2011 in books
These are the books I read in 2011, in order of the date I finished them. 2011 was the year when I renewed my love of fiction, after 5 years of PhD, and will be marked by my first encounter with Muriel Spark, whom I can say is my favourite writer. May 2012 bring me more time to read all I want to read.
Laura’s bookshelf: read in 2011
The first half of this book is amazing, wonderful and very tightly conceived but I think it loses itself a little in the second half, when they go after Sunday. It is still memorable, though, and scenes have stayed with me. The ending is od…
One of the strangest books I have ever read. Yet, it was insightful and enjoyable. Something about it reminded me of the films of Darren Aronofsky or those of Lars von Trier. Perhaps the difficulty of explaining what it is about … It was …
Wonderful book. I only give 5 stars to books I would like to re-read, to those I miss and this one is certainly one of them. The precision, the plot, the characters, the treatment of time and, above all, the elegant repetitions are like not…
I thought ‘The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie’ would be difficult to match, but I was wrong. This books had the same trademark elements as ‘The Prime …’ but, in addition, is shows humour and tragedy from the very first page.
What was this all about? I am a fan of Nesbø but I found this book very disappointing. THe characters and the plot are completely unbelievable. I know that part of the appeal of the Harry Hole series is the false clues, the red herrings, bu…
Muriel Spark’s first novel contain all her trademark character development, language precision and tight plot. It is quirky, lovely and satisfying. Still, I found the story of the voices and the novel within the novel a little too self-refe…
A good elegant novel, written with precision and with a surprising development, which I underestimated until the very end. I think there is a dip towards the middle-end where it loses itself a little, which is it does not get 5 stars from m…
The book consists of 100 short, but thought provoking, reflections on photography. While the author’s erudition is patent in the writings on photography and psychoanalysis and those pertaining to theory and histories of photography (in part…
This is an amazing book, a feat of style and form and, just because of that, no the easiest read. yet, it is rewarding and interesting. Not exactly satisfying, mind you, but I find Nabokov never is. I could only read it in the mornings. Bef…
Killing Floor is a well plotted story, with good pace and a great main character, although still a little unbelievable. I am willing to see how Reacher develops in future books. The writing is, I think, too filmic and there is a lot of shru…
I liked the main story around murder, genetic disease and paternity but I am not sure about the characterisation and the subsidiary stories, which all seemed a little flat to me. Erlendur has potential as a detective but I found him too bla…
A good story, well thought through and executed, mostly (I took some small consistency issue with the scene where she finds out who the killer is). Glasgow appears interesting and a worthy context, making me consider visiting some of the bu…
I got the sense that this book, although interesting, would have worked better as a series of lectures. It is full of repetitions (how many times does the word ‘vicariously’ appear) and it is vapid. It shows some insights, here and there bu…
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