Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats
It's a soft four, and I feel I'm being generous. Possible that expectations were raised unreasonably by its fame.Its main strength, perhaps, is in the concept. Treating cats as people, with their varying personalities and exploits. The variety of characters is entertaining.
As individual poems, however, the collection impresses less. Two stand-outs are "Macavity: The Mystery Cat" and "Gus: The Theater Cat". These are also two of the most popular songs from the musical based on these poems. (Sarah Brightman did an oddly sexy version of "Macavity", but I digress.)
The Bobby Gold Stories
3 1/2It's a decent read. Started off 3-ish but improved to 4-ish as it progressed. Bobby had trouble carrying the novel, but the addition of Nikki to the proceedings helped. It moves at a comfortable pace - not quite a page turner, but easy to knock off a couple chapters in a session. Bourdain doesn't ramble or go off on unnecessary tangents, thus the book's manageable length. There are a few interesting plot twists. Decent ending.
Lunch Poems
3 1/2I wanted to like this more than I did. Maybe my hopes were set too high.
Anyway, O'Hara's lack of punctuation makes the reading difficult. He would often end a sentence and start a new one in the middle of a line, without any punctuation, so I would have to read it twice just to get the rhythm right. There were also some obscure cultural references without any explanations. They might have worked at the time of the original publication, but not as much fifty or so years later.
That being said, there are some good lines here. I might have to revisit this collection to see if any of the poems stand out. Of course, being published by City Lights, one need not worry about it being too stodgy or formal.
The Joshua Effect
I received a promotional copy through the First Reads program.Positive: Meronek does a decent job of keeping the plot together for 351 pages. It's not as easy as some readers believe it is. He made a smart decision in focusing on a small group of core characters. This makes the book easy to follow. I read it in a week, despite not being in love with it. So readability wasn't much of an issue.
Less Positive: I didn't like Strickland. Other characters weren't developed very well. It's a very talky novel, with dialogue and Strickland's thoughts overwhelming events. Meronek seems to have an axe to grind with the U.S. government, and he uses Strickland to grind it in a very preachy, condescending manner. The ending is an anti-climax.
No Man's Land: A Postwar Sketchbook of the War in the Trenches
3 1/2Note: George Pratt is the artist. I doubt anybody's buying this book for Greg Baisden.
The good: Pratt's a capable artist. He certainly knows how to draw people. He captures the somber mood of war. The quotes, from famous people (Auden, Housman, Saki, Kipling, Hitler) and others who were involved with World War One, added to the book.
The less impressive: There's a bit of redundancy. A lot of the sketches are murky and vague when clearer renderings would have been more appropriate for publication.
Porter's Fortune
Somewhere in the 3 1/2 - 4 range.Disclaimer: I received a promotional copy through the First Reads program.
Note: It's 258 pages, not 268.
It's a well-paced, entertaining read. The chapters alternate between Left Coast (mostly Porter and the film crew in Santa Johanna) and Right Coast (mostly Sam and his inner circle in the Buffalo area), and this works. Senna does a good job of keeping things moving, not wasting space with rambles. There are enough plot twists to keep the reader engaged. New characters are introduced as the novel progresses, adding layers of complexity to the story, but there's a sense of logic to these additions.
On the flip side, the characters are lacking likeability. Certain elements of the plot don't seem totally plausible, so nit pickers will enjoy this less than people who can just go with the flow. I'm not so sure about the ending.
Long Midnight of Barney Thomson
Lindsay did a good job with this one.The plot kept me engaged. Very reader-friendly in language and pacing. Some dark humor, as advertised.
On the flip side, there isn't much to give the reader a connection with the characters. Also, there's an oversight near the end. But it's a minor one.
: DOUGLAS LINDSAY)
A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal
Disclaimer: I received a promotional copy through the First Reads program. So a tip of the hat to Random House.Note: The edition I received was a 304-page uncorrected proof.
Macintyre did a good job with this one. His writing is accessible. The book moves at a good pace. It is packed with information, and quotes from first-hand sources are frequent. There are humorous anecdotes, as well as accounts of covert field operations. The Afterword, by John Le Carre, is mostly notes he took from a 1986 interview of Nicholas Elliott.
While Macintyre handled the subject well, one can not escape how depressing the subject is. It's essentially 300 pages of horrible stuff happening. Philby might be the main focus, but the underlying theme is the damage caused by English arrogance and incompetence. There's no way to undo what was done. There's no happy ending.
