I was really bad at reviewing the books I read in November and especially in December. I did not even write anything about a book that ended up being on my top 10 reads in 2010 list! Well, to remedy that at least to a certain degree I've decided to write sort of mini-reviews of three books, two novels and a graphic novel, I read (mostly) in 2010. Mostly in 2010, because I started the graphic novel in 2010, but finished it just a few days ago. Anyway, here comes:
This YA novel has been talked about all over the blogosphere. I don't often read YA lit, but some of the rave reviews made me curious and I borrowed the book from the library. I must say I was not dissapointed. In general I liked the book. I liked both Nick and Norah, and theirs was a sweet story. I absolutely loved how sexual orientation really was a non-issue for both of them and in the book in general. I've never been to clubbing, so the club and music scene portrayed in the book was alien, but interesting, to me. However, I don't think I have ever read a book with more swearing in it than in Nick & Norah's Infinite playlist! I don't usually really even take notice, if there is some swearing in the book I'm reading, but this time it really annoyed my quite a lot. So, not a five star read, but in the end the posivites clearly make up for the one negative thing. And if I ever come across the movie made of this book, I will most definitely want to see it.
This is the graphic novel I started last year by reading the first, long story. There are also two other stories in the book, and those I read only after the New Year. Sacco's stories tell about Bosnia and especially Sarajevo during and after the war in the 1990s. The first story The Fixer is a good introduction to the history of the conflict and a powerful narrative about the insanity of war. I learned quite a lot from this story. Soba tells the story of a young Sarajevan man trying to pick up the pieces of his life after the war. This was my favorite of the three stories in the book. The last story is Christmas with Karadzic, where a group of Western journalists are following a lead that Karadzic is going to attend Christmas mass at a certain church. Sacco's stories are not pretty, but they are powerful, they are important. I liked this book very much.
It has been my intention to write a separate post about Winterson's fiction and why I like her writing so much, but I haven't had time to really think about the post yet. I can tell, however, that I fell in love with her writing from the start of the first book by her I ever read. I have since read most of her books written for an adult audience. I even own most of them, but somehow I had not read The PowerBook even though a copy had been sitting in my bookself for a few years. Maybe I was saving the book for the right moment, savouring the thought I had some wonderful writing there waiting for its turn. The PowerBook is a both a novel and collection of stories with a twist. The stories overlap and in the end one is not quite sure what is fiction written by the main character and what is "reality". I also loved the idea that the main character does not want to reveal their gender, and it really takes quite many pages until one is sure whether the main character is a man or a woman. I totally loved The PowerBook, and will definitely reread it at some point.
Here's a humorous quote from my favorite story within a story in the book:
"Tulips, every one - and hundreds more - each distinctively different, all the same. The attribute of variation thet humans and tulips share.
It was Key of Pleasure and Lover's Dream that I carried from Sulyman the Magnificent to Leiden in 1591. To be exact I strapped them under my trousers...
'Put it this way.'
'No. I'll crush them when I rest.'
'Put it this way...'
'No. I'll crush them when I pray.'
'Put one here and one here...'
'No! It will look as though I have an evil swelling.'
Well, where whould you store a priceless pair o bulbs?
That gave me the idea.
In the same place as a priceless pair of balls.
Yes! Yes! Yes!" [p. 9-10]
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