Saturday, February 19, 2005

2005 book 16

a.l. kennedy's paradise
one of the nice things about being a little bit sick is that between all the naps and sniffling and coughing, there is some time to do some just-for-fun reading. although kennedy's latest novel is fairly dark--it's the story of an alcoholic who gets involved with another alcoholic--it certainly qualifies as reading enjoyment. it's somewhat circular and confused--which makes sense, as the narrator begins the story having just emerged from a blackout, and has to piece together her recent activities and her life in general. never having been an alcoholic, i can't really say whether or not the characterizations are accurate, but they're certainly very powerful and gripping. this is probably kennedy's best novel to date, although it is slightly more distressing than her other works. still, i'd highly recommend it.

3 comments:

Bora Zivkovic said...

The Tar Heel Tavern

Alicia K. said...

can someone explain to me what a "carnival" is? is this comment spam?

Bora Zivkovic said...

NO, this is not spam. A blog carnival is a weekly collection of best blog posts that bloggers themselves submit. The first carnival, Carnival of Vanities, was started in NC by Bigwig of the blog called Silflay Hraka. Many other carnivals have started since then, some bound by geography (e.g., Iraqi bloggers, Canadian bloggers, Balkan bloggers,...), others by politics (Left or Right), most by special interest (there are carnivals devoted to law, economics, education, philosophy, religion, science, medicine, poetry, etc.). Follow the link for more information and consider submitting an entry for the inaugural carnival of NC bloggers.