Category: books

big if

big ifMark Costello’s novel Big If is populated with some of the most interesting, most contemporary, characters. Walter is a moderate Republican atheist working in insurance. He has the habit of crossing out GOD in his dollar bills so that the statement reads IN US WE TRUST. He has two children: Jens, who has grown up as a software programmer, writing code for and pondering the morality (or immorality, or amorality) of the monster game he has developed; Violet has grown up to work in the Secret Service. Vi is assigned to the VP, who is running for president and will have to go to the Democratic primary in New Hampshire to jog (surrounded by security), eat at a McDonald’s (surrounded by media), and shake hands with the common people to get their vote. Jens’s wife, Peta, is a realtor assigned to manage a supposedly boring building now being attacked by a group of violent right-to-lifers. Gretchen, Vi’s superior, has separated from his douchebag boyfriend, but his son has found the boyfriend’s address by Googling himself, and now wants to spend time with his father. Before Lydia married Secret Service agent Lloyd Felker, her talent agent said, You’re not supposed to marry your own agent. And I’m your agent! He’s not that kind of agent, Lydia said, and her talent agent said, Oh my god, is he a literary agent? How will you be able to feed yourself?

Big If, published in 2002, was a finalist for the National Book Award. I wonder what novel it came up against. Costello’s novel was funny and touching and relevant enough to have won.

And the back cover has a blurb from Jonathan Franzen, saying the book is filled with “inside dope”. I mean, come on.

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Next: probably Eden Express. I’m still reading The Blind Assassin, but it’s too rich, I can’t devour it all at once.

I’m also interested in this book:

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The last good non-fiction book I’ve read was Watching the English by Kate Fox. Pop sociology for the win.

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In other news, a story of mine is being considered for a fantasy anthology, but the editors are asking for a major edit. I’ve already edited it, re-sent it. Hope the new version does the trick. We’ll see. ;)

Congrats to Paolo for receiving that acceptance letter. Hooray!

transformers 2: revenge of the whatchamacallit

The first film was fun, just the right amount of comedy and action and I think just a couple of shots of robots being torn apart (literally, the one with that Decepticon on top of the building; metaphorically, the one involving Bumblebee). This sequel, however, felt like Michael Bay charged at me at full speed and hit me across the face with a folding chair. And I didn’t even watch this at IMAX.

The quiet parts were either cheesy (Megan and Shia kissing at sunset, the sunlight bursting through their lips), or corny (Shia’s mom eating happy brownies and tackling a college boy). Gah.

If you’re planning to watch it, here’s a sneak preview –

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– and by “sneak preview” I mean “the entire film.” Just turn the sand to pavement, add some robots, some explosions, and put Megan Fox on a motorcycle for no other reason than to see her on a motorcycle.

Rainn Wilson’s in it but his character just came across as obnoxious and idiotic, or am I just being a girl? No. John Turturro’s character entered the film (and showed his butt) too late.

Photo from screenrant.com.

Roger Ebert gives the film one out of four stars. Quote: “The plot is incomprehensible. The dialog of the Autobots®, Decepticons® and Otherbots® is meaningless word flap. Their accents are Brooklyese, British and hip-hop, as befits a race from the distant stars.”

Here‘s a fun review by Jessica Zafra. Quote: “Basically this movie was directed by a dick.”

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In other news, I found out that walking aimlessly inside a BookSale branch is a fun activity. I didn’t even plan on buying a book but I saw this and I just grabbed it:

eden

Mark Vonnegut is Kurt Vonnegut’s son.

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Favorite things: food, books, good movies, 30 Rock and The Office.

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When my sister and I were handed our bus tickets this morning, we noticed that the punched prices seemed lower. My sister thought there was a rollback, while I thought my sister probably told the conductor the wrong stop. Then the conductor came over and said, Isn’t that your father, the one who dropped you off?

