In an effort to maybe, perhaps, hopefully get caught up on all the books I haven’t reviewed, I’m planning to start doing mini-reviews every couple of weeks for books that I read but didn’t have much to say about. If you have more specific questions about any of this week’s titles, leave them in the comments!
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Rebecca was my plane read to NYC, so I don’t think it got the attention it deserves… I have a hard time concentrating on planes. For the most part, I thought it was a good story, but I really didn’t like the narrator. It’s that I necessarily have a difficult time with passive narrators. They can sometimes be a lot of fun. But obtuse narrators? Narrators who, for some reason, cannot see what is RIGHT in front of them? They drive me nuts. And the second Mrs. de Winter… she really is obtuse. So… fun read, but also sort of aggravating? It’s a classic, so I’m glad I read it.
The Long Shot by Ellen Hartman
After I finished reading The Sparrow, I needed palate cleansers. I had impulsively bought The Long Shot because it was the “Sizzling Book Club Chat” selection at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books for May and it sounded sort of fun and so completely different that I could read it without comparing it to The Sparrow. I enjoyed the story, particularly the relationship between basketball playing brothers — both with secrets they are keeping from each other and the people they love — but I wish there had been more sexytimes in it. So… pretty good?
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
I read Catch-22 as an informal read-a-long with Jill (Fizzy Thoughts). I loved the way the book was constantly twisting around on itself (with every sentence, paragraph, and chapter seeming to contradict themselves), but that also made it really hard to read. I thought that last quarter of the book was absolutely fantastic, but I think that’s also when I finally had a grasp of what was going on. So… this is one I will need to read again, I think, to really appreciate it.
Disclosure: I bought all three of these books myself. #bookaddict
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My son read Catch-22 in school and loved it, so Carl gave it a try and I think he felt pretty much the same way you did.
Catch-22 is one of the only books that lives in my house that I haven’t finished. I can’t decide if I should try again 🙂
It’s a really hard book, and it requires a lot of attention to really get what’s going on, I think.
Catch 22 is one of those books that I read in high school that I didn’t really “get” — after having read it last year again, it made a lot more sense and was much darker than I remember. I think when I was younger, I only picked up on the ridiculous scenes in the book, not realizing how these ridiculous scenes were made even more tragic when realized against the greater backdrop of war.
I really like the reviewletts idea!
It took me awhile to see tragedy in it too. I think I liked the last fourth so much because that contrast between the ridiculous and the terrible is much more stark than the rest of the book.
Nice reviewletts!
Catch-22 has been sitting on unread on my shelf for over a decade. Maybe reading your reviewlett will inspire me to read it. Love to add it to my “About Time I Read It” series.
That’s the book list I had it on — about time I can finally talk about this one somewhat intelligently 🙂
You’re on your own with the re-read of Catch-22! No way, no how, am I reading that puppy again.
And poor Rebecca. That’s the one you should re-read! 😀
Lol, I wouldn’t expect you to re-read 🙂
Really, Rebecca? Didn’t the second Mrs. De Winter just drive you up a wall? I wanted to smack her for being so clueless.
I adored Rebecca! And I really must read Catch-22 if for no other reason than it has been on my bookshelf for at least ten years.
Haven’t read Rebecca in forever, but wasn’t crazy about the beginning. That I remember. It’s on the list to re-read to see if I appreciate it more now that I’m older.
I wonder if I’d appreciate it more on a second read, knowing a little bit where it’s going and expecting the narration.