Wednesday, July 30, 2003

Book Report:

I got about halfway through Billiards at Half-Past Nine, but it kind of swamped me in post-World War II German Catholic interior monologue and I needed a break. I'll get back to it, but other books are calling my name at this point.

I'd highly recommend Birdsong, a rich, devastating novel that's mostly about World War I, but also, in general, about where we find meaning in life when death surrounds us. The only negatives is the modern sublot, which seems a rather strained inorganic attempt to draw the past and present together. Could have been done with more subtlety.

Now (besides work-related books on various topics), I'm about 2/3 way through The Emperor of Ocean Park, by legal scholar and serious Christian Stephen Carter. It's okay. It's got a nice variety of characters - love those pro-life lesbians, but it's also got a chess thematic thread that is supposed to enlighten me, but really only confuses me, a still very-murky mystery, and long, long scenes and conversations that scream out for an editor. A little disappointing, so far.