Now Reading #29 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré

I don’t have any fun quotations from this book. I’m still not really sure what I think of it. I know I didn’t dislike it, but I’m not sure I liked it either.

I should add that I don’t have much experience with spy novels.

The mystery of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy was really compelling. I needed to know who the mole was! Desperately. I found the back and forth pace and breaks between plots a little too much to keep my totally involved with the characters though. I didn’t get attached to Smiley, couldn’t understand his attachment to Ann and honestly can’t really remember anyone else’s name. It’s sad. In this situation though, I think I’d blame me more than the book. I’m much too impatient for mysteries, and this probably wasn’t the best choice.

The tone was fantastic though. When le Carré wants you too feel anxious or scared or watched, he can certainly make it happen! I felt myself peeking over my shoulder and holding my breath when Smiley’s man was working his way through secret files.

So, overall, I didn’t love it but I think someone who can actually appreciate spy novels and mysteries would really enjoy!

Now Reading #28 The French Lieutenant’s Woman, by John Fowles

***SPOILERS, SPOILERS EVERYWHERE***

Sam! You rat bastard! You betrayed me!

I screamed at my book last night, or somewhere in the blurred early morning. This book had me so hooked by the end of it, that one chapter before I got to bed turned into let’s finish 150 pages. Sleep is for the weak.

Go out now, and get yourself a copy of this book to read. John Fowles is a genius. A weird genius, but a genius. He breaks the fourth wall over and over, talking directly to the reader as the novelist, making fun of his characters and messing with your life. It’s amazing. It does take some getting used to though. As testament though, I have already gone out and bought myself another one of his novels, because I don’t want the pain to end. I hate him, because he gets me.

As to the actual novel. So good. I dislike all of them, but found myself cheering and crying for them in the end. At one point (you’ll know what I’m talking about if you read it) I was yelling at Ernestina to PUNCH HIM IN THE FACE! Clearly, as a nice little Victorian woman, she ignored me.

This book centres on Charles, Ernestina and Sarah.The first two are engaged, and the last is a fallen woman. Ya, you know where this is going. The frustrating part is, I don’t actually know what happens! Fowles gives three endings and then laughs in your face. It’s mean. I’m not even sure which one I want to be true, because each is heartbreaking in it’s own way.

Basically, go read this. Go read this now. Then message me because no one I know has read it and I need to talk about it. Please.

Now Reading #26 The Romantics by Galt Niederhoffer

I had such high hopes. I really did.

I wanted to like this book so much. It has everything that I usually love: crazy characters, biting social commentary and a lil bit o’love. I finished it with an awful taste in my mouth though.

I think my major problem was Laura, one of the main characters. I feel like I was supposed to identify with her sense of isolation within her group and long for her to be happy, but I did not like her at all. She was selfish and unhappy without any willingness to change her situation. When she finally does something, it doesn’t come off as self-fulfillment or courage, it comes off as spiteful. All of the characters come off as spiteful. They’re nasty people who are nasty to each other, but it’s repeated through the whole book that they’re the best of friends but it does not explain why. I’m not saying I needed it to be spelled out for me, but you have to give me a reason to believe that these people would actually put up with the truly awful behaviour they subject each other to, or I’m not going to be able to care.

The concept is really interesting, a group of friends entering their thirties and being forced to evaluate their life, but it got lost in the bitchiness. No one was redeemed. I felt like I had been subjected to the clique wars of high school all over again.

I didn’t enjoy this book at all. Oddly enough though, I really liked the movie.

Now Reading #25 Battle Royale by Koshun Takami

I’m not really sure why I picked this book up. It’s not my usual cup of tea and it’s huge, but it definitely made for an interesting read. (I would also like to add I have not read the Hunger Games, so this is not going to be a comparison of any sort).

This book tells the story of a class of 42 students kidnapped by a dictatorial government in order to participate in something called The Program, where they are forced to kill each other until one is left standing, as a military exercise.

In all honesty, I foundBattle Royalequite predictable. All the big moments of revelation were ruined by the fact that I had figured them out chapters ago. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, I found it took a lot away from the excitement. The pace of the novel tries really hard to grip you the whole time, but when I already knew what was going to happen I found myself skimming over things more often than not.

