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Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Books for July
- Body Surfing -- Anita Shreve -- 3
- This was very readable, and yet somehow also unsatisfying. The main character, whose name I can't remember because I read this approximately thirty days ago and hey, I'm getting older here -- anyway. She is a widow and a divorcee and she's only like 29, and she works as a tutor in a wealthy family, one summer at their summer house in I think... New Hampshire. Was it New Hampshire? It was someplace that I thought was Martha's Vineyard at first, and it was in New England, and it had an ocean. (See how memorable this book was?) And of course she ends up in a relationship with one of the sons of the house, or both, kinda, the sons, of course, being much older than her tutee (I swear that's a word), who is only seventeen. The thing is, this starts out as a literary-feeling kind of chick book, and it winds up as just a chick book about a relationship that fails and the one that takes its place. There's some very strong imagery and some memorable moments, and a few memorable characters and relationships, and I didn't hate reading this, but it wasn't anything that moved me or made me say Wow.
- Harry Potter and Something or Other -- JK Rowling (duh) -- eh, 3.
- So I finally decided to give this series a try. At least I don't have to summarize the book, right? Honestly, I found it to be nowhere near the level of the awesome kidlit I love, but it wasn't terrible either. It felt kind of like a hopped-up school story with magic stuff thrown in, whose movie (which I've never seen, so who knows, maybe it IS like this) should look more like the food-fight scene from Hook than anything from The Lord of the Rings.
- An Artist of the Floating World -- Kazuo Ishiguro -- 4.5
- I'm too tired as I write this to do justice in a review to an Ishiguro book. If you've read Ishiguro, you know to expect brilliance: delicate story-un-telling, surprising twists that are laid out a phrase here and a phrase there until you figure them out on your own with more of an "ohhhhh..." than an "oh!", and endings that don't settle anything much. This early Ishiguro, a historical fiction piece about a retired artist in post-WWII Japan with a dubious past, does not disappoint. Of course. It didn't grab me like Never Let You Go, and it wasn't as hair-raisingly sublime in its subtlety as Remains of the Day, but it's still several cuts above most anything else you'll ever read, and it'll ruin you for ordinary novels for at least a day or two. If you're like me, anyway.
- On Chesil Beach -- Ian McEwan -- 3.5
- This readable little literary novella is, on the surface, entirely about a virginal 1940's couple's sexual anxieties on their wedding night. Beneath the surface, it's a strong character treatment (two strong character treatments, actually) and an incisive study of human sexuality, human frailty, human morality, and the tragic results of the failure to communicate. I can't say much more without giving stuff away. The heavy sexual emphasis was a bit of a negative for me, but (duh) it's what the whole story is about; there's not a gratuitous, tittery moment in the text. You might try it, if you've an afternoon free and an interest in this sort of literature. Jenn, I think you'd really like it.
- Outlander -- Diana Gabaldon -- 4
- My only reread this month -- I just kind of got a hankering for it, not sure why. As much as I think Gabaldon went wrong later in the series, I really do enjoy this first book in it. It pales a bit after several readings -- one notices the infodump much more readily, for example -- but overall reading it is still a rippingly decent way to spend lots of hours.
- Harry Potter and Something Else -- JK Rowling -- 3.5
- More of the same, but with an extra half-point because I actually laughed out loud twice. I can't remember what about, now.
- The Railway Children -- Edith Nesbit, read by Karen Savage -- 4.5 for story, 5 for recording
- Talk about brilliant kidlit. LOVE. THIS. STORY. Plucky Edwardian kids move to the country, win friends, overcome daunting odds, have a happy life, etc. It's recorded for Librivox by a WONDERFUL reader with a British accent that suits the story perfectly. Seriously, I've heard professional audiobooks that were far, far, far less appealing than this gem. Download This Now. This Means You. (as long as you or someone in your household loves a touching, funny, timeless, ageless children's story, that is.)
- The Story of the Treasure Seekers -- Edith Nesbit, read by Karen Savage -- 5 for story, 5 for recording
- Also a brilliant story. This one also involves plucky Edwardian children -- this time there's slightly less pathos, and even more humor. Same Librivox reader, also, here.
- Tom Swift and the Visitor from Planet X -- Victor Appleton II -- 4 for story, 5 for recording
- Tom Swift and Tom Swift Jr. feature in stories that are basically a sci-fi version of the Hardy Boys (indeed "Victor Appleton" and his fictitious son "Victor Appleton II" are pseudonyms for the same publishing syndicate who produced the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew). It's rather interesting, actually, that instead of revising the original texts of the 1930's Tom Swift books to reflect more modern sensitivities in the 50's, as the Stratemeyer Syndicate did with Frank, Joe, and Nancy, they simply created a new character (Tom Swift, Jr.-- whose dad, the original Tom Swift, continues as a character), a new pseudonymous "author", and new stories. I've read some from each era -- this whole book and parts of an original one that I volunteered for at Librivox -- and I do genuinely prefer the Tom Swift Jr series, and not just because the authors eliminated the hair-raising dialectized "Negro"isms of one of the supporting characters in the original books. This particular story is a nostalgic trip to the 1950's (which, let's face it, can't be nostalgic for me because I was born about twenty years too late for them, but whatever), when space exploration was deliciously full of possibilities, most of which involved shiny metallic suits. The details of the story are not terribly important (are they ever in this kind of book?) but this was a pleasant "read" -- made more so by the Librivox reader who truly went above and beyond with sound effects and such. The Ts and I listened to this on the way to and from the observatory, and it made an already-pleasant trip that much more memorable.
- Wives and Daughters -- Elizabeth Gaskell -- 5
- Mrs. Gaskell, where have you been all my life? This book has almost all the pleasure of an Austen novel -- maybe a WEE bit less biting satire, but it makes up for it in warmhearted affection between its characters -- with the bonus of being roughly twice or three times as long. I had never heard of it until I volunteered to help with it at LV (it's not done yet); can you imagine the joy of coming across something like this by surprise? BLISS. It was so pleasant to have a lovely, thick, long, engrossing, beautiful story to read that was completely new to me. I heartily recommend it to any Austen fans who haven't discovered Gaskell yet.
Posted by Rachel on July 31, 2007 11:22 AM in nose in a book
Comments
LOVE E. Gaskell. For sheer comfort reading, try Cranford. I have this ancient, leather-bound edition and I must have read it five or six times. If you ever can't fall asleep at night because there is too much on your mind, try Gaskell.
I also really enjoy Ian McEwan, but I read Amsterdam while I was away - bleh. It was ok - nothing special. The one you critiqued sounds interesting.
Val
Posted by: Valerie at August 1, 2007 12:41 AM
I think one of the reasons why I love Harry Potter is that I got introduced to the series *before* they got big. If I only started reading them now, after all the hype that's been going on everywhere, I'd be disappointed. But reading them while only 1 and 2 were published, I had no idea what they'd become, and they were a refreshing change from the other YA fantasy series I'd read.
Posted by: Maria at August 1, 2007 11:46 PM
Dang, On Chesil Beach is the one Ian McEwan (I almost wrote Ewen Macgregor)that you can't 'Look Inside!'
Posted by: jennifer at August 6, 2007 12:51 PM
