-
Follow me on:
-
Monthly Archives: August 2013
September Preview
September is my favorite month of the year, and with the start of fall releases it is one of the most abundant in new movies, books and albums. In books alone (see list at top right), there are some huge name authors coming out with new titles, including: Margaret Atwood, J.M. Coetzee, Alice McDermott, Thomas Pynchon, and the ever-prolific Stephen King.
But I guess I’m most interested in the new novel by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri called “The Lowland.” I’ve read her three other wonderful books and I’m surely not planning on missing this one. It’s about two very different brothers bound by tragedy and is set in both India and America over many years. It deals with sibling rivalry, guilt, grief, marriage and parental love against a backdrop of revolution. “The Lowland” sounds intriguing and is written by a fantastic author who you won’t want to miss.
Another highly anticipated read for September is Jennifer duBois’s new novel “Cartwheel,” which is about a foreign exchange student arrested for murder in Argentina and a father trying to hold his family together. It sounds like a psychological suspense novel that is sure to be riveting. I missed her debut novel “A Partial History of Lost Causes” last year, which received so much high praise, so I definitely want to check out her writing this time around.
I’m also interested in a debut novel by Australian writer Hannah Kent called “Burial Rites” that explores the final months of a young woman accused of murder who was the last person to be executed in Iceland in 1829. It’s getting high ratings on both Amazon and Goodreads and is apparently bleak but quite memorable. And then there’s Daniel Woodrell’s “The Maid’s Version,” which is another tragic one based on a true story, that looks tough but also enticing. It’s about a deadly dance hall fire that took place in the Ozarks in 1928 and explores its impact over several generations. Lastly, I have a soft spot for Jamie Ford’s writing and will look for his new novel “Songs of Willow Frost,” set in Depression-era Seattle about a Chinese American orphaned boy with dreams for his future and an actress he believes is his mother.
As for movies in September (see list at top left), the documentary “Salinger” looks to make a splash (along with its companion biography of the same title) about the former reclusive author of “The Catcher in the Rye.” Not sure of all the strange stuff about him, but it’s quite noteworthy if indeed Salinger had five unpublished works finished that will come out starting in 2015. Hmm, the Glass family story continues apparently.
Also the movie “Rush” by director Ron Howard at the end of the month looks to be an entertaining action-drama about two Formula One drivers who were rivals in the 1970s and were willing to risk everything to win. Chris Hemsworth of “The Avengers” and “Thor” fame stars and is on the movie poster with the tagline “Everyone’s driven by something.”
Lastly for albums in September (see list at bottom right), more than a half-dozen good ones are in the mix.
There are big releases from long-time veterans Elton John (his first studio album in 7 years), Sting (his first full LP in 10 years) and even Cher (her first studio album in 10 years). Wow why are all they coming out now? I’m also interested a bit to hear the new one from Keith Urban, called “Fuse,” which according to him is quite a departure from his other recordings. And of course, I’m excited to hear Sheryl Crow’s new album “Feels Like Home,” which is the first country album of her career. Alternatively, I like Neko Case and her music though the title of her new one seems way too long. And lastly, I’m looking forward to the new one by Kings of Leon called “Mechanical Bull,” which is said to have a young, fun, high-energy sound to it and is less serious than the band’s other albums. Serious? These guys? No way.
How about you? Which new book, movie or music releases are you most looking forward to this month? Continue reading
Posted in Top Picks
14 Comments
The Curiosity
I’m usually game for science/suspense novels especially having to do with Arctic exploration, paleontology/anthropology or those of another era, including people or creatures stuck in the ice (or even sap for those “Jurassic Park” readers). Yeah let me at those books!
Stephen Kiernan’s debut “The Curiosity,” published last month, came right at a good time for such a summer read. It’s not giving anything away to say it’s about a man swept overboard into the Arctic Ocean in 1906, who’s found frozen deep in the ice by a group of modern-day scientists and is brought back to life to today’s world.
The ramifications of this are huge and the novel interestingly delves into all sorts of issues: how the frozen man views today’s technological advances in contrast to the world he left behind; what his reanimation means for the field of cryonics; and the moral, ethical and religious questions it raises about humanity and bringing back a dead person to life.
The story unfolds through four rotating narrators; there’s the frozen man himself (Jeremiah) who comes back to life and slowly regains his memory of his former life as a judge, husband and father; and Dr. Kate Philo, who’s scientific team made the discovery and comes to know and love her subject albeit a bit too personally; and her boss the egotistical Erastus Carthage who’s after power, glory and money from the discovery; and lastly, Daniel Dixon the slimy journalist who ends up playing a heavy hand in the novel’s crash-down ending.
All in all, I enjoyed the novel, and thought it a good summer yarn, one that raises some interesting dilemmas, and in places was a good page-turner. The author has a good ear for writing dialog and conjuring the transformative story. Just a few problems popped up for me: the middle of the novel seemed to lose steam and lag a bit and I thought it could’ve been edited shorter than its 432 pages. It seems to get a bit redundant in the middle, and two of the narrators (Carthage and Dixon) I looked forward to much less than the two main narrators, Jeremiah and Dr. Philo. Perhaps in this respect their characters were a bit too black-and-white, between being bad guys than good guys.
I also had a few credibility issues here and there with the narrative (beyond the premise), but I guess I could possibly believe the love story theme towards the end between scientist and subject.
After all, remember Timothy Hutton in “Iceman” in 1984? It was similar in concept. Hutton plays an anthropologist whose team finds a body of a prehistoric man in ice who comes to life. And Hutton finds himself defending the man against those who want to dissect his life in the name of science. There’s a love there for another persecuted human being, am I right? And always in these tales, the scientist will go down fighting. Meanwhile the modern-day world, which ruins everything, is viewed as awful.
Interestingly author Stephen Kiernan says the idea for “The Curiosity” came from the James Taylor song “Frozen Man,” which he heard in 1992. I guess I’m not too familiar with that song, but I have to give Kiernan credit for letting his novel thaw over these many years. “The Curiosity” got me interested in the ice again, earlier eras and the primordial goo that makes up life and ties all that lives together. Way to go, an enticing debut!
PS. I like the book cover of the Canadian edition (pictured above) much better than the U.S. edition (at left), which seems with the clothes spread out almost clown-like and perhaps confusing. The Canadian edition is more fetching and dignified of the frozen man. What do you think? And are you curious to read “The Curiosity”? Continue reading
Posted in Books
5 Comments
