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"Before you know it as the years go by, you're just like other people you have seen, with all those peculiar human ailments. Just another vehicle for temper and vanity and rashness and all the rest. Who wants it? Who needs it? These things occupy the place where a man's soul should be." -- Henderson the Rain King

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Speaking With The Angel

Book #51 of my reading list was Speaking With The Angel, a short story collection edited by Nick Hornby.

My standard review for short story anthologies is that they're usually a mixed bag: a couple of gems, a bunch of so-so stuff and a few stinkers. This is one of the rare collections though that's pretty darned solid throughout. I had a few faves, Hornby's "NippleJesus", Dave Eggers' "After I Was Thrown in the River and Before I Drowned" and Roddy Doyle's "The Slave", but even Colin Firth's piece is surprisingly good (who knew he was a writer?).

Why I Read this One
Main thing that drew my attention on this one was the quality of writers included (including Eggers who is a fave and an early work from Zadie Smith). Hornby also is a voracious reader and his "Stuff I've Been Reading" column in The Believer is always intriguing so that also increased my faith that he'd put together a great collection.

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posted by Jamie at 12:43 AM | 0 comments |

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

What Is The What

Eek, I'm behind on my book blogging. Book #5 on my list this year was Dave Eggers' new novel What is the What.

Although billed as a novel Eggers' work centers around Valentino Achak Deng, a real-life Sudanese "Lost Boy" who recounted his story to Eggers over the course of three years. Eggers has taken the poetic license to fictionalize some of the details, but has attempted to tell a story in Valentino's voice using real life events as the foundation for the events in the novel. Using Valentino as his muse, Eggers crafts a heart-wrinching (notice I avoid the temptation to say heart-breaking) story describing Valentino's seperation from his family in Marial Bai and the subsequent thirteen years he spent in refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya.

Valentino's story is one that screams to be told and Eggers does an excellent job of delivering it. It's Eggers best work to date and a book that I'd highly recommend. Oh and Manute Bol makes a couple of appearances in the story so it's got that going for it too!

Collection of reviews and interview with Eggers and Valentino
New York Magazine review
Excerpt on Salon.com
Wikipedia page
Lost Boys of Sudan documentary

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posted by Jamie at 12:16 AM | 0 comments |