Sheesh, I have 19 books I still want to review that I've read this year. Here are some of them:
Doomsday Book - Connie Willis (time travel, historical fiction dark ages, depressing, highly recommended)
Bellwether - Connie Willis (scientist studying fads, light-hearted, recommended)
My Mother the Cheerleader - Robert Sharenow (young adult fiction, historical 50's segregated Alabama, recommended)
Mercy - Lara Santoro (American journalist in Africa, AIDS epidemic, fiction, eh, it was ok)
Wicked Lovely - Melissa Marr (dark "faery" story, kind of annoying but fun if you like vampire-type stories)
Napoleon's Pyramids - William Dietrich (action/thriller historical mystery. Macho protagonist, pointless use of math. Annoying. Not recommended unless you really like Indiana Jones and that hit novel about Jesus marrying Mary and having a kid.)
Rise of the Golden Cobra - Henry T. Aubin (young adult historical fiction about the ascendancy of Pharaoh Pianky. Not recommended unless you really really like Egypt, or are 12-year-old boy.)
Accordion Crimes - E. Annie Proulx (novel of short stories based on the lives of various immigrant families, loosely connected by possessing a certain accordion. Dense and at times tedious but extremely well written, recommended.)
Body of Lies - David Ignatius (novel by Washington Post columnist. How to fool a terrorist and advance the war on terror. Annoying if you are against the war since the author is able to instill fear in you and make you temporarily think the war is a good idea. Spies and CIA and men going around killing each other. Recommended if you liked "Syriana" the movie.)
Baboon - David Jones (boy turns into baboon after a plane crash. Excellent portrayal of the life of a baboon. recommended if you're into nature shows)
The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini (this book is now famous. Book group read it. Afghanistan, childhood memories, taking responsibility. Very good, recommended.)
Wash This Blood Clean From My Hand - Fred Vargas (French detective novel. Quite good actually. Interesting to see how the French and Canadians see each other)
Love, Meg - C. Leigh Purtill (young adult fiction, girl unhappy with her life writes letters to Jennifer Anniston. Hilarity ensues. Not really recommended unless you are a 15-year-old girl.)
Coal Black Horse - Robert Olmstead (young adult historical fiction about civil war. Boy searches for his father who is in the army and sees all sorts of horror. Recommended if you can stomach the gore.)
The One Where the Kid Nearly Jumps to His Death and Lands in California - Mary Hershey (young adult, boy with disability learns to stop being a jerk and feeling sorry for himself, recommended if you like coming of age novels)
The Plain Janes - Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg (young adult graphic novel, three girls named Jane deal with tragedy by doing renegade art, recommended)
Book reviews and other bookish things. Ideally I would post at least the title of each book I complete, but apparently even that is too much work. I'll do my best.
4 comments:
jeez, that's quite a backlog! Looking forward to the reviews tho!!
Thanks! I might try to create separate back-dated posts for each book and expand a bit. This will be a long term project though.
That is a great format for reviews! Not much opportunity for spoilers! And you don't have to read very much to figure out if the writer likes it or not. Nice.
You know, I'd been on a Connie Willis kick for awhile, and recently got some of her short story collections. And I have to say: meh. I don't like them at all. They're not nearly as gripping or powerful as Passage or Doomsday Book, and not nearly as witty and humorous as To Say Nothing of the Dog. Totally disappointing.
Oh, hey, look, I wrote a review!
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