Kristel's Year of the Rooster 2017

2017 is the year of the Rooster in the Chinese Zodiac. I hope to spend more time following and reading books from the ToB (Tournament of Books) this year and also other awards such as The Booker, etc. The 2017 year of the Rooster is Fire.

F2F

January: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, 1/6/17,
February: Suds in Your Eye by Mary Lasswell, 1/29/17,
March: --Everything is Illuminated
April: Moonglow
May: The Innocent Sleep
June: Seveneves
July: Underground Railroad
August: Broken Verses
September:
October:
Nov/Dec:

1001 Books

BOTM
January: If On A Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino, 1/13/17, 3
February: Dom Casmurro by Machado de Assis 2/6/17, 5
March: Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, 3/7/17, 5
April:
May:
June:
July:
August:
September:
October:
November:
December:

Seasonal Reads:
1. The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky, 2/1/17, 4.5
2.
3.
4.

Random

Challenges:

Others:
The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams, 2/4/17, 3.5 3 (other)

PBT

January: Foreign Lit If On a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino, Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter; The Vegetarian by Han Kang (Korean lit)
Psychological Thriller: Sweet Lamb of Heaven by Lydia Millet
February: Quirky--The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams, 2/4/17, 3.5 3 (other)
March: Ireland-- High Dive - Jonathan Lee
April: Bestseller-- Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
May:
June:
July:
August:
September:
October:
November:
December:

Challenges:

SFF
Science Fiction, Fantasy Reads in 2017
January 2017 (Procrastination)
Ethan of Athos by Lois McMaster Bujold, 3.5
February: The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams, 2/4/17, 3.5
Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold
March: Version Control by Dexter Palmer, 4 The Girl who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill, 5 , Dune by Frank Herbert 5 ,
April: All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders 3.5

75 + Timeline
Here I will keep track of books read and years of their original publication.




1868: The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky, 2/1/17
1899: Dom Casmurro by Machado de Assis, 2/6/17
1942: Suds in Your Eye by Mary Lasswell, 1/29/17
1952: Invisible Man Ralph Ellison, 3/7/17
1965: Dune by Frank Herbert, 3/26/17
1979: If On a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino 1/13/17
1986: Ethan of Athos by Lois McMaster Bujold, 1/6/17
1988: The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams, 2/4/17
1991: Barrayar by Lois Mc Master Bujold, 2/10/17
2007: The Vegetarian by Han Kang, 1/22/16
2013: The Unwinding by George Packer, 1/25/17
2014: The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henríquez, 3/13/17.
2014: High Dive by Jonathan Lee 3/1/17
2015: A God In Ruins by Kate Atkinson, finished 1/2/2017
2015: Grief is the Thing with Feathers, finished 1/20/17
2015: Purity by Jonathan Franzen, finished 4/17/17
2016: All the Birds in The Sky by Charlie Jane Anders, 3/31/17
2016: My Name is Lucy Barton - Elizabeth Strout - finished 2/10/17
2016: Version Control - Dexter Palmer - 3/12/17
2016: Sweet Lamb of Heaven by Lydia Millet, 1/28/17
2016: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, finished 1/6/17
2016: The Throwback Special by Chris Bachelder, 1/17/17
2016: The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill, 3/18/17
2016: The Fireman by Joe Hill, 1/18/17
2016: The Sport of Kings by C. E. Morgan, 3/1/17
2016: Mister Monkey by Francine Prose, 3/20/17
2016: The Nix by Nathan Hill 2/19/17

ToB

January -- Year's Best lists and Costa Book Award -- hosted by DeltaQueen50COSTA AWARD
A God in Ruins 2015 Costa COMPLETED 1/2/2017
Best of Year: New York Times: The Vegetarian by Kang; NPR, The Fireman by Joe Hill

February -- Canada Reads competition and The Morning News Tournament of Books -- hosted by RidgewayGirl
Tournament of Books and other Awards read.
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, 1/6/2017 5 stars
The Throwback Special by Chris Bachelder 1/17/17 4 stars
Grief is the Thing With Feathers by Max Porter 1/20/17 5 stars
The Vegetarian by Han Kang 1/22/17 4 stars
Sweet Lamb of Heaven by Lydia Millet, 1/27/17 4 stars
My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout 2/10/17
The Nix by Nathan Hill 2/19/2017
High Dive by Jonathan Lee, 3/1/17 4 stars
The Sport of Kings by C. E. Morgan, 3/1/17, 4 stars
Version Control by Dexter Palmer, 3/12/17, 5 stars
Mister Monkey by Francine Prose 3/20/17 4.5 stars
All the Birds In the Sky by Charlie Anders, 3/31/17, 3.5 stars

March -- The Newbery and Caldecott medals and other Genre Awards (any genre prize not already featured) -- hosted by cbl_tn
Newberry Award
The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill

April -- International Dublin Literary Award and the Pulitzer Prize -- hosted by luvamystery65

May -- Man Booker International Prize and the Edgar Awards -- hosted by jonesli

June -- The PEN Literary Awards and the National Book Award (USA) -- hosted by clue

July -- Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction and any Science Fiction/Fantasy award -- hosted by sturlington

August -- Miles Franklin Award and the Stonewall Book Award -- hoisted by LisaMorr

September -- Man Booker Prize and O. Henry Award -- hosted by Kristelh

October -- Nobel Prize for Literature and the Giller Prize -- hosted by rabbitprincess

November -- Local Awards (a regional prize of your choice) -- hosted by Chrischi_HH

December -- International awards (a prize from a country you aren't living in) -- hosted by Kistelh

CATZ,

Other Challenge CATS:

Alpha
Jan - M & S Ethan of Athos Lois McMaster Bujold, The Throwback Special by Chris Bachelder, Grief is the Thing With Feathers by Max Porter Sweet Lamb of Heaven and Lydia Millet, both S and M in this last. Suds in Your Eye by Mary Lasswell (S-suds, M-Mary)
Feb - W & H, The Nix by Nathan Hill
Mar - E & K The Sport of Kings by C. E. Morgan, Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill
Apr - I & D
May - C & T
Jun - Y & N
Jul - B & G
Aug - O & F
Sep - U & P
Oct - A & V
Nov - L & Q
Dec - J & R

