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Post by Queen on May 24, 2017 7:59:47 GMT -5
Green Plums had been on my bookshelf for about a year, I wanted to read it but couldn't face it. Then once I started I didn't want to stop and read it within about 36 hours.
I'll look for more of her books!
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Post by lillielangtry on May 24, 2017 11:41:01 GMT -5
I read one of Herta Müller's book (I think Green Plums, but forget now) in German a few years back. I didn't much like it, but I think that may have been about my German levels too - I could read pretty fluently but I did better with plot-based, fast-moving books (crime, for example) than with beautifully written, style-focused works. I am reading a book in German now which I gave up on a few years ago and it is going down absolutely fine, so maybe I should give Müller another chance too!
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Post by Queen on May 24, 2017 15:17:21 GMT -5
It's all about atmosphere and tension, so I think it might be worth trying again. Of course it might just not be your thing!
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Post by Liiisa on May 25, 2017 5:10:07 GMT -5
17) John Williamson, The Legion of Space
Another weird little ancient sci-fi novel, published in 1947. Sort of like Star Trek crossed with Star Wars, featuring gigantic three-eyed floating jellyfish aliens! The action is wildly implausible but the descriptions of the alien planet are great. All of the bad guys (traitorous Earthers who are collaborating with the jellyfish to restore their Empire) have long flowing hair and sound like queer traitorous LOTR elves.
Recommended, of course!
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Post by scicaro on May 25, 2017 15:14:21 GMT -5
Oo I like the sound of that liiisa.
I've got a couple on the go at the moment. 1. The Good Immigrant by Nikesh Shukla personal stories about being an immigrant in the UK.
And
2. The latest Lars Kepler kaninjægeren (The Rabbit Hunter). I've read the rest of the series in English. They are Swedish crime. This one isn't coming out in English for ages though so my colleague has lent me her copy in Danish. It's going well so far.
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Post by mei on May 26, 2017 15:33:34 GMT -5
New book! Wanted something easy/light and found The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling (#5) in the library.
Entertaining, well put together, but couldn't quite stop thinking of her as the Harry Potter author. There are a lot of different characters in the book but I only found the teenagers believable. The adults are all a different level of crazy and weird.
Now started Hemingway...
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Post by Queen on May 27, 2017 11:12:19 GMT -5
Philida, Andre Brink
Fiction but based on the scarce facts of a real woman.
Philida was born into slavery in South Africa, a descendant of an Indonesian (Batavian) slave, she is sold into another family after having several children by the master's son. She is still alive on 1 December 1834 when slavery ends in the Cape Colony...
It's interesting to read, I don't think I've read anything from this era addressing slavery before.
It's well-written, but it shifts voice from Philida, to Frans (the master's son) to Cornelius (the master) and those shifts weren't always successful.
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Post by scrubb on May 27, 2017 15:30:06 GMT -5
Cooper's Creek: Tragedy and Adventure in the Australian Outback By Alan Moorehead
The story of the Burke and Wills expedition - an attempt to be the first to cross the continent from south to north. Written in the '60s so references to Aborigines is not very sensitive, which becomes grating quickly. But the overall account draws from primary sources and makes an effort to look at events and causes from multiple viewpoints which works quite well. Ihave no idea how accurate he is, though - at the end he tells us that King (the only survival of the cross-continent trek) died age 33. I googled the statue of Burke and Wills, and one image came up of King's tombstone and it says he was 31.
The conclusion of the book includes discussion of how and why this expedition has, and has kept, such an important place in Australian history and memory, which was worth reading.
Overall a good read if you're interested, very straightforward and clear.
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Post by scrubb on May 27, 2017 17:49:07 GMT -5
Today I flew through "Wild Pork and Watercress" by Barry Crump. It's the basis of the movie "The Hunt for the Wilderpeople", but of course the movie doesn't follow it exactly. I think the movie caught the spirit of it quite well, though. Really enjoyed it.
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Post by Queen on May 29, 2017 2:04:38 GMT -5
Today I flew through "Wild Pork and Watercress" by Barry Crump. It's the basis of the movie "The Hunt for the Wilderpeople", but of course the movie doesn't follow it exactly. I think the movie caught the spirit of it quite well, though. Really enjoyed it. Saw the movie a few weeks ago and roared with laughter through much of it. I haven't read the book but I've read other Crump books ( Bastards I have Met was one) and did think the movie had got the feel of his writing including that sort of gruffness of expression even when the person was being caring.
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Post by mei on May 29, 2017 14:55:39 GMT -5
caught up on some classic literature with Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea (#6). A friend is a fan, and I found it on my bookshelf. I can see why, what I most liked is how he manages to make a very simple story powerful.
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Post by sprite on May 29, 2017 15:54:33 GMT -5
White Teeth, Zadie Smith. I really enjoyed this book, but didn't completely 'get' the teeth metaphor.
fun fact: my partner has an ex-gf who went to uni with zadie smith, and always felt a bit of an inferiority complex around her, because of smith's fairly early success. (not a serious complex, more of a 'i thought i was hot shit, buy really what have i done?')
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Post by scrubb on May 30, 2017 12:26:18 GMT -5
Last night I skimmed through "Stolen Innocence" by Elissa Wall. It has a subtitle about being brought up in a polygamous sect, being married against her will at 14, and escaping Warren Jeffs.
