APRIL 2012

HAPPY EASTER

BOOK BUNNIES

Interesting APRIL web posts

How To Be A Discerning Reader :
http://bookriot.com/2012/04/19/how-to-be-a-discerning-reader/
Ways To Expand Your Literary Horizons :
http://bookriot.com/2012/04/26/5-ways-to-expand-your-literary-horizons/
How To Get The Most Out Of Goodreads :
http://bookriot.com/2011/10/01/how-to-get-the-most-out-of-goodreads/ 
Reading Is Fundamental
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp37ov3wHgM&feature=share
Ways To Fake It At Bookclub
http://bookriot.com/2011/11/02/7-ways-to-fake-it-at-book-club/
What I hate about being a reader
http://bookriot.com/2012/01/31/what-i-hate-about-being-a-reader/

And this is a gem!! BOOK PEOPLE UNITE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdpKIjpaBU8&feature=share%27%2C%29

The Rum Diary ~ Hunter S. Thompson

- UNFINISHED -

Not enjoying ... but may give it another go

The Buddha In The Attic ~ Julie Otsuka

**** RECOMMEND ****

Shortlisted : National Book Award 2011

A Collective memoir
The Rooster Reading Group pick for May

A wonderful, engrossing read!

Poetic and precise.  How can something so sparse in description, so economical with words, be so vivid and emotive?

I loved the way the research is presented in such a personal way.  I loved the use of the third person plural, "we". The grouping of the information in chapters stopped it seeming piecemeal, giving a focused poignancy and leaving a bittersweet aftertaste.

I have seen it compared to a mosaic but prefer  : "Like a pointillist painting, it’s composed of bright spots of color: vignettes that bring whole lives to light in a line or two, adding up to a vibrant group portrait."—The Seattle Times

The Light Between Oceans ~ M. L. Stedman

 X NO NO NO X

Meh! Froth and bubble
Syrup on cardboard cutouts

My goodness!  Wish I knew what all the pre release fuss was about ... highest praise for the publishing company ... and a shame that the book did not live up to the hype.

This was a girlie read (and OMG ... that is so derogatory to girls!).  OK, it was a simple beach-read aimed mainly at a female audience.  Not a literary experience.

The characters were so stereotyped and never jumped off the page.  They were over written to give them life (yes, he was in the war, yes, tell me again in case I forgot!).  The plot idea was fine but not overly developed, it just rolled along like the author's notes.

The story is set in Western Australia after World War 1.  This is the third book of that era that I have read in the last year.  Bereft by Chris Wormersley does it with so much more eloquence and vividness of the horrors of WW1and the scars of the returning soldiers.  Gilgamesh by Joan London (also set in Western Australia) does the human impact with so much more poignancy and breadth.

First Tuesday Book Club

Pale Fire ~ Vladimir Nabokov

 < OK >

A canto by Shade ...
and an unreliable commentary by Kinbote

I read this as the book nominated for April by The Rooster Goodreads book discussion group.  My first book club!  This is a reading group for those suffering withdrawals after the Tournament Of Books.

“… like a fiery rooster seems to flap his wings in a preparatory burst of would-be inspiration, but the sun does not rise.”
This quote is just right! After all, this is for The Rooster group and maybe discussions could get fiery … and I am glad that I exposed myself some would-be inspiration … but for me the sun did not rise!

I enjoyed it but it didn’t grab me. I enjoy a slow reveal; I enjoy an unreliable narrator; I enjoy a satire; I enjoy extending my vocabulary. Pale Fire had it all but I found I was keen to get finished and be done with it. Maybe this was to do with starting my reading too late so that others had already started commenting and I felt I was lagging behind??! Maybe it is because I am not overly into analysing and second-guessing the author’s motives and machinations, too much of a literal reader.