Culture:

January for Ethics in Science & Technology -- hosted by mathgirl40..... Ethan of Athos by McMaster Bujold
February for Medicine & Public Health -- hosted by luvamystery65 Barrayar by McMaster Bujold
March for Cultural Awareness & Diversity -- hosted by whitewavedarling Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, The Book of Unknown Americans
April for for Religious Diversity & Freedom hosted by EBT1002
May for Gender Equality -- hosted by sallylou61
June for Environmentalism/Conservation (including global warming concerns) -- hosted by LibraryCin
July for Violence, Crime & Justice -- hosted by DeltaQueen50
August for Impact of Natural disasters -- hosted by LibraryCin
September for Journalism & the Arts -- hosted by Kristelh
October for Poverty -- hosted by jonesli
November for Conflict & War (including terrorism) -- hosted by LisaMorr
December for Cultural Flow & Immigration -- hosted by katiekrug

Woman:
January: Classics by women -- japaul22 Suds in Your Eyes Mary Lasswell
February: Debut books -- LittleTaiko nada
March: Genres -- sturlington The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henríquz and The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill, Mister Monkey by Francine Prose
April: Biography/autobiography/memoir -- sallylou61
May: Women in the arts -- Violetbramble
June: Professional women -- LittleTaiko
July: Women of color -- luvamystery65
August: Nonfiction or historical fiction -- LibraryCin
September: Children's/YA/Graphic novels -- DeltaQueen50
October: Regional reading -- RidgewayGirl
November: LGBT/Feminist writing -- mathgirl40
December: Modern (post-1960) novels by women -- christina_reads

Random:
Jan - rabbitprincess Search and Rescue: Ethan of Athos by McMaster Bujold
Feb - RidgewayGirl Mine, Yours, Ours My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
Mar - LibraryCin Luck of the Irish: High Dive by Jonathan Lee
Apr - dudes22 Love in the stacks:
May - DeltaQueen50
Jun - majkia
Jul - jonesli
Aug - LittleTaiko
Sep - whitewavedarling
Oct - christina_reads
Nov - Chrischi_HH
Dec - VioletBramble

Bingo


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4. Set in a Place you want to visit: A God In Ruins by Kate Atkinson, set in England
20. Debut Novel, Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
16. Science Related: Ethan of Athos McMaster Bujold, genetic engineering
11: Book About Books: If On a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino
12: Title refers to another literary work, The Fireman by Joe Hill refers to Farenheit 451
21: Book or Title about an Animal (Crow) Grief is the Thing with Feathers
14. Author shares your first and last initials. I am using The Vegetarian by Han Kang which turned around would be K and H
22. Place Name in Title: The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America, place America.
7. Appeals to the senses: Sweet Lamb of Heaven This book is about "hearing"
8. Published 1942, Suds in Your Eye
24: set in a time before I was born: The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky
23: set in a beach community, this book is in Rio and the ocean is a part of the story, Dom Casmurro
5. One word title; Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold
1. A Satire: The Nix BY Nathan Hill
6. The author uses initials, C. E. Morgan, author of The Sport of Kings
9. Made into a movie; Dune by Frank Herbert

Save for other again

another place holder

and just in case

Here is hoping you have saved enough space and I haven't jumped to gun by posting. Looks like you are all set up for an award-winning reading year!

>13 lkernagh:, I've saved more than I need so glad to have you drop by.

Happy Rooster reading!! Love the tournament tie-in.

>15 LittleTaiko:, thanks, the long, long list is up http://www.themorningnews.org/article/the-year-in-fiction-2016

I saw that! I've only read 4 of them so far, but have a couple on my shelf as well as from the library.

>17 LittleTaiko:, I've read 6 and have 6 more on my shelf and some at the library.

Great setup! Enjoy your challenge!

You're all set up for a great challenge. The Tournament of Books long list has a lot of interesting books and I am looking forward to your comments.

>16 Kristelh: That's a great list of books! Thanks for posting the link. I'll look forward to following along with your reading and opinions.

Yay for the Rooster! I'm planning to have a category dedicated to the tournament myself.

I'm very bad at reading the Rooster books, but I love to follow along!

Love the rooster!

Just bookmarked The Rooster! Ty for the link. Happy reading!

I am very impressed with your intention to read from such august lists of books. I will read your reviews with interest to see which ones I might enjoy. Thanks for your hard work!

Hi Kristel!

>27 The_Hibernator:, Hi, Rachel, I see you are also a Minnesotan.

>26 mamzel: Well, will see how it goes. I will need a lot of audio's to get it done

>20 DeltaQueen50:, >21 VivienneR:, >22 RidgewayGirl:, >24 hailelib:, >25 Tess_W:, Yah for the rooster!

Hi, Kristel! Just posting to follow along a bit easier. :-)

1. 2015 Costa Award, A God In Ruins by Kate Atkinson, 5 stars
I really liked this book and hope some day to maybe read it again. I liked the format. It wasn't at all like Life After Life and I think I liked it even better. I liked the back and forth of time and character perspectives.
I think this book along with Life After Life does contribute to the world of literature.
I found it somewhat easy to follow the back and forth of the story until the end which really did have me rewinding. I think I need to read these last chapters and I am going to do that as I have the text in a I-book format.
Characters were such that you loved or hated them and then you would get another piece of information.They were rich! The setting was both modern times, hippy/Acid or post war and WWII. I did not have a book of this, it was audio and e reader format. I enjoyed the reader and his accent. I think he did a great job.
This book, explained by the author at the end, did achieve describing what the absence (death) of people have on our lives. It also shows how man is a god in ruins through the a look at Teddy as younger brother, would be author tuned gardener and lover of nature, husband, father and grandfather and the changing world of the 20th century. An apt description, "exploration of one ordinary man's path through extraordinary times".
This book was the 2015 Costa Award for Novel.

It is hard to rate the first book of the new year but I am going to start with 5 stars as I do think it is deserving of 5 stars for all the above reasons.

