Post the First
STUFF
Today I finished The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and I read it fairly quickly, considering that I have a 1 year old to chase after and that I only read for the half an hour that I ride the bike at the gym, in the bathtub--when I can find the time to have a soak, and for a few minuted before bed. I was enthralled by this book from the begining. I'm drawn to books about academics. They always make me wonder what my life would be like if I had been disciplined enough to pursue academia as my life. The idea of spending my life amongst books, well, it makes me sigh. I need my fill, and being around the books that I own doesn't seem to quite fulfil my need. Wednesday night I had to escape for a while to the local bookstores (Borders, Barnes & Noble--hey I live in Utah, not very many indies in my neck of the woods). I was getting cranky because I had not been able to puruse the aisles for several weeks. I came back with two new books and an improved outlook on life.
Back to The Historian. I have a little habit of going to my favorite book related sites after finishing a book so I can see what other people are saying. The consensus on www.pemberley.com is that the book is really good, a page turner. One person said they were slogging their way through. Another said they read to page 400 and put it down in favor of a smaller book more appropriate for a vacation, but intended to pick it up now that he or she (I can't remember which) had returned. None of these reviews accuarately conveyed what I was thinking about the book at the time. So I went to Amazon, which really has some good reader reviews. (I just wish that there was some way to have dialogue between the readers--a message board for every book. A huge online book club, with hundreds of participants per book. Heaven!) There I found the words to describe my sense of being rather cheated by the end of the book. Like many of the reviewers, I felt that the begining and middle of the book was excellent. I could hardly put it down. The last third, though, was a disappointment. The story wrapped up in something like 30 pages. It all seemed a little too convenient at the end--like Kostova got to page 600 and just decided to finish the book as quickly as she could. One reviewer stated that he or she thought it would have been interesting to have Dracula have more of a presence. Did he play a part in the evil that went on in the world? I agree; that would have been interesting, but perhaps too vast a story to include in this book. Maybe next time?
This is not all I have to say, but it is all I will say tonight. Although it is not late, I am tired. I can feel my mind shutting down for the night, and I am correcting my typing so much as to make this almost an excercise in futility. Also, I have a warehouse sale to go to tomorrow very eary, and it's important that I am in top form. Shopping--it can really take it out of you.
Today I finished The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and I read it fairly quickly, considering that I have a 1 year old to chase after and that I only read for the half an hour that I ride the bike at the gym, in the bathtub--when I can find the time to have a soak, and for a few minuted before bed. I was enthralled by this book from the begining. I'm drawn to books about academics. They always make me wonder what my life would be like if I had been disciplined enough to pursue academia as my life. The idea of spending my life amongst books, well, it makes me sigh. I need my fill, and being around the books that I own doesn't seem to quite fulfil my need. Wednesday night I had to escape for a while to the local bookstores (Borders, Barnes & Noble--hey I live in Utah, not very many indies in my neck of the woods). I was getting cranky because I had not been able to puruse the aisles for several weeks. I came back with two new books and an improved outlook on life.
Back to The Historian. I have a little habit of going to my favorite book related sites after finishing a book so I can see what other people are saying. The consensus on www.pemberley.com is that the book is really good, a page turner. One person said they were slogging their way through. Another said they read to page 400 and put it down in favor of a smaller book more appropriate for a vacation, but intended to pick it up now that he or she (I can't remember which) had returned. None of these reviews accuarately conveyed what I was thinking about the book at the time. So I went to Amazon, which really has some good reader reviews. (I just wish that there was some way to have dialogue between the readers--a message board for every book. A huge online book club, with hundreds of participants per book. Heaven!) There I found the words to describe my sense of being rather cheated by the end of the book. Like many of the reviewers, I felt that the begining and middle of the book was excellent. I could hardly put it down. The last third, though, was a disappointment. The story wrapped up in something like 30 pages. It all seemed a little too convenient at the end--like Kostova got to page 600 and just decided to finish the book as quickly as she could. One reviewer stated that he or she thought it would have been interesting to have Dracula have more of a presence. Did he play a part in the evil that went on in the world? I agree; that would have been interesting, but perhaps too vast a story to include in this book. Maybe next time?
This is not all I have to say, but it is all I will say tonight. Although it is not late, I am tired. I can feel my mind shutting down for the night, and I am correcting my typing so much as to make this almost an excercise in futility. Also, I have a warehouse sale to go to tomorrow very eary, and it's important that I am in top form. Shopping--it can really take it out of you.
posted by Amy at 9:56 PM
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