31 posts tagged “book review”
One of the perks of working in a college bookstore is that in between the Econ textbooks and anatomy charts there are all sorts of wonderful novels being read for English classes, just laying there to be read in my spare time. (It's how I read Watchmen.) So when The Thin Man turned up, it was in my hand as soon as I had a second to breathe.
I picked The Thin Man up for three reasons:
- I had seen the movie and thoroughly enjoyed it,
- The cover is awesome,
-
- And these lines were in the first chapter:
We found a table. Nora said: "She's pretty."
"If you like them like that."
She grinned at me. "You got types?"
"Only you, darling--lanky brunettes with wicked jaws."
I mean, come on. If those lines don't make you want to go out and buy this book, I'm not sure we can be friends.
It's 20 years after the adventures of The Three Musketeers. Our four intrepid heroes have been spending their years achieving glory after glory, victory after victory, and, of course, constantly visiting and supporting one another.
Okay, I'm lying.
In actuality, they haven't seen each other at all from the end of Musketeers to the beginning of Twenty Years. D'Artagnan is stagnating as a lieutenant in the Musketeers. Porthos is fighting a losing battle to be accepted by his old-nobility peers. Aramis, the priestly soldier, is now a soldierly priest who is dissatisfied with his lot. Athos alone seems content, finding a new lease on life through his son.
And this is the magic of Twenty Years After. I won't go into the intricacies of the plot: the adventures, the loyalties, the many prison escapes. The real draw, for me, is watching these beloved characters mature and age. Their strengths and follies are both more noticable when they are away from each other. Their reunion is a thing of beauty as they relearn how to relate to each other and rediscover their strength as a quartet.
Only together are they an unstoppable force, with each member providing their own unique skills and acting as a balance to the others. Athos with his quiet leadership and wisdom is an important check on Aramis's self-interest and cunning. D'Artagnan's drive and imagination spur the others to decisive action. Porthos's brute strength and simple honesty get things done and lets the others experience emotion more freely. Aramis's connections and worldy mind is an important source of protection not provided by the almost naive loyalty of the others, Athos especially.
Reading about their new set of adventures and their struggles as they face the spectres of their past and the threat of the future was highly, highly enjoyable. All the more because the last book in the series, The Man In The Iron Mask, makes me cry like a little girl.
I've been done with these books for days, and I kept waiting for inspiration to hit so I could pour forth an insightful and wholly original review. That has not happened, so y'all get a one-paragraph writeup. Sorry!
Watchmen: To start... I am an idiot. I thought this was published, like, within the last few years. When I started reading and it was set in the '80s, I thought, "Wow, they really managed to capture the time." Well, it was published in the '80s. Silly me. Anyway, this is heralded as the gold standard of graphic novels and one of the best books ever and on and on, and I am glad I can say that it does live up to the hype.
The heroes of Watchmen are masked adventurers and, in one case, a superhuman being. What makes Watchmen different and groundbreaking is that the heroes are at best normal people with normal-people frustrations and folibles, and at worst are the type of men usually found in a cell in solitary confinement. You learn about their backstories, what made them put on a costume to fight crime, and why they chose those costumes. It's a superhero story that focuses much more on character development than on ass-kicking. I dug it.
I'm not a big graphic-novel fan. I appreciate them and absolutely agree that they are a worthwhile form of literature, but they don't resonate with me the way novels do. In some ways I felt the same about Watchmen. It's not a book that is a part of me, but it is a book that I'm glad to have read and would recommend to others.
My Life With the Saints: I just said in my review of a graphic novel that I am not a graphic novel fan, and I'm starting this review of a Catholic book by saying that I am not a Catholic. However, I do have many, many Catholic family members and I've always felt an affection and interest in Catholicism.
My Life... is about James Martin's spiritual journey from typical college kid and business grad to Jesuit priest as well as aboutt he saints that he feels a special connection to. I enjoyed learning about familiar saints like St. Francis and Mother Theresa as well as less-familiar ones like Pedro Arrupe and Pope John Paul...er...something. What I liked most, however, was reading about the author's journey to being a clergyman, because he's such a regular guy. He grew up in a lukewarm Catholic house. He smoked pot in college and chose his major because he figured it would pay the bills. He chose a life in the Church because he was dissatisfied. He struggles with a lot of questions. It just felt really nice to read about someone who didn't have a life with huge highs and lows, or a dramatic spiritual conversion.
I would recommend this book to any Christian, even non-Catholics. I don't pray to saints but I did find the profiles and spiritual journey of the author interesting and applicable to my own life.
