Notes from a bibliophile

We need to talk. There's been some distance between us for some time now. I've tried many times to bridge that gap, but it just seems insurmountable. You and I, we come from different worlds - I'm from Venus; you're from Barnes and Noble. I know all my friends love you, but we just want different things right now. I want to be entertained; you want to annoy me. In the past it might be trite cliches, forced dialog, or unbelievable scenarios, but in this case I just can't put my finger on it. I know what you'll say: this is a pattern of mine. First there was The Foundation Trilogy. I know the only reason I balked at that relationship was because it was my dad's favorite and at the time I just wanted a rebel - a book dressed in black leather, riding a Harley. Foundation was like all those other books in high school, just another book someone else chose for me, and I wanted to make my own choices. You're going to point out that I hated The Hobbit the first...

This is a complex whopper of a tale. There are so many characters that are integral to the plot, even though they aren't the three main women the story focuses on. Molly, just emerging from a severe depression after losing her baby, is given a story reporting the discover of an infant's body near a creek on the grounds of the local university where her husband Justin teaches. Despite her husband's misgivings, she insists on reporting the story and eventually finds that this is not the first death found at that spot. There is also Sandy, a high school dropout trying to change her life despite all the odds being stacked against her. The last main character is Barbara. She is the typical, type-A PTA mom and wife of Steve, the chief of police.  The story alternates between each woman's story and is interspersed with the articles Molly writes, her notes from her psychologist visits, and Sandy's mother Jenna's high school diary. In addition to these characters the...

Akutagawa is a wonderful storyteller. The language is rich and atmospheric, really evoking a mood. Here are the synopses of the stories included in this book: In A Grove : The testimony of seven witnesses to a murder, one of which is the ghost of the murdered man told through a medium, is told to a court investigating the crime. All are slightly different, leaving the reader to wonder what really happened in that bamboo grove. This story is the main plot of Akira Kurosawa's film Rashomon . Rashomon : Although this short story gives its name to the film, very little of the story makes it into the film. It's the story of a servant who has just been dismissed by his samurai master because Kyoto has fallen into decline. He sits at the Rashomon gate to escape the rain and ponders whether to stay an honest man and starve or survive by becoming a thief. An encounter with an old woman scavenging amongst the corpses left to rot at the gate helps him decide his next course of action....