In which Popcultureboy is left floored by and in awe of Catton’s supreme mastery and skill as a writer and storyteller, but is ultimately forced to conclude he found the novel easier to admire than to love. So here we are at the pinnacle of the Booker challenge for 2013, with the winning book. There were some firsts with this book lifting the Booker, as it was the longest ever book to do so with the highest page count (Catton is 28, and the book […]
So full of metaphor. Guess what the sharks symbolise?
2.5 stars The Norwegian Peder Jensen is the second mate on a sailing ship, the Nepture, on route from Manilla to Marseille, in 1899. In the prologue it is revealed that six months after this ship set sail, it is still missing without a trace. In the novel we discover what happened to the ship and the crew. As second mate, and third in command on the ship, Jensen also has to be the crew medic, and spends a lot of his time patching up […]
I’ll Take Two (or More)
Although the Mormon church officially gave up polygamy in 1890, the practice is still associated with it, sometimes through contemporary fundamentalist groups or historically. David Ebershoff takes on both a historic and a contemporary story in The 19th Wife. The first story is a fictionalization of the life of Ann Eliza Young, one of Brigham Young’s wives, who divorced him, and later wrote a book called Wife Number 19, became a public speaker and advocate against polygamy. The second story belongs to Jordan Scott, excommunicated […]
A Story Of Masks And Costumes
While not my favorite read so far, Tracy Chevalier’s Girl with a Pearl Earring is at least moderately enjoyable. More importantly, though it is set in the 1660s in Europe, this novel highlights the illusion of social mobility we cling to and our obsession with appearances. We like to think as a society that we have moved on from the prejudices of Griet’s days, but reading Girl with a Pearl Earring, some of what she faces feels all too familiar. Read the full review here.
The one where I still love that Scotsman…
The second book in Diana Gabaldon’s best-selling Outlander series, Dragonfly in Amber opens in present day (well, late 1960s, I think, if I do the math correctly, but more present day than eighteenth century). Claire has returned to Scotland after her husband Frank’s death, and she’s brought her daughter, tall red haired Brianna, with her. The trip is ostensibly a mother-daughter vacation, but Claire is actually looking for a way to tell Brianna that her real father is Jamie Fraser, the man Claire married in […]
Dark Ages Lady Fiction, A+, Yes Please
Was sort of uninterested in this book, until I read this blog post by the author. Boom! Sudden interest, give it to me now. And I’m really glad I picked it up. My experience with Hild is the textbook example of why it’s a good idea to read outside your normal genres every once in a while. I don’t read very much historical fiction, and those I do read are usually the ones that have some sort of unusual hook, like TWO SOLDIERS IN WWII […]
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