Ben Marcus's books The Age of Wire and String and Notable American Women were considered "experimental" fiction because of his unconventional use of...
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I've read and enjoyed several of Simon Winchester's books, and this is my favorite thus far. This story abounds in historical interest, geological drama, and the bizarre coincidences that delight both Winchester and his readers.
The early chapters paint the broad backdrop of the 1906 earthquake -- both a cultural portrait of 19th century San Francisco and a geological profile of Western North America. Basic earth science is mixed with the history of scientific discovery and Winchester's travelogue of seismologically notable America. It never fails to engage and intrigue.
Of course the earthquake itself is fascinating, and Winchester weaves a compelling story out of past destruction, present danger, and the mythos of frontier America.
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(5 of 9 readers found this comment helpful)
I liked Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's first novel, Purple Hibiscus, so I picked up her second, more ambitious book. It's set before and during the Nigerian-Biafran War of 1967-1970.
I don't call this book more ambitious than Purple Hibiscus just because it tackles a war within living memory. It has multiple points of view, and executes a few small chronological jumps. Each of the point-of-view characters, who differ in age, race, gender and class, traces a believable and human arc. This is no small feat, and Adichie pulls it off handily. She does a beautiful job of showing us large events through individual lives.
Adichie tells a complex and disturbing story with a large, vivid cast, and draws it to an ending that feels true. A remarkable book.
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(3 of 7 readers found this comment helpful)
Use of Weapons is a challenging book, both in its structure and its subject matter. It's about war: the necessity of it, the uses of it, the sorts of people it requires and creates. It is sometimes exciting, sometimes brutal, and in the end emotional, memorable, haunting.
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(2 of 5 readers found this comment helpful)
At first this alternate-history mystery thriller just seemed fun -- the hard-boiled language, the mordant humor. But beyond its wit, its well-paced series of frying pans and fires, its over-the-top descriptions and lovingly detailed worldbuilding, this is a powerful novel. It touches on universal themes while describing a world as specific as the tuna salad in a Sitka lunchroom. It's a book with characters you care about. Landsman is a familiar archetype, the loose cannon cop down on his luck, but he's vivid and vulnerable, likable. Bina manages to be both somebody's dream girl and a real, vital, smart woman. Even the dead have voices and a grip on your heart.
I'm a contrarian reviewer, predisposed to be dubious about bestsellers, but I found this novel to be imaginative, distinctive and compelling.
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(10 of 14 readers found this comment helpful)
This is an excellent book about fiction, why (in one practitioner's opinion) to write it, read it, and value it. Flannery O'Connor has a matter-of-fact approach to big topics like the philosophy of art, and suffers neither fools nor mediocrity. This collection of her lectures and essays is so pithy that I was often moved to jot down quotes for later use. Some of these follow my review. O'Connor has much to say that is wise and useful, and nothing that pulls its punches. The book is one of those rare and fabulous writing craft books that made me laugh out loud.
The last part of the volume, which concerns being a Catholic writer, writing the Catholic novel, et cetera, is of less use to a non-Catholic or non-Christian writer. However, some of the sections in the first part of the work where the author discusses how her religion supplies the Mystery for her art are useful to any writer interested in the sources of creativity.
Quotes:
"Fiction begins where human knowledge begins -- with the senses -- and every fiction writer is bound by this fundamental aspect of his medium."
"Art is a word that immediately scares people off, as being a little too grand. But all I mean by art is writing something that is valuable in itself and that works in itself."
"It's always necessary to remember that the fiction writer is much less immediately concerned with grand ideas and bristling emotions than he is with putting list slippers on clerks." (example of the clerk from Mme. Bovary)
"There is no excuse for anyone to write fiction for public consumption unless he has been called to do so by the presence of a gift. It is the nature of fiction not to be good for much unless it is good in itself."
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(10 of 14 readers found this comment helpful)
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Felicity has commented on (32) products.
