I love this time-travel book and have started a community for it because it tells about a future where children and adults have equal rights. Better yet, it's recommended from age nine, so it's for quite a wide audience. I like that future a lot because it seems that not only are everyone's physical needs met, they also get more freedom and independence than most adults today. The plot begins in 2201, when a black hole is heading towards the sun, and volunteers must go back to 2101 to try to speed up science without causing too many changes. At the moment, only physically small people can use time travel -- and through some mistake, these children end up in 2001. The best part is that even now, the twelve-year-old narrator finds adult friends who treat him as an equal, though most adults don't. (Not that this idea hasn't existed at least since the 1970s -- really, may we review nonfiction books here?)
Murray Bail, Eucalyptus Penelope Lively, Moon Tiger Hope Mirrlees, Lud-in-the-Mist Kathleen Norris, Quotidian Mysteries Barbara Novak, The Margaret-Ghost Sigrid Undset, Kristin Lavransdatter: I - The Bridal Wreath Sigrid Undset, Kristin Lavransdatter: II - The Wife Sigrid Undset, Kristin Lavransdatter: III - The Cross Catherynne M. Valente, Oracles: a Pilgrimage Shay Youngblood, Black Girl in Paris
and some honorable mentions:
Kage Baker, In the Garden of Iden Sarah Dunant, Mapping the Edge Rumer Godden, China Court: the hours of a country house Nancy M. Malone, Walking a Literary Labyrinth Yann Martel, The Life of Pi Amanda Prantera, Capri File
x-posted at my lj, easyforletters, where there are reviews of each book
Inspired by her stint as a real-life oracle, these poems are about modern day sibyls living their lives in ordinary and magical ways. Each poem is like Take-Your-Daughter-to-Work Day: we see that Mommy's work can be unromantic, real, fascinating, dirty, tiring, and magical. Replacing the Oracles of Delphi, Cumae, and Dodona with those from Los Angeles, Miami, Manhattan, and Anchorage (among others), we are treated to 19 distinct voices, each revealing the life of an oracle off-the-clock or trudging through her duties.
I adore Valente's writing style; I love her imagery, the way she builds words into such complex feelings and scenes. Each poem is such a self-contained universe. For what it's worth, this book has accompanied me on half a dozen doctor's visits: every piece sucked me in and kept me enthralled while I spent hours waiting, and I now keep it tucked in my backpack, like emergency reserves, for when I find myself in need of escape.
(x-posted with other reviews at my book LJ, easyforletters)
i cant rate this book because i always have a harder time raiting stories of peoples life. i just finished this book minutes ago, & i'm crying. this book hit me like a book never has before. i have an ongoing respect for this author & his two novels (this one & million little pieces)
If youve read A Million Little Pieces, you would know his writing style & know that this is just a continuation of it. overall, they should have been one novel. & a very good novel, at that.
i met james about a year ago in the city, & i think that this is another reason why i cried so much at this book. to know that he is a real person & to talk to him & see him sitting on a stoop smoking a cig is the most real & most gratifying thing you can do to a novel.
Waiting: The True Confessions of a Waitress; Debra Ginsberg (5/5)
If you have even been a waitress, or you are ever planning on being a waitress & want to know what to look foward to- read this book. i just started being a waitress a couple of months ago & i already relate to everything the author has written in this book. every chapter begins with something funny that happened, & then a background on her theories of waiting. it really is a great book, & an easy read.
This fast read follows Flora Poste, a rich girl in post-WWII England, who discovers after the death of her parents that she is, in fact, not rich at all. With a calculated plan and the help from friends with great social connections, Flora moves to Cold Comfort Farm, a family stronghold in rural Sussex. Gibbons' writing is saturated in satire, and every character in this book--including Flora--is both a caricature and an archetype. No one, regardless of class or education, is spared by Gibbons, and it is the sharp sarcasm that keeps this book from becoming cloyingly predictable. On occasion, her flippant generalizations (usually anti-Semitic in tone) border on offensive but they are few and reflect, I suspect, the cultural attitudes of the time. This book reminded me a great deal of Austen as well as Charlotte Lennox's The Female Quixote or the Adventures of Arabella. Recommended read.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time; Mark Haddon (4/5)
This was, again, a nice easy read. It was about a young autistic boy who finds a stabbed dog one night. (Stabbed by a fork, might i add) The whole book is read in first person & reads like a journal/novel that he is putting together. It is very funny as "Whats Eatting Gilbert Grape" is funny. You feel bad laughing, but some of the things he says is just to funny to let pass by.
I would read it if you have the time. Besides its humor, it gives a brief look on what it feels like to be autistic.
this book was recommended to me a bunch of times by the same person, so i finally picked it up one day &decided to read it. it wasnt as good as i thought it would be- because i heard kundera's novels were amazing, but it was still okay.
i think the book was better towards the end, when you can see struggles with identity- but, still, i dont think it was the best. (although the words were written with such a prose that i could never hate)
What Was She Thinking?: Notes On a Scandal by Zoe Heller 3/5
Heller's novel is a sort-of memoir of Barbara, an older schoolteacher who becomes friends with Sheba, a middle age teacher who has a sexual relationship with a 15-year old student. Barbara's notes are meant to be as unflinchingly honest as possible, to provide a clear way of understanding Sheba and Sheba's actions. What is most interesting--and disturbing--about this novel is not Sheba's behavior but Barbara's: there is a thin vein of mild obsession and control that underlies everything about Barbara, and the story is less about Sheba's poor judgment and more about Barbara's. However, I didn't find anything very thought provoking or insightful about this book, and despite the jacket blurbs, did not find it to be a satirical exploration of anything.
This slim volume of memoir describes Dumas' experience of being Iranian in America in the 70s. It is a funny, easy-to-read book that articulates the immigrant experience while staying away from any deep exploration of politics or culture. Dumas alludes to the prejudice she faced in the US after the Islamic Revolution and the American hostage crisis but spends more time exploring the ways she was made welcome. There were a handful of stories that were laugh-out-loud funny but Dumas' real talent lies in her ability to make a foreign culture familiar enough to the reader that we can appreciate how weird moving to the US was for her and her family.
pleased