Llew's Reviews

Archive for the 'All The Cool Kids Were Reading it' Category

Book #34 The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon

Thursday, August 11th, 2005 by Miss Laura

“It was at these times that he began to understand, after all those years of study and performance, of feats and wonders and surprises, the nature of magic. The magician seemed to promise that something torn to bits might be mended without a seam, that what had vanished might reappear, that a scattered handful of doves or dust might be reunited by a word, that a paper rose consumed by fire could be made to bloom from a pile of ash. But everyone knew that it was only an illusion. The true magic of this broken world lay in the ability of the things it contained to vanish, to become so thoroughly lost, that they might never have existed in the first place.”

Magical, indeed.




Book #32 Snow Flower And The Secret Fan by Lisa See

Thursday, July 21st, 2005 by Miss Laura

Snow Flower and The Secret Fan made me physically ill, and I loved every incredible moment of it.

There were several topics covered in this novel which I wasn’t very aware of. The first was footbinding which I, naturally, had heard of but wasn’t well versed in the details. My stomach is too weak for it so I have no idea how those women’s feet handle it. Although, the maxim of the women during this time period in China was that pain tempers people into who they should become, and into beauty itself.

Nu Shu, the secret written language of the women in China, is another subject which I am woefully ignorant in. The story centered on the lives of two girls who seal into a contract to be lifelong best friends in rural China. It touches on the universal trials which trouble most close relationships between women, as the characters suffer through plagues, rebellions, children, and marriage. (Although I suppose the first two are the same as the last two, heh).

In the end, it was one of the most enchanting recent novels I have read in a very long time. It is not a happy story, and consequently, there is not a happy ending. But the substance of it by far exceeds any need for it.




Book #31 Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince

Wednesday, July 20th, 2005 by Miss Laura

You didn’t think I could go back to work without having read Harry Potter and the Mulatto, did you? I have standards!

Also, I realized that the only reason I cared about Professor Snape’s actions in this book is because Alan Rickman* plays him in the movies. But otherwise, guess how little I would care?

*Ok, so I was sadder about Sirius Black/Gary Oldham. Thanks to Carrie for the correction.




Book #21 The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

Wednesday, June 1st, 2005 by Miss Laura

On June 14th, Elizabeth Kostova’s book “The Historian” will go on sale, and you (yes, you) should read it. Even if you’re too poor to shell out the $25.95 that it takes to support your local independent bookstore who cultivates literacy while strengthening your community, you should go harass one of those do-gooder librarians for a copy to borrow.

It is one of the most well written captivating books I have read ever with a rich detailing of the history and culture of eastern eurpoe. Sure, when someone asks you what the book is about you’ll have to lower your voice and kind of slur your words so they don’t understand you’re saying “Vampires” but really the novel is a lot more than just that. Plus, it overshadows and completely diverges from any modern vampire tales. Trust me – it’s good.

Also, I hope that I’m the only one who hypes it up because I would be a little crushed if people began to see it as overrated or overdone.




Book #17 These Demented Lands by Alan Warner

Thursday, May 5th, 2005 by Miss Laura

For whatever reason, I can never remember the title of this book so I keep referring to it as “The dismemberment Plan.” Couple that with my “Cesspool, Ca” mishaps and I’m just one of those senile old ladies who smears on the lipstick not realizing that her lips disappeared a decade ago.

This was Alan Warner’s second book and the third of his I’ve read. It was also my least favorite. Not that it was bad per se. It’s just the others were SO good. Of course, what novel will ever be able to hold a light to one about naughty Scottish school girls?

This one has really great weird characters, including Morvern Callar who you can’t help be smitten with and scared of all at once. The story is also told by a man who claims to work for the department of transportation as an aircrash investigator. He’s always looking for and piecing together the remnants of a decade old plane crash. He and Morvern befriend each other. I’d tell you more of the plot except for that was definitely the weak point of this novel. Like it had the fun characters with dry humor conversations, but it didn’t seem to be really going anywhere. Or at least no where that I particularly wanted to join them.




