Books, books, books!

I hardly write anything here, but I figured I could spare some time to blog a few lists here and there. Specifically lists about books, since I spend a good chunk of my time reading.

Books read in May 2009:
1. I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith - novel, 20C British
2. Shopaholic Takes Manhattan - Sophie Kinsella - novel, 21C British
3. Notes on a Scandal - Zoe Heller - novel, 21C British
4. All the Sad Young Literary Men - Keith Gessen - novel, 21C American
5. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - J.K. Rowling - novel, 20C British*
6. Vita Nuova - Dante Alighieri - poetry/prose, 13C Italian
7. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - J.K. Rowling - novel, 20C British*
8. The Divine Comedy: Inferno - Dante Alighieri - epic poem, 14C Italian^
9. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - J.K. Rowling - novel, 21C British*
10. Little Children - Tom Perrotta - novel, 21C American

Also,
Selections from The Decameron - Giovanni Boccaccio, 14C Italian
Selections from The Book of the City of Ladies - Christine de Pizan, 15C French


The stars are re-reads, since I've obviously read the entire Harry Potter series. Several times. The ^ by Dante means I haven't finished it yet. We were only supposed to read a few Cantos for class, but I decided to keep going. Unfortunately, I got distracted by other readings for class (and fun) and having yet picked it up again.

Every time that I've re-read the Harry Potter series, I secretly fear that they'll lose some of their magic for me. I'm afraid that after 10 years and countless re-readings, I won't love them as much anymore, that they'll just become stories from my childhood. Luckily, these fears have never been realized. In fact, it seems as if every time I read the books, I discover something new, or rediscover something that I'd forgotten.

I Capture the Castle was cute, Shopaholic was cutely annoying, Notes on a Scandal was enthralling. I was disappointed with All the Sad Young Literary Men. Keith Gessen's prose is superb in that last-sentence-of-a-chapter-really-grabs-you-and-floats-around-your-head-for-a-few-minutes way, but the plot and character development were severely lacking. The characters were so underdeveloped that half the time I couldn't even distinguish between his three narrators (were there three? or four?). Each was a self-pitying, self-absorbed twenty-something struggling through love, life, and post-grad studies. Unfortunately, none were sympathetic, or even interesting, to the reader. Also, the infusions of Russian history were usually overwhelming and completely unnecessary. Yes, I understand that one of the characters (I don't remember which one) is attempting to writing his thesis on the Mensheviks or something, but his constant pontifcation is alienating to readers who most likely have no idea what he's talking about. I can only assume that Gessen himself is some sort of hybrid of his three narrators which should not be taken as a compliment.

Dante's Vita Nuova is an interesting mix of poetry and prose. Dante either prefaces or follows each poem with his specific reasons for writing it and sometimes a brief interpretation or explanation of passages. The Vita Nuova is comprised completely of poems about the love of Dante's life, Beatrice. The entire concept of the work, stemming from the title (Italian for New Life), is that Dante began a new life upon meeting Beatrice, symbolically starting anew after seeing her for the first time. While his obsessiveness and adherence to "courtly love" are hard to relate to, Dante's work is impeccable and surprisingly easy to read.

I would highly recommend Tom Perrotta's Little Children. His characters are so real, so relatable, that it was easy to forget I was reading a book. I saw the movie first, so I knew what to expect from the book, but was still plesantly surprised. However, the last few minutes of the movie were different than the book and I honestly think the movie's ending did more for the story. It's definitely still worth the read.