Monday, May 14, 2007

2007 books 65 and 66

I managed to read a couple of short books last night and today while taking breaks from unpacking and whatnot!

Haruki Murakami's After Dark
I really think that Murakami is one of the most consistently GOOD authors out there. He never disappoints and this novel is no different. It's less, I don't know, epic than most of his novels, but the characters are some of his most likable. The story involves a small group of people who all encounter each other late one night. Meanwhile, the older sister of one of the protagonists is deeply asleep and possibly in danger. I really loved all the characters and I thought the film-like narrative was pretty interesting. A.

Chelsea Cain's Confessions of a Teen Sleuth
This was a mildly amusing Nancy Drew parody. It turns out that Nancy was a real person whose college roommate, Carolyn Keene, wrote a series of more-or-less inaccurate books about her. Nancy grows into adulthood, grappling with her teen sleuth identity and desperate for mysteries to solve. Totally a goofy read. B.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your reading ability amazes me. Are you really Evelyn Wood in disguise? I tend to read slowly when I'm reading for pleasure, often at close to speaking speed as if I'm imagining the action and dialogue in my head. And a Murakami book, well I usually have to take those pretty slowly matter how brief they might be.

Also, reading often makes me sleepy. If I read faster, would I get less sleepy?

Alicia K. said...

Heh! I had to look up Evelyn Wood.

I don't know how I read so fast--I always have (once on a middle school bus trip, some girls timed me. I'm not really sure why). I don't think my reading comprehension is that affected, but I don't always remember the details easily even soon after I've read a book.

Reading makes me sleepy sometimes too. Mainly it depends whether or not I was sleepy before I started reading, and how engaged I am in the book. I can stay up to the wee hours if I'm really dying to know what happens next. Sometimes I fall asleep anyway though. :)