I read a ton of books this month, knowing I would not have much time to read in November because of NaNoWriMo.
Also, today is the last day to submit to the Dinosaur Writing Contest! I would love to receive some more submissions!
Here are the books I read this month!
Peace, Aimee
The Duel – Anton Chekov
When Levsky’s lover’s husband dies, he is afraid that he may have to marry her, but he doesn’t want to because he has too many gambling debts. The girl is a bit of a tart though (obviously, since she was cheating on her husband) and kind of ends up with this other guy, who is just about the opposite of Levsky. There are some well-rounded characters here. The Literary Lab has a great post about this book here.
Vida – Patricia Engel
This is the story of the life of a young Columbian woman growing up in the US. Great emotion and great characters, this is a pretty good book that I would recommend. It says a lot about young girls living in the American culture.
The Pearl – John Steinbeck
Super depressing, but that’s John Steinbeck for you. A poor man finds a pearl while fishing and the greed of the town results in very bad, sad things…
Mercier and Camier – Samuel Beckett
I didn’t really understand this book… I may have to reread it eventually. It’s about these two guys who kind of wander around town and talk about strange things. There were funny bits, and I wish I’d read it deeper, because I feel like the theme was Samuel Beckett’s main aim in this book. He’s really great with dialogue, and his use of props in this book was clever.
The Wild Things – Dave Eggers
This is based on the children’s book Where the Wild Things Are. Dave Eggers also helped write the screen play for the children’s movie. This book is a more adult version (as it’s a novel and there is some strong language in parts) but it is told (in third person) from the kid’s perspective. I really liked this book. The writing was great, and the pacing was brilliant. The character of Max was extremely well developed, and I really enjoyed the theme and how Dave Eggers revealed it. I would definitely recommend this book to just about everyone.
House of Meetings – Martin Amis
This novel is about two brothers and girl named Zoya in a love triangle in Soviet Russia during the time of Stalin’s labor camps. It was interesting, but it was a bit contrived. The more I read of Martin Amis, the less I’m impressed. I loved Time’s Arrow, but maybe the rest of his stuff isn’t as great as I thought it would be.
When We Danced On Water – Evan Fallenberg
One of the best books I’ve read in a long time. I posted about it here.
Twenty-Seventh City – Jonathan Franzen
This is Jonathan Franzen's first novel. I've read Freedom and The Corrections, and I liked both of those. This book, however, was a bit different. It focuses more on politics and the city (and country) as a whole, rather than the American family and society. I don't particularly agree with a lot of Jonathan Franzen's opinions and views on American culture, but he is very good writer.
Light Fell – Evan Fallenberg
See When We Danced On Water…
What Is the What – Dave Eggers
A beautiful portrait of a young man escaping Sudan to find a better life. I’ve been on the brick all month of deciding whether or not to bold this one, to put it on my ‘love’ list… But I didn’t love it enough to want to reread it eventually in my life, so I guess I won’t. However, my indecision led me to redo the books tab and put in italics all the books I really liked. Didn’t absolutely adore, but I liked them a lot. So there.
Bag of Bones – Stephen King
Novelist widower goes to visit his vacation home and falls in love with a young woman who has a daughter, but there are ghosts and stuff. Classic Stephen King. Pretty good book.
The Disappeared – Kim Echlin
It’s obvious that a lot of research had to go into this book, and the writing, in particular the descriptions, is fantastic. However, this book is a bit pretentious. There are some unnecessary descriptions that don’t add anything to the emotion or the plot of the story. But it was a good book for getting the vibe of the Pol Pot era in Cambodia. The narrator, a Canadian girl who falls in love with a Cambodian man, was not fully developed, in my opinion. Every action she did and every word she said was devoted to expressing her love for the man, and she seemed like she was not very sure of herself, as if she needed a man in order to be a person. I didn’t feel like I knew her at all, and I did not see what the guy saw in her at all… So, the plot of this book wasn’t fantastic, but the history was rich, intriguing, and very well done. I have mixed feelings about this book, but it was up for a few prizes, so I guess some people loved it.
Jurassic Park – Michael Crichton
This was the Blog Book Club book for this month. Here is my post about it!
Hummingbirds – Joshua Gaylord
Man this was a good month of books for me. I really enjoyed this one. It takes place in an all-girl’s school in New York. There are two male teachers who kind of dislike each other for some pretty good reasons, but they have a very cool dynamic that makes a lot of sense. The girls in the school are teetering on the brink of adulthood, which, ahem, shows in their interactions with their male teachers. The characters in this book were fantastically developed. I almost bolded this one as well.