A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906 (P.S.) by Simon Winchester
Felicity, September 7, 2010
I've read and enjoyed several of Simon Winchester's books, and this is my favorite thus far. This story abounds in historical interest, geological drama, and the bizarre coincidences that delight both Winchester and his readers.The early chapters paint the broad backdrop of the 1906 earthquake -- both a cultural portrait of 19th century San Francisco and a geological profile of Western North America. Basic earth science is mixed with the history of scientific discovery and Winchester's travelogue of seismologically notable America. It never fails to engage and intrigue.
Of course the earthquake itself is fascinating, and Winchester weaves a compelling story out of past destruction, present danger, and the mythos of frontier America.
(5 of 9 readers found this comment helpful)
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Felicity, September 5, 2010
I liked Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's first novel, Purple Hibiscus, so I picked up her second, more ambitious book. It's set before and during the Nigerian-Biafran War of 1967-1970.I don't call this book more ambitious than Purple Hibiscus just because it tackles a war within living memory. It has multiple points of view, and executes a few small chronological jumps. Each of the point-of-view characters, who differ in age, race, gender and class, traces a believable and human arc. This is no small feat, and Adichie pulls it off handily. She does a beautiful job of showing us large events through individual lives.
Adichie tells a complex and disturbing story with a large, vivid cast, and draws it to an ending that feels true. A remarkable book.
(3 of 7 readers found this comment helpful)
Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks
Felicity, December 2, 2009
Use of Weapons is a challenging book, both in its structure and its subject matter. It's about war: the necessity of it, the uses of it, the sorts of people it requires and creates. It is sometimes exciting, sometimes brutal, and in the end emotional, memorable, haunting.(2 of 5 readers found this comment helpful)
The Yiddish Policemen's Union (P.S.) by Michael Chabon
Felicity, July 19, 2009
At first this alternate-history mystery thriller just seemed fun -- the hard-boiled language, the mordant humor. But beyond its wit, its well-paced series of frying pans and fires, its over-the-top descriptions and lovingly detailed worldbuilding, this is a powerful novel. It touches on universal themes while describing a world as specific as the tuna salad in a Sitka lunchroom. It's a book with characters you care about. Landsman is a familiar archetype, the loose cannon cop down on his luck, but he's vivid and vulnerable, likable. Bina manages to be both somebody's dream girl and a real, vital, smart woman. Even the dead have voices and a grip on your heart.I'm a contrarian reviewer, predisposed to be dubious about bestsellers, but I found this novel to be imaginative, distinctive and compelling.
(10 of 14 readers found this comment helpful)
Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose by Flannery Oconnor
Felicity, July 18, 2009
This is an excellent book about fiction, why (in one practitioner's opinion) to write it, read it, and value it. Flannery O'Connor has a matter-of-fact approach to big topics like the philosophy of art, and suffers neither fools nor mediocrity. This collection of her lectures and essays is so pithy that I was often moved to jot down quotes for later use. Some of these follow my review. O'Connor has much to say that is wise and useful, and nothing that pulls its punches. The book is one of those rare and fabulous writing craft books that made me laugh out loud.The last part of the volume, which concerns being a Catholic writer, writing the Catholic novel, et cetera, is of less use to a non-Catholic or non-Christian writer. However, some of the sections in the first part of the work where the author discusses how her religion supplies the Mystery for her art are useful to any writer interested in the sources of creativity.
Quotes:
"Fiction begins where human knowledge begins -- with the senses -- and every fiction writer is bound by this fundamental aspect of his medium."
"Art is a word that immediately scares people off, as being a little too grand. But all I mean by art is writing something that is valuable in itself and that works in itself."
"It's always necessary to remember that the fiction writer is much less immediately concerned with grand ideas and bristling emotions than he is with putting list slippers on clerks." (example of the clerk from Mme. Bovary)
"There is no excuse for anyone to write fiction for public consumption unless he has been called to do so by the presence of a gift. It is the nature of fiction not to be good for much unless it is good in itself."
(10 of 14 readers found this comment helpful)
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