2. 2016, Best of Lists and ToB long List (Rooster) Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, 5 stars

I really enjoyed this debut novel by Yaa Gyasi. Through two sisters, the author tells us the story of one family descending from a woman who was married off to a British colonialist but essentially remained In Ghana experiencing colonialism, war, migration to the US. The other sister was sold as a slave and taken to the United States where her descendants experienced slavery, the freedom that wasn't freedom, the Great Migration, Harlem. Through this ambitious approach the author gives us two different experiences covering the outcomes of colonialism and racism. Yaa Gyasi was born in Ghana and raised in Alabama. The book was written in English and published in the US in 2016. The epigram "The family is like the forest: if you are outside it is dense; if you are inside you see that each tree has its own position." --Akan Proverb. The book also has a family tree in the front which really helps with following the intertwining story lines that some say almost reads like short stories. This work of fiction really informs the reader of a historical span of three centuries both in the Gold Coast and in the U.S and informs on how Africans participated in the enslavement of their own people. Of course they didn't know the outcome but they had been capturing each other and enslaving each other for years. It made me ponder the way racism has evolved here in the U.S.and why is it so where other countries transitioned so much better. I think slavery and the years following the civil war, our treatment of blacks is to us as the history of antisemitism is for Germans. Not all are guilty but we all are impacted by this history. An important quote from the book (a teacher in Ghana tells his students), "We believe the one who has the power. He is the one who gets to write the story. So, when you study history,you must always ask yourself, whose story am I missing? Whose voice was suppressed so that this voice could come forth?" This is a story of suppressed voices.

5 stars based on -- this may contain spoilers
Essence/legacy--the book has added to the way I look upon the history of slavery, the immigrant experience verses the experience of family rising out of slavery. I liked the use of family and intertwined stories covering generations over 300 years. I liked that the story was of two 1/2 sisters who never meet and have two different experiences. I think it captures the age and the writing shows change with the changing eras. It really spoke to me.
Plot: entertwined stories of two family lines, POV going back and forth between these family lines and generations dealing with issues of slavery and Africans envolvment in enslavement of their own, the experience of biracial during the colonial British rule, the experience of slavery, the Fugitive Slave Act, the Great Migration.
Characterisation: the characters change with each generation and setting
Readability: I read this, I think maybe those that did the audio did not find it as readable but in print it was very good and the family tree in the front really helped. I read a signed first edition. The cover was okay, bright colors.
Achievement: I think the author achieved what she set out to do. In the end, the last characters are working on masters and dealing with the issue of trying to capture time and space and dealing with how to tell the story when the story is so large which is exactly what the author must have experienced in writing this book. By doing it generational, she could limit what she had to research to what that person was experiencing in that particular time.
Style: I liked the style of the book which I think I've covered already but will add that she brought a thread through the generations of the "stories" that Africans used to tell their oral history, some of their spiritism/beliefs and she used fire and water throughout the story.

3. Science Fiction, Culture Cat, Random Cat

Ethan of Athos by Lois McMaster Bujold 3.5 stars
This book is part of the Vorkosigan Saga (science fiction - space opera) that I started last year (2016). It does not feature Miles Vorksigan and can be considered a stand alone book if anyone is interested in checking the author out. This book features Dr. Ethan Urquhart, Chief of Biology at the Severin District Reproduction Centre on the planet Athos. Athos is a planet of men, a single sex culture. Dr. Urquhart and women are prohibited. Continuing reproduction on Athos relies on uterine replicator technology. Dr. Urquhart receives in the mail a box of obvious garbage instead of the ovaian tissue culture that had been expected. The planet sends Dr. Urquhart as planetary ambassador to amend this problem that threatens the viability of continued life on Athos. The book addresses issues of genetic engineering. I liked it, it is a shorter work that some of the Saga. I listened to the audio narrated by Grover Gardner.

This may sound like a male oriented series and it has many males it in but this series features strong female characters. This one features Commander Elli Quinn, a rather unorthodox intelligence officer with the Dendarii Free Mercenary Fleet. These books are space opera, military in subgenre.

>32 Kristelh: Jumped over your review since I'm reading it right now and wanted to avoid potential spoilers. Happy to see you gave it 5 stars though.

>32 Kristelh: Thanks for that great review! I've taken a bullet on Homegoing.

>35 VivienneR:, your welcome, I am sure you will love it.

4. 1001 book (BOTM for January) If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino
I have a lot of disjointed thoughts about this book but then the book was disjointed so that makes sense. so this is about reading, about writing. It's clever. When I read a book like this I am impressed with the cleverness but when I think of it as a book that is enjoyable to read, it isn't that. This was work. It did not pull me along. So here are my random thoughts. The book starts out with a train, small town and I am reading The Idiot by Dostoevsky so the tow remind me of each other. The next thing I notice is that the book is about writing and the process of writing, how the writer develops the story and the how the reader approaches the story. From this, I am reminded of Stephen King's On Writing. The writing is postmodernist narrative and it is a Frame story. We first have the story from one perspective followed by commentary of the story from another perspective and the story keeps changing. Each chapter divided into two parts. You, the reader, is a character in the book. It is a "Quest" to finish the book. The journey, arrival/frustration, final ordeal, goal. Also for me, I notice that as the reader goes from book to book, the creativity of the writer deteriorates, more use of ghost writer, formulas, plagiarism, computers and less story telling and more sex and erotica.

I know that this is gifted writing, I appreciated much, but I really did not enjoy the time I spent on it.

I gave the book 3 stars but now I need to examine that rating.
1. How has this book contributed to the world of literature. The age is postmodernism and experimental. It contributed to the world of literature in examining the experience of reading and writing. It looks at both even though it specifically is about the reader. I don't know if it left us something but for me there was a fair amount of warning about how modern times maybe is corrupting the writing and reading experience.
2. Plot/how does it hold together. It is disjointed feeling but in the end it is all connected. I think it is taxing and not sure everyone will hold out through the relatively short book to get to the surprising end.
3. The characters/setting/scenes: the characters (me the reader), that person was consistent mostly, I liked the early women more than the later women. They may have been strong women but sex was also present.
4. Readability: I did not feel that it flowed that well but it was still skillful in a "clever" way. Because of reading on a kindle I can not comment on how the book was experienced but what I like about the kindle is the easy access to dictionary, character list and taking notes/highlights.
5. Did the author achieve what he set out to achieve. Yes!
6. Style: this is a book with a style, a series of unfinished stories. A Frame story, traveling to various places. etc. Lots of style.

