Tag Archives: 20th Century

The House of Stairs by Barbara Vine

British Literature April 21, 2007 Superfast Reader 7 Comments

Synopsis: A woman haunted by the uncertain onset of a genetic disease sees a woman from her past, and struggles to fill in the gaps between truth and lies from a time in her life marked by violence and murder. Review: House of Stairs is yet another knockout from Barbara Vine, the British crime writer who pens the Inspector Wexford mysteries as Ruth Rendell. The tease here is that Vine isn’t going to reveal the identity of the murder victim until the final pages, and…

Blindness by Henry Green

British Literature April 18, 2007 Superfast Reader

Synopsis: A young man on the verge of university is blinded in a freak accident. Review: Henry Green’s later books Loving, Living, and Party Going were referenced quite a bit in Francine Prose’s Reading Like a Writer, but I chose to start with Blindness because it was listed in the infamous 1001 Books to Read Before You Die. It’s a slim volume, and I breezed through it, though Green’s marvelous turns of phrase caused me to pause and relish.

The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams

American Literature April 17, 2007 Superfast Reader 3 Comments

Synopsis: After the death of the beloved king, a land falls into chaos and war, and one young boy finds that his destiny is inextricably linked with that of his people. Review: The Dragonbone Chair is the first in an epic fantasy trilogy that borrows from Arthurian legend and the myth of Prester John, among others, in a vaguely medieval world where dragons are not yet a memory. I found book one to be a very slow start to a series that got rave after…

The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

American Literature April 7, 2007 Superfast Reader 4 Comments

Synopsis: New step-sister Amanda wants to teach David and his younger siblings all about practicing magic, but when they learn that their house was once haunted by a poltergeist, no one can tell what’s made up and what’s real. Review: The Headless Cupid is the second of the three YA books I’m reading for the Banned Books Challenge. I was only familiar with Snyder’s The Egypt Game, which I remember as being cryptically creepy, the perfect read for a curious fourth-grader like myself.

The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier

American Literature April 4, 2007 Superfast Reader 4 Comments

Synopsis: By refusing to sell chocolates in the annual school sale, one high school freshman learns whether or not his universe can bear to be shaken. Review: The Chocolate War is the first of my books for the Banned Books Challenge, hosted by The Pelham Library. I have read Cormier’s books a number of times since first encountering them in middle school, and I’m still amazed at the power that they have to shock, wound, and enlighten.

Anna’s Book by Barbara Vine

British Literature April 1, 2007 Superfast Reader 3 Comments

Synopsis: After the death of the tortured aunt who edited her grandmother’s best-selling diaries, a second-generation Danish-British woman seeks to find out the truth of her aunt’s parentage, which may be linked to an infamous murder case. Review: The complexity of Anna’s Book (originally published as Asta’s Book) is reminiscent of A Dark-Adapted Eye, and both books are now tied as my favorite of the books crime novelist Ruth Rendell has written as Barbara Vine. Both books deal with a tangled family history as revealed…

The Wife (Kristin Lavransdatter II) by Sigrid Undset

Norwegian Literature March 23, 2007 Superfast Reader 1 Comment

Synopsis: Now married to her beloved Erlend Niklausson, Kristin takes up her new life as the mistress of Husaby, fearful that the child that grows inside her will expose her secret shame and cause her father to reject her. Review: I didn’t think it was going to be possible for Undset to outdo her achievement The Wreath, book I of her Kristin Lavransdatter trilogy set in Norway in the 14th century. I feared that marriage wouldn’t suit Kristin, that her vitality and inner fire would…

Luck of the Wheels by Megan Lindholm

American Literature March 18, 2007 Superfast Reader

Synopsis: Gypsy teamster Ki agrees to ferry a most disagreeable boy to another town, and discovers a world of trouble when she and her companions find themselves in the middle of an uprising. Review: Luck of the Wheels, the fourth and final installment in the Ki and Vandien Quartet, is the best Lindholm I’ve read so far. Here, she pushes her protagonists as far as they can be pushed, taking the kinds of story risks that make her books so accomplished. She’s not afraid to…

The Limbreth Gate by Megan Lindholm

American Literature March 17, 2007 Superfast Reader

Synopsis: A gypsy woman is drawn into a shadow world to fulfill the destiny created for her when she was briefly kidnapped as a child. Review: The Limbreth Gate is the third installment in Megan Lindholm’s Ki and Vandien Quartet, and is perhaps the most conventional of her books. The plotline is a familiar one–a shadow world opens up, sucking the main characters in–and while Lindholm doesn’t exactly take it to new heights, she does deliver a solid, well-written, suspenseful fantasy tale.

This House of Sky by Ivan Doig

American Literature March 16, 2007 Superfast Reader

Synopsis: A memoir of Ivan Doig’s childhood in western Montana, wrangling sheep and falling in love with words in the company of his father and maternal grandmother. Review: This House of Sky was given to me by my very good friend Karen. She and I have been trading books for as long as we’ve known each other, and I always know that she’ll give me something worth reading.

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