Shelf Life: A Book Review Blog

[Ashley]

Just wanted to let you all know I'm starting a new book review blog called Shelf Life. I'll post reviews for books I read according to a set formula, as well as talk about new authors I'm interested in, dabble in literary criticism a bit, and keep track of the books I've read this year, the books I plan to read eventually, and the best books I've ever read.

Hope you guys will check it out! I'm going to try to update on Mondays.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

Sounds interesting. Thanks Ashley, I'll check it out.

[LadyRushia]

Awesome. I'm doing something similar with the blog I just started, only I talk about more than books. I will check this out, though.

[ich1990]

Excellent. As a bit of a book enthusiast myself I am glad to hear of this blog; I almost always enjoy hearing other people's opinion on books. Although our literary tastes do not totally align (never have liked Shakespeare), I look forward to your reviews with interest.

[Ashley]

Well, I'm a pretty voracious reader, so I'm sure they will. Is there a particular genre you like? I could prowl around in my to-be-posted archives (I have about 30 reviews that just need some polishing) and see if I have one for a book you might like...

[rocklobster]

I have questions!
1. Will you only be doing current books or will you do any book regardless of how old it is?
2. Can we suggest a book? I have quite a few that I wish were more well-known.
3. Can we do guest reviews?

[Radical Dreamer]

Added your blog to my list of things to follow on Blogspot! Hopefully it'll help me find some good reading this summer (that is, if I finish reading epic book project Les Mis first...! XD)!

[ich1990]

Well, I'm a pretty voracious reader, so I'm sure they will. Is there a particular genre you like? I could prowl around in my to-be-posted archives (I have about 30 reviews that just need some polishing) and see if I have one for a book you might like...

Actually, there are a few types of reviews that I look for. First, I like to read reviews of classics, philosophical, and theological works so that I can compare my analyses of "vintage" or profound ideas with other people's analyses. Second, I look for reviews of modern of pulp fiction. I don't get a lot of time to read pulp, so I try to read only the top tier books, book reviews help me sort out wheat from the chaff.

As far as genres are concerned, my top eight or so preferences would probably be something like this:
(in descending order)

Philosophy
Classic
Theology
Science Fiction
Satire / Humor
Fantasy
Horror
Thriller

[Ashley]

1. Will you only be doing current books or will you do any book regardless of how old it is?
2. Can we suggest a book? I have quite a few that I wish were more well-known.
3. Can we do guest reviews?

1. I usually don't rule out a book either for its newness or its age]The Pilgrim's Regress[/i] soon, and Louis Markos' From Achilles to Christ which you may find particularly interesting.

I do have a science fiction anthology review to be posted; maybe I'll be able to get that done by Monday and post it this week. Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide is on my soon-to-read list, so be on the lookout!

[mysngoeshere56]

Oh awesome. I love journalism, blogging, and reviewing so I've been thinking of starting similar things (especially for books).

Hm, some interesting books on that list. I should keep an eye out for your reviews. I've been looking for more stuff to read lately. >.< Kinda running out of books.... OH! I see Tithe by Holly Black on there. That's one I've been thinking of reading but I'm not sure whether or not I would like it. I'll have to look for when you post your review.

P.S. It's spelled Stephenie Meyer (with three e's, not two e's and an a). Don't worry, a lot of people made that mistake - I did until I started trying to look her up online and couldn't find her site. XD

[ich1990]

At Ich1990:
You and I have probably read a lot of the same books]The Pilgrim's Regress[/i] soon, and Louis Markos' From Achilles to Christ which you may find particularly interesting.

I do have a science fiction anthology review to be posted; maybe I'll be able to get that done by Monday and post it this week. Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide is on my soon-to-read list, so be on the lookout!

Ah, interesting. I have a fairly good friend who went to New Saint Andrews which is a Great Books school. I have not read either "The Pilgrim's Regress" or "From Achilles to Christ", so I will look forward to them.

As far as your shelf goes, you have quite a few excellent books in your lineup. You can consider the following books to be especially recommended.

Lilith - George Macdonald
The Hitchhicker's guide to the galaxy - Douglas Adams
The Cost of Discipleship - Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Heretics - G. K. Chesterton (although I recommend that you read Orthodoxy first)

[Ashley]

Oh hey, thanks for the recommendations! Now I'll move those up the list!

As for Chesterton, I read Orthodoxy in class and adored it, so I think I'll enjoy this one a lot too.

You know, off the top of my head, I bet you would really enjoy Church History in Plain Language by Bruce L. Shelley--it's a really comprehensive church history book told in very compelling, interesting, and contemporary ways. I enjoyed it a lot and I think you would too.

