apocalypse please

book: oryx and crake

author: margret atwood

completion date: 29/06/10

method: borrowed (andrew)

the apocalypse seems to be a pretty common thread for authors. what i like about them is that they all follow similar threads (war, famine or infection... i feel like we're missing one here) but each one is unique. also there is the automatic contrast implied: this is how the world was this is how the world is now this is how humanity survives. this was the hand we were dealt this time and this is how we played it.

i started this book totally blind ( which i don't really enjoy doing on the regular). there was no summary on the back or within the first few pages. all i knew was that it is a post apocalyptic novel and margret atwood wrote it. that was it. all i knew. mum also told me that you never know what happens until the end.

i am really happy that writers like atwood exist. she so often shows such strength in her novels and i love her for it. this quickly could become one of my favourite post apocalyptic novels because of the crakers. all i can say is: way to go. she really addresses what happens when we go to far. when we make something that looks human and sounds human but has no humanity. the crakers are blank shells. they aren't even animalistic. i would argue that even animals show jealousy and sexual preference. the crakers feel like an experiment gone wrong. everything about them is false. except for the purring. i can't remember if it was jocelyn howard or meg or kate atkinson that told me about a book where a scientist created a perfect being and it could purr because purring is one of the most soothing sounds and has healing tendencies. if any of you remember please tell me. it reminded me of when you have a stomach ache and your cat comes and purrs right beside you.

crake terrified me. he had no limitation. no top, no regard for humanity. jimmy's arguments about art and society seem to fall flat against crake's argument for perfection. but it seems that crake was a product of his society. the scientist were pushing the boundaries which meant that crake could justify his actions. he wasn't doing anything worse then his predecessors, he was just doing more.

atwood just created such a unique apocalyptica, its hard to see what the book that apparently i'm being set up to read will show me.

xo-ellebee

the white man's burden

book: the book of negros

author: lawrence hill

completion date: 27/06/10

method: borrowed (mum)

i wasn't ready for this book. mum warned me that it was upsetting but i figured i could handle anything. this was beyond what i could take. but i loved it. this book just grabs you by the heart (and occasionally the guilt) and doesn't let go. the story is so moving and heartbreaking.

let me just say i wasn't expecting for this to be a 'feel good' book. i understood that with the premise it was unlikely that it was going to be anything other than upsetting. what i loved is that you are pushed to the edge and then redeemed so you never feel like all is lost and aminata's struggle is useless. her fight is the most important. it is how unrelenting the human spirit can be that makes this book inspirational.

i mentioned the guilt earlier. this is not a book that makes you feel awful to be a white person. also i believe that if we live in the past we can never move forward. i don't mean forget in any way, i mean if we allow ourselves to become consumed with guilt then we will never learn from our mistakes. what i mean is we sometimes feel so awful about things our ancestors did that we have no control over and this book is a perfect example. the white man's perspective is the fascinating one. a) that rebels fought against themselves being slaves to the british, but didn't acknowledge that they were in full violation of the golden rule. b) that slavery was better then barbary. by nature africans were savages and we were liberating them into our society. we were allowing them to be our slaves, to live in our country. the first point is what really intrigued me. the american rebels demanding their freedom and saying that they deserve nothing less. yet they wander through the black village chaining up other humans to use for this same purpose.

if only everyone abided by the golden rule, but then we'd all be equals.

xo-ellebee

in layman's terms

book: ladies and gentlemen, the bible

author: jonathan goldstein

completion date: 24/06/10

method: borrowed (andrew)

i grabbed this book in a rush this morning, knowing that i'd finish less than zero in minutes and i wanted something that would last the long commute today. it seemed like a good sized book, and i was totally disappointed by the fact that the book is about 6x9 but the type only takes up about 4x4.5. and at only 218 pages i whizzed through it so much faster than expected. on this respect i was not impressed.

however i found that the interior of the book to be very funny. it really did feel like the bible in layman's terms. the stories were direct and simple and much more relatable than i found them in the real thing. noah was a miserable old coot whose children didn't appreciate him (but then again what children do appreciate their parents lawl). and david just wanted to be loved. actually most of the stories had to do a lot with rejection and the need to be accepted by our peers. although it wasn't really a deep book, i found this regard touching.

i was not raised with religion of any sort and have never read the bible. in all likely hood, this is the closed i'm going to get unless somehow a copy slips into my ever growing stack of books to read. i found i really enjoyed these stories. especially the one about cain and abel. i never knew this story, other than cain was the first asshole and abel was selfless (and really kind of boring). also don't ever name a character cain in any tv series because they don't tend to do very well. it felt that cain's murder of his brother was more out of some screwed up curiosity as opposed to ill will. cain did not understand death in human terms, and abel was the perfect target.

