It should not be so hard to write both poetry and fiction. Both arts, after all, make use of the same materials, words and punctuation. Poems...
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This book was wildly popular in Norway, apparently, and became a TV series. This is mentioned in the author blurb, along with the fact that a member of the cast of The Wire was in the series--one I didn't recall, and who has no picture on IMDb. I found this weird piece of marketing very amusing: "Hey! We've got an unknown American actor from a critically-acclaimed program!"
The cover description doesn't represent the book well, or really make one want to read it, so I was more than pleasantly surprised with how enjoyable I found Buzz Aldrin. Occasionally I was annoyed with the long sentences and found myself sort of skimming through them--I felt a serious longing for punctuation more varied than commas in a very long paragraph. Overall, the novel is rather charming, like a Belle & Sebastian song.
Actually, I think that's a pretty good summation: Buzz is a Belle & Sebastian song in novel form. Some will find it rather twee, others will love it to death, and a few will founder in the middle.
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"Exley" captures just how messed-up childhood is: just trying to accurately apprehend what's going on around yourself can be difficult, especially when the adults aren't up to the task of leveling with you, or themselves. A novel about a kid attaching magical importance to a celebrity isn't that uncommon, but in "Exley," the celebrity isn't even quite a one-book wonder. Miller, the protagonist, manages to pull a number of people into his slightly skewed world view. The thing that hits me most about this book is how much wandering around this kid does on his own, trying to fix things, and the people he encounters along the way. It's a sad and lonely vision. I read this book in January and I'm still thinking about it, which is more than I can say about some of the books I read last month.
I picked up the first "Bruno" book at the library on a whim, and reading this newest installment reminds me how more-than-pleasantly surprised I was when I read it. Walker delivers another multi-layered mystery that mixes French history and current events, served with healthy sides of wine and food. (The attention to wine, food, and setting portend a "cozy" mystery, but never fear--on the other hand, this isn't CSI, either.) I often recommend Walker's books to other mystery readers; he's a solid writer who isn't imitative and is never boring.
I knew within 100 pages that The Instructions would be my favorite book of 2010--and my reading list topped out at 216 books for the year (somewhat shy of my 240 book goal), so there's a decent range for comparison. I loved the story and the voice (*especially* the voice): something original and risky in a sea of narratives that can quickly become generic, regardless of the critical praise.
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I was afraid this would be another of those over-hyped works of fiction, but Anthropology of an American Girl really walks the talk. The parsing of gender politics--both inter- and intra-sex--is spot-on. I can feel the oppression of the late 70s/early 80s and the reverberations of the sexual revolution all over the pages at the beginning of the book, as the main character gets punted around by expectations yet tries to hold her own. The prose is worth taking in, over and above the story.
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mclarenster has commented on (9) products.
Buzz Aldrin, What Happened to You in All the Confusion? by Johan Harstad
mclarenster, January 5, 2012
This book was wildly popular in Norway, apparently, and became a TV series. This is mentioned in the author blurb, along with the fact that a member of the cast of The Wire was in the series--one I didn't recall, and who has no picture on IMDb. I found this weird piece of marketing very amusing: "Hey! We've got an unknown American actor from a critically-acclaimed program!"The cover description doesn't represent the book well, or really make one want to read it, so I was more than pleasantly surprised with how enjoyable I found Buzz Aldrin. Occasionally I was annoyed with the long sentences and found myself sort of skimming through them--I felt a serious longing for punctuation more varied than commas in a very long paragraph. Overall, the novel is rather charming, like a Belle & Sebastian song.
Actually, I think that's a pretty good summation: Buzz is a Belle & Sebastian song in novel form. Some will find it rather twee, others will love it to death, and a few will founder in the middle.
(1 of 1 readers found this comment helpful)
Exley by Brock Clarke
mclarenster, September 22, 2011
"Exley" captures just how messed-up childhood is: just trying to accurately apprehend what's going on around yourself can be difficult, especially when the adults aren't up to the task of leveling with you, or themselves. A novel about a kid attaching magical importance to a celebrity isn't that uncommon, but in "Exley," the celebrity isn't even quite a one-book wonder. Miller, the protagonist, manages to pull a number of people into his slightly skewed world view. The thing that hits me most about this book is how much wandering around this kid does on his own, trying to fix things, and the people he encounters along the way. It's a sad and lonely vision. I read this book in January and I'm still thinking about it, which is more than I can say about some of the books I read last month.Black Diamond by Martin Walker
mclarenster, September 22, 2011
I picked up the first "Bruno" book at the library on a whim, and reading this newest installment reminds me how more-than-pleasantly surprised I was when I read it. Walker delivers another multi-layered mystery that mixes French history and current events, served with healthy sides of wine and food. (The attention to wine, food, and setting portend a "cozy" mystery, but never fear--on the other hand, this isn't CSI, either.) I often recommend Walker's books to other mystery readers; he's a solid writer who isn't imitative and is never boring.The Instructions by Adam Levin
mclarenster, January 3, 2011
I knew within 100 pages that The Instructions would be my favorite book of 2010--and my reading list topped out at 216 books for the year (somewhat shy of my 240 book goal), so there's a decent range for comparison. I loved the story and the voice (*especially* the voice): something original and risky in a sea of narratives that can quickly become generic, regardless of the critical praise.(1 of 1 readers found this comment helpful)
Anthropology of an American Girl by Hilary Thayer Hamann
mclarenster, July 16, 2010
I was afraid this would be another of those over-hyped works of fiction, but Anthropology of an American Girl really walks the talk. The parsing of gender politics--both inter- and intra-sex--is spot-on. I can feel the oppression of the late 70s/early 80s and the reverberations of the sexual revolution all over the pages at the beginning of the book, as the main character gets punted around by expectations yet tries to hold her own. The prose is worth taking in, over and above the story.(0 of 1 readers found this comment helpful)
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