[ich1990]

You know, off the top of my head, I bet you would really enjoy Church History in Plain Language by Bruce L. Shelley--it's a really comprehensive church history book told in very compelling, interesting, and contemporary ways. I enjoyed it a lot and I think you would too.

Thank you for the recommendation. I had not heard of that text before. I will have to look into it. I have always meant to do a thorough, chronological study of church history.

I am actually currently working my way through "The Untold Story of the New Testament Church" by Frank Viola, which seems quite similar albeit on a smaller scale. It takes all of the church letters, puts them in chronological order, and integrates them with the book of Acts to produce one fluid narrative. It lots of maps and cultural information as well which help to set the scene. If you liked that, you might like this.

[Ashley]

Oh, that sounds fantastic! I got a glimpse of that in my New Testament class, but of course we had so much to cover we didn't get to do much. Thanks, I'll put it on my list!

[Ashley]

Updated with a review, in case anyone's following.

[Ashley]

Update with another review--that makes 32 books I've read this year so far!

Here's what I've got out from the library:
The Prestige
The Piano Teacher
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
And Only to Deceive

[Ashley]

Updated with a review on a fantasy anthology

[Maokun]

This looks relevant to my interests, I'll be checking it out. I definitely encourage you to read The Pilgrim's Regress. It is a book that definietely could use more publicity.

[Ashley]

This looks relevant to my interests, I'll be checking it out. I definitely encourage you to read The Pilgrim's Regress. It is a book that definietely could use more publicity.

Actually, my copy of The Pilgrim's Regress is sitting on my bookshelf, waiting for the flurry of activity associated with getting married and moving to settle down so I can give it the patience and attention it deserves. And it certainly wouldn't hurt to brush up on my Latin again, either.

Also, I got your comment on Shelf Life itself about your suggestions for Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman, Don Quixote and Ten Little Niggers. Can you persuade me as to why I should read these?

[Maokun]

I may at least attempt to do so.

Anansi Boys. I'm not sure if you are familiarized with writer Neil Gaiman and his bestseller "American Gods" (a book that I particularly didn't enjoy that much.) In case you aren't, the fundamental issue presented by the book is that every single god, demigod, major spirit, demon, etc. in all the mythologies of the world actually exist -as real as you and me- as a result of being created by humanity itself and its unconscious need of having a guiding light and a sense of purpose. I mention American Gods because Anansi Boys is a spin-off, based in the same universe (though you don't need to read AG in order to understand AB. There's not even a single reference in the latter about the former). Anansi, in case you haven't heard of him, is the trickster god of the mainland tribes of Africa and this book is about Charlie, a son he fathered in this century and who is totally oblivious about the true nature of his (estranged) father and the existence of a brother.

Anansi Boys is written in classical British fantastic comedy style and I have to say he delivers both good fantasy and excellent comedy, but the real strenght of this book lays on its character development: We are presented with two main characters with polar opposite personalities that soon enough collide and repel each other just to crash again, and in the process each of them becomes more like the other. By the time the book ends, they have almost totally reverted and switched their original personalities, but both are enriched and become better and whole by those experiences. It is what I call a "feel-good" book. The satisfactory after taste lasted for weeks.

Don Quixote. I'm positive that whatever praise I can muster about Don Quixote will actually detract from rather than embellish what is unarguably one of the greatest classic of literature so I'll atempt to be mostly factual. Writen in the times of the Chivalrity novella genre it was both the highest exponent of the genre and the smartest commentary both on the very genre and on the politics and society of the time. Smart, witty and sarcastic but with a healthy regard for absurd it is ironic in so many layers that it manage to make fun of itself while making fun of everything else; and then while making fun of everything it surprises us with very sharp insight and wsidom pulled from the dementia of the characters. In a world where everyone is preoccupied with themselves and take eachother too seriously, this old man that taking the mantle of the fantastic heroes from the pulp literature of his times, stood alone, or rather, togheter with his faithful squire as the only person who would pursue noble if caricaturized ideals of seflessness, honour and justice, and the book dares us to reflect upon the sad irony of having to call such a man "crazy". Don Quixote also created several of the tropes and character archtypes that remain part of the literary style to our days.

Ten Little Niggers. Agatha Christie redefined and mastered the genre of the Mistery novella also being an extremelly prolific author. And while most of her books were written under the winning formula she devised, she also kept experimenting with different kinds of narratives and styles. This book is arguably the best of those that deviate of her formulaic structure. It's not so much a mistery novella (there is no investigator/detective, to mention the most obvious deviation) but a magnific thriller that is probably the underlaying base of most of our modern thriller genre.

