Yay, more books finished!
Kenneth Tingle, The Girl in the Italian Bakery. This is a local-boy-makes-good book about a kid growing up in the projects in a Massachusetts suburb and the various twists and turns of his life. It's told strictly from the child's point of view, with the result that the reader never truly understands what is happening around the kid - only what the kid himself knew, and the adult narrator never fills in the gaps, leaving a confusing story behind. The writing is passionate, the author clearly very motivated to tell his story, but it needs work that it's never going to get.
Johann Wyss, The Swiss Family Robinson. This is, of course, a reread - I've had this book since I was little and read it countless times. But this time I read it to my kids, which highlighted some of the fundamental implausibilities of the book, chief amongst them being the fact that the father is a walking encyclopedia who is completely capable of wresting civilization from the wilderness single-handedly and that the island they land on has every natural resource possible. Nonetheless, it's still an entertaining and interesting book with lots of excitement.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations. Caesar had a lot to say. One wonders if he actually lived by his precepts, or if he simply expected everyone else to. Overall, while it wasn't boring, I wasn't stirred by the writing, either.
Mabel Barbee Lee, Cripple Creek Days. An account of a little girl growing up in the Colorado mining camp. She pulled no punches about her childhood and the various hardships and issues involved in growing up in such a perilous location, but ultimately her experiences left me unmoved.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Thursday, October 06, 2011
book reviews
I can't believe how long it's taking me to read these days! I suppose it isn't such a surprise, given that in addition to the reading I'm also reading fanfiction and have a number of writing projects filling up my desk. So here are the latest book reviews:
Mari Sandoz, Miss Morissa: Doctor of the Gold Trail. I'm on the fence as to how accurate I think this is, but it was certainly a moving and entertaining view of a woman who starts a medical practice in a place she had never intended and how she becomes instrumental in building a community there.
Teresa Edgerton, Goblin Moon. The most recent in Lou's attempt to educate me in good fantasy, I found the characters and plot enjoyable and the world-building very interesting. On the negative side of the column, I felt that Edgerton punted a bit in her world-building by making the names very altered-Earth: Scandinavia was "Nordmark", India was "Inde", etc. Also, it was clearly only half of a book, as many, many plot points were left unfinished at the end. But it was effective enough, as I've already scrounged the sequel off of Lou's bookshelf.
Tim Gunn, Gunn's Golden Rules. It's extremely rare that I pick up a book while browsing in the bookstore - usually I'm much more disciplined about what I read and where. It's even more rare that I like the book enough to buy it on the spot and finish it that night, but that's exactly what happened. I was utterly beguiled by Gunn's candid openness, his gentle remonstrances at bad manners and admission of his own lapses, and really of the man's overall sincere and friendly tone.
Joseph Bedier, Tristan & Iseult. Blah. An overly simplistic retelling of a story that has the potential to be sincerely moving and poignant. Tristan and Iseult come across as a pair of impulsive idiots who have no idea what they're doing, but somehow manage to foil all the plots against them largely through sheer good luck and the loyalty of their servants.
Mari Sandoz, Miss Morissa: Doctor of the Gold Trail. I'm on the fence as to how accurate I think this is, but it was certainly a moving and entertaining view of a woman who starts a medical practice in a place she had never intended and how she becomes instrumental in building a community there.
Teresa Edgerton, Goblin Moon. The most recent in Lou's attempt to educate me in good fantasy, I found the characters and plot enjoyable and the world-building very interesting. On the negative side of the column, I felt that Edgerton punted a bit in her world-building by making the names very altered-Earth: Scandinavia was "Nordmark", India was "Inde", etc. Also, it was clearly only half of a book, as many, many plot points were left unfinished at the end. But it was effective enough, as I've already scrounged the sequel off of Lou's bookshelf.
Tim Gunn, Gunn's Golden Rules. It's extremely rare that I pick up a book while browsing in the bookstore - usually I'm much more disciplined about what I read and where. It's even more rare that I like the book enough to buy it on the spot and finish it that night, but that's exactly what happened. I was utterly beguiled by Gunn's candid openness, his gentle remonstrances at bad manners and admission of his own lapses, and really of the man's overall sincere and friendly tone.
Joseph Bedier, Tristan & Iseult. Blah. An overly simplistic retelling of a story that has the potential to be sincerely moving and poignant. Tristan and Iseult come across as a pair of impulsive idiots who have no idea what they're doing, but somehow manage to foil all the plots against them largely through sheer good luck and the loyalty of their servants.
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