Catherine ’s Comments (group member since Oct 14, 2010)

Catherine ’s comments from the Cafe Libri group.

Adrianna wrote: "Cross-post from Nannie in Yahoo Cafe Libri:

http://bookshelfporn.com/

Which one of the photos on this site is your favorite? I love the book igloo
and the falling down bookshelves made of what el..."
An overwhelming number of great pictures! An inspiration to stick my head inside the closest book and save the pictures for my dreams.

Caught my attention with this title which I read in 2011 and then followed with the next eleven books in the series. New I see there are two more – so thanks for bringing this to my attention. Murder in the Marais received several awards, you all will enjoy the read -- like a visit to Paris! I will follow the discussion with interest.

Evelyn wrote: "his other book "Mark of Cain " (may have the title wrong) is much less gruesome and a much better story, I thoroughly enjoyed it better."

Thanks, Evelyn. I might put The Marks Of Cain on my reading list or at least consider it if I found it laying around the house!

Theory was interesting, settings were great, suspense was exciting, (4*) but the gruesomeness and horrific descriptions of sacrifice (2*) were way too much for me in this kidnapping, murder, thriller, historical look at human sacrifice, archaeological crime fiction.

I did a combination of the audio and the book, both of which were checked out from the library. I will not be seeking any more books by this author based on the graphic grisly descriptions.

I found Ben-Hur more of a religious read than I had bargained for, although the subtitle, A Tale of the Christ should have been a clue, and way too much description to keep it moving with any speed at all. I read this in short doses, and like the movie (which I saw WAY long ago), the chariot scene was the most exciting part. I had forgotten about all the connections with Christ and the emotional impact of the crucifixion part. I found this, like the Bible, mostly boring, with some exciting and emotionally powerful parts.

Interesting to learn that the author was the governor of the New Mexico Territory in the 1800s and wondered if the camels in the NM/AZ desert might have prompted his interest in writing this book.

Adrianna wrote: "Thanks for the reminder, Catherine! I'm changing the book statues now. :) ..."

Thanks, Adrianna, I know you're busy. Actually, I found that I was able to change the status myself. Hope that's OK, think I did it for one other book too, and added a tag. Yahoo seems to be the place where more discussion is happening but I prefer Goodreads.

Can we get this book changed to "Currently Reading" status, please? Although with the month almost over, maybe it should go straight to read instead! Not sure if I can finish it in the next few days but I'm working on it. Here are my status notes so far:

Page 30- Fairly confusing start with 5 characters playing a game of "Sincerity" in which they make statements all but one of which are supposed to be false. The characters are Americans in Budapest in 1990. This is a new author for me and I find it much better than last month's choice, Back Roads.

103- Enjoying this more as it delves into historical interludes and thanks to a cheat sheet I made about which character is which. Don't understand the conflict between brothers.

162- I'm almost done with part 2, the history of the printing company and the family who owns it, from the early 1800s through post-WW2. The generational changes and the printing business itself give a great view of the history of the country. I'll be interested in how this connects with the initial characters, I'm assuming through Charles Gábor and his venture capital work. Anyway, I like the historical perspective and the background it supplies.

Do we have a thread for Prague? I can't find it -- must be hiding from me. I'll post my update on Yahoo for now....

FINISHED AND DID NOT LIKE --
Like a bad TV drama this novel features a dysfunctional family headed by 19-year-old Harley, who struggles with two part time jobs to support his three younger sisters while their mother is in jail for killing their father. I would have quit, but had to find out what happens, so kept reading only to find the ending the worst part of the book. I did not find any redeeming literary value but perhaps some psycho-social value (?) as a fictional case study.

I'll agree with AerinBlue and Adrianna about not banning books and as is mentioned above this is not a book for everyone, and parts were off-putting even for a "liberal" reader. I think it's worth reading as a classic of the beat generation and I liked this edition for the inclusion of the history of the writing, publishing and controversy surrounding Burroughs and the book.

I used the following tags: 1950s, sex, drugs, lgbt,

I'm almost done with this but haven't been following the discussion. Will try to post something soon.

The last part of the book went quickly. Most of my review is a slight revision of what I wrote above, but I did read some critiques, here's a summary:

Other reviews/critiques I found helpful:   Platonic Idealism, the concept of reality, and Sufi philosophy are discussed in Lessing's Engagement with Platonic Idealism in Briefing for a Descent into Hell.  A comparison of 'Briefing' with Lessing's other works in Doris Lessing's Briefing as Structural Life and Death.  And Borderline Fantasies: The Two Worlds of Briefing for a Descent into Hell, is a great overview and discusses the book in depth, including Dr. Y's theory that the amnesia is a form of self-therapy.

