids!) It’s a feminist retelling, looking at the reality of how the women might actually have felt if these things really happened. The writing didn’t feel much like Atwood–it felt more distant and tell-ish–but I think the ideas are the appeal of this book. Definitely interesting and worth reading.
American Rust by Philipp Meyer
Amazon reviews were calling this guy a modern Steinbeck. I totally see why. This book feels very American and explores the underbelly of a western Pennsylvania factory town. Two young men are forced into a violent encounter which changes their lives. The story is how they deal with it. One runs away and the other faces prison. The prose is gorgeous and the details exquisitely realistic. If you like Steinbeck, you’ll love this.
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
Coolest. Book. Evah. Loved it. It’s a dystopia where violence is so common in society the government has to come up with interesting new ways to combat it. It’s told from the POV of a young man heavily involved in the violent youth culture. What’s awesome is the language; a good 25% of it is made up! It’s fun figuring out the words from context. It’s a weird combination of English and Russian. What’s also cool is the dystopian element of how the violence is supposed to be curbed.
I watched the Kubrick film right after. It’s fabulously weird, like the book. Malcolm McDowell is perfect in it. He captures that boyish, “I’m violent but you still like me, don’t you?” attitude.
Miles From Nowhere by Nami Mun
The writing in this is just beautiful. It’s the adventures of a runaway told in non-linear format. I think this is Mun’s first novel. I hope she writes more.
And you? Read any of these? Have thoughts? Any interesting books you think I should know about?
*blows kisses*
March 28th, 2009
The day after the storm, most of the snow had melted. The park is beautiful now.
Snowy Creek
Check out this comparison between early and late spring. Only a couple months’ difference!
March 2009
May 2008
The full set is on Flickr.
The Colorado Tundra
Snow Dog
March 7th, 2009
I lived without a Kindle for 2.5 weeks recently. Oh, the drama! All back to normal now. Thank apostrophes.
Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood
Atwood is brilliant for so many reasons. I love her groundbreaking and vivid prose style, and I love her ideas. She makes me think about my own life on every page. The premise of this novel was nothing spectacular: a woman remembers things in her past that shaped her. Yet it was engaging from beginning to end. Her way of presenting small events as relevant and interesting keeps me reading and makes the story and characters stay with me long after. Cordelia!
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Talking pigs! Comedy and tragedy! I love this book.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
The story is a murder mystery at its heart. A man is hired to look into an entire family history to figure out what happened to one of the women twenty years earlier. He hires a computer hacker to help him. The forensics are cool and the clues surprising. It works really well as a crime novel, comparable to Lippman’s What the Dead Know, which was one of my fave’s of last year.
What Larsson did really well was building a whole world in this novel. He brought a really large family to life, members past and present, and even made the world of corporate takeovers and computer hackers interesting and real. I enjoyed reading this one, but when I got to the end I felt a little let down. The writing was really excellent and the characters fascinating and original, but in the end, the plot felt a little familiar to me.
I loved the girl with the dragon tattoo (the actual girl in the story). She was tough and smart.
When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro
It’s probably a little unfair to read an author’s best works first! The Remains of the Day was funny, tragic and ironic, The Unconsoled was strange and eerie and beautiful and Never Let Me Go was a stunningly brilliant literary sci-fi I try to get all my friends to read, but this one‚ Well, I’m still a fan, but I liked the others better, I guess.
In this one, a detective sets out to discover the truth about his parents’ disappearance many years after it happens. He searches his memory for clues, but his memory is not terribly reliable. It’s vintage Ishiguro, but I’d recommend reading his others first. If you absolutely love his stuff, this one is worth a look.
Surfacing by Margaret Atwood
I’ve been reading a lot of Atwood lately. Because I love her. This was one of her first published novels and is really short. It’s about a woman sort of finding herself while searching for her missing father. It’s got all the good Atwood stuff (feminist ideas, fabulous writing) but not as much plot holding it together as her later stuff.
Tripping to Somewhere by Kristopher Reisz
This is a really cool YA horror novel about two girls who pursue a witches carnival. It deals with the search for beauty and adventure. I loved the characters; they’re authentic and they’re searching. The relationship between Sam and Gilly is really well done. The story is full of weird magic and fascinating people.