So is it still a 3 star read? Yes, maybe a 3.5 star. Clever, unique style would push the rating up, disjointed, sexual content, too much "clever" pushes the score back down. The lack of pure reading enjoyment brings score down. Even leaning toward 4 stars.

5. The Throwback Special by Chris Bachelder, 4 stars shortlisted for Tournament of Books (Rooster)
Read this book after it made the short list for Tournament of Books (Rooster) 2017 playoff. Published 2016, the story is about a bunch of older men who get together once a year to reenact the Throwback Special, a play in which Joe Theisman suffers a career ending compound fracture November 18, 1985. The author is Chris Bachelder, born in Minnesota and teaching in Ohio and this is not his first book. It is the first book I've read by this author. It's a bit of history of Monday night football and can be a walk down memory lane for football fans. It is an interesting tale of these 22 men who we get to know for this brief weekend and it covers male friendship and masculinity with humor and mostly good taste. Its not just about this one football game, it's more about each of these guys as they come together for this weekend. Some of the social aspects covered include fatherhood, work/business, the one man who is black deals with the issues of the possibility of a black man playing the role of black person (Lawrence Taylor), another who is thinking about his dad telling him that "people notice a job done well but in Robert's experience that had not been true, what people notice was tardiness, failure and moth damage." and Jeff's inner dialogue about marriage and that marriage is really about having someone in your life to watch you, to witness your life." And Charles who is thinks about things ending while they are starting.

So the essence of the book is a story of men's inner life and somewhat also the external life men share with each other or of men's ways of relating. The characters were interesting. The reader is slowly introduced to the 22 guys as they arrive but various pieces are added as you go along but never a complete picture of any one character. I found this to be very effective character development. I think the author meant us to get these bits and pieces of each man's thoughts and life and for the reader to fill in the blanks. It was readable. The story was in sections with chapters within the sections; As far as cover and book, it was not anything more than a green cover with the title and author name trying to give the feeling of movement. I felt that the author did achieve what he set out to tell in this story. It is an act of communion. They eat together, share rooms. The weather is rainy and uninviting. It is quest of a sorts, a voyage and return and even rebirth. I thought the book was well written, the author used a creative way to tell a story about masculinity and men's lives.

6. The Fireman by Joe Hill (was on the longlist but did not make to short list but was recommended by daughter. 4.5 stars
This is a great book. I would not have guessed I would enjoy it so much. The first Joe Hill book for me. I don't tend to read horror so pretty much avoid authors known to write horror but I had heard that it was really good and it had made several best of lists.

This is great story set in contemporary times. There is a lot of references to what is occurring in the world today. This is an apocalyptic story and the author makes it so believable. I liked the beginning where the author references J.K. Rowling, Mary Poppins, Bruce Springsteen, Ray Bradbury. And finally his mother for the mycology that makes the story so believable. The story grabs right away and pulls you along. It's a tense, action story that will make a sit on the edge of your chair movie. A lot of great characters in the story. Very little sexual explicit subject matter yet present in the the story which makes the author even more skilled in my opinion. The writer gives us the details of this virus and how people might react. The setting is the U.S. and it is New England setting. Very readable, I listened to the audio, performed by Kate Mulgrew, who did a great job! I think the author delivered a great book. The story would be one of overcoming the monster. It used mythology (phoenix, etc).

7. Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter 4.5 stars

This little book is a novel, not a memoir but you could be tricked into thinking it is a memoir. It can be compared to such works as Grief Observed, Helen MacDonald's H is for Hawk — and Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking, all of which are memoirs written by authors from their grief. The title made me think of Emily Dickenson Hope is a thing with feathers, it seems like something she might have wrote. and when I opened the book, I find this epigram, "That Love is all there is, Is all we know of Love; It is enough, the freight should be Proportioned to the groove--Emily Dickinson but the author or rather CROW has struck out Love, Love, Freight and groove and penciled in CROW. The jacket flap describes the book as part novella, part polyphonic (multiple voice) fable, part essay on grief. So experimental in structure, it is a debut noel for Max Porter who lives in London with his wife and children. I liked the use of CROW. Use of black birds like crows and blackbirds are often used in books. There is reference in the book of Ted Hughes' Crow (poet) and to Plath (they had been married). Use of mythology, crows carrying the souls to the land of the dead. Even in Noah's ark, the first bird sent from the ark was a raven while the earth was covered with the dead.

The book is written in short, little small blocks rather than lots of sentences into paragraphs and jumps from one voice to the next (Crow, Dad, Boys) So there is a shifting perspective but mostly it is about how dad deals with his grief and how his grief ends up effecting the boys. The author is drawn to Ted Hughes and Emily Dickinson. The sections progress as the dad makes his way through the experience of grief and the reader can see that progression. I actually read a library copy. It is a paperback, the book was published originally 2015 in London and my copy was published by Graywolf Press a Minneapolis based publisher. The cover has three windows, one with shade up, shade half down and one with shade all the way down and off to the side is the title and a little black crow in flight or just landing in the upper right corner. There are a lot of white space and a dropped feather here and there. The author wanted to write about grief but used his love of his wife and boys as his foundation and the grief he experienced when his father died. The author did a good job because it felt like a memoir and I could compare this book to the memoirs by C.S.Lewis, MacDonald's and Didion. So I give this book 4.5 stars and would round up to 5 rather than down. This book should really resonate with me because I like books about grief, I liked CS Lewis's book Grief Observed, Didion's book is one of my favorites and I also love Emily Dickinson's work. I have not read Ted Hughe's Crow. Perhaps I need to do that.

>37 Kristelh: - I love your review of the Calvino book. One of these days I will get around to reading that one....

>40 Kristelh: - Taking a potential BB for the Porter book.

>38 Kristelh: - Just started that one over the weekend and so far I'm enjoying this insider look at the male mind though I keep getting confused as to who is who.

>40 Kristelh: - Looking forward to this one. Picked it up at the library this past weekend so should get to it soon.

>42 LittleTaiko:, I wrote out each guys name as they arrived and different little points about them in my reading journal, that helped a lot!