Adrianna wrote: "Are you enjoying it so far, Catherine? It looks like Jeffrey is reading it still...."

Page 202 - Not sure if "enjoy" is the appropriate word -- this is not a "fun" book, but I'm intrigued enough to keep pushing toward the end of this book's journey into my mind. Here are my thoughts at this point.

A difficult read, as if the author is testing the reader, putting up barriers and blockades as diversions from the true subject matter which is buried deep inside the protagonists head and we're on a long and arduous journey to unveil the truth about the secrets of life.

There are two very different levels of narrative, in the reality level the patient/protagonist has been admitted to the hospital with amnesia. But reality is evidently the hell from which he is trying to escape into the better and less corrupt world of the other narrative level, his inner self, -- a rejection of conformity which is thwarted by the hospital personnel who have conflicting views about making him healthy.

I'm not a big fan of psychological dramas, but Lessing seems to have sucked me into this inner world, if only to find out how she is going to resolved the character's situation. The multiple realities and the vague connections between them add to the confusion as well as to the depth of this novel.

I like a quote on page 184, "Sometimes when you read a book or story, the words are dead, you struggle to end it or put it down, your attention is distracted. Another time, with exactly the same book or story, it is full of meaning, every sentence or phrase or even word seems to vibrate with messages and ideas, reading is like being pumped full of adrenalin."

Page 40 - Won't worry about spoilers since it sounds like everyone following this discussion has either stopped reading or is almost done. Right off it reminded me of two books:

1- Life of Pi although Pi is actually adrift instead of just thinking he is and that book has 100+ chapters as opposed to no chapter breaks, at least that I've seen so far.

2- The Idiot which I'm currently reading also. Fyodor Dostoyevsky is into internal mental distress in both this and Crime and Punishment, but not to the exclusion of all else -- except the Dr. and Nurse notes, which I find myself looking forward to in order to escape from the mind of Jason/Jonah/protagonist.

I liked the Rachel Carson quote at the beginning about the minuscule world of sand grains and think about how it perhaps relates to the distressed inner world of this character's mind.

The only other Doris Lessing book I've read is, Memoirs of a Survivor and that was in 1981, so I'm unable to compare this with any of her other books.

My copy of the book via ILL arrived today -- a mere six weeks after I requested it. Still a great service and I'm thankful my library provides it. I know the discussion is officially over but I don't see that any members of the group have marked it as "Read" or even "Currently Reading" on GR. Anybody still reading it? Jeffrey, Donna, Adrianna, Amanda? I hope to start in the next couple days.

End of Part 3 - Page 311
Found the time period in the next section -- late 1980s, early 90s. Willy Jack has certainly not improved as a human being since he left Novalee in Oklahoma. Does he have any redeeming qualities? I'm wondering how his character is going to progress in what's left of the book.

End of Part 2, Page 215.
I'm late to join the discussion but recently started reading this novel. It is not a book I would have chosen to read otherwise.

Assorted weird small town characters are not very believable -- I'm from a small town -- and the librarians depicted are extremely idiosyncratic. Novalee is very naive but seems capable of making better choices than her loser former boyfriend and horrible mother.

Despite the unbelievable characters, perhaps a better description would be characters blessed with an enhanced reality, this book is growing on me. Reminds me of Haven Kimmel whose characters are even more enhanced. I like the development of a relationship between Novalee and Forney.

I would say the security issues with Wal-Mart are probably a matter of literary license as I agree she would have been discovered the first night. Doesn't mention whether Novalee ever read From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler -- I doubt it, but her hiding made me think of that book.

Also I'm wondering about the time period -- 1980s? Somehow it has the feel of an earlier time period, perhaps due to the small town setting.

I was going to try to read it but have not yet obtained a copy -- seems to be hard to find. Maybe I'll wait and see what you pick for a secondary read.

Great review, AerinBlue! I too am planning to get the rest of the series on my next library visit.

End of Chapter 14

Thanks for the comments and the links, Adrianna and AerinBlue. My copy does not have the author's notes.  I'll look for a different edition when I go to the library to get the next book in the series.  I did find a Prydain Pronunciation Guide in the back -- I had been wondering how to prounouce some of the names.

I also like the harp strings connection with truthfulness but I find the interchanges between Taran and Eilonwy to be childish, considering the intended audience not out of place though.  My favorite character is Gurgi, love the word play he adds to almost everything he says.

This is an escapist read for me because of the easy reading, the cliff hangers and the exciting plot.

 I loved Fflewddur's mention of Taliesin, "the Chief Bard himself" (page 89) as it makes an unlikely connection with another book I just read, T.C. Boyle's [Book: The Women|3381581], in which much of the action takes place at Frank LLoyd Wright's Taliesin in Wisconsin.