Becky's Books –

The Town
by William Faulkner
1957 / 418 pages
read by Joe Barrett (A) 14h 39m
rating 9 / classic American
(read and listened)

The second volume in The Snopes Trilogy was written seventeen years after The Hamlet,  the first book in the trilogy,  but it takes up within a few years of where The Hamlet leaves off.

There are three narrators for this book – Charles Mallison,  Gavin Stevens and V. K. Ratliff,  describe what happens in the small city of Jefferson, Mississippi after Flem Snopes moves in.  Jefferson is not far from Frenchman’s Bend where The Hamlet takes place and covers the years between about 1900 and 1920 –  The Town picks up and goes for another seven years, to 1927 or so.  (This is a guess – )  >>>>MORE>>>>

The Hamlet
by William Faulkner
1940 / 432 pages
read by Joe Barrett (A) 14h 39m
rating 9 / classic American
(read and listened)

The Hamlet is the first book of what is known as The Snopes Trilogy. Faulkner seems to be setting up some characters and background as well as the history of the Snopes family which is explored in the next two novels.  I plan to read these later this summer – (one book a month) –  I’ve wanted to read them since I was about 18 or 19.

The narrative of this volume consists of a collection of  interrelated stories in various lengths concerning some of the people in the fictional Yoknapatawpha  County,  specifically the tiny town of Frenchman’s Bend.   The events described mostly occurred in the early 20th century.  Some of them are more “Faulknerian” than others. This might be a good novel for a newcomer’s approach Faulkner,  but there are other approachable novels and stories. I’d recommend “The Bear,”  a powerful novella.  >>>>MORE>>>> 

The Night Guest
by Fiona McFarlane (Australian)
2013 / 257 pages
read by Lisbeth Kennelly  9h 15m (B+)
rating: 8/ literary suspense

At first Ruth, a 70-something woman who lives alone in a rather remote part of  Australia and near the sea, thinks she hears a tiger,  but it is very clear it is not in the house.  It’s also clear to the reader that there is no flesh and blood tiger involved.

Next thing we know, a woman named Frieda shows up to help with the grooming and housework – she says she’s from the government,  but is that  totally true?  It seems rather odd because nobody sent for her. Friends stays only there for a few hours a day at first,   otherwise she lives with her brother George.  She’s simply a “care provider.”  >>>MORE>>>>

The Harder They Come
by T.C. Boyle
2015 / 400 pages
read by Graham Hamilton (A)
rating 8.5 / contemp. fiction

I’ve been reading Boyle since his amazing “Tortilla Curtain” in  1996 or so and by now I’ve read most of his books –  missing 6 out of 15.   I’ve also read his humungous book of short stories – 1998 and the occasional magazine short story.   http://www.tcboyle.com

For an epigraph Boyle uses, “The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic and a killer. It has never yet melted.”  It perfectly captures the spirit of the characters in the book.

Sten Stensen and his wife Caroline are on vacation in Costa Rica when the little group of seniors with whom they’re touring is accosted by thugs.   Well – Sten does what any good old aging but independent-thinking Vietnam vet would do,  he gets the leader in a chokehold and, knowing exactly what he’s doing, kills him.  And then he’s suddenly a hero.  A hero who is a bit paranoid, angry and very tired.   >>>>MORE>>>>

The Paying Guests
by Sarah Waters
2014 /  576 pages
read by Juliet Stevenson 21h 26m
Rating-  4.5*  / romance / crime  (lesbian)
(*1 for the first half and 8 for the second half)

Okay – so under some pressure (“it gets better!”  “Yes, a slow start.”)   I caved and picked the book up again – or rather – stuck the earplugs back in.  Only about 9 hours to go.  lol –

Waters is certainly  a master of suspense, carefully building and building and then,  after as long as she can possibly stretch it out,  “something happens.”

Then,  of f course, there are repercussions,  but  – ah – a chance for more suspense building.   And so the suspense builds and builds and builds until finally something “exciting” happens.   Other mystery novelists do the same thing and I get irritated when I’m 2/3rds of the way through the book before someone dies.   “The author is setting the stage,” say the enthusiasts – “Hog-wash,   get on with it,”  say the critics.  >>>>MORE>>>>

Morality Play
by Barry Unsworth
1996 / 206 pages
read by Michael Maloney 5h 34m
rating – 9.25 /  literary crime (but the narration is very poor)
* read and listened*

Somewhere in northern England one December in mid- to late 14th century  a runaway priest , our first person narrator,  comes upon a dead man’s body, quickly hides,  and then the dead man’s companions show up.   This priest, who goes by the name of Nicholas, has encountered a group of traveling players whose occupation is to present portions of the Bible for the entertainment and enlightenment of various local communities. See http://www.theatrehistory.com/medieval/mysteries002.html  for some background.

