Alexander the Great Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 (edited) Currently Reading Under The Dome, by Stephen King Read in 2015 The Autograph Man, by Zadie Smith A Long Way Down, by Nick Hornby The Silkworm, by Robert Galbraith Enigma, by Robert Harris The Paying Guests, by Sarah Waters The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt On Beauty, by Zadie Smith A Game of Thrones, by George R. R. Martin A Clash of Kings, by George R. R. Martin A Storm of Swords, by George R. R. Martin A Feast for Crows, by George R. R. Martin A Dance with Dragons, by George R. R. Martin Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller Waiting for Godot, by Samuel Beckett The Hours, by Michael Cunningham Wij en ik, by Saskia De Coster The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins The Last Romanov, by Dora Levy Mossanen Edited December 27, 2015 by Alexander the Great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander the Great Posted January 12, 2015 Author Share Posted January 12, 2015 The Autograph Man review Previously, I read White Teeth and NW by Zadie Smith. The Autograph Man is a vastly different novel, but still very much Zadie Smith. The characters in this novel and their relationships are complex, as people and their relationships tend to be in real life. I did feel that Smith went over them quite likely and I wouldn't have minded a little more focus on that and less on Alex-Li Tandem's inner mind. But then again, Alex is described multiple times as being very self-centered and selfish, so it does make sense. I'm not sure why all these people put up with Alex, and he did get away with some things I can't imagine people would forgive someone so easily for. I don't think I liked Alex very much, but I didn't dislike him so intensely that I didn't enjoy reading from his point of view. It takes a very good writer to manage that balance. The plot itself wasn't that important, as it wasn't in Smith's other works either. The narrative is quite meandering, takes you to places you didn't expect to go. Of course I had to suspend quite a bit of disbelief from the moment he embarked on his trip to New York - the entire Honey Smith story, the Kitty Alexander escapades - none of these things would actually happen. But they were entertaining to read, so I didn't mind. I liked how the prologue was quite long, and we really got to know most of the characters as prepubescent kids. Then the time jump to fifteen years later really shows how much people can change and still essentially be the same. The Jewish mythicism was a bit much at times, but never too overbearing for me. This won't be my favourite read of the year, I'm probably not going to buy this novel or read it again, but I would recommend it to anyone who's looking for a book to read as a means of escapism. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissy Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 I hope you enjoy a wonderful reading year. Do you have any reading plans, or are you reading whatever takes your interest each time? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 I hope you have a good reading year in 2015, Alexander! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devi Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 Happy reading and all the best in 2015. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 I hope you have a great reading year, Alexander. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marie H Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 Happy reading in 2015 Alexander! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 I hope you have a marvelous reading year in 2015, Alexander! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander the Great Posted January 13, 2015 Author Share Posted January 13, 2015 Thank you everyone, and the same to each and every one of you! I hope you enjoy a wonderful reading year. Do you have any reading plans, or are you reading whatever takes your interest each time? I'm currently waiting for the library to tell me Robert Galbraith's Silkworm is in, but other than that, I don't have any definite reading plans. I have a lot of books at home that I haven't read so far, but I also have books from the library and experience tells me that one of the hardest things in life is entering a library and leaving empty-handed. I do hope I'll manage to finally read the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin. I enjoy the TV series Game of Thrones immensely and I own the first five books. I might also wait until the entire series is published, I'm not sure yet. I'd also like to read Tolkien's LoTR books, but I've been telling myself that for about seven years now and I don't seem to get around to it. Ideally, I'd love being able to just take a break from life for a month and catch up on all the reading I want to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 Good luck with your 2015 reading Alexander Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 Hope you have a great reading year, Alexander. I found Zadie Smith to be a very mixed bag. I loved White Teeth, but hated NW so much that not only did I not finish it, but it has put me off reading anything else by her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 I hope you have a great year of reading, Alexander. I found Zadie Smith to be a very mixed bag. I loved White Teeth, but hated NW so much that not only did I not finish it, but it has put me off reading anything else by her. Interesting… I couldn't get on with White Teeth but I loved On Beauty! