The Lazy Blogger - Rose Mary Boehm

I am not impressed by our Nobel Price winner. It's of course a capable book but not about something we didn't know. The Congo has been THE example of the most brutal exploitation in Africa. So that's history. The 'Celta' himself is not explored enough as a person. Roger Casement himself has a lot of mileage and, to my mind, Mario Vargas Llosa has only scratched the surface. I don't know how he reads in the translation, but he has a tendency to use stilted and somewhat convoluted language in Spanish. The book can't make up its mind whether its a historic novel or a biography.

It's an interesting study of politics versus religion versus nationalism created by outside pressure and inside hypocrisy. Gives us a better understanding of the complexities of the Islamic world, especially in the context of women, and holds a mirror up for us in the West to see ourselves and perhaps re-think our approach to Islam, ignoring the hate and fear campaigns that are rampant in our media and the internet. We are invited to see from a new POV, not - as we tend to do - judge everything else by our standards.

It's one the most boring books I've read in a loooooooong time. A friend left it in my house after she visited a couple of weeks ago, having bought it typically in one of the airport bookshops. Now I know why she didn't take it with her to read on the return flight. I am lying, I didn't read it. I stopped after the first 40 or so pages. I didn't identify with any of the characters, none of which came over as living people I might take an interest in. Couldn't care less whether they were alive or dead, and the plot ... no discernible plot by the time I finished reading (around page 45). The human interest bits were human non-interest bits. If you are into the occasional whodunnit novel, then stay well away. I don't think Camilla Läckberg will make the New York Crime Fiction Beststeller list. But then, who knows, Dan Brown was an international success.

Jefferson's poetry is sharp, thoughtful and hiding a lot of caring and loving behind a smokescreen of what some may construe as 'flippancy'. It's that, and at the same time anything but... I have to give it a "date I finished this book" but this is one poetry collection that's never far from where I can see it to have another go.

Robert Coover manages masterfully to toggle between horror and beauty, between truth and illusion, the profound and the ridiculous. He always surprises and never lets us down as far as brilliant writing is concerned. Coover is an orignal, unique voice, very much in his own world, out on a limb. A complex, imaginative and intriguing narrative.

I think it's absolutely spectacular seeing that I've written it! Wanted it on my profile and didn't know how else to do it.
Coming up for Air is a coming-of-age story with a difference. Aimed at the young adult market and all those who remember or like to find out what it was like. Reviewers have called it a delightful and splendidly written page-turner.