last two weeks in books....

Wrapping up the past two weeks in my literary adventures...

Ryu Murakami Almost Transparent Blue

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started reading: december 12 2009
finished reading: december 12 2009

I only picked that one up from the council library because it was stacked next to the Haruki Murakami's (see below) and since it looked interesting enough I thought "might as well give it a try."

and Woah... That is one sick and twisted book! Full on, blasted writing which never really seems to stop to actually assess the situations it reports... Just in the moment a constant stream of consciousness or rather unconsciousness... This is book is definitely not easy on the reader... But it is magic how beautifully it captures the frenzy and chaos of a drug-crazed generation lost, drowning in music and (il)legal substances... The protagonist all know what they want and it hurts to read how desperately they are using all the wrong means to achieve their goals...

The harsh realities of brutal portrayals are interspersed with intricate and subtle moments of eery beauty... this is an unforgettable journey juxtaposing disgusting chaos with saddening beauty as frenetic writing and long-drawn (not boring!) descriptions alternate

"At the edge of the wide grounds was a pool, and around it flowers were planted. Like eruptions on a rotting corpse, like a serum with multiplying cancer cells, the flowers were blooming. Against the background of a wall that rippled like white cloth, they scattered on the ground or suddenly danced up in the wind."

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Okay now... please don't hold anything against me... but I love love love romantic movies and one of my absolute favorites is "The Notebook" (makes me teary just watching the trailer...) adapted from the novel by Nicholas Sparks. Well when it comes to movie adaptions I have a rule: read the book first and then watch the movie. I know that this rule leads to a lot of disappointment when the movie doesn't turn out anything like the little movie running in my head while reading the novel (best current example: "The Time Traveler's Wife"). So anyways when I first stumbled across the Trailer for "Dear John" I knew I had to read the novel before making one of my girlfriends embark on a tissue fest at the movies.

Nicholas Sparks Dear John

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started reading: december 17 2009
finished reading: december 17 2009

Well... I liked it... But I thought the ending was a bit far-fetched though... I know it had to be tear-jerking and a proper happy ending would have been sort of a let down too but did Mr. Sparks have to pull the cancer (and miraculous recovery) card ? Really? I understand the premise of letting your love go for the sake of their happiness but the ending just didn't sit right with me...

I also have to admit I cried a little... but not so much at the ending which was supposed to get your tear glands going into overtime... But I had to cry at the little, subtle moments that John spends with his Dad... I don't know... maybe it just stems from the fact that I have not seen my parents in about 18 months due to 20000 km between Europe and Australia. But I found the relationship between John and his father much more intriguing and real than his relationship with Miss Prude (no offense)....

Yeah... you read right... prude: I also thought the entire book to be just a little bit too clean, too "I have to save myself for marriage" and too "I will go to hell if I commit adultery". I am not saying that cheating is good thing in reality... But it can be in novels... That is what love is about for me... cast aside convention and just go and get the one you love... just like in The Notebook... Maybe now that Mr. Sparks has a multi-million readership (as the cover of Dear John proclaimed) he has to be clean to get even more people to read his books...

Still I enjoyed it much better than the next Sparks novel I borrowed from the council library in a bout of acute chick lit addiction...

Nicholas Sparks The Lucky One

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started reading: december 19 2009
finished reading: december 20 2009

Well there isn't really much good I can say about this book... But there is one compliment that I can make Mr. Sparks.. He knows how to write so I will keep on going even though I do not like the story at all... well it had dogs... I like dogs... and I guess that's about it... and he even spoiled that in the end...

Again Mr. Sparks took the easy way out... This time killing of the personified threat to the lover's permanent happiness by letting him drown in a flood... yes...a flood... how original, right? But wait it gets better... While the 'bad guy' who is the ex-husband of the female lead drowns in the flood trying to save their son, the son is actually saved by the dog (yes the dog!) of his ex-wifes new love interest

Watch a little too much "lassie" haven't we Mr. Sparks??? Better luck next time... Or maybe... there is a time to stop writing novels... Maybe when one has accumulate tons of money or when the movie industry starts casting Miley Cyrus to star in an new adaption... (and again... no offense)

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So after that disappointment I thought I finally get reconciled with one of my absolute favorite writers..

Haruki Murakami South of the Border, West of the Sun

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started reading: december 13 2009
finished reading: december 22 2009

I have to come straight and say "yes, this started out as commute literature"... which is not necessarily bad but sort of robs the novel of its full potential... since i have to share my split my attention between getting on and off of trains & escalators, squeezing in next to smelly or sleepy people who never get out at my stop so I have to get up constantly... and i only have about 20 min each way to actually read (I could get about 40 min each way but I refuse to read while walking. I like enough like a dork as it is...)

anyways.... yesterday afternoon... after christmas grocery shopping I settle in on the couch... headphones on and gave pages 80-end my full undivided attention... But it still wasn't what i had hoped for...

My history with Murakami is pretty funny... or maybe I should say "a bit backwards"... I started reading his novels a few years back as part of reading requirements for a uni course...Back then I read "Hard-boiled wonderland & The End of the world", "The Wind-up Bird Chronicle" and "Kafka on the Shore" and I loved and devoured them all...

Then a year or so ago I though I should the book that made him famous (Norwegian Wood) and oh... what a mistake... nothing of the eeriness, no fantastic worlds or talking cats or people stuck at the bottom of a well... a story about love... and a rather macabre and depressing one...

So I picked up "South of the Border...'' from the council library with all the best intentions... hopeful to rekindle my previous love affair with his writing... just to discover that this again was a sad and depressing story about love...

I am consciously not calling it a "love story" cause it really is a story about love and what it can do to you when you let it slip away... It is not a love story where two people meet, overcome some obstacle and then live (presumably) happily ever after (like The Lucky One).. It is a story about hurt and ache... about lost dreams and missed opportunities... I cannot really judge this novel for what it is though... simply because that was not what I was expecting... I wanted crazy fantasy with three-part chapter headings and I got numbered chapters and a lot to think about...

Lines like "Whatever has form can disappear in an instant" or "Everyone just keeps disappearing. Some things just vanish, as if they were cut away. Others fade slowly into the mist. And all that remains is a desert." will stay with you for a long time after you finished reading....