8. The Vegetarian by Han Kang, fits ToB shortlist, NYT best list, Foriegn lit for PBT

The Vegetarian by Han Kang, published in 2007 and translated to English from Korean by Deborah Smith. The book is made up of three short stories that the author merged together. The first part, Vegetarian, is written from the husband's POV and some of the wife's thoughts appear in italics. The second book, Mongolian Mark is from the brother-in-law's perspective and the final section, Flaming Trees, is from the older sister's perspective. This is a book that feels violent, there is a lot of blood. The color red is a symbol or motif. The book deals with individuals trying to understand those around them. It really is not about vegetarianism but about a person who has renounced life. It is about mental illness but it is also about The author, Han Kang talked to the Literary Hub, where she claimed that The Vegetarian is novel with many layers. She said that "questioning human violence and the (im)possibility of innocence; defining sanity and madness; the (im)possibility of understanding others, body as the last refuge or the last determination" were some of the themes addressed. (see wikipedia) Two sisters, both Korean, both raised to please, one is the older and the other a middle child. One chooses to live, one chooses to renounce life".

Some quotes; "it was the quiet tone of a person who didn't belong anywhere, someone who had passed into a border area between states of being."
"what she had renounced was the very life that her body represented".
"her eyes would seem to reflect a kind of violence that could not simply be dismissed as passivity or idiocy or indifference, and which she would appear to be struggling to suppress."
"her hands wrapped around the mug, shoulders hunched like a baby chick trying to get warm". This last quote I like because of the imagery.

The Vegetarian won 2016 Man Booker International Prize. It is described as a book of beauty and horror. It is an uncomfortable read, thank goodness it is short.

Nice set up. I'll especially be looking forward to seeing your 1001 books. Great to see such a positive review for Homegoing. I'm planning on reading that one next month. I also recently read The Vegetarian and agree that it was quite an uncomfortable read.

9. The Unwinding by George Packer, Nonfiction group read 4 stars
I really hadn't planned to do much reading in the genre of nonfiction this year but then got caught up in the group book read of these books that are suppose to inform on why things are as they are in 2017 with a new president. This book is compared to John Dos Passo's U. S. S. trilogy (part of 1001). I haven't read it yet, though I wished I had read it so I could comment on it and compare it to this book. The note on sources states that thought hsi is a work of nonfiction thoughtout, it owes its leterary debt to the novels ...." That trilogy was published in 1930s. I wish I was reading it now but it won't happen this year. I enjoyed the book, it was an interesting look at the years since 1960 and the many things that have made up that period of history. A good reminder of many things forgotten. Too me it read as actually reinforcing the American dream and the possibilities that it will all work out if you only try. There is a lot of interesting characters, some quite famous but others jsut your ordinary persons like Dean Price and Tammy Thomas. It also looks at liberal, conservative, and libertarianism.

The author used the trilogy U. S. A. as a design for his work of nonfiction and he used biography of both well known and celebrities and ordinary Americans to tell this story of the new American history from 1960 to 2012. It was readable. I had both the book and the audible and the reader did an okay job but I did hear his intake of breath after he would read a bunch of sentences or paragraphs so that could be distracting to some. The author did win the National Book Award for Nonfiction for this book. I am not sure that I am convinced that the modern times and changes are any different that the changes that Americans went through from the 1920 to 1960. The changes that I have experienced in my own life (started before 1960) are just as mindboggling as the current times and even more so when looking at the current times. So while it is a good book and interesting that he used Dos Passos as his template, I am not convinced that the author fully achieved what he set out to do.

Copyright 2013; National Book Award for Nonfiction 2013. History, social problems, politics, government, biography.

10. Sweet Lamb of Heaven by Lydia Millet, 4 stars short list for ToB (Rooster), PBT Administrative Tag

Sweet Lamb of Heaven is a psychological thriller that also is a cross over to science fiction. Another analysis calls it metaphysical thriller, that works, too. And another GR reviewer (Mary) says it is another case of the quality of the writing exceeds the quality of the story. That works too. I took a long time to engage with this book about a woman named Anna and her daughter Lena who are on the run, hiding from her husband and father of her daughter who is basically a man who she no longer cares for but he has never harmed or threatened her but yet she leaves and is hiding in this run downed motel on the seashore of Maine. The story is told through Anna and a lot of it is just her thoughts. We do not really no what is reality because I think Anna is set up as an unreliable narrator. When her daughter is born she hears noise and voices, this is the first chapter so really not a spoiler. They go away and she is happy not to think about it anymore. It is a relief. So, I did forget to say that the story starts in Alaska and Anna drives to Maine without being detected. I think that is pretty hard to accept as possible. Throughout the book there are some wikipedia bullets on different concepts and also verses from the Bible. Anna is not a religious person. These are just placed in various spots even though Anna really has no interest in the Christian God. The main question at this point for Anna is why have all these people showed up at the motel in the off season. This is also a political book, about running for office and putting the spin on to capture votes.

Quotes:
"I don't see how words can follow each other without implying emotion. Even the effort to control emotion is an act of words, while every effort to control words is an act of emotion." page 39

"I was a child myself now, as soon as you were a victim, as soon as you were deeply hurt, you were a child again. Helplessness was the one true fountain of youth." page 127

"most women probably wanted a man who acted more like a woman, I considered--more like a mother, even. You wanted to be taken care of. As long as he wasn't womanish, I thought, as long as he had central masculine characteristics such as strength and confidence, in most other respects an ideal man was more like a woman."

I really did not like Anna (the narrator). There was much I found troublesome in this book and therefore I do not think the author truely achieved what she set out to do.

However, this book would make a great discussion book and therefore would be a good bookclub book.

11. Suds in Your Eye by Mary Lasswell, F2F, classic for WomanCat
This book is probably mostly unknown book, it really is out of print but you can buy used books and there is an e-book available. My book club voted to read this book. Mary Lasswell is an American author who wrote during WWII while she waited for her military husband to return. Suds in Your Eye is her first book and it is a rather silly book about 3 old, impoverished women who live to drink beer. The book is set in San Diego during WWII and it is about living life to the fullest without working your life awy. It embraces making do with what you have, eating well but cheaply and not overextending your self so that you can't enjoy life. It is a book that embraces community; in this book you have 3 old women and an old man, you have Chinese, Mexicans, tuna queens (fish factory workers), teachers and secretaries. A bit of this book reminded me of John Steinbeck's book Cannery Row but just not great literature like you expect from John Steinbeck.

