Books 1-8 / 100
Here's my first post for the year. Once again, my goal is to read at least 100 books before January 1, 2011, and to have 50% of those books be non-fiction.
I guess everyone’s heard of this already. It’s an unfinished novel about the invasion of France in 1941.
This was fantastic. You barely notice that it’s unfinished, it’s so polished and …finished. But then you read the appendix and the author’s notes and see where she wanted to go with this novel, and it just breaks your heart thinking what it could’ve been if she’d had the time. I mean, more than your heart is already broken thinking about what happened to the author.
A really fantastic book about Dinah, the daughter of Leah and Jacob in the Bible. Dinah is mentioned in one chapter of Genesis, and Diamant extrapolates from that and writes a whole “biography.” This was just a really beautiful book about this woman who lived thousands of years ago and has practically been forgotten.
A dystopian what-if novel, about Charles Lindbergh (yes, that Lindbergh) being elected president in 1940 instead of FDR, with frightening consequences for the Jews of America. Roth puts himself into the novel as the narrator remembering his childhood.
This was an ok book. I felt like all the tension and doom never materialized into anything. It’s sort of scary and then sort of….meh.
Another really great book, but then, it’s Steinbeck. This was shorter than I thought it’d be. Anyway, I’m sure everyone already knows what it’s about, so I’ll just say that I highly recommend it.
A play about Coriolanus, a Roman general who is apparently really proud and eventually, despite his honor and his skill on the battlefield, his lack of sycophancy leads to his downfall.
I thought this play was boring, and it’s my least favorite of all of Shakespeare’s so far.
A play about Dionysus and his followers. One guy, who happens to be Dionysus’ nephew, denies Dionysus’ divinity and is punished along with his entire family. Made me think of True Blood Season two.
Anita goes to Las Vegas to deal with a vampire serial killer. Blah, blah, more of the same. I haven’t read #16 yet, but it didn’t make a difference really. This isn’t the worst book in the series, so perhaps Hamilton is making a comeback, but this still wasn’t a very good book. I’m just loyal to the series.
Also not so great. Reading these two books by the same author, back-to-back, really showed me how limited Hamilton’s range is. To have two “distinct” characters, with different backrounds, histories, universes, but they have the same dilemmas and vocabulary? Notice the ironic quotation marks around ‘distinct.’
- Suite Francaise - Irene Nemirovsky, translated by Sandra Smith
I guess everyone’s heard of this already. It’s an unfinished novel about the invasion of France in 1941.
This was fantastic. You barely notice that it’s unfinished, it’s so polished and …finished. But then you read the appendix and the author’s notes and see where she wanted to go with this novel, and it just breaks your heart thinking what it could’ve been if she’d had the time. I mean, more than your heart is already broken thinking about what happened to the author.
- The Red Tent - Anita Diamant
A really fantastic book about Dinah, the daughter of Leah and Jacob in the Bible. Dinah is mentioned in one chapter of Genesis, and Diamant extrapolates from that and writes a whole “biography.” This was just a really beautiful book about this woman who lived thousands of years ago and has practically been forgotten.
- The Plot Against America - Phillop Roth
A dystopian what-if novel, about Charles Lindbergh (yes, that Lindbergh) being elected president in 1940 instead of FDR, with frightening consequences for the Jews of America. Roth puts himself into the novel as the narrator remembering his childhood.
This was an ok book. I felt like all the tension and doom never materialized into anything. It’s sort of scary and then sort of….meh.
- Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
Another really great book, but then, it’s Steinbeck. This was shorter than I thought it’d be. Anyway, I’m sure everyone already knows what it’s about, so I’ll just say that I highly recommend it.
- Coriolanus - William Shakespeare
A play about Coriolanus, a Roman general who is apparently really proud and eventually, despite his honor and his skill on the battlefield, his lack of sycophancy leads to his downfall.
I thought this play was boring, and it’s my least favorite of all of Shakespeare’s so far.
- The Bacchantes - Euripides
A play about Dionysus and his followers. One guy, who happens to be Dionysus’ nephew, denies Dionysus’ divinity and is punished along with his entire family. Made me think of True Blood Season two.
- Skin Trade: An Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Novel, #17 - Laurell K. Hamilton
Anita goes to Las Vegas to deal with a vampire serial killer. Blah, blah, more of the same. I haven’t read #16 yet, but it didn’t make a difference really. This isn’t the worst book in the series, so perhaps Hamilton is making a comeback, but this still wasn’t a very good book. I’m just loyal to the series.
- Divine Misdemeanors, Merry Gentry #8 - Laurell K. Hamilton
Also not so great. Reading these two books by the same author, back-to-back, really showed me how limited Hamilton’s range is. To have two “distinct” characters, with different backrounds, histories, universes, but they have the same dilemmas and vocabulary? Notice the ironic quotation marks around ‘distinct.’