This is one of those novels that is hard to describe without the word "poignant," as McGregor describes in fine detail the happenings on one block in a British city on one day that something tragic occurs with the block's residents as witnesses. The build-up to this one event is a selective peering into of the neighbors' secret troubles, fears, desires. His ability to bring depth to such a large cast is impressive.
—Read more…
After the semi-disappointment in Dance of the Happy Shades, I picked up this collection and worked my way through it over autumn in between other books. I'd probably read half of these seventeen favorites in their original collections, so reading this was a combination of finding and revisiting. I can now be sure that her earlier stories just don't grab me as completely.
—Read more…
I read Breakfast of Champions back in high school or early college but for some reason never branched out further. It's hard to remember my exact reaction, but I'm guessing it was a little more science fiction than I found interesting at the time. If my first Vonnegut had been this one, maybe that wouldn't have been the case.
—Read more…—Read more…Thanksgiving in Dundas
Hitching the Hamilton highway
styrofoam hot chocolate
These three stories all look at the intersections of fantasy and reality. I like the different drawing styles in each story, but the philosophies came off heavy-handed to me.
I'm curious about Gene Luen Yang's previous book American Born Chinese.
—Read more…
It seems most of Oe's works are at least semi-autobiographical; supposedly all his works feature a character based on his son Hikari who is developmentally disabled. This book is about a similar boy whose name is also Hikari, but goes by the nickname Eeyore, and a similar father who also writes and is the voice of the novel.
—Read more…
For whatever reason, this collection didn't strike me as much as Modern Life did. But there were poems I liked.
—Read more…The Crowds Cheered as Gloom Galloped Away
I never read this when I was younger, but I kind of wish I had. It's a complicated mystery based around the occupants of an apartment building who discover they've all been named heirs to a $2 million estate, except they need to compete against each other (in pairs dictated by the bizarre will) on a strange riddle in order to win it.
—Read more…
Only recently did I get with the program and start reading David Lebovitz's blog — I've tried to make up for lost time by making his butterscotch pudding several times in the last few weeks. I assumed this book would basically be a printed "best of" the blog (which would further help me catch up on what I've been missing), but actually the essays are original to the book, though many of the topics were probably mentioned..
—Read more…
An entomologist seeks out a remote seaside village for an insect expedition and as night falls seeks shelter from the villagers. They offer him shelter with a widow who lives in a house inside a deep sand pit and he wakes up in the morning to discover they have removed the ladder, trapping him. In time he discovers that a few villagers basically live a life of slavery, spending all night shoveling sand both to protect their fragile houses from destruction and for commerce, as the sand is sold to builders, even though it shouldn't be due to its high salt content.
—Read more…
