What I read on my summer vacation
Jul. 24th, 2006 10:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
slyvermontI'm back from Cape Cod. I first wanted to recount the books I read, since your recommendations were helpful.
"Bark of the Dogwood: A Tour of Southern Homes and Gardens," by Jackson Tippet McCrae. This book reminded me a little of John Irving’s books – crazy situations abound, that almost break the rule of fact is stranger than fiction. (Interesting interview with the author here.) This book can be read on several levels – it’s very layered and dense. The main character is named after Truman Capote, whose middle name is Strekfus; references to Capote are scattered throughout the book. In many ways this is a very troubling book – it is about child abuse and deeply disturbed individuals, so it is not for everyone. Yet in the end, it is an uplifting story. It is also very very funny – laugh out loud funny in many places.
I know I want to read it again, and when I started to search for commentary on it, I uncovered some interesting reviews on amazon. I learned that many of the character names are anagrams; there are puzzles, metaphors, literary references, etc., galore. Fascinating. A great read – long, involved, intriguing plot, page turner, great memorable characters, etc. I highly recommend it, but be prepared that it can be emotionally wrenching. (I passed it along to Caroline's friend,jirina, who couldn't put it down and finished it in record time.)
"The Shadow of the Wind," by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. (Recommended bymadlori -- thanks!) Another page turner – this one kept me up to the wee hours of the morning because I wanted to finish it. This book – a bestseller in Spain (it’s translated from the Spanish) – was very mystical – it combined romance and a mystery. It opens with a 10-year-old’s visit to a “cemetery of books;” he becomes intrigued with the novel he takes from there, because the author has disappeared along with every copy of every book he’s ever written.
And one not so wonderful: "Saving the World," by Julia Alvarez. I have to write a book review of this one for the paper, and it is unfortunate that this was my least favorite book of the week.
Interestingly (and not intentionally) all of these books are about books, about writing, and two even have a similar book-within-a-book structure.
I did start Aaron’s "Betrayal," which I’ll discuss if I ever finish it (now that I’m home and have stacks of newspapers to read and gobs of other things to do). And I also started "The Book Thief," (thanks toraykel) which looks very promising. I will probably bring that to Gen Con to read on the plane and in airport waiting rooms.
"Bark of the Dogwood: A Tour of Southern Homes and Gardens," by Jackson Tippet McCrae. This book reminded me a little of John Irving’s books – crazy situations abound, that almost break the rule of fact is stranger than fiction. (Interesting interview with the author here.) This book can be read on several levels – it’s very layered and dense. The main character is named after Truman Capote, whose middle name is Strekfus; references to Capote are scattered throughout the book. In many ways this is a very troubling book – it is about child abuse and deeply disturbed individuals, so it is not for everyone. Yet in the end, it is an uplifting story. It is also very very funny – laugh out loud funny in many places.
I know I want to read it again, and when I started to search for commentary on it, I uncovered some interesting reviews on amazon. I learned that many of the character names are anagrams; there are puzzles, metaphors, literary references, etc., galore. Fascinating. A great read – long, involved, intriguing plot, page turner, great memorable characters, etc. I highly recommend it, but be prepared that it can be emotionally wrenching. (I passed it along to Caroline's friend,
jirina, who couldn't put it down and finished it in record time.)"The Shadow of the Wind," by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. (Recommended by
madlori -- thanks!) Another page turner – this one kept me up to the wee hours of the morning because I wanted to finish it. This book – a bestseller in Spain (it’s translated from the Spanish) – was very mystical – it combined romance and a mystery. It opens with a 10-year-old’s visit to a “cemetery of books;” he becomes intrigued with the novel he takes from there, because the author has disappeared along with every copy of every book he’s ever written. And one not so wonderful: "Saving the World," by Julia Alvarez. I have to write a book review of this one for the paper, and it is unfortunate that this was my least favorite book of the week.
Interestingly (and not intentionally) all of these books are about books, about writing, and two even have a similar book-within-a-book structure.
I did start Aaron’s "Betrayal," which I’ll discuss if I ever finish it (now that I’m home and have stacks of newspapers to read and gobs of other things to do). And I also started "The Book Thief," (thanks to
raykel) which looks very promising. I will probably bring that to Gen Con to read on the plane and in airport waiting rooms.
