2011 Reading #85: Burning Your Boats by Angela Carter
Books 1-10.
Books 11-20.
Books 21-30.
Books 31-40.
Books 41-50.
Books 51-60.
Books 61-70.
Books 71-80.
81. Blindsighted by Karin Slaughter.
82. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams.
83. Acacia: Book One: The War With the Mein by David Anthony Durham.
84. Buffalo Gals and Other Animal Presences by Ursula K. Le Guin.
85. Burning Your Boats: The Collected Short Stories of Angela Carter. Considering how much I LOVED Carter's novel The Magic Toyshop, I expected to love this as well. I had previously read her collection Saints and Strangers (originally published as Black Venus) and enjoyed it greatly; but reading this omnibus was an odd experience for me. I bounced hard off some of the early stories and never fully recovered; while I loved many of the stories, including "The Bloody Chamber," "Lizzie's Tiger," and "Gun for the Devil," finishing the collection was a bit of a struggle. I think that there were times when the language felt over-rich to me, the imagery a bit too static, the voice a tad smug, perhaps. I don't know, right now; I feel oddly defeated, because what little I'd read of Carter before this had me excited to read this. Perhaps it was a mistake to read her all at once. I still plan to read her novels; I have a copy of Nights at the Circus around her somewhere that I am looking forward to reading, but I guess I will give it at least a couple of months.
Books 11-20.
Books 21-30.
Books 31-40.
Books 41-50.
Books 51-60.
Books 61-70.
Books 71-80.
81. Blindsighted by Karin Slaughter.
82. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams.
83. Acacia: Book One: The War With the Mein by David Anthony Durham.
84. Buffalo Gals and Other Animal Presences by Ursula K. Le Guin.
85. Burning Your Boats: The Collected Short Stories of Angela Carter. Considering how much I LOVED Carter's novel The Magic Toyshop, I expected to love this as well. I had previously read her collection Saints and Strangers (originally published as Black Venus) and enjoyed it greatly; but reading this omnibus was an odd experience for me. I bounced hard off some of the early stories and never fully recovered; while I loved many of the stories, including "The Bloody Chamber," "Lizzie's Tiger," and "Gun for the Devil," finishing the collection was a bit of a struggle. I think that there were times when the language felt over-rich to me, the imagery a bit too static, the voice a tad smug, perhaps. I don't know, right now; I feel oddly defeated, because what little I'd read of Carter before this had me excited to read this. Perhaps it was a mistake to read her all at once. I still plan to read her novels; I have a copy of Nights at the Circus around her somewhere that I am looking forward to reading, but I guess I will give it at least a couple of months.