I'd lost track of what was happening with Jeffs - and this book was from 2007 so not super current - but was interested to know if he was found guilty of anything.
I didn't read all of it closely, but it is pretty interesting to get the view from a previous insider. Almost all of her siblings have left the FLDS too. It seems like she wouldn't have left had she not hated her appointed husband, and also met another man. Her mother remains completely committed to the sect.
The brain washing, and the control, are shocking although there wasn't much I hadn'tt heard before. The most interesting part was hearing about how her siblings grew up and eventually began questioning, and how family bonds almost always win over societal demands - that is, people still in the church tend to stay in contact with their loved ones who have left it, even though the church tells them not to. (with some sad exceptions, like the author's mother).
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Post by lillielangtry on May 30, 2017 14:06:57 GMT -5
sprite, I loved White Teeth, but I read it around the time it came out. I'd quite like to read it again and see if it stood the test of time. Mind you, I bought her new one at Christmas and haven't read it yet.
#32 Martin Suter, Allmen und der rosa Diamant This hasn't been translated into English, I don't think, although some of Suter's other books have. Funny we were talking about McCall Smith, because this book felt like a Germann-language equivalent to me. It's a gentle, but well-written mystery. I really enjoyed it and now want to read the other books featuring his Allmen character.
#33 Daniel Kehlmann, Die Vermessung der Welt (Measuring the World) This was a major bestseller a few years back, I bought it then and didn't get anywhere with it. This time around, I found the language much easier (yay!). It's the interwoven stories of Alexander von Humboldt, who explored the Americas, and mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauß. The style is quite amusing. I didn't love it but I am pleased I finished it!
#34 Samanta Schweblin, Fever Dream (trans Megan McDowell) At 150 very well-spaced pages, I think this practically counts as a novella. A young woman in Argentina is lying in a hospital bed, apparently dying, and talking to a young boy, and then it all gets a bit spooky and very atmospheric. It's really, really good (but don't expect all the answers).
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Post by HalcyonDaze on May 30, 2017 23:37:47 GMT -5
Oops, haven't updated all month. A bit of mix of books - some insomniac kindle reads (which tend to be cheap/free offers from Book bub that I wouldn't read during the day) and then two wonderful YA books and some other entertaining reads.
43. On Turpentine Lane - Elinor Lipman Witty American observational comedy in a chick lit style. I first discovered Elinor Lipman quite a few years ago and every time I come across one of her books I've enjoyed it.
44. The Chilbury Ladies Choir - Jennifer Ryan Epistolary novel set in an English village at the start of WW2 about the women left behind and how they 'kept calm and carried on'. I'm a sucker for the epistolary style so I enjoyed this.
45. Summer Flambé - Paisley Ray. Light chick lit.
46. Date with Death - Julia Chapman
Murder mystery set in the Yorkshire Dales. Ok, lovely descriptive writing about the countryside let down in part by the cliched 'bad boy outsider comes back to make good' idea. Not sure if I'd bother with more books in the series.
47. The Secret Science of Magic - Melissa Kiel Quirky Australian (or even more specific, Melbourne) YA. Told in alternating view points of two teens who don't quite fit in - a science nerd and a boy who is into magical tricks - and how they navigate the last few difficult months of Yr 12.
48. Words in Deep Blue - Cath Crowley.
This kept on coming up as a Goodreads recommendation. I kept on ignoring it as I wasn't all that fussed by a previous Crowley novel. Then a bookshop owner I follow on FB mentioned this was a favourite recent read, and so I finally borrowed it. And devoured the book in a few days. Another wonderful Australian YA book about lost loves, mixed up teens, grief and a wonderful idea of a letter library set in a second hand bookstore.
49. The Tour - Jean Grainger
Totally implausible book about a one week tour around Ireland and the life changing events that happen to the people on the tour. I would have said the author had never been on a tour or to Ireland but it turns out she was born in Cork and has worked as a tour guide! Maybe she just tried to fit all the stories of people she'd met over the years into a one week tour?
50. A Zen for Murder - Leighann Dobbs
Cozy mystery set on a Maine Island and solved by two retirees - one an ex policeman and one an ex police psychologist. Decent enough read.
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Post by HalcyonDaze on May 30, 2017 23:38:13 GMT -5
Hm, somehow my numbering here differs from what I have on goodreads, so I need to find out what is missing!
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Post by HalcyonDaze on May 30, 2017 23:51:44 GMT -5
I think I found it - in Feb (though I also think I've put down one book twice, so might need to recheck) 51. Honeymoon Suite - Wendy Holden. My comment on goodreads is "Maybe I'm misremembering things, but I though the earlier books I read by Wendy Holden were wittier and edgier. This was bog standard chick lit. A decent enough light read over a hot weekend but missing the snark." It hasn't really left any impression on me at all.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on May 31, 2017 3:35:29 GMT -5
32. The Ghost and Mrs Mewer, Krista Davis. Quite an enjoyable cozy, with several "themes", cats, dogs, ghosts, charming village inn.... sometimes I think this author overcrowds her mysteries with characters and themes, but I prefer this series to her other (Diva) series. Would like to read the next book to see if there is more character development.
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Post by Queen on Jun 2, 2017 9:10:04 GMT -5
Just created the June thread over here.
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