ms_tiahmarie's reviews
1089 reviews

Entertaining.

Larry McMurty's 101th chapter begins, 'I've chosen, for the most part, to keep this memoir personality-free. Attempting to interest twenty-first-century readers in the personalities (mainly) twentieth-century bookmen risks making this narrative more circumscribed than I want to be. Who among today's readers, needs to know about booksellers who are, in the Botswanaian term, "late"?'

'So it goes,' Kurt Vonnegut replied.

I think what attracts me to these books is Scarpetta's mind. Her internal dialogue. Which maybe why I am struggling with another one further in the series. I usually prefer 3rd to first. But Scarpetta is a unique character.

Shorts that peel back the skin, layer by layer, delving into relationships of the deeply personal.

Hemingway, author of The Old Man and the Sea, is threaded through the narrative and echoed in style and the shape (or lack of) the characters. So a readers adoration of this book will probably hinge on how much said reader enjoys Hemingway.

Other reviewer's have done a great job explaining this book's complicated nesting setup. Do not skim anything, even the chapter headings. Was invovled in a fairytale 'retelling' project, thus found her twisting of olld tropes fascinating along with her powerful female characters.

I confess to being very nervous about reading the book - Rachel and I know each other and work together. What does one say if you dislike a book your friend slaved five years over? Thankfully, I don't have to answer that question because I am incredibly impressed. So well done, Rachel.

Having hard time putting this book into words other than - WOW. It is literary, yet wraps itself around many genres. Beautifully layered, complex but readable. Can practically taste the descriptions. Thought provoking, topical while pushing boundaries. The tension and complexity is so compelling.

What impressed me, as a fellow writer, is how she drips in the details without reverting to the infamous 'info dumps.' This is always tricky to do, but even more so when one creates a world that isn't precisely the one we live in. This isn't sci-fi. It is more like a sliding-doors scenario (her words at the launch) - the world is South Africa present, but more as if the world (and SA) had made slightly different choices and what those choices would have looked like on our roads and transport. Even so, how tempting it would have been for a lesser writer to start describing and building such a scenario at ad nauseam. The slight differences in the now of Sister-Sister vs now of 2013 and threaded into the story, make sense and don't make the reader feel they need a dictionary (like Clockwork Orange) or a glossary or a load of maps.

Already looking forward to giving this book a reread. The TBR pile is rather big, but may have to work it in there, anyway.

(Pssst...men readers. . . you will like this book. Do not be put off by the title being written in italics or the fact it says Sister-Sister rather than Brother-Brother. It is not mushy. Promise.)

Life has been incredibly hectic lately, perfect time to read a collection of shorts. No need to follow a plot, just read each story as I have time. And what a lovely collection it is. Not one 'clunker' in the lot. There was a bit of a concern that the project's desire to get a wide range of stories would mean a sacrifice in quality to achieve their objective. But no such sacrifices were made.

Wonderful book. Karen Martin, Makhosazana Xaba and all of the contributing writers should be proud of a job well done.

I was told I would enjoy Cloudstreet more than Dirt Music, and said persons were correct. A pity Short Story Day Africa has made reading things other than short stories a bit tricky (kid stories abound!). But the epic tale has enough humour mixed with the somber to keep one coming back.

Some great lines. Be tricky to decide which to put on the blog.
Decisions. Decisions.

'I am going to Google for the name of that movie. Be right back..'

Hello me.

The number of times I have said to Husband, 'I don't remember the street name but it begins with the letter _' I am always right about the letter, but the name of the street never comes.

I'm only 35.

Not good sign.

That said, Nora still managed to have a rather eventful and successful life. Hope for all of us, then.