2013 Book #8: Guards! Guards!
Terry Pratchett’s novels can be pretty unpredictable, but they are predictably good. I’ve read eight of them now, and I’ve liked them all. (Okay, both of those things are lies, kind of. I’ve actually read eight-and-a-half of his novels, if you count Good Omens, which he wrote with Neil Gaiman, and which I did not like, though I […]
2013 Book #7: Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Breakfast at Tiffany’s isn’t anything like what I expected. For that matter, Truman Capote isn’t, either. I guess I didn’t know what to expect. I haven’t seen the movie, and, even though I know exactly nothing about Capote, I’ve always kind of arbitrarily lumped him in with Albert Camus. Maybe because they both have such […]
2013 Book #6: Player Piano
Player Piano is Kurt Vonnegut's first novel, and it's not my favorite. I lump it in with novels like Slaughterhouse Five (my least favorite), the more serious, less ridiculous ones. My favorites are The Sirens of Titan and Cat's Cradle, if that says anything. Player Piano is a dystopian novel, possibly set not too far […]
2013 Book #5: Robinson Crusoe
Here's another classic novel I didn't know enough about. Or, at least, not as much as I should – I have an English degree, you know. I knew it was about a guy who was trapped on a deserted island, and that was about it. Wait. that is about it. Most of it, anyway. Robinson […]
2013 Book #4: Madame Bovary
Oh, Madame Bovary, I dislike you. I dislike you in so many ways. You are not a good person, and you don’t even try to be. You take advantage of everyone around you and think of no one but yourself. Not even your child. Or your husband, who is wildly in love with you and […]
2013 Book #3: Orlando
I thought I hated Orlando. I took a Gay and Lesbian Lit class in college, and the professor assigned it. I think I got through about a third of it and quit because I thought it was crap. I think the problem was that I didn't think I'd like Virginia Woolf and didn't want to […]
2013 Book #2: Le Grand Meaulnes
Awww, man! I’m 2 for 2 in greatness! I loved Le Grand Meaulnes. I don’t remember exactly where I came across it, but I think it might have been in the introduction to John Fowles’s The Magus. He listed Le Grand Meaulnes as an influence. What’s funny is that so far, I’ve tl;dr-ed The Magus […]
2013 Book #1: The One Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared
I’m not sure how I ran across The One Hundred Year Old Man, but I’m glad I did. I was struggling through Moby Dick and Wizard and Glass (neither of which I finished, though Wizard and Glass has a fighting chance), and I needed a nice, light read. This novel fit the bill perfectly. I’d […]
2012 Book #31 (and 32-ish): To Have and Have Not (and Mao II)
But we’re reasonably well into 2013, you (who check my Goodreads account religiously) say! And you finished To Have and Have Not weeks ago! And what’s this new mention of Mao II? How does it have anything to do with anything? What’s the deal?!? Well, I’ve been busy. Or maybe I haven’t been busy, but I’ve been otherwise […]
2012 Book #30: Absalom, Absalom!
Now, here’s a hard one to write about. It’s also my favorite book so far this year, though I’m sure this review will in no way reflect that, as I tend to make my favorite books sound like I (should) hate them. Anyway. Along with being my favorite, Absalom, Absalom! is also the most difficult […]