Polka Dot Rock Posted June 1, 2007 Author Share Posted June 1, 2007 Oh Louise! If you get arm-ache becuase of the hugeness of those books, you can blame me! They're both excellent reads, really easy to 'get into' and completely 'unputdownable' (if that's a word)... But I'd say Crimson Petal has the edge. Even if it is a bit, erm, naughty in part. I just loved it - I even had to take it work as I couldn't wait to get back to it. I hope you enjoy it as much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polka Dot Rock Posted June 4, 2007 Author Share Posted June 4, 2007 List Updated Yesterday, I started reading Arlington Park by Rachel Cusk: Arlington Park, a modern-day English suburb, is a place devoted to the profitable ordinariness of life. Amidst leafy avenues and comfortable houses, its residents live out the dubious accomplishments of civilization: material prosperity, personal freedom, and moral indifference. For all that, Arlington Park is strikingly conventional. Men work, women look after children, and people generally do what's expected of them. Theirs is a world awash with contentment but empty of belief, and riven with strange anxieties. Set over the course of a single rainy day, the novel moves from one household to another, and through the passing hours conducts a deep examination of its characters lives: of Juliet, enraged at the victory of men over women in family life; of Amanda, warding off thoughts of death with obsessive housework; of Solly, who confronts her own buried femininity in the person of her Italian lodger; of Maisie, despairing at the inevitability with which beauty is destroyed; and of Christine, whose troubled, hilarious spirit presides over Arlington Park. I've already flown through the first half as it's quite a short book. I'm really enjoying parts of it, yet I feel (as I remember feeling about Cusk's first novel, Saving Agnes) that her writing can be a bit labourious at times. It's as if she fears that the common themes of her work (middle class women, motherhood, marriage, female anxiety) can seem 'chick lit'-like, so she needs to thrown in some opaque words to show 'weightiness'. If that makes sense...? Anyway, we'll see how it goes. It's also been nominated for the Orange Prize for Fiction, and we now have all but one in the house, so I should be able to judge for myself this year! Also from my bookshelves, I've picked up The Fahrenheit Twins which is Michel Faber's second collection of short stories. After falling in love with The Crimson Petal, I thought some short peices of his writing might ease the heartbreak of that novel ending I keep meaning to read more short stories, so I'm hoping I'll keep 'dipping' in and out of this collection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polka Dot Rock Posted June 6, 2007 Author Share Posted June 6, 2007 Finished Arlington Park last night. It was an interesting read - reminded me very much of Virginia Woolf. I think it will be worth reading again, so I'm going to hold on to it for a bit, I think. The narrative construct was really convincing: I liked that it's almost like a short story collection, which heightens the 'seperateness' of the neighbours from one another. They live close and are going through similar emotional lives, but are basically strangers. However, I would be disappointed if it won the Orange Prize (especially when Stef Pennet wrote a richer, more unusual book and didn't make the shortlist). Some characters were realised better than others (I loved Maisie, Solly and even Christine. But I found Juliet's thoughts a bit melodramatic at times, even though I could relate to her). But I'll soon be able to compare it to its fellow nominess over the next few weeks I've now picked up The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly, which I am really looking forward to delving into. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudyB Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 Finished Arlington Park last night. It was an interesting read - reminded me very much of Virginia Woolf. I think it will be worth reading again, so I'm going to hold on to it for a bit, I think. This sounds good and by coincidence I saw a poster for it while working in the library on Tuesday - I like Virginia Woolf's work - I like the fact she challenged the narrative convention - Kew Gardens is a brilliant example of this. Must go - off to LibraryThing to add this to my wishlist! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polka Dot Rock Posted June 11, 2007 Author Share Posted June 11, 2007 The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly - Hmm, well... I'm afraid I wasn't exactly bowled over by this. I thought the main idea (and a great deal of the fantasy elements within it) were very derivative of a few contemporary novels and films (especially Angela Carter - I'd be extrememly surprised if Connolly hadn't read The Bloody Chamber, he completely stole the wolves from her! - and The Labyrinth). I found the language annoyingly oversimplified at times, and was also irritated by the way the narrative perspective started 'wobbling' about towards the end. ( E.g. I found it a bit frustrating how the reader was told what The Crooked Man had been doing and that we didn't find out through David discovering. That was a bit lazy, in my opinion. However, I did find some parts very funny (like Snow White and her not-so-happy dwarves) and I thought Roland was a wonderfully written character (so tragic!). The first half was definitely stronger than the latter chapters: I was gripped by David's plaight in the real world, but I found the Other World less so. I don't think it was really thought out well enough and I found it unconvincing at times. I did appreciate the twist ( regarding Rose's uncle, Jonathan ) and even though I