Tag: UK

Books

Book 207: Ten White Geese – Gerbrand Bakker

Geoff W

This was an astoundingly beautiful novel and the more I think on and reflect about it, the more I probably should bump it up to five stars on Goodreads rather than just four, but as I think those are mostly arbitrary I doubt I will do it. The ending, although, beautiful, was just a bit lackluster to me. This some how marred the overall beauty of the novel, even though the only thing it really did wrong was not give me the satisfying ending that I wanted.

For once, I’m going to say something great about a Goodreads review. Shocking, I know. When I went to mark this book off my list and to see how others rated it after I gave my rating, I happened to check out the first few reviews and the first review nailed my thoughts on this book with his first sentence:

“The Detour (or Ten White Geese as it is published in the US) is an extremely difficult book to review; instead, it is one that the reader must experience directly, yielding to its ebbs and flows, its offerings and its closures.”

The rest of his short review on Goodreads was also fantastic, but it’s since been deleted (2024 update).

Continue reading “Book 207: Ten White Geese – Gerbrand Bakker” →

2013 Challenges, Books

Book 204: Willoughby’s Return – Jane Odiwe

Geoff W

As with Dancing with Mr. Darcy I picked up a copy of this novel when Border’s Books closed down in September of 2011 and as such counts as a bonus book for my 2013 Mount TBR Reading challenge. And I have to say I’m glad I picked up a copy. Of all the Austen fan-fiction novels I’ve read so far Odiwe’s book has had the closest language and wit to the originals. It wasn’t as good as the originals, as I don’t think anything can be, but it was definitely the closest in style which was very nice.

Willoughby’s Return takes place roughly five years after the end of Sense and Sensibility and even though Sense and Sensibility isn’t one of my favorite Austen’s that didn’t stop this from being one of the better written and thought out sequels. All our favorite characters from Elinor and Marianne, Colonel Brandon, Edward Ferrars and the idiotic Steele sisters. Many other minor characters make appearances too which was nice.

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2013 Challenges, Books

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

Geoff W

This 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, The Classics Club

Book 194: Down and Out in Paris and London – George Orwell

Geoff W

I chose this novel because it has an awesome name. I had a vague idea of what the book was about, but didn’t have any particular views going into the book and didn’t realize it was nonfiction (or mostly so apparently) until after I finished reading and verified it because I wasn’t quite sure. I knew it was an ‘adventure’ of sorts and thus I stuck it into my Back to the Classics challenge as a Classic Adventure and it conveniently qualifies also for my Mount TBR and my longer term The Classics Club Challenge.

It only took about two days to read the book and what I primarily noticed was that people are really interested in Orwell. I had multiple people ask me what I was reading on the T. I assume this is because Orwell’s name is in pretty large letters across the cover and that portion stuck out of my back pocket. It was a bit strange, but it was nice to talk to strangers. I feel like most people have only read Animal Farm or 1984 like me, but those who have read most (or all) of Orwell say that this one is his best work and it’s interesting as it’s his first ‘full length’ work.

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ARC, Books

Book 177: Blessed Isle – Alex Beecroft

Geoff W

While waiting on another book from the library I decided to request a copy of Blessed Isle from NetGalley. I had luck with the Tucker Springs series and wanted something light and fun to read and I wasn’t disappointed. This is my honest opinion and I received nothing in return.

This is how you write a romance novel! (To me at least.) There’s no rushing into things, there’s no the world is ours after 2-3 months (or shorter) and there’s plenty of conflict and potential heartbreak. Don’t get me wrong, there is a place for the Wham Bam style of romance novel, but they’re just not the type of love story I’m generally drawn to. In addition, there’s a subtlety about Beecroft’s writing and her efforts (and total success) at keeping the sex out of the book. In doing so she created a novel that was much less low-brow than you would assume and the focus was shifted to the love story and the time period, which really only adds to the story.

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