THE AUTOGRAPH MAN
ZADIE SMITH
It's a book I'd saved up for when I need the distraction of a stunningly absorbing read. Given life and upwardly mobile stress levels, started it a few nights before. Nearly halfway through.
Smith wrote this one between White Teeth and On Beauty, and it's quite delicious. Till I'm in a position to review it, here's Salon's point of view. (A lot like mine, but their gushing's slightly more posh.)
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Friday, October 27, 2006
I walked across/ An empty land/ I knew the pathway/ Like the back of my hand.
HOWARDS END
EM FORSTER
Always loved Forster's short stories, even though I'm not very attached to that form of writing. Strangely enough, I didn't ever get around to any of his full-length stuff. Till now.
After reading (and falling in love with) On Beauty, I simply had to read the book it was inspired by. If only to learn how much of Zadie Smith's writing/ plotting was completely original.
Howards End is a spectacular novel, at the heart of which lies an unexpected friendship. It is the depth of that friendship that leads to Ruth Wilcox's bequeathing of Howards End to Margaret Schlegel. And they are but two of the many characters that make this fairly sprawling story come to life.
Smith's retelling of the story is even more beautiful, since she's shifted the landscape to a present-day American university. Introduced elements like race, nationality, and art/culture. And amplified the chief conflicts: emotionalism vs. practicality, culture vs. materialism, etc.
Her story is as much of a comment on our times as Forster's was of his -- on morality; on families, homes, and family homes; on society; on art/ culture; and on identity.
It's a flawless retelling of an already quite perfect story.
Loved both books. Was blown away at the spirit with which one takes on the other. Lingered over, and enjoyed immensely, the threads that ran through both narratives.
It's a bit like falling for the same person after many, many years. Much has changed; much is new. Yet, there are so many things that provoke the exact same reaction they did all that while ago.
Maybe I should read more Forster.
EM FORSTER
Always loved Forster's short stories, even though I'm not very attached to that form of writing. Strangely enough, I didn't ever get around to any of his full-length stuff. Till now.
After reading (and falling in love with) On Beauty, I simply had to read the book it was inspired by. If only to learn how much of Zadie Smith's writing/ plotting was completely original.
Howards End is a spectacular novel, at the heart of which lies an unexpected friendship. It is the depth of that friendship that leads to Ruth Wilcox's bequeathing of Howards End to Margaret Schlegel. And they are but two of the many characters that make this fairly sprawling story come to life.
Smith's retelling of the story is even more beautiful, since she's shifted the landscape to a present-day American university. Introduced elements like race, nationality, and art/culture. And amplified the chief conflicts: emotionalism vs. practicality, culture vs. materialism, etc.
Her story is as much of a comment on our times as Forster's was of his -- on morality; on families, homes, and family homes; on society; on art/ culture; and on identity.
It's a flawless retelling of an already quite perfect story.
Loved both books. Was blown away at the spirit with which one takes on the other. Lingered over, and enjoyed immensely, the threads that ran through both narratives.
It's a bit like falling for the same person after many, many years. Much has changed; much is new. Yet, there are so many things that provoke the exact same reaction they did all that while ago.
Maybe I should read more Forster.
Take all your big plans/ And break 'em.
WEIGHT LOSS
UPAMANYU CHATTERJEE
Hated it as much as I liked English, August. Namely, quite a bit.
IRISH GIRLS ABOUT TOWN
Ed. MAEVE BINCHY, MARIAN KEYES
The two-minute noodle version of chick lit. Short, snappy stories that shine light on the principal problem with (most) chick lit. Namely, you can't draw out a short story into a full-length novel without putting many readers to sleep.
PICTURE PALACE
PAUL THEROUX
Lush, real, vivid, insightful. Loved every minute of it. My first non-travel Theroux, and certainly not my last.
PRIOR BAD ACTS
TAMI HOAG
Trashy (but fulfilling) thriller. Can't believe she used to be a romantic writer for years. Read her Loveswepts way back in college.
LUCKY STARS
JANE HELLER
Looks and feels like regular chick lit, but much nicer. A decent plot/ premise, for starters, even though it kinda falls apart eventually. Like Olivia Joules! But nice, nonetheless.
UPAMANYU CHATTERJEE
Hated it as much as I liked English, August. Namely, quite a bit.
IRISH GIRLS ABOUT TOWN
Ed. MAEVE BINCHY, MARIAN KEYES
The two-minute noodle version of chick lit. Short, snappy stories that shine light on the principal problem with (most) chick lit. Namely, you can't draw out a short story into a full-length novel without putting many readers to sleep.
PICTURE PALACE
PAUL THEROUX
Lush, real, vivid, insightful. Loved every minute of it. My first non-travel Theroux, and certainly not my last.
PRIOR BAD ACTS
TAMI HOAG
Trashy (but fulfilling) thriller. Can't believe she used to be a romantic writer for years. Read her Loveswepts way back in college.
LUCKY STARS
JANE HELLER
Looks and feels like regular chick lit, but much nicer. A decent plot/ premise, for starters, even though it kinda falls apart eventually. Like Olivia Joules! But nice, nonetheless.
Friday, October 06, 2006
California/ Rest in peace.
Other stuff that I've read, but can't be bothered to write about.
CRUEL SHOES
STEVE MARTIN
A bunch of essays (more like whinings, or short short shorts) he wrote before he learned to be funny, coherent, and cool. Greatly and utterly avoidable.
MOO
JANE SMILEY
Hugely recommended, in spite of featuring talking cows. Call me intolerant, but I barely made it to the second chapter.
A NICE DERANGEMENT OF EPITAPHS
ELLIS PETERS
Also fairly heavily recommended. Began quite well, but I lost interest somewhere along the line. I can be quite scatty and easily distracted at times: these are exactly those sort of times. But I might give it a bash again later. (When I run out of other things to read.)
THE LAST YEAR OF BEING SINGLE
SARAH FOSTER
Incredibly predictable chick lit. (Or am I just being snotty and hardcover-reading? C'est possible.)
Anyhow. That's all the stuff I read that's unfit to read. More about the stuff that is, later.
CRUEL SHOES
STEVE MARTIN
A bunch of essays (more like whinings, or short short shorts) he wrote before he learned to be funny, coherent, and cool. Greatly and utterly avoidable.
MOO
JANE SMILEY
Hugely recommended, in spite of featuring talking cows. Call me intolerant, but I barely made it to the second chapter.
A NICE DERANGEMENT OF EPITAPHS
ELLIS PETERS
Also fairly heavily recommended. Began quite well, but I lost interest somewhere along the line. I can be quite scatty and easily distracted at times: these are exactly those sort of times. But I might give it a bash again later. (When I run out of other things to read.)
THE LAST YEAR OF BEING SINGLE
SARAH FOSTER
Incredibly predictable chick lit. (Or am I just being snotty and hardcover-reading? C'est possible.)
Anyhow. That's all the stuff I read that's unfit to read. More about the stuff that is, later.
Hold on, little girl.
ON BEAUTY
ZADIE SMITH
Scrumptiously good. Much, much, much easier to read than White Teeth, which I really liked quite a bit.
But in all honesty, I can't review it without reading Howards End, the book it's written in tribute to.
So hang on a bit. I'll be back.
ZADIE SMITH
Scrumptiously good. Much, much, much easier to read than White Teeth, which I really liked quite a bit.
But in all honesty, I can't review it without reading Howards End, the book it's written in tribute to.
So hang on a bit. I'll be back.
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