Showing posts with label Fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fiction. Show all posts
9.19.2007
Tree of Smoke
The Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson is a book about a turbulent time in history, the Vietnam War. It follows Skip Sands through his espionage training, operations against the Vietcong and the disasters that befall him. It also follows the Houston brothers, two young men from Arizona, and their adjustment to war. This book is a gripping, dark epic that will change the way you think of human nature and what a person can be driven to do.
6.14.2007
Back on Blossom Street
Back on Blossom Street is the third in Debbie Macomber's Knitting series. These cozy romances are just on the border of being inspirational books. In this book, a new knitting class for a prayer shawl begins. A few new characters are introduced and old friends revisited. Each woman encounters and overcomes problems in her life and grows closer to the others in the class.
5.21.2007
Griffin and Sabine
The drawings in Griffin and Sabine: An Extraordinary Correspondence are amazing. The format of the book is also very interesting and inventive. One side of the page would be the postcard face (or the front of an envelope). You then flip the page and it is the writing on the postcard. The envelopes actually contain letters which are a full 8.5 x 11" sheet of paper. So inventive!
The postcards/letters are being sent between Griffin, a London postcard artist, and Sabine, a stamp designer in the South Pacific. The ending of the story leaves you hanging so you can't wait until you get your hands on Sabine's Notebook: In Which the Extraordinary Correspondence of Griffin and Sabine Continues.
The postcards/letters are being sent between Griffin, a London postcard artist, and Sabine, a stamp designer in the South Pacific. The ending of the story leaves you hanging so you can't wait until you get your hands on Sabine's Notebook: In Which the Extraordinary Correspondence of Griffin and Sabine Continues.
5.14.2007
World War Z
Max Brooks' World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War is an astounding book and I don't like zombie films/stories (well, except for Shaun of the Dead and that is because it is a spoof). After reading this book, I definitely understand why people are calling it one of the best new fiction books of 2006.
Brooks has masterfully created a story though personal accounts of survivors about the spread of the zombie virus and how the world fought back against the living dead. The plague or virus seems to have started in China and spread quickly across the world. Some areas were better prepared than others to defend themselves from the zombies while others were woefully unprepared. New York, for instance, wasn't able to defend itself but Buckingham Palace held its own for many months before it was rescued. At first, the war is a defensive one but then the survivors must go on the offensive to re-claim the Earth.
Brooks writes the story as if the reader already knows what happened during the war. This story is supposed to have been written 12 years after the end of the war with the world still recovering from its ordeal. We are left to discover the details as he interviews the survivors. Each of the stories are woven together, pulling the reader further and further into the events. The book makes you wonder what you would do in these people's situations.
I cannot possibily express how much I am impressed by this book and author. His imagination is amazing. He created a story which could be believable (well, except for the whole dead coming back to life thing) and whose characters are interesting and well-drawn.
Brooks has masterfully created a story though personal accounts of survivors about the spread of the zombie virus and how the world fought back against the living dead. The plague or virus seems to have started in China and spread quickly across the world. Some areas were better prepared than others to defend themselves from the zombies while others were woefully unprepared. New York, for instance, wasn't able to defend itself but Buckingham Palace held its own for many months before it was rescued. At first, the war is a defensive one but then the survivors must go on the offensive to re-claim the Earth.
Brooks writes the story as if the reader already knows what happened during the war. This story is supposed to have been written 12 years after the end of the war with the world still recovering from its ordeal. We are left to discover the details as he interviews the survivors. Each of the stories are woven together, pulling the reader further and further into the events. The book makes you wonder what you would do in these people's situations.
I cannot possibily express how much I am impressed by this book and author. His imagination is amazing. He created a story which could be believable (well, except for the whole dead coming back to life thing) and whose characters are interesting and well-drawn.
4.26.2007
Gatsby's Girl
Gatsby's Girl by Caroline Preston is a fictional portrayal of F. Scott Fitzgerald's muse, Ginevra. Ginevra is a sixteen year-old spoiled debutante who meets a nineteen year-old Fitzgerald at a party thrown by mutual friends. After this one meeting, the two correspond frequently, sending multiple page letters to each other.
Ginevra convinces herself that she is in love with Fitzgerald because she is in love with the idea of being in love. By the time Fitzgerald comes to visit her in the summer, Ginevra is ready to move on to the next romantic figure. She unceremoniously dumps Fitzgerald with "supreme boredom and indifference."
The next half of the book traces Ginevra's loveless marriage to the man for whom she dumped Fitzgerald. Meanwhile, the author's career has taken off. He suddenly is well-known and widely published. Ginevra secretly reads all of his stories looking for portrayals of herself in the female characters like Daisy Buchanan, Isabelle Borge and Josephine Perry.
This book is a good complement (or alternative) to The Great Gatsby. It captured the spirit of the times and gives you insight into why Fitzgerald's characters were written the way they were.
Ginevra convinces herself that she is in love with Fitzgerald because she is in love with the idea of being in love. By the time Fitzgerald comes to visit her in the summer, Ginevra is ready to move on to the next romantic figure. She unceremoniously dumps Fitzgerald with "supreme boredom and indifference."
The next half of the book traces Ginevra's loveless marriage to the man for whom she dumped Fitzgerald. Meanwhile, the author's career has taken off. He suddenly is well-known and widely published. Ginevra secretly reads all of his stories looking for portrayals of herself in the female characters like Daisy Buchanan, Isabelle Borge and Josephine Perry.
This book is a good complement (or alternative) to The Great Gatsby. It captured the spirit of the times and gives you insight into why Fitzgerald's characters were written the way they were.
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