What I think the essence of this book is "the community" that one can have with other people and how this book embraced all peoples and classes of people and when you think about this book being written in 1942, that's saying something. The plot is just a simple story of 3 old ladies trying to survive in Noah's Ark (the name of the place Mrs Finey lives). It's a quick read, the e-book was without defects. I think the author chose to write as a way of getting by while she waited for her husband to return from th e war. The book is humorous. Because it is so much about drinking "cases of beer", living in a junkyard with a fence of beer cans, I think it makes the book a bit quirky and will give it that tag as well.

12. The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky, 4.5 stars, 1001 Books
The Idiot, Dostoyevsky is by far one of my favorite Russian authors. I've read 3 of the 5 books he has on the 1001 list. Looking at his life as I just did, I did not realize that he actually was given a death sentence when he was arrested for opposing the monarchy. This is touched on in this book in the chapter where they are discussing that death by murder is better than death by sentence. His time spent in prison and labor probably made him the man that can write such stories as Crime and Punishment, Brother's K and The Idiot. In his travels, he meets Appolinaria Suslova. His relationship with her is reflected in “The Idiot,” “The Gambler” (“Igrok”) and his other works. She is believed to be the main inspiration for Dostoevsky’s female characters. He did not marry her but instead married his stenographer. Who he may have used as inspiration for Nastasya Fillipnova. (http://russiapedia.rt.com/prominent-r...) This book is about a man who is good and kindhearted in contrast to the wordly people he encounters in Russia. The author set out to write a story of a splendidly good man and he said it was the most difficult thing to do. His books are largely translated and required reading in many schools. His stories reflect the mood of the times and his views of Russia. The story and characters are well developed. I certainly can see that writing about someone who is "simply good" would be hard to stick to as humans just aren't that good therefore the prince is a Christ like figure with Rogozhin serving as the antagonist to the prince. I listened to the Blackstone audio and narrated by Robert Whitfield and the pdf file translated by Eva Martin. The audio was good but I really did not like his women voices and so therefore this might not be the best audio. Did the author achieve creating a splendidly good man. Yes and no. I don't know why a splendidly good man would also be a man who suffers from epilepsy and had to be hospitalized or is that how he became a good man because he had been removed from the world and not contaminated by the world. While this was the author's favorite book, it wasn't mine, I think I liked The Brothers Karamazov best so far. Rating is 4.5

13. The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams, 2/4/17, 3.5 1001 Books, PBT (Quirky)
Published in 1988, this is the second book in the Dirk Gently series. I really enjoyed this one. I listened to the audio read by the author (great job) and also had a book. This is a fantasy/sci fi book where Dirk Gently is a detective. The title may seem to not fit the novel but wiki tells me that this title is a phrase that appeared in Adams' novel Life, the Universe and Everything to describe the wretched boredom of immortal being Wowbagger, the Infinitely Prolonged, and is a play on the theological treatise Dark Night of the Soul, by Saint John of the Cross and refers to that time on Sunday when the weekend is over and the weekday has not started "In the end, it was the Sunday afternoons he couldn't cope with, and that terrible listlessness which starts to set in at about 2:55, when you know that you've had all the baths you can usefully have that day, that however hard you stare at any given paragraph in the papers you will never actually read it, or use the revolutionary new pruning technique it describes, and that as you stare at the clock the hands will move relentlessly on to four o'clock, and you will enter the long dark teatime of the soul." Dirk Gently calls himself a holistic detective. He has been hired by a man who wants to be protected from a large green monster set on killing him. He suspects the client is nuts but after he is found beheaded on a record that is playing "don't pick it up" he decides to follow the clues to find out what has happened. It is a riotous tale and truly quirky. I enjoyed this much more than I did The Hitchhikes Guide to The Galaxy. I did read it out of order and will need to eventually read the first book. This is a book with alternate universes of man and Valhalla. Technology is not very advanced in 1988 and this book makes fun of it. It's also about man forgetting the deities that had been called into being by humanities need for faith. Rating 3.5 leaning toward a 4.

>37 Kristelh:
Very enlightening - thank you! It's on my wishlist.

>50 Kristelh: - Read the first one last year and found it quite fun. Hoping to get to this one later in the year.

14. Dom Casmurro by Machado de Assis 2/6/17, 5 stars 1001 Books

The author Machado de Assis is one of Brazil's great authors. His literary style is unique. This book, about 255 pages in length, has 148 chapters. The book starts out telling us how Bentinho Santiago has come to be known as Dom Casmurro, or as a reticent, tight lipped man of a noble nature. The the first person narrative, Dom Casmurro takes us back to his adolescent years and his friendship with the neighbor girl Capitú. His mother has promised that she will give her son to the service of God. Bento has other ideas after he discovers he loves the next door neighbor girl. It is a story of young love ruined by jealousy and we have Shakespeare's Othello as our example. The book starts with the old man looking back at his live that he has lived in Rio. We know he is alone with his servant and is writing his life's story out of boredom.

Great review of The Vegetarian and the warning that it is an uncomfortable read!

.... I really enjoyed the Dirk Gently series, both in book and TV show formats. ;-)

15. My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout, 2/10/17, 4 stars Awards Cat (ToB)

This is a novella length book by Elizabeth Strout that is on the short list of the Tournament of Books 2017. This is the second book by the author that I've read. I liked Olive Kitteridge quite a bit. This is similar in that it is a lot of inner thoughts of the women. Olive Kitteridge being an older woman and Lucy Barton a middle aged mother and author. The story is short little segments of thoughts that reveal little bits about Lucy and her life but not all. Lucy is recovering in a hospital of some unrevealed medical condition that occurs after she has had surgery. Her husband and children are in her thoughts but do not often visit. The husband pays for her mother to come spend time with her in the hospital.

"There was a home, and it was many years ago now, when I had to stay in a hospital for almost nine weeks."

This is a story of mother daughter relationships, marriage and about writing. This is quiet slowly developed story that is very easy to read. I really liked the ending of this story where Lucy reflects on her past and her children.

I liked these quotes about writing;
"It's not my job to make readers know what's a narrative voice and not the private view of the author" and this about the writer's job, "report on the human condition to tell us who we are and what we think and what we do."

