Books I've finished reading this month:
- Art and Lies, Jeanette Wintersen.
Rating:
Sometimes Art and Lies was breathtaking. Sometimes it was utterly opaque and alienating. I suspect it would reward re-reading; I also suspect that my recent Jeanette-Winterson-binge made it impossible for me to appreciate it for itself. Instead, I was alternately repulsed by repetitive self-indulgence and overwhelmed by resonance. I appreciated Handel, loved Picasso a little bit, and rather disliked Sappho - and then I was devastated by the way it all came together in the end. - Franny and Zooey, J.D. Salinger.
Rating:
Lacking the intensity and charisma of a Holden Caulfield, Franney and Zooey came across as self-absorbed and arrogant even as it appeared to ridicule the self-absorbed and arrogant. Salinger's style was still quite contagious (my internal monologue was full of Salinger-esque tics for days after reading this book and the next), but without any soul to animate it this time. - For Esmé - with Love and Squalor, J.D. Salinger.
Rating:
This collection caught my eye mainly because I have desperately loved the phrase "with love and squalor" since We Are Scientists used it for an album title. The contents were a mixed bag; I loved A Perfect Day for Bananafish1 and the title story, while some of the others were emotionally vacant tales of terrible people. - Watchmen, Alan Moore.
Rating:
I waited until after seeing the film to read Watchmen, a decision now entirely vindicated. My relative illiteracy when it comes to comics and graphic novels was alleviated by my familiarity with the story, and my likely crushing disappointment had I read the book first was entirely avoided.2 Watchmen is, quite simply, brilliant. A kind lender enabled me to read it this time, but I will be buying my own copy. - Perhaps it is more accurate to say that I adored it, thinking about it invariably invokes both ecstasy and despair, and I consider it to be a perfect story. [↩]
- At the same time, I am newly impressed with some aspects of the adaptation, and newly equipped to disagree with some criticisms that were levelled at it. [↩]
