Coetzee's Summertime

I picked up J.M. Coetzee's Summertime with some trepidation. Other than Foe, he is an author with whom I struggle. His writing is so foreign to me. On top of that it tends to be dry and dense. This book, however, was quite engaging. I found it to be humorous and quite clever. I loved the structure of telling the story of South Africa through the eyes of colonial guilt and using that as a metaphor for personal perception. I feel like I finally saw what others see in his work. Definite thumbs up on this one!

Crow crap

Periodically I take a quick romp through romance. This is something I've done since high school really. Once in a while I simply enjoy that lovely story about a girl who meets a boy, the initial attraction, the delay caused by something, overcoming the delay only to be torn apart by fate at which point they finally come together in a surge of passion and love and rainbows. Ms. Crow's trilogy of m/m romance titled something like Scarlet & the White Wolf is an outrage. To begin with, who puts an ampersand in a book title? WTF? Secondly, here is a newsflash: gay men who are attracted to each other have sex. They don't stand around in their red capes with the wind whipping their long locks looking longingly at each other. The culmination of volume one is a kiss? Are you kidding? I got as far as the handjob in the middle of volume two and had to throw the books away. Please, keep writing about lesbians or puppies or whatever it is you're good at and leave men alone.

Sara's Little Stranger

After publishing by post on Wolf Hall, I realized I missed this posting on Sara Water's The Little Stranger. I loved this book, she really brought back the genre of gothic romance. Her imagining of the class system in England as a ghost knocking around the decaying mansion was brilliant. The characters were so well crafted and the pacing was perfect. She did everything right in this baby and her Man Booker short-list was well-deserved. I have read all of her novels and this one really hit the mark.

Wolf Hall

Oh Hilary, you are amazing! This book took hold of me from the first page with young Cromwell being smacked down by his dad to the last chapter's stormy England with its ray of hope. The writing was so elegant, the characters so human, you brought 16th century England to life for me. I shall follow you blindly through any future writings. While I have not finished the Man Booker shortlist, you absolutely win so far...