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Post by lillielangtry on Feb 1, 2017 13:23:55 GMT -5
...or whatever it is you're reading, I just wanted to alliterate! Come on in and tell us all about it.
I'm rereading Margaret Atwood's Year of the Flood, which is wonderful and pertinent these days, even more so than when I read it the first time.
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Post by mei on Feb 1, 2017 15:35:54 GMT -5
phew, happy that I can also try to finish my non-fiction book this month that's currently neglected ;-)
but in fiction, I just finished my second book of the year, 'the consequences' by Nina Weijers. A Dutch book, I think the debut of this writer but very well written, very impressive.
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Post by scrubb on Feb 1, 2017 19:34:06 GMT -5
Today I finished "The Lifeboat" by Charlotte Rogan. It was very good - some flaws, but overall compelling and made the reader think.
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Post by Liiisa on Feb 2, 2017 22:04:15 GMT -5
That was good, scrubb - read it last year, I think.
Anyway, bookmarking. I have been spending way too much time reading the news and so am still slowly working my way through a very short sci-fi novel... pathetic. Will be done with it soon, though.
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Post by Phar Lap on Feb 3, 2017 19:30:38 GMT -5
My daughter gave me a book for my birthday and I'm three quarters of the way through it. "The Liberation" by Kate Furnivall is set in Italy 1945, British and American soldiers try and restore order. Caterina Lombardi learns her father may not have been what he seemed and she finds her life in danger and also that of her family.
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Post by Oweena on Feb 3, 2017 23:44:16 GMT -5
Finished the Jane Smiley trilogy (Some Luck, Early Warning, Golden Age) in one go while my internet was out for over a month.
Enjoyed the first two books; the characters were more interesting and filled out. The last book I wasn't a fan of as the characters seemed too numerous and thus, diluted.
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Post by Queen on Feb 4, 2017 3:48:57 GMT -5
My Man Jeeves, by PG Wodehouse
I had never read any Jeeves and felt I should.
It's funny, but belongs to a class and time that feels very distant. I would read more as light entertainment but I'm not a gushing fan.
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Post by Liiisa on Feb 4, 2017 8:04:36 GMT -5
Q, I know what you mean about Wodehouse. I'm sure it would have been absolutely hilarious at the time.
I FINALLY managed to put down Twitter and read a book, which was a rewarding experience:
3. Emil Petaja, The Stolen Sun
This is another tiny 1960s novel with a weird cover from the sci-fi department of a used book store. Petaja has taken the Finnish myth cycle the Kalevala and turned it into a science fiction novel with spaceships and time travel. Sort of The Lord of the Rings meets 2001: A Space Odyssey, with people yelling things in Finnish. Of course you should read it.
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Post by scrubb on Feb 4, 2017 14:02:51 GMT -5
The Enchanted, by Rene Denham (or something like that). Set in an old stone prison, on Death Row, most of the time. Narrated partly by an inmate and the rest of the time there's a feeling that he sees the parts outside of the prison too.
There's an investigator who works to get death sentences commuted and her work is followed - to lives of abuse and desperation. But it doesn't try to claim that they make up for the terrible things the inmates have done. It doesn't try to give answers, but it does draw pictures. Many of them from the deluded mind of a prisoner who, along with his demons, sees beauty and has insight.
The author is an investigator for death row inmates, which I wasn't surprised to read after finishing the book as it felt authentic.
Highly recommended. I will be thinking about it for a while.
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Post by sophie on Feb 4, 2017 23:22:32 GMT -5
Orphan #8. By Kim van Alkemade. I loved this novel. The author has done an outstanding job with this book.. It is a coming of age novel, a historical fiction, a romance.. It is a bit of everything on so many levels, with a healthy dose of ethics thrown in. I can't believe this is her first novel. None of the weaknesses or issues which typically plague a first novel, at least IMHO. Highly recommended.
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Post by scrubb on Feb 5, 2017 19:14:27 GMT -5
Alone in the Classroom by Elizabeth Hay. A nostalgic book, written about the narrator's parents and aunt and the time and place they grew up. Enjoyable.
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Post by scrubb on Feb 9, 2017 12:34:04 GMT -5
Commonwealth, by Anne Patchett. Liked it a lot - it's about a family, an extended family, and their stories.
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Post by sophie on Feb 9, 2017 14:47:48 GMT -5
The Heist by Daniel Silva. Decent adventure, thriller. I have always liked the main character, Gabriel Allon, in his novels.
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Post by sprite on Feb 12, 2017 5:51:35 GMT -5
I really like Wodehouse, but I enjoy books from that era,a sort of escapism. The TV series with fry and Laurie is hilarious, if you can ever watch. The more I see of Hugh Laurie, the more I admire him.
Bone Clocks, David Mitchell.
