A younger version of the main characters from “About a Boy” and “High Fidelity” (two very beloved books ’round here. Although you may remember, I do NOT love some of his others; and I only love the movie of ONE of those).
Easy, honest, open…with a wee little bit of fantasy future thrown in. Liked it, but didn’t always love it, sometimes frustrated by it. As with all teenage boys, right?
Reading mysteries in the offhours while burning through this month’s challenge book.
The latest Jack Reacher (or latest in paperback at least). Jack Reacher is my dream…everything he is in the books with Tahmoh Penikett’s body, looks, voice, etc. Perfect!
Since this month’s challenge is back to short stories, I find myself breaking it up a bit with short&sweet mystery novels. I know, right? Bizarre.
Anyways….I was reading for the next Myron Bolitar book but couldn’t find it on my way to the airport, so had to settle for a non-Myron Bolitar, the first stand-alone Coben I’ve read.
I liked some of the characters, I liked the “figuring it out” stuff. But I thought the main mystery was both too convoluted and too improbable to really work. Too many moving parts. Still kept you intrigued…but like an badly plotted action movie that wows you while you’re IN IT, but is too easy to pick apart afterward.
Books 3 and 4 in the Myron Bolitar series (1, 2). Still enjoying these.
In some ways, Win’s character makes these much more violent than your average mystery (is that why I like them?). And the ongoing confusion of the Jessica situation also adds an intensity. But I’m not sure why temptation always has to be a part of it. The come-back scenario in Fade Away was really bittersweet.
The April challenge book. Certainly the toughest read so far, for both Dad and me.
The language is rich, gorgeous and elegaic; much like reading Virgil himself (or Homer. or Ovid). It’s dreamy and powerful and image-full. But…
Part 1: Interesting. Lovely imagery and prose. Nice.
Part 2: Interminable. Almost the death of ME, let alone Virgil. Sentences so long, you can’t remember where they began or if anything has even happened in them. And what? Did he just suggest burning the Aeneid? WHAT?!?!
Part 3: Hey, there’s some stuff happening again! Still a very high-toned literary experience, but now the drama with Octavian really pulls things along. Some very neat imagery, the landscape arising out of nothing (much easier to do in film than in prose). His yearning is so strong, you can really feel it. [According to Dad the slave boy and Plotia play a very similar role here to that of Jessica Lange in “All That Jazz.” I was then castigated for not having seen that recently enough to be able to agree (or not). p.s. just between you, world wide web, and me, I’m not even sure I’ve ever seen it all the way through!] Really enjoyable.
Part 4: Ugh, we’re back to part 2-like process again. Dad: “It’s like 2001 the Space Odyssey. At first it’s kinda cool and then after a while you just get really, really bored.” Me: Hard to know what’s happening here, when he’s actually dead, what is dream sequence vs. reality vs. post-mortem? (And in this part, hard to care. If this was written like Part 3, I’d be all over it!)
Glad to have read it, but certainly never going to need to read it again. Definitely a challenge.
Bought this one in an airport due at least partly to its paper-cut-out looking cover (Yo, Chicken, you would LOVE it, have you seen it????) and its Stephen King blurb.
Definitely fits into that “damaged girl comes home, solves mystery” genre (like Sharp Objects but a little less dark).
I have some misgivings: some of the characters made me a little crazy; I’m not sure the historical stuff ever really found its way IN to the story / didn’t quite coalesce; and there’s at least one character who I, and I would assume many readers feel this way, still have outstanding concerns about as the book ends.
But I liked the tone, I liked the focus on academia, the almost, but not quite, high-browed literariness of it. And I loved the contrast between the unmonstrousness of the actual monster and the metaphoricness of the Monsters of the title. Some stuff really well done. Very textured and tactile.
The second in a (somewhat loose) series about Cornelia (and, now, Teo). I liked the first book, but didn’t love it. I LOVED this one.
Less Claire in this book, although still importantly part of it. Dev was a great character, scenes with him really shone.
Easy, natural conversational tone that just sucked me right in, I could barely put it down. Laughed with it, cried with it. Ouch. Friendships, families, what makes them, what breaks them. Many similar themes to the earlier book. But, in my opinion, much better written and handled.
Definitely a step up.
Recommended.
Eating: Loads of crap-ass horrible-for-you but oh-so-good-tasting food.
Making: Not a motherfucking thing.
Reading: Finishing up “Slam” by Nick Hornby so I can move on to the May challenge book before Dad gets too far ahead of me!!! (Finished April in the nick of time but haven’t written it up yet.)
Watching: This week’s episodes of: Bros & Sis (middling); Bones (eh, stupid babies); Gossip Girl (hmm OK); How I Met Your Mother (awesome); CSI NY (lame); CSI (awesome); Lost (motherfucking awesomely awesome!!!!!!!!!!!); The Office (pretty good); 30 Rock (eh); Grey’s (sucked ass). Did I watch anything else this week? I just can’t remember.
Listening: New albums from The Weepies (yes!); Madonna (some!); Fleet Foxes (LOVE!); and lots of other stuff (check several recent Tunes posts).
Bought:
Eating: Ginger ale and saltines and that’s about it. I expect that to change over the weekend though. Look out Moody’s, here I come.
Making: Nada. Been shootin’ some film.
Reading: Dad’s and my March challenge book for the month “The Death of Virgil” by Hermann Brach, the first to really be a fucking challenge to read. Abstractly, it is beautiful and elegaic and almost like reading Virgil himself. But the act of reading it…is tough. Not always what I want on the El, my main reading time. Dad was struggling too…until he burst ahead, read the last 40 pages and called me to crow! Dang! Have taken a few breaks for some others, but now I’ve really got to buckle down. Month’s almost over!
Watching: Fresh TV. Ah. As welcome as Spring. Bones, I’ve missed you. Also obsessively watching both NEW and VERY OLD CSI. I know, right? Catching up on season and rewatching whatever season (2003?) is currently showing from about 4-7 on SPIKE TV. Watching it so much, DNA is all I can think about, everywhere I am, everything I touch, “whoops, just left a little DNA right there, hope no one gets murdered on this corner later…” Oh and season 1 Battlestar Galactica. Fuckin’ awesome. Helo is my fave. Season 2 better get here lickety split (if you think I didn’t leave the sickbed to go feverishly, deliriously hunting for it in the ‘hood the other night, you are way wrong).
Listening: Dang, I’ve been watching so much BSG and CSI, listenin’ has had a tough time staying in the game this week. I haven’t even listened to most of the CDs I bought in Japan, as someone just reminded me! That said, I’m loving the new album from Meg Hutchinson I bought at her show the other night. And by loving I mean ouch, my heart just broke into 100 pieces but play it again, would ya? Also loving two recent EPs by Joseph Arthur, one all distorty and dark and the other less dark but as melancholy as always (and love it so). Got a lot of new stuff waitin’ in the wings. More to say soon! Seriously!