i liked that all these stories focused on sibling rivalries, because it makes them way more real and relatable. none of the siblings get along and are constantly pitted against each other by their parents and god.

this book does however make a number of bible heros both human and douchy. after all, how do you think joe reacted to the 'immaculate conception'.

xo-ellebee

poor little rich boy

book: less than zero

author: bret easton ellis

completion date: 24/06/10

method: borrowed (james)

i can see how robert downy junior would be the star of the movie version of this book. more like, this book is what happened to r.d.j before he went to rehab and prison and the like. its a limitless world for those who have the means.

i can't imagine reading this book when i was 18 or 19 or however old these kids are. its terrifying to think that there are people who live like this who have more money and no limits. one of the characters says at one point he doesn't have everything because he doesn't have anything to loose. what i loved about this book is how intense it got out of nowhere. i almost thought i was going to hate it in the beginning because all these characters are just so rich and don't give a fuck about anything. you watch as they search for something that pushes them over the edge but nothing seems to do it. being totally coked out all the time has to totally fuck with you too.

as he comes out of his haze it seems that clay starts to notice that things are wrong in their beverly hills paradise of cocaine, sex, unlimited parties and money. but even still clay only just leaves when he realizes that the way he and his friends live is wrong and totally fucked up. it reached a point that i had to re-read sentences because i didn't believe what i had just read.

i think it all chalks up to bad parenting.

xo-ellebee

sorry for the language.

pretty solid.

book: life sentences

author: laura lippman

completion date: 23/06/10

method: borrowed (dad)

i have been greatly let down by thriller mystery novels i've read so far this summer, but then again they were ian rankin books (apart from shutter island which was AWESOME). i guess this isn't really a thriller, but it has the air of mystery about it. all of the characters know more than they're telling you, but i didn't mind being left in the dark.

i like books that can centre around an asshole. something about when the main character isn't totally relatable, but totally human makes for a really compelling character. cassandra was so headstrong and right all the time, but not in an omnipotent narrator way- she's just the kind of person who has always had the answers. she was a liar and very self involved and as annoying as she could be, it made her feel more real. after all, she's a writer who's success has come through writing memoirs. that has to make you feel very self involved.

i really liked how lippman included samples of cassandra's most successful novel throughout the book. not only did it it make for really awesome characterization, but it let us see how cassandra thought.

i did find i wanted more mystery though. mainly because i enjoy the suspense and have been starved for it in my recent readings, and when i really think about it i don't know how much a car chase would have suited the pace of this book. it was a great one to read while commuting because it was totally engrossing and exciting and well written, but i don't think i'd read it again. it definitely felt like the kind of book you buy in an airport bookstore and leave on the plane when you finish it.

xo- ellebee

you've lost me chuck

book: lullaby
author: chuck palahniuk
completion date: 22/06/10
method: borrowed (emma)

i feel that i should have left good enough alone. we were doing so well. we were over our rocky patch and were deeply in love again. now i feel a nagging doubt in the back of my mind- something is not right. maybe we're just waining because i don't believe that the connection can be gone for good forever. but lullaby has shaken my faith.
my brother said in the car yesterday that he feels he's too old for chuck and i have to say now i agree with him. it could be because i'm over tyler durden. also because i am sick of the supporting characters- the prophet, the know it all, the dreamer and the saviour. i know them all so well, they're just dressed up in different costumes. tyler always knows more than he cares to tell us and this time when i found out i didn't really care.
i want the romance back, chuck. i want the feeling that i don't know whats going to come next. maybe i just know you too well. we've drifted apart- gone stale. i still love you, but i don't know if i'm in love with you anymore.
xo- ellebee

i am well aware that i sound like a crazy stalker.

the deptford trilogy pt3

book: world of wonders
author: roberston davies
completion date: 21/06/10
method: borrowed (mum)

i felt that this was by far the weakest link in the trilogy. i found myself not really enjoying it or seeing its purpose and almost didn't finish it. fifth business seemed to stand head and shoulders above the manticore and world of wonders.
this novel focused on the story of the illusionist that young paul dempster became (i don't have his name here... i have already returned the book.... plus i could never pronounce it). and the main problem was that he is totally unlikable. he is unpleasant and spoilt despite his rough childhood. i found that i was totally unsympathetic to his plight because of who he had become through it.
up until half way through i really was liking this book too. but then i just couldn't get into it. i totally lost interest. i feel that this is not a trilogy in the traditional sense at all. they are 3 loosely connected novels.
even though this novel is narrated again by ramsay, we don't have the benefit of his intelligence or poetry because the story is dempster's retelling of his life story as observed by ramsay. as a character ramsay is one of the strongest (rivaled by boy stanton and lisel) characters and has the most fascinating insights but he is totally useless in this novel. i was disappointed but i feel that it was partially my fault- it isn't the type of trilogy you read in succession.
xo-ellebee