Um. Not what I was expecting. Picked this up at a library sale for 50p. Didn't read the blurb, went solely on comments from here about his work.
I enjoyed the plot, which I thought was a good balance of life story and fantasy. Some of the narrator changes were a bit striking, catching me off guard.
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Post by HalcyonDaze on Feb 12, 2017 5:56:43 GMT -5
9. The Dark Days Pact - Alison Goodman Sequel to The Dark Days Club. Still good fun. The next three books are all cheap book bub ones that I've generally been reading at night when I can't sleep due to the heat. Love the Kindle for that! 10. Innocent in Las Vegas - A.R. Winters Light fun mystery that is very, very similar to the Stephanie Plum books. 11. Dead Man's Diamonds - A.R. Winters A different series by Winters. Just because one series seemed ok, don't expect the next one to be. This was rather painful. 12. The Third Girl - Nell Goddin Decent enough murder mystery set in France. Will give the next book in the series a try, but reading in non heatwave conditions may change my opinion on the books.  |
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Post by lillielangtry on Feb 12, 2017 9:41:00 GMT -5
I really like Wodehouse, but I enjoy books from that era,a sort of escapism. The TV series with fry and Laurie is hilarious, if you can ever watch. The more I see of Hugh Laurie, the more I admire him. Bone Clocks, David Mitchell. Um. Not what I was expecting. Picked this up at a library sale for 50p. Didn't read the blurb, went solely on comments from here about his work. I enjoyed the plot, which I thought was a good balance of life story and fantasy. Some of the narrator changes were a bit striking, catching me off guard. That's Mitchell for you. All his books are like that - I saw him at a reading and he didn't deny that some of his "novels" are more like a series of novellas tacked together. Love him though. And he makes really precise observations about the different decades, including the music playing on the radio etc, which I like. |
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Post by lillielangtry on Feb 12, 2017 9:55:28 GMT -5
#9 (I think), Peter Tonkin, The Point of Death - this was on my Kindle but I have no memory of buying it. I suspect it must have been very cheap and recommended to me because I enjoyed the Shardlake books. An Elizabethan murder mystery - quite bloody, with a lot of very precisely described swordfights. It was OK, the story was pacey enough but I won't seek out more of his work.
#10 Hannah Rothschild, The Improbability of Love - shortlisted for the Bailey's prize. It's a fairly amusing take on the art world with a bit of a love story and some Nazis thrown into the mix. Did I enjoy it? Yes, but many of the characters were two-dimensional and it was all a bit slick and artificial.
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Post by sophie on Feb 12, 2017 11:45:48 GMT -5
The Couturier of Milan by Ian Hamilton. The newest book in his Ava Lee series. The main character, Ava, is a forensic accountant and now has transferred her attention from debt collection to high fashion. I didn't think this book was as good as his others but it was an entertaining and fast read. The part featuring a showdown between some mafia characters and triads was a bit stilted, I thought.
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Post by sprite on Feb 12, 2017 13:40:09 GMT -5
I really like Wodehouse, but I enjoy books from that era,a sort of escapism. The TV series with fry and Laurie is hilarious, if you can ever watch. The more I see of Hugh Laurie, the more I admire him. Bone Clocks, David Mitchell. Um. Not what I was expecting. Picked this up at a library sale for 50p. Didn't read the blurb, went solely on comments from here about his work. I enjoyed the plot, which I thought was a good balance of life story and fantasy. Some of the narrator changes were a bit striking, catching me off guard. That's Mitchell for you. All his books are like that - I saw him at a reading and he didn't deny that some of his "novels" are more like a series of novellas tacked together. Love him though. And he makes really precise observations about the different decades, including the music playing on the radio etc, which I like. yes, i noticed those details, they did help set scenes. i also liked all the new tech lingo in the last chapter--it felt like a natural progression from current words, and i wondered if he'd consulted some futurologists. i was sort of lost on the Soleil Moore character, like should i have seen her before she started following Crispin? |
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Post by lillielangtry on Feb 12, 2017 13:47:45 GMT -5
That's Mitchell for you. All his books are like that - I saw him at a reading and he didn't deny that some of his "novels" are more like a series of novellas tacked together. Love him though. And he makes really precise observations about the different decades, including the music playing on the radio etc, which I like. yes, i noticed those details, they did help set scenes. i also liked all the new tech lingo in the last chapter--it felt like a natural progression from current words, and i wondered if he'd consulted some futurologists. i was sort of lost on the Soleil Moore character, like should i have seen her before she started following Crispin? I can't remember, sorry! Think I need to read it again (I probably rushed it a bit because I was so into it). There are characters that recur across his different books as well, but I don't remember that one. |
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Feb 12, 2017 15:40:22 GMT -5
Bookmarking. Now I'm back on wifi, I have several books to add.
