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Feb 10

Book Review Brokeback Mountain Annie Proulx

“Brokeback Mountain is set in the beautiful, wild landscape of Wyoming thirty years ago where cowboys lived much as they had done for generations. Hard, lonely lives in unforgiving country. Jack Twist and Ennis del Mar are two ranch hands – ‘drop-out country boys with no prospects, brought up to hard work and privation, both rough-mannered, tough spoken’ – glad to have found each other’s company where none had been expected. But companionship becomes something else on Brokeback Mountain, something not looked for, something deadly”

This blurb from the book cover is part of the reason I felt so let down by this read, I mean it promises so much, dramatic landscape, cowboys, romance and danger and as far as I am concerned it fails to deliver on all these points.

Firstly, the landscape is barely mentioned except in passing

Secondly, the cowboys are actually sheep herders when they meet

Thirdly, this is the romantic way they first have sex “Ennis jerked his hand away as though he’d touched fire, got to his knees, unbuckled his belt, shoved his pants down, hauled Jack onto all fours and, with the help of the clear slick and a little spit entered him, nothing he’d done before but no instruction manual was needed”

Finally, while being homosexual at that time was dangerous the two men appear to have no fear about being caught and the consequences are only mentioned in passing

So here is my review…

Brokeback Mountain Annie Proulx
★★★
Published in: 2005
Reviewed by: Book Worm
Buy/Find it here: Brokeback Mountain

Ok so I haven’t seen the film but like everyone else I was aware of the premise, two lonely cowboys fall in love. Despite not liking The Shipping News I was willing to give Proulx a second chance…

Brokeback Mountain is the story of Jack Twist and Ennis del Mar who meet on Brokeback Mountain where they are both employed to keep an eye on a herd of sheep, during the cold lonely nights the 2 get closer and by that I mean they have sex, personally I didn’t ever feel that they were in love.

Without giving away too many spoilers the men don’t see each other for years, however once they meet again they end up having sex and making regular ~~fishing~~ sex trips.

I was expecting a story with depth about how the men struggle with their feelings for each other and the impact it has on the rest of their lives, what I got was a story about how two men really really enjoy having sex with each other. It wasn’t until the very end that I felt there was any kind of emotion involved. Its a blunt book, sparsely written, direct and to the point.

This wasn’t the book I was hoping to read and I would have given it 2 stars apart from the saving grace that it was incredibly short and the ending somewhat redeemed it.

Want to try if for yourself? Click Brokeback Mountain: Now a Major Motion Picture
to buy a copy on Amazon.

Feb 8

7 Comments

Read around the World: Canada

We are starting off our book tour of the world in Canada. Here are some fun facts about Canada (feel free to add your own facts in the comments section):

The name Canada comes from the word ‘Kanata’ which means settlement or village in the language of the indigenous St Lawrence Iroquoians.
It is the second largest country in the world by area, but has the fourth lowest population density. It has the longest coastline of any country in the world.
Winter temperatures can drop below -40C in some parts of the country. The lowest record temperature in Canada was -63C (-81F) on Feb 3rd, 1957 in Snag Yukon.
Famous Canadian authors include Lucy Maud Montomory (Anne of Green Gables), Margaret Atwood, Alice Munro, Mavis Gallant, Stephen Leacock, Pierre Berton, Robertson Davies, Douglas Copeland, Alistair MacLead, Farley Mowat, Yann Martel, Carol Shields, and Michael Ondaantje.
It has a literacy rate of over 99%

Book Selected: Surfacing by Margaret Atwood Read more

Feb 6

My Life in Books

Welcome to a new recurring post! My Life in Books is a chance for you to get to know us a little better as readers. Posts will be dedicated to books, poems, nursery rhymes, magazines, short stories, authors, and more that have contributed in some meaningful way to who we both are as readers today. We’ll start at the beginning with literature that impacted us as young children and continue through to present day. Although we often rate books similarly, we have different reasons for liking/disliking books and we have different preferences in terms of genre. Jen’s favorite genres include literary fiction, historical fiction, & fantasy. Bookworm’s favorite genre is dystopian fiction. We both are trying to work our way through the 1001 Books to Read list.

We also want to know about you. So each time we post, we hope you will let us know what sorts of things contributed to your current reading interests.

What are your favorite genres?

Coming soon… Book Worm will start us off with a nursery rhyme that she loved as a child. Start thinking about which nursery rhymes you remember from your childhood so you can share your reading memories with us.

Feb 4

1001 Book Review Faces in the Water Janet Frame

“I was now an established citizen with little hope of returning across the frontier; I was in the crazy world, separated now by more than locked doors and barred windows from the people who called themselves sane.’

When Janet Frame’s doctor suggested that she write about her traumatic experiences in mental institutions in order to free herself from them, the result was Faces in the Water, a powerful and poignant novel.
Read more

Feb 3

2 Comments

To Kill a Mocking Bird

Apologies for the late post but I couldn’t go a whole day and ignore what is perhaps some of the biggest book news in a long time. I have very few 5 star reads on my shelf because I’m very picky about books and I’m stingy with my 5 star ratings. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee gets one of my elusive 5 star ratings. I’ve read the book multiple times and reread the book again last year and loved it again.

So, Harper Lee’s publisher just announced that they will be publishing a sequel to the famous book. The sequel takes place 20 years after the end of To Kill a Mockingbird. Read the full story on the New York Times here. Sequels always make me nervous especially when the original was so fabulous.

What do you think? Will you be reading it?

Feb 1

23 Comments

Love it or Hate it: Atonement

Have you ever noticed how some books seem to drive a wedge between people? You check the reviews and find almost no middle-of-the-road ratings. Instead people either seem to love it or hate it. Well, welcome to the new Love it or Hate it post category! Each month, we’ll pick one book to review. Two contributors will battle it out to convince you to pick it up or throw it out. Our February book is Atonement by Ian McEwan.

Special thanks to guest contributor Nicole R for writing one of the points of view this month!

Make sure to read to the end and cast your vote. And to celebrate our first Love it or Hate it category we are giving away a gently used copy of the book to one randomly selected person who writes in with a comment saying “I want it.” Read more