Blog Posts on contemporary lit

The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides by Coffeespoons on Jan 8, 2012Summary "Madeleine Hanna breaks out of her straight-and-narrow mold when she falls in love with charismatic loner Leonard Bankhead, while an old friend resurfaces, obsessed with the idea that Madeleine is his destiny." - from NPR.org The good stuff...

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro by Coffeespoons on Apr 22, 2011I finally read Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go and finished it in one day. What surprised me about it is how readable it was. I'd heard much praise about the book, but I think I was surprised by its readability because my only exposure, so far, to K...

Stoner by John Williams by Coffeespoons on Feb 16, 2011I've come to the conclusion that I will never be able to write a review that will do justice to John William's Stoner, so I might as well write the review anyway. Actually, this isn't really a review, so much as a log of what I think about this book...

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett by blackplume on Feb 6, 2011“You don’t put your life into your books.  You find it there.” I’m trying to catch up now with all the reviews I want to write. I’ve read four more books since the last book review I posted here but didn’t have much time to w...

Soledad's Sister by Jose Dalisay, Jr. by Coffeespoons on Jan 29, 2011Soledad's Sister by Jose "Butch" Dalisay is the first Philippine novel to be shortlisted for the distinguished Man Asian Literary Prize in 2007. I remember reading about the Man Asian at that time and finding out about Dalisay's shortl...

The El Bimbo Variations by Adam David by Coffeespoons on Jan 12, 2011When reading a poetry collection, one of the last things you expect to do is laugh out loud. But, if you were to read Adam David's new edition of The El Bimbo Variations, that is exactly what you'd be doing. My advice: try not to read it in public, u...

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett by Coffeespoons on Nov 26, 2010In England, a traveling library stops near the palace and gets an unexpected visitor: none other than the Queen herself. (The present Queen of England, we are to assume.) Out of courtesy, the Queen decides to borrow a book by Ivy Compton-Burnett. And...

Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart by Coffeespoons on Nov 18, 2010What can be said about this book that has not been said before? Then again, art is derivative, and though I'm dangerously stretching the definition of art by applying it to my reviews, let me launch ahead and just say what everyone else has said...

Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Hoeg by Coffeespoons on Sep 25, 2010Living in a tropical country, I never thought that snow could be so riveting. (Heck, living in a tropical country, I'm hardly riveted by the sun either. I do like the beaches, though. Anyway...)Peter Hoeg's Smilla's Sense of Snow was in my To Be Read...

Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Hoeg by Coffeespoons on Sep 25, 2010Living in a tropical country, I never thought that snow could be so riveting. (Heck, living in a tropical country, I'm hardly riveted by the sun either. I do like the beaches, though. Anyway...) Peter Hoeg's Smilla's Sense of Snow was in my To Be...