Archives: Fiction A-D

Welcome to the Fiction A-D aisle.

Rating	Meaning
****	A must read. If you've already read it, read again!
***	A good read, well worth your time.
**	Not an entirely bad book, but only read it if you're interested in the subject matter.
*	Don't bother, unless you're on an island without anything else.
none	Under no circumstances should you read this book!

An Explanation of the Birds The Assault

by António Lobo Antunes by Reinaldo Arenas

© 1981 ISBN # 0-8021-3420-3 © 1994 ISBN # 0-670-84066-1

A brilliantly written portrait of a depressed daydreamer. All tenses blur from paragraph to paragraph. You know Rui will commit suicide, but how? His 50+ pages daydreaming of the act are as him being the main act of a circus, complete with a dwarf ringleader! There's nothing not to like about this book. In a dark proletarian future, one man, a Counterwhispering agent, fights all evil that is against the government while trying to find and destroy his mother. Every crime (anything that one could do that one doesn�t have a permit for) is punishable in any number of ways, all of which end in death. A very well written and surreal novel, I give it a must-read rating although, the last 15 pages are extremely disgusting (and not in a good way).

Rating: **** Rating: ****

DeKok and the Dancing Death Continental Drift

by Albert Cornelis Baantjer by Russell Banks

© 1978 ISBN # 1 881164 11 X © 1985 ISBN # 0-06-015383-0

On my "to-be-read" pile. An excellent novel about a comfortable lower-middle class man from New Hampshire that moves his family to Miami to get a bigger piece of the pie. Very well written, very enjoyable, there's just too much graphic nookie for my taste.

Rating: ? Rating: *** + (1/2)

The Forgetting Room Behind the Door

by Nick Bantock by Giorgio Bassani

© 1997 ISBN # 0-00-225176-0 © 1964 ISBN # 0-7043-0176-8

Armon travels to Ronda, Spain to sell the house he inherited from his grandfather. He finds "Instructions for the Forgetting Room", a surreal puzzle that he'll have to solve. This book comes complete with colorful pop-ups & pull-outs that help the reader solve the mystery. Well written and short (took me a little over an hour to read), you people now haven't an excuse to read one of my highly rated books. A young Jewish boy narrates two of his years in an Italian school. A new student arrives & is befriended. Others in class show him that the new student is not to be trusted.

Rating: **** Rating: ***

Sleepless Days The Loser

by Jurek Becker by Thomas Bernhard

© 1978 ISBN # 0-15-682765-4 (pbk) © 1983 ISBN # 0 7043 7012 3

Simrock, an East German schoolteacher, thinks he has a heart attack. His mortality now known, he divorces his wife and moves in with some slut. She attempts to defect, without his knowledge, and when caught he feels abandoned by her. He then begins to understand why she wanted to leave and starts to question the authority around him. This book was censored by the East Germans, and subsequently Becker defected. This whole novel contains only 4 paragraphs in all 170 pages, and all four start on page 1. Historical fiction remembering the pianist Glenn Gould, a fictional man named only Wertheimer and the narrator. Not easy to read (unless you could do it in one sitting) and the style was interesting, but as far as reading goes, I didn�t enjoy this book very much.

Rating: * Rating: **

Arrow of the Blue-Skinned God The Safety Net

by Jonah Blank by Heinrich Böll

© 1992 ISBN # 0-395-56267-8 © 1979 ISBN # 0 14 00.6468 0

Fictional (?) account of one man�s journey through India. The author tells of the people he met and all the sights while explaining The Ramayana, a three-thousand year old epic that most Indians consider sacred. Decently written and interesting, this book is not for everyone. A man is protected by the government because of his political power. He suffers, His family suffers and everyone wants to name their kids "Holger." Yawn

Rating: **+ (1/2) Rating: *

Death on the Installment Plan (alternate title: Death On Credit ) Rigadoon

by Louis-Ferdinand Céline by Louis-Ferdinand Céline

© 1952 ISBN # 0-8112-0017-5 © 1969 ISBN # 0-440-07364-2

The first novel (chronologically) in the life of Céline. He tells of his early life making it more disturbing than it could've been. The forerunner of Black Comedy, it is at times disgusting, demoralizing, and downright lewd. Peppered with his trademark sentence fragments ending in . . ., this book is certainly not for everyone. Also check out the companion novel Journey to the End of the Night. All published after his death, Rigadoon is the final novel in the trilogy that included Castle to Castle and North. These novels tell of his travels throughout Europe during World War II, with his wife Lili; his friend, french movie actor Le Vigan; and his cat Bébert. This book is pure Céline with his trademark three dots after almost every sentence.

Rating: **** Rating: ****

The Jamais Vu Papers The Psychiatrist and other stories

by Wim Coleman and Pat Perrin by Machado DeAssis

© 1991 ISBN # 0-517-57513-2 © 1963 ISBN # 0-520-00787-5

An esoteric novel about a psychotherapist that crosses the lines between reality and "Lucid Waking." Some characters, while reading the book, write themselves into it. An interesting idea, but it doesn't work. Style is everything, and this husband and wife writing duo just don't have very much. Guest appearances by the real-life Tom Robbins and Timothy Leary make the book less painful. I only have one word to describe these stories: uneven. Some, like the title story, are brilliant ( A doctor opens up a state funded hospital to cure the "insane" and figures out that "insanity" is "normal" & it's the others tat need to be cured.) others like A Woman's Arms (some chick falls for a guy & he pretends not to notice) are pure crap. Check it out from the library and read only some of it.

