Review: Fire from Heaven

Fire from Heaven by Mary Renault
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

To be honest, this was a cover buy. I love the Virago modern classics special editions that were brought out last year to celebrate the publishing house's 40th anniversary. I just, erm, I don't want to read them. I've bought four and, so far, I only managed to read one (Their eyes were wathcing God).

I think there's nothing wrong with cover buys but, when you're trying (like I am) to reduce the number of books you DNF (more than 30 this year alone!), you probably should accept you shouldn't get a book unless you would buy it even if it didn't have a pretty cover.

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Review: If Cats Disappeared from the World

If Cats Disappeared from the World by Genki Kawamura
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

An interesting concept - essentially, what would be prepared to give up to have one more day of life? And, would you get to the point when you felt the an extra day of life wasn't worth whatever it was you were giving up?

Somehow, the concept doesn't quite work. Possibly, the translation doesn't quite work? Or the book just doesn't have anything that profound to actually say about life and death?

Overall, a good idea that just isn't fully realised.

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Review: Little Women

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed re-reading Little Women but I just wasn't able to drum up enthusiasm for re-reading Good Wives. The March sisters learning lessons when they're teenagers is quaint but it gets a bit too much when they start to get into their 20s (the Good Wives part).

I actually didn't realise until I was well into my 20s that the UK differs from the USA in having parts one and two of Little Women as two separate books. I suspect that is now changing, particularly with a new film version is about to come out, as the Penguin classics version I read contains both books. As in the US editions, "Good Wives" is considered to be part two.

Little Women is a lovely book and I think a worthwhile read for all teenage girls (and boys). As I am nearly 40, I'm probably just too old to appreciate it.

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Review: Lolly Willowes

Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

For first three quarters of the book, Laura (Lolly) is a middle-class, middle-aged woman slowly realising that she doesn't want to do what is expected of her as unmarried woman (i.e. be quiet and be helpful). Had the book ended when she decides to move to the country, Lolly Williams would have been a empowering book about a woman finding her voice.

But last quarter goes the proverbial bat poo crazy, leaving the reader go "yah what?" - Lolly does make a great speach at the end of the book explaining the need for the craziness in fairness. So while the last quarter is decidedly odd, I think it is justified.

A book for all introverts or anyone who resents the path that society expects them to follow.

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Review: Frankenstein

Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I decided to re-read Frankenstein after reading Jeanette Winterson's Frankissstein. I was amazed to discover how much I had forgotten - I've forgotten so much that I'm actually wondering if I did ever read it (it was more than 20 years ago to be fair).

Now that I'm older and (technically) wiser, I've found the book much more flawed than I remembered. So much so that I gave up on it three quarters in. Surprisingly for a book by a female author, all of the female characters are one dimensional and fit into the saintly woman trope. Plus, Victor Frankenstein is - at times - a self-pitying bore. It's a shame so little time is dedicated to the creature's story. The idea that nurture (or lack thereof) rather than nature makes the creature into a "monster" is still an important message today.

Whatever the flaws of Frankenstein, that Shelley wrote this when she was only 19 is astonishing. She did have an unusually good education for a woman at that time and was surrounded by literary figures such as Bryon. But, still impressive all the same.

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Review: Frankissstein: A Love Story

Frankissstein: A Love Story by Jeanette Winterson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What I love about Winterson is that her writing is it's experimental. And, it's experimental in a good way - not the "experimental" for the sake of being experimental or for being different, but she genuinely wants to investigate an idea. I feel like she wrote this retelling of Frankeinstein because she wanted to further explore what it means to be human and how AI might change that. She doesn't come up with any answers; just possible scenarios.

Ry was an well-rounded character but, like the original Shelley, their job is serve as an observer. So, they're not quite as "unique" as some of the characters. My favoutite was "Ron Lord", which I'm guessing is a play on "Bryon". Reimainging one of England's greatest poets as a somewhat pathetic middle-aged misogynist was a nice comedic touch.

Frankissstein got me thinking so much that I've been inspired to re-read the original. It's been at least 20 years, so it's probably about time!

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