Finished: Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (Review coming sometime soon. Although first I'm going to catch up on Steve Donoghue's last 2 videos--The Steve Tiberius Donoghue Book Club - Wolf Hall Concludes! and The Steve Tiberius Donoghue Book Club - Wolf Hall Appendix!--before I sort out my own thoughts.)
When I was in Germany I quickly read The Alienist by Caleb Carr. Wow, it was bad! But that was the only way I could read The Alienist. I imagine Vietnam is like that.
ReplyDeleteSorry for the delayed response on this. I must have missed it. (Has blogger stopped sending you email notifications of comments, or is it just me?)
ReplyDeleteBut anyway...
I can point to a lot of books I read in Vietnam because of the poverty of selection. This one being a perfect example.
But as for Wolf Hall, I'd actually been wanting to read it for quite some time. It'd been recommended to me by many different people, and I'm a bit of a history geek anyway.
And I'm glad I read it, on the whole, although there were parts of the book I struggled with.
I take it you had a negative impression/experience of this book?
The Alienist was the only other English novel I had brought to read so I finished that toot sweet. I remember reading it rather hungrily. But it was bad, yes. I never read anything by Caleb Carr again.
ReplyDeleteHa! Well, thanks for the heads up, I guess. I'll keep my distance from it if I ever run into it.
ReplyDeleteOutage by b.w. powe was the other English novel I brought and read, and I quite liked it. Shows you what frame of mind I was in, I suppose.
ReplyDeleteFull disclosure: in Vienna I also bought and read the English version of Mr. Vertigo by Paul Auster. I was in my Paul Auster Phase.
ReplyDeleteAnd what's the verdict on Mr. Vertigo. Is that a recommend?
ReplyDeleteNo. If you have to read Paul Auster I recommend Moon Palace
ReplyDelete