You - Nuala Ní Chonchúir

In a nutshell

A beautifully written story set in Dublin that tells the story of a 10-year old girl during a few traumatic months where she loses some key people in her life.  Through the eyes of this girl, you come to understand her community and how she perceives the related people and events.

Did I like it?

This book really appealed to me.  The author's writing style was beautiful, almost poetic.  It was written entirely in the second person, which was actually quite cool.

Will you like it?

If you enjoy books written from the perspective of child protaganists, you should quite like this one.  The central character is fantastic and you can really relate to her plight.

Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

I haven't read Mark Twain since being in junior high school. And now I know why.

I started reading this book with expectations that it would be wonderful; it is Mark Twain after all. But for about the first half of the book, there wasn't much plot, and the narrator simply explains, in painfully exquisite detail, what it is like within King Aurthur's court. Not story, just descriptions.

The story finally gets going about half way in, but pretty much peters out at the end with a quick wrap up rather than a well thought out narrative.

I may try out some of Mark Twain's better known literature in the future, but this one kind of left a bad taste in my mouth.

2/5

Treasure Island

Title: Treasure Island
Author: Robert Louis Stevenson
Publisher: Public Domain Books

ASIN: B000JML7EC

I remember reading this way back in elementary school. But it had been so long since I read it that as it turned out it was one of those stories that you know, but don't really know.

Over the many years since reading the story, I had lost virtually all of the finer plot points as my memory gets filled with other day-to-day junk, and I have to make room by getting rid of the old junk.  Hence, my loss of everything up until about grade six.  I figure, by the time I reach 80, I'll only have about a 30 second recall of memory left in my head.

I quite enjoyed reading this book again, and while it is a book for the younger reader, I could totally appreciate the time and dedication that Stevenson put into the writing.  The dialogue, while not Shakespearean, seems to capture what life was like in Jim's world.  One thing that I found quite surprising, is the description that Stevenson writes for Long John Silver, does not match (at all) how many actors seem to portray the character.  The Long John of the book a very commanding character, and in many ways a chameleon; morphing in order to fit the situation he was in at any given time.  Many actors seem to take quite a comedic tone with the character, often oafish.  I like the literary character much better.

I give Treasure Island 4 out of 5 stars.

Last Night in Twisted River - John Irving

Much like its title, Irving's book takes you on many twists in turns in the characters' lives before reaching the inevitable climax.  The premise of the novel is interesting--following a father and son on the run from the (corrupt) law after the son accidentally mistook the constable's girlfriend for a bear and killed her.  The book doesn't read like your classic fugitive novel; instead, it gives you a glimpse of this family's lives over the course of around fifty years.  There are times when "the law" closes in, but this isn't the dominant focus of the book.  Instead, it looks at the relationship between father and son; though, this is influenced by their role as fugitives.  Overall, this is a well written and often compelling book.  The main flaw in my mind is the book's length.  It simply seems to go on too long and needed to be more tightly edited.  That said, it's worth picking up and does take you into an interesting world, filled with unique and well described characters.

4/5 Stars