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okay, i'm only a wee bit behind at the half-mark point for the ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
50bookchallenge. but for rest of the year i refuse to pick up anymore National Book Award winners. The March was a disaster and Middle Passage was absurd.
1. Mr. Blue by Myles Connolly ~ no spoilers. If you've never read this book, go out and read it immediately.
2. Beasley's Christmas Party by Booth Tarkington ~ an eccentric politician seems to have a lot of imaginary friends. A strange, but wonderful little book!
3. Underground Christmas by John Hassler ~ a depressed divorced father deals with Christmas loneliness. Surprisingly uplifting!
4. Lying Awake by Mark Salzman ~ A nun must chose between her "visions" and an operation which will cure her of them. Loved this book! devoured it in one sitting.
5. North of Hope by John Hassler ~ a priest who was once in love with a girl meets her again years later whenher marriage is troubled. Plodding, unfortunate mess. Meh.
6. Rape: A Love Story by Joyce Carol Oates ~ unmemorable story of vengeance after a brutal gang rape. Nothing much here except an interesting psychological study in the cop character.
7. Andersonville Violets by Henry Collingwood ~ contemporary story of two soldiers who have a fateful encounter over some violets. Northern propaganda, but interesting as a study of sentiments in the era.
8. Gunnar's Daughter by Sigrid Undset ~ a medieval tale of love and revenge. Surprising, chilling work, loved it!
9. French Stories ~ handful of tales by the biggies of the 18th-19th century. Enjoyed this especially because it was a dual language text.
10. Hunting a Hair Shirt and other Spiritual Adventures short essays by Aline Kilmer. Fun, fresh reading on a variety of surprisingly modern topics for a book written in the 20s.
11. Sullivan County Sketches Short Works by Stephen Crane ~ a variety of "three men vs. the wilderness" stories. not crane's strongest work, but fun stuff!
12. The Blue and Gray ~ nonfiction about the Georgetown College students who fought in the Civil War. Good for my research, prolly not of interest to most normal people.
13. The Luck of Roaring Camp by Brett Harte ~ short stories about early California. I wanted to love this more, but just didn't.
14. Silk by Alessandro Baricco ~ a man who deals in silkworms gets caught up in the love affair of his life. One of my favorite books this year. Two thumbs and two toes up.
15. A Day the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn ~ a day in the life of a prisoner of the Russian gulag. Glad I read it, but didn't love it.
16. The Silent by Jack Dann ~ orphan boy wanders battle-torn America during the Civil War. Rubbish. Embarrassingly bad. See no. 22 below for a much finer take on the subject.
17. The Dragon and the George by Gordon R. Dickson ~ conventional time-travel medieval fantasy in which a man is turned into a dragon. Dated, boring. Nothing to see here.
18. The Man Without a Country by Edward Everett Hale ~ man is sentanced to never set foot in his country, kept for life on a ship off the coast. Patriotic propagandao. Interesting historically.
19. Detailed Minutiae of Solider Life by Carlton McCarthy ~ non-fiction first-hand account of a soldier in the CSA artillery. Prolly one of the best books on the subject.
20. Alias "Paine": The Mystery Man of the Lincoln Conspiracy by Betty Ownsbey ~ non-fiction biography of Lewis Powell, would-be assassin of Secretary of State William Seward. Loved this book!
21. They Fought Like Demons: Women Soldiers in the Civil War by DeAnne Blanton and Lauren M. Cook ~ non-fiction, excellent research source. Enlightening and very entertaining.
22. The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski ~ orphan travels the landscape of war-torn eastern Europe. A hard read due to subject matter, but an amazing book!
23. Choke by Chuck Palahniuk ~ disaffected young man thinks he's the second coming. Strange story, fun read. Fluff.
24. Good Brother, Bad Brother by James Cross Giblin ~ nonfiction young adult book about Edwin and John Wilkes Booth. Fun read, thumbs up.
25. Bull Run by Paul Fleischmann ~ young adult monologues from the time of the battle. Heartily recommend!
26. Middle Passage by Charles Johnson ~ high sea adventure on a slave ship. Don't waste your time.
~ more to come!
cross-posted to50bookchallenge
50bookchallenge. but for rest of the year i refuse to pick up anymore National Book Award winners. The March was a disaster and Middle Passage was absurd.no. 26 ~ Middle Passage by charles johnson ~ i have no idea what this book was "about". i felt like it actually turned the horrors of the slave trade into a cheap adventure novel. the writing was uneven at best and full of what felt like anachronisms in 1830. and then there's that whole "god" in the hull he meets and describes as taking the form of his father (a runaway slave) but covered in writhing creatures, blah blah blah (to no purpose whatsoever).next up i have a choice between two more sailing books or i can go find something else. i'm kinda seasick at the moment, frankly, so i may have to dig up something fresh (and on land) in the interim.That is what I mostly saw, and for the life of me I could no more separate the two, desering father and divine monster, than I could sort wave from sea. Nor something more phantasmal that forever confused my lineage as a marginalized American colored man.what? i almost threw the book right there and then, but having only thirty pages to go, finished it (with immense disgust).this one was a big loser.
: o p
1. Mr. Blue by Myles Connolly ~ no spoilers. If you've never read this book, go out and read it immediately.
2. Beasley's Christmas Party by Booth Tarkington ~ an eccentric politician seems to have a lot of imaginary friends. A strange, but wonderful little book!