The City of Falling Angels – John Berendt
John Berendt’s semi-non-fiction book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is one of my absolute favorite books of all time, and I love the movie too (John Cusack, Kevin Spacey, and Jude Law? Brilliant, top notch actors). But anyway, I had to get The City of Falling Angels too. It’s more non-fiction than his other book, as he uses the peoples’ real names and such. It’s about Venice. Berendt draws such an amazing portrait of Venice that I can picture it in my mind, every street corner, every person there, and how daily life plays out in Venice. But I’ve never been there, so my mind could totally just be making it all up. However, since this is a true story, the plot is not extremely catching. There are parts that seem too factual. Although I may have had overly high expectations because of my high opinion of his first book. But I sure do love the titles of his books!
The Rachel Papers – Martin Amis
Like I said earlier, Time’s Arrow is one of my all-time favorite books, but some of Martin Amis’ novels are a little too raunchy and creepy for my tastes. This is his first book, not creepy but definitely raunchy. It’s about this guy celebrating his twentieth birthday. He’s sort of a Holden Caulfield type of character, only he’s obsessed with literature and seducing women. This story describes him falling in and out of love with this girl named Rachel. It’s sort of as coming-of-age story, as well, though he doesn’t seem to grow up much in the end, in my opinion.
Revenge (Tennis Stars’ Balls Revenge) – Stephen Fry
My obsession with Englishmen goes further than just the young, attractive, heterosexual ones. In fact, I’m obsessed with British culture in general. So who better to read than the English cultural icon Stephen Fry? This book is loosely based on The Count of Monte Cristo. It’s about a man who is unjustly incarcerated and goes insane. When he realizes what happened to him, he enacts revenge. The language is fantastic, and the characters are well-developed. I really enjoyed this book.
After Dark – Haruki Murakami
Focusing on the lives of two sisters, this story takes place over the course of one night, from midnight to seven in the morning. Great character development and an interesting theme.
Book I Read This Month - September 2011
Survivor - Chuck Palahniuk
On my shelf, all I can see is an enormous PALAHNIUK, so I kept forgetting the title of the book; it's practically invisible on the cover. Anywho, it's a great book. Very Palahniuk-ish. Ah, isn't it great when an author has such a distinct voice that you can say something like that and everyone totally knows what you mean? And this book is weird. It's written backward. Even the page numbers are backward, counting down to the suicide of a celebrity religious leader as he dictates his life story to the black box of an airplane. It was a hilarious book, and I enjoyed it.
Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
I was shocked at myself for not having read this book yet, so I decided to give it a go. It is a classic and all. Also, my high school English teacher is related to Mary Shelley. But anyway, I thought the book was great. The first half was very well written and emotional, the interlude in which the monster relays his story to Frankenstein was a bit distracting but interesting, and the concluding third was suspenseful and quite telling about human nature.
42 - M. Thomas Cooper
This is an interesting mystery about a man whose wife runs away with her daughter, leaving no clues behind. As the story progresses, more things go missing and the main character becomes the main suspect. An intriguing story and a quick read, I would recommend this book to people who want to have a little fun and just go along for the ride. The number 42 does crop up a lot and gives you the chills a bit near the end, so I wouldn’t suggest reading it alone in the dark on a stormy night where something or someone could hop out and kill you…
Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
Some people claim that this is the best book ever written. And I have to say, that I really enjoyed reading it! Books published in its time period (and the ones translated from a different language, not less!) are usually difficult to read, but I found Anna Karenina surprisingly easy to read. The characters are very well developed, and the plot is twisty and exciting. And am I the only one who found it humorous? I wouldn't say it's the best novel ever written, but I have to agree that it is one of the best.
Publish This Book - Stephen Markley
Frustrated with the publishing industry, having written and pitched many stories to no avail, college student and writer Stephen Markley decided to write a memoir about trying to publish a book; the peculiar idea, however, was that the very memoir he was writing would be the book he was trying to publish. While Markley essentially wrote the book about writing the book, the events in his life quickly and cleverly became the main plot as he revealed the naivety and determination of youth that border on hubris. This is just about the funniest book I have ever read.
Conspiracies – F. Paul Wilson
Repairman Jack is back searching for a missing conspiracy theorist and uncovering some alien conspiracies on the way. I’m not sure why I’ve continued to read this series except for that I don’t like to stop reading something I’ve already started. The character Jack doesn’t seem all that interesting to me. In fact, the author goes out of his way to explain that Jack is normal in every sense of the word, except of course for the whole bad ass thing. But everyone seems to like the books, so I’ll keep reading and maybe the ending of the series will be awesome.
The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. le Guin
Blog Book Club book for this month!
Herzog – Saul Bellow
As I was reading this I kept feeling as though I’d read it before. Maybe I have. It’s a semi-autobiographical novel about a writer having his midlife crisis. Interesting and entertaining.