But now with their beloved Brendon dead,  who will play the role of the Devil’s Fool?  The priest of course, and he pleads for the role basically because he’s hungry.  >>>>MORE>>>>

Her Enemy
by Leena Lehtolainen  (Finland)
1994 / 261 pages
read by Amy Ruminate 7h 51m
rating:  B+ / crime

I talked myself into reading the follow up to My First Murder – these are the first two of the 12 books in the Maria Kallio series by Finnish author Leena Lehtolainen.  They aren’t great but this one is better than the last one.

I’m interested in the Finnish setting and Maria Kallio caught my attention after I kind of understood her – a little bit anyway.  The crime story is adequate to interesting and I can see why Lehtolainen is popular in Finland.  >>>>MORE>>>>

A Beautiful Blue Death
by Charles Finch
2007 / 336 pages
read by James Langton 8h 58m
rating: B+ / historical crime

Set in London, 1865, Finch seems to capture a kind of 21st century idea of the place and time with historical accuracy and without any anachronisms – (that I noticed).  The protagonist,  Charles Lennox, is a rich bachelor of the amateur variety – solving these little mysteries is a hobby.  This is the first in a series so the main characters are possibly more thoroughly developed than in a standalone.

So now the ex-housemaid of Lady Jane Grey,  Lennox’s his long time friend, has been found dead in the home of her new employer,  George Barnard.  It’s agreed the cause of death was probably of poison but whether or not it was by her own hand or that of another is in dispute.  >>>>MORE>>>>

City of God
by E.L. Docotow
2000 / 288 pages
rating:  6  (mixed) / 21st century fiction (philosophical)

Uff-da.   I was totally prepared to dislike this book but I got sucked in  with the idea of the cross being stolen and placed on the top of the new Jewish Synagogue.  Why?

That particular question is never answered,  but Doctorow apparently thinks a lot of other questions  are.   I was very confused as to the chronology and the point of view – so it was very difficult for awhile.  Then that cleared up,  to a point,  and I really, really enjoyed the book –  for about 100 or so pages.  Alas – it was not to last.  Doctorow tried to make this book the Great American Novel or something answering all socio-economic-religious and philosophical issues by using a rather slim (and unresolved) plot line in a non-linear chronology with stories and songs within stories infused with free verse poetry.

Meanwhile,  Doctorow is hiding behind Everett who is – ta-da -writing a novel.   He adds songs and poetry, too, as well as a good sprinkling of sex and violence – with special note given to the Holocaust,  not to mention the natural world from the Big Bang to the ants in Central Park.  >>>>MORE>>>>

Sputnik Sweetheart
by Haruki Murakami
1999/ 224 pages
read by Adam Sims 7h 6m
rating:  7/ 20th century fiction

So,  as a fan of Murakami,  why did it take me so long to get to this?  – Well,  I was scared it wouldn’t be as good as the ones I’d read – 7 others to date – and I was right – this is likely my least favorite of the Murakami fiction I’ve read – it’s tied with Norwegian Wood which is similar.   And my favorites are The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, my first Murakami, and 1Q84.   I’ve also enjoyed a couple of his collections of short stories.

So what’s wrong?  I think Murakami wears off – many of his tales deal with the same things  or combinations of them – the loneliness of youthful existential angst, dreamy otherworldliness,  suspense, sex, music, cats, books, and wells – more sex, some gruesome stuff.   And those old Murakami motifs are all here along with a lot of fear and a smattering of the occult.  The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle uses all these things and was innovative then,  and hugely successful so … he’s repeated the pattern. The very long 1Q84 is a bit different in some ways getting back to some politics ala The Wild Sheep Chase.   >>>>MORE>>>>

Suspended Sentences
by Patrick Modiano  (French)
2014 / 232 pages
rating – 9.25 / three novellas (autobiographical)

Called the “Marcel Proust of our time”,he won the 2014 Nobel Prize in Literature “for the art of memory with which he has evoked tvhe most ungraspable human destinies and uncovered the life-world of the occupation”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Modiano

This collection of three novellas is based on the life of the author and is taking me a long time to read first because it’s so slow and melancholic but also because I want to really “get into” it,  understand it,  feel the history of it.  But Proust took me a long time, too.   Like À la recherche du temps perdu,  the stories  all have to do with the author’s personal theme of memory and identity – they’re fictionalized autobiographies.  >>>>MORE>>>>