the deptford trilogy pt 2

book: the manticore
author: robertson davies
completion date: 18/06/10
method: borrowed (mum)

i have to say that this is not a typical trilogy. each book appears to stand on its own entierly. if anything world of wonders seems like a more appropriate second book at the moment, but i'm also only about 100 pgs in.
now i understand why davies illustrates each of the minor characters in such an careful way. the trilogy is connected by these characters entirely. the manticore is narrated by davey, the son of the wealthy percy boy stanton just a while after his fathers death. in fifth business we are introduced to boy stanton's children, but they aren't of any great consequence to ramsay, and thus they are pushed aside more or less. however, in the manticore we witness their struggles and how they are truly a product of how they were raised. davey is a depressed miser who is lost after the death of his father. he has sought his fathers approval his entire life and now, his father has died without ever approving of davey. even in the will davey feels the disapproval of his father.
davey's sister is quite the piece though. in the manticore you are given a terrifying view of the boy stanton household. caroline is spoiled rotten, but she is also the most manipulative woman in the novel. you get a sense that caroline is holding all the strings and is completely in charge. it isn't that she isn't loving or sensitive to her brother, she was just raised to believe fully that she is the MOST beautiful the MOST talented the MOST intelligent and as a result is vain and a brat. she believes the world worships at the caroline alter and so they should.
my favourite character was netty, though. the boy stanton family house keeper and keeper of secrets. netty has been with the family since davey was born (he is now a middle aged man and she is still responsible for him). netty knows everything and is fiercely loyal to percy- caroline suggests its because she is in love with him. however i think percy was more her father that her unrequited lover. you get the impression that although netty doesn't have any education to speak of, she is very intelligent and knows that whatever she may feel percy boy stanton would never return anything above mutual respect.
i keep loving each of these books more and more, it makes me wonder what the next one could bring

the deptford trilogy trilogy pt 1

book: fifth buisness

author: robertson davies

completion date: 16/06/10

method: borrowed (mum)

every time i have asked my mother for a book recommendation, she has pushed this trilogy on me. she told me this is her second set of these books, because the first ones weren't up to the number of times they were to be read. fifth business is the first in the trilogy named for the town the story starts.

i loved this novel. i loved the writing. the narrator is so likable but so complex. i find often with first person narrators, the narrator is simply an observer and isn't participating in a lot of the action. however dunstan is so intriguing and seems to focus as much on what is going on inside him as much as what is going on around him.

my favourite part of the novel is the relationship between dunstan and his best friend/ chief rival percy boy(d) stanton. percy seems to not so much enjoy dunstan as much as he likes using him as a reference point. they were friends from boyhood and percy has experienced a very rapid climb to success. they have always been in competition and percy seems to keep dunny around as someone he has beaten. dunny on the other hand enjoys percy's company because of the monetary success it affords him. the two enjoy a complex relationship both giving and taking from each other because each is integral to the other's enjoyment of life.

davies creates characters with such depth. even the smaller characters who play only a minor roll in this part of the trilogy have such depth which i have to assume is because they are featured in each book.

it is difficult to review this book because i feel even though i've been told each book can stand on its own i still think that in order to absorb everything in each book without reading the others. because otherwise there wouldn't have been a reason to write a trilogy.

xo-ellebee

paul is human

book: paul's case
author: lynn crosbie
completion date: 15/06/10
method: borrowed (mum)

i have immense respect for lynn crosbie. i have adored her since taking a class of hers last summer. she has always struck me as a woman who has the female equivalent of balls (having strong ovaries doesn't seem to have the same feeling). she commands respect and i have always hoped i could grow up to be a woman like lynn. after reading this novel my opinion of her has solidified.
this book was terrifying. i don't know how else to put it. it lay so much on the table, and i see why crosbie came under such fierce scrutiny for it. in my experience, books about serial killers are meant to make the killers even more monstrous in the eyes of their audience than they were before. these people cannot be human beings like us decent citizens. they are living horrors who should be locked away and never considered again. crosbie seems to humanize paul in a way. humanize is the wrong word i think but she makes him into a human being. he is not sympathetic, just human and it is karla who is revealed as the real monster.
paul bernardo stares out at you from the cover. his gaze is confrontational and his lips are parted as if he is about to speak to you. the image is grainy and full of noise. as i said before whoever said 'never judge a book by its cover' never picked up a book. as soon as you pick up the novel, paul's fierce blue eyes stare at you as if to say 'i am a monster. but i am not a demon'.
at times crosbie's narrative is confusing. the voice of the letters seems to change even within each letter. however, her writing is so raw and passionate if feels as if the author is 'the woman' (for i don't know what else to call her). the subject matter of the novel is often horrifying. i hesitate to recommend this book because of some of the more graphic letters, but crosbie writes so fucking brilliantly i believe that everyone should read it. if anything for the sheer boldness and beauty of the prose.
paul bernardo has always given me chills, but after this novel the person i am most afraid of is karla. it terrifies me that anyone could do what these 2 did together, and that only one is locked away. in a few years, karla can apply to change her name and her crimes be forgotten. how long until she finds another paul? after all, misery loves company.
xo-ellebee