On my shelf, all I can see is an enormous PALAHNIUK, so I kept forgetting the title of the book; it's practically invisible on the cover. Anywho, it's a great book. Very Palahniuk-ish. Ah, isn't it great when an author has such a distinct voice that you can say something like that and everyone totally knows what you mean? And this book is weird. It's written backward. Even the page numbers are backward, counting down to the suicide of a celebrity religious leader as he dictates his life story to the black box of an airplane. It was a hilarious book, and I enjoyed it.
Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
I was shocked at myself for not having read this book yet, so I decided to give it a go. It is a classic and all. Also, my high school English teacher is related to Mary Shelley. But anyway, I thought the book was great. The first half was very well written and emotional, the interlude in which the monster relays his story to Frankenstein was a bit distracting but interesting, and the concluding third was suspenseful and quite telling about human nature.
42 - M. Thomas Cooper
This is an interesting mystery about a man whose wife runs away with her daughter, leaving no clues behind. As the story progresses, more things go missing and the main character becomes the main suspect. An intriguing story and a quick read, I would recommend this book to people who want to have a little fun and just go along for the ride. The number 42 does crop up a lot and gives you the chills a bit near the end, so I wouldn’t suggest reading it alone in the dark on a stormy night where something or someone could hop out and kill you…
Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
Some people claim that this is the best book ever written. And I have to say, that I really enjoyed reading it! Books published in its time period (and the ones translated from a different language, not less!) are usually difficult to read, but I found Anna Karenina surprisingly easy to read. The characters are very well developed, and the plot is twisty and exciting. And am I the only one who found it humorous? I wouldn't say it's the best novel ever written, but I have to agree that it is one of the best.
Publish This Book - Stephen Markley
Frustrated with the publishing industry, having written and pitched many stories to no avail, college student and writer Stephen Markley decided to write a memoir about trying to publish a book; the peculiar idea, however, was that the very memoir he was writing would be the book he was trying to publish. While Markley essentially wrote the book about writing the book, the events in his life quickly and cleverly became the main plot as he revealed the naivety and determination of youth that border on hubris. This is just about the funniest book I have ever read.
Conspiracies – F. Paul Wilson
Repairman Jack is back searching for a missing conspiracy theorist and uncovering some alien conspiracies on the way. I’m not sure why I’ve continued to read this series except for that I don’t like to stop reading something I’ve already started. The character Jack doesn’t seem all that interesting to me. In fact, the author goes out of his way to explain that Jack is normal in every sense of the word, except of course for the whole bad ass thing. But everyone seems to like the books, so I’ll keep reading and maybe the ending of the series will be awesome.
The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. le Guin
Blog Book Club book for this month!
Herzog – Saul Bellow
As I was reading this I kept feeling as though I’d read it before. Maybe I have. It’s a semi-autobiographical novel about a writer having his midlife crisis. Interesting and entertaining.
Books I Read This Month - August 2011 (Plus Peace Stuff)
In my Peace Blogfest post I said that you should sign up before 31 August 2011, which is today. However, I think the deadline is kind of lame. I'm letting people continue to sign up until the blogfest starts. Hopefully more people will join! Please join if you can, and spread the word anyway if you can't! Thanks so much to all the supporters!
I am going to post a list of everyone who signed up, plus the link to their blog, on Monday 12 September 2011. I will add to the list if more people sign up after the 12th. You can follow the participants or just use the list as a reference to read the Peace Blogfest posts when the time comes.
Here are the books I read this month. (Bold means I loved it!)
S. - John Updike
In interesting book written in the form of letters to and from the main character, a 40-something woman who leaves her husband and moves into a ashram. I thought it was good, and I felt smart reading it and knowing all the terms since I do yoga. :)
The End - Salvatore Scibona
Beautifully written! The characters are well drawn out, but the plot of the story was a little confusing to me and sort of slow. Very literary.
Oblivion - David Foster Wallace
A few short stories and novellas by the one and only David Foster Wallace. My favorite was the one entitled "The Soul is Not a Smithy," in which a teacher goes crazy at the front of the classroom.
V for Vendetta - Alan Moore (art by David Lloyd)
I'd already seen the movie a while back, but I had to read the comic because the movie was so good... I started reading it at 11 pm one night and couldn't put it down. I didn't get much sleep that night, but it was totally worth it. If you haven't heard of this, read it. If you've seen the movie but haven't read the comic, read it. If you've read the comic but haven't seen the movie, watch the movie. Yeah.
Already Dead - Denis Johnson
I really enjoyed this book. It's dark humor, with lots of drugs and sex and murder and ghosts and stuff. It may be morbid, but I really love books like that. It's not mindless, of course; the drugs and sex and violence all have a purpose in the story. It's the kind of thing I would like to write, but whenever I try to write that kind of stuff, I get all embarrassed.
