Title: Chronicle of a Death Foretold
Author: Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Thoughts: Okay. Admission time. Embarrassing admission. I have never been able to get through a Marquez book. And I have tried. I cannot begin to tell you how long One Hundred Years of Solitude sat in my bathroom. A million years. Or at least two. I couldn't get through it! I'm sorry, because I know so many people swear by his writing. At last, with Chronicle I begin to understand why. This is a short little book, and it packs so much punch into it's 120 pages... it's hard to wrap my brain around. No word is extraneous. Every description is amazing. The hints of layers and layers and layers astound. So, perhaps... perhaps I will move Marquez back into my reading list.
Thursday, 26 June 2008
Title: Gigi
Title: Gigi
Author: Colette
Thoughts: This was such a lovely and unexpected story. I really love the way Colette writes--her way with words, her fabulous descriptions... I love them all. I only wished it was longer, because I was enjoying the read so much and then BAM it was over!
Author: Colette
Thoughts: This was such a lovely and unexpected story. I really love the way Colette writes--her way with words, her fabulous descriptions... I love them all. I only wished it was longer, because I was enjoying the read so much and then BAM it was over!
Title: Persuasion
Title: Persuasion
Author: Jane Austen
Thoughts: I haven't read this book in years. Probably about... seven or eight. And why not? It may not be quite as lovely as my beloved Pride and Prejudice, but it is a great novel. I loved it. I got all kinds of warm fuzzies at the end. Ahh, Jane. I wish you'd written fifty books.
Author: Jane Austen
Thoughts: I haven't read this book in years. Probably about... seven or eight. And why not? It may not be quite as lovely as my beloved Pride and Prejudice, but it is a great novel. I loved it. I got all kinds of warm fuzzies at the end. Ahh, Jane. I wish you'd written fifty books.
Title: Certain Girls
Title: Certain Girls
Author: Jennifer Weiner
Thoughts: I enjoyed this one. It's been a while since I read one of her novels, and this one made it home from the library only to be returned without having been read. Then, a day or so later, I found it at the library again. I'm glad I picked it up and brought it home. At times I wanted to shake all the characters (I was fortunate to have a great mother, and my mother was fortunate because I was the easiest teenager in the world, so some of these conflicts felt very foreign to me), but the ending was genuinely beautiful and moving.
Author: Jennifer Weiner
Thoughts: I enjoyed this one. It's been a while since I read one of her novels, and this one made it home from the library only to be returned without having been read. Then, a day or so later, I found it at the library again. I'm glad I picked it up and brought it home. At times I wanted to shake all the characters (I was fortunate to have a great mother, and my mother was fortunate because I was the easiest teenager in the world, so some of these conflicts felt very foreign to me), but the ending was genuinely beautiful and moving.
Saturday, 7 June 2008
Theatre I Have Seen
It occurs to me that I should be keeping track of live theatre, too, while I live in New York.
Top Girls, Avenue Q, The Blue Man Group, MacBeth, The Nutcracker, The Homecoming. I think that's it. Hmm. I should see some more!
Top Girls, Avenue Q, The Blue Man Group, MacBeth, The Nutcracker, The Homecoming. I think that's it. Hmm. I should see some more!
Book: Thursday Next: First Among Sequels
Title: Thursday Next: First Among Sequels
Author: Jasper Fforde
Thoughts: It is not without sadness that I write this, because I have reached the last of the Thursday Next books. I really enjoyed this one, and was pleased with the way it jumped ahead so many years, but retained the familiarity of the earlier books. I will be waiting with baited breath for the next to come.
Author: Jasper Fforde
Thoughts: It is not without sadness that I write this, because I have reached the last of the Thursday Next books. I really enjoyed this one, and was pleased with the way it jumped ahead so many years, but retained the familiarity of the earlier books. I will be waiting with baited breath for the next to come.
Wednesday, 4 June 2008
Book: How to Sleep with a Movie Star
Title: How to Sleep with a Movie Star
Author: Kristen Harmel
Thoughts: I read another of Harmel's books not too long ago and even though I really enjoyed it, I think I liked this one even better! It helps that it was exactly the kind of book I was in the mood for -- a love story with twists, but not too much neuroses. It was clever and fresh and did an admirable job of making the first two hours of a five hour bus ride fly by. I will be keeping an eye out for more by Harmel.
Author: Kristen Harmel
Thoughts: I read another of Harmel's books not too long ago and even though I really enjoyed it, I think I liked this one even better! It helps that it was exactly the kind of book I was in the mood for -- a love story with twists, but not too much neuroses. It was clever and fresh and did an admirable job of making the first two hours of a five hour bus ride fly by. I will be keeping an eye out for more by Harmel.
Movie: Sex and the City
Yeah, yeah... I'm a girl in my twenties. Obviously I was going to have to see this film. I'm only sad I don't have girlfriends here in New York, because this is obviously a movie you should see with your nearest and dearest ladies. Preferably with cosmos. Sex and the City has always been about finding moments and nuggets of truth, even while set in the most melodramatic, crazy city in the world. When I first moved to New York, all my twenty-something girlfriends went into raptures about how my life would be "just like Sex and the City." Alas, I don't own a single pair of Blahniks, I never wear labels, I couldn't tell you the name of the hottest (wait... any...) club in town if you paid me. But it was lovely to revisit these fictional women in their fictional New York, and to fall in love with them all over again. I think if you liked the series, you'll like the movie.... because the movie was, more or less, an entire season packaged for the big screen.
Book: The Enchantment of Lily Dahl
Title: The Enchantment of Lily Dahl
Author: Siri Hustvedt
Thoughts: This was a lovely book--clever but real, and beautifully realized. I love Hustvedt's way with words. She uses only the ones necessary to paint the picture she's going for, but she doesn't pull any punches. This story was beautiful and heartfelt. I love the way the main character thinks -- I love her views on life. Looking forward to reading more of Hustvedt's work.
Author: Siri Hustvedt
Thoughts: This was a lovely book--clever but real, and beautifully realized. I love Hustvedt's way with words. She uses only the ones necessary to paint the picture she's going for, but she doesn't pull any punches. This story was beautiful and heartfelt. I love the way the main character thinks -- I love her views on life. Looking forward to reading more of Hustvedt's work.
Movie: Roman de Gare
This was a "well, let's see a movie--which one?" choice I'm glad we made. We'd been a little too intensely involved with the summer blockbusters, and this French whodunit/drama was a breath of fresh air. I won't give away anything, because a lot of the story depends on the audience going in cold, but it was a brilliant film. I've been thinking about it for days. The acting was spot-on, and, as my husband pointed out... it's not very often in Hollywood you get to see a 50-something woman in a starring and awesome role. More's the pity.
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