Oct 17, 2024Stiff
By Mary RoachLots of fun, lots of corpses but a bit a lark, a bit of a laugh.
Oct 15, 2024Our Man
By George PackerThis is a fascinating and insightful biography of both a guy I, an ignoramus, had not heard of, as well as of American foreign policy over the last half-century. Lots of good stuff here, sharply written, my biggest takeaway being that I am not entirely convinced that foreign policy actually effects change. I mean it probably does something?
Sep 30, 2024The Virginian
By Owen WisterGood, solid, manly. Wister is clearly the Tolkien of the Western genre, and that caught me a bit by surprise - the seeds and bones of the genre are so clear and well-put, it feels like The Virginian precisely predicts the existence of Clint Eastwood and Larry McMurtry. Also just kind of surprisingly unobjectionable.
Sep 25, 2024North Woods
By Daniel MasonThe story of a cabin over the centuries and the story of America and the story of some ghosts, cute and sweet. A bit overwrought and maybe a bit fanciful at times, trying too hard to write with styles, but I can forgive that.
Sep 17, 20242666
By Roberto BolañoFor a long time, I have believed that a truly great novel is one which contains a sliver of divinity, something which makes me want to believe in the power and glory of God. As an atheist, that feels like a sufficiently high bar, and the books that have passed it - say The Brothers Karamazov, East of Eden, One Hundred Years of Solitude - feel well within the bounds of the canonical greats. 2666 disproves this, as 2666 is clearly a great novel.
Sep 11, 2024The Bostonians
By Henry JamesI read The Bostonians coming fresh off of reading Cloud Cuckoo Land and I am a bit astonished at the contrast. The latter is a contemporary novel with an obvious underlying ethos which I am predominantly in line with, but feels flat and a bit lifeless. The Bostonians has the two strikes against it of being both old (as in of-a-time-that-is-difficult-to-inhabit) and spending its time making the repugnant argument that women are less then men. And yet - its characters are alive, are real people with great depth. I immediately fell into and was consumed by the story. And yeah, at the end, there is a kinda Atlas Shrugged-type ending where the unabashed misogonyst persuades the impressionable young woman to leave her life for him. And along the way there are a lot of confused arguments that are mostly nonsense now. I'm not really sure how it stood up in the context of its time, I am inclined to believe that James meant it to appeal to both "sides of the woman question" whatever that means. I mean all in all, it was more sympathetic to lesbians than you expect from a 19th century writer? Politics aside, it beats out Atlas Shrugged in at least being an admirable work of art.
Sep 6, 2024The Lost City Of Z
By David GrannAn interesting, well-researched, well-put together history of travel in the Amazon that I think unfortunately I read too shortly after reading The River of Doubt which is just kind of ultimately a better story about historical travel in the Amazon.
Sep 2, 2024Cloud Cuckoo Land
By Anthony DoerrI think a book with these ambitions needs to be warm, organic, feel alive - but it is surprisingly cold and clinical. I'm not really sure what makes it so, maybe the storylines are too flat, maybe the characters lack depth. I think it was an admirable effort, well written and enjoyable and with am interesting goal, but ultimately I think it fell a bit flat
Aug 28, 2024Babel
By R.F. KuangThere is a bit here of the young-adult, which of course is nothing to be ashamed of, but means that it is a bit simplistic, a bit stilted, and a bit preoccupied by its own project. Which like, it's a good project! Anticolonial linguistic magic in Victorian Oxford is fun! I like the project, I didn't love the book.
Aug 23, 2024Demon Copperhead
By Barbara KingsolverGood, sweet story, a bit trite and maybe a bit patronizing, but mostly empathetic, well put-together and a good modern Dickens.