I’ve read Little Women countless times, and there was always malcontent about how certain love dilemmas resolved themselves. I used to think that Alcott really didn’t know her characters. But reading it this time, as a married adult, I think she might have been on to something. If you’ve never read Little Women (and seriously, why haven’t you?), it’s the story of the four March sisters trying to keep their spirits up during the Civil War. They undergo character trials, vexations, and the simple joys […]
An intriguing international crime thriller
Last year, I reviewed Nairobi Heat for CBR5. I remember liking it, with some caveats, and I had mentioned those. Ngugi has greatly improved with his second novel, and I really hope that he continues this series. Detective Ishmael has decided to stay in Kenya and make a life for himself. He has fallen in love with refugee Muddy, and is a partner to the engimatic O. Together, their detective business is struggling to break even, until a man shows up dead in a nearby […]
Mean Girls: now with tampons and pig blood.
So, here’s the thing: I’ve never read anything by Stephen King. I’ve come to conclusion that you either LOVE Stephen King or you HATE Stephen King. It seems impossible to be indifferent. Yet now that I’ve read my first King novel, I honestly feel really ambivalent. I’m not sure if I’ll read anything else by him or not. Let’s dig into it: The novel is spliced together with several narrative forms–testimony from a court case, sociological studies, an autobiography, and an omniscient third-person narrator that […]
Despite its title, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha is not at all funny.
I’ve been trying to go through Booker Prize winners, and Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha is one that I haven’t read. I’m more familiar with British writers than I am Irish, so it seemed like a logical pick. Oh, my, that book took FOREVER to read. Or seemed like it. It picked up speed towards the end, but still. It’s a bit exhausting to read into a child’s thoughts and stream-of-consciousness. That’s pretty much what the book covers–a ten-year-old child tries to navigate the world […]
Dearly Departed: If Thatcher had died in 1983.
I’ve been reading a lot of short stories lately. Both Margaret Atwood and Hilary Mantel came out with collections this year, so I’ve found it interesting to compare their styles. Atwood’s stories are often complex in their setups, whereas Mantel is quite stripped down (the reverse of her Cromwell novels, which I found slow-moving and very dense) in tone and style. While Atwood’s collection is about love, betrayal, and revenge, Mantel focuses on a more vague state-of-nation sensibility and covers a variety of ideas in […]
A great book that should be a MINDBLOWING book.
The Chancellor has been at me to read Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe so we can talk about the ending. He did not like the ending. In fact, read his amazing review first, and then let’s talk. Back? Let’s talk. I won’t summarize it for you, since The Chancellor did such a great job of it in his review. But suffice it to say, I agree with his assessment 100%. I wanted to fall in love with this book madly, to […]
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