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Post by HalcyonDaze on Feb 13, 2017 4:28:04 GMT -5
13. Cappuccinos, Cupcakes, and a Corpse - Harper Lin
Another hot weather free book bub read. This time with added recipes (which weren't really necessary, it wasn't as if the cooking was a major part of the novel, in fact the author went on more about the foam art on the coffees)
An easy read for a heatwave.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Feb 13, 2017 6:23:22 GMT -5
10. G M Malliet, Pagan Spring. Still enjoying this series and the development of the relationships between the characters. It's an English village mystery updated to reflect 21st century beliefs, values and culture.
11. The Housewife Assassin's Handbook, Josie Brown. I read this one for a Cozy Mystery challenge, but definitely wouldn't consider it Cozy! The romance is way more explicit. However, it was a funny, light read.
12. Murder on a Midsummer Night, by Kerry Greenwood. Another wonderful Phryne Fisher book. All the family are involved in the detection, including Phryne's sister Eliza, during a hot Melbourne summer.
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Post by scrubb on Feb 13, 2017 10:56:38 GMT -5
Pavilion of Women: A Novel of Life in the Women's Quarters by Pearl S. Buck. I've loved The Good Earth for years and years, and now finally read something else by the same author. I loved the main character, a woman who at age 40 decides to release herself from her physical relationshp with her husband (at first because she just feels she's past it; later she realizes she's never loved her husband at all), and she ends up pursuing the spiritual. It was great to see a female character with curiousity and understanding emerge from the traditional Chinese society. I really enjoyed it, although I think it's a pretty easy book to enjoy as there isn't ever any real conflict or horror to deal with.
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Post by Queen on Feb 15, 2017 5:48:43 GMT -5
#2 Purple Hibiscus Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Loved it, of course. She's an extraordinary writer, conveying place and character without it feeling heavily descriptive. The father figure is horrendous, but understandable. And the changes the family go through have a stronger impact for being described through a child's eyes (although she's a teenager she is so sheltered that the character feels childlike rather than young woman). There's a strong allegorical element as well - with the father representing a localised legacy of colonialism. Next read will be a re-read... it was my turn to recommend a book for our bookclub. I was going to go for one of the Booker long list, but I chickened out. I got worried that I would recommend something everyone would hate and they'd never let me choose again. So I've recommended "Em and the Big Hoom", by Jerry Pinto. Which was recommended by MacademiaNut and I read it and loved it last year. |
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Post by scrubb on Feb 15, 2017 13:06:38 GMT -5
Just finished "Ship of Fools" by Katharine Anne Porter. Published in the early '60s, it's set on a ship between Veracruz, Mexico, and Germany in 1931. It was a huge best seller when it came out, and the author had won the Pulizer before that so she does know how to write.
I suppose it's allegorical - the characters are mostly German with a few Americans and one group of low class Spanish entertainers. Some are straight charicatures, some are given a bit more depth; all are rather awful. No one likes each other; they constantly fight; the single men all lust after the Spanish entertainers who are all prostitutes, their husbands acting as pimps; and the few married couples are all secretly miserable or else twisted. Everyone (except the Americans) despises the Jewish man, who also despises all of them (including the Americans).
In the whole book there's not a single character with a likeable trait - let alone a noble one. Maybe everyone in the world is a piece of shit, tumbling toward war, but if so it doesn't make very enjoyable reading.
That said, it had enough going for it that I read the whole 500 pages. One of the Spanish entertainers has 7 year old twins who are evil little shits, and reading the parts about them was fascinating.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Feb 17, 2017 7:10:35 GMT -5
13. The Revolving Door of Life, Alexander McCall Smith. Just love this series set in Edinburgh. Each of the characters is so beautifully drawn. My favourite, of course, is Bertie, followed closely by Cyril. Somehow I've skipped over two books in the series, so will have to find them.
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Post by scrubb on Feb 17, 2017 20:44:45 GMT -5
"Foreign Affairs" by Alison Lurie. Not bad. Two professors from New York have grants to work in London for several months. One is a mid-50s divorcee and one is a late 20s extremely good looking man; each embarks on a love affair.
It's a comedy, mostly. Think it won the Pulizer? I would have guessed it was written by a Brit based on style - the female lead character is a Britophile so the tone seemed to reflect how she felt about it all.
Anyway, I enjoyed it, but I didn't love it.
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Post by scrubb on Feb 18, 2017 20:00:47 GMT -5
A Lesson in Secrets - by Jacqueline Winspeare -- another Maisie Dobbs mystery. I liked this one better than most of the others; the writing style didn't annoy me like she sometimes does.
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Post by sophie on Feb 19, 2017 2:27:46 GMT -5
Belgravia by Julian Fellowes. Excellent novel by the author of Downton Abbey, set in the first half of the 1800's.
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