Tag: 2013 books

I enjoyed Theroux’s Dark Star Safari some years ago. Whenever I encounter his travel writing, I do like it. I don’t always necessarily share all his political views on Africa, but he does have some valid concerns with foreign aid. I really like his writing because he is a traveler and has an exploratory spirit.

He was 70 when he did this tour which is probably his last travel of Africa. This last travelogue has him travelling through South Africa, Namibia, a bit of Botswana, and finishing it Angola. He writes about how Africa has changed in the fifty years since he first stepped on the continent.

The book has a fascinating anthropological bent especially when discussing the Bushmen of Namibia. Africa is not always a happy or light topic. Theroux is an honest and candid author this way, but this book was a bit dispiriting at times. After he reached the almost inhospitable Angola, Theorux would ask himself “What am I doing here?” Not a question any traveller should ask themselves often when travelling really.

Overall, I would recommend Theroux’s writing to someone who really wants to read about contemporary Africa. It may not be an easy read, but his experiences on the road says a lot about the continent world. It definitely speaks more than the news (or lack there of) we get about it.

Read July 6-7 2013.

I was excited for this book because I was a big fan of Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma. Pollan and I have a similar view and philosophy regarding food. In this book, he explores the history that humans have with four processes of cooking: roasting meat (fire), boiling/braising (water), baking bread (air), and fermentation (earth).

I loved this book at its introduction:
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I studied The Giver in school. I really liked it, and have since read the sequels, Gathering Blue, Messenger, and now, Son. I was not as impressed with the sequels as I was with The Giver. I still think that is one of the best Young Adult books from the late twentieth century. I fondly remember the moment when Jonas the learns about the colour red.

I’d forgotten a lot of the previous two books when I started Son, and I liked that this last instalment of the series goes back to the original community. I liked the protagonist Claire, and the moments of maternal love were very moving. Lois Lowry lost her own son, and this yearning for him comes through Claire. I like Lowry’s style which is simple, but still expressive. She is a story teller.

I am not completely in love with this Quartet though, and it’s become increasingly supernatural with most of the characters displaying powers. This is fine except it it’s hard to balance with the focus on dystopian culture. I understand why there is an element of Good vs. Evil, but at the same time, I wish the books were more analytical about the nature of human authority. In any case, this is a rather minor quibble since I was satisfied with the ending.

This is a good end to the Quartet overall, but I do think that it is not necessary to read the sequels as The Giver is in itself, a great stand alone novel.

Read July 1, 2013.

This is one of those novels that seemed almost like nonfiction. It is based on Kerouac’s actual journeys across America so a lot of it was probably real. The inconsistency and wildness seemed too strange to be fiction at times. I don’t know what is fact and what is fiction.

I liked Kerouac’s style early on. Sal the protagonist is observant, perceptive and largely optimistic about life. The novel is set in a time just right after the war and even with all the drug use, sex, and madness, there is a certain innocence of America in that time. It was before the Cold War became central, the 1960s, Vietnam and the turbulent decades for America’s loss of innocence.

It took me longer than read this book. I was a bit stuck one third and half way through the book because while many things do happen in the book, there isn’t a formal plot per se. It meanders with vignettes which did not make me likely to pick it up.

The use of stream of consciousness increased in the book as well. There were times when I felt things were getting worse as the book wore on. There were the same adventures over and over. Sometimes, it felt sadder by the chapter.

The end with Mexico was interesting though, and in general, I liked Kerouac’s writing. I would read his works again.

Read June 23-30 2013.

On the Road (2012)

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Is a book a classic when no one has heard of it? I looked on Goodreads and reportedly only about 55 people have rated/read it on that website. A classic should not defined by notoriety, but by its relevance over time. Does this book warrant that title?

I added this book to my Classics Club selection and my Spin List. I had bought it at least four or five years ago at a used book fair. It was only $1 and it was a well made little book that came with a dust jacket. The book was originally published in 1919, authored by someone I had never heard of, but I really bought because the binding was so lovely. It didn’t look like anyone had read more than once if at all.

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If you like books and bookstores, you should read this. It’s funny.

Ok, a more proper review then: As someone who has worked in retail or customer service, none of this stuff surprises me. People often live in their own bubbles which can show how ignorant and sadly entitled they are. Both the “Parents” and “Customers Behaving Badly” section of this book shows that. There is something depressing stuff about society in here. All we can do is better customers ourselves, and laugh about these unique moments in time:
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Nick Hornby wrote that this was one of the best novels he had read in the last few years. Originally published in 1965 and reissued in 2006, this novel is the story of a man who becomes a Professor of English at the University of Missouri. It recounts his whole life.

