Bought and read in Dublin, yay. Belfast, the IRA, having the wrong job (but right for them), politics vs. personal safety, being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and intertwined relationships convoluting things, as they do. Something a bit desperate and sad about the train of the events. The ending shouldn’t have been a surprise, but somehow it was.
Layover in the Atlanta airport. I claim to hate reading mystery series(es?) out of order…but somehow that seems to be how I always start them. In airports, desperate for something, hmm, this sounds good, book three (or whatever), ah well.
A forensics mystery. A male version of “Bones” with a creepy dead body farm. Creepy cool, I mean. Very entertaining.
Just a little airport readin’ as the trip began. It was entertaining. I dug the main character. I need to be tougher. Like her. 🙂
Our February challenge book (we are alternating between 19th-century and contemporary novels this year).
I liked a lot of this book. But there were things I could’ve done without. Since we already reviewed it in sort of rambling fashion on Flickr, I’ll just paste in what we had to say there:
GirlReaction: I liked a lot of it but there were annoying things. some chapters where you couldn’t figure out who was speaking until WELL into them (must EVERYONE be first person?) or dialogue where it took some figurin out who the conversation was between and who was saying which lines. and then at the end of the book, it just…ENDS. midsentence even. eh? I prefer a bit more of a finale, even if you have a cliffhanger.
But it was really funny and clever and felt very much like Vonnegut to me. Vonnegut but with more details, longer sentences / paragraphs, and if Vonnegut wrote females as the main character (or important characters really). Vonnegut is easier to get through (generally both shorter and less literarily dense), but I felt like they shared some sensibilities.
I liked it more than Dad though. He eventually got kinda of annoyed with it and I think it’s tweeness. Like sometimes the reader shouldn’t have to work QUITE that hard. “Cleverness for the sake of clever”. Although now maybe I am being harsher than he was. Dad?
DadReaction: Yes–your summary of my assessment was pretty accurate. I thought all the guesswork was unnecessary and didn’t like the non-ending. He actually got you involved with his goofy people and then sort of sold them short. Still, still, VERY clever– e.g., Vigorous’ son living out the news, being Nixon, etc. The Vigorous-Lenore storytelling duo was super–but you miss her reactions when it’s just his story. I wanted to complete the grandmother saga.
To be honest, I probably would have loved this book when I was reading the first Pynchon books, Tom Robbins, Edward Whittemore (WHAT? You’ve never heard of Whittemore? Shame! Go, go, get Sinai Tapestry, Jerusalem Poker.). Then Again, I LOVED the last Pynchon–Against the Day–and I pick up Vonnegut effortlessly. This one, I kind of had to force myself through. Okay, but, once more, STILL, still, Lenore herself always drew me back. And Lang sort of grew on me–okay, so I really wanted to know how their story came out, and was denied that by a much too clever author.
So I like much of the creation, but I was not drawn to the creator. Telling fact that maybe sums it all up: haven’t recommended it to anyone and not really eager to read another by same author.
This was a re-read. I was near a used bookstore and (apparently) in the mood for the kind of visceral, tear your heart and innards out, poetry Olds excels at. She was at NYU the same time I was (her as faculty, me as grad student) so I’ve seen her a read a few times (including poems from this book). I don’t know that I can recommend that: these are the kind of very intense, super personal, definitely biographic FEELING whether they are or not (along the lines of “diary exposing”), poems that…well, you have to be prepared for it. I’d rather read this kind of poetry alone! 🙂
Very unusual stories. Heavily science- and math-based sci fi (Dad, I think you’re going to want to borrow this) that in some stories felt a bit beyond my grasp, theoretically. (Fortunately the characters keep you involved, even when their minds are on a different plane than yours.) Not necessarily futuristic, although sometimes a touch of it. But not fantastical (along the lines of, say George Saunders); even the wildest ones feel like they COULD be happening.
I remain blissfully unaware of radio in general and NPR in particular so although I had heard vague murmurings about Vowell, I had no personal experience with her prior to reading this book.
Very entertaining, packed full of pop culture references, and prescient in its political discussions. But you already knew that didn’t you? I am always behind the times. 😉
An undertaker, and a detective, and an unidentified body, and a young lost girl coming around. While there is murder and mayhem around, this book has a very, very calm feel. A heavy outer calm lying over turbulent feelings and actions and a thick, almost humid layer of emotion. Clara, I’m rooting for you.
I thought it was a very impressive first novel.
The follow-up to City of Bones. The kickin-ass part of the action expands a bit here and more characters come into play. The lie I’m perturbed by from the first book continues; I’m even MORE sure it’s a lie now. WHEN IS THE NEXT ONE COMING OUT? I’m not sure I can wait! 🙂
A non-vampire book about a world where magic exists all ’round. I really loved the imagery, particularly the “tattoos” Allie gets with the power. It had a bit more romance than some of your typical magic genre books /fans face/ and I’ll probably seek out the follow-ups. But it didn’t engage me quite as much as the Cassandra Clare book (one of which I’ve told you about so far (about to tell you about another one!)).