“All these people: they were trapped. And not merely by the wires that surrounded them. Physical barricades were nothing compared to the wires of the mind. What had truly imprisoned them was one another. Husbands and wives, parents and children, friends and companions: what they believed had given them strength in their lives had actually done the opposite…..Love had sealed their doom.” The second book in Justin Cronin’s trilogy picks up five years after the end of the last novel, to the summer of 97 AV, […]
Her song would continue to haunt him for the rest of his days
Into Oblivion is the second book in the Inspector Erlendur prequel series, set in 1978 not long after he became a detective. He works here with his mentor Marion, a crotchety but infinitely crafty long-time Inspector. They make an interesting team and Erlendur’s inherent melancholy dovetails well with Marion’s curmudgeonly demeanor. A woman finds a body while soaking in a lagoon in the middle of a lava field. The water and mud are thought to have healing properties for people suffering with psoriasis, but this […]
It took forever and was over in an instant
At 766 pages, this book sort of fits my Read Loooong Books criteria for my CBR8. The main reason why I chose to read this again is that the third book in this stellar trilogy by Justin Cronin is coming out in May and I wanted to get back up to speed. Diving back into this book has been a great experience, which is kind of odd to say about a world where humanity is on the brink of extinction, but there it is. I […]
Simplicity was easier than precision
City on Fire is the second book in my quest this year to settle in and read loooooong works. I remember hearing about this 900+ page novel last fall when it came out, but didn’t really register much beyond “sprawling tale of NYC and the punk scene in the late 70’s” and the fact that this first-time author commanded a 2 million dollar advance. When I spied it on the first table at the bookstore a couple of weeks ago it was the heft of […]