Currently reading
Murder in Mississippi
Cyndi Lauper: The Autobiography. Cyndi Lauper
Thirty Scary Tales
Americanah
The Garden of Eden
how did this not end with the characters all dead from alcohol poisoning!?yeahhhhh i'm not sure i really liked this one. i won't completely give up on hemingway though, since it's apparently unfinished and was published posthumously.
Just Kids
this is not a rock and roll memoir, but rather, an honest snapshot of new york city in the 60s/70s and patti's lifelong relationship with robert mapplethorpe. i loved the way it was written, you really feel like you're living along with her, and it's all so beautiful and heartbreaking. i enjoyed the small sections where she would talk about other musicians like janis joplin and jimi hendrix. it made them come alive a bit more and was never merely name-dropping.she says in the book that she promised robert she would write their story and, being a true poet, you can feel the love she has for him in every word.
oh my god this was the most disgusting book i've ever read. do not read this if you have a weak stomach!
that said, the story itself was incredibly well-paced and from the very beginning you actually care about these people and wonder how they're ever going to escape the hell they find themselves in ...
if it hadn't been for such well-written characters i think this might've been written off as gore for gore's sake and it's pretty much the only reason i kept reading. not sure if i would recommend it but if you feel like reacting physically to a book this is a good one to choose. haha
the stories inside this book are actually almost incomprehensible to me. if you didn't know they were talking about a real place you might mistake it for a dystopian sci-fi novel. i guess i was fairly ignorant about north korea before and didn't realise the full extent of the regime. the horror these people go through is just too much ...
the actual book is incredibly well-researched without being stuffy, and it has a lot of heart. i would definitely recommend reading this.
"all this has happened before and all of it will happen again"i was not expecting this book to have so many themes in common with battlestar galactica. BUT I LOVE THAT IT DOES.
the jumps from one "reality" to the next were also unexpected and when i hit the second part i was like wtf is this but then it was just so well-written that i got excited again, so i'm keeping my 5 star rating. some lines are like a kick in the guts but i loved every minute of it.
everyone please read this. jeanette winterson really knows how to write about humanity and love, and i basically want to inhale everything she's ever written right now.
Is It Just Me?
... turns out a lot of the time it really IS just her. this was rambling, affected and full of the kind of words adults use when talking to children. the gimmicky sections where she has conversations with her 18 year old self got old fast and i feel like she should have just kept that in a diary somewhere ...
i did appreciate the message she's trying to get across which is basically 'you do you'. maybe i was expecting an autobiography and that's why i'm disappointed? some of the sections made me laugh, especially the stories about working in an office.
so, i tried to like this but i think i can only stand miranda in 20 minute sessions with the physical comedy in front of me and not written inside little stars!
*puts book down, probably never to pick it up again, and shakes head sadly*
Giovanni's Room
okay, well between this book and [b:my policeman|13153370|My Policeman|Bethan Roberts|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1333578894s/13153370.jpg|18331541] i think i have read quite enough sadness for one month. it was so beautiful though and there are too many amazing paragraphs for me to even begin quoting them!
beautifully written and incredibly sad. set in the 1950s when homosexuality was still illegal in great britain, a woman and man recount their lives being in love with the same man ... i found myself wondering/growing increasingly frustrated with certain elements of the story, such as - WHY did marion and tom stay together for fourty years? i can understand the reasons at the time, but what kind of existence is that? it just felt like their whole lives had been a big waste..
i also wish we'd been able to hear some of the story from tom's side but since he is supposed to be this kind of idol/enigmatic character i understand why the author chose not to go there ...
patrick was my favourite and everytime it switched back to marion i was impatient to get back to him! i found it hard to sympathise with her, even if she tried to redeem herself in the end with the confession. of course she is deeply in love with this man and somewhere inside she knows it will never work but you'd think that after a few months of throwing herself at him her pride, or SOMETHING, would kick in? please don't think i am blaming her for the situation though. tom could have left and gone back to patrick, but he too was crippled with fear and self-loathing, which i definitely understand. well, i guess i'm just being naive and wishing for an easier solution where there isn't one ...
i also liked the way the story went back and forth in time, it was done really well. when it was over i really felt like i knew patrick and marion. oh and julia was amazing, i wish she'd been in it more! can she please have a spin-off? haha
i so wish i could give this a better rating!! the first half was amazing and just what i was expecting from such a hilarious, smart person. however, the second half felt really rushed and weird, like she was just throwing in anything she could possibly think of ...also, whilst reading this i found out that mindy is a republican, and this has kind of shocked me. i know it shouldn't matter, but it so does??? haha
oh well. despite all this i can't help it, i still love you, mindy!
margaret atwood is one of those authors i've always felt like i should love but i never really have - until this one. everything just clicks together so well.the fact that this was written almost 20 years ago but is still incredibly politically relevant is kind of scary.
the ending was slightly off-putting and i'm not sure how i feel about it's inclusion, so this is more 4 1/2 stars than 5, but besides that i can't really fault it at all ...
Beauty Queens
okay well i definitely applaud the author for such a cool idea - beauty queens are plane-wrecked (is that a word, i don't know) on an island and ultimately become self-loving kick-ass warriors? yes pls! however, i found myself simultaneously cringing and rolling my eyes at the over-the-top dramatic storyline and the way she handles the themes. i understand that it's for "young adults" but, come on ... i think i would've enjoyed it more if it was just scaled back a bit. i am 100% a feminist but it was just so heavy-handed.
oh and i feel like i have to mention that the epilogue was terrible and i don't know why it was included.
BUT. but but but. overall, this is a fun, light read and a really great story for teens aged 13-17. and of course, i would recommend this novel over any of those vampire/werewolf/frankenstein/whatever YA novels that seem to be so popular ...
if people read this and come away with a greater appreciation and understanding of themselves and the realisation that they don't need to fit into some cookie-cutter mould (WHATEVER that may be), then that is a good thing.
it started off a little slow but i read the last half of this book in one sitting. i think it's my favourite so far! i am so in love with this world.
initially i wanted to read this because i'd heard the author got his inspiration from the patty griffin song 'tony' and any patty griffin fan gets my attention!in the end this book didn't really have a lot to do with tony, either the song or character, but it was quite funny and cute.
the only problem that i had was it just comes across as trying too hard. i understand that it's set in a "gay utopia" but too often it reads like a teen hipster's notebook.
still, i enjoyed it and i'm keen to read something else by david levithan.
“Capital T-truth is about life before death.”So, I'm pretty much convinced now that David Foster Wallace was the most beautiful human being to ever exist.
“The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day.
That is real freedom.
That is being taught how to think.
The alternative is unconsciousness, the default setting, the "rat race" — the constant, gnawing sense of having had and lost some infinite thing.”