Literature & Fiction

Snapshot
Snapshot

Review:Very, very entertaining! I normally feel like short read tend not to fully emerse you in the story. Snapshot on the other hand had me on the edge of my seat from the beginning and didn't let up until the very end! Very good read! Read more

Calamity (The Reckoners)
Calamity (The Reckoners)

Review:If you've read the first two Reckoners books you're going to read this one anyway, and you won't regret it. As a whole the trilogy is great, and the first 75% of this book is great. Even though it's marketed as YA I thoroughly enjoy it as an adult; it's "lighter" than Brandon's other fantasy, but still written intelligently with an engaging, generally well-paced plot and action and fantastic world building.

Unfortunately the end of this book (which is also the end of the trilogy) felt r... Read more

Mason & Dixon: A Novel
Mason & Dixon: A Novel

Review:I have a peculiar reason for reading this book. The author's name was not familiar with me until I read some Mark Knopfler interview around the time his Sailing to Philadelphia came out. The title song was written after he read Mason & Dixon. Well, lacking something to read, I found this book in a very small second-hand shop in downtown Helsinki. Here are my remarks so far:
For a non-native speaker (I am Dutch) the English Pynchon employs, although seemingly authentic, is rather difficult... Read more

Underworld: A Novel
Underworld: A Novel

Review:I read this book in '98 and I still remember it so well. I have recommended it to 5 or 6 people and they couldn't get through it. Too big and bulky or whatever. But I just fell into the writing and the way he wove a tale of different lives into the basket of the 20th century. He is truly a gifted writer and I'm gonna pick this book back up and fall in love all over again! Read more

V. (Perennial Classics)
V. (Perennial Classics)

Review:When it was published, V. won something called the William Faulkner Prize for First Novels. At the time Faulkner was at the pinnacle of his reputation, if not his writing career. He'd recently won the Nobel Prize. Faulkner has always been known as a relatively difficult read because of his fragmented plots. He often gives a few chapters of a story and then suddenly he seems to begin another story. Only later do you realize the stories are weaved together. I think Pynchon's receiving this awar... Read more

Bleeding Edge: A Novel
Bleeding Edge: A Novel

Review:I've been longing for Pynchon's take on the internet. Wonderful and worth the wait. All of his trademarks are here - paranoia, delightful wordplay, onomastic cheekiness, esoteric subjects combined with pop culture. And, something Pynchon knows how to do better than any writer, living or dead, an ending that leaves you with a sense of fulfillment. For all of you who ignorantly feel the need to review the voice on the audio version here, please go back and retract your comments and ratings. T... Read more

White Noise: (Penguin Orange Collection)
White Noise: (Penguin Orange Collection)

Review:Jack Gladney is a college professor in the middle of a mid life crisis. He has no idea of who he is. He hides his emptiness behind thick, dark framed glasses, a scholarly university instructors' robe, and mastery of his academic interest of choice, "Hitler studies". He sees death everywhere he looks and attempts to thwart its inevitability in obsessive compulsive ways. He hoards old, worthless, sentimental objects. He memorizes the most minute trivial facts about Hitler. He to strives for ... Read more

MASON & DIXON.
MASON & DIXON.

Review:I have a peculiar reason for reading this book. The author's name was not familiar with me until I read some Mark Knopfler interview around the time his Sailing to Philadelphia came out. The title song was written after he read Mason & Dixon. Well, lacking something to read, I found this book in a very small second-hand shop in downtown Helsinki. Here are my remarks so far:
For a non-native speaker (I am Dutch) the English Pynchon employs, although seemingly authentic, is rather difficult... Read more

V. : A Novel
V. : A Novel

Review:When it was published, V. won something called the William Faulkner Prize for First Novels. At the time Faulkner was at the pinnacle of his reputation, if not his writing career. He'd recently won the Nobel Prize. Faulkner has always been known as a relatively difficult read because of his fragmented plots. He often gives a few chapters of a story and then suddenly he seems to begin another story. Only later do you realize the stories are weaved together. I think Pynchon's receiving this awar... Read more

The Crying of Lot 49 (Perennial Fiction Library)
The Crying of Lot 49 (Perennial Fiction Library)

Review:Lot 49 is a unique book, and one of my favorites of all time. I read it for the first time years ago in a class which had T.S.Eliot's Wasteland as central theme, and it was in this context that I came to explore its different levels of meaning. The most fascinating quality of Lot 49 comes from its weaving a highly colorful tapestry, where comical anecdote, subcultural jargon, social satire, historical revelations, and philosophical discourse on moral values are all entertwined. The result is... Read more

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