Tue, 04 Dec 2007 16:16:33 -0500 http://www.compulsivereader.com/html/ http://www.compulsivereader.com en-us http://www.compulsivereader.com/html/images/images/books.gif http://www.compulsivereader.com/html/ maggieball@compulsivereader.com http://www.compulsivereader.com/html/Article1807.html Some of this novel is clumsy and a little repetitive, but the ferocity of Nesca’s writing is indomitable and covers weaknesses with something that approaches indisputable glory. He is a poet writing prose and dealing with material that is so close to him that he often struggles to manage it objectively. It is raw honesty from one of life’s damaged angels and worth your attention. Tue, 04 Dec 2007 16:16:33 -0500 http://www.compulsivereader.com/html/Article1804.html In The Writer Behind the Words Girard put her heart, soul, and her disappointments and discouragements into words that could help beginning writers see the disappointments they may face before they find out the hard way as Girard did. Thu, 29 Nov 2007 22:34:22 -0500 http://www.compulsivereader.com/html/Article1798.html With a hefty dose of humour, the reader is encouraged to consider the impact of what we do today on how the future might look. While the book isn’t didactic, and is often jocular, Williams makes it clear that whether or not the human race survives, and in what shape, is something that we have to imagine and work towards. Thu, 22 Nov 2007 21:23:18 -0500 http://www.compulsivereader.com/html/Article1794.html Out of this unpromising material, McCay built a stunning world of meticulously drawn nightmares. Although sometimes the drawing is hurriedly performed, it never lacks vigor and often the drawing is done with a zest that dwells on the mind of the reader as the best expression of fantasies that display breath-taking imaginative power. Wed, 21 Nov 2007 01:46:13 -0500 http://www.compulsivereader.com/html/Article1791.html Signed, Mata Hari is a beautifully crafted little book well worth a careful reading. Its prose is magical. Its story is compelling. Its characters are painted in all their flawed humanity. Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:32:36 -0500 http://www.compulsivereader.com/html/Article1789.html I’ve been reading his blog for so long now that calling him Wheaton, or Mr. Wheaton is just as odd as trying to call my junior high teachers by their first names now that I’ve grown. From that standpoint, The Happiest Days of Our Lives reads for me less as an autobiography than as stories being swapped over beers by a couple of old friends remembering the Good Old Days. Wed, 14 Nov 2007 20:50:09 -0500 http://www.compulsivereader.com/html/Article1788.html Pratchett shows his usual flair – wonderfully Dickensian – for names. Lipwig’s girlfriend, a very abrasive young woman, is Adora Belle Dearheart. And the fun gathers in the last quarter of the book to reward the persistence of the reader. Wed, 14 Nov 2007 20:37:18 -0500 http://www.compulsivereader.com/html/Article1787.html The author is George Harvey Bone, the alter-ego of a traveller, foodie and all-round up-for-it type who seems to be one of those arch, silly British types, hugely endearing and a bit over-the-top who do it all with tongue in cheek, a nudge and a wink, and a pint in their hand. Reminds me of our John Murray authors, The Bart & the Bounder, and there might well be two people behind Mr Bone, it's hard to tell. Wed, 14 Nov 2007 20:31:37 -0500 http://www.compulsivereader.com/html/Article1785.html The photographs become everyone’s close people. The times and places become our own memories of what we’ve known, and been and where we’ve ended. It is, indeed, a long afternoon – and at the end of it is evening. Though this isn’t a fast novel to read, nor does it leave the reader with a denouement in any sense. Yet it is both beautiful, and powerful in its ability to draw out, like a great poem, the core meaning of a moment. Wed, 14 Nov 2007 19:06:59 -0500 http://www.compulsivereader.com/html/Article1783.html To cap off these colorful and brilliantly-written escapades, author McCrae sets them in short chapters with wit and panache not seen since Oscar Wilde’s time. Couple this with a prologue and epilogue set in a mental hospital and you simply won’t believe the twisted and perverse ending. It made my head spin just trying to figure out how the author—any author—could come up with something this good, this unusual, and this surprising. Mon, 12 Nov 2007 22:13:35 -0500 http://www.compulsivereader.com/html/Article1781.html It really is a lovely, warm piece, and a weepy one for knowing the end of their story. I was relieved that the plan to end of their lives together was not chronicled here, because I became somewhat enamoured of both of them, and of the love they shared. Thu, 08 Nov 2007 20:52:33 -0500 http://www.compulsivereader.com/html/Article1779.html The real attraction of the book is – and this quality it shares with the other Gus LaGarde books – the charm of the author and the opportunity for the reader to share in a gracious life built on warm relations with family and friends. The joys of the table and the love of music and the appreciation of the quiet joys of reading embrace an ideal but not impossible world. Thu, 08 Nov 2007 20:35:02 -0500 http://www.compulsivereader.com/html/Article1778.html To come to a judgment: the pieces in Dark Paradise hit home more often than not, and the way in which