Archive for December 26th, 2007

Wednesday, December 26th, 2007

My Family and Other Saints by Kirin Narayan

A book we probably should read, in all that copious free time…

Books of The Times: A Groovy Pad Full of Gods and Gurus
By WILLIAM GRIMES
Gods, gurus and eccentric relatives compete for primacy in Kirin Narayan’s enchanting memoir of her childhood in Bombay (present-day
Mumbai).

No Comments » - Posted in Reviews and Comments by Julie

Wednesday, December 26th, 2007

The Quest - book review

I couldn’t wait to get my hands on Wilbur Smith’s most recent book in his Egyptian series “The Quest.”  I am a huge fan of Mr Smith.  His book “River God” is my all time
favorite book.   So with great anticipation I was ready to get lost in ancient Egypt with my old friends.  This book, for a Wilbur Smith novel,  was a new experience for me;
I had to force myself to finish the book.  I reminded myself how much I loved “River God” and surely this will get better. I bull-dogedly finished the book and was disgusted.  I have
no idea What Mr. Smith was thinking? What did he do with the Taita? Is Mr. Smith going through a mid-life crisis and this is how he expressed it? 

Taita had been a eunuch since his teens and spending a lifetime of evolving above human fallacies and weaknesses, at the age of 170 Taita all of sudden succumbs to lusty desires and whims and through
the fantastical theme of this book, Taita re-grows his “manhood” and takes up with the re-incarnation of Fenn/Lostrus who is only a young teenager.  Huh? When did the Egyptian series
abandon the historical fiction and become a fantasy?

I think Wilbur Smith should claim someone assuming his name wrote this book while he was in a comma. This book is so bad it has even tarnished my memory of “River God.”

No Comments » - Posted in Reviews and Comments by Julie