Tag: Mount TBR

2013 Challenges, Books

Book 202: Dancing with Mr. Darcy – Sarah Waters (ed.)

Geoff W

Waters, Sarah (ed.) - Dancing with Mr. DarcyThis book, a collection of short stories, disappointed me. There were definitely a few gems, but overall it left me uninspired and left wanting. Part of this disappointment stems from my the often tenuous connection to Austen in many of the stories. I mean one story’s inspiration came from the horseshoe door hinge at Chawton house, which yes connects to Austen but in such a minuscule way I could even figure out the connection until I read the ‘authors inspiration’ blurb.

The other part of the disappointment is pretty obvious and I discuss in further depth below. And as an aside, I’m not sure if it’s the generation of writers who are writing Austen ‘fan-fiction’ as I call it, but there are quite a few of them which throw in a Star Wars reference at some point, including one of the short stories in this collection. (This is seriously merging two of my favorite things in the world and it still stands that if anyone can find a single guy who likes Austen and Star Wars I want them to either marry me or be my best friend depending on their interests…)

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2013 Challenges, Books

Book 201: Homo Domesticus – David Valdes Greenwood

Geoff W

Greenwood_9780738211145.inddOnce again, I have to say something about other Goodreads reviews that’s not very nice. Multiple people have compared this book to Dan Savage’s The Kid and although yes, they are comparable, they are not the same thing. Savage’s book focuses on the adoption process and this book focuses on wait for it, a Same Sex Marriage (see what I did there, I stole it directly from the subtitle). In addition there are people whinging about the plainness of this marriage. Aren’t all marriages boring to anyone not in it? I mean seriously people did you expect the craziness Valdes Greenwood alludes to when talking about the Dear Parent note of cosmopolitan and sex parties?

I’ve read this book once previously and when I found it in a box of old books when I was moving my mom this past winter I knew I wanted to re-read it again before I passed it on and I am glad I did. In addition it just further supports that my statement still stands: this is a better book than Savage’s The Kid.

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2013 Challenges, Books

Book 200: The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas – Gertrude Stein

Geoff W

Stein, Gertrude - The Autobiography of Alice B. ToklasThe writing in this book is quite possibly the most beautiful writing I’ve ever read. The premise of the book, however, is incredibly convoluted. Regardless, I am glad I read the book because it counts for multiple challenges this year (Back to the Classics Reading Challenge and Mount TBR Reading Challenge).

When I first thought about reading this novel, I knew it wasn’t an autobiography, but I wasn’t quite sure where this fit into the myriad genres available. Ultimately, this book falls into some gray area between biography and autobiography. This felt like Gertrude Stein’s biography told through Alice B. Toklas but written by Gertrude Stein. And what I found out while reading this was that Paris was an incredibly small place and everyone knew everyone. It was incredibly strange how everyone was connected, but at the same time it was awesome the people who stumbled in and out of the novel including numerous painters and authors.

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2013 Challenges, Books, The Classics Club

Book 197: Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Three Stories – Truman Capote

Geoff W

Capote, Truman - Breakfast at Tiffany'sYay for another book that counts for multiple challenges (Mount TBR, Back to the Classics and The Classics Club)! (It’s a doozy, sorry for the length!)

Ever since I read In Cold Blood and Other Voices, Other Rooms, I’ve wanted to read more Capote, but I haven’t. Throw in the fact that Breakfast at Tiffany’s has such an iconic place in popular culture, I had to read it at some point. Now I just need to see the film.

I didn’t realize this when I bought this copy, but it contained the novella, Breakfast at Tiffany’s and three short stories: House of Flowers, A Diamond Guitar, and A Christmas Memory. So for my response I’ve just written a paragraph about each under a subtitle and you can see the opening/closing lines of each at the end of the post and my recommendation is for this collection as a whole.

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2013 Challenges, Books

Book 195: Loot: The Battle over the Stolen Treasures of the Ancient World – Sharon Waxma

Geoff W

Waxman, Sharon - LootSorry for the long post in advance, it’s been a long time since I’ve read a book about museums and antiquities and I forgot how much I love them and how much they make me think!

This book has been on my to-be-read shelf since July of 2011 and I can’t believe I waited this long to read it! I will never forget my first Anthropology class in undergrad and the professor going off on a tangent about the looting of the museums after the fall of Saddam Hussein. It pretty much guaranteed I would be an Anthropology major. (I later switched to cultural anthropology and focused on gender in the media, but still the people were awesome!) The intrigue, the drama, the affairs and the crimes, it could be a spy novel if it were fiction and not fact! This book will count as a bonus book for my 2013 Mount TBR Reading Challenge.

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