Posts Tagged books
i haven’t been this addicted to a book since harry potter
Image courtesy of Knopf publishing
I cannot speak with enough enthusiasm about Stieg Larson’s The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I referenced it in a recent post, and I was already quite excited by it then. But as soon as I reached the halfway mark, it was nonstop from there. I finished it all in just a couple days because I literally could not put it down. I doubt I’ve ever recommended a book quite as strongly as this one. I honestly can’t even go into the plot or characters because I will get too wrapped up in it and give away too many spoilers.
I will say this: I can understand that it may not be for everyone. There’s a good deal of finance/business and media talk, especially in the beginning — the main character is, after all, an investigative finance journalist recently convicted of libel and at a struggling liberal magazine (Did I say I wouldn’t reveal too much of the plot?) — and I can see that bogging someone down if they’re not into it. It was also originally written in Swedish, and there are various Sweden references and names. But if you can get past that — and believe me, you will — I promise that it will be one of the most compelling novels that you have ever read. It reads like a well-designed mystery novel, but with the passion and intrigue of a narrative piece. Get it. Tell me how you like it.
1 comment July 14, 2009
a bit of salinger for your commute
I recently finished reading J.D. Salinger’s Franny and Zooey. I had the small, plain paperback lying around in my room at home for a while now, but never really got the time to pick it up. It was recommended to me by a family friend who said that it was Salinger’s best work, better than Catcher in the Rye despite being less widely known. I was a fan of Catcher, so I was curious to see what Franny and Zooey had to offer.
The book is made up of two part, both published separately in The New Yorker in the 1950s. The first is a short story and serves as a sort of prologue to the second part, which was originally published as a novella.
The first part introduces Franny as a sort of anonymous university student who is becoming disenchanted with the selfishness and inauthenticity she perceives all around her, in Salinger’s good old Holden Caufield fashion. The second part begins with Zooey, Franny’s older brother, in the bath tub. Salinger gives more background to the family, and a large bulk of the book is made up of their mother, Bessie, coming into the bathroom to convince Zooey to comfort his emotionally ailing sister. He does so, offering his version of sage advice.
I found this interesting tidbit on Wikipedia, and it seemed to sum up why I was so intrigued by the book:
Gerald Rosen, in his short 1977 book Zen in the Art of J. D. Salinger, observes that Franny and Zooey could be interpreted as a modern Zen tale, with the main character, Franny, progressing over the course of the book from a state of ignorance to the deep wisdom of enlightenment.
I’ve always been interested in schools of thought and universal belief systems. In fact, I had quite a lively discussion with Boyfriend over the weekend concerning religion. (Afterwards, I vowed to myself to never start such an argument with him again.) But this is one text that doesn’t necessarily give way to argument nor doubt. It’s really just a matter of thinking, in a more secular way, despite having the religious book The Way of a Pilgrim as its catalyst.
A very quick read, and highly recommended.
Add comment July 7, 2009