Following the cruel rhyme of an old children song ("Ten Little Niggers", hence the name of the book) 10 strangers are reunited in a tiny, but well furnished island and are judged and sentenced to death by a disembodied voice coming from a speaker. As one by one the protagonists die after thoroughly made sure that there is not a single soul besides them 10 in the island, the suspicions, paranoia and terror raise amongst the survivors, until as in the song, there is none. I'm aware as I type now that it might sound as vapid "slasher" hollywood B movie, but that's simply an artefact of all those movies trying to recapture the real personal drama, mounting suspense and intrincate mystery of this, the original and inimitable.

[Ashley]

Anansi Boys sounds similar in theme, though definitely not in execution, to Marie Phillips' Gods Behaving Badly. In this, the Olympian gods are all very literally real and live in a tiny, crumbling apartment in London. They have various adventures, including saving the world with the help of some mortals. Quite recommended.

I'm not a huge fan of Agatha Christie (precisely for her formulaic tendencies, as you mentioned), and Don Quixote might take a little more time and patience than I have at the moment (too much of my life is is overdrive right now), but Anansi Boys I may actually get to have a crack at this year. Thanks for the tips (and the explanations).

[Maokun]

Yes, a possible closer parallel to Anansi Boys (and American Gods) would be The Long, Dark Teatime of the Soul, by Douglas Adams. I'm a big fan of intermixed mythologies and I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy it as well.

If you ever feel in your heart the desire of giving Agatha Christie a chance, I assure you that TLN is one of the least formulaic and most refreshing books she made (I've read nearly all of them).

Finally, you do well by taking your time until you can properly enjoy Don Quixote for it is a long book with several layers of complexity. However, its lighthearted, picaresque style of writing makes of it an actually easy and pleasant read.

[ich1990]

I'm not a huge fan of Agatha Christie (precisely for her formulaic tendencies, as you mentioned).

Just so you know, "Ten Little Niggers" was published as "And Then There Were None" in the U.S. It is, according wikipedia, the seventh most popular book of all time, selling about two and half times as many copies as your average Harry Potter book. While, it did follow a formula, it is a much more unique one than most mystery stories. In fact, you could say that it pretty much invented (or at least first popularized) the "group of people are trapped on an island and are killed one by one while paranoia rises" formula.

My only complaint is that it is almost impossible for the reader to solve the mystery before the epilogue (which is better than being able to guess it in the first chapter I suppose). It is a quick read (you could probably read it in an evening or two), it draws you in, and it has historical significance. I would recommend it.

[bigsleepj]

Raymond "author of my name" Chandler criticised Agatha Christie's type-plots, pointing out that they are so meticulously worked out that they are impossible for an educated person to guess (actually, his phrase is "only a half-wit could guess it"). Off course, Chandler was rather particular in his tastes. By contrast George Orwell savoured that type of plot-construction and bemoaned the more "realistic" murders by something as unimaginative as a gun.

I used to love Agatha Christie, but I've somewhat grown ambivalent towards much of her writing. Some I remember fondly while some I do not.

[Maokun]

Thread successfully hijacked! j/k

My only complaint is that it is almost impossible for the reader to solve the mystery before the epilogue (which is better than being able to guess it in the first chapter I suppose). It is a quick read (you could probably read it in an evening or two), it draws you in, and it has historical significance. I would recommend it.

In all fairness, it is not a mystery book, i.e. you are NOT supposed to solve the mystery and if you did, I'd strongly encourage you to become real world's L (of Death Note fame). The book is, rather, the most polished accomplishment of the "perfect crime" idea I can think of.

Raymond "author of my name" Chandler criticised Agatha Christie's type-plots, pointing out that they are so meticulously worked out that they are impossible for an educated person to guess (actually, his phrase is "only a half-wit could guess it"). Off course, Chandler was rather particular in his tastes. By contrast George Orwell savoured that type of plot-construction and bemoaned the more "realistic" murders by something as unimaginative as a gun.

I used to love Agatha Christie, but I've somewhat grown ambivalent towards much of her writing. Some I remember fondly while some I do not.

Yes, well, that's what you get when you publish around 80 books over a career of 50 years. Not all of them can be golden. Actually it's just the "to have a few good ideas you have to have a lot of ideas" axiom in practice. Nevertheless, the reason why A. Christie is so well revered is that she defined several of the personal dynamics and tropes for 20th centuries' fiction.