Naomi Reads

Now Reading: Playing with the Grown-Ups – Sophie Dahl

naomireads — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 07:42:29 +0000

Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven – Susan Jane Gilman

naomireads — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 21:48:23 +0000

I really liked this book. It felt like sort of a hybrid of a novel and travel writing, and the fact that it took place in 1986 added another interesting twist. These were the days where you had to keep in touch by exchanging addresses and people could come meet you at the airport gate.

The book is non-fiction and centers on Gilman and her friend backpacking through a still very closed society China. There’s a bit of a dark twist which I won’t give away, and the second half of the book is definitely hard to put down (I stayed up until 3am to finish it).

Overall: 8/10

Lowboy – John Wray

naomireads — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 14:14:54 +0000

This book had a bit of hype surrounding it with some reviewers even going so far as to call it The Catcher in the Rye for the modern age. I read Catcher in the Rye ages ago and remember liking it, but I think it’s a far superior book to this.

The basic plot is that a paranoid schizophrenic boy runs away on the New York subway, and his mother and a detective try and find him. I think the basic problem is that none of these characters are really very likable at all. I suppose it may provide a bit of insight into how a schizophrenic’s mind works, but that’s about it. There’s also a lot of allusions by the mother to some sinister thing that she’s hiding, and I wasn’t all that blown away by the twist when it finally came out.

One last thing that irritated me is I could not figure out when this was set. It doesn’t really make a difference because it’s not like there are flying cars or anything, but every time there’s a reference to the year or someone’s age, it seemed to point to a different date. Maybe it’s just supposed to be part of the schizophrenic thinking, I don’t know.

Basically, if you’re in the mood for this sort of book read The Catcher in the Rye instead.

Overall: 5/10

This is Where I Leave You – Jonathan Tropper

naomireads — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 14:12:59 +0000

Another book where I’m going to be annoying and compare it to ones I’ve read by the same author in the past.

With Jonathan Tropper you know what you’re going to get to a certain extent: a readable witty story with a male protagonist who has usually suffered the death of a loved one and some romantic failings who is then reunited with an old flame and then fixes things with his family. I don’t mind the relative predictability of the books though since they are mostly very good.

This one has gotten pretty good reviews overall, but I don’t think it’s as good as his middle three books: How to Talk to a Widower, Everything Changes, and The Book of Joe. His first book, Plan B was really bad – don’t read that.

Tropper’s books are great for a holiday or beach read, somewhere where you want something readable but not completely mindless and he’s really good at creating engaging characters. Definitely recommended if you like Nick Horby and those sorts of books.

Overall: 7/10

Now Reading: The Next 100 Years – George Friedman

naomireads — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:40:26 +0000

Phew, I’m not going to lie: this book was a bit of a mission. Even though it’s only about 250 pages (some with pictures of maps) it took a disproportionately long time to get through. It was interesting though, just a tad on the academic side.

That said, if you’re passionate about international relations and the future, then this is the book for you. I don’t own the copy I read but I wish I did since it would be a good one to keep and look back on in 20 years to see how his predictions are playing out.

About those predictions. Basically there with be lasers in space, the militarization of the moon, a third world war with Turkey and Japan taking on the US and Poland, a collapse in Russia, and a rise of Mexican power. There, now you don’t have to read it anyway!

Overall: 6.5/10

The Lacuna – Barbara Kingsolver

naomireads — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 09:12:41 +0000

Another author of a favourite (The Poisonwood Bible) with a lot to live up to, and Kingsolver did it well. The Lacuna follows the story of Harrison Shepard, through his time in Mexico and the US through the 1930′s-1950′s. Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Trotsky all make appearances as well as many significant cultural and political events of the time.

It’s definitely an interesting story and I feel like I learned a lot from it. She captures really well the feeling of patriotism during WWII through to paranoia from communism in the following years. It isn’t the easiest read, I had to force myself to focus at times, but it’s worth it in the end.

Read The Poisonwood Bible as well if you haven’t already.

Overall: 8/10

The Year of the Flood – Margaret Atwood

naomireads — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:39:20 +0000

I had to put The Next 100 Years on hold for a bit since I had to read this book quite quickly. If you liked Oryx and Crake you’ll like this book. It’s Margaret Atwood at her best I think.

Although this is a stand alone story more than a sequel, Oryx and Crake and some other characters from that novel actually make an appearance in The Year of the Flood. Unfortunately I read Oryx and Crake about five years ago, so I can’t remember it too well, just that I liked it.

This book focuses on sometime in the not too distant future with The Gardeners (a sort of eco-focused religious group) and the post ‘waterless flood’ world. Atwood has a great imagination and her vision of the post apocalyptic, genetically modified future is fascinating.

I seem to be on a future themed trip lately (The Next 100 Years may actually not be a bad companion to this). I definitely recommend this, and if you haven’t read Oryx and Crake, read that too.

Overall: 8/10

The 100 Best Books of the Decade

naomireads — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 04:14:25 +0000

An interesting list from timesonline.co.uk.

Not sure if I agree with The Road by Cormac McCarthy being the best of the decade, but to each their own.

See the full list here.

Her Fearful Symmetry – Audrey Niffenegger

naomireads — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:32:18 +0000

The Time Traveler’s Wife (Niffenegger’s first book) is one of my all time favourites so I had some high expectations going into this one. I have to say it really didn’t meet them at all. It’s about American twins inheriting their aunt’s flat in London, and them going to live there for a year with the quirky neighbours. The aunt they inherit it from also haunts the flat.

I don’t have an issue suspending belief for a book if it’s done well (like in Time Traveler’s or Harry Potter), so weirdness is not the issue, but this book just seemed a bit, well, stupid I guess. The characters weren’t even that great so you didn’t really care that much what happened one way or another, but then what ends up happening is just so ridiculous I couldn’t really believe I’d just wasted all the time reading what had led up to it.

The writing is still good, but even if I wasn’t comparing this to her first book I’d still think it was pretty average. There are a lot better things out there to read.

Overall: 5/10

The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work – Alain de Botton

naomireads — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:35:39 +0000

Wow, this is a really tough book to describe. I had thought it was going to be about people in different industries and careers and why they do or don’t like what they do, and it is to an extent, but it’s also a lot more. Sometimes he focuses on certain people in a field (an artist or a career counsellor) and other times he examines an industry more as a whole (accounting or aviation).

His writing is beautiful and the book also has a lot of pictures which really add to it. I guess the best way to describe it would be a mix of Discovery Channel, poetry, and light philosophy. Both educational and enlightening. I’m definitely going to look for a few of his other books like The Architecture of Happiness in the future.

Overall: 8/10

P.S. This talk by Alain dy Botton from Ted.com will give you an idea of what the book is like