Apparently my father is one friendly discount coupon.

mini-reviews, 4

First, second, third,

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

Film Review The Taking of Pelham 123

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Well, I didn’t know John Turturro was in this film; if I knew then I would have entered the cinema with a little more than a vague, vague curiosity. John Travolta as the crazy-ass hostage taker, with bespectacled Denzel Washington chained behind a microphone. Pelham 1 2 3, the train, comes to a sudden halt, Travolta’s Ryder gives his demand, and filmmaker Tony Scott freeze-frames every now and then to slap us with the number of minutes remaining, just in case we forget. It’s quick, it’s sleek, and it’s exactly what I needed that Friday afternoon.

James Gandolfini is in this film, too. Bet you didn’t know that.

The Green Mile (novel)

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I’ve seen the film years before, and I’ve been meaning to read the novel, but every time I dropped by the bookstore I only find the last two volumes (it was originally published as a serial novel), and what the hell was I supposed to do with that, right. Before going to the movies I passed by a BookSale branch and lo and behold, a copy meant just for me. Good, strong writing, even some lovely passages (See? Even genre readers care about language); a story I can easily get lost in. I finished it late on Saturday night. And because I’ve seen the film first I couldn’t help but hear Tom Hanks’s voice in my head as I read the words of the Narrator.

Sigh, I want to see the film again.

PS I’m pretty sure Cois will again say I should read Hearts in Atlantis, and what is wrong with me? But I’m working on it, I swear! :D

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While in Powerbooks I saw a copy of Tana French’s new book on the counter. I didn’t even know she’d already come out with a sequel!

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I really liked her debut novel, In The Woods, but originally had misgivings about the idea of a sequel. (I liked Rob more than Cassie, for one.) Then I saw the book and now I want iiiiiit.

I’ll have to save money, then I’ll come back to grab it. Hopefully by then there’ll be cheaper copies.

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During the screening I saw the trailer of Surrogates, a sci-fi flick starring Bruce Willis. Looks interesting.

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I just found out today that I was this close to winning a free book. :) Tell a mystery/romance sci-fi story in 126 characters, they said, so I sent:

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Congrats also to Celestine and Sir Kenneth. :D

mrs. dalloway, poor little alex

Here be a couple of books that I should have read years and years ago.

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Mrs. Dalloway

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Must I add to the noise? What else can be said when so many papers have been written about this Woolf masterpiece, the novel dissected, turned inside-out like a corpse. But a corpse this is not; it is a living, throbbing wound, it is a commentary on an age summed up in an incredible account of a day, it is London filled with imagery and memories. Clarissa decides to choose the flowers herself and steps out, and we follow.

(The version I read had an introduction, and according to this, Virginia Woolf thought James Joyce was “flashy” and a “show-off”. See that? That made me love her more! Gurl tells it like it is!)

(You want to see a map of the walks of the Mrs. Dalloway characters? Check this out.)

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A Clockwork Orange

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Finally! The final chapter that Stanley Kubrick did not film, the portion removed from the US version of this novel (thank goodness I was able to borrow the English version), Alex’s “moral growth”, the picture of the baby in his pocket. I am cured all right, says our bezoomny narrator, and Kubrick’s film ends there, the US version ends there. But Alex turns eighteen, becomes restless, feels an emptiness. He enters a coffee shop and meets his old droog, Peter, and something hits home. Not every young man with Alex’s criminal history lives long enough to have this realization. He is very lucky. He walks away from the shop and does not invite us to come with him, but he promises a new life. I wish him all the best.

