Russell > Recent Status Updates

Really struggling with this book. Just too sad. The writing is good, but nowhere as assured as in "All the light ..." I keep coming back to it every week or so, but I'm not sure I'm in the right mindset for this just now.

Well. I didn't see that coming. At all. Maybe take off one star? As long as the whole premise of the book isn't a lie - that would be worse than the "wake-up-it-was-all-a-dream" technique.

I have several stacks of books around the house, all waiting to be read. I have a couple of shopping bags of books in my car - ditto. I've started several of them, and really should persevere and finish a few. But I saw another Ian McEwan novel at the library and just couldn't resist it ...

This has been sitting on my desk for a couple of years, and today I put aside a few other half-finished books to read it. Today just happens to be the 5th anniversary of its publication. I can see why a lot of people rate the book so poorly: its protagonist is a pathetic, self-centred physicist full of excuses for his lack of inertia - yet it's hard to dislike him completely. McEwan's writing is masterful as always.

Chilling insights on just about every page. When the author describes Hitler as repellant, monstrous and deranged it is easy to forget that this was written in 1938-39, long before the most notorious atrocities had been committed. It's a pre-holocaust view that frequently hints at the horrors that might come, and warns against complacency.

I'm listening to this because I probably should read a second Bryce Courtenay, and because I'm more or less addicted to Humphrey Bower's narration. Whenever I finish an audiobook, I look to see if there is another Humphrey Bower immediately available. Not sure if I will see this one to the finish.

I don't want to give up on this because I'm sure it will improve ... but I think I will probably have to start again, and is it worth it?

Finding it hard to maintain interest.

After enjoying Disher's YA fiction, this is the first of his crime novels I've read. And I have to hurry - we're hosting the author at our library next week!

At last, something is starting to happen. I guess that's the toughest thing about creating an entirely new world for a novel - there's a lot of description to get out of the way early on. Ness learned from the experience - he does it superbly in Chaos Walking.