Tag: Picador

Books

Book 691: The Sealed Letter – Emma Donoghue

Geoff W

A few months ago I went through my bookshelves and made a couple of piles of books. The only qualifications were that they had to be on my shelves for a while (this has been on my shelves since April 2014) and that they probably be a quick read. This one falls somewhere in the middle of the pack of Donoghue’s books that I’ve read. It’s definitely not as good as Room or Slammerkin, but I do think it’s a little better than Hood, mostly because Donoghue really excels at historical fiction.

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Books

Book 606: Call Me By Your Name РAndr̩ Aciman

Geoff W

I don’t know why I didn’t read this when I got it way back in January of 2016. I got it two years before it was released widely and a year before it started to pick up steam and getting mentioned during every awards season blog post ever.

I was most impressed with how true to the book the film stayed. I could visualize 90% of the film as I read the book, and the 10% I couldn’t was easy enough to fill in with the characters from the film that I barely noticed it.

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ARC, Books

Book 459: Girl Underwater – Claire Kells

Geoff W

I’m not one to generally read debut novels unless I hear from a friend that it’s great. However, with all of the great books coming out of Dutton recently, when they reached out to me about this one and I was intrigued by the blurb, I of course said yes.*

This being said, I of course probably should’ve re-read the blurb on the back before I started, but I didn’t and it was a bit of a shocker to all of a sudden be thrown into a plane crash! But if I would’ve re-read the blurb I would’ve remembered that it was set in Boston, and a large part of my excitement reading the book would’ve been lost! Thankfully, it was well written and interesting AND I got to experience the Boston portions as if I had NO idea (because I didn’t) that they were there! Seriously, she spent a half page on Anna’s Taqueria, a local Boston chain! Swoon!

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Books

Book 42: Gilead – Marilynne Robinson

Geoff W

Gilead - Marilynne RobinsonI purchased this book with the 13 or 14 others at the Boston Book Festival last year in a bag for $20 from one of the book sellers. And although the elusive ‘they’ say never to judge a book by its cover, I would not have read Gilead If I hadn’t. From the beautiful and simplistic close up of a fading front door to the title so steeped in folkloric and mythic tradition, I never once read the synopsis until I decided to read the book and there was no turning back.

The lack of religiosity impressed me considering the book’s protagonist is a Congregationalist minister. The religion that does seep in comes across more as universal kindness and understanding than tongues and bible thumping. The protagonist, his best friend, his father, his grandfather, and various other characters are all ministers and yet they are real people–they love, they kill (in the name of abolition), they run away from the world and they live normal lives.

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