Tag Archives: magical realism

Favorites Friday: The White Hotel

The White HotelThe White Hotel by D.M. Thomas

Surreal and beautiful. A fantastic book that combines prose and poetry in an intoxicating mixture. Set in a resort style hotel we see people going about a wealthy holiday with seemingly no awareness that the world is changing around them. As the book builds and swirls, however, the enormity of the times and realization that something is wrong becomes inescapable. I am forever indebted to the friend who first gave this to me. Reading it was a thoroughly inspiring and enjoyable experience.

View all my reviews


Lists: Worst Books Read in 2011 – # 1

Worst Books Read in 2011

1. Tomato Rhapsody: A Novel of Love, Lust, and Forbidden Fruit by Adam Schnell

Recipe for Worst Book Read in 2011

Take rhyming dialog and mix with a terrible author. Add in a small, prejudiced town in stereotyped Italy. Throw in a priest who’s been dyed eggplant and many statements regarding his being incredibly well hung, a couple of brainless teenagers, and some sex in a cauldron of tomatoes. Next time you want to be grossed out and cringing at the thought of acid on sensitive body parts, just pick up this book.

Original Review
My friend Ala also endured the horror. His review managed to be very funny & still a needed release after slugging through that schlock.

2. Dearly, Departed by Lia Habel
3. Sequence by Adrian Dawson
4. Leaving Atocha Station by Ben Lerner
5. The Man Who Couldn’t Eat by Jon Reiner
6. Boneshaker by Cherie Priest
7. Stolen World by Jennie Erin Smith
8. The Black Company by Glen Cook
9. A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
10. The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher by Kate Summerscale