Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Review: First Drop of Crimson


First Drop of Crimson
First Drop of Crimson by Jeaniene Frost

My rating: 1 of 5 stars



Look, when I go slumming into my vampires/faerie/zombie porn, I still have standards. This book was rather poorly written and the attempts at British slang/dialogue were laughable.



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Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Review: Get A Life


Get A Life
Get A Life by Nadine Gordimer

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



This is the second Nadine Gordimer I've read, the first being [b:The House Gun|118827|The House Gun|Nadine Gordimer|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1347751446s/118827.jpg|503675]. With both, my early impression was that I hated her writing style. The House Gun eventually drew me into the story far enough that I didn't care that I found the style a bit off. Unfortunately with Get A LIfe that never did happen. There were the odd moments that I got into it, but they were not consistent enough.



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Monday, October 22, 2012

Review: Lark and Termite


Lark and Termite
Lark and Termite by Jayne Anne Phillips

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I bought this book because it had a connection to Korea - and that was the part I liked the best. Of the other two narrators, I enjoyed Lark's story but didn't really like Termite's. It felt like a lot of repeated information with only a few interesting slivers added. I really hated the line Lola is the cat at the end. I would prefer to work for that sort of insight on my own, then be baldly told it.



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Saturday, October 13, 2012

Review: Embraced By The Light


Embraced By The Light
Embraced By The Light by Betty J. Eadie

My rating: 1 of 5 stars



A friend went out of her way to give me this book. For all that I admit to be slightly annoyed that someone who knew I was an atheist would give me a book about Jesus, I felt compelled to read it since she ordered it for me (and lets be honest, it's short.)

It annoyed me from the start. The acknowledgements where she thanks her husband for eating tv dinners while she wrote, the forward written by a doctor stressing a need for a return to spirituality, that the author had gone through native American boarding schools designed to eliminate a certain sort of spirituality.

Ultimately it just came across to me as silly. It's all the best things that the author could imagine, put in a magical world. To start with, her imagination is pretty dull if that's her idea of utopia. It was like reading someone's account of heir alien abduction, or like reading some sort of sci-fi. Flatland and Gulliver's Travells both came to mind as I flew through it. A lot of it was very good-hearted, with all its talk of love and kindness, but it was mixed in with so much silly that I had a hard time taking even the ideas I agreed with seriously.

One good thing will come out of reading this. I'll message the friend who gave it to me. If nothing else, her love and kindness towards me is deeply touching and it's been far too long since we've spoken.



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Monday, October 08, 2012

Review: Ru: A Novel


Ru: A Novel
Ru: A Novel by Kim Thúy

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I woke up at 5 a.m. this morning and savoured the quiet by reading this book in around two hours. It's lovely - the use of language, the way the tiny slivers of life wander back and forth between past and present and future. It recalled my trip to Vietnam and the experience of being back in Canada. Fantastic little book. I really hope it wins the Giller (and I now really hope to read the rest of the nominees, in the hopes that they are also this good.)



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Saturday, October 06, 2012

Review: Djibouti: A Novel


Djibouti: A Novel
Djibouti: A Novel by Elmore Leonard

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



The tone of this book was hard for me to get into, particularly the dialogue. I rather liked the insight into the Somali pirates and African terror networks. The documentarian took me awhile to warm up to, but I did by the end. My first Leonard - perhaps not my last.



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