This book begins a group of books that I'm really excited about--books about books (yes, I have fully accepted that I am a major reading nerd). It's also the first medium length book I've read this year.
I loved this book. I thought it was very well written and I fell deep into the mystery of the book. The premise of the novel is that a very reclusive author who has never told her true life's story invites a young woman (who loves 19th century literature and has written a few biographies about obscure authors of the time period) to come and hear her life story and write it. This book has everything a good 19th century romance would have: love, madness, mystery, deaths, old creaking houses falling apart. It reminded me a bit of Jane Eyre (which plays a big part in this novel).
As I was reading this book, I kept thinking about what a great book this could be for a creative writing class or an Introduction to the Novel class. The author uses so many different writing devices to make her story flow together. There's great use of symbols, foreshadowing, allusions, etc. that are fairly easy to see and define as different things.
I'd be really interested to read more by this author to see if she has other books similar to this one.
Is it worth reading? Yes. Especially if you enjoyed Jane Eyre or other 19th century literature (Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, Charles Dickens, etc).
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Book 4 of 52: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
This book wasn't thought provoking in and of itself. Instead, it sparked that never ending debate in my head about what is children's literature. This book was written for children, but I have a hard time picturing a child reading it (if you read it as a child or know someone who read it as a child I'd LOVE to hear your thoughts on it!).
Here's the thing. It's written at an appropriate reading level for children. It has cute pictures children would enjoy in it. The narrator's voice is age appropriate for children. The subject matter just doesn't seem appropriate for children.
This book is primarily about the travels of a boy who is only referred to as "the prince" or "the little prince" throughout the book. He's from a teeny-tiny planet inhabited solely by him, but one day he decides to travel. He travels to several other teeny-tiny planets before ending up on Earth and meeting a man stranded in the desert (the narrator). Long story short, the little prince causes the narrator to reevaluate his life.
Ultimately, it feels more like a book aimed at helping adults rediscover their inner-child. If that was the author's intent, I think he succeeded.
Is this book worth reading? Sure. It'll only take you an hour or two to read it, and you won't feel like you've wasted that time at the end of reading the book.
Here's the thing. It's written at an appropriate reading level for children. It has cute pictures children would enjoy in it. The narrator's voice is age appropriate for children. The subject matter just doesn't seem appropriate for children.
This book is primarily about the travels of a boy who is only referred to as "the prince" or "the little prince" throughout the book. He's from a teeny-tiny planet inhabited solely by him, but one day he decides to travel. He travels to several other teeny-tiny planets before ending up on Earth and meeting a man stranded in the desert (the narrator). Long story short, the little prince causes the narrator to reevaluate his life.
Ultimately, it feels more like a book aimed at helping adults rediscover their inner-child. If that was the author's intent, I think he succeeded.
Is this book worth reading? Sure. It'll only take you an hour or two to read it, and you won't feel like you've wasted that time at the end of reading the book.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Book 3 of 52: The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
I really loved this book. It was everything I didn't find in Anna Karenina and The Alchemist. It had an interesting plot. It had subplots. All the characters were well developed. It caused me to pause and reflect on my life. All told, it was probably the best piece of literature I've read in awhile.
This 985 page book tells the story of a group of families and people in medieval England. The overarching story is the building of a cathedral in the village of Kingsbridge, but there are lots of little detours into the lives of the people involved. There are intrigues and love affairs, marriages and deaths. Since the story stretches out over a period of 35 years, by the end of it you really feel like you know the characters better than you know some of your neighbors. You find yourself hoping that they'll succeed in life because you've been watching them since they were 12 or 13 years old.
Unfortunately, something happened about halfway through it that will keep me from buying the book. My mother-in-law saw me reading it and asked me to let her know what I thought about it when I finished the book. Once that happened, I realized one very glaring problem with the book--the author is very... how should I put this... very open about his characters' sexuality. Not in that any of them are homosexual, but he's very open about the physical relationships between different people. I kept thinking about whether or not I could recommend this novel to her (or anyone else for that matter). The explicit scenes are fairly rare and you usually have ample warning that they're approaching so that you can skip over them.
Ultimately, I kept remembering the poster below. It really summed up my feelings about the book--It's great except for the bad parts. Do I think it's a good novel? Absolutely. Do I think it's worth reading? More or less... if you're stuck having to choose between Anna Karenina and The Pillars of the Earth, the later would win every time. Would I ever recommend it to anyone though? No. The sexually explicit scenes are for the most part gratuitous (I'm sure the author would vehemently disagree with me on that though). They could have easily been shortened or taken out without losing too much. Due to that, I can't wholeheartedly recommend this book to someone. There are some instances (such as in the book Deerskin by Robin McKinley) where the explicit scenes are absolutely necessary to move the book forward. This isn't one of those books though.
Where do you draw the lines in terms of what books you'll recommend or buy?
Next Book: The Little Prince
This 985 page book tells the story of a group of families and people in medieval England. The overarching story is the building of a cathedral in the village of Kingsbridge, but there are lots of little detours into the lives of the people involved. There are intrigues and love affairs, marriages and deaths. Since the story stretches out over a period of 35 years, by the end of it you really feel like you know the characters better than you know some of your neighbors. You find yourself hoping that they'll succeed in life because you've been watching them since they were 12 or 13 years old.
Unfortunately, something happened about halfway through it that will keep me from buying the book. My mother-in-law saw me reading it and asked me to let her know what I thought about it when I finished the book. Once that happened, I realized one very glaring problem with the book--the author is very... how should I put this... very open about his characters' sexuality. Not in that any of them are homosexual, but he's very open about the physical relationships between different people. I kept thinking about whether or not I could recommend this novel to her (or anyone else for that matter). The explicit scenes are fairly rare and you usually have ample warning that they're approaching so that you can skip over them.
Ultimately, I kept remembering the poster below. It really summed up my feelings about the book--It's great except for the bad parts. Do I think it's a good novel? Absolutely. Do I think it's worth reading? More or less... if you're stuck having to choose between Anna Karenina and The Pillars of the Earth, the later would win every time. Would I ever recommend it to anyone though? No. The sexually explicit scenes are for the most part gratuitous (I'm sure the author would vehemently disagree with me on that though). They could have easily been shortened or taken out without losing too much. Due to that, I can't wholeheartedly recommend this book to someone. There are some instances (such as in the book Deerskin by Robin McKinley) where the explicit scenes are absolutely necessary to move the book forward. This isn't one of those books though.
Next Book: The Little Prince
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