My favourite lines from Shade's canto:
“How many more Free calendars shall grace the kitchen door?”
or
“Summer was power-mowed, and autumn, burned.”
and, of course,
"I was the shadow of the waxwing slain
by the false azure in the windowpane;"

I think my favourite Kinbote–isms were :
“a cricket cricked” or “Thither trudged our thug.” or “He was a regular faunlet.”
and
“for better or worse, it is the commentator who has the last word.” 

The Turn Of The Screw ~ Henry James

X NO X

To each his own ... but this style is not for me
Scary story ... but even scarier sentence construction

This was my first Henry James ... this will be my last Henry James. His writing style got the better of me. The sentences are long with multiple subjects, inserted clauses, excessive wordage. I think I could virtually copy any sentence at random from the book and copy it here to show the repetitive, convoluted, muddy style. I have never minded the old, sometimes clumsy, style of Hardy, Bronte et al, but this was something else! This is wordy and repetitive and often I felt a need to second guess what the sentence was about, let alone the narrative.

At times I thought that I was glad that I had seen the movie so that I could make sense of it all, but I feel that the "unreliable narrator" is as much in evidence as the "gothic horror", giving it a thought provoking ambiguity. Is it haunted? Is she mad? Do I care?

A Visit To Don Otavio ~ Sybille Bedford

** RECOMMEND **

Non Fiction, Mexican travel diary
Another "if only I'd read it before visiting Mexico!!!!"


Just loved it! It is so hard not to be boring and cliched and write that this was "charming" ... but it charmed the socks off me. Her observations were unaffected and personal, sometimes insightful, sometimes naive.

This was travel writing at its best. You visit Mexico (early 1950's) through her eyes and see the colour, taste the food, feel the hospitality and become immersed in the history. And all with a laugh. Her observations are simply and humorously written, the information is fascinating and the writing style is compelling ... a perfect combination for a personable, yet idiosyncratic, travelogue.

I am sure that everyone who reads this book would sigh with a wish that they could have travelled with her!

MARCH 2012

Past The Shallows ~ Favel Parrett

If you like Tim Winton, you'll like this
And I don't like Tim Winton

There were positives :
voice of the young boy through whom the story is told is well done;
the sense of place, a rather bleak Tasmania, was well done;
the unfolding of their blighted lives is well done;
the characterisation is well done;
the descriptions of the sea are well done;
well done, it's Australian ... but, so what!!

But it just didn't do it for me.

It didn't draw me in. I am not sure if the twist, the emerging memory, was meant to be so obvious. And I am not sure what the role of the reclusive neighbour was. The ominous sense of violence was a little unrelenting. The lyricism of the language lead nowhere - yes, some poetic passages, finely polished, but I found it all tedious in the long run.

Longlisted for 2012 Miles Franklin Award
First Tuesday Book Club

Mudbound ~ Hillary Jordan

*** FAVOURITE ***

Oh my! Breathtaking!
An engrossing, disturbing, memorable book


It has taken me a while to write this review. I usually post them withing a day or two of finishing, but with this one, I just had to wait, had to process it, had to calm my thoughts, had to savour it.

This is set in Mississippi just after the end of WW2. Social change and civil rights are not on the agenda. Mudbound is the sarcastic name bestowed the farm, but the storyline is mired in the murk of humanity. It is a sharp edged look at life in the 40's, a much harsher view of racism than The Help.

The characters are finely written and each gets to contribute to the story with chapters given from varying points of view. There are sour, mean-spirited bigots, there are damaged war veterans, there are the disenfranchised. If you have to draw a breath over the place of women in those days, then you have your breath taken away by the treatment of Negroes.

The story is shows the inhumanity of people towards each other but while the flavour of the story is one of extreme prejudice and cruelty, it is a touching and compelling read. This book will haunt you.

My only complaint is that I couldn't settle in to a new book after finishing (tried deep-and-meaningful, mindless-scholck) ... as this one seeps into your thoughts and takes hold!

Winner of the Bellwether Prize (This prize was founded by Barbara Kingsolver to reward books of conscience, social responsibility, and literary merit)