began to rapidly lose interest towards the end, I thought the final chapter was very moving and fitting with the tone of the first half of the book. Not a bad read, just very hit and miss for me After a couple of false starts with some other books, I've embarked on Small Island by Andrea Levy (which won the Orange Prize in 2004). So far, it is very much my cup o' reading tea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renniemist Posted June 11, 2007 Share Posted June 11, 2007 Hope you enjoy Small Island Aimz. I thought it was great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polka Dot Rock Posted June 20, 2007 Author Share Posted June 20, 2007 Hope you enjoy Small Island Aimz. I thought it was great. Hello Rennie! I am indeed enjoying Small Island It's taking me a bit longer to read as I was out all weekend and this week I've been preparing for my holiday (woo!). I'm hoping to finish it by Saturday at the latest as I already have a small ton of books to take with me!! It's an extremely good book: the racism is very disturbing in parts as you can forget how all pervading it could be after WWII. It makes me feel sick. When Hortense doesn't realise what it will be like, I just put my head in my hands as I could see what was going to happen. But it's great that someone had the guts to write about all this terrible prejudice and still make the whole experience readable. I'm really enjoying the characterisation too, I feel like I'm really getting to know these people with all their faults and quirks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kell Posted June 20, 2007 Share Posted June 20, 2007 Hope you enjoy Small Island Aimz. I thought it was great. I have Small Island on Mount TBR too - I'm looking forward to it a bit more now I've been hearing such good things about it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happyanddandy Posted June 20, 2007 Share Posted June 20, 2007 I have 'Small Island' waiting on TBR as well - suggested it to hubby recently who was looking for something to read - he said it was excellent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted June 20, 2007 Share Posted June 20, 2007 I've read and enjoyed Small Island too. I think it was one of the 'Big Read' books - maybe of last year? The idea being that as many people read it as possible. I went to a theatre in Bristol last year, and there were loads of free copies for people to take. I'd already read it though - I think I got mine from Ebay! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angerball Posted June 20, 2007 Share Posted June 20, 2007 I'm a fan of Small Island as well. I wasn't expecting to enjoy it half as much as I did, and I was very pleasantly surprised. Of course, I've pretty much forgotten most of it by now (), but I do remember being very impressed by it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudyB Posted July 6, 2007 Share Posted July 6, 2007 Hi PDR - knowing how much you enjoyed Crimson Petal and the White I thought you might be interested to know that Michel Faber has brought out a book based on the characters in CPatW. The Apple: New Crimson Petal Stories Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madcow Posted July 6, 2007 Share Posted July 6, 2007 Hi PDR - knowing how much you enjoyed Crimson Petal and the White I thought you might be interested to know that Michel Faber has brought out a book based on the characters in CPatW. The Apple: New Crimson Petal Stories Just had a peek, looks good and adding it to my wish list! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polka Dot Rock Posted July 7, 2007 Author Share Posted July 7, 2007 Hi PDR - knowing how much you enjoyed Crimson Petal and the White I thought you might be interested to know that Michel Faber has brought out a book based on the characters in CPatW. The Apple: New Crimson Petal Stories Just had a peek, looks good and adding it to my wish list! Thanks Judy! I managed to get hold of the brand new paperback on holiday - and Jules, it is great. I nearly read it all on the train from Exeter to Barnstaple, but I managed to restrain myself in order to 'savour' it. Still read it really quickly, 'tho! (It's VERY slim compared to The Crimson Petal) I shall be posting my thoughts on it, along with my other holiday reads, very soon: I'll stick the link up when I post it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polka Dot Rock Posted July 7, 2007 Author Share Posted July 7, 2007 Before I went on my holidays, I finished Small Island so I thought I'd try my best to post some thoughts At least, what I can remember! It's certainly a powerful book, it's still making me think about it even after a few weeks: it's a very enjoyable novel, but as I said before the portrayal of racism is very disturbing. It was also really interesting to find out about Jamaica itself, in terms of its use of class and its attitudes to Britain before WWII (and then after, particularly for the men posted to Britain). Perhaps naively, I was really shocked by the scenes involving white American GI's in Britain: I didn't realise that there were segregated camps!! It's certainly provided me with a new perspective when watching such things as Band of Brothers. It certainly gave me cause to ponder and I'm now considering taking the course on Caribbean Women's Writing, as I'd like to discover more about the Caribbean's history and literature. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polka Dot Rock Posted July 9, 2007 Author Share Posted July 9, 2007 As I've done previously, I'm now unofficially 'closing' this thread before it ends up with a ridiculous amount of pages. So please follow the link to see my current blog: Book Blog Part 3 (June 25 onwards) (Book Blog Part 1 (Jan 8 - April 22)) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.