| What Did You Just Finish?
I never remember to update and don't like the limit of 50 on the other thread, so I figured a thread where you can put up what you just finished off and whether not not you liked it, maybe a mini review and an out of five rating so that people can get feedback and maybe try something new, rather than just listing the names and authors of books you've read.
I'll start, since it's tradition with new threads.
I finished Michael Chabon's Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay on Monday since it was a Bank Holiday and I'd kept meaning to get round to it. It's just one of those books that I knew that I would love. Even if the writing style was terrible then I knew that the subject matter covered loads of things that I love, and if the subject matter wasn't of interest to me, then on reading a couple of pages I'd know that the writing is incredibly good.
It's not so much that Chabon is good at scene-setting or characterisation. It's that he does these things so well you're absolutely certain Kavalier & Clay are a couple of real guys. The book's set in 1939, and it's not so much that Chabon put a lot of effort into getting the feel right. It's that you're sure the man's got a time machine hidden in his garden shed, and it's still warm from his last trip.
Chabon is the sort of writer who's gotten six-figure advances and has movie deals thrown at him, not to mention the Pulitzer prizes for his work. (Kavalier & Clay picked up that last one.) Needless to say, he deserves it all. Kavalier & Clay is a shining example of what storytelling is all about. Try it.
5/5. | 
