What are you reading now? Feb 24 Bookthread

[lillielangtry]

(7) Naomi Alderman, The Future

The new book by the author of The Power. It contains all the elements familiar to us from Alderman's work: dystopian elements, love between women, a great interest in social media/the digital world, and a background in the Torah/Old Testament. That makes for a pretty interesting mix.

It is less violent than The Power, but shares with it a strong influence of Margaret Atwood, especially her Maddaddam trilogy (I was thinking this before I got to the acknowledgements and Atwood's was the first name mentioned). Various characters meet and communicate on messageboards, which is an extra little treat for people like us ;-) And there's even an Easter Egg at the end.

The plot is complex with a lot of twists and turns. Does every part work? Probably, but I'd have to reread it to be sure. Basically it's about the CEOs of the world's most famous tech companies (think Musk & Co), those around them, and how they might deal with the impending apocalypse.

I. Absolutely. Loved. It. Only slight negative for me is that there are a lot of fairly important characters - at least 8 - and my favourite one doesn't feature as much as I'd have liked her to.

[Liiisa]

Oooh lillie - ok, then I'm about to put that on my hold list

[Liiisa]

7) Rumaan Alam, Leave the World Behind

The one book on the New York Times "guess the location of these five apocalyptic novels" quiz that I hadn't read yet.

Starts off as a humorous novel about NYC creatives renting a vacation home out on Long Island, but soon you learn that there's been a massive blackout on the East Coast, and things get weirder and much more interesting. Couldn't put it down.

[scrubb]

17) Our Share of Night, by Mariana Enriquez. Someone on here must have recommended this - I had it on my "to read" list on Goodreads, and found it in our library. It's an Argentinian author, so I suspect lillielangtree?

Not at all my usual genre, it's supernatural/horror - but it's really well done. The first, very long section had the most disturbing stuff and I almost stopped reading. Not so much because of the horrific stuff (which was pretty awful) but because I couldn't imagine reading a whole book that was focused on this supernatural darkness and the horrors its worshipers wrought. But it switched perspectives shortly after that, and became more of a story that eventually focused on a boy, Gaspar. The rest of the book was engrossing. Still plenty of horror and supernatural but with characters who were the real story. Also, the back drop was fascinating - Argentina has had a tumultuous history.

Overall a thumbs up. But I have to admit that half way through, part of me wished I'd picked up her much shorter collection of stories, which I had heard of, instead of this 600 page tomb.

[Liiisa]

I think it was both lillie and me! Glad you liked it.

[lillielangtry]

Yes, scrubb, I loved it but I am not a horror reader. I was hesitant to start it and it was on the border of what I can stomach. I was fascinated by the way she dealt with the dictatorship not in a realistic way but by portraying the powerful, dark forces at work.

Which reminds me - I recently saw the film El Conde on Netflix. It's about Pinochet, but he's a vampire. A very black comedy.

[sprite]

How to Build a Boat. Elaine Feeney

By the time I get through all these bloody Bookers, the next list will be out!

Jamie is a young autistic boy starting an all-boys' Catholic secondary school. His mother died during his birth, and he likes the colour red.
Tessa is his English teacher, going through IVF with a man she doesn't actually like anymore, trying not to run into her homeless alcoholic father.
Tadgh is his woodwork teacher, struggling to not get fired by the snobbish priest who runs the school while indocrinating the boys with a heady mix of nationalism and misogyny.

Together, they build a boat--a traditional Irish currach.

[scrubb]

Shut Up You're Pretty, by Tea Mutonji. Sophie mentioned "Canada Reads", an annual radio program where 5 shortlisted books each have a supporter who argues why everyone in Canada should read the book. This one is a collection of stories, but it's more like chapters separated in time. And it seems very, very autobiographical.

About Loli, an immigrant from Congo growing up in Scarborough (a Toronto suburb). It's a rough area and she lives pretty rough - lots of drugs, young sexuality, etc. The chapters don't often have resolution, before being followed by a new scenario in the next one, but that works with how Loli is living her life.

I didn't love it, but by the end I liked it quite a bit.

[sophie]

The Wager by David Grann. Excellent non fiction about a British ship and its men mid 1700’s. The subtitle says it all: a tale of shipwreck, mutiny and murder. Same author wrote’Killers of the Flower Moon’. Truly remarkable research and excellent writing made reading this book truly worthwhile. Recommended.

