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Alexander's Reading 2015


Alexander the Great

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On Beauty review

 

Out of all Zadie Smith novels I've read, I've enjoyed this one the least.
 
I'm interested in the subject matter, but the characters just weren't engaging at all. There was no quality to any of them that made me like them, or made me want to read about them even though I don't like them.
 
The pace of the story felt strange, not fluent. I'm not sure what the point of any of it was. I think it could've been more - I wouldn't be able to do better, but I was disappointed, knowing her other work.
 
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Which other Zadie Smith books have you read? I gave up on NW, but I really liked White Teeth. Mind you, I can't actually remember anything about White Teeth (I've just read the synopsis on Amazon, and it doesn't ring any bells), but on my review of NW, I said I loved White Teeth. :blush2:

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I've read both NW and White Teeth. Also The Autograph Man.

 

White Teeth is my favourite out of all of them. NW felt as if she was trying to capture that spirit of White Teeth, but it didn't fully click. It did feel like a more grown-up version of White Teeth, but with that also came a sort of distance, a lack of warmth that I did find in White Teeth. That said, I did enjoy NW once I'd got through the harder parts.

 

I liked The Autograph Man but didn't love. I'm still not entirely sure whether I liked On Beauty - I feel kind of stuck at that "this could have been more" thing. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

A Game of Thrones review

 

It's hard to review this book because it's the first book in a series. 

 
I only became aware of these books because of the TV series and ever since seeing the first season, I've wanted to read them. I bought the books a couple of years ago, but never got around to reading them - always other books coming up.
 
Now I got around to it, and I'm glad. Often, the first book in a series can be a bit dull because an entire world is being explained, histories being told etc. In "A Game of Thrones", this world, its history and customs are being shown rather than told, which I enjoyed a lot.
 
There's not much more I can say - on to the next!
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  • 3 weeks later...

@Athena I'm reading all five published novels in a row :)

 

A Feast for Crows review

 

Again - very hard to review. While this is not the shocker A Storm of Swords was, I still enjoyed it because of the new POV characters. The most interesting to me is the politics and I loved reading so much of King's Landing - I know this won't be the case in the next novel. I also loved getting a peek into Dorne. Having seen the series, this seems where the TV series starts to differ a lot from the books, which is nice because you get surprises.

I do wish the pace had been a bit higher, though! I can't believe I finished this in just 2.5 weeks. On to the last - for now!

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  • 2 months later...

A Dance with Dragons review

 

This is the longest I've taken to read an ASOIF book - From September 4 until November 21. The first half was hard to get through. The pacing was off and the characters were less interesting to me than those featured in the previous installment.

 
The second half reminded me of the previous installments and I enjoyed it much better. On November 15, I was around the 500th page - I think this says a lot. 
 
The way this one ended, I can't wait for Winds of Winter. Hard to review this without giving away too much.
 
@Athena: I agree that this one was the weakest one. A lot of repetition of the same phrases as well.
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@Athena I really do think ADwD is more interesting if you're invested in the narrators. I have to say that before ADwD, I was never very interested in Jon Snow's chapters and often found them very tedious - but I really enjoyed them much more in the book. I'm interested in many aspects of these novels, but the politics have always intrigued me and politics seem to mainly be a subject of discussion in the south, where the previous novel was set. It also explains why I liked Dany's parts best.

 

Death of a Salesman and Waiting for Godot review

 

I know it seems odd to be reviewing two very different plays together, but it seemed suitable since they both leave me with the same feeling: one should probably experience these texts in their intended mediums: the stage. Both plays seemed to fall very flat and I just can't imagine the immense fuss. I would very much like to see both plays on a stage at some point, though - I can see how actors could really make these texts memorable and moving.

 

The Hours review

 

The Hours is very tough to review because it's such a personal novel for me. I saw the film about six years ago and read the novel in Dutch five years ago. Now I reread the novel in English and it's much stronger in the original language. I know the novel is flawed because nothing is perfect, but it is just so deeply moving, so captivating, I can't bring to words what it makes me feel.

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Wij en ik review

 

This is the first novel in Dutch I've read this year and it's been almost two years since I've read a novel written by a Belgian author. 

 

Prior to this, I've only read Dit is van mij by Saskia De Coster, which I had mixed feelings about. I've enjoyed Wij en ik far more. It really captures the spirit of the mentality I know so well in in the story of a single family. The characters aren't easy to identify with, but I'm not sure the reader is really supposed to. After all, these people put themselves at a distance from the world. 

 

I thought this novel was gripping and very hard to put down. De Coster writes fluently, elegantly changing perspective and narrative voice. The ending was too open to my taste, though. I feel like as a reader, I've been left behind in the middle of the story. But I do get the hype in this case.

 

The Girl on the Train review

 

I really liked reading this novel. Rachel, the protagonist, was definitely flawed but I still wanted things to work out for her. The other characters were interesting as well and I liked getting a different perspective on everyone from different women's points of view.

 

The ultimate reveal wasn't very surprising - I'd seen it come for quite a while and I'm usually not great at guessing who did it - but it didn't feel like that was very much the point. You can read this novel as just a thriller, but I feel it can also be read as more and that multi-layered aspect of it was appealing to me.

Edited by Alexander the Great
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  • 3 weeks later...

The Last Romanov review

 

I picked up this novel because of my interesting in and fascination with the Romanov dynasty and its end in particular.

 

This novel is written mostly from the point of view from a fictional character who was charged with caring for Alexei, Tsar Nicholas II's only son. She has magical powers she draws from ambergris, but it's unclear just how far those powers reach. 

 

The story felt a bit jumbled at the beginning because of the many time jumps between 1991 and the early 20th century. After the messy start, the storytelling was more linear. I don't know exactly what I think - the characters are definitely flawed and the author doesn't shy away from showing the reader these flaws, but I don't think I really buy how forgiving they all were. I also think Darya was really too naive - especially when she had Avram open her eyes. I think this story could really have done without the mysticism and would have been a better read.

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