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander the Great Posted January 18, 2015 Author Share Posted January 18, 2015 Hope you have a great reading year, Alexander. I found Zadie Smith to be a very mixed bag. I loved White Teeth, but hated NW so much that not only did I not finish it, but it has put me off reading anything else by her. I won't say I enjoyed NW as much as I did White Teeth. It was quite different, and even though White Teeth was written years ago, in ways it felt like a more adult novel than NW. If I hadn't known the chronological order and someone had asked me to say which was written when Smith was younger and which when she was older (and wiser?), I'd definitely have switched them around. I felt like NW was always close to touching something and then shying away from it and that was too bad. But I didn't hate it, either. I also realize I might have been more positive in my initial review of NW, but my opinion of a book definitely tends to change a little after having had time to digest it. I hope you have a great year of reading, Alexander. Interesting… I couldn't get on with White Teeth but I loved On Beauty! Thank you! White Teeth took a bit of an effort to get into, but was well worth it to me. I had the same experience with Blindness by José Saramago and The Incredible Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera - both works are in an unusual style that takes getting used to, but once you do, a whole new world seems to open up. These last two works are some of my favourite books. I also realize they might not be if I re-read them, so I won't for now. Sometimes it's enough that you once loved a book, and if you try to re-read it to get the same feeling, it might end up disappointing you. And why would I lose the magic of that first read by reading again when there are so many books out there to discover? I haven't tried On Beauty yet, but am I correct in recalling that it's more a collection of essays and short stories than it is a novel? A Long Way Down review Previously, I've read Nick Hornby's High Fidelity, About a Boy<, Slam and Juliet, Naked. Most, though admittedly not all, of these work feature sports or music. This is not the case for A Long Way Down - even though JJ is a musician, that's not as much a theme as it is something belonging to the character. This novel turned out to be better than I'd expected when I started it. The premise sounded interesting, but reading the first few pages, I couldn't really connect to any of the characters on any level, and they didn't seem interesting enough people to want to connect to them despite that. But somehow, I was drawn in anyway. Hornby's characters aren't very likable people, all of them have got something that irritates me a little, or that I can't quite believe. But they're not over the top dramatic either. They have their problems, but they're the kind of problems a lot of people could have. I can imagine many people would say that Martin, Maureen, Jess and JJ have so many options and if they'd just fight, things would get better. But I liked that - that they didn't have grand dramas leading them to the top of Toppers' House. The story went on in a direction I hadn't quite expected it to, but enjoyed nonetheless. Nobody gets a neat, tied-up ending, but somehow I get a feeling they'll be okay. This novel didn't need to be any longer or shorter. I'm not sure I'd go around telling people to definitely read this - I'm sure it's not for everyone. I'm also not sure I'd read this again, unless it had been a while and there was nothing else lying around to read. But the novel was still a pleasant surprise and I have no regret having read it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 Thank you! White Teeth took a bit of an effort to get into, but was well worth it to me. I had the same experience with Blindness by José Saramago and The Incredible Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera - both works are in an unusual style that takes getting used to, but once you do, a whole new world seems to open up. These last two works are some of my favourite books. I also realize they might not be if I re-read them, so I won't for now. Sometimes it's enough that you once loved a book, and if you try to re-read it to get the same feeling, it might end up disappointing you. And why would I lose the magic of that first read by reading again when there are so many books out there to discover? I haven't tried On Beauty yet, but am I correct in recalling that it's more a collection of essays and short stories than it is a novel? I adore José Saramago! If you haven't read it yet, you must read The Stone Raft - brilliant. On Beauty is a definitely a novel, not a collection of essays or short stories. It's actually a very loose interpretation of Howard's End by E. M. Forster, which is another of my favourite books, so it could have gone either way for me, but I ended up really enjoying On Beauty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 I read A Long Way Down last year (or maybe it was 2013....the years just go by too fast ) and did not enjoy it at all. I hated the majority of the characters, especially Jess. I thought Maureen was the only one with redeeming features, and the rest of them could have jumped, for all I cared! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 Great review of A Long Way Down! I had pretty much the same feelings and thoughts about the book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 Currently Reading The Silkworm, by Robert Galbraith I enjoyed the first Strike book so I'll be interested to hear your views on this. Happy reading in 2015. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontalba Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 ^^^^^ What she said. Have a great reading year, Alexander! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander the Great Posted January 31, 2015 Author Share Posted January 31, 2015 @chesilbeach I have only read Blindness and Seeing by José Saramago, but I will definitely look out for The Stone Raft. I'll also put On Beauty on my TBR-list. @bobblybear That's what I kind of liked about A Long Way Down - that the author didn't try to make us all feel so sorry for these people. That suffering is different for everyone, and different people can only put up with different levels of it. That makes books so interesting though - how people can enjoy the same books, and then have read other books and have completely different opinions on them. @frankie Thanks! @Janet @pontalba Thank you, same for you guys! My review of The Silkworm below. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander the Great Posted January 31, 2015 Author Share Posted January 31, 2015 (edited) I'm pretty sure there are no spoilers in this, but I do worry about giving away too much in my reviews. Will you let me know whether I'm spoiling too much? Thanks! The Silkworm review Brilliant. Turning the final page of this outstanding novel, this is the first word that comes to mind. The Silkworm is the second Cormoran Strike novel, written by J.K. Rowling under the pseudonym 'Robert Galbraith'. I read the first one, The Cuckoo's Calling, last year. This were my thoughts on it. The Cuckoo's Calling review I will admit I only read this after I found out JKR was the author - but then I'd never even heard of the novel before that. I just finished the novel and it's still marinating in my head a bit. In general, I really enjoyed it. I like Rowling's style and I like her characters. Reading blurbs in the past, I expected I wouldn't like Cormoran Strike very much, but I do. I also found the other characters enjoyable to read about. I love London, and that probably helps when reading this. Rowling is a master at vivid descriptions and conjuring up a world before the mind's eye. I've read and loved her Potter series, I've read and loved The Casual Vacancy, and now I've read and loved this crime novel. Rowling is very versatile and this novel only made me see that much more clearly just how talented she is. At times, it did feel like I was reading the same scene but with different people, or that a certain scene was really going on too long. The final reveal was very unexpected and I'm not sure I like it because to me, in a good crime novel, as a reader you have to be able to work out yourself who the culprit was - preferably still being surprised when you read who did it, obviously. I like when I'm surprised, but I can go back and add everything up and it makes sense, and I can tell myself that I could see it coming. I don't think that goes for this novel. So I enjoyed the characters, their interactions, the descriptions and the writing style, but was slightly disappointed with the final reveal. I do hope there will be more Cormoran Strike novels - preferably with Robin by his side. When I re-read this review myself, I have to say that I'm feeling much more enthusiastic having just finished The Silkworm. This isn't Rowling's first rodeo - she's written the Harry Potter series, an adult novel, and now two crime novels. But somehow it feels like she got better. I didn't have that sense of reading the same scene with different people, or scenes going on for too long. The final reveal was once again a total surprise to me - in no way had I seen it coming, up until the very reveal itself. But this time, I could really read back and put pieces together, and come to the conclusion. I think - and this is, according to me, quite unique in a crime/detective novel - this is a book you can read a few times to really get all the clues and references. The story itself was quirky, but I did enjoy it. Then there's Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacot. I still like Strike, although I do think it's a bit implausible how all these women flirt with him or want him, with the way he behaves and the way his physical appearance is described. No offense, but the man can not be that desirable. I did like how we delved a little more into his background - enough to keep it interesting, but not too much in a way that it became overbearing. As for Robin, she's probably my character. I like her a lot and I think she's easier to identify with as well. She's made major progress in this, as a person and in her relationships. I thought the issues and tension with Strike and with Matthew were very believable - the man you work with and the man you love and live with, you spend a lot of time with, so it can't go smoothly all the time. It was very interesting to really see these struggles and see them resolved a bit, or at least come to an attempt at it. It provided surprising depth to what is more than a series of crime novels. It's a very entertaining, addictive combination. Rowling's eye for detail is impeccable, but fortunately, she doesn't over-use it as some authors tend to do. She sprinkles them throughout the novel, never sinking it with them, making it a drag to get through. This woman is so talented, and I am once again convinced she's my favourite author. Looking forward to much