Book #15 Prep by Curtis Sittenfield

Thursday, April 28th, 2005 by Miss Laura

I must have read a review on this title, because I had special ordered it. However, when it came in I couldn’t recall the why or wherefore. I started reading it, and was like OH! I love this kind of book – it must have a murder twist like Secret History or The Basic Eight. I didn’t want to ruin whatever the edge was so I refused to even read the back cover or the dust jacket flap. I just scooted to the edge of my seat and focused on the book.

The first half was enthralling. A great set up with character development so intense I felt part of the main character. Not a skeevy part like a soiled sock as I would in a boy teen novel, but a nice part like a swatch with one of those little protectors on it so the face doesn’t get scratched up.

Maybe it would have been different if I hadn’t been so sure there would be some grizzly fantastic twist. As it was though, the second half was flat.

There was no murdering of the obnoxious broke preppy boy who tortured the incest twins.
There was no bludgeoning with a croquet mallet and a sharp tongue.
There was NO NOTHING.

The horrible situation the main character had to get out of was one of embarassment in front of her compatriots, but it happened one week before she graduated. NOTHING. The only violence at all was the force with which I threw the book upon finishing it.




Book #7: The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-time

Tuesday, January 25th, 2005 by Miss Laura

The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-time was written by Mark Haddon and published in 2002. It has 226 pages. It was the Whitbread Book of the year and a national bestseller. Myla Goldberg, the author of Bee Season, said that it “brims with imagination, empathy, and vision – plus it’s a lot of fun to read.” I like quoting Myla Goldberg because she’s cute, even if it’s in a “I’ve Listened To Too Much Bright Eyes” sort of a way. The narrator shows no emotion when detailing the story. He would get along with my grandmother.




Book #5 Case Studies by Kate Atkinson

Friday, January 21st, 2005 by Miss Laura

“One difference between genre crime fiction and literary fiction is that the first kind of book is usually concerned with what happens to the people who commit crimes while the second cares more about the people they hurt. Although Kate Atkinson’s addictive “Case Histories” has three murders and a detective in it, it’s really an exploration of the loss, grief and misplaced guilt that torment three clients who hire Jackson Brodie, an irresistibly grumpy divorced father working as a private investigator in Cambridge, England.” -Salon

That’s it! I am not reading another STINKING book on Salon’s Top Ten list no matter how much they try to draw me in by comparing it to something Lorrie Moore might write. Honestly, I thought such untruthful comparisons were outlawed by the Supreme Court in the 1980s. Every time I read the back of a book to see some reviewer touting the author as some aborted love child of James Thurber, Dorothy Parker and the crumbs from lunch on Alexander Woolcott’s face I want to wretch. I’m being disenfranchised here!

Salon was right on one thing: Case Histories is addictive. The first three chapters is about a different heartbreaking story which dramatically changes everyone who is in involved. Then, in the fourth chapter a private investigator, who is eventually given these three cases (although some have taken place decades before the current time), is introduced. By the middle of the novel, I was HOOKED. So hooked that I didn’t notice that it was slowly going downhill until it just hit me with an incident that reminded me of the bad detective Advance Reader’s Copy which my father would give me to read when I was in high school to keep me from my back seat
torturing of my sister during long family roadtrips. (Ahh, hot vinyl and the dirty hippie – it makes my fingers convulsively pinch just thinking about it.)

There are these three mysteries which were all extensively investigated by the police and heavily touted in the media. Yet, here comes a private investigator- the kind who has slept with most of his women clients by the time the book is finished – who is able to solve all of them without much work or intuitive insight. All the pieces just easily slide in together. The way that the elements of some cases tie into others proved to be way too convenient to be believable.

In the end, it wasn’t just a matter of it being a book I disliked. The first half enraptured me and had such promise. I felt cheated and disappointed by the end. I want my money and my time back! Heaven knows I missed some ebay auction of a darling cloche which would complete my life so much more than a miserable book would.





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