http://www.bostonbibliophile.com/2012/10/review-pinocchio-by-carlo-collodi.html
A wonderful book again from Umberto Eco flawed, once again, by a weak and disappointing ending. It just seems, like Stephen King, he cannot take the time to write a decent ending that doesn't make the rest of the book seem less engaging. This book is not as dense and is more accessible than other ...
mp3 Unabridged, and read by George Guidall. It is not chic to like Eco nowadays; if you want to admit to a penchant then it is best to keep that under wraps until he falls off his perch and then everyone will suddenly exclaim that although he had a couple of noticeable also-rans and one particular d...
I really enjoyed reading this book - however, it's not really a novel, but an extended essay on how media interacts with personal identity.There are three parts; the first sets up the scenario: a middle-aged antiquarian book dealer has a selective form of amnesia: he can remember everything he's stu...
I read, struggled to read, half of The Mysterious Flame, then stopped. It's a frustratingly boring book by a nostalgic, older bibliophile about, surprise!, a nostalgic, older bibliophile. The story starts shortly after the protagonist suffers a sudden onset of amnesia. To reconstruct his life, he s...
Hmmm.....Nineteenth century Italian writer experiments with psychoactive substances and writes a children's book?In this story you will meet:A guy named Mini-Man who bites off the ears of his donkeys as a gesture of affection. A large Snail with a glowing lantern on her head.A large Serpent with gre...
I really liked the writing style and the topic, I just couldn't get interested enough to actually finish this one. I'll try it again, later.
A true story very well told. A very moving, clear, precise depiction of the Armenian genocide of 1915. This book read like a novel. It never drags. History brought to life. The author plans to write other books about what happened to her surviving family members after their escape from Aleppo. I wil...
This is the first of this anthology series that I've read, but it was a very refreshing and entertaining look at the world of imaginative fiction. I'm definitely going to keep my eye out for the other instalments.After reading a collection of short stories and poems like this, you realise how horrib...
Umberto Eco is one of those authors I really think I should like: his ideas on creativity, the connections that exist between people and culture, and his cleverness are all things that I admire. Unfortunately, I find his prose style dull and his plots prosaic and long-winded. I never could make it t...
Log in with Facebook 
