On Thursday, my in real life book club met to discuss our most recent selection, A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan. Because we can be so pokey about setting up times to meet — we’re all busy reporters with relatively odd schedules — by the time we got around to this book we didn’t have a lot to discuss because we couldn’t remember much except that we either “really loved” or “really liked” the book.
Luckily, I wrote down a few book thoughts when I finished the novel awhile ago, so I can at least write a short little review.
Book Review
One Sentence Summary: A shepherd boy travels to Egypt to look for treasure under the pyramids, but ends up finding his own personal treasure.
One Sentence Review: The graphic novel doesn’t seem to match illustrations with story style, leaving the whole thing feeling just a little bit off.
Why I Read It: I’ve never read The Alchemist, so I thought trying a graphic novel of the book would be fun.
while ago I started reading The Odyssey as part of a read-a-long hosted by Trish at Love, Laughter, and Insanity. I did finish the book right on schedule, reading the last page on Thanksgiving during a post-turkey coma, but then never got around to writing up my thoughts (for the end, or for the second check in… a good participant, I am not).
But The Odyssey was awesome, and I am really glad I read it. I have to admit, that’s not what I expected would happen — something about The Odyssey being an epic, ancient, and a poem intimidated me into thinking I’d hate it, which was not the case at all.
The best thing about being unplugged since before Thanksgiving was that I got to read a ton of books! It was great, and helped me get over a reading slump from the beginning of the month.
Luckily for me, all the books I read were quite good. Unluckily, I don’t really have much to say about them other than, “I liked this, read it!” since I was reading more for fun that anything else. So another round of “mini-reviews” it is (in quotes because even when I’m trying to be succinct, I’m unfortunately long-winded).
For the last week or so I’ve been really in the mood to read, but not so much in the mood to write. But… I’m still like eight reviews behind, so I’m doing my best to kick through the writer’s block and share some book thoughts with you.
Today, two recently nonfiction history books, one that I liked and one that didn’t work as well for me. And they go together because they both have “madness” in the subtitle — a word that I really love.
I present, The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson and The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean.
One Sentence Summary: Maira Kalman, an author and illustrator, spent a year exploring both well-known and quirky aspects of American democracy and what it means.
One Sentence Review: And the Pursuit of Happiness is a delightful book to read, both because of the lovely illustrations and because of the thoughtful and optimistic away Kalman approaches the questions of the whole American democratic experiment.
Why I Read It: I was a little familiar with Kalman’s New York Times Blog, And the Pursuit of Happiness, so was excited to read the book it inspired.
Today is the second market in a readalong of The Odyssey, hosted by Trish (Love, Laugher, and a Touch of Insanity). I didn’t get my butt in gear to write a post for the first six chapters, but here I am for week two.
Basically, The Odyssey is the story of how Odysseus gets home from the Trojan War. It was written by the Greek poet Homer in the 8th century BC. I’m reading a translation by Robert Fagles, and so far I think it’s great. The writing is a lot more accessible than I expected, and the story is quite entertaining.
Now, one of my favorite websites is Ultra Condensed Movies, a site that does amazing summaries of movies. Often, they’re better than actually seeing the movies, and don’t cost anything to read. In that spirit, I’m going to try to do The Ultra Condensed Odyssey, although I can only hope to be 1/10th as funny as they are.
Two Sentence Summary: Curious about where some common words came from? This book gives lots of details.
One Sentence Review: Strange Bedfellows wasn’t quite what I expected, but was still a relatively enjoyable read.
Why I Read It: I like doing the Green Books Campaign, and I like reading books about words. Hence, a natural fit.
One Sentence Summary: What happens once the mermaid finds her prince and they move on to the happily ever after?
One Sentence Review: Despite an intriguing premise, I ended up disappointed in this book because of pacing issue and a series of subplots that distracted from the main story.
Why I Read It: The book was described as like The Time Traveler’s Wife, a fiction story that brings elements of fantasy into the real world, and I was intrigued by that. Plus, I’ve always been interested in stories that try to un-Disney some of the best fairy tales.
Welcome to the online discussion for The Jungle, hosted by BookClubSandwich: An online book club for foodies and wannabes. Andi (Estella’s Revenge) and I are both glad you’re here.
The discussion format is pretty simple – I’ve included my thoughts below in a sort of review – there are a bunch of discussion questions as well. The comments section is open for responses and discussion – responding to each other as much or more than responding to me – and there’s a Mr. Linky to add your own reviews. The discussion will take place all week, and Andi will have a wrap-up of the discussion next Monday.
