[fair warning, dear reader. i've done a lot of unsatisfying reading lately. it's about to get ranty.]
the antelope in the living room. hilarious stories of marriage, best read one or two at a time. #silentlylaughingintomypillowatnight
the silent wife. supposedly the new gone girl. interesting in its own right without the comparison, but the story rarely holds tension. #decentchoice
the husband's secret. ugh, no. i didn't like this one. too many stories, too many narrators, not enough depth. #returned
the rosie project. this was a charming story of one man's ultra-logical, evidence-based search for a wife. #lovedit
police. now, i love unreliable narrators and i love murder mysteries, but this latest chapter in jo nesbo's harry hole series had too much of both. #toneitdownanotch
what alice forgot. by the author of the husband's secret and much, much better. this book stayed lighthearted for the most part, which fit the author's tone much more comfortably. #senseofhumor
circle of wives. uuuggghhhh. this is one of the most frustrating books i've read in a long time. amazon recommended it to me because i like thrillers (i do!) and probably because i'm also fascinated by polygamy. how could a person write a boring book about murder and polygamy?? #tooboringtoconsider
can i take a moment to speak to the authors and editors in the room? there's been a recent rash of new books coming out that are told from multiple perspectives. in this list alone there are three, and i just started another one that moves back and forth between narrators. is it because gone girl was so popular? well, gone girl needed two narrators; that's the whole premise of the book. but rarely, rarely does more than one narrator add to your novel. i just can't take it any more. i almost returned my current read as soon as i saw that there were two narrators. instead of three or four half-hearted plot lines, just tell one story really well.
so because it's st. patrick's day and i forgot to wear green, i'll celebrate by rereading one of my favorite irish authors, tana french. girlfriend can tell a story with tension and clear voice. she writes the dublin murder squad series, four books so far. start with in the woods and get ready to stay up all night reading.
what have you been reading recently? clearly i need some good recommendations!
What a good point about the multiple narrators! You mean multiple first-person narrators, right? I'm trying to think of what books I've read where that worked really well -- let's see, Poisonwood Bible, The Help....But you're right, that does seem to be awfully common lately. What about books that are in third person but have a section about one character, then a section about another (one that comes to mind for me is Cold Mountain) ... does that affect you the same way? You've really got me thinking with that last point!
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