(In the film version, he is Alexander DeLarge, but in the book Alex’s family name is never given. However the introduction offers an interesting reading into his first name: A-lex, “without law, outside of the law”.)

lunar park

lunar park

There’s a story behind the film Adaptation: scriptwriter Charlie Kaufman had a hard time adapting The Orchid Thief, so what did he do? He wrote a film about him having a hard time adapting The Orchid Thief, writing himself into the script, creating for himself a twin brother, dedicating the finished piece to the sibling who didn’t exist. Author Bret Easton Ellis, creator of American Psycho and other “transgressive” novels, wrote himself into his novel Lunar Park, conjuring for himself a family, a film actress wife, a quiet neighborhood in the suburbs, a son. A series of brutal murders, a haunting, a loss. I write stories but I could never imagine writing myself into one of them, even as an exercise. Of course every writer writes himself into his stories, his fears, his joys, but how terrifying to see your own name on a page, to see yourself as a fictional character running away from fictional horrors. Honesty can be very frightening, so with Lunar Park Ellis was being very brave. Ian McEwan asks, How can a novelist find atonement when, in his novels, he is God? But Ellis found atonement. There was one long passage in the novel that ends with From those of us who are left behind: you will be remembered, you were the one I needed, I loved you in my dreams. Writing these words, would it be too much to say that Ellis found freedom? Perhaps, upon finishing the novel, he had forgiven everyone and everything that had to be forgiven, and in the process also found absolution.

I think this is a remarkable book.

blindness

blindness

..but neither of them thought of asking, Have you got something in your eye, it never occurred to them nor would he have been able to reply, Yes, a milky sea.

(p. 6, Blindness, Saramago)

What if everyone went blind and you were the only one who could see? Jose Saramago’s engrossing prose uses no quotation marks nor paragraph breaks for the dialogues, and it fits this narrative, where the characters’ thoughts and spoken words are interchangeable with the narrator’s. It makes me think of an observer watching people interact at a distance, a watcher-turned-ventriloquist putting words into their mouths, commenting on their actions. At times the narration becomes too wordy, the humor awkward, but the language is beautiful enough to keep even an exasperated reader reading. The last paragraph is a thing of beauty.

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While browsing through the books in Bibliarch the other day, I saw a book called Seeing, also by Saramago. It involves a bunch of voters’ ballots turning up blank. A novel about disillusionment, I believe. Seems interesting. I might pick it up.

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Right now, though, I’m enjoying reading Atwood.

assassin

*Sigh* This lady never fades. :)

lost and found (almost)

Back when I was in high school, one of my aunts left a bag filled with books at our house. I don’t know where that bag is now; it is possible that I had spread its contents all over my room and in my brothers’ room before going to college. Maybe, on the day I’ll finally feel compelled to look under the beds and into the deepest recesses of my closet, I’ll find those books.

One’s irrevocably lost, however. This one book that I read and liked – liked so much that I lent it to one of the student editors at my high school’s newspaper (I was still just a staff writer, I believe). He didn’t return it, of course. Bastard. And now I can’t find the book anywhere because I can’t remember the book’s title/author.

Anyway, yesterday I felt the urge to post the book’s details – what little I remember of the darn thing – on a couple of LiveJournal communities. Just to finally find out what the book’s called. I shared:

– the first chapter of the novel tells something about a group of boys in a school. one of the boys has just swiped some coins, and the school’s trying to find out who it is
– there’s a scene involving the boy and the mother of his best friend talking in a church
– fast-forward to several years later. the boy and his friend are now young men.
– there’s something about brothels, and syphilis
– there’s something about a family of bankers, or a family with a bank. they are Methodists. the boy’s best friend belongs to this family
– there’s a hint at a relationship between the boy and his best friend
– there’s a scene on a ship where someone gets killed.
– i remember the book as being very graphic

Oh, the things that stay with me.

This morning, I received two replies, and some more details about the novel that finally gave me the answer. It’s Ken Follett’s A Dangerous Fortune!

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(I don’t remember this cover, though. I may have had the UK version.)

And now I believe it’s out of print. I’ve been searching online through our local bookstores and can’t seem to find it. Ngarr.

So. If ever you find a copy, message me? :) Thanks a bunch. It’d be fun to revisit the novel that I admired so much back in high school, now that I’m older.