Where Have All The Fun Books Gone?

Ok, so I'm still alive, still reading, just not blogging much lately.  I apologize for that, and I really am honestly going to work at getting back into a rhythm of posting more frequently.  I've been craving a really fun book, something with magic and demons and romance... I don't think I'm going to find that in the Man Booker Prize list, and that's a bit depressing.  I'm trying to accept that if I want to read anything 'fun' before September I'm really going to have to read faster!

I finished reading Kazuo Ishiguro's "The Remains of the Day" on April 18th - another book that took me longer than strictly necessary, 14 days in total.  I found the novel a bit boring, to be completely honest, the sort I had to really work at wanting to read. It isn't badly written, by any means - it's quite beautiful, actually. I simply wasn't engaged by the narration. It's written as memoir posing as a travel log - the elderly butler of an English house is given a short vacation, during which he drives across Britain to reconnect with a former employee of the house in hopes of winning her back.  There were aspects of Stevens, the narrator, which I identify with, such as his difficulty with "banter" or small talk, and the idea of a professional persona that doesn't really reflect one's true self - the 'work appropriate' self. The problem for me, with the narrator speaking in this professional voice, is that I could only speculate as to what the character truly felt and thought.  I get that that was the intention, I just didn't like it.  I will probably try another Ishiguro novel in the future, because I didn't dislike the novel, I just didn't love it either.

I'm already eleven chapters into the next novel, A.S. Byatt's "Possession: A Romance" - it's pretty interesting so far, although some of the language choices in the faux-19th century poetry are a bit obscure for me.  The 20th century portion of the story, which involves a pair of scholars discovering and researching the letters of a pair of 19th century poets, feels a bit forced - it seems to me that the story was just a delivery method for the poetry.  I haven't read anything else by Byatt and I'm not even half-way through this novel so I may be way off-base on this, but that's how it's reading to me right now.  I'm hoping the 20th century plot line doesn't turn out as predictably as is seems, but I feel confident that the 19th century plot has some surprises in store.

Happy reading!

A Couple of Cute Oddballs

I finished reading "Oscar and Lucinda" by Peter Carey on the bus Wednesday night, having taken 29 days to read it, a new all-time low! I think its safe to say my 'schedule' is shot, although I do intend to keep trying. Who knows, some of the upcoming novels are quite short, I may be able to finish on time!

I really enjoyed this novel, and I thought for a while that it may be in my 'Top 5' favourite titles, however I did find the conclusion emotionally unsatisfying. It worked well in the context of the story, but I am a romantic so I wish it had ended differently. Other than that it is a very entertaining, well-written story. Plus, the chapters are ridiculously short, which is perfect for bus reading!

This novel tells the story of the two eponymous characters, who are both gamblers and oddities in their Victorian world. Oscar, who is obsessive, seems unaware of his own absurdity, while Lucinda, who is compulsive, dwells on her inability to fit in. They are two of a kind, and when they finally meet (half-way through the novel!) it's literary magic. I could not stop grinning as they stumble through their unusual courtship! I would class this novel as a tragic-comedy, but the romantic story-line is very sweet and engaging. I probably would have loved this story even more if Carey had spent more time on the two characters together, as it is really only a brief part of the overall narrative.

Although I didn't like the ending (it's really the only thing keeping this book from being one of my favourites) I have to admit that it was inevitable, if you look at the entire story as being an allegory for Australia. Without spoilers, it is a nation where the native population have been robbed by the immigrant population, particularly of land, but also of dignity. It that sense, it's a perfect way to end the novel. I didn't like it, but it works.

Moving on, my next read is Kazuo Ishiguro's "The Remains of the Day" which I've already started reading. I've heard that this is a great novel, which from my experience means I may hate it. I didn't really know what to expect, but I certainly wasn't expecting the narrator to be a British butler. Blame my internal prejudices, but based on the author's name I thought it might be set in Japan. That'll teach me for presuming! So far I'm enjoying it, but I'm only about 50 pages in.

Happy reading!