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Post by Queen on Jun 2, 2017 9:09:06 GMT -5
Eat those words up! Share what you're reading this month Here's the May book thread. |
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Post by Queen on Jun 2, 2017 9:12:16 GMT -5
I am reading Amitav Ghosh's "River of Smoke" which is the second book in a trilogy.
It's so long since I read part one that I can't remember any of it, it doesn't seem to matter!
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Post by sophie on Jun 2, 2017 9:22:36 GMT -5
I am reading Amita Trasi's The Colour of our Sky'
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Post by scrubb on Jun 2, 2017 13:00:02 GMT -5
I am almost finished a Madeleine L'Engle book written for adults, called "The Other Side of the Sun". I love her kids books but am not so fond of this adult one. It's set in the early 1900s in the south of the US, with people who remember the civil war, including some ex-slaves. And it's sort of about society struggling, but the characters are all isolated in a mansion on the beach and they don't interact with anyone except their own families. And a lot of them aren't made very interesting even though they're supposed to be. It's very, very slow moving. I'm FINALLY just before the climax (where I'm pretty sure someone is going to die nobly) but don't care too much, so I wouldn't call it a successful book. Not BAD, but just not that good.
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Post by HalcyonDaze on Jun 2, 2017 19:06:47 GMT -5
I have to read The Rosie Project for Monday night's book club meeting. I have read it before but haven't started it at all this time round. Oops.
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Post by Liiisa on Jun 2, 2017 19:25:22 GMT -5
Bookmarking, thank you Q!
Just about done with Jeanette Winterson's take on Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale, which is fantastic - should finish and rave about it tomorrow.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Jun 2, 2017 20:24:03 GMT -5
Bookmarking. Thank you Q.
Current books include an autobiography of Miranda Hart and her dog, Mark Colvin's autobiography on audible and a cozy on kindle.
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Post by scrubb on Jun 2, 2017 23:43:49 GMT -5
Liiiiisa - I bought a collection of Olivia Butler short stories when I saw it on Bookbub because I remember you recommending her. They're excellent!
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Post by Liiisa on Jun 3, 2017 4:32:31 GMT -5
Oh, I'm glad scrubb! I've got another book by her lined up soon and am really looking forward to it.
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Post by lillielangtry on Jun 3, 2017 11:45:22 GMT -5
#35 Alina Bronsky, Baba Dunjas letzte Liebe (Baba Dunja's Last Love)
This short novel was my first book of June. It's about an old woman living near Tschernobyl who returns to her village near to the reactor and is joined by a few other old people who aren't worried by the radiation. But their quiet existence is shaken by the appearance of strangers.
It's smoothly written and I enjoyed it. I was irritated by the cover, which features a young woman in a Russian-style headscarf. Why a young woman? The main character, Baba Dunja, is over 80 and there's hardly a young person in the entire book!
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Post by Queen on Jun 4, 2017 9:36:04 GMT -5
Supposed to read Hag-Seed by Friday. Oops.
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Post by lillielangtry on Jun 4, 2017 10:30:07 GMT -5
Hm, Amazon says 320 pages but Atwood is normally a pretty fast read.
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Post by Liiisa on Jun 4, 2017 17:05:54 GMT -5
On the subject of Hag-Seed, I just finished one of the other Hogarth Shakespeare reboots,
18. Jeanette Winterson, The Gap in Time
This is Winterson's take on Shakespeare's "The Winter's Tale," in which Leontes is a hedge fund manager rather than a king. Faithful to the original, and yet modern in its psychological interpretation and setting - very effective and good!
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Post by HalcyonDaze on Jun 4, 2017 18:25:46 GMT -5
Almost finished my reread of The Rosie Project, but now I don't know if I'll be well enough for book club tonight!
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Post by scrubb on Jun 4, 2017 23:35:01 GMT -5
I finished Octavia Butler's "Blood Child and Other Stories" - really liked most of the stories, and it included a couple biographical bits, and a couple really short essays she wrote about writing that were also worthwhile.
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Post by Liiisa on Jun 5, 2017 18:28:07 GMT -5
19. Tim Snyder, On Tyranny
This is a very quick read (I read it in two bus rides), but an important one. Snyder, an historian, has written 20 instructions/ideas for dealing with autocratic/tyrannical governments, based on experiences from the 20th century. It's a must-read manual on How To Not Let That Shit Happen Again.
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Post by Queen on Jun 6, 2017 8:55:23 GMT -5
I can read 320 pages in a night! Here's hoping local bookstore has the book  |
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Post by sprite on Jun 6, 2017 16:08:18 GMT -5
i loathe june bugs.
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Post by sprite on Jun 6, 2017 16:21:26 GMT -5
The Rose and the Yew Tree, Mary Westacott (Agatha Christie)
no murders.
watching a post-war election in a Cornish port, a recent parapalegic becomes everyone's confidante.
the structure is the typcial, "giving you the back story as the narrator journeys to hear a death bed confession from someone he hates." so we learn quickly that a woman at the centre of the story, who the narrator cared for, died as a result of her connection to one of the candidates in the election.
the novel uses the tension in britain as VE day had been celebrated but the war in the Pacific was still raging, and people from the working classes were increasingly going into parliament.
i think i will look for some more of hers.
