Posted by noa on September 1, 2003, at 10:34:53
In reply to Re: So whats everyone reading???, posted by Tabitha on August 20, 2003, at 0:00:25
Summer reading--while visiting my sister abroad, I dipped into her bookshelves a bit. I read "How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents", by Julia Alvarez, which I wouldn't give the highest marks, but I enjoyed. It was good for easy, summer reading. I found the ending rather odd and abrupt. Also, there is too much explanation, in text, of language and culture--it disrupts the flow and seems to dumb the book down. To me, it seemed that the explanations were unnecessary as the context provided enough clues for understanding the occasional spanish phrase or cultural phenomenon. To give her the benefit of the doubt, I like to think it was not how Ms. Alvarez originially wrote it, but was at the insistence of a misguided editor.
I also got halfway through "The Bee Keeper's Pupil" which I was enjoying a lot, but I forgot to take it with me when I left.
In the airport, I picked up a book that has some similarities to the bee keeper book---"Girl with a Pearl Earring"--both historical fiction about characters who are assisting a real historical character of genius. Both deal with the theme of blindness and visual observation of the world around us. I am enjoying "Girl with Pearl Earring". It is pleasant, easy reading. It doesn't bowl me over as amazing literature, but I really like the artistic theme and the attention to describing visual/artistic detail in a way that is really enjoyable. It is a good, enjoyable story. It would make a great movie!
I also picked up Paul Auster's (I am a fan of his work) "Book of Illusions" but haven't started it yet.
poster:noa
thread:248030
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/books/20030426/msgs/256092.html