an overarchingly oppressive mood is sustained frequently impresses. Thu, 08 Nov 2007 20:31:39 -0500 http://www.compulsivereader.com/html/Article1777.html Overall, this collection paints glimpses of the lonely people in life with tender, compassionate finger strokes and entices a reader to peruse them again. It allows the reader a full experience of life on the road and the ups and downs of everyday life. It’s a very rich and satisfying collection. Tue, 06 Nov 2007 22:35:29 -0500 http://www.compulsivereader.com/html/Article1776.html This novel is filled with the mysterious beauty of Siam, the flamboyance of Paris, and the easy, rolling life of Rome before World War II. It’s a love story filled with adventure and sacrifice. Ewen tells an interesting, well-written, and totally captivating story here. You can’t help but enjoy it. Tue, 06 Nov 2007 22:28:10 -0500 http://www.compulsivereader.com/html/Article1775.html To sum up: this is a memorable book and was an influential one too, for the Beats especially (“on the road” is a phrase that recurs throughout; Kerouac seems to have palmed it from here). It is that rare thing: a cult book that lives up to its reputation. Its take-home message: the world is a tool for self-discovery; not at all bad for an autobiography. Tue, 06 Nov 2007 22:22:40 -0500 http://www.compulsivereader.com/html/Article1770.html If you chart Dickstein’s emphases as a line graph, you will find that it spikes sharply upward at certain authors. Although he sees Joyce, Mann, and Kafka as the dominant modernists, he writes relatively little about the first two compared to what he writes about Kafka. Joyce is too knotty a problem to be dealt with in a book that has many other considerations. Sun, 04 Nov 2007 15:17:14 -0500 http://www.compulsivereader.com/html/Article1766.html Some choices may raise eyebrows – Georgette Heyer, Daphne du Maurier, or H.P. Lovecraft – but this is a reader’s book and such choices are not out of place. Dirda’s effort is to provide a lively guide to the books that he regards as eminently readable. Tue, 30 Oct 2007 17:06:57 -0400 http://www.compulsivereader.com/html/Article1764.html There are no chapter divisions, normally a sign of grave authorial cruelty towards the reader, but O’Farrell carries the reader along so securely that the reader will not suffer from the absence of chapters. O’Farrell has, in fact, a compelling style that allows her to do many daring things that are usually unacceptable. Thu, 25 Oct 2007 18:00:34 -0400 http://www.compulsivereader.com/html/Article1763.html He has an engaging readiness to gossip. His portraits, largely unfriendly, of Nicholas Nabokov and Theodor Adorno are skilful and have a hint of venom. In other contexts, he is equally gifted at bringing to life the relations, often troubled, of the musical giants of the past century. He presents many incidents that explain much about the musical developments of the period. Some of these are far from edifying – and often all the more amusing for that. Thu, 25 Oct 2007 17:51:55 -0400 http://www.compulsivereader.com/html/Article1761.html As unaffected and straightforward as the writing seems, this "wise prose" (as Frank McCourt terms it) involved me completely, transporting me to Springfield Massachusetts, and to an Irish-Catholic working class area called Hungry Hill. There, thanks to Ms. Gaunt's stunning recall of minute details, I lived with the young Carole in her chaotic world as the stricken family struggled back to life. Tue, 23 Oct 2007 18:00:20 -0400 http://www.compulsivereader.com/html/Article1760.html Without good, in-depth characters to begin with, even the most exciting premise can stall, as you just don’t know about the people driving it forward. While writing out the kind of detail that 10 Steps asks you to put in for each character at the front end -- that is, before you write -- may seem onerous, it makes the actual novel writing process much quicker and easier. I didn't say easy (novel writing is about as easy as childbirth). Just easier, and a lot more likely to actually get done. Mon, 22 Oct 2007 20:32:08 -0400 http://www.compulsivereader.com/html/Article1759.html In some ways it is like a very interesting first installment to a longer story. Although this disappoints one’s conventional longings for a neat fictional package, it is on more sophisticated grounds eminently satisfactory. This, the eighth book by Cameron, is an accomplishment that provides an irresistible blend of the moving and the witty. Mon, 22 Oct 2007 18:00:11 -0400 http://www.compulsivereader.com/html/Article1757.html Castles creates mood skilfully, as in the opening chapter where Danny and his father are fishing in their little boat. The blood on his father's t-shirt from the worms and other creatures is symbolic of the man and his relationship with his family. The details of the community and the people who live there produce a sleepiness that is tinged with menace. There is much that moves under the surface of the water, occasionally bursting out to wreck havoc. Mon, 22 Oct 2007 17:42:30 -0400 http://www.compulsivereader.com/html/Article1756.html Overall, Reading Comics: How Graphic Novels Work and What They Mean is a book that is subtle, stimulating and enjoyable to read. It is certain to deepen your appreciation of what is a still-emerging medium (as Wolk says, “The Golden Age [of Comics] is Right Now”). Sun, 21 Oct 2007 17:10:52 -0400