Okay, there are now 30 days until we begin meetings for this cycle of Best Fiction [in hot, sticky, but delicious New Orleans]. And as of today, 31 books I still have to read. YIPES!
But if I have learned anything from the Little Engine That Could, it is that mental power is everything. Which is why I am about to start training for a half-marathon. And start my new job. And continue hunting for the perfect sofa. And why not add a new round of edits on my manuscript?
Oy. Would that I could be this one kitty I know, lounging around all day because it is 84 degrees in our apartment.
But no. As usual, time to read!
Jumat, 27 Mei 2011
Kamis, 26 Mei 2011
I guess I fit right in
Evidently Cambridge is the country's most well-read city. Given that I've read almost 300 books since moving here, I have to say I agree.
Back to Laini Taylor's ah-mazing Daughter of Smoke and Bone.
Back to Laini Taylor's ah-mazing Daughter of Smoke and Bone.
Jumat, 20 Mei 2011
Book Review: Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey
This afternoon I finished up the remaining 100 pages of Craig Silvey's Jasper Jones, an Australian YA novel. The day before, I gave myself the lofty goal of reading three books. Well, I read three books, but I only managed to finish one of them yesterday. The other two I finished off earlier today. While the other two were quite good, Jasper Jones was the one that truly kept me spellbound.
The effortlessly moody coming of age story starts off when teenage Charlie is awoken at night by Jasper Jones, the half-Aboriginal outcast in town. The two barely know each other at the novel's start, but as it continues, their stories become intricately entwined. Jasper has found something horrifying in his eucalyptus hideout: Laura, the head of the shire's daughter, whom he had been secretly seeing at night, is dead, battered, and suspended from the tree. He knows how he is seen in town. No one will believe that he didn't do it. So the two young men do the only thing they can imagine doing at that point. They hide the body and tell no one.
With purposeful echoes of To Kill a Mockingbird, Silvey sets Jasper Jones in a town with two Boo Radleys: Jasper Jones and the Jack Lionel, the reclusive old man that Jasper holds under suspicion for killing Laura. What impresses me about this book, though, is that there is so much of interest going on in addition to the murder mystery (itself quite captivating). Set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War as witnessed in a small Australian town, there is Charlie's friendship with Jeffrey Lu, a Vietnamese refugee whose hilarious conversation topics belie the serious mistreatment his father receives from their neighbors. And we also have Charlie's family life, with his horrid witch of a mother, and his hapless teacher father, the tension bubbling to the surface only towards the novel's end. And then there's Charlie's budding romance with Eliza, Laura's sister.
This is a rich, textured novel that readers will want to soak in, not hurry through. Teenage Me craved books like this, with glimpses of the messy grown-up world, and beautiful writing.
This is coming of age at its best.
The effortlessly moody coming of age story starts off when teenage Charlie is awoken at night by Jasper Jones, the half-Aboriginal outcast in town. The two barely know each other at the novel's start, but as it continues, their stories become intricately entwined. Jasper has found something horrifying in his eucalyptus hideout: Laura, the head of the shire's daughter, whom he had been secretly seeing at night, is dead, battered, and suspended from the tree. He knows how he is seen in town. No one will believe that he didn't do it. So the two young men do the only thing they can imagine doing at that point. They hide the body and tell no one.
With purposeful echoes of To Kill a Mockingbird, Silvey sets Jasper Jones in a town with two Boo Radleys: Jasper Jones and the Jack Lionel, the reclusive old man that Jasper holds under suspicion for killing Laura. What impresses me about this book, though, is that there is so much of interest going on in addition to the murder mystery (itself quite captivating). Set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War as witnessed in a small Australian town, there is Charlie's friendship with Jeffrey Lu, a Vietnamese refugee whose hilarious conversation topics belie the serious mistreatment his father receives from their neighbors. And we also have Charlie's family life, with his horrid witch of a mother, and his hapless teacher father, the tension bubbling to the surface only towards the novel's end. And then there's Charlie's budding romance with Eliza, Laura's sister.This is a rich, textured novel that readers will want to soak in, not hurry through. Teenage Me craved books like this, with glimpses of the messy grown-up world, and beautiful writing.
This is coming of age at its best.
Rabu, 18 Mei 2011
I love the mailman
At least, I do when he deposits this on my doorstep.
I guess I know what I'm reading this afternoon!
Langganan:
Komentar (Atom)