I would like to preface this review with simply: I love Dan Brown. I know there has been quite a bit of controversy surrounding his The DaVinci Code, but all religious unrest put aside, I find his novels to be a bit like the National Treasure movies: puzzling and thrilling. If you are not a fan of Dan Brown, I suggest you skip this review because nothing I can say will make you like him.
I made the mistake of starting this novel with Husband on our way to California for a business trip. We always read on road trips. Not only does it pass the time, it gives us a chance to discuss the book(s) and learn more about each other (awe! We’re so cute!) Well, and it saves the arguments over my iPod, Octavian, versus his iPod, Vincent, and which of the two hold the better music (Octavian does, of course) and it keeps my eyes down on the page instead of on the billboards. Husband likes this because when I see a billboard for, oh, let’s say the world’s largest vacuum museum, I want to stop and we argue about the importance of roadside Americana for an hour before I turn on Octavian and fall asleep. Reading is much better for our relationship, I’d say. Anyway, I say it was a mistake to read on our road trip to California because we were unable to finish the book on that trip, which meant I had to wait until we took another road trip (Indiana, two weeks ago) to finish the novel. It was agony.
The Lost Symbol is a continuation of Robert Langdon’s story. He still swims daily, still wears his Mickey Mouse watch, and, as terribly highlighted in Angels and Demons, he is still very claustrophobic. In this event (which takes place in one night, as do Langdon’s other mishaps) Langdon is called to Washington, D.C. to give an impromptu lecture by a very dear friend of his, Peter Solomon. It is not until Langdon arrives that he discovers there is no lecture and his friend is in grave danger. Compelled to begin a journey to uncover what has become of Peter, Langdon finds he is in possession of one of the Freemason’s greatest secrets, a secret that must be kept, regardless of the dark people pursuing the historian. Not knowing who to trust or where to turn, Langdon teams up with Solomon’s sister, Katherine to try to discover the terrible fate that has befallen Peter all while running from the man who orchestrated the entire evening, including the arrival of Robert Langdon. In a story that solidifies “things are not always as they seem”, Brown has again made a nerdy symbologist into a national hero. Thank you Indiana Jones, I mean, Robert Langdon.
This book was completely worth the wait, although, ideally, I would recommend that you read the book all at once and not with a month long gap between chapters. I hate that it has been out for so long and I have just read it. I was early in line to pick it up the DAY it came out, but then I lent it out to one person, then another, and so on and so forth. This is a good, superficial beach/cabin read.
Note to Dan Brown: Please, I am a huge fan of Tom Hanks, and I appreciated another chance to ogle Ewan McGregor, but do not ruin this story with another movie. Thanks.
-Harper
Monday, November 1, 2010
The Rossetti Letter – Christi Phillips
I came across this book while trying to find something similar to Dan Brown’s writings (I know… Robert Langdon’s a chump with next to no character flaws, but I still can’t get enough of Brown’s books. They’re page turners.) I was torn between which book to purchase, but this was the first by Phillips and I am usually a sucker for reading an author’s first work. I paid my $15 (plus my B&N discount, of course) and rushed it home to sit on a dusty, overcrowded bookshelf for a month.
I have a silly little confession. Although I have a wide vocabulary, somewhere between junior high and now, I missed some vitally important vocabulary words. Please, PLEASE stress to your students/children/friends how beneficial paying attention in English class can be. That being said, I had no idea what a courtesan was while reading the back of this novel. Honestly, I thought, “Well, ‘courtesan’ kind of looks like ‘courtier’ and ‘courtiers’ were nobility in Ever After featuring Drew Barrymore, so this book must be about royalty in Renaissance Europe.” Boy, was I wrong. A “courtesan”, for those of you who are as clueless as I was, is a fancy prostitute. Think Julia Roberts AFTER Richard Gere bought her lots of nice things. As aforementioned, sexy romance pages are not my cup of tea. I read the entire novel and I must say it was not nearly as terrible as it could have been.
Alessandra is a young woman living in Italy of the early 1600s. A COURTESAN, she lives in luxury, enjoying the gifts of her many suitors. With her status comes fame, so much fame, in fact, she catches the eye of a few politicians. Adding them to her repertoire, she becomes privy to intelligence that could lead to the destruction of her entire city, Venice. Given her high moral code (tee hee) she feels the obligation of informing authorities weigh down on her shoulders. Ultimately, she does the right thing and shares her knowledge with the authorities only to have her closest friends and true love murdered as punishment for her betrayal.
