Tag Archives: Abandoned / Skimmed
Yuck
I sat patiently up to the sixtieth page, growing more and more bored by the second—how many ways can you insist that two people love each other even if (gasp!) they’re in their forties, and that this magical sex-strike just ruined everything? how many lackluster, unworthy-of-book-space characters (armed with their sex-lives-that-were) are you going to introduce us to? And then I realized I was being a complete idiot and just skimmed to the end. Where, lo and behold, the townspeople arrive at epiphanies and voice them publicly, on stage!—and the spell lifts and people can start bonking each other again! (It’s not Disney, goddammit!) And don’t forget the mysterious nomad who’s been—wink to the reader!—doing this for years. Hurray for magical Greek plays! Goddamnitall. [Continue reading.]
And then: The absurd
There is only so much unwarranted and unrewarding absurdity a mind can take, John Irving. I expect you to know that, I expect you to be skilled at toeing that fine line between the ridiculousness that turns when you least expect it and plain lack of sense. You are not supposed to be the kind of old friend I’ve been forced to mutter, “Are you fucking kidding me?” over and over whilst I am in your company—and after years of nothing. Goddammit all to hell and back, John. [Continue reading.]
Mostly unmoved / unmoving
Have been rather ambivalent about updating this blog, as I’ve been largely unmoved in what paltry reading I’ve done this March. In the past couple of weeks, there has been a limping parade of books-that-thought-they-could. I argue that I read them because they were the only ones that called to me, albeit feebly—in a, “Hey, […]
“She had read no further.”
I wanted to feel like there was something at stake. That way, I could commit to the text. I could commit to the story Salter has been at pains to tell me; I could actually know these people I’m reading about. I could actually read as though every page wasn’t a test of my intelligence, of my due appreciation of the art and craft of writing. Basically: I wanted a book. And Light Years hardly ever felt that way for me. [Continue reading.]
From reading’s bygone days
There are books you read once and then put away on your shelf. You know that you will never have to read them again, although you may return to them to check certain points or to refresh your memory of certain ideas or episodes. (It is in the case of such books that the notes […]
“Life as we know it has ended, and yet no one is able to grasp what has taken its place.”
#36 of 2011 • In the Country of Last Things, by Paul Auster And so Auster tries to figure it out by himself. Here, yet another Paul Auster. Not the Auster I’m used to, not the convoluted post-modern woozy, definitely not the breathtaking shmexy-tenderness of Invisible. This time, he’s tackling exploring a post-apocalyptic world: Is […]
Quick thoughts on Kung, Ishiguro, and Fish
It happens. Every once in a while, I read a book or two—or maybe four in sequence—that inspires in me reaction that’s zilch at worst and feeble at best. I began it with the tired rant of One Day—although, because I am dorktastic, the feedback I got and the Much Loved Status of the book […]
marginalia || The White Woman on the Green Bicycle, by Monique Roffey
Abandoned for now: The White Woman on the Green Bicycle, by Monique Roffey. This one was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction this year, and I know a lot of you really love the novel — and I know I could love this novel as much. But. We haven’t been getting along. I picked […]
marginalia || Cecilia, by Linda Ferri; translated by Ann Goldstein
I. Reasons why I wanted to like Linda Ferri’s Cecilia [translated from Italian by Ann Goldstein]: I liked The Elegance of the Hedgehog. Following that line of thought: I want all my Europa Editions reads to be awesome. [Does it make sense that liking one book from a publisher would lead to liking all the […]
