Category Archives: British Literature

The Handmaid’s Tale, Academy Girls, and the Worst Bachelorette Party Ever

American Literature, British Literature October 7, 2015 Superfast Reader 2 Comments

I have read The Handmaid’s Tale maybe 4 times since college, so when my book club picked it for our December meeting, I thought I’d see if the audiobook version was any good. Oh my my, oh hell yes, time to put on that Handmaid’s Dress because Claire Danes simply kills it. As Offred, trapped in a bizarre patriarchal system where she has to bear children for wealthy men or else risk exile or worse, Danes finds a beautiful balance between the handmaid’s naivetÃ© and…

Kid Stuff (Not Just for Kids)

American Literature, British Literature June 22, 2015 Superfast Reader

I originally bought Abby Hanlon’s Dory Fantasmagory for my older daughter, who liked it at first then lost interest. My younger daughter (turned 5 today) picked it up and had me read the whole thing to her over 2 reading sessions. It’s an absolutely adorable tale of a little girl with a big imagination, and the illustrations are a lot of fun. She has all these imaginary friends and enemies who tend to take over her life and make her do things that her family…

The Silver Chair and Two About Murder

American Literature, British Literature May 24, 2015 Superfast Reader

We finished listening to the audio version of The Silver Chair by CS Lewis this week. I have always loved the humor of this book (particularly Puddleglum), and Jill Pole was the Lewisian girl I most connected with. I got teary-eyed at the end listening to the tender depiction of good King Caspian’s death and resurrection into Aslan’s country. It means more to me now that I’m an adult then it ever could have when I was a child. The title Anne Perry and the…

More Courtney Summers, Crazy Moms

British Literature, Canadian Literature May 3, 2015 Superfast Reader

Just in time for Mother’s Day I finally picked up Her by Harriet Lane, about an exhausted mom of a newborn and a toddler who’s befriended by a chic artist who seems to save the day over and over again. Of course this lady (a perfectly normal seeming woman with a high school age daughter) has an ulterior motive that comes to light in a suspenseful way. It reminded me a lot of Notes on a Scandal. I’m also continuing my Courtney Summers love fest.…

Laura Lippman, Lauren Oliver, Lloyd Alexander + more

American Literature, British Literature April 12, 2015 Superfast Reader

Oh, I have had so many disappointments lately when trying to read Important Books by Important Authors that I needed to spend my spring break immersed in good genre. And even though not every book I read was entirely successful, my plan worked–consider my palate cleansed and my love for reading restored. The best of them was Hush Hush by Laura Lippman. It’s “A Tess Monaghan Novel” which should put me off, because I generally do not like series fiction with a recurring character. For…

Emma, Wild, Phantom Tollbooth, Under the Skin

American Literature, British Literature March 29, 2015 Superfast Reader

I keep getting fed up with books and not finishing them. What is wrong with me? Two recent give-ups were The Buried Giant and The Book of Strange New Things. The former I dropped because it just go so boring, and the latter I dropped because the Christian missionary main characters didn’t ring true for me and my brain got tired from arguing with the book. I didn’t quite finish Wild by Cheryl Strayed, which was this month’s pick for book club. I meant to…

The Disappeared by Roger Scruton

British Literature March 5, 2015 Superfast Reader

Synopsis: In a community in Yorkshire, a disparate group of individuals are brought together when two women go missing and a third seems to be under threat from Arab sex traffickers. Review: I had a really mixed reaction to The Disappeared. On the one hand, I found a certain satisfying level of suspense and intricacy in the plotting. But on the other hand, I couldn’t forgive the numerous plot contrivances that made the overall story implausible and a bit frustrating. Knowing that Scruton is a…

Two Books That Were Not Gone Girl

American Literature, British Literature February 22, 2015 Superfast Reader

America’s Test Kitchen Radio has this great feature where they test kitchen gadgets and tell you one that’s hot and one that’s not. So I’ve got two Gone Girl knockoffs, one that’s hot and one that I read anyway. You: A Novel has an irresistible premise, in which a stalker narrates his growing obsession with a troubled young woman. He addresses her using the 2nd person, but within the context of a first person narrative. Author Caroline Kepnes had to use a teeny bit of…

Katy Bowman, A Literary Polar Vortex

American Literature, British Literature February 8, 2015 Superfast Reader

This week, I finished a review copy of The Disappeared by Roger Scruton, and a full review will run on the publication date (March 5, 2015). I had a passing awareness of Scruton from another lifetime ago, when I was Managing Editor of the now-defunct webzine New Pantagruel (.com). More to come. Katy Bowman‘s Move Your DNA is more of a reference book than anything else, but the first half tackles the science of biomechanics in a comprehensive and surprisingly readable way. The second section…

The Book of You by Claire Kendal

British Literature December 25, 2014 Superfast Reader

Synopsis: After a night she can’t remember that left her with bruises on her thighs, Clarissa can’t shake Rafe, whose unrelenting attentions gain added menace when she starts noticing the parallels to a rape trial she’s attending as a juror. Review: The Book of You had some strong and memorable elements, particularly Claire’s emotional and physical isolation as a result of Rafe’s stalking. Unfortunately, the secondary characters remained largely flat on the page, never serving as much more than an unwitting Greek chorus to Claire’s…

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