[Q-pee]

Feb 17, 2024 17:05:48 GMT -5 Liiisa said:

6) Zadie Smith, The Fraud

Historical fiction, mainly about an abolitionist white woman in a literary circle in Victorian England. The fraud in the title refers most obviously to a trial of a man claiming to be a vanished aristocrat, but as the book progresses you realize that the theme of "fraud" keeps repeating itself throughout, individually and societally. Very good.

Might have to pick it up again....

[Q-pee]

Crook Manifesto
Colin Whitehead

Meh

And I'm upset about it. I loved Underground Railway so much, and the writing is good. Just so many characters and little character development, I struggled to finish it which is unusual for me.

[Liiisa]

Feb 24, 2024 9:38:03 GMT -5 Q-pee said:

Crook Manifesto
Colin Whitehead

Meh

And I'm upset about it. I loved Underground Railway so much, and the writing is good. Just so many characters and little character development, I struggled to finish it which is unusual for me.

Hmm, ok... I haven't gotten there yet. I think "Crook Manifesto" is a sequel to something else, so maybe that's part of the problem?

[Q-pee]

Feb 24, 2024 12:41:14 GMT -5 Liiisa said:

Feb 24, 2024 9:38:03 GMT -5 Q-pee said:

Crook Manifesto
Colin Whitehead

Meh

And I'm upset about it. I loved Underground Railway so much, and the writing is good. Just so many characters and little character development, I struggled to finish it which is unusual for me.

Hmm, ok... I haven't gotten there yet. I think "Crook Manifesto" is a sequel to something else, so maybe that's part of the problem?

It's a sequel to Harlem Shuffle, but it's supposed to be a stand alone novel. I'm not sure that's the whole problem.

After entering it into GoodReads I checked the 2 star reviews of both and quite few of the reviewers said the same sort of thing about both books. But lots of people gave it four stars and loved it.

The writing is great, so I'll look at his books again in the future, but might do a more thorough check of reviews and the old kindle free read trick.

[scrubb]

Emily St. John Mandel, Sea of Tranquillity

I really liked this sci fi novel that has time travelling and pandemics and self-referential characters, but I like everything I've read by her. I did wish I remembered her previous book better, The Glass Hotel, because it has some of the same characters - although it does stand alone. I think I'm going to go back and read it now, actually.

[sophie]

Everyone on this Train is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson. A fun murder mystery, down the same vein as his previous mystery (Everyone in my Family had Killed Someone) where the supposed author is part of the whole story and murder. It’s clever, funny and easy to enjoy. It takes place on the Ghan train in Australia, where a mystery writers festival is taking place. Of course there are murders, suspects, secrets and other goings on. Recommended if you enjoy a good lighthearted approach to a murder mystery. (Ozzie.. thinking of you as I write this!)

[lillielangtry]

Feb 24, 2024 23:13:20 GMT -5 scrubb said:

Emily St. John Mandel, Sea of Tranquillity

I really liked this sci fi novel that has time travelling and pandemics and self-referential characters, but I like everything I've read by her. I did wish I remembered her previous book better, The Glass Hotel, because it has some of the same characters - although it does stand alone. I think I'm going to go back and read it now, actually.

Oh I think I have this waiting on my Kindle too!

[Liiisa]

Feb 24, 2024 23:13:20 GMT -5 scrubb said:

Emily St. John Mandel, Sea of Tranquillity

I really liked this sci fi novel that has time travelling and pandemics and self-referential characters, but I like everything I've read by her. I did wish I remembered her previous book better, The Glass Hotel, because it has some of the same characters - although it does stand alone. I think I'm going to go back and read it now, actually.

I think all of her three books that I've read have had some connection to the original one about the people in the hotel in Canada. I really liked that one too.

[lillielangtry]

(8) Olga Tokarczuk, Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead
A reread for book club and possibly a little early to revisit this book, but I did enjoy it again even though I remembered what happened. Not everyone at book club shared the love.

(9) Alev Adil et al (eds), Nicosia Beyond Barriers: Voices from a Divided City
This anthology from Cyprus marks the 150th book in my reading women around the world challenge, which I'm quite pleased about. There are some male contributors to this volume as well. Like many anthologies, it was a mixed bag - I found some parts not brilliantly written, but there were a few standout stories. Cyprus has a very interesting history (incidentally, several of us have read the excellent The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak, and for anyone looking for an entertaining novel that is about Cyprus and the Greek/Turkish conflict there, I would certainly recommend that one, but I didn't count it for my challenge as Shafak is not herself Cypriot).

