Book Update

I've been reading quite a bit lately, but have fallen behind in my book log entries. So here are the last three I have finished:

William Trevor's The Story of Lucy Gault is a tale of isolation and guilt. Lucy makes a rash decision in her youth and suffers for it for the remainder of her life. The setting here reminds me of the setting of his Love and Summer, which was haunting and beautiful. Truly a wonderful writer.

Robert J. Sawyer has begun writing a new trilogy about the awakening of the consciousness of the internet and the first book in this series is titled WWW: Wake. The ideas here are quite interesting and his main character was likable enough to engage me in the story completely. Some of the jumps he takes are a bit hard to swallow, which would temporarily pull me out of the story, but all in all, a fascinating read. The second book -- WWW: Watch -- has recently been released and I'm sure I'll be reading it soon.

And just 2 nights ago I finished Yann Martel's Beatrice and Virgil -- a strange, yet engrossing novel that explores the ways writers can write about the Holocaust in an age when most survivors are gone. A weird little book with a main character who seems to be Martel in disguise, I was sucked into the story, but don't feel it was entirely successful in delivering its message. (And I'm still holding a bit of a grudge against Martel for the ending of Life of Pi.)

Now reading: Ghostwritten by David Mitchell, author of Cloud Atlas.

Comments

[shannon]

i have been reading beatrice and virgil the last week and i am having a similar reaction to the story. not sure about the message but i keep reading....