I’ve read a number of books that present themselves as short story collections, but which, when taken as a whole, comprise powerful novels. I think one reason that this succeeds is that the author can approach the same topic from a number of different angles without losing the narrative thread that ties the whole package [...]
Archive for the ‘Language Focus’ Category
Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout
Posted in Andrew's Picks, Books, Characters, Gab Bags, Language Focus, Literary fiction, Quirky characters, Sense of place, Setting on October 30, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The Gifts of the Jews, by Thomas Cahill
Posted in Andrew's Picks, Books, Historical Nonfiction, Language Focus, Microhistories, Nonfiction, Quick read, Readers' advisory, Setting on October 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
What is it about a ragtag group of nomads that has both inspired and outraged civilizations for four millenia? In the second book of his Hinges of History series, Thomas Cahill digs into the larger themes that separate the Jewish peoples from the people around them, and shows how the evolution of a culture, a [...]
The Bookshop, by Penelope Fitzgerald
Posted in Books, Characters, Historical fiction, Jessica's Picks, Language Focus, Literary fiction, Quick read, Readers' advisory on October 16, 2009 | 1 Comment »
It is my unscientific but educated opinion that most authors are better at short stories than longer works. With full-length narratives, authors are prone to blathering on or cramming in unnecessary details or cluttering the story with extraneous characters. With short stories they are forced to make careful choices about each word and sentence. The [...]
Hell, by Robert Olen Butler
Posted in Books, Dark humor, Fantasy, Horror, Humor, Jessica's Picks, Language Focus, Literary fiction, Plot, Readers' advisory, Satire, Sense of place, Setting on October 14, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Welcome to Hell. The toilets are backed up, a new Wal-Mart opened today, and the weather forecast calls for scattered sulfurous fiery storms. There are cockroaches everywhere, but no trees or animals (but they don’t deserve to be here, do they?). There are lots and lots and lots of people—Stalin and Hitler (no surprises there) and [...]
Wintergirls, by Laurie Halse Anderson
Posted in Books, Charlotte's Picks, Language Focus, Readers' advisory, Young Adult on August 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
“The number doesn’t matter. If I got down to 070.00, I’d want 065.00. If I weighed 010.00, I wouldn’t be happy until I got down to 005.00. The only number that would ever be enough is 0. Zero pounds, zero life, size zero, double-zero, zero point. Zero in tennis is love. I finally get it.”
The [...]
Ink and Steel, by Elizabeth Bear
Posted in Books, Characters, Charlotte's Picks, Fantasy, Historical fiction, Language Focus, Readers' advisory on August 27, 2009 | 1 Comment »
It’s no secret that Francis Crawford is my favorite tortured, self-destructive, poetry-spouting, multilingual courtier and spy. But Kit Marlowe, as fictionalized in this Elizabethan historical fantasy, has lately been running a close second.
Stabbed through the eye in a barroom brawl, the infamous Marlowe is pleasantly surprised to wake up not in Hell, but in Rivendell [...]

