31
Jan
2010
Nibble & Kuhn by David Schmahmann
Either David Schmahmann is a master of subtle characterization, or he’s kind of a jerk, and this just seeped out into his characters naturally.
23
Jan
2010
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
I’m a bit behind in reviews…for instance, I read this one some time last month. Part of this is procrastination on my part. But part of this is also that I wanted to let it digest in my brain.
10
Dec
2009
The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
I was a bit skeptical about this, as I have a certain disapproval about fiction about real people, living or dead. But I must say I found this one delightful! With an exclamation point!
29
Nov
2009
The Dream Life of Balso Snell by Nathanael West
This novella starts out with an American poet, Balso Snell, in Troy on vacation. He encounter the Trojan Horse and decides to climb inside. Snell can’t reach the opening in the horse’s mouth, and the opening in it’s navel is apparently stuck or something, so he climbs in through the horse’s asshole.
15
Nov
2009
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
It’s possible that Jane Austen’s wit is at its height in Northanger Abbey. Those biting little sentences that describe characters, and their quips to one another ring throughout the walls of bath and the great house Northanger Abbey.
2
Nov
2009
Politically Correct Bedtime Stories by James Finn Garner
This is going to be one of those posts where I mostly just quote from the book. James Finn Garner, takes classic fairy tales, and makes them satirically politically correct. While occasionally that can be offensive (odd, that), it’s all in good fun.
2
Nov
2009
Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk
I have higher expectations for Chuck Palahniuk, so I’m sorry to say that I was underwhelmed by this book. True, there are scenes that are disturbingly grotesque, and much of it is fairly creepy, but taken as a whole, I remained unimpressed.
24
Sep
2009
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
Listen, O my brothers, as I relate to you a skorry tale of Alex and his droogs, who are real horrorshow malchicks, what with their bitvas, using everything from nozhes to fisties to booties, and tolchocking litsos, viddying the krovvy running red. That is, when they aren’t busy drinking the old moloko at some mesto or giving a devotchka the ultra-violent in-out in-out while they boohoohoo. The whole while Alex slooshies his droog Ludwig van in his gulliver, which might make him unusual because most nadsats slooshie real gloopy pop warbles that about makes him bezoomny.
23
Sep
2009
The Trial by Franz Kafka
Imagine this: you are a well-educated, upper-middle class. rising professional, who has never broken the law, and you have been put on trial for…something. You don’t know what it is, because nobody will tell you. Your education is no help because while the courts in which you are tried are legal, they operate outside of the realm of normal jurisprudence.
24
Aug
2009
Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie
I thought about attempting to write this review in the style of the book: winding, stream-of-consciousness type sentences that seem to spin around in the reader’s head. But then I thought that nobody would finish reading my post, and so here I am, writing in my plain old style.