Another issue I had was the clunky nature of the narrative. This may not actually be how the original reads, but I’m limited by translation. When one thing happened, Takami writes into the text how it is related to something else that is happening or has happened, and I found it just broke the narrative flow. There were too many interruptions for me to feel as strongly as I probably should have about what was happening.

The redemption ofBattle Royalecomes in the relationships. As they are being broken down and filled with doubt about the people around them, Takami allows them to realise what the most important relationships they have are. There is a huge focus on crushes and lifelong friendships that I found really cute. It’s always good to see the things that really matter coming through the worst of times.

I’m not really going to recommend Battle Royale.I finished it, but mostly because I’m stubborn. I wouldn’t read it again. It’s already a cult classic, so I think anyone that wants to read it is going to no matter what they hear, so I’m fine giving my two negative cents.

Now Reading #24 The Painted Veil by W Somerset Maugham

Does anyone know how to pronounce this guy’s last name? It’s actually been driving me crazy. Anyone?

I don’t really know how I felt about this book. I’ll admit I had really high expectations, so it may not entirely be the book’s fault that I feel meh.

I’ve read Maugham before, and found his writing to be upsetting but beautiful. This is very true inThe Painted Veil.He pulls no punches in shoeing the reader just how empty his characters are and, through them, how empty a lot of human action is. It was definitely damning of the illusions we allow ourselves to have about our relationships. In that way, I found this book very hard to take because it doesn’t ever let you have the relief of a happy moment or ending. Don’t expect to come away from this novel content.

The Painted Veilis set in 1920s Hong Kong and surrounding area. It takes place for the most part in a small village suffering through an outbreak of cholera. This setting was the most redeeming part of the novel. Maugham knows how to set a scene so that you can feel yourself inside it. The overcrowded monastery or the lush green trees floating in morning mist were visible on the page. It was fantastic.

Sorry I don’t really have a conclusion on this one. I’m glad I read it, but I can’t say I’d read it again.

Now Reading #23 Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

If anyone sees the shattered pieces of my heart all over the floor, try not to step on them.

This book was amazing. I definitely understand why it’s classic.

From the perspective of the modern time, the language is definitely strange. I never really got used to the way the characters would talk to and about the slaves and then free characters throughout the book. While many have complained that Mitchell cast to kind a light on the antebellum South, I think it can be said that what she was offering was only one family’s, or one group of family’s perspective. I hope to believe that she was using them as an exception, rather than claiming them as a rule.This perspective was one that isn’t often offered in views of the antebellum South, and I think that contributes to why this book is still valuable.

That being said, I enjoyed this book more as a character study than a perspective of a historical period. I fell madly in love with Rhett Butler, cheered Scarlett on even though I knew I shouldn’t and desperately wanted to be as good as Melly. Ashley is a useless twit, so he didn’t really get much of my attention.Gone with the Windwas a beautiful account of survival of spirit, despite the troubles around you, and I think it should be appreciated for that.

However, if you thought the movie was too long, don’t even bother. At over 1000 pages, this book took a long time to finish and some points definitely dragged on more than others. Mitchell does a good job skipping through time for the most part, but sometimes I found myself glossing over pages because I honestly didn’t care.

Now Reading #22 Savages by Don Winslow

Love.

Love. Love. Love.

That’s pretty much all you need to know. I bought this book Sunday and I couldn’t put it down. It’s finished now and I’m counting down the seconds until I can get the prequel. Usually I hate when people do that, I mostly think it’s a money grab, but I’m going to do it anyway.

I tried outSavagesbecause I really loved the movie. As per usual (in my opinion) the page was better than the screen. I found the book explored the characters more than the violence and conflict, so I really got to understand how they got themselves into this in the first place.

Savagesreads like a mix of Palahniuk puns and Easton Ellis self delusion. I love the former and despise the latter, but really enjoyed the combination. This book read quickly and it was really entertaining.The one thing that drove me insane, though, was the chapter breaks. Every paragraph was a new chapter pretty much and the interruption broke up the flow of the narrative. I also wasn’t a huge fan of the torture parts. Yes, they were necessary blah blah, but I really didn’t need to know how that was accomplished.

