Vacation book #2. I had read that this book was one of the most interesting Christie novels alongside The Murder of Royger Ackroyd.

I generally like the pacing of Christie’s novels and enjoyed Poirot and Miss Marple in the past. This one only had one Christie regular: Colonel Race. He did seem rather dashing in this novel.

The plot was alright. I do not know how I ended up reading two mystery books related to South Africa in one vacation.

The protagonist Anne Beddingfield is fun though her origin story seems slap dash. Then again, I think that’s consistent with most of Christie’s protagonists. I was surprised how she hated some woman she never met rather than the actual man who tried to kill her more than once. She couldn’t stand a woman who pretended to love a man especially her own man in the past, but the guy who tried to kill her was A-Ok. Not a great lesson that.

There is a rather bucolic ending too. All in all, a nice jaunt in Christie’s universe but nothing spectacular.

Read August 10-12, 2017 on Kindle.

This was one of my vacation books. I am not sure why I didn’t read Live and Let Die first. I guess it was not on Kindle for some reason.

I enjoyed Casino Royale well enough. These books should be decent pulp fiction easy for the holidays. When Bond was going to New York, I too was on a plane.

I didn’t know what to expect, but given this book did not inspire one of the better Connery Bond films, I should have expected the mediocrity. I understand these are older books, but this book had misogyny, racism, and homophobia at various points. Hit the jackpot. Aside from that, the book’s plot and villain are rather weak. Not an awful book, but certainly boring and not the best.

I debated whether to put this in the Classics club. The series as a whole is a classic and I really did like Casino Royale. This book in the series does not hold up well though. In the end, I put it in.

I will still continue to read the Flemming books.

Read August 6-9, 2017 on Kindle.

Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure or Fanny Hill by John Cleland is considered the first pornography in novel form. This book was widely banned, illegally published, and denounced by its author. It is definitely a classic in an infamous way at least. But is it a good novel?

When I was a kid, I enjoyed Charlotte’s Web so I wanted to read another E. B. White book. I have not seen the Stuart Little movies either.

This was a nice little children’s book which is written more of a series of short stories on the adventures of Stuart Little. I liked most of the stories. The characters were sweet and I liked the New York City setting too. Margola the bird and the Little parents were lovely.

Stuart has a big personality too and it borders on being egotistical. It was amusing until one of the last stories where he develops a crush on someone. It is relatable but he then becomes defeated when things don’t go his way. The story ends there and rather abruptly.

The novel too ends on a bit of a cliff hanger. You can tell White was done with the character and stories by then so he just gave up without much of a ending.

All in all, still a sweet and nice children’s novel.

Read May 15, 2016.

Happy Holidays!

In brief, I liked Joyce’s prose right away. There is something so simple yet good in how he puts words together.

However, the plot, the dialogue, and the character left me a bit wanting. I did like it in the beginning, but not much actually happens in terms of plot. You really have to relate to Stephen to enjoy it. I am not male or religious enough to have done so.

This book reminded me of Catcher in the Rye, but I like this book much better. I prefer Stephen much more than Holden Caulfield. It’s a similar angsty and reflective coming of age story but this one with a much more Catholic bent.

This was my first Joyce, and I do not think it will be my last. However, for a book less than 300 pages, this took me much longer than I would have liked. I hope Ulysses or Finnegan’s Wake is better, but I won’t try those out for awhile.

Read December 9-25, 2015.

This is a collection of stories from the same town of characters. I had hoped it would be like Gaskell’s Cranford, but it was a bit more like Faulkner and Stoner by John Williams.

Faulkner and Hemingway were allegedly inspired by Anderson. He is definitely a good writer and there definite moments of powerful prose and characterizations.

“Like a thousand other strong men who have come into the world here in America in these later times, James was but half strong. He could master others but he could not master himself.”

Anderson really seems to be able to get into a lot of characters in a quick succession of time. However, I found most of the stories too glum for me to enjoy fully. It’s one of the reasons I have no tried to read Faulkner again.

I yearn to read more books that are slightly less depressing. The ending is hopeful though I did feel I spent 250 pages with highly repressed characters. That’s a bit much. I did like it for the most part, but I do not think I will search out Anderson anytime soon.

Read November 30-December 2, 2015.