Matt’s Book Review #4

I figured I’d do my semi-annual book review a bit early this time, so that it’d coincide with NoJoMo and help me finish out the month. Anyway, as always, this is a list of the books I’ve been reading loosely ordered by how much I liked them, complete with my detailed thoughts that are likely complete nonsense. And off we go.
 
1) After the Quake by Haruki Murakami: This is a series of short stories centered around the Kobe earthquakes in Japan and, as usual with Murakami, I thought it was brilliant. That said, no, I don’t understand the frog story either. Not much else to say – if you follow these book reviews (which I know you all do) then you know I like Murakami.
 
2) Christie Malry’s Own Double Entry by B.S. Johnson: Funny and self-referential (but not lighthearted), this was my first B.S. Johnson novel (appropriately read after A.S. Byatt) and I enjoyed it greatly. It’s short and easy, so I’d recommend it to most anyone, besides, this is the only novel I’ve read by a former accountant that also has a protagonist who is an accountant. Can it get any better than that?
 
3) A Passage to India by E.M. Forster: Sort of a forgotten classic, I enjoyed this for the most part. Some bits are a little hard to navigate and some of the points come across as a little heavy-handed, but, still, I can easily see why this was such an important book.
 
4) Orange Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson: Fun little semi-autobiographical book about a girl raised by a religious zealot of a mother. A lot of the anecdotes are outright hilarious, and Winterson definitely has a solid voice, but I thought it could have been more effective as just straight non-fiction. Winterson does provide some convincing excuses on why it isn’t throughout the book though, if you read things the right way.
 
5) Travels with My Aunt by Graham Greene: My first exposure to Greene, I thought this was pretty decent and I was impressed with how Greene slipped in some depth in what seems like a lighthearted novel. Easily recommendable.
 
6) Dubliners by James Joyce: Another mix of themed short stories, this is Joyce’s look at early 19th century Dublin. Much of this was written when Joyce was rather young and, while it’s certainly competent writing, it also didn’t interest me much and I thought a lot of it was pretty tedious. Probably more for Joyce completists than anyone else.
 
7) The Commitments by Roddy Doyle: It’s sorta hard for me to criticize this because I think Doyle basically accomplished exactly what he wanted to with it, plus it’s a very quick and easy read, but the subject matter (a band bringing “soul” music to Dublin, Ireland) didn’t much interest me. However, if the concept of a book on a fictional band bringing soul music to Dublin, Ireland does interest you, then your opinion may well differ than mine.
 
8) The Birthday Boys by Beryl Bainbridge: Another boring novel about men undertaking an incredibly brave, yet sadly doomed expedition (this time in a race to reach the south pole), I thought this was pretty much a waste. It is based on a semi-famous historical event (Robert Scott’s failed expedition to the south pole) and from what I understand Bainbridge researched it tirelessly in order to write this book, but, still that doesn’t make it any good.
 
9) Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card: As science fiction fare goes this is supposed to be good stuff, but it didn’t really do it for me. I thought some of the ideas were interesting, but Card’s writing style seemed dull and amateurish at times. But, then, maybe I just don’t get science fiction.
 
10) Anthem by Ayn Rand: Another notch in my dystopia obsession belt, this was a pretty weak one. It certainly isn’t subtle. Probably the worst dystopia we’ve ever read.
 
11) 99 Ways to Tell A Story: Exercises in Style by Matt Madden: I read the description of this book and thought “Wow, that really seems like a neat idea!” I received the book from amazon a week later and thought “Wow, that was a really stupid idea.” A waste.
 
And that wraps up Matt’s Book Review for another 6 months. Check back in next time to see what Matt thinks of popular titles like The Plot Against America, Footsucker, and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle – plus more!