Overall, better than the movie and a really good read if you like fast paced stories that can actually comment intelligently on modern times. Some of what Winslow had to say about Republicans had me laughing out loud. Very well done!

Now Reading #21 Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert

This book made me seriously consider never getting married (not that anyone’s lining up to marry me, but should it come up), and I’m still not sure if that’s a good thing or not.

I read Eat, Pray, Love, Gilbert’s first memoir style book awhile back and really enjoyed it, so when my friend bought me Committed this weekend, I jumped at the chance to read it. I certainly wasn’t disappointed, it was witty and full of self examination. It is primarily cynical wit, if you’re looking for an even discussion of marriage this book is certainly not for you! While approaching her own marriage with a great deal of childishness, Gilbert approaches marriage as a whole in a mature, though biased way. You can certainly tell she is bitter and unlikely to convince herself not to be. The ever present humour of her writing is very negative, she takes a poke at the institution of marriage whenever possible, but I always found it funny.

The best part, I think, about how Gilbert writes is her tendency to use anecdotes. One story will lead directly into another, which introduces another and eventually she’ll sum up the point you were supposed to get from all of it. In this book, she goes from Philadelphia, to Vietnam, to Cambodia and back to Bali, all in order to save her relationship and understand the relationships of the world around her.

My particular favourite part of this book was her section on the history of marriage. Gilbert provides a brief telling of the story of marriage as a cultural (read: Western cultural) institution in ways that are easy to understand and digest. This entire section makes for an excellent argument for the shifting nature of marriage, far from the stalwart and constant institution the right wing would have us believe in. She then concludes by adding her voice in support of same sex marriage in the United States, which I was hoping would come somewhere in this book.

Overall, it is a really random book to read as someone who has never been married or even close, but I really enjoyed the humour of it. Some of the negativity definitely needs to be taken with a grain of salt but I would recommend it to anyone that enjoyed Eat, Pray, Love or takes romance a little too seriously and needs to come down to earth a bit, I know I did!

Now Reading #20: Fortune’s Fool by Mercedes Lackey

OK, so this is not exactly literature. I did enjoy it though. It’s like book candy. I’ve said before that Mercedes Lackey is one to read if you want to be swept up into the romance of a story without having to really think about it, or follow the ever complicated relationships of Bronte, or Austen. Lackey creates an easy romance without talking down to the reader and without repeating herself ad nasuem.

This book is part of a whole series she has done called Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms. In these books, Lackey creates her own fairy tales by retelling and mashing up fairy tales from all over the world.Fortune’s Foolis based primarily on Russian folklore, but also contains characters from Japanese tales, English tales and even a Jinn from Arabic lore. It is all woven together rather beautifully and the result, if you’ll pardon the use, is fantastic.I particularly loved the kitsune and the mermaids, and of course the flying horse!

This book would be easy to pick up even outside the series, and for anyone who has or doesn’t have prior knowledge of Russian tales. I don’t know much about them, but the borrowed figures are described well enough that I could picture and understand them!

The end tied up a little quickly for me, and a little too neatly, but I think that’s just the case with books from the Luna House. Nothing complicated, but definitely a good summer romance read!

Now Reading #19: Of Love and Other Demons by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

I judged a book by its cover. I bought this book because of its beautiful cover art, even though I didn’t like the last Marquez I read (Love in a Time of Cholera) and I’m so glad I did! I was apprehensive to read it, but did because I have it and it was wonderful.

The first few chapters of this book are a little hard to follow, they jump and tend towards letting you figure out what’s going on rather than telling you, but if you can get through that the reward is excellent! Marquez is known for his flowery language, which I found overwhelming in Cholera, but here it is perfect. The story is based on a legend of a young girl with beautiful hair and the lives she touches. She’s not perfect and she’s not good, but she is definitely beautiful. It’s a really wonderful story, which I still am not sure I understood entirely.

I’m going to recommend this book. It’s a really short read, and a good one, especially if you have a romantic soul like me! Not romance like falling in love, but just romance in legends.

P.S. I’ll try and post a picture of the cover art, because it’s amazing.