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Writer's Block: Book worms unite!
Nov. 29th, 2009 02:14 am[Error: unknown template qotd]
The Favorite:
Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank - The best post-apocalyptic story ever, in my opinion. Just a very well written story of one community in 1950s Florida surviving a nuclear attack and clawing back to some semblance of normalcy.
1984 by George Orwell - Spoiler: This story has no happy ending. I love Winston the everyman, the youthful defiance of Julia, the spectre of Big Brother...I loved it, I loved it, I loved it. It's a bitter pill to swallow. It's not a happy view of the world. But, god, read this book.
Almost Transparent Blue by Ryu Murakami - I fell in love with the way this was written. The drug use, the vomiting, the sex, the violence...you see it in your mind's eye and its like you're painting with words, if that makes any sense. What a ride!
The Least Favorite:
The Gates of November by Chaim Potok - I normally love Chaim Potok, but this one read like a text book.
The Host: A Novel by Stephanie Meyer - Such a neat concept, but she could of taken it a lot of different (better) ways and done a lot more with it. Also, Wanda's flashbacks/stories were a pain to read through and didn't add anything to the plot, really.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald - Bah. Such overhype! Too small of a scope for it to be a real commentary of the 1920s...What I got out of it was that the American dream doesn't exist and that life goes on. The 'romance' between Gatsby and Daisy? This was about a guy (with some personality issues) who's trying to recapture a particular point in his life by apparently moving to the girl's neighborhood and throwing trendy parties. I didn't feel sympathy at all for most of the cast, I felt more sympathy (empathy?) for the relative that had to collect Gatsby's corpse. The characters are 'complex' because you THINK they would be complex, not because Fitzgerald wrote them that way. It was written in such a way that you only see what the narrator sees and you make your own conclusions. Not much emotion going on here, save for Tom's anger. The book makes me cringe. If you list this as one of your favorite books ever...I lose a bit of respect for you, especially if you're married.
Cheers.
The Favorite:
Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank - The best post-apocalyptic story ever, in my opinion. Just a very well written story of one community in 1950s Florida surviving a nuclear attack and clawing back to some semblance of normalcy.
1984 by George Orwell - Spoiler: This story has no happy ending. I love Winston the everyman, the youthful defiance of Julia, the spectre of Big Brother...I loved it, I loved it, I loved it. It's a bitter pill to swallow. It's not a happy view of the world. But, god, read this book.
Almost Transparent Blue by Ryu Murakami - I fell in love with the way this was written. The drug use, the vomiting, the sex, the violence...you see it in your mind's eye and its like you're painting with words, if that makes any sense. What a ride!
The Least Favorite:
The Gates of November by Chaim Potok - I normally love Chaim Potok, but this one read like a text book.
The Host: A Novel by Stephanie Meyer - Such a neat concept, but she could of taken it a lot of different (better) ways and done a lot more with it. Also, Wanda's flashbacks/stories were a pain to read through and didn't add anything to the plot, really.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald - Bah. Such overhype! Too small of a scope for it to be a real commentary of the 1920s...What I got out of it was that the American dream doesn't exist and that life goes on. The 'romance' between Gatsby and Daisy? This was about a guy (with some personality issues) who's trying to recapture a particular point in his life by apparently moving to the girl's neighborhood and throwing trendy parties. I didn't feel sympathy at all for most of the cast, I felt more sympathy (empathy?) for the relative that had to collect Gatsby's corpse. The characters are 'complex' because you THINK they would be complex, not because Fitzgerald wrote them that way. It was written in such a way that you only see what the narrator sees and you make your own conclusions. Not much emotion going on here, save for Tom's anger. The book makes me cringe. If you list this as one of your favorite books ever...I lose a bit of respect for you, especially if you're married.
Cheers.
