This heavily annotated novel by Reif Larsen is self-consciously quirky. The only normal character is T.S.’s sister Grace and she stands out as the weird one amongst so many oddballs. T.S. Spivot and his parents are all extremes. T.S. and his mom, Dr. Clair, are both undiagnosed obsessive/compulsives. Dr. Clair is obsessed with beetles, and [...]
Archive for the ‘Best of the Year’ Category
The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet
Posted in Best of the Year, bookshelf reviews on February 5, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Best of the Year #7
Posted in Best of the Year, book notes on December 31, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
“Selected Works by T.S. Spivet” by Reif Larsen. 50¢ at ALA. Totally worth it. The reviews are mixed, but I ended up enjoying it more than I expected. I wrote a review of this book and saved it somewhere. If I ever find it I’ll post it, but for now you get the Guardian’s instead. [...]
Best of the Year #6
Posted in Best of the Year, book notes on December 29, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Dan Chaon’s, Await Your Reply. I followed up with Chaon’s, You Remind Me of Me. Good but not as good as Await Your Reply. The New York Times liked it so much they reviewed it twice, Dan Chaon’s strange, stunning new novel, “Await Your Reply,” is both a ghost story and a valentine. That combination [...]
Best of the Year #5
Posted in Best of the Year, book notes on December 28, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
The Sherlockian by Graham Moore. Right now I love all things Sherlock, including BBC’s new show Sherlock. Not sure the Sherlockians would approve of the reboot. You will have to scroll down quite a bit to find the review by Laurel Bliss (Library Journal your archives suck!) This debut literary thriller, which revolves around a [...]
Best of the Year #4
Posted in Best of the Year, book notes on December 27, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Demons in the Spring by Joe Meno. This was a good year for short story collections. Or at least a good year for me finally reading them. An old (2005) interview with Joe Meno over at Bookslut, Joe Meno, Chicago wunderkind, has three novels, two plays, and a new book of short stories to his [...]
Best of the Year #3
Posted in Best of the Year, book notes on December 23, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Peter Ackroyd’s The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein. This made me go back and read Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus. The New York Times said this, Peter Ackroyd knows a thing or two about raising the dead. His experiments in reanimation have been conducted entirely in the laboratory of literature, and his quick-witted new [...]
Best of the Year #2
Posted in Best of the Year, book notes on December 22, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn. Very dark and very good. Not for readers who love happy endings. If the cover scares you, skip this one. Sharp Objects, a first novel by Gillian Flynn, is a deeply creepy exploration of small-town Midwestern values and boasts one of the most deliciously dysfunctional families to come along in [...]
Best of the Year #1
Posted in Best of the Year, book notes on December 21, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
There Once Was a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor’s Baby by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya. I think I first read about this short story collection on Bookslut where it was reviewed by Jessica Ferri, Reading There Once Was a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor’s Baby, the fantastic collection of stories from Russian writer [...]
Books of the Year Countdown
Posted in Best of the Year, book notes on December 20, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
I just started putting together my annual book stats and I though I’d share some of my favorites reads from 2010. I had forgotten how many good books I read this year. The last couple of months I have had a streak of bad book choices and the pile of half finished novels is getting [...]