the man with the mediocre book

book: the girl with the dragon tattoo
author: stieg larsson
completion date: 14/06/10
method: borrowed (mum and dad)

i actually picked this book up in chapters and carried it around with me for a while, but found something that i was more interested in and abandoned this book. i was glad that i read it. at moments i thought it showed signs of promise and for the last few pages i couldn't put it down (the bus driver laughed at me). but i was disappointed at the end. well, the last few pages at least. where i thought the book should have ended was about 20pages in from this page.
this book felt like a first draft to me. the idea was strong and the characters had potential but it was all too shallow for my liking. Mikael, the male lead, is likable enough but seems to passive to be this hard hitting journalist. he seems too soft, not nearly ambitious enough but maybe that would make him too much of a stock character.
and lisbeth. oh lisbeth. writing a maladjusted, unlikable character is difficult. she just seems too unreal and angry. but then again this is just the opinion of a relatively well adjusted girl of about the same age. my father actually wrote a pretty accurate critique of it on his blog here: http://beebee-lovehastornusapart.blogspot.com/2010/06/tattoos-are-not-enough.html which sums it up a lot better than i can.
unlike dad i probably will at least give the second novel a try once mother finishes with it, but then again my recommendations list has reached epic proportions...
maybe i'll just wait for the movie
xo-ellebee

goodbye rankin

book: exit music

author: ian rankin

completion date: 11/06/10

method: borrowed (tom)

i was terribly disappointed by this book. after doors open i was ready and willing to give rankin another go. i had liked his work in the past and one mediocre book wasn't about to put me off an author for good. however i found this novel unforgivable.

here is the thing about mystery/detective/thrillers: they have to be totally engrossing. the book has to be all you can think about. the end is so close, but you don't want the novel to end because you are loving it so much and are so engaged. you'll stay up all night and the next morning to finish it if necessary. i found there were nothing but distractions from this book on the bus. everything else was so much more interesting. i was always checking my phone or eavesdropping on my neighbours... thinking what to do with my hair... should i have washed it...etc.

now this novel, unlike doors open was a 'rebus' novel. like many crime authors, rankin has his DETECTIVE who stars in most of the books. now we are supposed to care about this DETECTIVE and not find him frustrating and or irritating. he should be endearing and charming. old and wizened but still passing on his infinite wisdom to the young, eager cadets surrounding him. i was so bored by rebus's antics and the crime itself seemed stupid and poorly thought out.

what i found in doors open i found here too- the detectives are too suspicious based on nothing. i know that it's their job to be suspicious but they also have to follow the facts... unless they've already read the last page and know whats going to happen. the detectives get no leads whatsoever (physically and very little people wise) but they still manage to find people to call on. there was no mystery here to figure out, just a laying out of what happened. and the 'twist' if you can call it that was shallow and poorly played. on the bus home to london i was looking for drama and excitement (and maybe a little blood shed) but got none of this. all i detected was disappointment. (bad bad joke)

xo-ellebee

the most beautiful book yet

book: the bedside book of beasts
author: graeme gibson
completion date: june 10/06/10
method: purchase

i bought this book for school at the beginning of the winter semester. my mum showed it to me and i thought it had to be the best book ever. it is an anthology collected by the author of stories and poems about 'beasts'. i loved this book because it is totally littered with some of the most fabulous animal art... as in art about animals and of animals. i found it so inspiring and beautiful.
i was hoping there would be more fables and myths featured in the book like the just so stories but perhaps gibson wanted to keep the human voice present. it feels that this book is about observing beasts and imitating their behaviors and not stories about them. i was so deeply influenced by so many fables as a child and loved how intensely animals were featured in greek and norse mythology. however i obviously have a very different idea of what i would compile in my animal anthology (currently not in progress.... laaawwl). it felt that gibson was comparing our behaviours to animals and trying to demonstrate that we had lost our connections to nature and the natural order. which i agree with. we have drifted- some further than others.

