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Post by scrubb on Jun 15, 2017 10:23:05 GMT -5
I'm considering adding one to the "Abandoned books" thread... am about 1/4 or 1/3 of the way through "The Last Gentleman" by Walker Percy. He's a well regarded writer and this book was considered for the National Book Award... but I am just not enjoying it.
It started out intriguingly, set in the early '60s with a young man who has occasional bouts of amnesia/fugue states, who happens to be looking through his telescope in Central Park when he sees a woman leave something in a secret compartment in a bench, and then a beautiful girl retrieves it later.
But it turns into a detached, disjointed sort of ramble with no one's actions making a lot of sense - very much a '60s novel with a hint of earlier sensibilities - and it's hard to care about any of it.
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Post by Queen on Jun 16, 2017 10:02:58 GMT -5
The Poor Clare Elizabeth Gaskell
Rather gothic tale of super natural power and complicated relationships
The Umbrian Thursday Night Supper Club Marlena de Blasi
It's a foodie memoir filled with stories of Italian women, some very tragic. The food sounds fabulous but the writing is a little florid at times. There are recipes at the back of the book but I kinda doubt I'll make them... definitely not the roast duck breast that takes 9 days!
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Jun 18, 2017 16:41:58 GMT -5
35. Aunt Dimity, Vampire Hunter A well-written light cozy mystery in a good, funny series. The Aunt Dimity scenario is improbable, but adds charm to the story. The setting is English village, but the main character is American, which means the americanisms in an English setting can be forgiven.
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Post by sophie on Jun 19, 2017 0:05:32 GMT -5
Goodnight From London by Jennifer Robson. A well written novel about a woman reporter in WW2 London. Easy read, but thoughtful.
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Post by lillielangtry on Jun 19, 2017 12:16:06 GMT -5
#36 Zadie Smith, Swing Time I loved this and think it's Smith's best novel since White Teeth. But I will read anything she writes and I can imagine that some might find this book rather rambly. It's basically about two young, mixed-race girls in London who grow up best friends and what happens to their friendship as they become adults, but it's also about race, the legacy of colonialism and how that is dealt with.
#37-39 Philip Pullman, His Dark Materials trilogy This was my holiday escapism. I'd never read it before and so I don't think I'll ever be really captivated with it like Harry Potter, but it was absorbing and very enjoyable. It's a kind of "anti-Narnia" fantasy with lots of different worlds. Good fun.
#40 Kate Chopin's The Awakening I don't know why I'd never read this slim feminist classic. It's an easy read and obviously a turning-point of its time, about a married woman's infidelity and sexual awakening.
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Post by Queen on Jun 21, 2017 10:03:21 GMT -5
#18 River of Smoke Amitav Ghosh I found this blog post with images of the Fanqui town where the book is set. ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/rise_fall_canton_03/cw_essay01.htmlIt's a crowded dramatic story about the end of the opium trade - or rather the Chinese Emperor's first attempts to end the trade before the first opium war. It's fascinating as fiction but now I'm itching to read the real story. I am sure some of the characters have real counterparts. The writing is rich with description and loads of humorous moments... including this description of Cricket It's also part two of a trilogy so now I'll need part 3
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Post by sophie on Jun 21, 2017 11:22:10 GMT -5
Q, I just picked up Flood of Fire by the same author.
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Post by Liiisa on Jun 22, 2017 4:45:05 GMT -5
I see books by Ghosh from time to time but haven't picked one up yet; now I will. Anyway, just finished reading: 22) Sam Lundwall, 2018 A.D., or the King Kong Blues Another weird old sci-fi novel from the used bookstore, originally written in Swedish in 1974. While the plot is goofy (and the characters completely two-dimensional), he attempted to be serious about what he thought the future (our present) would be like - there are three pages of bibliography at the end! He gets a lot of it almost right, like the idea of surveillance, and people getting more and more used to it; fossil fuels and water becoming scarce, and responses to it; reality TV. But he completely misses the boat on computers and mobile phones. It's a dumb novel, but I can't say I'm not glad I read it. I also just finished rereading the entire 10-year archives of the webcomic Octopus Pie by Meredith Gran, which just ended recently. It's about a group of 20-something friends in Brooklyn, centered on a young woman of Chinese heritage who's grumpy and intolerant of her peers and life in general at the beginning but then everyone grows wiser and more interesting and complex as the years have gone by. I list it here because It's a lovely comic with great art, and the characterization is better than a LOT of novels that I've read. Highly recommended, here's the link: Octopus Pie
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Post by Phar Lap on Jun 22, 2017 5:15:06 GMT -5
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
I borrowed it from Master 12 who had borrowed it from the library.
If you're a Harry Potter fan, you'll like it but I don't think it as good or intriguing as the original seven books. Plus, it is told in play form. Will write again when I've finished reading it.
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Post by Queen on Jun 22, 2017 10:07:15 GMT -5
Q, I just picked up Flood of Fire by the same author. That's the third in the trilogy!
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Post by sophie on Jun 22, 2017 10:27:03 GMT -5
Got time to read as I am recovering from a toe repair.. Just finished Terry Fallis' One Brother Shy. He is a Canadian who had to self published his first novel which went on to win all kinds of awards for humor. This novel is well written, funny, and worth reading.
