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Books I Read This Month - April 2011

Please submit your entry for the character contest today! Today is the last day! I'll announce the winners on Monday.

Didn't read very much this month again! I'm falling behind on my 100 books in a year goal...

The Corrections - Jonathan Franzen
I read Freedom a couple months ago. It's amazing how this guy can say so much about the American way of family life and society while focusing only on one family and their struggles. Both of those books are like that, but they are drastically different at the same time. He's a great writer. I'll definitely have to read his other stuff some time.

The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
I read this because (cough, cough) I saw the movie, and it reminded a bit about my current WIP. Plus it's a classic, and Oscar Wilde is awesome. "The Importance of Being Earnest" is one of the funniest things I've ever read. But this book was really good. It said lots of interesting things about art and karma and stuff. I would totally recommend it if you haven't read it yet.

Night Train - Martin Amis
Martin Amis is my new favorite author. I think this guy is a genius. I read Time's Arrow a while back, and I think it made me tack a #9 onto my top 8 favorite books. Night Train was a good book, easier to read than Time's Arrow, but it is about suicide, so...

Mangrove Squeeze - Laurence Shames
Personally, it wasn't for me. I felt like the Russian mafia thing had been done before. But there were some funny bits in there that made me laugh. And there were these two homeless guys that I think made the story. I'd recommend it if you want a funny detective story rather than a serious one.

The Information - Martin Amis
Another Martin Amis. Be prepared for more Martin Amis because I went to Borders the other day and bought some Martin Amis. He's cool. And really smart. And English. This book, The Information, proved to me even more how awesome this guy is. He's an amazing writer who can take the most complex human emotions, splatter them on the page, and create this epic monster of a story to explain the root of human behavior. (Both Night Train and Time's Arrow are novellas, less than 200 pages, but they are epic monsters, I'm telling you.) So yeah.

Peace, Aimee

4 comments:

  1. I picked up Night Train and Time's Arrow at a library book sale, but I think I gave them away during my last move.

    Your interesting reviews and praise are making me regret this decision :).

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  2. You should check out Time's Arrow from the library then. :) It's brilliant.

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  3. I'll add it my TBR list. There's a library mere blocks away...

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  4. You'll have to read Picture of Dorian Gray all over again when the new version is released! The published version was heavily edited, but they are finally putting out the version as it was meant to be published originally. It looks amazing.

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