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Great stories: Ransom - David Malouf

http://paula-greatstories.blogspot.com/2010/09/ransom-david-malouf.html

Thursday, September 23, 2010. Ransom - David Malouf. You don’t have to have read Homer’s Iliad to appreciate David Malouf’s short novel Ransom. While it provides a companion piece to Homer’s epic tale, it works just as well as a stand- alone novel, thanks to Malouf’s well drawn characters and poetic prose. Ransom provides a back story to an event that features only briefly in Homer’s poem: that of Priam, King of Troy, asking for the body of his slain son from the Greek warrior Achilles. Both Priam and Ac...

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Great stories: Beatrice and Virgil - Yann Martel

http://paula-greatstories.blogspot.com/2010/05/beatrice-and-virgil-yann-martel.html

Thursday, May 20, 2010. Beatrice and Virgil - Yann Martel. You know when you read a novel by Yann Martel you’re going to experience the story in a variety of ways. There’s the story on the page, the story off the page, and your own intellectual and emotional responses to the experience. As it was with Life of Pi. The taxidermist is struggling to finish a play he’s been writing, featuring a donkey and a howler monkey called Beatrice and Virgil (named after characters in Dante’s Divine Comedy). Martel has ...

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Great stories: Discovering literary nonsense down the rabbit hole

http://paula-greatstories.blogspot.com/2008/06/discovering-literary-nonsense-down.html

Wednesday, June 4, 2008. Discovering literary nonsense down the rabbit hole. It’s been almost two decades since I first followed Alice down the rabbit hole. I recently picked up a cheap copy of. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Through the Looking Glass. Repackaged together by Vintage Books, and was curious (and curiouser) how I would find Lewis Carroll’s stories now. Defines literary nonsense as “a genre of literature. That plays with conventions of language and logic through a careful balance of sense...

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Great stories: Caleb's Crossing - Geraldine Brooks

http://paula-greatstories.blogspot.com/2011/06/calebs-crossing-geraldine-brooks.html

Saturday, June 25, 2011. Caleb's Crossing - Geraldine Brooks. There’s a lot to like about Geraldine Brooks’ new novel Caleb’s Crossing. Like The People of the Book. It explores the issues associated with culture clash– on this occasion between the Native Americans and the Puritan settlers on the island now known as Martha’s Vineyard. The theme of westerners learning to connect to nature through contact with less “civilised” peoples is not original, but Bethia’s awakening is still effect...I found the ear...

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Great stories: The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood

http://paula-greatstories.blogspot.com/2011/06/handmaids-tale-margaret-atwood.html

Tuesday, June 14, 2011. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood. The Handmaid’s Tale is unsettling, disturbing and riveting – and even though it’s 25 years old, it remains a powerful morality tale that’s as relevant now as when it was written. It’s set in an alternative future where fertility rates are down due to the effects radiation, and a Puritanical new society known as the Republic of Gilead has found a repellent way to deal with the situation. As a narrative character, Offred is complex and mesmeris...

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Great stories: The Passage - Justin Cronin

http://paula-greatstories.blogspot.com/2011/04/passage-justin-cronin.html

Friday, April 15, 2011. The Passage - Justin Cronin. Note to self: not a good idea to read an apocalyptic novel while watching horrifying real-life footage of earthquakes, tsunamis and potential nuclear disaster. Anxiety over the future of humanity aside, The Passage by Justin Cronin is an engaging and compelling read. It’s kind of Stephen King’s The Stand meets Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. 8211; a horror/literary hybrid, delivering the best of both labels. It’s no surprise that it all goes bad (the...

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Great stories: The brick wall

http://paula-greatstories.blogspot.com/2008/10/brick-wall.html

Thursday, October 2, 2008. I’ve reached a strange point in my reading journey … and it looks a bit like a brick wall. I’m sure it will pass as quickly as it has arrived, but in the meantime, I thought I’d blog about it, as I like to put something new on this site around once a week. And, by the nature of my reading situation, I don’t seem to have anything else to write about this week! And so forever ruin a book I may otherwise enjoy. My current shortlist is as follows (in no particular order):. Side-not...

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Great stories: Young adult fiction - how do you define it?

http://paula-greatstories.blogspot.com/2009/05/young-adult-fiction-how-do-you-define.html

Wednesday, May 20, 2009. Young adult fiction - how do you define it? How do you define young adult fiction (generally referred to simply as YA)? It’s a question I’ve been mulling over in recent weeks as I’ve alternated between YA and general novels. But YA is not, of itself, a neatly packaged genre. Books that sit on YA shelves can be fantasy, horror, science fiction, literature, romance, thriller, mystery . or any other style. These days, YA books are also increasingly edgy. Is undeniably YA, and yet I ...

paula-greatstories.blogspot.com

Great stories: Life of Pi explained

http://paula-greatstories.blogspot.com/2008/09/life-of-pi-explained.html

Tuesday, September 23, 2008. Life of Pi explained. By Yann Martel is one of the most analysed, discussed and debated books of recent years, not just because of its plot, but because it makes the reader question what they have read and what they believe. In this post, I’m going to share a few of the things he spoke about. Those who haven’t read. 8211; and intend to – may want to look away now. Don’t spoil the experience of discovering the book’s talking points for yourself. What follows is a fascinating, ...