3. Underground Christmas by John Hassler ~ a depressed divorced father deals with Christmas loneliness. Surprisingly uplifting!
4. Lying Awake by Mark Salzman ~ A nun must chose between her "visions" and an operation which will cure her of them. Loved this book! devoured it in one sitting.
5. North of Hope by John Hassler ~ a priest who was once in love with a girl meets her again years later whenher marriage is troubled. Plodding, unfortunate mess. Meh.
6. Rape: A Love Story by Joyce Carol Oates ~ unmemorable story of vengeance after a brutal gang rape. Nothing much here except an interesting psychological study in the cop character.
7. Andersonville Violets by Henry Collingwood ~ contemporary story of two soldiers who have a fateful encounter over some violets. Northern propaganda, but interesting as a study of sentiments in the era.
8. Gunnar's Daughter by Sigrid Undset ~ a medieval tale of love and revenge. Surprising, chilling work, loved it!
9. French Stories ~ handful of tales by the biggies of the 18th-19th century. Enjoyed this especially because it was a dual language text.
10. Hunting a Hair Shirt and other Spiritual Adventures short essays by Aline Kilmer. Fun, fresh reading on a variety of surprisingly modern topics for a book written in the 20s.
11. Sullivan County Sketches Short Works by Stephen Crane ~ a variety of "three men vs. the wilderness" stories. not crane's strongest work, but fun stuff!
12. The Blue and Gray ~ nonfiction about the Georgetown College students who fought in the Civil War. Good for my research, prolly not of interest to most normal people.
13. The Luck of Roaring Camp by Brett Harte ~ short stories about early California. I wanted to love this more, but just didn't.
14. Silk by Alessandro Baricco ~ a man who deals in silkworms gets caught up in the love affair of his life. One of my favorite books this year. Two thumbs and two toes up.
15. A Day the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn ~ a day in the life of a prisoner of the Russian gulag. Glad I read it, but didn't love it.
16. The Silent by Jack Dann ~ orphan boy wanders battle-torn America during the Civil War. Rubbish. Embarrassingly bad. See no. 22 below for a much finer take on the subject.
17. The Dragon and the George by Gordon R. Dickson ~ conventional time-travel medieval fantasy in which a man is turned into a dragon. Dated, boring. Nothing to see here.
18. The Man Without a Country by Edward Everett Hale ~ man is sentanced to never set foot in his country, kept for life on a ship off the coast. Patriotic propagandao. Interesting historically.
19. Detailed Minutiae of Solider Life by Carlton McCarthy ~ non-fiction first-hand account of a soldier in the CSA artillery. Prolly one of the best books on the subject.
20. Alias "Paine": The Mystery Man of the Lincoln Conspiracy by Betty Ownsbey ~ non-fiction biography of Lewis Powell, would-be assassin of Secretary of State William Seward. Loved this book!
21. They Fought Like Demons: Women Soldiers in the Civil War by DeAnne Blanton and Lauren M. Cook ~ non-fiction, excellent research source. Enlightening and very entertaining.
22. The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski ~ orphan travels the landscape of war-torn eastern Europe. A hard read due to subject matter, but an amazing book!
23. Choke by Chuck Palahniuk ~ disaffected young man thinks he's the second coming. Strange story, fun read. Fluff.
24. Good Brother, Bad Brother by James Cross Giblin ~ nonfiction young adult book about Edwin and John Wilkes Booth. Fun read, thumbs up.
25. Bull Run by Paul Fleischmann ~ young adult monologues from the time of the battle. Heartily recommend!
26. Middle Passage by Charles Johnson ~ high sea adventure on a slave ship. Don't waste your time.
~ more to come!
cross-posted to
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From:
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From:
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: o p
From:
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Perhaps that's harsh. Ah well, I think the book deserves it.
And I recognized some of your titles from books I have shelved at my work. The Oates one in particular I reemember, for when I had to shelve it, I distinctly remember reading the title and thinking what sort of perverse, monstrous title is this? and it took all my willpower not to hurl it against the ground but put it in its proper place on the bookshelf. Whether or not it's a good book, I have no idea, but from the title itself, I don't think I could handle its subject matter. :P
But I'm definitely looking up Silk and the Norwegian author. Also Lying Awake looks really good as well. ^_^ Aw, I love it when people share the books they read!
From:
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the joyce book is a variation on the theme of the Central Park Jogger (dunno if you're familiar with the famous case of Kitty Genovese). in a way it is a love story between the woman in the story and the cop who is pursuing her attackers (but love in a more platonic sense, i guess). it's an interesting book because of the questions it raises about morality, vengeance, and justice, but i don't like the style and some of it just seems needlessly gratuitous. i'd definitely not recommend it.
definitely check out Lying Awake ~ it's a lovely, contemplative book.
: D
From:
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You probably want to avoid Flash for Freedom then. It's an expensive picaresque novel in takes Flashman from the Middle Passage to the Underground Railroad.
I think I missed your original posting of Detailed Minutiae of Solider Life by Carlton McCarthy. Otherwise, I definitely would have added it to the reading list.
From:
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McCarthy's book is great. my favorite of all the post-war soldier memoirs, i think. but i've always been more interested in the little details vs. the big picture (tactics and so forth).
: D