by John Knowles
I picked this book up months ago at the Book Thing, because I love A Separate Peace (same author). This one is about a young man returning home from war, where he was a bomber. He wants to learn to fly airplanes (instead of just ride in them), and establish a cargo airline between Washington State and Alaska. And he always liked the idea of farming, so he starts out by learning to fly a crop-duster plane... I read twenty pages and just found it dull. The character and his story did not interest me. Nothing rose off the page or tickled my mind with wordplay. Moving on, I opened The Years of Rice and Salt. Now I've got something in my hands I can't put down!
Abandoned ...0/5... 243 pages, 1966
Peace Breaks Out is the sequel to A Separate Peace. While not as enchanting as the original, it is a good read.
ReplyDeleteA Separate Peace is one of my all time favorites.
Julie
Hmm, maybe I'd have better luck trying Peace Breaks Out. The title sounds awful familiar though, which might mean I did once and ditched it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the blog link!
I again with your words about Lying Awake. It was almost like poetry. Thanks for the comment! ~ L
ReplyDeleteYour post got me curious as I'd never heard of this American writer before. I looked him up and he has quite a long list of publications - I'm curious now to try one of them. Would you recommend starting with A Separate Peace, it seems to be his most famous.
ReplyDeleteVerbivore- I would definitely recommend starting with A Separate Peace. From all accounts I've read, I believe it is his best work.
ReplyDeleteA Separate Peace is a gem of a book. But even Peace Breaks Out did not have the same poignant charm. And I'd never heard of the one you mentioned.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you found one you liked better:)