There are some novelists who, when you read them, you really feel like you get to know them. And you like them. My literary crush on Patrick Ness is well documented, but I’d also happily go for a pint with Stephen King, Sarah Waters, David Mitchell and so on. Purely based on how much I enjoy their books and how their voice comes across in it, you understand. Based on this so-called novel, I wouldn’t want to go anywhere near Edward St Aubyn. Not only […]
Reservation to the Danger Zone
I texted a friend who read this book while I was in the middle of it and said, “Good GOD American Psycho. I have never had such a visceral reaction to a book.” (Note: I had forgotten about the time I threw “Message in a Bottle” across the room because Nicholas Sparks – bleh. But I digress.) This book…this book. I had seen the movie long ago so I thought I was mentally prepared but boy was I wrong. Patrick Bateman’s descent into madness is […]
I know I’m late, but I really did like it when I finally got round to reading it
Because I read this book a month ago, and the plot is somewhat convoluted, I am resorting to the plot summary from Goodreads to help me explain what the book is about: Bernadette Fox is notorious. To her Microsoft-guru husband, she’s a fiercely opinionated partner; to fellow private-school mothers in Seattle, she’s a disgrace, to design mavens, she’s a revolutionary architect, and to 15-year-old Bee, she’s a best friend, and simply, Mom. Then Bernadette disappears. It began when Bee aced her report card and claimed […]
A trivial comedy for serious people
Thirty-first book reviewed as part of the 130 Challenge. Yet again, I have taken up a play by Oscar Wilde and yet again, I’m amazed by the layer upon layer of depth and meaning that the satirical work contains. You wouldn’t think that a comedy of errors would have anything to offer in the way of moral commentary or philosophical meanderings, but when you’re reading Wilde, you better expect profundity in his most trivial statements. This is a play about two men who pretend to […]