i found it very facinating as well that a story featured very predominantly in beatrice and virgil is featured in this novel- the particular part that the taxidermist highlighted most vigorously. the tale itself is haunting and uncomfortable. it tells the story of a voracious hunter who slaughters any and all in his sight. up until this story the bedside book of beasts had been very peaceful and soothing. they were all tales of love and remembrance up until the story of this hunter. even though i had already read it, it left me shaken.

gibson mentions that our behaviours are similar to animal, especially hunter animal, behaviours. with this conclusion i would love to see his bedside book of birds if only to see the connection.
xo-ellebee

the wire ruined police drama for me

book: doors open
autor: ian rankin
method: borrowed (tom)
completion date: 09/06/10

watching the wire i started to see the police as a business- there are quotas to fill and bosses to keep happy. now i know that this is a tv show and not totally accurate, but i know that most hbo shows do their research and try to make everything as real as possible. my main issue with this novel was not the elabourate heist or the stocky characters but it was the suspicious detective. as if his major would let him pursue a fallen crime boss and ignore the work piling up on his desk. no his major would have busted his balls and told the detective to get with the team and chib was no longer any concern of theirs. also this detective was totally suspicious of everything with no reason to be.
the idea behind the book is the main character, mike, is wealthy and bored so he and his buddies decide to steal some art, only their plan is that the art won't really go missing- they'll be stealing from a warehouse and they'll replace the art with good forgeries. the problem is this detective doesn't buy it and he keeps snooping until he finds out whats up. the whole novel just had this air of unbelievability to it which can be the kiss of death for a mystery/thriller type. the problem was that i never believed for a second these guys would get caught- the moments leading up to their demise were just silly. they were too careful, but then too sloppy.
i did however love the character of the fallen gangster who has lost most of his power and influence but who is still stomping around like the school yard bully kicking kids in the shins. and you get a glimpse into the fact that he never would have been a good mob boss because he just wasn't smart enough. he was too close to everything. he had grubby hand prints all over his dealings and they were too easily traced back to him. he was simply an enforcer who rose up the ranks unopposed. he was a very sad but of course totally unlikable character.
i have liked rankin books in the past so this is by no means the end, but it has dampened my enthusiasm.
x0- ellebee

giving up is hard to do

book: the stone virgins
author: yvonne vera
method: purchase (for school)
completion date: abandoned 07/06/10

i almost never give up books without the intention of finishing them but it's happened. i hated this book. it was sooooo frustratingly wordy, and so descriptive that i didn't have a clue what the hell was going on. it drove me nuts. i think that the girls sister was murdered and the murderer cut out her tongue but i have no idea. at 89 pages i only had a loose idea of what was happening, then i would totally forget. it felt like the author got so caught up in her descriptions, so absorbed in her metaphors (which were beautiful) she forgot what she was describing. vera feels like a poet that wrote a full length novel. her poetry is wonderful. she has amazing descriptions and is so poetic but as i said before she's too poetic. i barely knew what the sisters names were and it took me a few pages to figure that one of them had died.
i really hate giving up books, especially when they're so short but i just couldn't finish this one. now i feel like a slacker but i'll get over it.
xo -ellebee

well that was interesting

book: overqualified
author: joey comeau
method: borrowed (andrew)
completion date: 06/06/10

i feel like a jerk because i have very little to say about this book. the author is the co-creator of the website asofterworld.com which i really love. he wrote the book, which has a loose narrative, entierly out of coverletters to big name corporations (smirnoff, apple). i do however enjoy a softer world more- i think the associations with the pictures are better. the problem is this book is only 80 or so pages long, so right when you're getting into it it ends, which was disappointing. i enjoyed it but was a little let down.

i have one major nit pick though- the paper that this novel was written on was extremely distracting. it had very intense lines on it and it really bugged me. this is a silly thing to say, but it drove me crazier than i was expecting it to.

xo-elle bee

a jolly good time

book: stars and bars
author: william boyd
method: borrowed (dad)
completion date: 04/06/10

this post finally brings me up to date with my writing. this is the first post that i'm writing right after completing the novel.

