Wow! It has been awhile since I’ve had time to write a blog post. I should probably be doing something more school-related right now, but here I am… I’ve been very busy these past few weeks, but I’ve still been able to get a bit of reading in.
Inbox:
I’ve only gotten one new book in the past few weeks, though I do have another in the mail on its way to me. I won a Goodreads giveaway for The Ninth Hour by Alice McDermott, which I am so excited to read! I haven’t read historical fiction in awhile, and I am excited to get back into it. Historical fiction has always been comforting for me, though this novel seems more tragic than comfortable. I’ve never read any of McDermott’s previous work, but if any of you have, let me know what you think!
Outbox:
Since finishing Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and Five-Carat Soul by James McBride, I have only gotten through two books. I am slowly but surely making progress on my ebook (A Man of Shadows by Jeff Noon), but at work I can only read paper books so I progress through those a little quicker. I finished Men Without Women by Haruki Murakami, which my dad got me for my birthday this year (yet here I am, reading it a few months late..). This is Murakami’s newest collection of short stories, and I enjoyed most of them. I felt the last two got a little too man-centric and simple-minded for me, but the first five stories were really enjoyable and thoughtfully put together. After finishing a collection by Murakami and McBride, I am pretty worn out with short stories for now. I think I’ll stick to longer form works for my next few picks.
I also finished a graphic novel–Saigon Calling: London 1963-75 by Marcelino Truong (translated by David Homel). This novel tells the story of Truong as he grew up in London and France during the Vietnam War, and how this affected his childhood. I thought the illustrations were beautiful, and the story was organized and easy to follow. However, there were some long historical sections, which, while I found them enlightening, broke up the flow of the overall story quite a bit. This is technically the sequel to a previous work by Truong titled Such a Lovely Liltle War: Saigon 1961-63, which focuses on the early years of the Vietnam War. I don’t think you have to read Such a Lovely Little War before Saigon Calling, though you might get a greater understanding of Truong’s childhood if you read them in order, and understand a few references made in Saigon Calling. I highly recommend this title, and thank you to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing me with a review copy!
Thanks for reading, and hopefully I’ll be able to post a set of mini-reviews soon!
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