Filed under: Books | Tags: A Spot of Bother, book review, dentist, fear, fiction, floss, Mark Haddon, The Jade Peony, Wayson Choy
Yes. I live to tell of yet another dentist’s appointment. Every time I come out of one of these things, I always promise myself I would floss. I would get over the irrational fear of seeing a piece of string go underneath my gum. I have yet to keep those promises.
This time is going to be different. I can feel it.
Slight Disappointment
Last night I finished A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon. I must say, it wasn’t what I would expect after reading his debut novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time.
Although I didn’t find The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time particularly inspiring, it had its charms in certain places. A Spot of Bother on the other hand, was a little bit confused. It had some humour, some great one-liners, but none too memorable. It was crude and graphic, but it came across a little bit contrived.
Many elements seemed expected and hackneyed. It had the neglected housewife who has an affair. It had the perfunctory gay character. It had the child whose biggest character trait was that he sucked on his thumb.
It was a relatively quick read with lots of things happening to the characters. Main characters took turns progressing the story without contributing much insight or change.
A New Book
Today I started The Jade Peony.
I’ve heard many good things about it. I don’t know how I missed reading it in highschool since it is required reading for most schools in Vancouver.
Filed under: Books, My Weekend Pillows, Work Life | Tags: Mucha, holiday, Chapters, retail, skiing, Mark Haddon, Daniel Clay, Justin Evans, Mary Swan, Richard Dawkins, Mitch Albom
As I’m settling into my holiday, the snow has been comfortably settling onto the ground. The temperature has dropped over night below o degrees celsius. Time to break out the big puffy jackets.
It was a circus as Chapters yesterday. Working at a retail environment, Christmas is a time I don’t look forward to. The overload shipment of books never fit properly on the shelves. Every customer thinks they are the most important priority in the world. Where have all the manners gone? I believe everyone should be required to work at a retail environment so they can realize that no, the world does not revolve around you. Wait your turn for question/service like everyone else.
The line up at cash, despite the eight tirelessly working cashiers, never ends or even lets up a little. I was placed on cash since we desperately needed help there. I nearly lost my voice after the 7-hour-straight predetermined dialogue. I definitely feel for the cash team.
This morning, I saw Pillows off on his annual ski-trip. I will miss him, but at the same time I’m really looking forward to my own quiet, perhaps solitary weekend. (Weekend in the sense that I don’t have work in the 2 upcoming days.)
Maybe I’ll curl up in bed with one of the eight books that I’ve purchased yesterday as a result of the Chapters employee discount day.
Alphonse Mucha Masterworks by Rosalind Ormiston
This is just something decadent that I decided to get. It is 200 pages of visually stunning paintings and illustrations with brief bouts of text chronicling Mucha’s life. Alphonse Mucha is one of my favorite illustrators of the late 18th century to early 19th century.
Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon
I read his debut novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. It was a charming little book about a boy with autism. The synopsis of this newer novel sounded intriguing, and I couldn’t resist the hardcover format for 5$, when its tradepaper contemporary is being sold at 30$.
Broken by Daniel Clay
I don’t know much about this book except that it’s supposed to be a modern To Kill a Mocking Bird on steroids, and it’s supposed to be somewhat similar to Heather O’neill’s Lullabies for Little Criminals which I enjoyed.
Little Book of Big Packaging Ideas by Catharine Fishel
I have his friend The Little Book of Big Promotions which I found to be quite inspiring. And I find the format of this series of books to be quite pleasing. At roughly 7″ by 8.5″, it is easy to handle.
The Good and Happy Child by Justin Evans
This is a horror novel, a genre I rarely venture into. Actually I rarely venture out of fiction. Anyway, I’m looking to change that, and expand my reading horizons. To be honest, I just thought the cover looked attractive.
The Boys in the Trees by Mary Swan
I’ve heard nothing but good things about this book. I’m quite excited to read it.
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
I watched his documentaries The Root of All Evil? and The Enemies of Reason. I enjoyed both of these films and I would recommend everyone to watch them. But really it was the shiny cover and the die-cut circle that sold me.
Tuesdays with Morrie By Mitch Albom
I’ve always wanted to read this book just to see what the fuss was about, but being somewhat of a self-proclaimed non-conformist, I’ve resisted and wanted to explore novels with less hype. I finally purchased this book as Pillows says he’s interested to read it as well.
I think I’m done with book purchases for 2009, and it’s not even 2009 yet.