this is a book my dad lent me a while ago that i kept starting then something got in the way. consistently. so dad- this one is for you. and i can see why you like it. it is a woody allen meets curb novel (which i liked because it meant i could put it down when it got to be too much). poor henderson just can't win for losing. you want him so badly to stick up for himself, but then when he does he gets himself into even worse of a pickle than he was in before.
at first i had very little sympathy for henderson. i felt he had got himself tangled in this situation by not standing up for himself or by spinning a very sloppy web of lies. but then you realize the problem is henderson keeps making decisions based on what he thinks he should do as opposed what he would like to do. he's so blunderingly adorable you can't help but sympathize with him. he's just a child who needs someone to guide him along. however he's surrounded by either blundering idiots or to-good-for-you spoilt brats. and you feel so sorry for him, but you know that henderson is the kind of man who is followed by this cloud of misfortune that he can't ever outrun. its so deliciously tragic.
thank you for lending me this book dad- i really enjoyed it and i'm sorry it took me so long.
xo-elle bee

limitless ideas

book: the crying of lot 49
author: thomas pynchon
method: purchased
completion date: 03/06/10

whoever said 'don't judge a book by its cover' never really read or picked up a book. i am fully aware that it has nothing to do with the quality of the book, but if the book doesn't feel right in your hands, you aren't going to want to pick it up and read it again and again. everything about the cover art to the feeling of the paper are so integral. i mention this specifically this time because i only picked this specific novel because i loved its cover. granted, i have been raised by a pynchon man so that may have also pushed me towards it.
dad gave me a copy of gravity's rainbow for christmas a few years ago. he has always told me that he felt that book was pynchons best and one of dad's favourite books. i have started it a number of times, but i find it just beyond my level. i thought would have a better chance getting through the crying lot because its only 178 pgs vs gravity's 500 or so (plus i left my edition at home...). however i found the same thing about crying lot. i feel that pynchon is something i really need to work up to, especially after a while of not reading. it was very challenging and i feel that i had a slight grasp on what happened but i found the plot so confusing. i tried my best to follow it with a number of re-reads but i think it really requires a full re-read.
pynchon just seems to have so many ideas in his books and i have trouble keeping them all straight. however i think pynchon rivals dickens for his character names. oedipa, dr hilarious, mucho. they are so strange but so intriguing. especially the drug addled/pushing dr hilarious. as much as he only had brief apperances in the novel i loved the 'mad scientist' shrink character. this was a novel i would have loved to seriously study becuase i feel it went way over my head. i feel like someone looking at a rothko for the first time in a gallery.
xo -ellebee

the joy of useless facts.

book: why pandas do handstands
author: augustus brown
method: borrowed (alex)
completion date: 02/06/10

i picked this book up out of our bathroom thinking it would be entertaining and absorbing. i found i wasn't disappointed. however, it is very clear why it was in the bathroom. i was expecting absorbing facts and anecdotes, tales, maybe even some fables thrown in but i found it was just short animal facts. there were different sections (parenting diet sex) and each one had its list of 50 or so facts about animals insects birds the like. i quickly came to a conclusion: if you find a book in the bathroom- leave it there. someone has put it there because that is where it belongs.
i read it cover to cover and can accurately say i absorbed none of the facts. i guess i'll have to give it another shot the next time i'm pooping.
xo-ellebee

beautiful colin firth

book: a single man
author: christopher isherwood
method: purchased
completion date: 01/06/10

colin firth. matthew goode. lovers. i was going to love this movie. however there was a hitch- it was based on a book. and i felt that based on the premise it would make a wonderful book, so in my head i told myself i had to read the book before i saw the movie (this was helped by the movies frustratingly limited release and run times). it made more sense to wait to rent it because even in toronto finding a theater running it at a time that was convenient was next to impossible during school time.
i was surprised to see that the premise of the novel and the movie were quite different. in the movie, colin firth has lost his lover and plans to kill himself, however the book just follows what would be colin firths character through one single day after his partner has died.
from the moment i picked up the novel i knew it was going to be heartbreaking either way- the image of colin firths face, combined with the small size (its only about 170 pages) and the velvety texture of the cover. all of these things told me this was not a feel good book. i was going to love it, but it was going to break my heart. and i did love it. and it did break my heart.
isherwood has this wonderfully poetic style. i would love to speak to him, because he seems to chew his words before he speaks them (or writes them). every sentence in this short book is meticulously chosen. this is something i love about novels under 200 pages- the authors have to be so careful. and in this case it shows.
george is grieving. however he seems to have told noone but his long time friend, charlotte, that he was a) gay and that b) jim was not just a roomate. he also chooses not to tell any of his neighbours that jim was killed only that he moved away (or maybe he was sent to a farm). so his grief is horribly internalized and is killing him. like any grieving being he goes about his day (this one day) fine until those moments, those horrible moments that we all know, when he realizes that jim is gone. this isn't by any means a constant reminder, its always in the little bits, hearing a phrase or seeing a certain shape. george is drawn to the life of the campus he lectures at but his own life is over.
it seems there are some loves that are so intense that one soul cannot function without its counterpoint. i saw something like this happen in my family , however geo's is long acting. his life is over, he just has to come to terms with that.
xo-ellebee

original doesn't mean better

book: the string of pearls
author: thomas peckett press (maybe)
method: purchased
completion date: 31/05/10

