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Feb. 22nd, 2011 08:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tvordljAnd just a note for myself for ...
15. Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
Middlesex is a story about a young man who was raised as a girl. His body was the end result of a genetic misfire that both of his parents carried and when he was born, it wasn't obvious that he had physical characteristics of a male so was raised female until the truth came out when he was 14. It's fiction, not a biography but is written as one. It starts in the present, then curls back to Greece in his grandparents' day and tells the story of his grandparents and parents and then his own life and how he came to grips with it all.
It also tells the story of 20th century Greece and America and there's taboos, forbidden love, Greek culture which is always threaded through the book. It is about survival of course and family. There's a pretty good review of it here as well.
It was a good read, a good story and could even make a decent movie or mini series. Then again, they usually screw things like this up so who knows?
16. The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood
Margaret Atwood is a celebrated Canadian author and for good reason. Though i have only read one other book of hers many years ago, The Handmaid's Tale, i have heard good things about Blind Assassin and since i had the ebook in my collection, i dove into it.
It's a book within a book concept. The main story is the life of Laura and Iris Chase. Laura was a celebrated author whose book, the Blind Assassin, was published after her early death, a car that went over a bridge or embankment just after WW2. Iris is now an old woman and is writing her life story from her childhood through to Laura's death. Interspersed with this story are chapters taken out of Blind Assassin which is a story of lovers, never named. The Blind Assassin is a character in a story that the man tells to the woman, adding to the story each time they meet. You realize that the woman is probably married and stealing time away from her family over the course of probably several years. There are also "reprints" of newspaper articles slotted in the book which also fill in small gaps of the lives of Iris and Laura.
The language flows, the characters really do live, you do get absorbed in Iris and Laura's story and you realize the truth of things (not saying so i don't spoil anything) as the story unfolds.
I don't know why i haven't read more of her books and i plan to rectify that. I have a couple more as ebooks including Oryx and Crake and possibly Robber Bride, both of which have been highly praised. That doesn't always recommend me to a book because a lot of the time, highly praised books end up being boring or difficult to read, for me but having enjoyed this one, I'm more willing to take the plunge into another.
17. Wedding Season - Katie Fforde
Light, easy to read chicklit. Always predictable as such and always a happy ending but i liked it anyway. It's about three female friends, a wedding planner, a hairdresser and a dress designer and the men in their lives. The wedding planner, Sarah, has to do two short notice weddings, one for her demanding little sister who has no budget and big dreams and one for a well known celebrity with big dreams, lots of money and both weddings are on the same day in just a few short months. Try to organize that when you've got to sort out dresses, venues, flowers and of course men. As i said, i liked the book, a real paper book this time, and i might even read more of hers.
15. Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
Middlesex is a story about a young man who was raised as a girl. His body was the end result of a genetic misfire that both of his parents carried and when he was born, it wasn't obvious that he had physical characteristics of a male so was raised female until the truth came out when he was 14. It's fiction, not a biography but is written as one. It starts in the present, then curls back to Greece in his grandparents' day and tells the story of his grandparents and parents and then his own life and how he came to grips with it all.
It also tells the story of 20th century Greece and America and there's taboos, forbidden love, Greek culture which is always threaded through the book. It is about survival of course and family. There's a pretty good review of it here as well.
It was a good read, a good story and could even make a decent movie or mini series. Then again, they usually screw things like this up so who knows?
16. The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood
Margaret Atwood is a celebrated Canadian author and for good reason. Though i have only read one other book of hers many years ago, The Handmaid's Tale, i have heard good things about Blind Assassin and since i had the ebook in my collection, i dove into it.
It's a book within a book concept. The main story is the life of Laura and Iris Chase. Laura was a celebrated author whose book, the Blind Assassin, was published after her early death, a car that went over a bridge or embankment just after WW2. Iris is now an old woman and is writing her life story from her childhood through to Laura's death. Interspersed with this story are chapters taken out of Blind Assassin which is a story of lovers, never named. The Blind Assassin is a character in a story that the man tells to the woman, adding to the story each time they meet. You realize that the woman is probably married and stealing time away from her family over the course of probably several years. There are also "reprints" of newspaper articles slotted in the book which also fill in small gaps of the lives of Iris and Laura.
The language flows, the characters really do live, you do get absorbed in Iris and Laura's story and you realize the truth of things (not saying so i don't spoil anything) as the story unfolds.
I don't know why i haven't read more of her books and i plan to rectify that. I have a couple more as ebooks including Oryx and Crake and possibly Robber Bride, both of which have been highly praised. That doesn't always recommend me to a book because a lot of the time, highly praised books end up being boring or difficult to read, for me but having enjoyed this one, I'm more willing to take the plunge into another.
17. Wedding Season - Katie Fforde
Light, easy to read chicklit. Always predictable as such and always a happy ending but i liked it anyway. It's about three female friends, a wedding planner, a hairdresser and a dress designer and the men in their lives. The wedding planner, Sarah, has to do two short notice weddings, one for her demanding little sister who has no budget and big dreams and one for a well known celebrity with big dreams, lots of money and both weddings are on the same day in just a few short months. Try to organize that when you've got to sort out dresses, venues, flowers and of course men. As i said, i liked the book, a real paper book this time, and i might even read more of hers.