Hamlet - Shakespeare
I'm really not sure why I decided to read this at this time. But Shakespeare, why not? I don't have anything to say about it that hasn't already been said before, though, so I won't say anything else. My favorite line? "Get thee to a nunnery!" Made me laugh out loud, even though in context it isn't funny. "Conscious does make cowards of us all" is another amazing line. Also, here is a clip of the brilliant David Tennant as Hamlet because I love him.
All the Pretty Horses - Cormac McCarthy
This was the book club book for the month! Here is my post about it.
The Lacuna - Barbara Kingsolver
A Mexican-American communist writer during the Red Scare? I think yes! Plus Diego Rivera and Leon Trotsky as characters. Beautiful language too and a great message about art and freedom.
Legacies - F. Paul Wilson
Next book in the Repairman Jack series. Donated Christmas presents stolen from AIDS orphans? How mean! Jack's got to save the day again. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time I was reading this book, and not just because it's a fast-paced thriller. The hero of the series, Jack, had to take on oil company terrorists. Sounds like a prejudice, stereotyping meanie thing on the surface (and Wilson calls one guy 'The Arab' which bothered me quite a bit; people should not be defined by their race) but it's not. There was definitely potential for it to go sour, but thankfully the author did not commit any terrible acts of racism, for which I was relieved.
Great Apes - Will Self
One of the weirdest books I've read in a while. This painter wakes up one morning and everyone are apes and thinks he's crazy for believing he is a human. Very odd and very Will Self-ish (more drugs, sex, and rock and roll; I know, right, with apes?) but funny.
I am going to post a list of everyone who signed up, plus the link to their blog, on Monday 12 September 2011. I will add to the list if more people sign up after the 12th. You can follow the participants or just use the list as a reference to read the Peace Blogfest posts when the time comes.
Here are the books I read this month. (Bold means I loved it!)
S. - John Updike
In interesting book written in the form of letters to and from the main character, a 40-something woman who leaves her husband and moves into a ashram. I thought it was good, and I felt smart reading it and knowing all the terms since I do yoga. :)
The End - Salvatore Scibona
Beautifully written! The characters are well drawn out, but the plot of the story was a little confusing to me and sort of slow. Very literary.
Oblivion - David Foster Wallace
A few short stories and novellas by the one and only David Foster Wallace. My favorite was the one entitled "The Soul is Not a Smithy," in which a teacher goes crazy at the front of the classroom.
V for Vendetta - Alan Moore (art by David Lloyd)
I'd already seen the movie a while back, but I had to read the comic because the movie was so good... I started reading it at 11 pm one night and couldn't put it down. I didn't get much sleep that night, but it was totally worth it. If you haven't heard of this, read it. If you've seen the movie but haven't read the comic, read it. If you've read the comic but haven't seen the movie, watch the movie. Yeah.
Already Dead - Denis Johnson
I really enjoyed this book. It's dark humor, with lots of drugs and sex and murder and ghosts and stuff. It may be morbid, but I really love books like that. It's not mindless, of course; the drugs and sex and violence all have a purpose in the story. It's the kind of thing I would like to write, but whenever I try to write that kind of stuff, I get all embarrassed.
Hamlet - Shakespeare
I'm really not sure why I decided to read this at this time. But Shakespeare, why not? I don't have anything to say about it that hasn't already been said before, though, so I won't say anything else. My favorite line? "Get thee to a nunnery!" Made me laugh out loud, even though in context it isn't funny. "Conscious does make cowards of us all" is another amazing line. Also, here is a clip of the brilliant David Tennant as Hamlet because I love him.
All the Pretty Horses - Cormac McCarthy
This was the book club book for the month! Here is my post about it.
The Lacuna - Barbara Kingsolver
A Mexican-American communist writer during the Red Scare? I think yes! Plus Diego Rivera and Leon Trotsky as characters. Beautiful language too and a great message about art and freedom.
Legacies - F. Paul Wilson
Next book in the Repairman Jack series. Donated Christmas presents stolen from AIDS orphans? How mean! Jack's got to save the day again. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time I was reading this book, and not just because it's a fast-paced thriller. The hero of the series, Jack, had to take on oil company terrorists. Sounds like a prejudice, stereotyping meanie thing on the surface (and Wilson calls one guy 'The Arab' which bothered me quite a bit; people should not be defined by their race) but it's not. There was definitely potential for it to go sour, but thankfully the author did not commit any terrible acts of racism, for which I was relieved.
Great Apes - Will Self
One of the weirdest books I've read in a while. This painter wakes up one morning and everyone are apes and thinks he's crazy for believing he is a human. Very odd and very Will Self-ish (more drugs, sex, and rock and roll; I know, right, with apes?) but funny.
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