A Book in Brief: The Swan Thieves

As you may remember from a previous post, my adorable but misbehaving puppy recently ate some crucial pages of The Swan Thieves, (pages 404-478 to be exact). Well, I had gotten so hooked by Elizabeth Kostova's story by page 403 that I just had to secure a second, non-doggy-destroyed copy of the tome so that I could find out what happened in the last 200 pages. Thankfully, Border's going-out-of-business sale meant that even though I bought the book two times, I only paid the equivalent of one full-price book...silver lining!

So what makes a book so nice that it's worth buying twice? I've got one word for you: PLOT. Swan Thieves is a history, a romance, and a mystery all rolled into one, taking the reader on an adventure that explores one artist, his crippling obsession, and the women who loved him. Interestingly, the main protagonist of the book is neither the artist (Robert Oliver) or his lovers; it is Oliver's psychiatrist, Andrew Marlow, who--in his quest to understand the specters haunting his patient--leaves professional propriety behind and falls down Oliver's rabbit hole.

While I certainly found the story compelling, Swan Thieves is not without flaws. Kostova chooses to use multiple narrators to construct the story, and while this technique allows her to unravel the plot in an interesting and non-chronological fashion, she doesn't take the time to develop characters' distinct voices. In fact, whether it's Marlow the psychiatrist or Beatrice the 19th century artist, all of the narrators manage to speak in a remarkably similar (and at times rather dry) tone. For me, one of the primary joys of reading is getting lost in a character's unique voice, and I just didn't find that in Swan Thieves. However, it was still a fantastic read, and one I recommend if you like the sound of a more academic DaVinci Code.

A Book in Brief: Major Pettigrew's Last Stand

Don't you just love those stories that make you laugh out loud just moments after making you cry, with characters so thoughtfully written your imagination has no problem conjuring them up? Well, Major Pettigrew is just such a character, and his Last Stand is just such a story.

(the above is not my cover, but I wish it were...the brits always seem to get the coolest book jackets!)

In more than one way, this comedy of manners reminded me of the estimable Jane Austen's works, with its mixture of biting wit and tenderness, its small but brilliantly described scope, even its parade of societal mishaps and cultural misunderstandings. In Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, the title character--an endearing but rather stuffy septuagenarian--meets Mrs. Ali, an enchanting widow whose sudden appearance in the Major's life encourages him to look beyond his well-manicured box hedges and become a part of the dazzling, bittersweet complexities taking place all around him. This book teaches us that it is never too late to fall in love....or become a better person.

A Year of B.O.W.

Just over a year ago, I officially started my 'book of the week' challenge....can you believe it? While I fell a little short of my goal of 52 books in one calendar year, I did make it through 40 titles, which isn't too shabby, all things considered.

(a selection of recent reads from my Shelfari shelf)

I certainly plan on continuing my goal of a book a week over the next twelve months, and am hopeful that I can hit (or surpass!) that 52-book-goal between now and next August. So let's set a date for one year from today and we'll see how well I did! Of course, keep in mind that you, dear readers, are all welcome to participate as well.

PS: In the next couple of weeks I'm planning on doing quite a few more Book Blurbs to catch you all up on some of the more recent B.O.W.s, including Major Pettigrew's Last Stand and The Solitude of Prime Numbers, both of which I think many of you would l-o-v-e love.

Bad Waldo!

Our seven-month old puppy, Waldo, has recently developed a terrible habit: devouring books. LITERALLY! Twice this past week my husb. and I have stepped out to run an errand, coming home to find our carpet strewn with itty bitty bits of book. The first time it happened, I had already finished the novel (Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games), and Waldo was kind enough to avoid all text in his chew attack, so after some stern scolding I decided to forgive and forget. Unfortunately, tonight's book fared a far sadder fate. I was about 200 pages into Elizabeth Kostava's mammoth The Swan Thieves, and had been looking forward to plowing through the rest of it during my upcoming vacation to upstate NY. Apparently, Waldo had other plans, decimating both the front and back covers as well as a healthy chunk of pages 404-478. Bad Waldo!!!

(The beguiling pup looking all innocent mere days before the destruction began)

Now I'm in quite the pickle: do I cave and buy a second, uneaten copy of the book to take with me on the vacay, or do I hold out until I can get to a library once I'm back from NY? I suppose the other option is simply reading on and hope that nothing of consequence happens in pages 404-478, but my guess is that they can't simply be skipped. Sigh. Why can't he be a normal dog and just chew on shoes?