The booklog who was Thursday
Jan. 2nd, 2010 10:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
trinityofoneSo I didn't come remotely close to finishing this before the end of the year. Let's see if I can wrap it up before the end of January, shall we?
122. Mother Night, Kurt Vonnegut — Another Vonnegut that I read too quickly and I don't remember as well as I ought. This one had Nazis and some interesting stuff about morality. Worth adding to my "Reread—slowly, dammit!" pile.
123. White Apples, Jonathan Carroll — Another book that Neil Gaiman—my favorite author—loved, and that I hated. I really thought this one was going to work for me, too, as it has two of my favorite Dumb Plot Devices: Amnesia! Coming Back From the Dead! Carroll treats both of these premises in unusual ways, but nevertheless I found the narrative scattershot and incredibly unengaging. I think this may have been because Carroll changes the rules constantly, simply throwing in new fantasy elements when he needs them; I felt discombobulated the entire time I was reading, not to mention all-too-aware that I was schlumping through a fictional universe, rather than a world that felt real but wondrous. What gives, Neil?
124. Breakfast of Champions, Kurt Vonnegut — Oh, sweet meta! How I love this book for that. The rest of it I could sort of take or leave, unfortunately? But the meta, the glorious meta: anyone who is attempting to write any sort of metafiction at all should have to read this book.
125. The Magician’s Book, Laura Miller — Wonderful account of C.S. Lewis’ life and how it influenced the creation of Narnia, a.k.a. Yes I’m Still Bitter I Never Got to Go There. Miller intertwines Lewis’ story with that of her own relationship to the text, which parallels mine very strongly: the slow slide from adoration to disenchantment. This is in every way a fascinating literary biography, but it’s also just nice to see other books by and about other people who have never gotten over peering into wardrobes.
126. The Mysterious Benedict Society, Trenton Lee Stewart — The clever beginning to a clever kids' series that's not quite clever enough to keep this world-weary adult entertained. This book gets off to a fun start with the chapters in which young orphan Reynie is tested for admittance into the eponymous society. Once the actual plot gets going, however, there's way too much Evil Villains and Their Evil Plans Of Evil stuff going on. It's fairly yawn-inducing for anyone who's read anything like that before, and I've read lots. The ragtag assortment of child prodigies, despite being pretty awesome—especially Kate!—also take a frustratingly long time to figure out what's going on. I can totally understand why younger kids like these books, but I found the series lacks crossover appeal.
127. Ghosts, César Aira — Odd, hypnotic Argentinean novel about a caretaker's family living in an under-construction high-rise building haunted by a group of possibly malevolent, entirely naked ghosts. I'm not sure I ever really understood what Aira was building toward with this novel, or what he was ultimately trying to say, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Normally I'm a plot-and-character girl, but somehow, Aira made me enjoy long passages that were simply about, say, a bunch of characters going to the supermarket, or cooking dinner. It's easy to fall under this book's ghostly spell.
128. Beyond Heaving Bosoms, Sarah Wendell & Candy Tan — The authors’ blog, Smart Bitches Trashy Books, is consistently entertaining; this book is...almost that. I liked the discussion of the history and evolution of the romance novel, but I wish there had been more analysis and less repetition. I also wish, well, that I could share more easily Sarah and Candy’s enjoyment of the genre. This really has nothing to do with the effectiveness of this book, but man. As much as I like the Smart Bitches blog, and as much as I enjoyed parts of this book, I still find romance novels to be consistently disappointing, if not outright bad. And, most frustrating of all, I don’t think they have to be. Is it something about the rigid requirements of the industry? This country’s persistent attitudes toward sex and gender roles? I’d like to read a book about that.
129. The Man Who Was Thursday, G.K. Chesterton — You've never read anything like this book. It's part spy novel, part farce, part nightmare; it's a century old but feels utterly modern. It's as surreal as Auster or Borges, yet tangible, and best of all, it's hilarious. If you're looking for a unique read, look no further.
(If Misha Collins came into my store, this is the book I would give him. For reasons beyond the obvious. His sense of humor and Chesterton's are sort of similar in a weird way.)
130. R.U.R., Karel Capek — This is the play that coined the term “robot.” It’s a (now) fairly standard dystopian/apocalyptic scenario, most interesting at this point as an artifact. I’m glad I read it, though.
Total Reviews: 130/210
122. Mother Night, Kurt Vonnegut — Another Vonnegut that I read too quickly and I don't remember as well as I ought. This one had Nazis and some interesting stuff about morality. Worth adding to my "Reread—slowly, dammit!" pile.
