2011 Book #44: 1Q84
1Q84 finally made it into English. I’d been waiting to read this novel since the Japanese version was announced a couple of years ago. I even pre-ordered it on my Kindle (who wants to lug around a thousand-page hardback?) and got it at midnight on October 25th, the very second it was released. And I […]
Fail Pile #3: The Night Circus
I really thought I’d like The Night Circus, and I did, to a certain extent. I just couldn’t get through it. First of all, I’m bad at pop fiction. That’s usually because of those authors’ horrible style. Erin Morgenstern‘s style isn’t nearly as bad as Charlaine Harris‘s, for example. (Note: I use Charlaine Harris as […]
2011 Book # 43: The Mysterious Benedict Society
I generally like kids’ novels – Harry Potter, for instance, or The Hunger Games, or The Golden Compass, or The Blue Sword, etc, etc, etc. I think it’s because I can usually identify with the characters, and an adult having written them probably helps. That said, The Mysterious Benedict Society didn’t work for me. It might be […]
2011 Book #42: The Castle
I had forgotten that Kafka died before finishing The Castle , or I probably wouldn’t have picked it up. Few things annoy me more than not knowing how a novel is supposed to end, though, I guess, good ol’ Wikipedia gives us a clue, but that’s only a bit of a consolation because, of course, […]
2011 Book #41: The Book of Sand
Several years ago, I dated a guy whose mother so often said that Kevin Costner was originally cast in Patrick Swayze’s role in Ghost, that her sons came up with a gesture to express it more succinctly: they would simply touch their index fingers to their foreheads. I need to come up with similar gesture for […]
2011 Book #40: The Devil All the Time
I really need to be better about posting quickly after I finish a novel. Unless it falls into the Best Novel Ever category, I forget what I wanted to say before I write anything down. Once I hit this year’s quota, I might take a break from the writing part. Or not. We’ll see. I […]
2011 Book #39: The Hero and the Crown
The Hero and the Crown is Palmer‘s favorite kid-book, which is why I read it. I read The Blue Sword first because there was some confusion which of the two is actually his favorite. Here’s why: both were written by Robin McKinley, whowrote The Blue Sword first, but The Hero and the Crown is its prequel. I’m glad, […]
2011 Book #38: The Invention of Hugo Cabret
I’m not sure I should count this one. The size of The Invention of Hugo Cabret is a bit daunting until you look inside. It’s 533 thick (as in good-quality) pages. I was expecting it to take a while. But no. Near the end of the book, the author, Brian Selznik, mentions that it’s only around 26,000 words, […]
2011 Book #37: Cosmopolis
I don’t even wanna talk about this one. I hadn’t read a DeLillo novel in quite a while – we’re faaaar away from the glory days of the DeLillo Binge. While I was working on the Thesis Monster (which I still have to finish), I read most of his novels and realized that he’s just […]
2011 Book #36: Everything that Rises Must Converge
It took me a long time to read Everything that Rises Must Converge, but that’s not because I didn’t like it. Now that I have a job, I’ve been reading a lot less. I get up, go to work, come home, and watch bad TV. I’ve only been reading during my (very short) break at […]