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ajunejane's reviews
411 reviews
Milk, Sulphate and Alby Starvation by Martin Millar
I enjoyed this book even more than I enjoyed the other book of his I've read, The Good Fairies of New York. Millar's style of jumping from character perspective is surprisingly cohesive and I never felt lost in the narrative. He also has a way of slowly drawing all his characters closer together as the story progresses, bringing them ultimately together for a Shakespeare-comedy-style finale. A quick, fun, read and a nice break between heavier books.
How To Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran
Hilarious. I think every woman should read this book. I will warn some who are more sensitive to saucy language that this book is QUITE saucy. I mostly just want to hang out with this woman so she can explain her views further to me and clear up some of the contradictions. This is probably the most honest portrayal of a lot of the "mysteries" of womankind that I've ever heard or seen. Men should also read this book.
Dracula by Bram Stoker
4.0
Wonderful. I love how Stoker chooses to tell the story through the character's own words, through journal entries, letters, recordings, and telegrams. It makes the whole familiar story seem more believable. Even though I didn't feel quite as terrified of the Dracula monster when I read the book (probably because I've been jaded by so many Dracula films), I still felt the fear and concern of the characters through the haste of their own actions marked by dated (and often timed) journal entries and was able to draw an emotional response from that. The only real criticism I have is that because I have seen so many Dracula films, particularly the one from the 1990s with Winona Ryder and Gary Oldman (which seems to be most accurate to the book), I wanted a little more romance. I wanted someone to be in love with Dracula--give him a little more depth than just a merely cunning adversary. But I have to give Stoker props for being ahead of his time and being quite a feminist in his way, offering a strong female Mina alongside the weaker, more stereotypical Lucy.
Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Sheryl WuDunn, Nicholas D. Kristof
3.0
This book was extremely moving, and opened my eyes to measures currently being taken around the world to improve women's lots in life. However, this is not a new issue to me, so after a few chapters the numbers and statistics became background images that were hard to grasp. I found the personal stories to be more helpful and engaging, but even the hopefulness in those stories seemed over dramatic after a while. Don't worry, I'm not a robot. I saw the movie "Trade" about the sex trade in America and I wept. I only mean that they overused certain writing techniques ehich became preachy and grating. However, I will be investigating the charities they mentioned in the final chapter and appendix and hopefully adding my voice to all the others doing what they can to "make women human."
Broetry: Poetry for Dudes by Brian McGackin
3.0
Pretty funny. I think the best poem was the one on the cover, but there were some other creative imitations/interpretations of well-known poems that were also clever. A light read, not just for bros.
Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel
4.0
First of all I have to say I still like Life of Pi better than this book, mainly because of the way the story arc progresses. However, Beatrice and Virgil does a great job of writing style imitating action. At times the flow seems a little muddled or drawn out when the main character is struggling with expression, waiting for the Taxidermist to do something, waiting for the action to really start. The narrative moves swiftly in the last few sections when the major climax occurs. The characters of Beatrice and Virgil remind me a lot of the characters Rosencrantz and Gildenstern in Rosencrantz and Gildenstern are dead, the way they attempt to parse out reality and their role in light of a certain event. I definitely recommend this book to fans of Yann Martel's work.
Blankets by Craig Thompson
5.0
Excellent. Coming from a similar fundamentalist religious background (and currently being in a more liberal, doubting place in my faith) this graphic novel really resonated with my experience. The art is wonderful and varied, and Thompson introduces subtlety and subtext easily in a genre where that technique doesn't always work. Told in a series of flashbacks and flash-forwards, the narrative arcs in a clear pattern where the reader is allowed to discover new insights about the author/narrator organically. A quick, absorbing read.
I Am Not Jackson Pollock by John Haskell
4.0
In this collection, Haskell writes about what I want to write about: small psychologically centered moments in the lives of people we already think we know. Using these insights, the reader can learn more about Jackson Pollock, or Capucine, or Orson Welles than what is necessarily presented in a non-fiction biography. Even though these insights come from Haskell and not the actual people, one gets a sense of the universal truth in all of our struggling for happiness or reason for action. To a certain extent the results of our actions can make us happy or unhappy or no emotion at all, but eventually these results move beyomd us to an unstoppable fate-like force that drives us on the path we set. Resistance to this force is available if one is a fundamentally resisting person, in the case of Prince Hal to Orson Welles' Falstaff.
Dr. Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
5.0
Excellent. I'm not sure if every version has this, but I really enjoyed the section with "Yuri's" poems at the end. There's something about Pasternak's style that makes his writing clearer than a few other famous Russian writers (ex. Dostoevsky), without losing that voice that makes him distinguishable as a Russian writer (this could be do to the work of translators Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky). After having only seen the movie and never read the book, I highly recommend this to anyone who loves the story and wants to experience the drama without the "hollywoodization."