Friday 21 December 2007

a slice of tartt?

i seem to be turning into a book critic...ah well...now we come to donna tartt, one of my favourite writers...and one of the few female writers on the list [the others being: rebecca wells, jane austen, cynthia voigt, elizabeth chandler, jhumpa lahiri, banana yoshimoto, sarah kane ...compared to the really long male list: vikram seth, salinger, orwell, thoreau, christopher pike, julian barnes, nick hornby, bret easton ellis, haruki murakami, ryu murakami, terry pratchett, douglas adams, jonathan safran foer, alex garland...] to continue:

i recently read 'the little friend' but it's still with me...making itself at home in my mind. it's not so much individual characters as the mood the vibe the feeling of the book that got under my skin and stayed...that made my bawl my eyes out on a bus with a complete stranger sitting next to me for a whole chapter...its completely different from 'the secret history' which is a book best compared to 'the beach'...this one reminded me of ya ya and to kill a mockingbird but only because of the setting...the rest is all new...or not...its about being alone in the world while being surrounded by people who are completely useless...parents, sibling, aunts...and the only people who do mean anything die/leave/change... and its got an edge of real danger...imminent death...just one false move....
oh she knows how to write.

ooh im in a go read what i tell you to sort of mood!
five random books that i think you should read that you might not already have:
1. the secret history - donna tartt [so that you can get addicted and come back for seconds]
2. rough music - patrick gale
3. the rules of attraction - bret easton ellis [it connects to the first one is a most delightful way]
4. anything anything by haruki murakami because that is just like nothing else
5. walden - thoreau