[Liiisa]

Sneaking one in before the end of the month --

8) Victoria Lloyd-Barlow, All the Little Bird-Hearts

The protagonist is a 40-ish neurodivergent woman with a teenage daughter. Some very Fabulous people move in next door and befriend them, but there's something about these people, to the point where it took me a little while to get into it because reading about them and worrying about what might happen to the protagonist was a little stressful. But once I got into it, I was totally absorbed. The protagonist and her thinking are so well written - it was really affecting.

From the 2023 Booker longlist.

[Webs]

What You Are Looking For Is in the Library, Michiko Aoyama

People who are at a crossroads in their life find a local library within a community center, where they meet an unexpected reference librarian who leads them to find their own answers. They're interwoven and they're not. It's a very gentle read yet extremely satisfying.

I might have to take up needle felting.

[ozziegiraffe]

10. Aunt Bessie Needs, Diana Xarissa. Aunt Bessie is still trying to learn the Manx language, and sorts out a murder where the victim may have been mistaken for a look alike.

[scrubb]

I just reread The Glass Hotel (Emily St. John Mandel), as mentioned above. I'd forgotten so much of it. It wasn't really necessary to enjoy Sea of Tranquility, but I'm glad I reread it anyway.

[jimm]

Feb 25, 2024 1:41:14 GMT -5 sophie said:

Everyone on this Train is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson. A fun murder mystery, down the same vein as his previous mystery .... (Ozzie.. thinking of you as I write this!)

I came here to write about this book (it was a Xmas present) - I'm half way through it now and I'm finding it annoying. Maybe I'm not suited to murder mysteries (I'm not a fan of puzzles so maybe that's it). Sure it's got jokes and funny bits, but the deliberate hints and clues irritate me. Archie Bench FFS - I know its an anagram, but see above re: puzzles.

Anyway, I came to ask about the difference between a narrative novel and a mystery novel such as this. Surely a murder book can be done as a narrative?

Don't let this put other off reading it - I'm sure ppl who like light-hearted mysteries will love it.

I liked Henry McTavish's review of it in Goodreads.

[jimm]

Before that one I read 'The Lincoln Highway' by Amor Towles - a kind of road trip story set in middle America (mostly) in the middle of last century. I enjoyed it a lot - maybe because it was a narrative rather than a puzzle!

[sophie]

Jimm.. I really like all of Towles’ works.. A Gentleman in Moscow is my favorite.

[Liiisa]

sophie I saw that Towles has a new book of short stories coming out in April.

Finished the following last night, hence still in February:

9) James McBride, The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store

Story of the Black and Jewish communities in a town in 1930's Pennsylvania. I really liked how he wrote in the dialects of the people speaking in the novel, and all the subgroups of immigrants and people moved up from the South and such. It started off slowly, establishing the characters, but sped up eventually. No moral ambiguity in this novel - the bad guys get it in the end.

[lillielangtry]

I also have two left for February

(10) Selina Tusitala Marsh, Tightrope
Marsh is a New Zealand poet, but she is also part Tuvulan heritage and as I cannot find a single Tuvalan woman with a published book, she is representing that country for my world challenge. I liked some of these poems. It is probably to do with my views more than anything, but I found the poems she wrote for and about the Queen a bit cringeworthy.

(11) Agatha Christie, Lord Edgware Dies
This is one of the really good, classic Poirots - narrated by Hastings, described by Poirot as having moments of "curious obtuseness", and with various witty and entertaining parts, and naturally lots of posh people and various murders. Six hours of happy listening.

[sophie]

My last one for the month is Smoke and Ashes by Amitav Ghosh. Subtitled ‘Opium’s Hidden Histories’, he presents a thesis of how opium was used by the colonizing powers to gain more money and control. Much of his research was started when he wrote his Ibis Trilogy (I read those a few months back and commented on those books here). This is a most interesting work, combining a travelogue, a memoir and an essay in history. I found it fascinating and interesting reading, but it is non fiction. He finds parallels with some aspects of the big multinationals and the climate crisis the world is facing. Some of those links seemed a bit tenuous until I read about the fact that Royal Shell got its start way back (with a different name of course) as an opium smuggling outfit.

[Liiisa]

That's on the list now, thank you sophie.

I think I've read something else by him that I thought was good.

[Liiisa]

Here's the link to the March thread