Rated of 5
by Linda Grana A Gem For The Surrealist
Linked or interconnected short stories is currently my favorite genre, and "Fame" is the best book I've read in this genre in quite awhile. Reminiscent of Charles Baxter's "The Soul Thief", as well as Paul Auster's work, I absolutely loved this study of identity, who we really are, who we strive to be or even the 'self' we yearn to escape from. There is no main protagonist, the three common characters (2 authors and a movie star) mysteriously pop up in the various episodes of the book. The novel begins when a new cell phone user begins to receive calls, not for himself but for some guy named 'Ralf', who we find out later is the movie star. As he continues to answer phone calls for 'Ralf', he starts to play with the idea of actually BEING Ralf, laying bare the first issue of identity. Alas, the cell phone users dilemma is never completely solved, and the real 'Ralf' (or is it really the real Ralf?) shows up later in the book. Along with other characters, who actually may or may not be characters in the novels of the authors in the story. And who is the narrator anyway!? Both the technology of the cell phone as well as glass or mirrors are referred to in almost every story, leaving you not really knowing who is who, and even if they are really there until the very end of the book when it all comes full circle and you realize what a brilliant read this really is!
A bold, mesmerizing novel about the woman known as "Typhoid Mary," the first known healthy carrier of typhoid fever in the burgeoning metropolis of early twentieth century New York.
Z, the novel about the life of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald is at points charming and; like another reviewer, I kept thinking of the movie, "Midnight...
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Although heavy on the scientific details, which slowed down the story for me (OK, I admit, I was one of those liberal arts majors who skipped out on...
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Loved this book. Magical, quirky, enchanting I could go on. All books do not have to be literary fiction, sometimes it is just so comforting to read...
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British Parliament asks Amazon to clarify why it pays $9 million in income tax on $23 billion of UK sales.(May 20 2013) Amazon will be called back to give further evidence to members of the British Parliament "to clarify how its activities in the U.K. justify its low corporate...
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of 5
by Linda Grana 
