When I picked up A Scientific Romance by Ronald Wright, I thought I was going to read a steampunk novel. However, what I got included a lot more. In many ways it was like The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier (which I wrote about here) meets V for Vendetta (plus more).
There [...]
As compelling as it is, this book totally freaked me out. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro is a “coming of age story” about the “coming of age” of people (clones) who are being raised so that the vital organs can be harvested.
It is complete with teenage angst, romance and girl infighting (not [...]
As I wrote here, Milan Kundera is a genius. His books are nearly perfect. Identity is a quick, but brilliant, read and is filled with many interesting quotes. Ultimately, it is a love story, but it is also a view of external events via the interior world.
Some of the quotes are short, [...]
As a general rule, I don’t think that The Hours by Michael Cunningham has much in common with Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. But, the following quotes have a similar feel and message.
From Atlas Shrugged, Dagny Taggart contemplating while she is waiting for Hank Rearden:
The hours ahead, like all her nights with him, [...]
Milan Kundera just published a work of non-fiction called The Curtain: An Essay in Seven Parts.
Let me start by making it clear that I love every word Milan Kundera has ever written. I think he is brilliant and his books (since the ones that I have read are translations) are almost enough for me to [...]
Jonathan Yardly wrote a piece in the Washington Post called ‘Gatsby’: The Greatest of Them All. He writes: “If from all of our country’s books I could have only one, The Great Gatsby would be it.”
His argument is that (among other qualities) passages from Gatsby are the most “true”, specifically:
One of my most vivid memories [...]
This quote has been making the email rounds (I did a brief search and could not find the author. If anyone knows who wrote this, I would love to know):
I want to live my next life backwards.
You start out dead, and get that out of the way.
Then you wake up in an old age [...]
I am intrigued by Only Revolutions. It is described as an experimental love story that is told from two points of view. And, while I am not a huge Woody Allen fan, I really like Melinda and Melinda since I am attracted to the two points of view theme.
However, since it is compared to The [...]
