Thursday, August 24, 2006

The Confessions of Max Tivoli


The Confessions of Max Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer tells the life story of Max Tivoli.
Max was unique in that he was born into the body of an old man and physically aged backwards though his mental development moved normally in time.
This is an interesting tale told at the end of the 19th century and into the beginning of the 20th.
I like this story for it's uniqueness. And it finished it feeling like my mind had a new concept to wrap it's self around.
I found myself occasionally debating putting the book down because I wasn't in love with the story itself. The love of Max's life, Alice, gets to be a little tedious. But curiosity won out and I read the entire story. The end is sad and not quite what I expected. The character I most enjoyed was actually Max's best friend Hughie. I walk away from the book wishing I knew a little bit more about him.
Good lines from the story:

•“Love…, ever unsatisfied, lives always in the moment that is about to come.” Marcel Proust

•“We are each the love of someone’s life.” opening sentence in book.

•“It takes too much imagination to see the sorrows of people we take for happy. Their real battles take place, like those of the stars, in some realm of light imperceptible to the human eye. It is a feat of the mind to guess another’s heart.”

•“The shock was akin to that of buying, out of duty, a novel written by a dull and uninspired acquaintance and finding there passages of heartrending beauty and rapture that one could never imagine coming from such a tedious person.”

•“It is a brave and stupid thing, a beautiful thing, to waste one’s life for love.”

Crusader's Cross



Crusaders Cross by James Lee Burke - What can I say. The man is a god. James Lee Burke has written another amazing story in his Dave Robicheaux series. Crusader's Cross tells the story of Dave and his brother Jimmy's youth. A women that rescued them from certain death and then seemed to slip through their fingers. Many years later the mystery comes back to haunt the two men. And Dave wants to get to the bottom of the story. He also needs to stop a brutal serial killer and find out why there are contracts out on his life and that of his friend Clete.

Lines I loved from this story:


•“….did all these things, and many others, in a blithe, carefree spirit, like a unicorn on purple acid crashing good-naturedly through a clock shop.”


•“massive Evangeline oak under which I first kissed Bootsie and discovered how the world could become a cathedral in the time it takes for two people to press their mouths against one another.”


•“….would forever be the Renaissance humanist, bearing his faith and optimism like a white light inside a chalice.”


•“He’s got polka dot giraffes running around in his head,but he’s the best guy I’ve ever known."

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

The Nameless Day


The Nameless Day by Sara Douglass tells the story of a 14th century friar that has been visited by the Archangel Michael and told that he will be the salvation of mankind. Or maybe, it's damnation. That he will have choices to make and evil will try to corrupt him at every turn.

It's an interesting tale. And I enjoyed it very much. It's a slow read, the print is tiny and the book is thick. But I looked forward to sitting down and reading it every day.

There are at least 2 more books in what the author calls "The Crucible Series". I already grabbed book number two but I will probably wait a bit before diving into it.

Friday, August 18, 2006

Beta Newt

I switched my Literary Muse site to Blogger Beta.............we'll see...................

Monday, August 07, 2006

My Life as a Fake



My life as a Fake by Peter Carey was not a bad story, it was interesting enough but not something I would recommend. As the old saying goes, sometimes you have to read a lot of frogs before your find your prince.

This story was simply a frog. Not good, and not bad. Just a frog.

Basically it tells the story of a man who invented an author and the repercussions of that act. The story becomes further intriguing when the phony author becomes a real flesh and blood person who feels like his life has been stolen from him. Did the poet really exist or was he truly a figment of a failed authors imagination? This tale sets out to uncover the truths behind the legendary events.