tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1794978458772149149.post6673323920964647248..comments2023-10-25T07:38:16.249-07:00Comments on Green Thoughts: Leisure reading.Renaissance Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06243095907452011303noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1794978458772149149.post-31236316167097993732010-07-04T12:51:16.865-07:002010-07-04T12:51:16.865-07:00I read all of the Wallander books in German, and s...I read all of the Wallander books in German, and started because they were big hits here. I also read a lot of other mystery fiction, but I think the reason that I loved Wallander so much is because he was constantly making mistakes at work, and because the rest of his life was such a miserable failure. I saw a parallel to that in my own existence, the missed dinners, ignored family members, damp clean clothes rotting in washing machines. Arnaldur I., whom I also loved, was like a distilled, more intense version of that.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1794978458772149149.post-5868278726823744572010-07-02T22:34:04.825-07:002010-07-02T22:34:04.825-07:00Chabon = brilliant.Chabon = brilliant.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1794978458772149149.post-77811151953500458792010-07-02T14:19:15.939-07:002010-07-02T14:19:15.939-07:00I was just going to say how much I think of Chabon...I was just going to say how much I think of Chabon's accomplishment, but to the above, perhaps I'll just say . . . ditto. He's good. I loved Yiddish Policemen's Union--so when you're ready to pick up another, that's one I recommend.<br /><br />I liked Henning Mankel quite a bit--enough to read and finish all the Wallender ones so far. I *loved*, however, Arnaldur Indridason's Icelandic ones.Lisa B.https://www.blogger.com/profile/10646181766775405935noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1794978458772149149.post-77162173493144799972010-07-02T14:00:45.215-07:002010-07-02T14:00:45.215-07:00Oh oh oh oh oh OH, Michael Chabon makes me swoon s...Oh oh oh oh oh OH, Michael Chabon makes me swoon so hard. <i>Gentleman</i> might just be my favorite – it's so completely wild (um, what, ninth-century-central-Asian-Jewish-picaresque? how is that a genre?!) that the sheer <i>accomplishment</i> of it (and in such short space!) is absolutely breathtaking. And yes, I could read his sentences for days. The shift in style from the endless syntax-cycles of <i>Kavalier and Clay</i> to the pitch-perfect clipped precision of <i>The Yiddish Policemen's Union</i> is what convinced me that he's not just brilliant but an absolute frakking genius.<br /><br />(And read the first essay in <i>Maps and Legends</i> – I dare you not to gasp aloud.)<br /><br /><br />...Uh, I'm a bit of a fangirl. Can you tell?moriahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12390704103460109691noreply@blogger.com