more of Strike and Robin! If you read The Cuckoo's Calling and liked it, I'm pretty sure you'll like The Silkworm just as much - if not more. Having said that - do prepare for a book hangover and even a bit of grief that comes with stepping out of a great story in a world that's slightly familiar, yet still wildly riveting. Edited January 31, 2015 by Alexander the Great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander the Great Posted April 25, 2015 Author Share Posted April 25, 2015 Enigma review Enigma, about code-breakers in WWII, has an interesting enough premise. I can't honestly say I enjoyed this book, though. I couldn't bring myself to care very much about the characters. I think it's much easier to enjoy this novel if you like the protagonist, Tom Jericho. But Jericho wasn't very likable and he didn't warrant all the fuss being made over him. His love story with Claire seemed very superficial and that was a bit problematic since it's the basis for a lot of what happens. I liked Hester well enough, but thought she was too smart to fall for Jericho's so-called charm which I failed to grasp. I have to admit I'm glad there wasn't a romance between them. I wouldn't call reading this time wasted, but I won't recommend it to anyone. The Paying Guests review This is Sarah Waters' latest novel. I did like reading it, was very engrossed in the characters and the stories. Set in a very interesting time - 1920s London, dealing with the aftermath of the war. I felt that things progressed very quickly - too quickly? - between Lilian and Frances, but maybe that's just because we're used to more of a slow burn. There wasn't as much mystery or intrigue as in her other novels, but it was interesting nonetheless. I liked the latter part less, the court case could have been made much briefer. But overall, still a novel I would buy. I finished this book very quickly, with that typical feeling of wanting to read to know what happens and at the same time slowing down because you don't want it to ever end. The Goldfinch review Comparing The Goldfinch with Donna Tartt's other novels, The Secret History and The Little Friend, is useless. The characters live in very different worlds, the settings are very different, the entire story is in no way to be compared. I can say that The Goldfinch is the Donna Tartt novel I enjoyed reading most. I think it was easier to relate to Theo for me. He's a victim, having lost his mother at age 13 when the museum they visit is bombed, but it doesn't turn him into an angel - even if some other characters seem to think so. The novel could have been shorter - especially the time in Texas felt like a lot of repetition to me, as did the time in Amsterdam at the very end. But still, a very good read. Theo doesn't lead a typical life and has to make some very tough choices. He says himself somewhere near the beginning that things would have been better if his mother had lived, and they would have been, and I think it's a very interesting thing to think about - just how different everything would have been for him. I liked the philosophical ending as well. Eagerly awaiting the next Donna Tartt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian. Posted April 25, 2015 Share Posted April 25, 2015 Enigma review Enigma, about code-breakers in WWII, has an interesting enough premise. I can't honestly say I enjoyed this book, though. I couldn't bring myself to care very much about the characters. I think it's much easier to enjoy this novel if you like the protagonist, Tom Jericho. But Jericho wasn't very likable and he didn't warrant all the fuss being made over him. His love story with Claire seemed very superficial and that was a bit problematic since it's the basis for a lot of what happens. I liked Hester well enough, but thought she was too smart to fall for Jericho's so-called charm which I failed to grasp. I have to admit I'm glad there wasn't a romance between them. I wouldn't call reading this time wasted, but I won't recommend it to anyone. Is this the Robert Harris book? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander the Great Posted April 26, 2015 Author Share Posted April 26, 2015 Is this the Robert Harris book? It is, yes. Which is why I was a bit surprised - I enjoyed Imperium and Lustrum, the first two books in his Cicero trilogy, enormously. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian. Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 It is, yes. Which is why I was a bit surprised - I enjoyed Imperium and Lustrum, the first two books in his Cicero trilogy, enormously. I enjoyed Imperium and Lustrum as well as some of his other books so I'm a bit worried about how I will get on with Enigma when I come to read it. I do wish Harris would finish the final book in the Cicero trilogy, it feels like I've been waiting for it forever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander the Great Posted April 30, 2015 Author Share Posted April 30, 2015 I enjoyed Imperium and Lustrum as well as some of his other books so I'm a bit worried about how I will get on with Enigma when I come to read it. I do wish Harris would finish the final book in the Cicero trilogy, it feels like I've been waiting for it forever. I'm sorry, I hope you enjoy Enigma nonetheless! It may just be a very personal thing, I'm not sure. I really wish he'd finish it too - it's been a while since I read them now and I want to read the entire trilogy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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