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
by Robert Pirsig
1974 (1999) / 403 pages
read by Michael Kramer 15h 58m
rating: 9 / non-fiction classic – philosophy
(both read and listened)

Reading this book for the second time 40 years after the first time I was really nervous that it couldn’t hold up to the life-changing experience it was the first time I read it.   It didn’t quite make it to that level,   but at the same time I wasn’t disappointed because it was still a very good read,  especially toward the end.   But I’ve sometimes thought along these philosophical lines for years so …   Besides,  I’m now in my mid-60s and this is the 21st century.  At this age,  the word”quality” probably needs to better defined (if possible) and in this age “technology” is no longer a matter of motorcycle maintenance.  lol  A huge chunk of the book is really based on nostalgia for Pirsig/Phaedrus.  >>>>MORE>>>>

Days of Rage: America’s Radical Underground, the FBI, and the Forgotten Age of Revolutionary Violence
by Bryan Burrough
2015 / 608 pages
read by Ray Porter 22h 13m
rating:  8.5 (for literary value mainly) /  20th cent US (“true” crime?)

I needed some good nonfiction,  I’m interested in the subject of the Weather Underground and other radical groups of the 1970s, and this is a brand new look back.

It’s certainly comprehensive although from what I read there are entirely too many sources which are labeled as “anonymous.”    Also unfortunately,  there’s virtually nothing about what was actually in the voluminous tracts the groups  themselves wrote – what they said about the wrongs they were trying to correct,  what they said about themselves at the time.
>>>>MORE>>>>  

The Paying Guests
by Sarah Waters
2014 /  576 pages
read by Juliet Stevenson 21h 26m
Rating-  DNF – /  (less than 0 – I returned it)

Warning – this is a rant.  I am disgusted with this book – I don’t even like straight romance novels – this is a lesbian romance in a gothic setting so there’s huge suspense and a big old house and so forth – I’m not crazy about gothic either – not usually.  At least Amazon gives warning – Audible doesn’t – that I saw.

But why in the world do I keep listening?  >>>>MORE>>>>

A Spool of Blue Thread
by Anne Tyler
2015/ 368 pages
read by Kimberly Farr 13h 23m
rating 6.5 (enjoyed parts of it)  / contemp fiction

I haven’t read a book by Anne Tyler in a long time because – well –  I’m not her biggest fan.  The few I’ve read have been okay basically,  but nothing to “watch this author” about.  Yes,  if your preference is realistically presented and character-driven novels Tyler might be your author.  For me,  great characters are wonderful,  but I prefer idea- and plot-driven novels – just a preference.  Tyler’s writing is adequate – actually, it’s pretty nice considering the kind of books she writes – the effect of accumulated details and pitch-perfect dialogue draws the reader in and she structures the novels well enough there is some tension somewhere – in a bare-bones frame story if nothing else.   >>>>MORE>>>> 

The Man in the High Castle (review)
by Philip K. Dick
1962/ 259 pages
rating 9 / classic sci-fi (alternative history)

(This review contains no spoilers – the Notes section does –)

This book is only 250+ pages on my Kindle and PKD’s books and stories are complex and thought-provoking,  they are not known for being difficult reads.  So I expected an enjoyable little quickie-jiffy – HA!   I got involved.  I got really involved.  I read slowly, taking a lot of breaks,  savoring the concept, the themes, the plot and Googling a fair amount for background, context and specifics.  I didn’t want it to end so reading took me about a week with a couple other books on the side and ending up with a NOTES page as well.

This was written back in 1962 so it might seem dated to some readers,  but to me 50+ years ago makes it a classic and I get a little peek at what the world was like in 1962.   >>>>MORE>>>> 

The Word Exchange
by Alena Graedon
2014/370 pages
read by Tavia Gilbert/Paul Michael Garcia / 16h 23m
rating:  4 / contemporary fiction (tech-dystopian)

Whew – long, long, long and although the concept is terrific the execution is a bit too convoluted.   I wanted to like this book – as a reading junkie and word lover with a great appreciation for dystopian fiction it sounded like it was right up my alley.   Alas,  I’m not sure why but it fell short of any mark.

The setting is a dystopian future where the use of a smart phone-like device called the Meme has hampered out ability to speak and then language itself is mangled and corrupted by technology and a greedy drive for money.   Otherwise normal people who are addicted to their devices turn aphasic (non-verbal).  And then comes a version of the Meme called the Nautilus which sticks to the user’s skin.  >>>>MORE>>>>

 >>>>MORE>>>>