I liked this book but I liked Olive Kitteridge better but this is a good story about being a daughter, mother and writer.

16. Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold, 2/10/17, 4 stars
Science Fiction novel by Lois McMaster Bujold (1991) and part of of the Vokosigan Saga. Format was audio narrated by Grover Garder who does a great job. Barrayar won both the Hugo Award for Best Novel and the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel in 1992. As in Ethan of Athos, this book explores pregnancy, women's choice, use of artificial means to develop the fetus and the ethics of deformity in the fetus and the use of euthanasia in such cases as mutation. There is plenty of action in this story thus the category of space opera and military science fiction. I liked this one quite a bit and it is the best Bujold thus far. It is fairly unique in science fiction as it looks at the role of motherhood. The characters, especially Cordelia's father in law is developed and characters added and new information provided. There is a lot of technology and how it changes things and society, and economics. Very readable science fiction.

17. The Nix by Nathan Hill 2/19/17, 4 1/2 stars Awards Cat, ToB
This book is about a mother/son relationship. It is also about politics from the sixties to the current time. The main character is Samuel, a school teacher by day and gamer by night. The book does capture the spirt and age of the sixties as well as the current time. First we have Samuel as the narrator, college professor and his mother, a product of the sixties and we have Samuel’s students or at least one student who doesn’t see any benefit in studying literature but it is a mandatory class. It does capture the mood of the times with protests back then and protests now. Specifically it looks at the Chicago riots of 1968 and Occupy Wall Street. Having just read The Unwinding, by Packer and The Girls early this year. There seems to be a theme of revisiting the sixties. I felt that Nathan Hill captured that spirit both back then and the current period. The book looks at family relationships, issues of abandonment, issues of sexual abuse, the effects of excessive gaming, politics and injustices of politics.

The plot is a bit of wandering about with the current time, the sixties, thoughts of the mother, thoughts of the son, the college student, and thoughts of another gamer who will be Samuel if Samuel doesn’t do something. We also have the politician, the politics, and the manipulative use of media to influence public opinion. There are sections of dialogue about the computer game, feminine products, etc that I think could have been a lot less. I struggled a little with the second half of the book but overall it is enjoyable read. The characters are a little stereotyped from the politician, the game, the police officer. The college student could also be considered a stereotype of the millennium generation but I think these people are out there. The politician, the media, the gamer and the college student give us satire of the current age. Then there is the addition of ghosts and Norwegian fairy tales and the nix. I listened to the audio of this book and the reader’s Norwegian sounded more like Italian mafia than Norwegian.

18. High Dive by Jonathan Lee 3/1/17, PBT, ToB 4 stars
I read this for the ToB 2017 in audio format, read by Doyle Gerard who did a great job of narration. The women voices were women, men men and the accents seemed authentic to me. This book is set in Brighton, England and Belfast, Ireland during 1984 when the Irish Republic Army made an assassination attempt on Margaret Thatcher. It's actually historical fiction but mostly features the hotel manager, his daughter and staff of the hotel as well as some troubled Irish in Belfast. You might wonder at the name for the book and really not sure why this name was chosen because I think there must be more than the fact that the hotel manager used to be a high dive athlete in his day. This is more a story of characters rather than political. The tension is around not knowing what is going to happen to the various characters.

The book is an interesting book of characters who are either looking back on life and missed opportunities or trying to decide their futures. It is not a book that offers anything knew to the world of literature. I think it may have captured the mood of the times but also fits well with where people are no matter the age so it is relevant to the current time. In fact, this story has been told in several other books in 2016 such as An Association of Small Bombs.

19. The Sport of Kings by C. E. Morgan, 3/1/17, 4 stars ToB, AlphaCat

This is another ToB and was written by C. E. Morgan, published in 2016. This is a BIG book and it is faulted for being wordy but I like words and so I enjoyed the book for it's writing. First off its a story about family, one white and one black, one from Kentucky and one from Ohio and it is around horses that the meet.

Here are some quotes from the book
pg 22, "real knowledge begins with knowing your place int eh world..."
Pg 23 "women live a life of the body. It chains them to material things--children and home--and prevents them from striving toward loftier pursuits."
"...there was no guarantee your child would be adequate compensation for the life you gave up to have it."
The storm.. pg 107 "mother left, things changed"
"creek to muddy to see into, too dull to divulge its contents or reflect back anything of the world, pg 109.

"you've suffered the misfortune of being born into an age of political correctness, when a polite lie is the truth and the truth is anathema."

"sameness is safe, sameness is survival itself"

"His mother had died looking not at him, her son, her accomplishment, but into the well of herself at something. And that something was emptiness."

pg 325 "I think Northerners are worse than Southerners. They think they're better than us because they survive the world's shittiest weather and they're convinced of the religious retardation of the South. They're ignorant but arrogant. Southerners, on the other hand, know perfectly well they're ignorant; the problem is they're proud of it".

That gives you an idea just how wordy this 545 page book is. It's epic, with history and geography and physical science.

The ending is a bit of a surprise and has a little magical realism feel to it, just not sure that it fit the book.

This book is another look at racism in the United States from a female/Caucasian author. It covers several generations though the largest part is spent on the current father, daughter Forge's and is set in the nineties. It did look at the changes of racism and that which doesn't change from the time that the Forge family crossed over the Appalachian Mountains to start a farm in Kentucky. The Ohio River plays a major part in the book and is the separation of north and south and the north represents freedom. The river is dark, moving and dangerous but it also is the escape to freedom. The characters are well developed but over all not very likable. You hope that one or more will overcome their defects. I think the author achieved what she set out to accomplish and that being an epic book that looks at family, black and white, women and men as well as evolution, nature and history.

20. Invisible Man - Ralph Ellison, 3/7/17, 5 stars, 1001, CultureCat

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, published in 1952 and winner of the National Book Award in 1953 is a book written by a black author about racism and invisibility. The story starts with the unnamed narrator who tells you he is invisible. The reader is introduced to the rage that this man is filled. He lives underground and is stealing electricity and listening to Louis Armstrong jazz, particularly “what did I do to be so black and blue”. The introduction is difficult. The narrators rage made me want to put aside this book rather than read it. The introduction sets up the metaphor of invisibility and blindness. Whites refuse to see the narrator. Because he is black, no one sees him. The narrator then begins to tell us his story. He starts out with such hope. He is going to go to college and make something of himself only to find this dream is dashed. He then heads for Harlem and the majority of the book deals with his involvement with the Brotherhood or an ideology that is going to make white and blacks better for their cooperation for the greater good. Through the story, the reader is taken through every stereotype that a black man can face; mugger, southern bumpkin, rapist and savage. The narrator struggles to find his own identity. He learns that ideology is limited and will not save the people but will sacrifice the people for the ideology.

