Nov 20
Broken April by Ismail Kadare
First Published in: 1978
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by: Jen
Find it/Buy it here: Broken April
In the last three weeks I’ve been reading a lot of books set in the Balkans, but none have stood out as much as Broken April. Ismail Kadare is Albania’s most well-known author and in 2005 he became the first winner of the International Man Booker prize. Broken April is a powerful novel about Albania’s tradition of blood feuds. Read more
Nov 16
This month’s featured author is one of my (Jen) favorites: Jeffrey Eugenides. Next month we will feature one of Book Worm’s favorite authors.
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Nov 11
Once again BookWorm and I find ourselves at different ends of the spectrum in our opinions about our latest 1001 read. Find out what we thought and let us know which one of us is more in line with your views about the book. Read more
Nov 10
The Word Exchange by Alena Graedon
Published in: 2014
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by: Jen
Find it/buy it here: The Word Exchange
I received a copy of The Word Exchange in my Book Riot subscription box for the technology theme. It’s not a book I would have chosen on my own and only ended up reading it because it was assigned for a reading challenge. Ultimately, I was pleasantly surprised by the book and probably should retract my earlier comments about how awful I found that particular Book Riot box (although the book extras were still pretty lousy). Check out why I think it’s worth a read. Read more
Journey to the end of the Night by Louis-Ferdinand Céline
Published in: 1932
Reviewed by: Book Worm
Rating: ★★★
Find it here: Journey to the End of the Night
Synopsis from Goodreads: Louis-Ferdinand Céline’s revulsion and anger at what he considered the idiocy and hypocrisy of society explodes from nearly every page of this novel. Filled with slang and obscenities and written in raw, colloquial language, Journey to the End of the Night is a literary symphony of violence, cruelty and obscene nihilism. This book shocked most critics when it was first published in France in 1932, but quickly became a success with the reading public in Europe, and later in America where it was first published by New Directions in 1952. The story of the improbable yet convincingly described travels of the petit-bourgeois (and largely autobiographical) antihero, Bardamu, from the trenches of World War I, to the African jungle, to New York and Detroit, and finally to life as a failed doctor in Paris, takes the readers by the scruff and hurtles them toward the novel’s inevitable, sad conclusion.
Book Worm’s Review: I really struggled with this book and it felt much longer than its already long 600 odd pages. The main problem I had was that this was a first person narrative told from the point of view of French man Ferdinand Bardamu who I just couldn’t relate to. The narrative jumps around and lacks narrative consistency consistency. Unfortunately, it really comes down to the fact that I found most of it boring.
The book is jam packed with footnotes which were all essential to understanding the story. For example, many of the footnotes revealed the “in” jokes that Céline was using — references that would have gone unnoticed by those of us not familiar with Paris. For the reader who understood those references this is probably a very amusing book.
I gave this 3 stars due to the fact that while I may not have enjoyed it, it is nowhere near as bad as some of the books the 1001 list has forced me to read so far.
I think the kind of reader who would enjoy this book would be someone who is very knowledgeable about France and Paris in particular. It would also suit those with a dark sense of humor as some of the darker events could be viewed as humorous.
What do you think? Want to try it for yourself? You can find a copy here: Journey to the End of the Night
We want to hear from you! Have you read this book? What did you think?
