Reading Frenzy
Lately, I've been reading many books and neglecting to blog them. I'm listing the last three before returning them:
1. Politician: Bio of a Space Tyrant by Piers Anthony, 1985.
Set in the future and in space. A man wakes up in a room full of his own feces and realizes his memories have been erased. He slowly pieces his past together buy cracking code words he left in the cell before being mem-washed. He is a Hispanic politician with powers to persuade and manage people.
The planets in the solar system have been colonized. Africa gets the hot planets like Mars and Venus. The U.S. gets Jupiter. Not that great of a book.
2. Moon Cakes: A Novel, by Andrea Louie, 1995.
A Chinese American woman, Maya, is haunted by her past. Her father died when she was young leaving a void. Her mother is the typical cold Chinese mother and her sister the perfect over achiever. Maya had a miscarriage and never told her last boyfriend about the pregnancy. She has emotional baggage and goes on a whirlwind tour of China; the landscape and people she encounters triggers memories of her father and guys she's dated. Maya tries to discover what it was about China that her father and her last boyfriend loved so much. She wants to share that experience but finds China foreign to her.
Boo hoo. Wa Wa. Sappy reminiscing that doesn't quite cut it. Louis tries to weave the story together with past memories and tries to let Maya's past unravel slowly so the reader finds out suddenly why Maya is so sad. eg. her father died. I don't mind this technique but its not done well. See below for an excellent example.
3. The God of Small Things, by Arundhati Roy, 1997 (Winner of the Booker Prize)
One of the best books I've read in a long time. Great character studies that show how and why people act the way they do. Most of all I like how everything culminates at the end, showing how history is triggered by events that in hindsight seem inevitable. Everything and everyone has a place in this story. And the writing is a delicious drink of water after walking the desert barefoot.
Set in India, twins return home after being separated as children. Hmmm. I don't think I want to tell too much of this book. I don't want to spoil it because it's worth reading not like above. (My tell all saves you from wasting your time)
You do need to know a little about India's caste system and the history of Marxism there to get the book.
1. Politician: Bio of a Space Tyrant by Piers Anthony, 1985.
Set in the future and in space. A man wakes up in a room full of his own feces and realizes his memories have been erased. He slowly pieces his past together buy cracking code words he left in the cell before being mem-washed. He is a Hispanic politician with powers to persuade and manage people.
The planets in the solar system have been colonized. Africa gets the hot planets like Mars and Venus. The U.S. gets Jupiter. Not that great of a book.
2. Moon Cakes: A Novel, by Andrea Louie, 1995.
A Chinese American woman, Maya, is haunted by her past. Her father died when she was young leaving a void. Her mother is the typical cold Chinese mother and her sister the perfect over achiever. Maya had a miscarriage and never told her last boyfriend about the pregnancy. She has emotional baggage and goes on a whirlwind tour of China; the landscape and people she encounters triggers memories of her father and guys she's dated. Maya tries to discover what it was about China that her father and her last boyfriend loved so much. She wants to share that experience but finds China foreign to her.
Boo hoo. Wa Wa. Sappy reminiscing that doesn't quite cut it. Louis tries to weave the story together with past memories and tries to let Maya's past unravel slowly so the reader finds out suddenly why Maya is so sad. eg. her father died. I don't mind this technique but its not done well. See below for an excellent example.
3. The God of Small Things, by Arundhati Roy, 1997 (Winner of the Booker Prize)
One of the best books I've read in a long time. Great character studies that show how and why people act the way they do. Most of all I like how everything culminates at the end, showing how history is triggered by events that in hindsight seem inevitable. Everything and everyone has a place in this story. And the writing is a delicious drink of water after walking the desert barefoot.
Set in India, twins return home after being separated as children. Hmmm. I don't think I want to tell too much of this book. I don't want to spoil it because it's worth reading not like above. (My tell all saves you from wasting your time)
You do need to know a little about India's caste system and the history of Marxism there to get the book.
posted by Imo at 1:39 PM
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