while I'm currently getting through Skippy Dies (possibly good, but not the most uplifting thing in the world. I review it as "interesting, but I don't really like it." Jeff is funny, despite), I keep going back to the good feelings I had while listening to my previous book, I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak.
First of all, if any of you have read The Book Thief, and liked it (which I think is the general response), I heavily recommend this. It deals with an individual going through a life change in a series of event that has a detective-do-gooder and "growth as a person" feel to it. You really get to like the 1st person stance of Ed, self-deprecating as Ms. Bossypants, which I believe is only increased when you listen to the audiobook (it takes place in Australia, and the narrator is Australian. (Visitors... we are primarily Americans here and love a good accent.)
I don't want to write a complete review of The Book Thief here too, since I haven't read it that recently, but I also really like the audiobook version since it had a lot of German vocabulary in it, spoken with a (well attempted) German accent. The disadvantage to his audiobooks is that (correct me if I'm wrong!) the actual books tend to have little illustrations on the chapters. I probably would never have liked Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close quite as much if I hadn't had the visual references, but you can't read a book whilst biking and walking to work, however, and thus stay I attached to my ipod.
2 comments:
I loved I am the Messenger. I said that before, didn't I? I'm so glad you posted about it Peddie. I keep trying to decide if I like it or The Book Thief better. Hmmmm...they're so different.
Also, that's exactly how I felt about Skippy Dies. It's been a couple of weeks since I finished and I'm still not sure if I liked it even though I think it was quite brilliant and well written.
Yeah - I really do feel like they're so different. Funnily enough, my best comparison I can think of where I obviously liked both very different books by the same writer are, again, "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" and "Everything is Illuminated" by Jonathan Safran Foer. They're both good, but so different that it's hard to tell.
But really... I like "Everything is Illuminated" and "The Messenger" the best, in the end. I think. No, wait. No, yes. Er...
As for poor Skippy, I really can't wait for him to die. I think it's almost a disservice at this point to wish him (and possibly some others) otherwise. I still think Jeff is funny.
Post a Comment