Rebecca: I have many friends who have raved about this book. They were correct to have raved. This was a very suspenseful, atmospheric, creepy story. I have much more to say, but I don't like to talk about details or characters from the book with people who have not read it, so I will refrain. I would highly recommend it.
These very short reviews have nothing to do with the quality of the books mentioned, they only have to do with my laziness/tiredness.
I read Captain Alatriste by Arturo Perez-Reverte and An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison. They really couldn't be more different: the first was an escapist, Dumas-esque swashbuckler, and the latter is a non-fiction memoir about living with bipolar disorder.
Captain Alatriste was really well-written, I thought, and quite diverting. Who doesn't love a rather melancholy hero and a villain who has a voice that sounds like alchohol was poured over his vocal cords and a laugh like splinters? It was rather short, though, which is okay because there are a few sequels.
I read An Unquiet Mind for my abnormal psych class, and I read it in a day. It's a really compelling and interesting look into one woman's experience of the disease. It was also nice having both a personal and professional viewpoint represented, as Ms. Jamison is a prominent psychologist at Johns Hopkins and one of the world's experts on mood disorders. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who knows someone with bipolar disorder, but even if you don't it's still a very engaging read.
A caveat to this review: A reviewer on Amazon said that one should be familiar with Dumas’s works before picking up The Last Cavalier. I think that advice is sound. The Last Cavalier is far from his best work (understandable, since he died before it could be finished) and being comfortable with Dumas freed me up to just enjoy the ride and be happy that this novel was discovered after being lost for so long.
The Last Cavalier. The long-lost final novel of Alexandre Dumas covering the Napoleonic era. I don’t even know where to start, really. It’s a massive book, longer than The Count of Monte Cristo even unfinished and only about half of it is dedicated to the title hero, Hector de Sainte-Hermine. The first half is mostly about Napoleon, and countless other small digressions. To be honest, that was my favorite part. I loved reading about Diana the super-avenger (and kick-ass woman!), Chateaubriand exploring North America and giving a shout-out to Lake Erie, Cadoudal the honorable royalist, and on and on. One thing that had a more personal meaning to me was the description of the port city of Saint-Malo, as I recently discovered that some ancestors of mine lived there in the 1500s.
The part of the book dedicated to Hector (who assumes a few other names throughout the book) was a little less satisfying. I couldn’t help making comparisons to The Count of Monte Cristo, as both heroes undergo a stint in prison and come out changed men. Obviously the Count will win every time. Hector also suffers a bit from Perfect-Hero Syndrome. I mean, the man should be bad or at least average at something. Still, he is charming and these are pretty small quibbles. And come on, how could you say no to such a wonderful cover!
Besides the gorgeous cover, another great feature is the preface by the man who discovered the novel. He writes in great detail how he found it, when Dumas wrote it, and the history behind the events in the book. It also gives Dumas’s outline of the whole plot, so even though the book is unfinished, the reader knows what happens in the end. As to the unfinished nature of the book, don’t worry about that. The ending is actually very appropriate and I didn’t feel that I was left at an intolerable cliffhanger.
I would recommend this book to people who love Dumas and who want to take a fun ramble through a chunk of a book. Perfect for those cold evenings in!
Casino Royale James Bond movies. I even had a brief thing for Pierce Brosnan at 14. So this year I figured I should read at least one of the books. Casino Royale happens to be the first in the series and gave rise to an excellent movie adaptation.
I started off really enjoying this book. Fleming is very good at conveying mood, and he has a gift for moving the plot swiftly. I would look back and wonder how so much had happened in just a few pages without me feeling rushed. I could have really like this book and wanted to read more had it not been for the “love interest”.
I wasn’t bothered so much by the woman herself. I read old books, so I’m used to the weak heroine or the useless woman. It sucks, but I’m used to it. What unsettled me was the attitude Bond took towards her. I was expecting sexism (it was written in the 50s, after all) but it was so over-the-top, edging into misogyny. Bond veered between feelings of resentment and severe dislike for this woman trying to do “a man’s job” (his quote, how original) and wanting to fuck her. Pardon my language but that’s what it was. I shouldn’t even say “veered” really, as those feelings were uttered in the same sentence or thought throughout the book. There were referenced to Bond wanting to spank her, but as a form of punishment. He thinks to himself that because he doesn’t fully know her inner thoughts, whenever they have sex it will have “the sweet tang of rape”.
I read the whole book, but it left me feeling a little disturbed, and not wanting to read more if this is what I will get. It’s a real shame, because I wanted to like these books.
