Thursday, July 10, 2008

Book catch up

It's been awhile since my last book post, so here's a quick run down of what I've been reading:

The Dark Labyrinth by Lawrence Durrell - I really enjoyed this one. The novel is very much character driven rather than plot driven. We meet and explore the histories of a diverse group of people drawn together by a vacation to the island of Crete...where disaster awaits. A book sale find I was very happy with!

The Society of S by Susan Hubbard - Readable but not great - its a twist on vampire lore. Unexceptional and I can see why it was on the sale rack at Borders. If you are into vampires, give it a go as light summer reading. If you aren't into vampires don't bother.

The Last Days of Dogtown by Anita Diamant - This was really great. Sad, but well written and I was drawn through the text. As with Labyrinth, the tale is a collection of character's personal histories all drawn together by the locale - Dogtown. For those against any type of supernatural happenings in their reading, this one would be my recommendation for you - its straight up historical fiction.

Anthem by Ayn Rand - This was a short read that I accomplished in the park this evening - I think it took about an hour and a half. Interesting but not my favorite - its in the 1984 genre. It also gets preachy at the end. I'm all for individualism and wouldn't want to live in a world with a collective "we" like in the book - but it is interesting to think about. Is giving up a self worth ending war, inequality, and strife? Do the benefits of security outweigh the monotony and seeming meaninglessness of the lifestyle described in the book? Pluses and minuses on both sides of the equation.

I've also been reading Mythology by Edith Hamilton - learning about Greek Gods etc.

That's it for now, ta!

1 comment:

Meg said...

The Last Days of Dogtown is a really good book. Have you read The Red Tent, also by Anita Diamant? Even better....