Book 92: A Clash of Kings – George R.R. Martin
Wow. What more can I say? Book two of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire cycle and […]
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Book 91: A Game of Thrones – George R.R. Martin
A Game of Thrones is the first book in George R. R. Martin’s Epic fantasy cycle A Song of Ice and Fire. Projected at seven novels, the fifth novel was published in 2012. I guess you could say I jumped on the bandwagon with this one, but I don’t feel at all guilty about it as I grew up reading Star Wars and Dragon based fiction, so I like to think I’m returning home after a long break. I’m also very excited to check out the HBO adaptation of the novel having finally read it.
I honestly didn’t think Martin would be able to draw me in as fast as he did, but what can I say, I’m a sucker for pre-modern technology worlds with knights and royalty and assassinations and intrigue. There was not a lack of action or adventure in this novel and it made it a quick read even though it clocks in at just around 675 pages. And as such a tome, it is the first novel I’ve read in the 2012 Tea & Books Challenge. It will also be tacked to my 2012 Mount TBR Challenge list as I purchased it in the last week of 2011 with birthday money, but I’m still hoping to read the other 25 novels on that list. Now on to my reaction (I’ve realized I rarely actually post reviews).
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Book 69: The Namesake – Jhumpa Lahiri
A friend in undergrad recommended I read this novel and I’m sad it took me this long to read it. The Namesake is one of the most beautifully and eloquently written novels I have read this year, if not ever.
There is something so simple and yet strikingly intricate in Lahiri’s prose. I can only compare her to the lyrical like prose I’ve read from many Irish authors. I found myself repeating sentences in my head because of their artful construction. The foreign names, foods, and customs interwoven with the familiar places and customs created a story I couldn’t put down. I’ve compared Jhumpa Lahiri to Jane Austen, in the ordinariness of what she writes and her style, and I stand by this, but it is the lives and deaths—the full picture, rather than the snapshot—at which Lahiri excels.
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Book 68: Waiting for Snow in Havana – Carlos Eire
This book was both brilliant and boring. There were times when I couldn’t stop reading and times when all I wanted to do was set the book down and move on to another book. Mostly I’m glad I finished it and hopefully it is one of those books that in a few weeks/months I’ll appreciate having read it.
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Book 64: Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
As I mentioned earlier I decided to bump this higher on my list as I missed a trivia question and
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Book 60: Amerika (The Man Who Disappeared) – Franz Kafka
The American dream isn’t all it’s cracked up to be in this Franz Kafka novel. As an introduction to Kafka
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Book 56: Slammerkin – Emma Donoghue
What a stark contrast to Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer. I’m not sure if this is because a woman wrote
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Book 50: Bastard Out of Carolina – Dorothy Allison
Bastard Out of Carolina is the story of Ruth Anne “Bone” Cartwright. It’s a story about survival and about perseverance.
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Book 47: The Help – Kathryn Stockett
After hearing Emma Donoghue recommend this book, I of course immediately added it to my list of books to read.
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