Book Group, Books, Reading Events

Book 149: The Talented Mr. Ripley – Patricia Highsmith

I have to say I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected to. It was an easy read and even though it felt like nothing happened, and I remember the movie being very slow because of this, the book went by quickly. I’m still not sure I fully understand the purpose or premise of the story. I guess it’s somewhere between a murder mystery/thriller, told from the murders point of view, and a comedy of errors.

I have never read anything by Patricia Highsmith, but her writing was easy to follow and her descriptions were, I felt, better than her action sequences. I do know there are three additional novels in the Ripley series, but I don’t think I will go out of my way to read them. This first one was enough for me, but if Highsmith’s writing had had more of an impact and not left me just sort of blase at the end of the book I would definitely want to check them out. Surprisingly I had more of a desire to find out more about Ripley after the end of the film, which is distinctly different unless it’s blending in parts from another book. (Anyone know?!)

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Books, Reading Events

Book 148: A Son Called Gabriel – Damian McNicholl

I wasn’t sure about this book going into it. One of the best books I’ve read this year was The Absolutist by John Boyne, which is the story of a young gay man coming of age written by an Irish author; and one of my all time favorite books is At Swim, Two Boys by Jamie O’Neill, which is the story of a young gay man coming of age written by an Irish author.

Overall I was completely underwhelmed until the last 15-20 pages of the book. I think McNicholl did a great job portraying working class Northern Ireland and interlacing just enough of the political landscape to keep the focus on the main character and not the conflict, but I just couldn’t get into it. I didn’t feel like Gabriel was a sympathetic character and I just kept wanting to tell him to shut up. I honestly kept thinking, good grief I hope I wasn’t that annoying when I was his age (even though I’m sure I was more-so).

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Reading Events

The Literary Others – Giveaway – Winners!

And here they are, the winners of the first ever The Oddness of Moving Things giveaway!

There were only nine entries for both prizes (I know you’re all hanging your heads in shame for not entering…such good odds). Six for the Amazon gift certificate and three for the Book Depository books.

I used random.org to select the winners and they were #3 for the Amazon gift certificate, who just happened to be the awesome Heather at Between the Covers, who I know is going to buy books that I’m just going to end up having to buy; and oddly enough random.org chose #3 a second time (1-3 instead of 1-6) and the winner was Beth of Too Fond who selected The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Boy Meets Boy, BOTH of which I desperately want to read!

Congratulations to the two winners and thanks to everyone who entered! I can’t wait to read all of your blogs and learn more about you. Check back tomorrow for my post response to Damian McNicholl’s A Son Called Gabriel.

2012 Challenges, Books, Quotes, Reading Events

Book 147: Other Voices, Other Rooms – Truman Capote

After putting this book off for more than a month so that it would fit within The Literary Others reading event and after it sat on my shelf since I purchased it from the 2011 Boston Book Festival I’ve finally gotten around to reading it. I’m not really sure if it was worth the build up to keep putting it off, but it was an interesting read. In addition to being a part of The Literary Others Event it also counts towards my Mount TBR Reading Challenge (23/25)!

This is only the second Capote work I’ve read and it was very different compared to In Cold Blood, which I read before I started this blog. Other Voices, Other Rooms is Capote’s first published novel and is semi-autobiographical. You can definitely see the personal influence from the effeminate young boy to the faded rich southern decadence you catch glimpses of throughout.

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Reading Events

The Literary Others – Giveaway!

And here it is – The Oddness of Moving Things very first giveaway! I’ve been debating on doing a giveaway ever since I reached 100 followers on WordPress, 1000 comments (a lot are my own) and for surpassing my 60 book Goodreads goal. Luckily they all roughly coincided with the awesome October LGBT Reading Event hosted by Adam at Roof Beam Reader! I hope that you’ll use the giveaways to purchase an LGBT related book, but it’s not a requirement. If you’d like a suggestion I’m sure I could provide one or two (or a hundred) for you. So without further ado, the announcement, the rules and the form are below…

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