123. White Apples, Jonathan Carroll — Another book that Neil Gaiman—my favorite author—loved, and that I hated. I really thought this one was going to work for me, too, as it has two of my favorite Dumb Plot Devices: Amnesia! Coming Back From the Dead! Carroll treats both of these premises in unusual ways, but nevertheless I found the narrative scattershot and incredibly unengaging. I think this may have been because Carroll changes the rules constantly, simply throwing in new fantasy elements when he needs them; I felt discombobulated the entire time I was reading, not to mention all-too-aware that I was schlumping through a fictional universe, rather than a world that felt real but wondrous. What gives, Neil?
124. Breakfast of Champions, Kurt Vonnegut — Oh, sweet meta! How I love this book for that. The rest of it I could sort of take or leave, unfortunately? But the meta, the glorious meta: anyone who is attempting to write any sort of metafiction at all should have to read this book.
125. The Magician’s Book, Laura Miller — Wonderful account of C.S. Lewis’ life and how it influenced the creation of Narnia, a.k.a. Yes I’m Still Bitter I Never Got to Go There. Miller intertwines Lewis’ story with that of her own relationship to the text, which parallels mine very strongly: the slow slide from adoration to disenchantment. This is in every way a fascinating literary biography, but it’s also just nice to see other books by and about other people who have never gotten over peering into wardrobes.
126. The Mysterious Benedict Society, Trenton Lee Stewart — The clever beginning to a clever kids' series that's not quite clever enough to keep this world-weary adult entertained. This book gets off to a fun start with the chapters in which young orphan Reynie is tested for admittance into the eponymous society. Once the actual plot gets going, however, there's way too much Evil Villains and Their Evil Plans Of Evil stuff going on. It's fairly yawn-inducing for anyone who's read anything like that before, and I've read lots. The ragtag assortment of child prodigies, despite being pretty awesome—especially Kate!—also take a frustratingly long time to figure out what's going on. I can totally understand why younger kids like these books, but I found the series lacks crossover appeal.
127. Ghosts, César Aira — Odd, hypnotic Argentinean novel about a caretaker's family living in an under-construction high-rise building haunted by a group of possibly malevolent, entirely naked ghosts. I'm not sure I ever really understood what Aira was building toward with this novel, or what he was ultimately trying to say, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Normally I'm a plot-and-character girl, but somehow, Aira made me enjoy long passages that were simply about, say, a bunch of characters going to the supermarket, or cooking dinner. It's easy to fall under this book's ghostly spell.
128. Beyond Heaving Bosoms, Sarah Wendell & Candy Tan — The authors’ blog, Smart Bitches Trashy Books, is consistently entertaining; this book is...almost that. I liked the discussion of the history and evolution of the romance novel, but I wish there had been more analysis and less repetition. I also wish, well, that I could share more easily Sarah and Candy’s enjoyment of the genre. This really has nothing to do with the effectiveness of this book, but man. As much as I like the Smart Bitches blog, and as much as I enjoyed parts of this book, I still find romance novels to be consistently disappointing, if not outright bad. And, most frustrating of all, I don’t think they have to be. Is it something about the rigid requirements of the industry? This country’s persistent attitudes toward sex and gender roles? I’d like to read a book about that.
129. The Man Who Was Thursday, G.K. Chesterton — You've never read anything like this book. It's part spy novel, part farce, part nightmare; it's a century old but feels utterly modern. It's as surreal as Auster or Borges, yet tangible, and best of all, it's hilarious. If you're looking for a unique read, look no further.
(If Misha Collins came into my store, this is the book I would give him. For reasons beyond the obvious. His sense of humor and Chesterton's are sort of similar in a weird way.)
130. R.U.R., Karel Capek — This is the play that coined the term “robot.” It’s a (now) fairly standard dystopian/apocalyptic scenario, most interesting at this point as an artifact. I’m glad I read it, though.
Total Reviews: 130/210
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-03 08:00 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-04 05:15 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-03 09:50 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-04 05:17 am (UTC)I don't think you have to get all of The Man Who Was Thursday to enjoy it; I certainly didn't! *g*
(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-03 10:13 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-04 05:19 am (UTC)You might try The Sirens of Titan, though; I like that one a lot.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-05 03:40 pm (UTC)As it is, I've already promised my copy to my dad, but I'm thinking about reneging. I want to read it again.