Summer Reading At Last
Hey everyone! I'd been through a bit of a dry spell for the past month or so when it came to reading. I stopped and started several books. I then lucked into one and received a few others on loan from Jen. Here's a summary of a few I've enjoyed of late:
The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood. Several months ago I read about a project in the works to retell some old myths in a modern way. I stumbled upon The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood at the library. In the intro I found that Canongate Books is spearheading this project and in the next few years several other books in the series will be coming out - at least one already is Weight, by Jeanette Winterson (the re-telling of Atlas). I was also thrilled to learn that Donna Tartt will be retelling one of the myths. This was wonderful news as it took her at least a decade to come out with her second book (much loved by me) The Little Friend. So now I won't have to wait another decade to read something by Tartt.
The Penelopiad is the first in the series and it tells the story of Odysseus and Penelope from her standpoint. All I really remembered about Penelope was that she had to wait at home for years for Odysseus while he was off having adventures. The story tells how she ends up married to him in the first place, what she did while waiting and what she thought of the whole thing. Not surprisingly, she wasn't too thrilled. It throws in lots of bits I didn't know such as Penelope was cousin to Helen of Troy and upon Odysseus's return 12 maids were killed. The maids serve as a chorus in the book and tell a bit of the story as well. If you're a fan of mythology, or just want to brush up on it a bit, you should enjoy this book.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon is one of the books Jen loaned me. I had seen this book in the bookstore of course, but never felt the need to pick it up. Something about the cover or title didn't click with me. But after the first few pages, I was hooked. I read this book last weekend and that's pretty much ALL I wanted to do. Luckily it was pretty, so I got to spend lots of time in the hammock. Bliss is the only word that comes to mind. Curious tells the story of 15 year-old Christopher, an English autistic boy who lives with his father. It opens with the killing of a neighbor's poodle. Christopher is determined to solve the mystery. He believes he can do this because he's extremely smart - especially at math. The book is told from Christopher's perspective and his voice is so distinct and original. I couldn't believe how refreshing it was. Many things I read that i enjoy even, just don't have that distinctive of a voice. This book had it. There are a few twists thrown in and though you can imagine how trying he must be to be around in person, on the written page you can do nothing but root for him and pray things turn out okay. I cannot recommend Curious more highly. It is compulsively readable.
Charmed Thirds by Megan Mccafferty is the third in the Jessica Darling series. I really enjoyed the two predecessors to this book, Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings and was surprised to find a third was already published. Mccafferty made the news a couple of months ago when it was discovered that debut novelist and Harvard student Kaavya Viswanathan, plagarized some passages from her. I can see why she did so. Mccafferty can turn quite a good phrase and she's very creative. All three of these books are page-turners. Thirds tells what happens when Jessica goes to Columbia and her erstwhile boyfriend Marcus heads west to go to Buddhist school. This leads to much angst and depression. There's not too much to be happy about in Charmed. While this tendency was also present in the first two of the series, this is to be expected and almost celebrated since Jessica was in high school. But once you're in college, there are lots of things to be happy about, so her endless moaning and complaining started grating on my nerves. That said though, I had little trouble finishing this book in lightning-quick speed. I underststand that Mccafferty is already writing the fourth in this series. I think it's time to put it to rest and start with something fresh.
Happy reading. Pls forward any good suggestions you have to me!
-sunday
The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood. Several months ago I read about a project in the works to retell some old myths in a modern way. I stumbled upon The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood at the library. In the intro I found that Canongate Books is spearheading this project and in the next few years several other books in the series will be coming out - at least one already is Weight, by Jeanette Winterson (the re-telling of Atlas). I was also thrilled to learn that Donna Tartt will be retelling one of the myths. This was wonderful news as it took her at least a decade to come out with her second book (much loved by me) The Little Friend. So now I won't have to wait another decade to read something by Tartt.
The Penelopiad is the first in the series and it tells the story of Odysseus and Penelope from her standpoint. All I really remembered about Penelope was that she had to wait at home for years for Odysseus while he was off having adventures. The story tells how she ends up married to him in the first place, what she did while waiting and what she thought of the whole thing. Not surprisingly, she wasn't too thrilled. It throws in lots of bits I didn't know such as Penelope was cousin to Helen of Troy and upon Odysseus's return 12 maids were killed. The maids serve as a chorus in the book and tell a bit of the story as well. If you're a fan of mythology, or just want to brush up on it a bit, you should enjoy this book.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon is one of the books Jen loaned me. I had seen this book in the bookstore of course, but never felt the need to pick it up. Something about the cover or title didn't click with me. But after the first few pages, I was hooked. I read this book last weekend and that's pretty much ALL I wanted to do. Luckily it was pretty, so I got to spend lots of time in the hammock. Bliss is the only word that comes to mind. Curious tells the story of 15 year-old Christopher, an English autistic boy who lives with his father. It opens with the killing of a neighbor's poodle. Christopher is determined to solve the mystery. He believes he can do this because he's extremely smart - especially at math. The book is told from Christopher's perspective and his voice is so distinct and original. I couldn't believe how refreshing it was. Many things I read that i enjoy even, just don't have that distinctive of a voice. This book had it. There are a few twists thrown in and though you can imagine how trying he must be to be around in person, on the written page you can do nothing but root for him and pray things turn out okay. I cannot recommend Curious more highly. It is compulsively readable.
Charmed Thirds by Megan Mccafferty is the third in the Jessica Darling series. I really enjoyed the two predecessors to this book, Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings and was surprised to find a third was already published. Mccafferty made the news a couple of months ago when it was discovered that debut novelist and Harvard student Kaavya Viswanathan, plagarized some passages from her. I can see why she did so. Mccafferty can turn quite a good phrase and she's very creative. All three of these books are page-turners. Thirds tells what happens when Jessica goes to Columbia and her erstwhile boyfriend Marcus heads west to go to Buddhist school. This leads to much angst and depression. There's not too much to be happy about in Charmed. While this tendency was also present in the first two of the series, this is to be expected and almost celebrated since Jessica was in high school. But once you're in college, there are lots of things to be happy about, so her endless moaning and complaining started grating on my nerves. That said though, I had little trouble finishing this book in lightning-quick speed. I underststand that Mccafferty is already writing the fourth in this series. I think it's time to put it to rest and start with something fresh.
Happy reading. Pls forward any good suggestions you have to me!
-sunday
posted by Sunday at
3:59 PM
1 Comments:
Writing a series would be a blessing/curse thing - who knows who decides on all these series, but think of the lit landscape and how it woudl be different if Anna K or Atlas Shrugged or - gasp! - Don Quixote had been broken up to make a series. I'm sure the money is better, but when I know an author is writing a series that is acutally numbered, I immediately lose respect for that author (yes, even Herr King himself). Women seem particularly clever at doing this - I suppose their fans like it, so good for them, but jeez, how about writing a real-live new book ever now and then instead of returning to the same-old cliched characters. Hmmm.
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Anonymous, at 7/06/2006 7:02 PM
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