I've read this twice now, the second time was the audio read by Joe Morton. Absolutely fantastic. This book is so rich, I am glad I read it for the second time and now I have to buy this book because there are so many great ideas especially in the last chapter that I need to copy down, highlight and just "own". This book is the foundation for all the other books that I've read this year that address similar issues. It is a testimony to the greatness of this book written in 1950's and sadness that not much has really changed. 5 stars!

21. Version Control by Dexter Palmer, 3/12/17, 5 stars Science Fiction, ToB
Another book read for the Tournament of Books 2017. I got it done before it was reviewed this morning. It's a new to me author and I liked his writing. The judge for ToB compared him to Neal Stephenson and I agree with this comparison. This is a book set in the very near future, in fact the characters are millenniums and I felt like this book could be very true much of the time that I reading. I like books about time and this book is a lot about time/time travel which you are not suppose to call time travel. This is an interesting look at ethics of Big Data and artificial intelligence. I found it a bit interesting in a conspiracy kind of way. This felt like 1984 written for the present age. It also examines girlfriend relationships (written by a man) and marriage and race. Lots of great quotes that I jotted down;

22. The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henríquez, 3 stars CultureCat

This was a free audio book from the Audio Sync summer program and I enjoyed it very much. A story about a family that comes from Mexico after their daughter suffers a injury to get her special help in the U.S. They come to Delaware. There are several other families that all appear to be the same to the whites but there are families from Panama, Paraguay, Nicaragua and some are U.S. citizens and some are here on visas but if no one takes to time to get the know them, no one knows their stories. They are the unknown Americans. It is also a story of redemption/forgiveness, a story about family, marriage and coming of age. It covers a lot but it really is about how hard it is to come to America culturally.

23. The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill, 5 stars AwardCAt (Newberry), SFF, WomanCat
A girl who was accidentally fed moon light instead of star light after she was rescued by the witch when she was left in the woods to die by her village. This is a coming of age story told through fairy tales. There are really some very great lines in this story. I listened to the audio read by Christina Moore so I don't have any to quote here but the prose is great, the characters are wonderfully developed from the swamp monster, pocket dragon and old witch are Luna's adoptive family. It is a fun read but also carries lessons like fairy tales usually do.

24. Mister Monkey by Francine Prose, 4.5 stars Award Cat ToB), CatWoman
Mister Monkey is the story of a group of actors in a off, off, off, way off broadway play of a children's play called Mister Monkey written by a Vietnam Vet. Filled with various people like Margot the the middle aged actress in a career going no where, Adam the adolescent actor/monkey who is abandoned by his father and terrified by his fears of the end of the world, Edward's grandfather who misses his deceased wife and loves his grandson and is alone in his old age, Edward the child who is mature for his age and just wants to go to school and feels bad for his teacher Sonya, Ray who wrote the play, Mario the waiter who goes to the theater every chance he gets, Lakshmi the Indian orphan costume designer wanna be playwright, Eleanor the full time register nurse and part time actress, and Roger the director. All great characters but I really loved the grandfather and Eleanor the nurse.

"Failures and disappointments make time go by so fast that you fail to notice your real life, and the past when I was so free seems to belong to someone else, not myself." from letter to Maxim Gorkey, by Chekhov. This really sums up the book which is consists of interconnected stories about how individual lives in their isolation, mediocrity, age, failure and alienation touch each other without awareness giving them a chance at a real life.

I really liked this book and glad that it made it through the first round of Tournament of Books.

While interconnected stories are not new to literature I felt that Francine did something fresh with her use of the play as the center of all their lives. I liked the plot/theme and the characters. It was not overly filled with political correctness in an artificial way or pushing an agenda, it had some swearing but it was minimal, some sexual content but it fit the story and did not feel gratuitous or deplorable.
3 likes

>58 Kristelh: Great review for High Dive. If it hadn't been on my wishlist already, your review would put it there.

edited to correct touchstone

>61 Kristelh: I'd started Version Control and wasn't sure I'd continue, but your review is convincing me to stay with it. I'd read the first 80 pages feeling like nothing was happening, but now I'm getting to the part where the time-travel idea is being introduced.

>66 mathgirl40:, I hope you like it, I did but I guess it has it's flaws according to the judges of ToB.

25. Dune by Frank Herbert, 5 stars (audio book), SFF
I listened to the audio book narrated by Scott Brick, Orlagh Cassidy, Evan Morton, Simon Vance and Iliana Kadushin. It was great. The story is set on the desert planet Arrakis and is the story of Paul Atreides. He will avenge the plot against his noble family and try to prevent a jihad. Is Paul Atreides the fulfillment of the prophecy of a mysterious man known as Maud'dib. The story is one of the first ecology epics, an adventure story and political and has it spiritual/mysticism as well. It won the Nebula Award. It is one of the greatest epic science fiction books. I've had it in the back of my mind to read some days but I must confess, the giant worms kept me from getting to this book. It is well deserving of 5 stars

26. All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders, 3.5 stars SFF, ToB

The story of two young people who are misfit children, picked on and bullied by family and peers who grow up to be young adults, Patricia the witch and Laurence the scientist. The book is apocalyptic science/fantasy romance book. I did feel that it read like a young adult book but borrowing from J.K. Rawlings, the writing is simplistic when they are young and matures as they become young adults. I fault it with too much bad language and sexual details that were not necessary to the telling of the story. It also is great for those looking for a strong female character as I thought Patricia was much more appealing than her counterpart, Laurence. It's a love story between the wizard and the cyborg. The message might be that what is needed is a balance between the spiritual and the scientific.

This topic was continued here, http://www.librarything.com/topic/254284

>68 Kristelh: Glad to see you enjoyed Dune!