One Girl's Books

Italy

 
 I'm going to Italy in a couple of weeks for the first time. To get ready, I am re-reading A Room With a View by E.M. Forster, which features Florence prominently.

I read the book for the first time after seeing the Merchant Ivory movie and fell in love with the story. My vision of Florence is almost completely influenced by Miss Honeychurch's fictional adventures in the beautiful city.

I'm also reading every single guide book I can get my hands on. I'll only bring a few, and rarely rely on them for anything other than suggestions for museums, but reading about a place before visiting is one of my favorite ways to prepare for an adventure.

 

 

Not Bitten by Twilight

With all the Twilight hype that's been brewing for the past year or so, I decided to read the series.

To compare Stephenie Meyer to J.K. Rowling, as many have, is simply unbelievable. Meyer is probably the worst published novelist, in terms of craft , have ever read.

I am not saying the books are the most terrible I've ever read, but the quality of the writing, the lack of character development, plotting and language use are pretty close to the bottom of the barrel.

I think she had a somewhat clever idea for a series - young girl falls in love with vampire, troubles ensue, but the cardboard cutout characters are such a disappointment.

The love story which is the focus of the books is never really believable. What does Edward the vampire see in Bella? At first, he is just possessed by the scent of her blood. As the story progresses, it becomes even more unclear what he really sees in her. Bella seems wholly obsessed only with Edward's stunning good looks and physical perfection. No matter how many times Meyer reminds us of their forever love, it never rings true.

The werewolf - yes, werewolf, introduced later in the series is a slightly better character, but only slightly. There's never a real chance that Bella will pick him, and Meyer's solution in the end to this problem is pretty icky.

What sent me over the edge in book 2 was the use of the word "chest." I lost count, but I think she used that word more than 200 times in the first 200 pages.

I thought book 4 was the best written in terms of technique, but most painful in terms of plot. The style is so different, I think some of the crazy fans out there might be right in their conspiracy theories that Meyer didn't write it.

An interesting article about the series was published in Salon. Here.

An excellent negative review of the series can be found here.

More Lists

The website The Millions has recently posted its Year in Reading 2008 article.

It is good.

Best of 2008

I like lists.

Here's a collection of various "best of 2008" lists I have gathered. A lot of the titles appear on multiple lists. Are those the really, really good ones?

Some look intriguing. Some seem irritating. Either way, a good place to look for Christmas gifts!

Here's the Publisher's Weekly list.

Here is the ALA's list of Young Adult picks.

Here is the New York Times list.

Here's Amazon's list.

Here's NPR's list.

Here's the Times of London list.

YA Fiction

I'm sure I've written about this before, but I am a big fan of young adult fiction. I think it is a vastly underrated area and some of the finer books I've read over the years were not directed at "adults."

From what I've read, authors often find their books in the YA section just because the book happens to deal with a young person. As an example, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night, which became a big hit, was originally published under the YA label.

So, I guess I would encourage readers to stroll to the back of the bookstore once in awhile and take a look at the kids' section.

Just finished The Boyfriend List by E Lockhart. An excellent novel. Ruby Oliver is 15 and has been suffering from panic attacks. The story is structured as a series of chapters where each chapter deals with a boy with whom she has had some (real or imagined) relationship in her life, while at the same time the story moves forward dealing with the traumas of sophmore year. the writing is clever, current and feels very true to life.

I also really enjoyed another book by Lockhart, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, which is another YA gem about a private prep school's secret society.

Mr. President

I purchased Barack Obama's book The Audacity of Hope about a year ago when I was on my way to an Obama fund raising event in the hopes that the then-senator would sign my book. There were only a few hundred people at the event, but still when Obama's staff said he would sign a few books, there was a mad rush to the stage. I pushed my way through the crowd, holding the book open and eventually made my way up to Obama. He signed my book with a smile. After the event I read a few chapters and put the book down.

Because the book is broken down into broad policy based chapters - faith, race, politics...and each is self-contained it didn't make a difference that months went by between chapters. Many of the themes in the book were laid out by Obama during the campaign, but in slightly different forms since the book was written in 2006, well before Obama declared his candidacy.

Obama is a masterful writer, able to weave together his personal story and complex policy ideas in an accessible way. The book is excellent and I plan to read Dreams from My Father before the inauguration!

By the way, the reviews on Amazon make for entertaining/terrifying reading.

Here's a  REVIEW:

"I will say right now I did not read this book. Why? I followed the presidential race very closely, and the "man" has nothing to say. One of his best friends tried to blow up the Pentagon, and stomps on the American flag. "

Lists

It's a bit early for "best of 2008" lists, but that hasn't stopped Amazon from posting its Best Books of 2008. I actually really enjoy these types of lists - I always discover something that seems worth trying.

The New York Times "best of 2008" hasn't been published yet, but I will link to it when it comes out.

From the Amazon list, I purchased:

1. The Northern Clemency

2. Scrapbooks: an American History

3. Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt -

 

Kindle?

I had a chance to play with the new Amazon Kindle recently. I think I might need it, but I'm not sure whether it's my love of new gadgets that's driving me to it.

The Kindle is about the size of a "quality paperback" and a bit heavier. Books are downloaded via wireless technology that doesn't rely on hot spots to work. You get books in less than a minute and can also download daily newspapers and hundreds of blogs.

I can't decide whether the lack of pages to turn would annoy me. It certainly is better than reading on a computer screen, thanks to the electronic paper technology developed just for Kindle, but it still feels artificial.  It's environmentally friendly, but you can't pass on kindle copies to friends.

I think it would be great for travel, though

What's Going On?

No real excuse for not updating more frequently.

I haven't been reading as much as I used to - work getting in the way I guess.

But here are a few items....

Rather than lugging around Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth on a recent trip to Ireland, I downloaded the audiobook. I am not big on historical fiction, but I absolutely loved this book. Part of me thinks I wouldn't have enjoyed the book as much if I had "read" it as opposed to listening to the novel.

The book takes place in the 12th century and concerns the epic task of building the fictional Kingsbridge Cathedral. There are tons of characters, lots of different story lines and a surprising amount of sex!

The unabridged audiobook is about 40 hours long. I listened on the train cutting across Ireland and in Christ Church Cathedral  in Dublin which was built in the 13th century. I listened while trapped in the airport during a 5-hour layover and when I returned home. It's an epic tale in the best sense.

 

I am currently listening to the sort-of sequel, World Without End.  It takes place a couple hundred years later, in the same fictional town of Kingsbridge. I'm only a few hours in to the audiobook, but it seems to be holding up well against Pillars. The same reader is used for both books and he is perfect.

other blogs blog better

Amazon.com has a pretty decent book blog going.

You can find it here.

Other book blogs of note:

bookslut's blog ,

the millions,

the elegant variations.

These blogs all do something this blog does not - update regularly.