The Correspondent ~ Virginia Evans

 Delightfully witty, subtle crafting of the character.

Told through letters written and received by the elderly, fusty, fiesty Sybil

The Wedding People ~ Alison Espach

 

Everyone This Christmas Has A Secret ~ Benjamin Stevenson

 

James ~ Percival Everett

 

*** LIKE

I can't get carried away with the general love there is for this.

James (Jim from Huck Finn).  

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has its place in American literature because of its use of the vernacular.  

Everett almost mocks this by portraying Jim as a highly educated, erudite slave who hides it.  His almighty twist is that Huck is half black,  and the son of James  ... such a WTF!  

You Dreamed Of Empires ~ Alvaro Enrigue

 DNF

First Lie Wins ~ Ashley Elston

 

Native Tongue ~ Suzette Haden Elgin

 **** RECOMMEND

Sci Fi + Feminism + Language ... loved it

Thought Provoking, well considered construct

It is the first of a trilogy so I hope the others live up to this 

The Candy House ~ Jennifer Egan

 

**** RECOMMEND

A worthy companion to Goon Squad though it did my head in a little trying to keep the mental jigsaw together.

A Visit From The Goon Squad ~ Jennifer Egan

 

****** FAVOURITE

The Trees ~ Percival Everett

 **** RECOMMEND

Irreverent and relevant

How absurd to write a humourous book about racism and deaths! The book is absurd, the characters are absurd, the premise is absurd and it is great reading!

Second half drags a little.

Girl Woman Other ~ Bernadine Evaristo

Like Water For Chocolate ~ Lara Esquivel

Washington Black ~ Esi Edugyan

Wolf Winter ~ Cecilia Ekback

Manhattan Beach ~ Jennifer Egan

Not Dark Yet ~ Berit Ellingsen

X NO X
- UNFINISHED -

See the purple on the cover - suits the prose!
See the nebulous shape - suits the narrative

Perfidia ~ James Ellroy

X NO X

- UNFINISHED -

Perfidy : an act of deception
And so I was deceived into reading it.

And I was bored when I did.  And I was over the staccato writing and the lack of depth to the parade of characters.  The writing style.  It was abbreviated.   There was an air of immediacy.  Unrelenting in it's "hold your breath, something dramatic might happen".  It wore me down.  It was like a parody of writing styles.  Characters may have walked the walk and talked the talk but were rather like caricatures.

Reached the half way point and decided that, like the sentence structure, life was too short.

A Hologram For The King ~ David Eggers

**** RECOMMEND ****
Shortlisted : National Book Awards 2012

The Round House ~ Louise Erdrich

X NO X

National Book Award Winner 2012
Tournament of the Books : 2013 

Half Blood Blues ~ Esi Edugyan

*** LIKE ***

Shortlisted : Booker Prize 2011