Fast forward to current day Italy and find Claire, a green historian desperately trying to gather details of Alessandra’s life for her dissertation, and Gwen, Claire’s boss’ slightly promiscuous 15 year old daughter, as they encounter the streets of Venice together. My favorite portion of the story, the current segment, chronicles Claire’s furious competition to write the first (and best) story of what happened to Alessandra against Andrew, a seasoned historian and Cambridge prig who serves mostly to irritate Claire. After a few adventures and romances of their own, Gwen and Claire come to respect each other, something entirely lacking at the start of their Venice trip.
This book was just okay. I did not love it nor did I absolutely despise it. I feel the novel just was not a great fit for what I look for in a story. I would not recommend this title for young readers… or adolescent readers… or anyone offended by prostitutes, because there is a level of detail in two specific portions of the novel that I would not deem appropriate for my children to read, if I had children. Phillips’ second book looked interesting, but if the first book is any indication of what’s to come (which it usually is) I think I will skip it.
-Harper
I have a silly little confession. Although I have a wide vocabulary, somewhere between junior high and now, I missed some vitally important vocabulary words. Please, PLEASE stress to your students/children/friends how beneficial paying attention in English class can be. That being said, I had no idea what a courtesan was while reading the back of this novel. Honestly, I thought, “Well, ‘courtesan’ kind of looks like ‘courtier’ and ‘courtiers’ were nobility in Ever After featuring Drew Barrymore, so this book must be about royalty in Renaissance Europe.” Boy, was I wrong. A “courtesan”, for those of you who are as clueless as I was, is a fancy prostitute. Think Julia Roberts AFTER Richard Gere bought her lots of nice things. As aforementioned, sexy romance pages are not my cup of tea. I read the entire novel and I must say it was not nearly as terrible as it could have been.
Alessandra is a young woman living in Italy of the early 1600s. A COURTESAN, she lives in luxury, enjoying the gifts of her many suitors. With her status comes fame, so much fame, in fact, she catches the eye of a few politicians. Adding them to her repertoire, she becomes privy to intelligence that could lead to the destruction of her entire city, Venice. Given her high moral code (tee hee) she feels the obligation of informing authorities weigh down on her shoulders. Ultimately, she does the right thing and shares her knowledge with the authorities only to have her closest friends and true love murdered as punishment for her betrayal.
Fast forward to current day Italy and find Claire, a green historian desperately trying to gather details of Alessandra’s life for her dissertation, and Gwen, Claire’s boss’ slightly promiscuous 15 year old daughter, as they encounter the streets of Venice together. My favorite portion of the story, the current segment, chronicles Claire’s furious competition to write the first (and best) story of what happened to Alessandra against Andrew, a seasoned historian and Cambridge prig who serves mostly to irritate Claire. After a few adventures and romances of their own, Gwen and Claire come to respect each other, something entirely lacking at the start of their Venice trip.
This book was just okay. I did not love it nor did I absolutely despise it. I feel the novel just was not a great fit for what I look for in a story. I would not recommend this title for young readers… or adolescent readers… or anyone offended by prostitutes, because there is a level of detail in two specific portions of the novel that I would not deem appropriate for my children to read, if I had children. Phillips’ second book looked interesting, but if the first book is any indication of what’s to come (which it usually is) I think I will skip it.
-Harper
A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
Hate. Death. Fire.
I cannot even fathom the words needed to describe the detestation I felt for this book. And, to be completely fair and honest, I must admit, I did not finish the novel. I did, however, come very close; close enough for me to feel comfortable sharing my opinion of the book. I had high hopes for this novel as it was recommended to me by the same person who encouraged me to read I Am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to be Your Class President. I thought I could trust him, but he has betrayed me. Now, any time he recommends a band, a television program, a breath mint… I am forever going to be plagued with the memory of A Confederacy of Dunces and I will be forced into smiling politely while I shift my feet, hoping he doesn’t realize that I will not be taking his advice.
