While I'm far too disorganized to attempt what you are doing (and don't need to... I'm a very fast reader and read more than a book a week already), I have friends who used to read and who now say they "don't have the time," who are going to hear about you and your "plan." Kudos! Whatever works.
just finished manhood for amateurs by michael chabon and am starting inherent vice by thomas pynchon.
Essential Cell biology 3rd edition Molecular Biology 4th edition Principles of Anatomy and Physiology 11th edition These books are soooooooooooo interesting
The Prince of Storms, the fourth and final book in Kay Kenyon's "Entire and The Rose" series. Freaking great books.
I finally finished Love in the Time of Cholera last night. That book has been like War and Peace for me. I started it last summer, put it down when my son was born a week later, and spent over a week finishing it up. It wasn't really my cup of tea. The writing was descriptive and flowing, but the story meandered too much. A simple passage would detour through myriad plots and points of view before finishing up where it started. Not having smaller chapter breaks was hard as well. There were some nights I didn't want to dive into a 50-60 page section, whereas 20-30 would have been more approachable. Still I finished it. I feel like I earned a merit badge or something. Up next: The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova. I thoroughly enjoyed Ms. Kostova's excellent debut novel, The Historian. The writing was lush, and I loved how the backstory slowly was unveiled through historical research. The ending was a bit meh, but Kostova's style and the engrossing first 80% of the book still made it a compelling read for me. I had no idea she was putting a new book, or this would have been on my "must buy release day" list. I happened to notice it at the bookstore and immediately picked it up. It sounds like The Swan Thieves will have similar style although tackling a much different topic than Dracula. Hopefully the ending will have a bit more pop this time around.
Finished up The Swan Thieves the other night. It bears a number of similarities to Kostova's debut novel, The Historian. Both depict a central mystery. Swan Thieves deals with a renowned artist who takes a knife to a painting in a museum, gets committed, refuses to speak to his psychiatrist who is also a painter, and begins to sketch over and over the face of a woman. The book essentially deals with unraveling who that woman is and what her story is. Like the Historian, the narrative is moved forward by looking back. This time, it's through the women that the crazy artist knew. And like the Historian, the writing is lush and beautiful. The subject matter deals heavily with art and painting and every main character is a painter themselves. Appropriately, the writing brushes every scene with terms and colors that would aptly used to describe paintings. I like art well enough and know the big names, but I am not an art historian or buff. Yet I was captivated by hearing Ms. Kostova wax poetically about a scene that a character was seeing or a vista that Monet painted. She is truly gifted with words, and as a writer, I'm a bit awed and aspire to depict things so vividly. Unfortunately, The Swan Thieves shares one other trait with The Historian: the ending sucked. I didn't mind this so much with The Historian, because it was such a thriller. The ride was so much fun that I didn't object to the finale ending with a bit of a whimper. The Swan Thieves is even more guilty of this. The subject matter isn't as adventurous, and it deals more with the evolutions of characters' emotions and a ton of description of art. Still there's a mystery at the center of it all, and that mystery is solved abruptly. And then THE END. There seemed to be about 40 pages missing in this 600 page book that should have delved into matters relating to the conclusion of this mystery, but it's like Kostova had a word limit and ended the book within a few pages. I felt a bit ripped off by the ending. Still, I liked the book because of the characteristics I listed above. Ms. Kostova has a true gift with words, and I'm looking forward to seeing what she writes in the future. I just hope she figures out how to conceive an appropriate ending for the epics she writes. Up next: Mister Slaughter by Robert McCammon I've been waiting on this book for a long time (it was on my top 5 most anticipated books of 2009 list). It's the third book of McCammon's excellent Matthew Corbett series, which chronicles the evolution of a Colonial-era, grittier, American Sherlock Holmes. This books sounds like it will be a lot more violent with the titular Mister Slaughter, but I'm looking forward to diving back into Corbett's world. McCammon's writing is descriptive and engrossing, the historical detail is incredible, and the stories are page-turners.
Finished The World Without Us by Alan Weisman. Very interesting. Very depressing. Almost done with The World that Made New Orleans by Ned Sublette. This was fantastic. So many historical tidbits in this book. Marvelously fun read.
Badass: A Relentless Onslaught of the Toughest Warlords, Vikings, Samurai, Pirates, Gunfighters, and Military Commanders to Ever Live just started reading this. Only been through a couple of chapters but it's really entertaining. Not very detailed in the historical accounts for my taste, but the humour is great, albeit a little sophmore-ish one of the exerts that cracked me up...
I enjoyed the Historian as well, though it was a bit overly descriptive (imo). And agree about the ending, it was kind of a bummer, but the ride as a whole was good. Maybe I'll give her 2nd book a go based on your evaluation.
Forgot to let you know, sorry! The writing is good enough to plow through the 3 books in a week or two... but the ending of the series is just awful. I’m not sure how it managed to survive the red pen. (or what it was like before being edited?) Just a major slap in the face that honestly left me angry. My wife has the same feeling towards the series. So, at the very least the series gives us something with which to compare bad movies/books. very minor vague spoiler... but be warned: Spoiler So… the biggest issue was the completely idiotic (from the reader, character, and author’s perspective) actions of the characters at the end. Oh yeah! And a big fizzle on the only other side plot in the series. The author spends numerous chapters in every book on a minor character’s side adventures with no payoff at the end. It leaves you wondering why the character’s arc was even in the series. Sidenote: just reread Dorsai! on Sunday. One of my favorite books of all time. (This was about the 5th or 6th reading for me. I rebought the book at a used bookstore for a couple dollars in Tulsa. - my old copy had deteriorated.)
I think I'm going to pass on this one then. I'm growing tired of sinking time and energy into reading a tale or series of books and getting sucker punched by a rotten ending. There's nothing worse than a story that starts off on such a good note only to derail at the end. Thanks for the head's up.