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James: I’m not a big fan of ghost stories. The mental images conjured by words don’t even begin to match the fear I feel when watching scary movies. I do, however, feel frightened when reading psychologically twisted stories, like The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells. Maybe it’s that aspect that made The Turn of the Screw the first “ghost story” that has held my attention and even scared me some.
It's been so gloriously gloomy the last few days that I just had to pick up a ghost story in hopes that I would finally find a creepy one. I think it says a lot for the book that I picked it up around midnight and kept reading until 2, and when I finally did go to bed I prayed I wouldn't have to get up in the middle of the night to pee or anything because I would be freaked out.
The story is about a governess taking care of two young children. She's there at the house alone because her "master", whom she is infatuated with, doesn't want to be involved in the care of the children at all. Without spoiling the story, she starts seeing what appear to be demonic apparitions. James is tantalizingly ambiguous about much of what happens which, in my opinion, makes for a scarier ghost. Leaving things to the reader's own imagination ensures that the reader will think of the scariest thing he or she can.
Scarier than the ghosts, however, is the psychological aspect of it. Fairly early on in the novel the reader is troubled with doubts about what the governess is seeing, and about her own sanity. This adds more layers to the story by making the reader think about things just as frightening, or perhaps more frightening, than ghosts.
It's almost Halloween. The air is cold, the skies are grey, the leaves and blowing around making a sound like rattling bones. Pick up a ghost story. I'd recommend this one.
The biggest suprise of all, though, was that I ended up loving it.
There were so many memorable things about the book:
- I loved that all the places and characters had names that suited them (Miss Flite is a crazy old bird lady, Mr Krook is a bad guy, etc.) except for...wait for it...Bleak House, a happy safe haven!
- Krook spontaneously combusted!! Someone spontaneously combusted in a Charles Dickens novel. I can't even wrap my brain around how awesome that is.
- The minor characters were amusing rather than annoying. I especially liked Mr Jellyby with his head perpetually against a wall, Mr and Mrs Bagnet who have the most solid marriage in all of literature, and on and on.
I even liked Esther, who seems to garner a lukewarm reaction from other readers. She was a little more perfect than necessary, but I quite liked her. I also really liked John Jarndyce, even if his proposal to Esther skeeved me out a little bit. Richard was amusing at first, and then just annoying. Of course you would die, you idiot. *rolls eyes*
One cool extra feature of my edition (Penguin Classics) is a timeline of sorts written out by Dickens as he was plotting the book. He wrote just one or two words to tell him what he plot points he needed to bring up, when he needed to bring them up, and which characters would be featured Here's an example:
This is my favorite note:Tulkinghorn? Yes. Mr Snagsby? Yes. Mrs Snagsby? Yes. Slightly.
Jo? Yes. Kill him.
I highly recommend this book. It's a chunkster, to be sure, but a book that you can really take your time with and savor.
Spoilers, my friends!
As a story, Breaking Dawn was entertaining. The first third was a little weird with the Rosemary's baby thing (like...what?) and Bella drinking human blood from a cup was foul. I was especially over Edward's angst about, well, everything and Bella's immaturity. After Bella was vampirized, though, it picked up. I really enjoyed reading about her newfound vampiric sensations and her freaky daughter, and it was far past time her and Edward were equals.
(Speaking of Bella's daughter, is Renesmee the dumbest name ever, or what? Gave me "Albus Severus" flashbacks and giggles, quite frankly.)
The visiting vampires were interesting and fun to read about, especially Garrett the revoutionary war leftover. I kind of wish there was a battle, so we could see 'em in action.
My final thought on the Twilight series is that it's a nice, quick, entertaining read. I probably would've enjoyed it more as a 14 year old, but what can you do? :-)
Just a short note on the "suitablility for teens" aspect: I've mentioned at the end of the first book that I was thankful for how suitable the books were for young teens. I still stand by that in terms of language and the presence of sex in the book, but I do hope that impressionable readers keep their heads when reading Bella's story. It was a little disconcerting to see how much uncontested power Edward and Jacob had over Bella. Not the power that comes with being loved, but physical power. Jacob kissing Bella by force, Edward "forbidding" her to do things, etc. etc. Of course most readers won't confuse their lives with lives in stories; they're not stupid. But I was a pre-teen girl not too long ago, and I know what it feels like to want to emulate characters in books. I just hope that all the Twilight readers are wise enough and secure enough to know that those behaviors are not romantic or sweet or healthy.