Oct 30
We initially wanted to feature this book for banned book week, but unfortunately we were not able to complete it in time. The Blind Owl is considered perhaps the most famous literary work of 20th century Iran. It was written in the late 1930s and was originally published as a limited edition that was banned from publication in Iran. Find out what we thought about the book. Read more
Oct 28
There is no such thing as a universally loved book. Each month, we’ll feature a book from Time Magazine‘s list of the best 100 English language novels of all time. From the mean to the funny, to the downright absurd, we will highlight some of the strange reasons why some people hate these great reads. See what we picked for our first book. Read more
Oct 20
The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles
First published: 1969
Reviewed by: Jen & Book Worm
Find it here: The French Lieutenant’s Woman
Synopsis (from Goodreads): The scene is the village of Lyme Regis on Dorset’s Lyme Bay…”the largest bite from the underside of England’s out-stretched southwestern leg.” The major characters in the love-intrigue triangle are Charles Smithson, 32, a gentleman of independent means & vaguely scientific bent; his fiancée, Ernestina Freeman, a pretty heiress daughter of a wealthy & pompous dry goods merchant; & Sarah Woodruff, mysterious & fascinating…deserted after a brief affair with a French naval officer a short time before the story begins. Obsessed with an irresistible fascination for the enigmatic Sarah, Charles is hurtled by a moment of consummated lust to the brink of the existential void. Duty dictates that his engagement to Tina must be broken as he goes forth once again to seek the woman who has captured his Victorian soul & gentleman’s heart.
Jen’s Review
4 stars
I have avoided this book for many years due to my own misconceptions. I don’t typically enjoy reading romance-heavy novels because I find them formulaic and overly simplistic. I had assumed that this novel was a Victorian style romance. Boy was I wrong. I really enjoyed this book and I’m glad that others encouraged me to pick it up. First off, I loved the writing style which I found witty and at times unexpectedly snarky. Fowles injects himself into the novel, critiquing various elements of Victorian society with significant humor. For example, there is this passage (which goes on for a few pages):
What are we faced with in the nineteenth century? An age where woman was sacred; and where you could buy a thirteen-year-old girl for a few points — a few shillings, if you wanted her for only an hour or two. Where more churches were built than in the whole previous history of the country; and where one in sixty houses in London was a brothel (the modern ratio would be nearer one in six thousand). Where the sanctity of marriage (and chastity before marriage) was proclaimed from every pulpit, in every newspaper editorial and public utterance; and where never- or hardly ever – have so many great public figures, from the future king down, led scandalous private lives [page 267].
I wouldn’t quite call this a feminist book, although the author has been known to make this claim, because the main female character is never given her own voice. However, it is feminist leaning in that Sarah is a strong, independent, and intelligent woman who fails to conform to Victorian gender ideals in a magnificent way. The French Lieutenant’s Woman is not a sappy romance novel where the weak-willed woman falls in love with the strong gentleman and they all live happily ever after. Instead, it is more commentary on Victorian society (and its hypocrisy) and an analysis of gender and class restrictions than it is a romance. I highly recommend it.
Book Worm’s Review Unlike Jen I don’t mind romance stories. Sometimes there is nothing better than getting lost in happily ever after, however this book is not your traditional romance and like Jen I really enjoyed it because of that.
Jen has covered the main points that make this a great book I will just add that I love the way the author interjects and turns what you have just read onto its head. This really is at least 2 books in 1.
Want to try it for yourself? You can find it on Amazon here: The French Lieutenant’s Woman
We want to hear from you! Have you read this book? What did you think?
Oct 16
The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
Published in: 2014
Reviewed by: Jen
Rating: 4 stars
Find it/buy it here: The Bone Clocks
I should start off by disclosing that David Mitchell is my author crush and I spent a good 10 minutes just staring at the cover photo before even opening the book. Cloud Atlas is perhaps one of my all time favorite novels and I love how he views his individual books as being parts of a larger work. As a reviewer from the New Yorker so aptly stated, “each of his novels are porcelain babushkas hiding inside Mitchell’s meta-Russian-nesting-doll oeuvre.” Read more
Oct 11
I’m not too brave when it comes to reading scary books. I do like non-gory horror movies but there’s something about reading vs. watching that makes me more sensitive to scary content. This year, with our Halloween challenge, I decided to join in and participate with our readers (although I’m obviously not entering for the prize). Each week for the month of October we will be reading books that fit a specific theme. Tomorrow we announce our winner of the weekly raffle and our next weekly theme. Join in if you haven’t already.
Last week our theme was “dead things.” I picked The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. See what I thought about it. Was I able to sleep through the night? Read more
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Nicole Del Sesto
The Reader's Room 