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Post by scrubb on Jun 6, 2017 18:13:24 GMT -5
The Door in the Hedge, by Robin McKinley. I think I read this many years ago as a couple bits rang some vague bells. It's a sort of adult(ish) retelling of some fairy tales. I didn't think the title one was all that good, but the later were better - The Frog Prince, the Dancing Princesses. There wasn't all that much to them, I guess - the princesses were all divinely beautiful and good, etc., - but she did provide a bit of insight into motivation that has always been missing in fairy tales (for example, she explained why the 12 dancing princesses never told anyone what was going on).
It didn't occur to me while reading it, but now, after I'm done, I realize that no humans in any of her stories is greedy or lazy or selfish or foolish. They're all just as good as good can be, regardless of how they've been treated, or how much power they have, or anything else. Only the bad guys are less than perfect, and they tend to be demons or at least have unearthly magic powers. So everything has to work out perfectly because no one ever slips up and forgets or ignores a warning.
But still an enjoyable read if you grew up liking fairy tales.
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Post by Liiisa on Jun 7, 2017 19:10:01 GMT -5
20. John Wyndham, Chocky
A short, strange science fiction novel set (and written) in 1950's Britain, written by "Day of the Triffids" author Wyndham.
A young boy has what his parents originally think is an imaginary friend, but it turns out not to be the case. This book is strangely gentle (though ok a little sexist, but hey it's a book from the 50s written by a man). Quite gripping.
And - I think that's the end of the original alphabetical to-read shelf! Unless there are XYZ's lurking up there; otherwise I'm starting with A again now.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Jun 8, 2017 5:07:37 GMT -5
I love Wyndham's books,but haven't read any for years.
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Post by Oweena on Jun 8, 2017 22:15:28 GMT -5
The Portable Veblen by Elizabeth Mackenzie
I liked it. First half wasn't as good as the 2nd. The characters were quirky and I liked how the author described things.
The ending did come together as a bit too-happy-ending, but that's not a reason to dislike the book.
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Post by mei on Jun 11, 2017 14:05:54 GMT -5
#7 - The Daylight Gate by Jeannette Winterson. About withches in early 1600 England. Enjoyed it, quick read, but pretty captivating.
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Post by Liiisa on Jun 11, 2017 16:51:20 GMT -5
That was a great book. Winterson's one of my favorite authors, mei!
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Jun 11, 2017 22:57:44 GMT -5
33. Light and Shadow. Memoirs of a Spy's Son, by Mark Colvin.
Brilliant autobiography of a highly respected Australian journalist, with insight into why he was so good at what he did. His account of his English prep school was sad but honest, and his insight into so many parts of the world is amazing. I heard it on an audiobook, with Mark himself reading. I recommend hearing it this way. Mark died recently, of complications of an illness contracted in his travels as a foreign correspondent. He will be missed.
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Post by sophie on Jun 12, 2017 10:33:38 GMT -5
The Prisoner by Alex Berenson. A decent spy type thriller.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Jun 12, 2017 16:53:50 GMT -5
34. Peggy and Me, Miranda Hart. I think I'd have enjoyed this even more as an audiobook, hearing Miranda read it herself. Her very ordinary fears, failures and loves come through on every page. Very funny, poignant, and so easy to identify with.
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Post by scrubb on Jun 14, 2017 19:23:38 GMT -5
49. The Fountain Overflows, by Rebecca West. I think it's an autobiographical novel. Set in the early 1900s it's narrator is a little girl growing up in an unusual family - her father, though educated and intelligent and not low-class, is incapable of hanging onto money or a job; her mother was a concert pianist who is assuming that 2 of her daughters (including the narrator) will be musicians. The older sister is not musically talented but thinks she is... they live on the edge of society in many ways, no money and odd. Well written and mostly entertaining; but from reviews I've read, probably not West's best work.
50. The Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms by Amy STewart. It was ok, with some interesting facts, but she's not a scientist and I prefer my books about nature to be written by scientists, really. On the other hand, it turns out that earthworms haven't really been studied in a lot of detail and there probably isn't all that much accessible science writing about them.
These were 2 more bookbub specials. I have bought a lot of bookbub specials, and most of them have been really worthwhile.
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Post by Liiisa on Jun 14, 2017 20:25:34 GMT -5
21. Cesar Aira, Ema, the Captive (transl. by Chris Andrews)
Another odd little book by Aira - this a slightly longer, early one.
The action takes part on the pampas of southern Argentina in the 19th century, but is wholly imaginary. Ema is a young woman who's been transported as a prisoner on a wagon train to a far southern fort. The way the book starts makes you think that the book will be brutal, but the picture Aira paints of live on the southern frontier is one of languour and beauty. Ema, while technically a captive, actually has quite a bit of autonomy and power, and ends up having a rather interesting time. I love Aira.
Now to read a Swedish sci-fi novel from 1975 called "2018 A.D. or the King Kong Blues." I can't wait to find out what the people of 1975 thought was going to happen next year.
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