8. Chief Bender’s Burden, Tom Swift. Baseball/Biography (finished)1-14 (pages) 290
9. Going After Cacciato, Tim O’Brien. Fiction 1-16 338
10. A Visible Darkness, Jonathon King. Mystery 1-17 243
11. Tales to Astonish. Jack Kirby, Stan Lee and the American
Comic Book Revolution, Ronin Ro. Non-Fiction 1-20 294
12. The Weather in
13. The Ones You Do, Daniel Woodrell. Fiction 1-23 212
14. Truth & Beauty, Ann Patchett. Memoir 1-24 257
15. The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens. Fiction 1-31 801
A quick summary on these eight books:
Chief Bender’s Burden, Tom Swift. I didn't know much about Chief Bender. Now I do. Swift's prose is pedestrian. This book was good, but not great.
Going After Cacciato, Tim O’Brien. I like Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried much, much more than Going After Cacciato. But I understand the appeal of fleeing the war for Paris.
A Visible Darkness, Jonathon King. This is the second book I've read in Jonathon King's series set in the Everglades. I like it. It's light, but diverting.
The Weather in
Tales to Astonish. Jack Kirby, Stan Lee and the American
The Ones You Do, Daniel Woodrell. I was disappointed with the conclusion to this book, but I had fun getting there.
Truth & Beauty, Ann Patchett. Can you say co-dependent? I love Ann Patchett's novels, this book not so much.
The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens. Saved the best for last. I've read The Pickwick Papers four or five times through the years. My enjoyment seems to increase with each reading. I especially appreciated the humor which ranges from sly to slapstick. If someone ever compiles a list of the best or favorite fictional characters Sam Well will receive a vote from me.
ReplyDeleteI have been searching for Pickwick Papers enthusiasts online, and so I was led to this post on your blog. Before I talk about Pickwick, though, I have just noticed that you list a biography of Jack Kirby. I didn’t know that a biography had been written about Kirby - I used to love his art when I was a kid, so I think I shall take a look at this book. Thanks for bringing it to my attention!
Anyway, to Pickwick. The thing is, I have written a novel about the origins and afterlife of The Pickwick Papers. It’s called Death and Mr Pickwick and it will be published in May by Jonathan Cape, of the Random House Group (in the UK) and in June by Farrar, Straus & Giroux (in the USA). One doesn’t need to have read a single word of The Pickwick Papers before coming to my novel, but nonetheless I suspect my initial batch of readers will come heavily from the ranks of those who have read, and loved, Pickwick. So I do hope you will take a look at my novel, if you get an opportunity. Further info can be found at:
www.deathandmrpickwick.com
where there are also links to the publishers’ websites.
By the way, my love of superhero comics when I was a kid is, I am sure, one of the reasons I ended up writing a novel about Pickwick. My main character is Pickwick’s first illustrator, Robert Seymour, and in Death and Mr Pickwick I explore the world of illustration from which The Pickwick Papers emerged.
Best wishes
Stephen Jarvis