Thursday, January 24, 2013

Gon: Volume One by Masashi Tanaka

Gon: Volume One
Masashi Tanaka
1992, 2011, Kodansha Comics, New York
9781935429395
unnumbered

This is a manga story of the very last dinosaur on Earth, a cute little guy named Gon.  It is a wholly illustrated story, without words, so following in the tradition I shall also do my review without words.

:)

:D

XD

:)

Monday, January 7, 2013

Moral Disorder by Margaret Atwood

Moral Disorder
Margaret Atwood
2006, 2007, Seal Books, Canada
9781400025046
284p.

This book tells the story of one woman's life, and of those intertwined with it.  The main theme I got out of the book was that of ageing - of growing up and then growing old.

It has been a long time since I read a 'proper' literature book for adults, I was amazed at how much I missed it!  Atwood is simply fantastic.  She has a way of writing emotionally without being brash.  My favourite part of the book was the section set on the farm; reading about the animals made me smile.

Link to journal at bookcrossing

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld

The Interpretation of Murder
Jed Rubenfeld
2006, Headline, London
9780755331420
522p

Factional novel of murder in New York at the time Freud was visiting and psychoanalysis was an emerging science.  A young socialite is found murdered in her apartment and then another rich young girl is attacked in her own home.

This was an interesting enough read but I found the writing style to be inconsistent to the point of irritation.  The voice switches between first person and third person without warning, and sometimes we see the main narrator from the third person, but for no apparent reason.  Some of the sentence structure is also a little awkward at times.  And the rants on Shakespeare are tedious.

I did enjoy the book though - I don't read 522 pages of a book I'm not enjoying.  Perhaps a heavier handed editor would have made this an amazing book instead of an ok one.  There's no reason why it couldn't have been written entirely in the third person.

Link to journal at bookcrossing