my favourite musical of all time is for sure steven sondheim's sweeney todd the demon barber of fleet street. so when i saw a novel advertised as 'the original sweeney todd' i felt i had no choice but to buy it. i knew that without the music it wasn't going to be the same but i was hoping for the same witty banter between todd and lovett to exist in the novel, however i found myself disappointed. todd was totally unlikable without his hearbreaking back story- he was just a despicable murderer. in order for us to sympathise with the murderous barber he needs an ounce of humanity which he totally lacks in the string of pearls. the dialogue was stiff and forced, tobias was a wuss and mrs lovett was a harmless pawn of todds game. what i loved about their relationship was totally absent. she was not the scheeming creepy character sodenheim created, she was a drunk who was driven mad by her secret. sodenheim's lovett enjoyed the violence and the canabalism (and i quote 'we'll have a cozy retreat for the guest to rest in; now and then you can do the guest in'). her relishing was what made her so creepy but fascinating.
i feel that the story in and of itself is fascinating and terrific, but the book left me disappointed. maybe if i wasn't so tired i'd feel more charitable, however currently i'm just wiped.
xo- ellebee

the trouble with love is

book: shutter island
author: Denis Lehane
method: purchased
completion date: 25/05/10

i hate comparing books to movies. its just not fair- movies haven't been around as long as novels. they are totally different mediums. but regardless we seem obsessed with making our books into movies. i suppose for movie writers a library is like a free idea bank. i can't even express how sick i am of seeing 'inspired by' or 'based on'. because you will never see the label 'copied verbatim' which is the one most fans seem to want to see.
i saw the movie shutter island first and really liked it. i had already decided that i was going to read the novel (based on numerous recommendations) and the deal was sealed when i found a cheap paperback copy (cheap paperbacks will slowly become the death of me). i found i was unable to really compare the two. i maintain that books and movies are different mediums and no matter what the same story isn't going to be communicated in the same way. but i loved both of them. the movie was engrossing and well told and the book was so engrossing it was a one day read. i was 20 pages away from the end when my bf and friend showed up for dinner. i didn't want to but i had to finish the book before following the conversation (even though i knew how it ended)
with lehane what i loved was how he writes dream imagery (which the book heavily relies on). he doesn't try to create a clear narrative within the dream and characters frequently change faces and bodies which is typical in dreams. teddys situation is so distressing and the resolution is so heartbreaking.
the one strength the movie had over the novel was the atmosphere (or should i say atmosFEAR). something about the fog and the shifty eyes of the actors just caused the hebitty-jebbities to run up and down my spine. the book did this too, but it focused more on what was going on in teddys head which was just as terrifying and upsetting (DON'T TAKE THE FUCKING PIIILLLS). my father tells me that shutter island is the worst (relatively) of lehanes books and if this is the case i'm more than looking forward to reading more of lehane's mysteries.
xo -ellebee

enchanted and enthralled

book: humiliated and insulted
author: fyodor dostoevsky
method: gift (jenya)
completion date: 19/05/10

i always feel an immence amount of preassure when people give me a book as a gift when a) i don't feel that they would know the authors i like and b) when i didn't pick it out. i always feel i have to like something someone gives me. if i don't like something that someone lent me its no skin off my back if i don't like it because i can just give it back, but when they bought it, i feel its like they loved it and they thought i would love not just to read it but to own it.
i felt a great deal of apprehension when my cousin gave me humiliated and insulted for my birthday. i have never read any other dostoevsky and always saw him as being above my reading level. but i found i couldn't put this book down. it was so poetically written, but it wasn't gratuitous. i never found myself thinking 'geeez fyodor just get to the bloody point'. he never languished in his own brilliance, instead he communicated (its a strangely simple way to put it but its the only way that makes sense). he told his story simply and clearly. i found the dialogue stiff at times, but i tend to blame that on the translation and not the writing.
if there is anyone else who has never read dostoevsky i would recommend this one. i couldn't stand to put it down, however it does have a very sad ending. not entirely heartbreaking, but a few cracks appeared.
xo -ellebee

i believe in richard parker.

