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| Got two books |
| 02.28.05 (5:27 am) [edit] |
Received two books in the mail:
The Amateur Marriage by Anne Tyler
"The Pleasing Hour" by Lili King
"The Amateur Marriage" is the last (so far) novel by Tyler,and I like Tyler very much.I was waiting to lay my hands on her last novel for some time.
I`m reading now "The Light of The Day" by Graham Swift. It is good.
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| Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami |
| 02.28.05 (2:39 am) [edit] |
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I am hardly able to comment this book.I can only say it was awfully good. I shall not give any more hints about the story; enough there are from the synopsis in the previous entry.Murakami just drags you into his world.I felt like virtually participating in the mystery of the story,smelling the rooms,touching various objects.The boundary line between reality and fantasy is blurred here.The inward world comes out and the outer world becomes a looking glass for the unconscience.Wonderfully written mystery, full of love,fear,hope and despair.Murakami`s books work like a drug for me:-)):after I read one,I want to read more,to be involved once again in this magic,strange world.His power as a storyteller is impressing.Reading his novels is like getting on some extreme Disneyland entertainment- you never know what it is going to be like until you are in motion.
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| I received four books today! |
| 02.23.05 (6:30 am) [edit] |
Today is a kind of a book day for me; I got four books from the mail:
Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami (This book was sent to me by a Russian bookcrosser; it is in Russian)
Around the World in 80 Days by Michael Palin
The Pilot`s Wife by Anita Shreve
and
Somebodies and Nobodies by Robert W.Fuller (non-fiction about the ranks in today`s society)
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I`m reading now "Dance Dance Dance" by Murakami. It is quite intriguing.
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| "Notes On A Scandal" finished |
| 02.22.05 (5:26 am) [edit] |
First of all,let me say I liked and enjoyed this book a lot.I`m not surprised at all that it was shortlisted for Booker Prize.The story and the characters are drawn with true mastery.The characters and events are developed with psychological depth which make the novel much more than an ordinary read.
I saw the following line in Amazon`s reviews,and cannot agree more with it:
"A lonely schoolteacher reveals more than she intends when she records the story of her best friend’s affair with a pupil in this sly, insightful novel".
The story sounds simple.Barbara Covett- a teacher and a spinster,tells us the story of her friend Sheba and her love affair with a pupil at the college. Safely protected in her dried decent life,in her impeccable reputation,Barbara offers us,as she thinks,a truthful,unbiassed account.
At first,Barbara seems like being in the back,on the second line; she is only a voice,a narrator,a documentalist who is taking notes to preserve the events and help the process.She pretends to be a loving and comforting friend-the only one left. But as the story develops,Barbara moves more and more to the centre and we see that she is far more complex and controversial person.Unhappy spinster, Barbara lives with the feeling of personal failure and unsatisfaction.Little solace she finds in being a senior and respected teacher at St. George`s College. Given up the hopes for men to come into her life,she tends to form intense and demanding friendships with women in which she likes to dominate.
To make a friendship with Sheba becomes not an easy task.Barbara feels that Sheba is elusive; she guards herself from dependency and doesn`t allow Barbara to rule.I think the Sheba`s cautious attitude makes Barbara even more ambitious to "conquer" her. I would say that Barbara`s friendship with women bear a certain homosexual character;not in action but in motivation. She wants to conquer women because no man has ever wanted to conquer her;she wants a friend to be totally dependant on her and she gets bitterly jealous about the friendship of Sheba and Sue,for example. Barbara is also jealous about the love affair between Sheba and the 15-years old Steven.All this reveals her as a bitter,dark person who is ready to thread on people`s lives in order to get some guilty,miserable satisfaction in seeing them fall,in seeing their lives falling apart.When the scandal finally bursts out,Barbara sees certain advantages for her. Sheba is rejected by Barbara`s two enemies and rivals: Richard (Sheba`s husband) and Steven. In fact,she is rejected by everyone.Now Barbara rules.Now she is in charge.But it is a bitter and shameful victory.
Few words about Sheba. I symphatised more with her although she was not so pleasant all the time.She ruined her family for the sake of a doubious short-lived pleasure.She acted stupidly many times. She didn`t know how to change her life,how to bring more joy in it and took wrongly the persuasions of Steven as a new beginning.I think Zoe Heller has done and excellent job depicting the various stages in the affair with the teenager.At first,Steven is attracted by her,as it often may happen when a boy is a hormonal mess and unexperienced in love.He wants sex,he thinks it would be super cool to be with such an attractive,experienced,ma ture woman.Then his passion subsides,he finds Sheba too demanding,too possessive.He wants her but at the same time he is repulsed by the very fact of her submission to his needs.Gradually,he senses her weakness; he feels endangered by her. There is a huge difference between the motives for this relationship: for Steven,Sheba is just the beginning of a sexual and love life. For her,however,he is perhaps the last love affair. So it was pretty normal that after some time he turned to other girls and forsake her.
Once more,I enjoyed the book and devoured it in a very short time.A recommended and refined read.
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| Notes On A Scandal by Zoe Heller |
| 02.21.05 (2:37 pm) [edit] |
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Received this today from a fellow-bookcrosser.Started reading immediately.Very interesting,psychological ly insightful.
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| Case Histories by Kate Atkinson |
| 02.13.05 (3:12 pm) [edit] |
I borrowed this book from the library.Some time ago I tried to read "Behind the Scenes at the Museum" by the same author but somehow couldn`t get into but this one grabbed immediately my attention.
The book opens with three separate (at first sight) criminal cases:
Case#1: Rosemary is a tired mother of four daughters and another baby is growing inside her womb.She seems to enjoy only the youngest of her children,Olivia. While Rosemary is thinking about her life and how she got trapped in marriage and producing more and more children,Olivia has been kidnapped during the afternoon nap.
Case#2: Theo Wyre enters his office and finds something terrible has happened.Shortly before his arrival a man came looking for him.He seemed to have walked out but suddenly returned with a knife and wounded an employee.Theo`s daughter,Laura,runs after the criminal to catch him. The knife cuts through her neck artery and stops her life forever.
Case#3: Michelle could have studied in a college.She could have had more brilliant future.But now she is a terrified 18-years old mother of a screaming baby.They live in a place with no other living soul.She is constantly running out of time.She wants to do everything perfect and feels like she is doing nothing.She imagines sometimes how she would slit the head of her husband in two halves with the wooden axe,and her sufferings would finish.One afternoon she just does it....Now she has all the time in the world...
Jackson Broddie is a private detective. He deals with other people`s cases.He has to be cool and not get involved personally.But he doesn`t feel like assuming the position of judging people; he wants to help them.He will have to deal with all three cases and discover things which will change his life and mind.
Update 02/22
I finished it a couple of days ago.Interesting story about people with broken lives.
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| Received Books |
| 02.11.05 (5:46 am) [edit] |
This week I received in the mail the following books:
"Simon Rattle- The Making of a Conductor"- non-fiction book about the famous English conductor,now chief conductor of Berlin Philharmonic;highly interesting for me as I`m classical musician and an orchestral player.
Helene Hanff - "84 Charing Cross Road" (finished)
Alice Walker- "The Color Purple" (finished)
Jeffrey Eugenides-"The Virgin Suicides")started reading)
David Sedaris-"Me Talk Pretty One Day" (started reading)
And I took from the library "Case Histories" (finished)and "Emotionally Weird" by Kate Atkinson.
Finished "The Time Traveller`s Wife".Absolutely suberb book,wonderfully written.
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