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I've read an insane amount of fanfic these last two months, so I didn't have time to read many books. Here's what kept my eyes busy inbetween all the fanfic:
Annie Proulx - Close Range -Wyoming Stories
This is the collection that contains Brokeback Mountain, and I'm embarassed how long it took me to read it. I had read Brokeback Mountain before and liked it, but something about Proulx's style made it hard for me to start reading her other stories. I just couldn't get myself to start. Now, after having read them, I think it was my mood at the time. Proulx tells stories about lives, hard lives, living in a country that is strange and yet familiar to me. She is an incredibly writer, a true master of language, and yet I have to be in a certain mood to read her stories.
I enjoyed this book immensely, and I highly recommend it. But it is also a book that took me a long time to read, because I found myself putting it away after every story, as if the people and events I had just read about needed time to settle down in me, before I could move on to the next ones. For me, this is a good thing, because it rarely happens, and it made me savour this book even more.
Mark Frost - The List of Seven
This book was recommended to me by Amazon, which is no surprise (though I am a bit scared about how well they know me). The author, Mark Frost, is one of the creators of Twin Peaks. The main character of this book is Arthus Conan Doyle, he of Sherlock Holmes fame, but long before he was published. In the cold and foggy London of 1884, Doyle participates in a seance, and suddenly find himself involved in murder and satanism, on the run with the mysterious James Spark, a secret agent of Queen Victoria.
"The List of Seven" is, by all means, a fannish book, fanfic even, if you want. But it is highly enjoyable and I think best described by someone else's words from the cover "A spooky page-turner...with the narrative drive of a runaway train." (People)
John Banville - The Sea
When looking for books, I often find myself drawn to life stories. Even more often I am drawn to stories set at the sea. And to a certain extent, I trust the judgement of others, well-known reviewers, or price committees. John Banville's "The Sea", winner of the Man Booker Prize 2005, about which Rick Gekoski from The Times said "You can smell and feel and see his world with extraordinary clarity. It is a work of art, and I'll bet it will still beread and admired in seventy-five years", should therefore have been an ideal book for me.
What can I say about "The Sea"? It is a good book, yes. It is probably a work of art. I don't doubt that countless highschool students will be forced to read it in years to come, simply for the excellent use of the english language. And yet, I didn't like it. Not only would it have been a lot easier to read if it had been divided into chapters, or at least had some kind of graphic structure. But mainly, I didn't like the style. Most of Banville's sentences are truly beautiful, in structure and in words. But somewhere, between all these wonderful, carefully arranged sentences, the story of the book was lost, as if the language was suffocating the content. Work of art, yes, but not a book for me.
Kathy Reichs - Break No Bones
I like Kathy Reichs and have enjoyed all of her books. "Break No Bones" was no exception. It is a good crime story with likable, human protagonists. But, having reread some of her older books after my recent stay in Montreal, where many of them take place, I admit that I like them better than her later works. The flaws make them more charming, and the stories are more surprising and less main-stream.
Nicole Krauss - The History of Love
Ah, "The History of Love". Save the best for last, and of these five, "The History of Love" is easily my favourite. A wonderful, intelligently structured book about love, life, and a book. The story is too complicated to describe in a few words, but never confusing when you read it. (I suggest you read the amazon reviews to know more about the story). It's one of those boks that leave you happy and satisified when you are finished with it, simply loveable. I will surely read it again one day, and I highly recommend it to you.
You can find more of this (I hesitate to call these reviews) here.
Annie Proulx - Close Range -Wyoming Stories
This is the collection that contains Brokeback Mountain, and I'm embarassed how long it took me to read it. I had read Brokeback Mountain before and liked it, but something about Proulx's style made it hard for me to start reading her other stories. I just couldn't get myself to start. Now, after having read them, I think it was my mood at the time. Proulx tells stories about lives, hard lives, living in a country that is strange and yet familiar to me. She is an incredibly writer, a true master of language, and yet I have to be in a certain mood to read her stories.
I enjoyed this book immensely, and I highly recommend it. But it is also a book that took me a long time to read, because I found myself putting it away after every story, as if the people and events I had just read about needed time to settle down in me, before I could move on to the next ones. For me, this is a good thing, because it rarely happens, and it made me savour this book even more.
Mark Frost - The List of Seven
This book was recommended to me by Amazon, which is no surprise (though I am a bit scared about how well they know me). The author, Mark Frost, is one of the creators of Twin Peaks. The main character of this book is Arthus Conan Doyle, he of Sherlock Holmes fame, but long before he was published. In the cold and foggy London of 1884, Doyle participates in a seance, and suddenly find himself involved in murder and satanism, on the run with the mysterious James Spark, a secret agent of Queen Victoria.
"The List of Seven" is, by all means, a fannish book, fanfic even, if you want. But it is highly enjoyable and I think best described by someone else's words from the cover "A spooky page-turner...with the narrative drive of a runaway train." (People)
John Banville - The Sea
When looking for books, I often find myself drawn to life stories. Even more often I am drawn to stories set at the sea. And to a certain extent, I trust the judgement of others, well-known reviewers, or price committees. John Banville's "The Sea", winner of the Man Booker Prize 2005, about which Rick Gekoski from The Times said "You can smell and feel and see his world with extraordinary clarity. It is a work of art, and I'll bet it will still beread and admired in seventy-five years", should therefore have been an ideal book for me.
What can I say about "The Sea"? It is a good book, yes. It is probably a work of art. I don't doubt that countless highschool students will be forced to read it in years to come, simply for the excellent use of the english language. And yet, I didn't like it. Not only would it have been a lot easier to read if it had been divided into chapters, or at least had some kind of graphic structure. But mainly, I didn't like the style. Most of Banville's sentences are truly beautiful, in structure and in words. But somewhere, between all these wonderful, carefully arranged sentences, the story of the book was lost, as if the language was suffocating the content. Work of art, yes, but not a book for me.
Kathy Reichs - Break No Bones
I like Kathy Reichs and have enjoyed all of her books. "Break No Bones" was no exception. It is a good crime story with likable, human protagonists. But, having reread some of her older books after my recent stay in Montreal, where many of them take place, I admit that I like them better than her later works. The flaws make them more charming, and the stories are more surprising and less main-stream.
Nicole Krauss - The History of Love
Ah, "The History of Love". Save the best for last, and of these five, "The History of Love" is easily my favourite. A wonderful, intelligently structured book about love, life, and a book. The story is too complicated to describe in a few words, but never confusing when you read it. (I suggest you read the amazon reviews to know more about the story). It's one of those boks that leave you happy and satisified when you are finished with it, simply loveable. I will surely read it again one day, and I highly recommend it to you.
You can find more of this (I hesitate to call these reviews) here.
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