All Consuming : sylviasux

[i don't like titles] (rated 4 stars)

nobody@allconsuming.net (sylviasux) — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 22:40:49 GMT

by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

i’m not a big fan of mysteries, but this is a good book, although it’s one of those where the middle is supposed to build suspense but for me it was unnecessary. it wasn’t that it dragged on, but i thought the action could have been evened out throughout the story. instead, it was a bit mushed together near the end. also, it’s a bit sad to me that the main character didn’t have a bad ending. i guess i like those.

zafon is skilled at creating characters who [whom? i am an english major, i should know this. damn!] you feel for, but not so much at characters who you are supposed to despise. truly, i just felt confused, ambivalent about the villain.

Why I recommend "The Time Traveler's Wife"

nobody@allconsuming.net (sylviasux) — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 20:33:26 GMT

The Time Traveler's Wife

by Audrey Niffenegger

This book made me shed tears of several kinds of emotions from page one until the end. Wah. Truly, it’s good for romantics of all kinds and those who have loved ones. I also enjoy the time travel element. The jumble of events reminds me of the movie “Primer,” which is much more difficult to follow.

I guess there could have been more of a scientific element about the time travel notion, but I mean, that in itself is a lot of conjecture anyway. Oh well.

Why I recommend "America's Best Newspaper Writing: A Collection of ASNE Prizewinners"

nobody@allconsuming.net (sylviasux) — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 20:04:46 GMT

America's Best Newspaper Writing: A Collection of ASNE Prizewinners

by Roy Peter Clark

I don’t usually like reading article anthologies by the same author because I tend to get bored with his style and I start getting critical. It makes me have lukewarm feelings about whatever reporter or writer.

This collection is a good remedy for that. It still serves as a gold standard for me when I am writing my own articles. A wide variety of things in different categories: Stuff from the WSJ, the L.A. Times and small town newspapers / sports, features, news, profiles and obits. Beautiful. I stole this from my boyfriend’s set of school textbooks and I intend to keep it if we ever break up. Take that.

A story about "Children of Men"

nobody@allconsuming.net (sylviasux) — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 19:31:43 GMT

Children of Men

by Alfonso Cuarón

Whether this movie is overall “good” or “bad,” the themes in “Children of Men” provokes deep thought, argument and reflection among its audience, and the fact that it manages to achieve that is enough of a reason to hold this movie in some form of positive regard.

A story about "One Hundred Years of Solitude (P.S.)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (sylviasux) — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 19:24:16 GMT

One Hundred Years of Solitude (P.S.)

by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

This novel reminds me very much of a Latin ‘Grapes of Wrath.’ Is that shortsighted? I mean to say that it evokes in me many of the same feelings that I felt when reading the Steinbeck book, and that there are similar themes within the two novels.

This is my first Marquez book. Having somewhat of a short attention span, I’m surprised I was able to stick with this book. His metaphors and style of writing is unlike anything I’ve read before, and he has such a “new” way of describing many of the same feelings that other novels fail to express in anything besides cliches.

What a book!