Ignatius J. Reilly is the “hero” of this story, if he can really be lumped in with Atticus or a Greek god. He is lazy, deceitful, disgusting, abhorrent, and any other repugnant adjective in the English language. Much of the book consists of his inability to relate to society and his refusal to comply with authority, topped with some absolutely unnecessary scenes such as a particularly descriptive masturbation scene in the first 50 pages of the book. (Caveat: While I am not a fan of scenes relating to sex, I understand the literary importance of them and will not judge a book unfairly by their appearance. The Ice Storm, for example, would not be as striking and representative of the 1970s if the sexual encounters were removed. The Lovely Bones, on the other hand, would have flourished without the protagonists’ reincarnated, underage romp. I must stress the total and complete lack of necessity this scene and others played in this novel.)
How The Confederacy of Dunces won a Pulitzer Prize is beyond my ability to comprehend. Don’t read this book. And if you had a different experience with this novel, please comment.
-Harper
I cannot even fathom the words needed to describe the detestation I felt for this book. And, to be completely fair and honest, I must admit, I did not finish the novel. I did, however, come very close; close enough for me to feel comfortable sharing my opinion of the book. I had high hopes for this novel as it was recommended to me by the same person who encouraged me to read I Am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to be Your Class President. I thought I could trust him, but he has betrayed me. Now, any time he recommends a band, a television program, a breath mint… I am forever going to be plagued with the memory of A Confederacy of Dunces and I will be forced into smiling politely while I shift my feet, hoping he doesn’t realize that I will not be taking his advice.
Ignatius J. Reilly is the “hero” of this story, if he can really be lumped in with Atticus or a Greek god. He is lazy, deceitful, disgusting, abhorrent, and any other repugnant adjective in the English language. Much of the book consists of his inability to relate to society and his refusal to comply with authority, topped with some absolutely unnecessary scenes such as a particularly descriptive masturbation scene in the first 50 pages of the book. (Caveat: While I am not a fan of scenes relating to sex, I understand the literary importance of them and will not judge a book unfairly by their appearance. The Ice Storm, for example, would not be as striking and representative of the 1970s if the sexual encounters were removed. The Lovely Bones, on the other hand, would have flourished without the protagonists’ reincarnated, underage romp. I must stress the total and complete lack of necessity this scene and others played in this novel.)
How The Confederacy of Dunces won a Pulitzer Prize is beyond my ability to comprehend. Don’t read this book. And if you had a different experience with this novel, please comment.
-Harper
Unnecessary update on Harper and Anne
Life has been increasingly busy so my reviews are late (and what I really mean to say is, I've been on vacation and Husband bought some awesome new video games we've been playing). I had to chuckle at my last post seeing that even in August I was behind. I have four reviews waiting for you today and my intention is to get through them all, however, I may get hungry or tired or just really get an itch to play Rock Band, and desert you. If that should happen, please accept this apology in advance: sorry.
As for Anne, I think she died or fell off the Earth or had a kid or something so she is not going to be posting anytime soon either, so you are all stuck with me. Although, the site may need to be revamped considering the flowers and all around “girly-ness” is token Anne, not Harper.
This morning, after demolishing a bowl of Frosted Flakes in front of the computer as I attempt to do every Monday, I walked into my bathroom and placed the bowl in the tiny sink. I immediately caught myself and stared at the bowl for a moment as the cogs turned in my mind. “This isn’t right.” After a brief moment that really felt more like a lifetime, I realized my blunder and placed the bowl in the kitchen sink amidst the other dishes I have neglected in hopes Husband will cave and clean. I chose today specifically to take on this task as I usually write my best work when I am not sound of mind.
-Harper
As for Anne, I think she died or fell off the Earth or had a kid or something so she is not going to be posting anytime soon either, so you are all stuck with me. Although, the site may need to be revamped considering the flowers and all around “girly-ness” is token Anne, not Harper.
This morning, after demolishing a bowl of Frosted Flakes in front of the computer as I attempt to do every Monday, I walked into my bathroom and placed the bowl in the tiny sink. I immediately caught myself and stared at the bowl for a moment as the cogs turned in my mind. “This isn’t right.” After a brief moment that really felt more like a lifetime, I realized my blunder and placed the bowl in the kitchen sink amidst the other dishes I have neglected in hopes Husband will cave and clean. I chose today specifically to take on this task as I usually write my best work when I am not sound of mind.
-Harper
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