the story up until now....
Jul. 23rd, 2007 07:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowedge613Project Lit. Lust entry behind the cut.
In order of most recent first, with brief comments.
"I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" - Maya Angelou
Why I grabbed it off the shelf:
I saw Maya Angelou speak at the Van Weasel courtesy of my dentist (long story,) and was terribly impressed by her spoken words. I promised myself to go and read this book. Well over a year later, I managed it.
What I thought of it:
This is an amazing book that I wish I had encountered much sooner in my life. The languange and self aware nature of what is an autobiography of the time between 4 and 16 in Angelou's life is a window into a different time and place. It is an intensely absorbing book, which manages the feat of making the culture of Angelou's childhood simutanoiusly familuar and distinctly different. Growing up on the black side of the segregated south is written with poetry, grace, and a fine grasp of the domestic epic and coming of age story. Highy recommended.
"Bellinda"-- Anne Rice writing as Anne Rampling
Why I grabbed it off the shelf:
I have a bizzare facination with the works that Rice wrote under a nomme de plume, indeed, with nomme de plumes in general. I flipped the book open, and read the opening paragraphs about a book signing, and decided it was worth a shot.
What I thought of it:
Yep: it is Anne Rice, alright. Which is not to say it was bad, just to acknowlage the themes of inapproperate muses, New Oreleans jungle, the keeping and sharing of secrets, betrayal through love, the creation of art to break society, and all the rest of it. The story centers around the artist Jeremy, who illstrates and writes children's books about little girls wandering in Victorian houses, and the love affair between him and a 16 year old girl, Bellinda, who has a secret past.
The writing reminds me of "The Vampire Lesat", my favorite of Rice's books, with a mix of intense internal anguish and first person detached narrative. The narrative is compelling and quite well done, and surprised me through out. If you don't have a problem with the explict discriptons of a sexaul realtionship with a serious age gap, and like Rice, I would recommend it.
I'll post the rest of the things I have read so far later...
In order of most recent first, with brief comments.
"I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" - Maya Angelou
Why I grabbed it off the shelf:
I saw Maya Angelou speak at the Van Weasel courtesy of my dentist (long story,) and was terribly impressed by her spoken words. I promised myself to go and read this book. Well over a year later, I managed it.
What I thought of it:
This is an amazing book that I wish I had encountered much sooner in my life. The languange and self aware nature of what is an autobiography of the time between 4 and 16 in Angelou's life is a window into a different time and place. It is an intensely absorbing book, which manages the feat of making the culture of Angelou's childhood simutanoiusly familuar and distinctly different. Growing up on the black side of the segregated south is written with poetry, grace, and a fine grasp of the domestic epic and coming of age story. Highy recommended.
"Bellinda"-- Anne Rice writing as Anne Rampling
Why I grabbed it off the shelf:
I have a bizzare facination with the works that Rice wrote under a nomme de plume, indeed, with nomme de plumes in general. I flipped the book open, and read the opening paragraphs about a book signing, and decided it was worth a shot.
What I thought of it:
Yep: it is Anne Rice, alright. Which is not to say it was bad, just to acknowlage the themes of inapproperate muses, New Oreleans jungle, the keeping and sharing of secrets, betrayal through love, the creation of art to break society, and all the rest of it. The story centers around the artist Jeremy, who illstrates and writes children's books about little girls wandering in Victorian houses, and the love affair between him and a 16 year old girl, Bellinda, who has a secret past.
The writing reminds me of "The Vampire Lesat", my favorite of Rice's books, with a mix of intense internal anguish and first person detached narrative. The narrative is compelling and quite well done, and surprised me through out. If you don't have a problem with the explict discriptons of a sexaul realtionship with a serious age gap, and like Rice, I would recommend it.
I'll post the rest of the things I have read so far later...
