2007 Winter Classics Challenge

On Reading December 8, 2006 Superfast Reader 2 Comments

How could the Superfast Reader not be excited about this? Reading bloggers have been invited to read 5 classics in the months of January and February, courtesy of A Reader’s Journey. My five, culled from my BookMooch stack: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll The Railway Children by E. Nesbit The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins A Room with a View by EM Forster HT: The Sheila Variations If you’re new here,…

Gallowglass by Barbara Vine

British Literature December 8, 2006 Superfast Reader 1 Comment

Synopsis: A suicidal teen is rescued by a charismatic drifter with designs on a woman he calls “The Princess.” Review: Gallowglass has not been my favorite Vine (the alter ego of crime writer Ruth Rendell), but subpar Vine is still head and shoulders above most of what’s out there in the mystery genre. Where Vine succeeds best in this book is in depicting Joe’s thralldom to Sandor, the man who rescued him from jumping front of a train. An orphan raised by loveless foster parents,…

I Don’t Know How She Does It by Allison Pearson

British Literature December 6, 2006 Superfast Reader 4 Comments

Synopsis: A working mother of two finds her life teetering out of balance as she struggles to succeed in finance without feeling guilty that the nanny is raising her kids. Review: I sometimes have anxiety dreams where I’m working. I’m either behind the counter at the video store I clerked at in grad school, or posting things in Moveable Type for my work blog, or reenacting a specific job (like an event I’ve planned) in what feels like real time. While the dream is going…

A Killer Life by Christine Vachon

American Literature December 5, 2006 Superfast Reader 2 Comments

Synopsis: Christine Vachon is an independent film producer, and in this book she tells the story of how she made films like Far From Heaven, Boys Don’t Cry, and more.

White Teeth by Zadie Smith

British Literature December 3, 2006 Superfast Reader 5 Comments

White Teeth: A Novel by Zadie Smith Synopsis: 3 families–one Bengal, one white English/Jamaican, and the third white English–twist and turn throughout one another’s lives over the decades in and around a multicultural neighborhood in London. Review: Smith has a stellar knack for portraiture, with all of her characters being wholly unique, and capturing subtle aspects of character psychology in novel ways. My favorite has to be the long-suffering Alsana, mother to two twins as different as night and day. After her much-older husband Samad…

Techniques for Reading on the Subway

On Reading December 2, 2006 Superfast Reader 3 Comments

This post is going up in commemoration of the book I read for work last night and this morning. Check out the On Reading tag for more of the same. The book I read for work, while I won’t reveal the title or author because it hasn’t been published yet, had a really involved, contrived setup that forecasted everything that was going to happen in the plot, to the point where I was like, “Get on with it already, since I already know how this…

Bookish babes and bizarre behavior

On Reading November 30, 2006 Superfast Reader

Just finished a book for work. It was a crime thriller set in Charm City, Jewel of the East, place of my birth, hon. But I don’t blog about these reads (why?), so instead you get some rambling musings far past my bedtime and a peek at one of the books in my permanent collection. I used to read while I blew my hair dry in the morning before school. I’ve never done that anywhere else I’ve ever lived, but whenever I visit my parents…

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin

American Literature November 29, 2006 Superfast Reader 4 Comments

Synopsis: A young mage-in-training with unprecedented powers performs a forbidden spell and looses a shadow from another realm that intends to destroy him. Review: The writing in A Wizard of Earthsea is beautiful, and the world is wholly original. However, this books gets a little too fantasy-ey for me. It’s got a lot of Magic, and not that that much adventure. It’s much more about the ideas than it is about character development–which is fine. It’s just not what I prefer.

Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl

American Literature November 25, 2006 Superfast Reader 9 Comments

Synopsis: A brainy high school senior narrates the events that led to the death of her charismatic and disturbed teacher. Review: I stayed up until 1:30 am last night blazing through the last 200 pages of the book, in a state of amazement (and not a little jealousy) over the superb plotting Pessl married to her delicious prose and intriguing characters.

The Man of My Dreams by Curtis Sittenfeld

American Literature November 21, 2006 Superfast Reader 5 Comments

Synopsis: Snapshots in the life of a slightly depressed young woman with low self-esteem. Review: I loved Sittenfeld’s debut novel Prep, and had high expectations for this one. I was pretty disappointed. Hannah is passive and largely disinterested in life, and this just doesn’t make for a compelling main character, unless her passivity is what the story is about. But Sittenfeld doesn’t have a strong premise, nor has she engaged with some of the ideas that pepper the narrative. The book feels loose and disconnected,…

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