More books!
I'm finally getting around to reviewing the books I've been reading over the past few months.
Ha ha, you thought you were going to see boobies.
Til We Have Faces: A Myth Retold by C.S. Lewis. Lewis retells the myth of Cupid and Psyche, focusing on Psyche's sister. It takes place in a fantasy world, and is a good comparison of true love versus toxic love, but I like his other fiction better.
Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella. Yes, it's chicklit. Yes, it's by the same author who writes the Shopaholic books, which I detest. But this one is adorable and fun, and I read it in one day. It's about a young lawyer in London who has a breakdown, runs away, and ends up as a housekeeper in the English countryside. Hijinx ensue, there's a love interest, and everyone ends up happily ever after, etc. etc.
Fly by Night by Francis Hardinge. I had such high hopes for this book, and I was so, so disappointed. It's a children's novel that takes place in this parallel, faux Victorian world where books and words are controlled by guilds. It's fairly politically complex, and boring as hell. It's also very confusing, and if I as an adult couldn't understand it, I don't know how children will.
This Is Not Chick Lit edited by Merrick. Collection of literary fiction by women. As with all short story collections, some were really good, and some...weren't. My favorite was the story of Joan-of-Arc in a modern day docudrama.
The Devil in the White City by...that dude. I hated this book. Hated. It. HATED IT. All the stuff about the Chicago World's Fair was boring, and everything about the killer dude was horrifying and scary. The only reason I finished it was because it was for book club. And guess what? Only 3 of us finished it! That'll learn me.
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. The first in the Thursday Next series, this is a book I've now read 3 times. I...don't know how to distill the plot, but I'll try. Thursday works in Spec Ops as a Literary Detective. She is also able to go into the Book World and interact with characters, in this case, Jane Eyre. Fforde creates an incredibly rich, detailed world, both within books and in Swindon, England. It's like Alias meets a library. With a healthy dose of time travel, mythology, puns, dodos, jokes, Neanderthals, and illegal cheese.
Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde. The second in the Next series. Thursday has to stop the world from ending and get her husband reactualized. Without getting killed.
The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde. The third. Thursday is fully immersed in the book world, working with Miss Havisham from Great Expectations, and trying to keep the crappy mystery book she's living in from being tossed into the Text Sea. Plus anger management counseling in Wuthering Heights!
And that brings me to now. I'm reading the fourth Next book, Something Rotten, which involves lots of Hamlet. And some toast. It is awesome.
posted by junipar
Ha ha, you thought you were going to see boobies.
Til We Have Faces: A Myth Retold by C.S. Lewis. Lewis retells the myth of Cupid and Psyche, focusing on Psyche's sister. It takes place in a fantasy world, and is a good comparison of true love versus toxic love, but I like his other fiction better.
Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella. Yes, it's chicklit. Yes, it's by the same author who writes the Shopaholic books, which I detest. But this one is adorable and fun, and I read it in one day. It's about a young lawyer in London who has a breakdown, runs away, and ends up as a housekeeper in the English countryside. Hijinx ensue, there's a love interest, and everyone ends up happily ever after, etc. etc.
Fly by Night by Francis Hardinge. I had such high hopes for this book, and I was so, so disappointed. It's a children's novel that takes place in this parallel, faux Victorian world where books and words are controlled by guilds. It's fairly politically complex, and boring as hell. It's also very confusing, and if I as an adult couldn't understand it, I don't know how children will.
This Is Not Chick Lit edited by Merrick. Collection of literary fiction by women. As with all short story collections, some were really good, and some...weren't. My favorite was the story of Joan-of-Arc in a modern day docudrama.
The Devil in the White City by...that dude. I hated this book. Hated. It. HATED IT. All the stuff about the Chicago World's Fair was boring, and everything about the killer dude was horrifying and scary. The only reason I finished it was because it was for book club. And guess what? Only 3 of us finished it! That'll learn me.
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. The first in the Thursday Next series, this is a book I've now read 3 times. I...don't know how to distill the plot, but I'll try. Thursday works in Spec Ops as a Literary Detective. She is also able to go into the Book World and interact with characters, in this case, Jane Eyre. Fforde creates an incredibly rich, detailed world, both within books and in Swindon, England. It's like Alias meets a library. With a healthy dose of time travel, mythology, puns, dodos, jokes, Neanderthals, and illegal cheese.
Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde. The second in the Next series. Thursday has to stop the world from ending and get her husband reactualized. Without getting killed.
The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde. The third. Thursday is fully immersed in the book world, working with Miss Havisham from Great Expectations, and trying to keep the crappy mystery book she's living in from being tossed into the Text Sea. Plus anger management counseling in Wuthering Heights!
And that brings me to now. I'm reading the fourth Next book, Something Rotten, which involves lots of Hamlet. And some toast. It is awesome.
posted by junipar