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Never Let Me Go
Kazuo Ishiguro
Vintage, 2006
Prompt delivery
+ The dream world of Hailsham and all its bitter truths ~
+ These characters are far from sheep...
+ Unsettling
+ Now, several years later....
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A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters
Julian Barnes
Vintage, 1990
Just" Wow, Good."
+ A world of its own
+ Required reading...
No really, all I have to say is "Wow, good." If that has any real meaning to you you have to look at my previous essays and reviews. Sorry. This is fantastic, and I'm without words.
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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Michael Chabon
Picador, 2001
Chabon Is A Genius
+ Absolute entertainment, cover to cover!
+ Truly entertaining
+ Spectacular Story
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Norwegian Wood
Haruki Murakami
Vintage, 2000
A Book and its Cover
+ "I once had a girl, or should I say, she once had me"
+ A story with so much emotion
Regarding the book: The first time I read Norwegian Wood by Murakami was during my final summer before graduating university. I loved it. This is my number 2 favorite book. As the phrase came to mind when Ebert saw Lost in Translation, "Mono no aware" came to mind as I read this.
Regarding the ...
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East of Eden
John Steinbeck
Penguin (Non-Classics), 2002
Beautiful Classic
+ A Good One
+ Great classic
+ More 'guilty pleasure' than literary masterpiece - but pretty entertaining none-the-less
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Something Happened
Joseph Heller
Simon & Schuster, 1997
Catch-22's Darker Cousin
+ Unrelelnting look into the mind of a male in middle-aged crisis
+ "Too Real" is the only legitimate criticism I've heard
+ Your Patience Will Be Rewarded
+ Hard work but very much worth it
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Where I'm Calling From: Selected Stories
Raymond Carver
Vintage, 1989
A great collection of Carver's gritty classic stories -- a masterpiece!
+ And, of course, the booze...
+ Where are the Raymond Carver's of Today?
+ Carver Rocks
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Rabbit, Run
John Updike
Ballantine Books, 1996
A true American classic, beautifully written
+ American anti-hero
+ Great!
+ Everything I wanted
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The Adventures of Augie March (Classic, 20th-Century, Penguin)
Saul Bellow
Penguin Classics, 1996
Well deserving Great American Tale [81][T]
+ Is Bellow The Real Salinger?
+ Found a favorite
+ Review of Penguin Classics' Augie March
+ Augie March
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Demian (Perennial Classics)
Hermann Hesse
Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 1999
Hermann Hesse is without a doubt one of the most intriguing writers I have ever read.
+ Brand New
+ Brilliant work of eternal messages clothed in the drama of time and place
+ Excellent
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The Autumn of the Patriarch (P.S.)
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2006
A great read if you stick with it
+ The inclemency of death toward the majesty of power
+ Marquez at his best - a masterpiece
I have been a big fan of Mr. Marquez for many years now, and have read at least four of his other books. This one intrigued me when I read about it, since it is reputed to have been his first.
I found the first fifty or so pages difficult to get into because, typical of Marquez, he tends to ...
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Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West
Cormac McCarthy
Vintage, 1992
you try not to flinch, but you do, then you turn the page for more
+ Emptiness Redeemed by Exceptional Execution
+ Wow! Wow! Try and write like this!
Really enjoyed this one, though I have to feel a little guilty for saying so. The scenery itself is like another of the characters, and all characters are harsh, brutal, and real.
The pace of the narration does not drag, and though you try not to flinch at the descriptions of horror and blood, ...
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The Sea
John Banville
Vintage, 2006
superior writing
John Banville composes his work. Like a symphonic masterpiece, his words flow and ebb, weaving themselves into a clarity of expression that tell the story of a man dealing with the loss of his wife. He returns to a sea-side village where he spent time as a child, hoping to regain a balance in his ...
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Lolita
Vladimir Nabokov
Vintage, 1989
Peeling the Onion of Humanity
+ A must read... If at least once.
+ It was really good!
First of all the topic and concept are utterly wretched. A pervert praying on female children, spending an extraordinary amount of energy trying to squeeze empathy from the readers. As if that wasn't ugly enough the story conclude by murdering the person that saved the poor child. But in spite of ...
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V. (Perennial Classics)
Thomas Pynchon
Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 1999
An excellent novel.
+ Forest for the Trees
I don't understand most of the criticisms of this novel. In V. I found engaging writing, characters I was interested in (even if not personally attached to), and an intricate but palpable narrative. Despite what some of the negative reviews will have you think, V. is not overly erudite or ...
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