*How to Stop Time by Matt Haig was described as a "wry, intriguing meditation on time and eternal human challenges."(People) /tin Gazard us a 439 year old who has a rare condition call anageria which means he ages very,very slowly. A fascinating exercise in thinking through the implication of love, friendship and history. Although Haig gets a little too "Forest Gump" while encountering Scott & Zelda, Capt. Cook, and Shakespeare, it is still a " delightfully witty...poignant novel."(Wash.Post) Oh, I understand that Benedict Cumberbach will star in the movie.
Moonglow by Michael Chabon received rhapsodic reviews from most critics who are doubtless more sophisticated readers than I. This work of “fictional nonfiction” is a collection of stories supposedly told in 1989 by his dying grandfather. Parts of the book are also narrated by the author, and his mother and grandmother are also prominent characters. There are many beautiful, elegant sentences and metaphors but the stories and narrative could have been more engaging and coordinated.
**Paris in the Present Tense by Mark Helprin describes the challenges and dreams of a seventy-four-year-old professor at Paris-Sorbonne. Jules is also a cellist, widow, veteran of the Algerian war, and child of the Holocaust who must now confront his mortality, losses, unrealized potential and fashion the last refrain of his life. Eloquently written, with psychological and philosophical insight combined with humor and suspense. This is the best book I’ve read in 2018.
Moonglow by Michael Chabon received rhapsodic reviews from most critics who are doubtless more sophisticated readers than I. This work of “fictional nonfiction” is a collection of stories supposedly told in 1989 by his dying grandfather. Parts of the book are also narrated by the author, and his mother and grandmother are also prominent characters. There are many beautiful, elegant sentences and metaphors but the stories and narrative could have been more engaging and coordinated.
**Paris in the Present Tense by Mark Helprin describes the challenges and dreams of a seventy-four-year-old professor at Paris-Sorbonne. Jules is also a cellist, widow, veteran of the Algerian war, and child of the Holocaust who must now confront his mortality, losses, unrealized potential and fashion the last refrain of his life. Eloquently written, with psychological and philosophical insight combined with humor and suspense. This is the best book I’ve read in 2018.
*The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks is a clever psychological
thriller in the tradition of Gone Girl and The Girl on the
Train. You may think you know this
story: a powerful, controlling husband dumps a troubled first wife for a
younger woman with whom the discarded spouse becomes obsessed. But that’s only
part of the story. The myriad plot twists, red herrings, and unreliable
narrators will keep the book from being considered good literature but insure
its popularity and market success.
*Two Kinds of Truth by Michael Connelly has Harry Bosch investigating a pharmacy shooting that leads him into the big-business world of pill mills and
prescription-drug abuse. At the same time, an old case from Bosch's days with the
LAPD returns to threaten his reputation. Harry's half-brother, defense attorney
Mickey Haller (The Lincoln Lawyer, 2005), joins the case, adds humor and
creative legal strategy to the story. Connelly is the best and most consistent
of writers in this crowded genre.
*Enjoy Old Age by B. F. Skinner, the Father of Behaviorism,
and his protégée M.E. Vaughn who turned his timely 1972 APA address into a
still timely consideration about coping with the problems of aging and
how to get the most out of one's later years.
The writing may be a bit dated, but the advice isn’t.
No comments:
Post a Comment