Again, continuing from this post.
#9 His Dark Materials
First, His Dark Materials is a series made up of three books "The Golden Compass", "The Subtle Knife", and "The Amber Spyglass". This makes it a crappy addition to this list.
The Plot: Two kids and their metaphysical representations run around doing everything metaphorical the author could think of. Then they go kill God.
The Good: The first book in this series is the best of the three. The author creates a lovable main character in Lyra and I found the portions that dealt with daemons charming.
The Bad: This is obviously a response to the Narnia series. The similarities (new worlds, talking animals, creation metaphors, strong female villains) are a little bit in your face. I got the impression that the author decided that subtlety was overrated by the third book, which is when the 'killing God' bit went from an interesting, albeit heavy handed topic for a children's book, to the stick that the author chose to beat his message into the reader.
In addition, the third book becomes more of an adult love story, which breaks the themes of innocent loyalty and friendship that have been paramount up to that point. It was a disruptive decision, and one I wish he'd left out.
The Verdict: 3.5 out of five for The Golden Compass, 2.5 for the other two books. Probably offensive to some who can't tell the difference between reality and books.
#53 Cold Comfort Farm
The Plot: A society woman goes to live with her redneck relatives at Cold Comfort. She neatly arranges life around her to her liking.
The Good: Clever language and a plotline that was written to be tongue in cheek. The author succeeded at writing a very amusing book without seeming like she was trying too hard.
The Bad: The book is a little slow at the beginning.
The Verdict: 4 out of 5. Charming! I especially love the cows.
Showing posts with label book review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label book review. Show all posts
Friday, August 7, 2009
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Book reviews, consolidated
The Time Traveller's Wife
The Plot: Henry has the ability to spontaneously travel through time. He travels to meet Claire from the time she is six until she her death in her 80s. The book describes the developing relationship and Claire's struggles as she continually waits for Henry to come back to her.
The Good: A clever application of the device of time traveling, with excellent address of the paradoxes created. The relationship between Claire and Henry is very real--initially I felt it was a little pediophiliac, but Henry and Claire's characters develop together. My favorite thing about the book is the sense of helpless omniscience that time traveling bestows upon Claire and to Henry. They struggle with how to handle knowing pieces of what will happen (because it has already happened to them) but being unable to change anything.
The Bad: The supporting characters don't have the same substance to them that Claire and Henry do. (A minor complaint, but I couldn't put nothing.)
Rating: 4 and a half out of 5 stars. I can see this book being perfect for discussion groups.
The Little Prince - How special it makes us when we're loved!
The Good: It reads like a childrens' book, but has the depth of a parable. I love the story of the little prince and the fox. It reminded me of all of the cliches about your partner not being perfect, but being perfect for you, but in a much less irritating way. Thankfully, there's precious little preachiness. I wonder if Shel Silverstein was influenced by this.
The Bad: Nada
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Bridget Jones's Diary
The Plot: A British chick calls herself pathetic a lot, then gets over it.
The Good: You actually start to like Bridget
The Bad: You don't really want to like Bridget. Especially since you lose all sympathy for her when she ends up marrying a hot millionaire.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5. Easy to read, but the movie is practically the book verbatim.
The Plot: Henry has the ability to spontaneously travel through time. He travels to meet Claire from the time she is six until she her death in her 80s. The book describes the developing relationship and Claire's struggles as she continually waits for Henry to come back to her.
The Good: A clever application of the device of time traveling, with excellent address of the paradoxes created. The relationship between Claire and Henry is very real--initially I felt it was a little pediophiliac, but Henry and Claire's characters develop together. My favorite thing about the book is the sense of helpless omniscience that time traveling bestows upon Claire and to Henry. They struggle with how to handle knowing pieces of what will happen (because it has already happened to them) but being unable to change anything.
The Bad: The supporting characters don't have the same substance to them that Claire and Henry do. (A minor complaint, but I couldn't put nothing.)
Rating: 4 and a half out of 5 stars. I can see this book being perfect for discussion groups.
The Little Prince - How special it makes us when we're loved!
The Good: It reads like a childrens' book, but has the depth of a parable. I love the story of the little prince and the fox. It reminded me of all of the cliches about your partner not being perfect, but being perfect for you, but in a much less irritating way. Thankfully, there's precious little preachiness. I wonder if Shel Silverstein was influenced by this.
The Bad: Nada
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Bridget Jones's Diary
The Plot: A British chick calls herself pathetic a lot, then gets over it.
The Good: You actually start to like Bridget
The Bad: You don't really want to like Bridget. Especially since you lose all sympathy for her when she ends up marrying a hot millionaire.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5. Easy to read, but the movie is practically the book verbatim.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Dune
This is book #52 referenced in this post
The Plot: A child messiah leads a guerrilla war against the enemy clan who killed his father. Also, something about spice.
The Good: The descriptions of the Freman culture, and the concept of 'the spice'. The addition of lolcat memes are a plus.
The Bad: WTF actually are Paul's abilities?
The Verdict: 4/5 stars. One of the better space science fictions I've read, but it gets docked because I prefer my sci fi to focus more on characters and less on scenery.
Next Up: #19 The Time Traveller's Wife
Atonement
#50 from this post is complete.
I wanted to start off my reading endeavors with something lighter than Dickens and in stock at my local library.
The Plot: A girl accuses her sister's (secret) lover of trying to rape her cousin and is very sorry about it (eventually). She (maybe) tries to make ammends.
The Good: The concept behind the plot and the perspective through which it is explored is cleverly done. The twist in the epilogue is interesting, to say the least.
The Bad: The book loses momentum in the middle, as (ironically) the author seems to have far more connection with the portions narrated by his female characters.
The Verdict: A good book, but not a story that I imagine translates well into film. I won't be seeing the movie. 2.5/5 stars
Next up: Dune (#52) by Frank Herbert
I wanted to start off my reading endeavors with something lighter than Dickens and in stock at my local library.
The Plot: A girl accuses her sister's (secret) lover of trying to rape her cousin and is very sorry about it (eventually). She (maybe) tries to make ammends.
The Good: The concept behind the plot and the perspective through which it is explored is cleverly done. The twist in the epilogue is interesting, to say the least.
The Bad: The book loses momentum in the middle, as (ironically) the author seems to have far more connection with the portions narrated by his female characters.
The Verdict: A good book, but not a story that I imagine translates well into film. I won't be seeing the movie. 2.5/5 stars
Next up: Dune (#52) by Frank Herbert
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