Snippet Reviews: Book Club Readings 2005

beth — Thu, Mar 29 2007

Continuing with the short reviews for our book club books:

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Susanna Clarke - Critics said it was an adult Harry Potter. We all agreed it took far too long to get interesting and was nowhere near as fun, interesting, or enjoyable as the HP series.

The Quiet American, Graham Greene - Set in the 1950s in Vietnam, The Quiet American revolves around an older British man and a young American, their love for the same women, and their views of the Vietnam struggle. Compelling, but definitely felt like "a man's voice," - it was hard for us to get into.

The World According to Garp, John Irving - Another "man's voice" book, very jarring, intriguing, and captivating. Irving creates a harsh world that is full of interesting characters, definitely worth reading.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith - A beautiful story of a girl growing up poor in Brooklyn. Frances is a charming heroine. Nice read after the last two rather brutal choices.

House of Mirth, Edith Wharton - It's reading books like this that make me wish I remembered more of my college English learnings. We talked about a whole genre of books that concerned the downfall of the heroine in society, and now I remember... nothing. I'm pretty sure this novel goes with that stuff.

Camille, Alexander Dumas - Lovely story about a young man and his love for a Parisan courtesan who dies of consumption. Pretty easy reading for a mid-1800s book originally written in French!

To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee - It's shocking I know, but I'd never read this before. Beautifully told, it draws you in by telling it through a child's eyes.

The Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov - So, from an easy-to-read book set in the 1950s South to this complex Russian novel from the 1930s. At first, the hardest thing to wrap my head around was the names - why does one person have so many names in Russia? Overall I liked the book, but I think I missed a lot of the allegory to the political climate.

Psst - book club friends or anyone else, got something to add? Leave a comment!

I couldn't put Garp down. It

Holly (not verified) — Mon, Apr 2 2007

I couldn't put Garp down. It was horrible and wonderful at the same time, but mostly I just couldn't wait to see what happened next. I thougth that some of the actions of the women in the book were more what a man would wish for, than what a woman would actually do. Jonathan Strange was okay, but not what I was hoping for, being an overly enthusiastic Harry Potter fan. The word tedious comes to mind.Those were the only books I actually finished in 2005. So far I've already tied that for 2007.

I totally cop to liking JS &

delia (not verified) — Fri, Mar 30 2007

I totally cop to liking JS & DR much more than everyone else appeared to. I thought it was pretty good throughout with the standard british book about class and manners evolving into a frankensteinish kind of plot. Something for everyone! Er...ok...maybe just for me :-\