Wonder Woman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told
3 1/2A collection of ten Wonder Woman stories spanning her first sixty years. There's also a two-page snippet explaining her origin and an Introduction by Lynda Carter.
It works better as a historical overview than as a 'best of' collection. Seeing the changes over the years is fascinating. Robert Kanigher is overrepresented, with four of the ten. Two of his efforts could have been replaced and this would have been a stronger collection, both in variety and quality.
The stand-outs are 1942's "Wonder Woman Comes To America" for its camp appeal, 1988's "Who Killed Myndi Mayer?" - a murder mystery, and 2001's "She's A Wonder!", which features Lois Lane.
Hourglass Heights
3 1/2I received a promotional copy through the First Reads program. So a tip of the hat to Lily Ryan and Austin Macauley Publishers.
Note: It starts on page 11, so it's 267 pages.
What works: Switching between first and third person. This allows the reader to go places Marcia can't go, while still maintaining her status as the main character.
The short chapters. They keep the story moving along at a decent pace.
The final portion of the book - the last 50 or 60 pages or so. I expected a weaker ending. But Noakes managed to throw in a couple surprises.
What could have been improved: Sex was repeatedly depicted in a negative light. Considering the book is labeled 'erotic', I felt misled and disappointed.
Noakes has a habit of overdoing things. I don't know if this is due to his background in the film industry or merely because it's early in his career as an author. But more subtlety could have helped this novel.
Certain elements of the story didn't come across as realistic to me. And I'm not referring to the supernatural elements.
Final thoughts: It's a decent read. Just expect more crime and horror than erotica. Noakes has a good command of pace and plot. His writing could use improvement in certain areas, but they're areas that can be improved easily with more experience.
Memories of My Melancholy Whores
3 1/2It moves well, easy to get through. Garcia Marquez has a smooth writing style. The MC is interesting, if not particularly likeable. But I think Garcia Marquez took the 'while she was sleeping' gimmick too far.
The Hundred-Year House
3 1/2 I received a promotional copy through the First Reads program.
The copy I received is a paperback / uncorrected proofs. It starts on page 3 and ends on page 335. The formatting is a bit unusual, with numbered chapters in the first part, followed by no chapter divisions in the second part, and named chapters in the third part. But that might be different in the final edition of the book. It also starts in 1999 and moves backward in time. So the five-page prologue is at the end.
Part I focuses on Zee and her husband, Doug, in 1999. I didn't much care for Zee. I did like Doug, and I liked Miriam, who is also living at Laurelfield at this time. There's a 'dramatic' scene involving Zee which seemed forced to me. Makkai's talented enough to not need such crutches. The ending of this section is a bit corny and convenient, but it's the ending I wanted basically.
Part II focuses on Grace and her husband, George, in 1955. Some questions that were raised in Part I are answered here. I think George could have been written with more finesse. I wasn't really drawn into any of the characters in this section. Of the three full-length sections, this is definitely the weakest.
Part III focuses on a group of artists who were staying at Laurelfield in 1929. We see Laurelfield as an arts colony, not merely as a wealthy family's estate. More questions are answered.
The Prologue is a snippet about Augustus and his wife, Violet, in 1900. We get one more answer to the mysteries of Laurelfield.
Makkai’s a talented writer. She has the necessary tools. The novel moves well and is easy to get through. Unfortunately, after Doug and Miriam, there weren’t characters I felt emotionally invested in. It seems like a suitable novel for a book club, as there are some good triggers for discussion. I just can't mention them here without giving away spoilers.
Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood
3 1/2Reviewed it when I read it a few years ago. Upon reading that review recently, I didn't like it. So I deleted it.
A Room with a View
2 1/2Slow-moving. A bit boring. It doesn't surprise me that other readers gave up on it. Though it does pick up a bit if you can make it through the first two thirds. There's a cute twist at the end.
Forster's writing is good for an occasional chuckle. Though he fails to establish justification for Lucy marrying either suitor. She clearly doesn't know either man very well. So she can't love either man.
Mona
I read Mona years ago. It was a different edition than the one shown here. Not a fan of this cover. Anyway...It was definitely a page-turner. Might have given it 5 stars. But I wonder if certain aspects hold up well in our era. I'm used to reading books from earlier generations, but not every reader is.
Mother Night
4 1/2One of my favorite Vonnegut novels. It's also an example of what he could do when he harnessed his imagination instead of letting it run wild. Not sure if that's a coincidence or cause and effect.