I understand why Hornby loves this book. For readers who liked Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead, this is very similar. Both are about undistinguishable men from the midwest with simple lives and backgrounds. Both novels are quiet and filled with instropection. They are both very well written.

The prose is strangely dense. It’s a small novel, but it does not seem anything is wasted. It’s a simple story of an ordinary man told well. It’s not a particularly happy story either, but it’s not a roller coaster of events. I found it engrossing in its way.

Most of the book is actually a bit sad from today’s modern perspective. Professor William Stoner is not close to his family, marries a woman who does not love him, and has a career which is stunted by personal politics. When the novel reaches its most passionate and sensual point, it is lovely:

“That the person one loves first is not the person one loves at last, and that love is not an end but a process through which one person attempts to know another.” (p. 194)

Still, this not an exciting or particularly vibrant novel in the conventional sense. There is definitely a dignity about the protagonist. I really liked the prose.

I would not say I love this book as much as Gilead though. While realistic, the conflict in the English Department felt a bit contrived. It seemed by that point in the novel, not a lot was going well for the Professor.

All in all, a lovely novel that should be more widely read especially by those of us who like literary fiction.

Read June 15-16, 2013.

Sophie Kinsella is one of my favourite chick lit authors. That’s not a large niche because I don’t read that much chick lit. Still, I’ve enjoyed most of her novels even though her characters embarass themselves a lot mostly through lying.

This novel had more characters than the typical Kinsella book, and the two women narrate the story. It’s interesting because it gives perspectives on some intimate relationships. It is the theme for all the characters that they have to be reminded by others about taking things too far. It’s a story about seeing yourself objectively.

I realized during this book that here is a lack of women of colour in Kinsella’s novels. I am not sure why it took almost ten of her books for me to realize, but perhaps those other ones distracted me long enough to realize it.

This book did drag for me a bit. I thought the slapstick antics were too much even if I did laugh during the couples quiz. While I found the female characters the same as her other books, foolish but still relatable, it got a bit too much for me. I just thought it could have been cut down by about fifty pages.

I like the fact there was more than one ending because of the larger cast of characters. I hope Kinsella does that again, but I also felt the men were short-changed as a result. Kinsella can write some amusing leading men, but not enough of them here though.

I’ll read Kinsella again, but I do not think this was one of her better novels.

Read June 15 2013.

I’m still not quite sure if I really like the works of Audrey Niffenegger. I read The Time Traveler’s Wife as many others did which I found fine. I read Three Incestuous Sisters as a result and found myself more indifferent to her work. I do appreciate the use of art and writing together.

This is basically an adult picture book except not inappropriate or gratuitous. It’s still strange because it features a man and a raven whom fall in love and their resulting daughter. I actual don’t mind this oddity, rather like this strangeness and the art that goes with it. The ending felt a bit abrupt though. I did like it overall better than the last Niffenegger graphic book, but not a classic by any means.

Read June 14, 2013.

This steampunk and urban fantasy series is great in manga form. So fun and in many ways, even more hilarious and better than the books since it’s done in this style. I hope this series is popular in Japan too because it definitely would have a market there.

The exaggerated expressions and face sweats are typical manga form, but there is also a restraint it in because this is still an action series. I’m enjoying this manga more than I thought. I think people who have not read the books would like them as well as it misses very few details. It even adds many not shown in the book for comic effect.

Fun manga and graphic novel series.

Read June 12-13, 2013.

Neil Gaiman is one of my favourite authors alive today. He writes stories and has an imagination that touches and enthralls me. He also has excellent taste in short stories.

In this collection, he curates some wonderful supernatural stories. He wrote one of them, but this collection of stories includes authors from the modern day and the early twentieth century. I liked that variety.

I liked almost every one of the sixteen stories featured. I think I was only indifferent or very bored with a couple of them, but that’s a high number for me. It’s difficult to get this much quality. Some of them are quite clever. Several are pure escapism.

I really enjoyed this collection.

Read June 9-11th 2013.

I am going through my Sedaris kick especially his audiobooks. It’s rather difficult to review his books and essays as you either get his sense of humour or you don’t. This one is even more family oriented than the others of his I have read. I’m actually less partial to his family stories, but they are still amusing and elicit some gems.

I do laugh while listening to his essays. He is a great reader. One of my favourites was “Six to Eight Black Men” which Sedaris performed live. I always like listening to live things and it feels you’re laughing along to others. I just think I like listening to other people’s laughs.

Sedaris is a strange man who has an interesting mind. He writes things which most people would not ever put to words or speaking, but I often suspect we all have strange tendencies. It’s a quirky way of looking at people and the innate humour of life.

Listened to on audiobook June 5-9, 2013.