Archive for the ‘Literary’ Category
MURDER AS A FINE ART by David Morrell
MURDER AS A FINE ART by David Morrell is one of the best mystery books I’ve read this year. It is historically based, taking place in the nineteenth century. As some of you may know, Morrell is best-known for his book, First Blood, upon which the the Rambo movies are based. Murder as a Fine Art is very different from his first writings. It is literary fiction and page-turning at its best.
December 3, 2013
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Judi Clark · 
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Tags: 2013 - authors with books coming out in 2013, Historical, Literary, Mulholland · Posted in: Character Driven, Facing History, Literary, Mystery/Suspense, Real Event Fiction, Real People Fiction, Time Period Fiction
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
Haruki Murakami doesn’t lend himself to easy categorization. Though his prose is spare, almost styleless, it’s more supple than muscular, and though his stories are often occupied with mundane domesticities, they’re also often founded in the surreal. It’s no surprise, then, that Murakami’s long-awaited latest, 1Q84, isn’t easy to shelf –it’s at home among either fantasy, thriller or hard-boiled noir – but one thing’s for sure: this book is grotesquely Murakami. That is, quiet domesticity punctuates adventures tenuously connected to reality, and yet for all its faults – and some have argued there are many – this is a book that haunts you long after you’re done, a book that, like a jealous lover, won’t let you move on.
December 31, 2011
· Judi Clark · One Comment
Tags: 2012 PB Release, Knopf, Literary, Speculative (Beyond Reality) · Posted in: Contemporary, Literary, Noir, Speculative (Beyond Reality), World Literature
THE MARRIAGE PLOT by Jeffrey Eugenides
“Reader, I married him.”
What sensitive reader hasn’t thrilled to the last lines of the novel JANE EYRE, when the mousy and unprepossessing girl triumphantly returns to windswept Thornfield as a mature woman, marrying her one-time employer and great love, Mr. Rochester?
That era of these great wrenching love stories is now dead and gone. Or is it?
November 16, 2011
· Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: 2012 PB Release, College Setting, Contemporary, FSG, Literary, Rhode Island · Posted in: Award Winning Author, Contemporary, Literary, NE & New York, Reading Guide, Story Retold, Uncategorized
ED KING by David Guterson
ED KING had me mesmerized from the first page and did not let up throughout the book. It is a contemporary retelling of Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex set in the American northwest. The protagonist’s name, Ed King, means Oedipus Rex. Ed is short for Oedipus and Rex means “king” in Greek. Ed’s middle name is Aaron and one could read into this, “Ed, A King.” There is no real subtlety to the retelling. The characters change but the story remains the same. Ed kills his father and marries his mother. It is a Greek tragedy of great proportions and strength, hubris and loss.
November 13, 2011
· Judi Clark · One Comment
Tags: 2011 Favorites, 2014 authors, Contemporary, Greek Literary Roots · Posted in: 2011 Favorites, Award Winning Author, Contemporary, Literary, Story Retold, US Northwest
THE GREAT LEADER by Jim Harrison
Once, many years ago when I was living in Northern Michigan, Jim Harrison walked into the restaurant where I was dining. He didn’t so much walk in, in retrospect, as lumber in. It was the Blue Bird Cafe and I confess that I’d been hanging out there in the hopes of catching a glimpse of him.
October 30, 2011
· Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: 2013 - authors with books coming out in 2013, Contemporary, Grove Press, Literary, Michigan, Mystery · Posted in: Contemporary, Literary, Mystery/Suspense, US Midwest
THE FORGOTTEN WALTZ by Anne Enright
Anne Enright, author of the 2007 Booker Prize winner, THE GATHERING, has written a new novel called THE FORGOTTEN WALTZ. It is told from the point of view of Gina Moynihan who has a lust-filled affair with a married man, Sean Vallely. They first meet at a garden party hosted by Anne’s sister Fiona, and progresses from there. At first there are innocent (and not so innocent) looks, and then on a business trip in Switzerland, the affair begins in earnest.
October 21, 2011
· Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: 1990s, 2012 PB Release, Adultery, Around-the-World, lyrical · Posted in: Award Winning Author, Betrayal, Contemporary, Family Matters, Ireland, Life Choices, Literary, World Literature