book: beatrice and virgil
author: yann martel
method: borrowed (mum)
completion date: 14/05/10

it only took one book to convince me that yann martel was my favourite author. life of pi was so beautiful and i loved it so deeply i have trouble talking about it objectively. i believed in richard parker and i believe in yann martel. when i learned that his new novel took place in a taxidermy shop i knew that i would love it. (i have spent the past year and a bit exploring taxidermy in my personal life and in my art)
what i really loved about this book was that there were portions of it that were autobiographical and parts of it that were fantastical (unless you believe that everything we do is a self portrait in which case its all autobiographical). Henry and yann's lives were intertwined- both are writers, suffering from rejection-induced writers block, both have written a successful novel about animals, both are canadian, both attempted to write a 'flip book'. however i found that henry was not yann. yann used his own history as a jumping off point, but created a new path for his novel self (pocket universe?).
one of yann's great literary strengths are his characters. he tends (based on his 2 novels, its a small sample i know but lets just run with it) to focus on only a few characters who are so fleshed out they are capable of existing in our universe in this case henry, the author struggling with writers block, and henry, the taxidermist having written a play he wants henry to help him with. i believe that by fleshing out only these few major characters he strengthens them and strengthens his story. his play within a story format is beautifully executed.
my mother tells me that if i had read or seen waiting for godot i would not have loved the segments of the taxidermist's play as much as i did becuase they are not original- they are practically exerpts from waiting for godot. however there is this moment right at the beginning of the play that took my breath. the taxidermist has written a play about a howler monkey (virgil) and a donkey (beatrice). both of these animals are taxidermied in his shop. in this moment virgil is describing a pear to beatrice who has never seen or eaten one. describing colours and tastes is so difficult i find, but martel does it in such a way that you can taste and feel a pear on your tongue and virgil speaks. the play segments i loved so much i plan to make a graphic novel of them (previews soon to come).
i felt the first time through i didn't understand the ending or why both characters were named henry. i found on the previous easier to understand the second time through, but i still don't fully understand the latter. i believe that it has something to do with duality but i don't know. i just found i was believing even more in yann martel by then end of it.
xo ellebee

My love affair with chuck

book: survivor
author: chuck palahniuk
method: gift (dad)
completion date: 12/05/10

in grade 11 i thought chuck palahniuk was THE SHIT. he dragged us through hell only to redeem us at the end. his characters were despicable, but relate able. his books were gratuitous but they always felt like a test- he wanted to see how we would react if he tore the world we knew apart. beginning with fight club and then invisible monsters (in my mind his best worrk) i believed in chuck. i believed that no matter what, chuck would be there for me. and then came choke.
after diary, i began to drift away from chuck. he didn't seem to understand me anymore- what i wanted was not science fiction, it was relatablility. shannon and tyler were terrifying and fucked up but i loved and sympathized with them. mary didn't exist. she had no possibility of existing. when i finished diary i felt slightly let down, but it was more like having a slightly disappointing dish at a favourite restaurant- you'd still go back and enjoy it and recommend it, but it was still a let down. still i perciviered and picked up what was sure to be a return to form in choke. i found i was horrified by this novel. i couldn't believe that chuck would do this to me!! i couldn't even get to the 'well-i-can't-go-back-now-i'm-already-100-pages-in' marker. i was hurt and humiliated that i had loved someone who had let me down so. i turned my back on chuck.
however, i found myself in a chapters with my father and i came across a recent addition to his collection. it was a paperback, and a gamble. i had no idea it would be the return to form i was looking for.
tender was desperate. he needed to be needed. it was another maladjusted misanthrope that needed empathy and understanding that although i am nothing like you i understand you and love you. tender's struggle throughout the novel (plus all of his helpful cleaning tips) created a character that, although fantastical, was totally possible. this is where i start to gush because i'm so happy that chuck and i are back together.
i have always found palahniuk's writing style to be like modern art, with many critics saying 'well, i could write that' and the fans responding 'yeah, but you didn't' he writes simply with an almost uncaring style. it is aggressive and in your face, but poetic and engrossing (evidently high-grossing as well). i was happy that this novel rekindled my love, however ours is a roller coaster romance and you never know what comes next.
xo-ellebee

The summer of 1000 books

Throughout my childhood and teen years i always considered myself a voracious reader. i was never huge into video games and i didn't really ever understand what 'surfing the web' ever really meant. i loved books. this love was heavily influenced by my mum and dad, both of whom are always reading. their library was a constant source of recommendations. however i found once i entered post secondary school, my time spent reading fell away. there were far to many other exciting things to be doing or so i thought. however, this summer - the summer between my 3rd and 4th year- i found myself faced with a 2-3hr round trip commute. music didn't cut the boredom. i found the music more distracting for so long and my headphones made my ears all sweaty on hot days. So one day i threw a book i had been given for my birthday in my bag. i didn't have high hopes for it, but found that my commute became too short. i needed more time to read this beautiful novel.
so now my commute plans have changed. i am now determined to read as many books as my brain can fathom this summer and beyond. the purpose of this blog is thus:
1) to catalogue and remember the highlights and lowlights.
2) to discuss the more difficult novels and pray for understanding
3) to continue this consumption, but not get lost in it.
4) bragging rights (lawl)

xo -ellebee