January 10th, 2008
So far so good, 3 books in 10 days, it’s fast enough to be able to finish before the end of the year. This time, I’ve taken a book in a new category, which will be the “books I’ve already read before”. And to begin this category, I just had to pick something by my favourite author : Jean-Michel Truong. And it’s not “Le successeur de pierre” (I’m saving it for later…), but the other novel that I have from him : Eternity Express.
If Eternity Express is much shorter and more predictable than “Le successeur de pierre”, it remains that it’s really well constructed. About halfway through the book, you start to confusely feel what’s going on, and yet you keep hoping that it isn’t true until the very end of the story. And it’s perhaps what I like best about Jean-Michel Truong’s books. They present stories that are staged in the near future, but that are still really plausible. It’s sometimes almost frightening. Sometimes, you’re following a character’s reasoning, and when the conclusion - however horrible it may be - is explained, you stop and realize you’ve not really disagreed so far…
Well, this last paragraph was perhaps not very clear, but I’ll give some example when I’ll write about “Le successeur de pierre”. So now, remember that : if you can read one of Mr Truong’s novel, DO IT !
888 Challenge Status :
Category 1: “Books suggested by friends”
#1 Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
#2 Ni d’Eve ni d’Adam (Amélie Nothomb)
Category 2: “Books I’ve already read before”
#1 Eternity Express (Jean-Michel Truong)
January 6th, 2008
Hmmm… Some might say I’m reading a bit too much considering I have my first exam tomorrow, but the book was really short. And I’m glad that it was. It’s the first book by Amélie Nothomb that I read, and I probably won’t be opening another for a while.
I may sound a little harsh with my previous statement, but, well, I just don’t like the character of Amélie. Some time ago, I saw the film based on her novel “Stupeur et tremblements”, and I couldn’t help but to think that the way she was portrayed in the movie made her look as if she was… dumb. Or something along the same line.
Even so, when one of my aunts told me to read her latest book, which is about her life in Japan before the events of the movie, I tought that it could be interesting. And indeed, I had many reasons to want to read this novel : she is fascinated by Japan and its culture, and so am I. She also is from Belgium, another thing we have in common.
But no. Definitely, I don’t like the kind of person she is. The last part of the book was particularely responsible for this judgement…
Anyway, there were some things that still made the book enjoyable, mainly the way it offers an example of what the life can be in Japan for a foreigner. What I regret is that these aspects were often put in the background, hidden by the character of Amélie (even if it’s normal, as the book is an autobiography). Also, she needs to stop using “extase”, “exulter” and “s’exclamer” once each page. It gets tiring after a while ^^
Well, now to another book, 62 to go !
888 Challenge Status :
Category 1: “Books suggested by friends”
#1 Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
#2 Ni d’Eve ni d’Adam (Amélie Nothomb)
January 5th, 2008
Some weeks ago, Pascale introduced me to something she had herself found on another blog, the “Triple Eight Reading Challenge”. The goal is to read 8 books, from 8 categories (which you can choose as you please) in 2008. Quite simple, isn’t it ? And, as we both like reading, we found that it’s a good way to finally get to read this pile of books that are always meant to be “read soon”, but aren’t because we don’t take the time to read them.
But I just can’t make a complete list, yet even choose the 8 categories I’ll pick from. So, I decided I would build the list and the categories as I go. And the first category I’ll inaugurate will be…
(You can add some drumrolls here if you like. That’ll make the announcement a little bit more… dramatic.)
“Books suggested by friends”
… So, finally, drumrolls were perhaps too much, oh well…
And I already read the first book from this daunting list of 64 I’m supposed to read. It was Orson Scott Card’s “Enders’s Game”, a sci-fi novel first published in 1985. I read it mainly because two of my friends read it and recommended it to me independently. And one of them gave me such a review of the book that I was already eager to read it, after what the other one spoke of it, and leant it to me. So that was a coincidence, but in a good way.
And I think the last time I read a whole book in a little more than one night was when I read “Le successeur de pierre” by Jean-Michel Truong (which is my favorite book of all times, by the way). I opened the book at 1 am, and wasn’t able to put it down until 6:30 am, when my eyes were closing themselves whether I liked it or not. And this morning, the first thing I did was pick up the book and go through the last 70 pages…
I’m not saying it was as good as “Le successeur de pierre” (but then, for me nothing can be), but it was one of the most enjoyable book I read in awhile. And I just finished to read The Hitch Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, so you can’t say it’s because I’ve been reading boring stuff before. I was just really eager to follow Ender, this little boy sent to a military academy and always put to test, struggling to find some peace as he is trained to become mankind’s savior.
Because the main protagonist of the story is a kid. A really gifted child who has been selected to become a commander of an interstellar spaceship, or even the commander of the whole fleet, as he soon discover. I won’t say much more about the story, because I wouldn’t want to spoil those who’d want to read it. The bottom line is : it’s a quick read, but the story is engaging and the characters (especially Ender, of course) were great.
And I learned that a movie was being made after the book. That could be really great, I think the story would make a great movie scenario… But wait and see, they could also screw it up. Badly. I’m also glad that Ender’s Game is the first in a serie of 4 books. I’ll definitely join Ender and the others again some time, probably soon !
888 Challenge Status :
Category 1: “Books suggested by friends”
#1 Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