Rating: ** Rating: **

[Fiction E-I ¤ Fiction J-N ¤ Fiction O-R ¤ Fiction S-Z ¤ Nonfiction]

[Beer List ¤ Books ¤ FAQs ¤ Links ¤ Messages ¤ Reference Room ¤ Site History ¤ Tape List]

Return home

An Explanation of the Birds		The Assault
by António Lobo Antunes		by Reinaldo Arenas
© 1981	ISBN # 0-8021-3420-3	© 1994	ISBN # 0-670-84066-1
A brilliantly written portrait of a depressed daydreamer. All tenses blur from paragraph to paragraph. You know Rui will commit suicide, but how? His 50+ pages daydreaming of the act are as him being the main act of a circus, complete with a dwarf ringleader! There's nothing not to like about this book.		In a dark proletarian future, one man, a Counterwhispering agent, fights all evil that is against the government while trying to find and destroy his mother. Every crime (anything that one could do that one doesn�t have a permit for) is punishable in any number of ways, all of which end in death. A very well written and surreal novel, I give it a must-read rating although, the last 15 pages are extremely disgusting (and not in a good way).
Rating: ****		Rating: ****

DeKok and the Dancing Death		Continental Drift
by Albert Cornelis Baantjer		by Russell Banks
© 1978	ISBN # 1 881164 11 X	© 1985	ISBN # 0-06-015383-0
On my "to-be-read" pile.		An excellent novel about a comfortable lower-middle class man from New Hampshire that moves his family to Miami to get a bigger piece of the pie. Very well written, very enjoyable, there's just too much graphic nookie for my taste.
Rating: ?		Rating: *** + (1/2)

The Forgetting Room		Behind the Door
by Nick Bantock		by Giorgio Bassani
© 1997	ISBN # 0-00-225176-0	© 1964	ISBN # 0-7043-0176-8
Armon travels to Ronda, Spain to sell the house he inherited from his grandfather. He finds "Instructions for the Forgetting Room", a surreal puzzle that he'll have to solve. This book comes complete with colorful pop-ups & pull-outs that help the reader solve the mystery. Well written and short (took me a little over an hour to read), you people now haven't an excuse to read one of my highly rated books.		A young Jewish boy narrates two of his years in an Italian school. A new student arrives & is befriended. Others in class show him that the new student is not to be trusted.
Rating: ****		Rating: ***

Sleepless Days		The Loser
by Jurek Becker		by Thomas Bernhard
© 1978	ISBN # 0-15-682765-4 (pbk)	© 1983	ISBN # 0 7043 7012 3
Simrock, an East German schoolteacher, thinks he has a heart attack. His mortality now known, he divorces his wife and moves in with some slut. She attempts to defect, without his knowledge, and when caught he feels abandoned by her. He then begins to understand why she wanted to leave and starts to question the authority around him. This book was censored by the East Germans, and subsequently Becker defected.		This whole novel contains only 4 paragraphs in all 170 pages, and all four start on page 1. Historical fiction remembering the pianist Glenn Gould, a fictional man named only Wertheimer and the narrator. Not easy to read (unless you could do it in one sitting) and the style was interesting, but as far as reading goes, I didn�t enjoy this book very much.
Rating: *		Rating: **

Arrow of the Blue-Skinned God		The Safety Net
by Jonah Blank		by Heinrich Böll
© 1992	ISBN # 0-395-56267-8	© 1979	ISBN # 0 14 00.6468 0
Fictional (?) account of one man�s journey through India. The author tells of the people he met and all the sights while explaining The Ramayana, a three-thousand year old epic that most Indians consider sacred. Decently written and interesting, this book is not for everyone.		A man is protected by the government because of his political power. He suffers, His family suffers and everyone wants to name their kids "Holger." Yawn
Rating: **+ (1/2)		Rating: *

Death on the Installment Plan (alternate title: Death On Credit )		Rigadoon
by Louis-Ferdinand Céline		by Louis-Ferdinand Céline
© 1952	ISBN # 0-8112-0017-5	© 1969	ISBN # 0-440-07364-2
The first novel (chronologically) in the life of Céline. He tells of his early life making it more disturbing than it could've been. The forerunner of Black Comedy, it is at times disgusting, demoralizing, and downright lewd. Peppered with his trademark sentence fragments ending in . . ., this book is certainly not for everyone. Also check out the companion novel Journey to the End of the Night.		All published after his death, Rigadoon is the final novel in the trilogy that included Castle to Castle and North. These novels tell of his travels throughout Europe during World War II, with his wife Lili; his friend, french movie actor Le Vigan; and his cat Bébert. This book is pure Céline with his trademark three dots after almost every sentence.
Rating: ****		Rating: ****

The Jamais Vu Papers		The Psychiatrist and other stories
by Wim Coleman and Pat Perrin		by Machado DeAssis
© 1991	ISBN # 0-517-57513-2	© 1963	ISBN # 0-520-00787-5
An esoteric novel about a psychotherapist that crosses the lines between reality and "Lucid Waking." Some characters, while reading the book, write themselves into it. An interesting idea, but it doesn't work. Style is everything, and this husband and wife writing duo just don't have very much. Guest appearances by the real-life Tom Robbins and Timothy Leary make the book less painful.		I only have one word to describe these stories: uneven. Some, like the title story, are brilliant ( A doctor opens up a state funded hospital to cure the "insane" and figures out that "insanity" is "normal" & it's the others tat need to be cured.) others like A Woman's Arms (some chick falls for a guy & he pretends not to notice) are pure crap. Check it out from the library and read only some of it.
Rating: **		Rating: **