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Post by scrubb on Jun 22, 2017 22:29:46 GMT -5
I've read 3 books by Ghosh and loved one of them, and liked the other 2 pretty well, although didn't think they were necessarily very special. The one I really liked was good enough that I will try another 1 or 2 even though the last 2 have been disappointing.
And, I finally finished The Last Gentleman by Walker Percy, as described above. I found the last 1/2 of it went a lot quicker than the first half; I think I liked it, in the end, but I wouldn't call it remarkable. YOung man feels adrift, doesn't know what he wants or what he should want. wanders through life taking on whatever characteristics people think they see in him, and blending into every group he meets for a while. Meets people who pontificate on the meaning of life; gets horny and feels guilty about it; keeps losing or giving away or spending all his money but then tripping over more; everyone seems to like him...
I think I eventually just accepted that the whole thing was going to be kind of spacey with no real rhyme or reason and tried to appreciate the philosophical ramblings.
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Post by Liiisa on Jun 23, 2017 6:49:56 GMT -5
23) George Ritzer, Classical Sociological Theory
Back in 2011 I complained to the author about an incomprehensibly dense Marxist book that I was attempting to read at the time. He expressed sympathy and gave me a copy of this textbook in the hope that it might help me get a grip on the jargon.
I finally managed to pick it up about 6 months ago and have been reading a paragraph or two each night (and then being put to sleep by it - sorry Dr. Ritzer). It's well written, but I just can't get excited about dueling abstract theories.
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Post by Phar Lap on Jun 23, 2017 10:03:46 GMT -5
After reading Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, my opinion of it is unchanged. Weak storyline, just a rehash and churning of what's already been written, but not nearly as good. Ron is still the same, (hasn't improved with age), Harry Potter is dead boring and a pain in the neck, and Malfoy has fast become too nice. ('Scuse me will I throw up). All in all, disappointment number 3. Out of ten, I am giving this a four.
Have begun reading The Daughters of Henry Wong.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Jun 25, 2017 4:36:42 GMT -5
36. Aunt Dimity Slays the Dragon. I read two of these back to back for the Goodreads Cozy Mysteries monthly challenge, but probably wouldn't do so again. While they're good bedtime or stress reduction reading, easy to read and not mentally challenging, two in a row is challenging my sense of credibility. I'll probably look for a few more in the series for light reading on the occasions when I need them.
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Post by sophie on Jun 25, 2017 11:49:42 GMT -5
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman. A great read, also a fast read. This is translated from the Swedish and received all sorts of accolades. Recommended when you want a feel good book about human nature. I am reading a lot these days due to having my foot out of action for a bit. Good excuse!
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Post by scrubb on Jun 27, 2017 23:01:04 GMT -5
I'm reading a collection called "The Year's Best Crime and Mystery Stories" and for the most part really enjoying it. It's not at all traditional crime stories, and it's very international. The first one is from Zimbabwe. So far about half the stories don't really seem to be about mystery or crime, though I guess each one has some element of one of them.
BUT, it has a zillion typos and editing problems - repeated sentences, missing words, etc. It's by far the worst kindle book I've ever read for that kind of thing, and I find it really annoying. Sometimes it's so bad I can't figure out what a sentence is supposed to be saying, though luckily that hasn't made any of the stories difficult to follow. It really detracts.
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Post by Liiisa on Jun 29, 2017 4:26:58 GMT -5
24) Rachel Cusk, Transit
An unusual and very well-written novel by a young British author. The protagonist is a woman writer in London, but really the story concerns a number of people she has conversations with, and the stories they tell in response to the insightful questions she asks. One of those novels where nothing really happens, dramatic arc-wise, but you can't put it down anyway.
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Post by Queen on Jun 29, 2017 12:19:17 GMT -5
19) The Sense of an Ending Julian Barnes
Love this writer so much.
This book is emotionally intense, and yet nothing much happens (which is typical Barnes). I still felt my nerves tighten right to the end, and in the end there's a horrible conclusion that's crushing.
I've just been reading the goodreads site and it seems that lots of people didn't understand the ending... or maybe I didn't. Although one person refers to the protagonist as Julian... but the character is called Tony/Anthony
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Jun 30, 2017 17:37:29 GMT -5
37. My last book finished in June. The Book Club Murders, Leslie Nagel. A Good Reads Cozy Mystery selection. I had planned to rate this a three until the last few chapters, when the action sped up. It isn't a completely cozy mystery, with a bit more sex, violence and police work than most, but still a good read, and a good start to a series.
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Post by lillielangtry on Jul 1, 2017 5:33:06 GMT -5
Oh, I seem to have quite a few left for June:
#41 All Dogs are Blue, Rodrigo de Souza Leao (translated by Zoe Perry and Stefan Tobler) A slim, raw book about a man in a psychiatric clinic. He has two main hallucinations/imaginary friends, whom he calls Rimbaud and Baudelaire. I quite enjoyed this, and when I read that the author really did have mental health problems and died shortly after the book was originally published in Brazil, it put a new spin on it.
#42 Das Muschelessen (The Mussel Feast), Birgit Vanderbeke I loved this novel narrated by a teenage girl waiting, with her mother and brother, for their father to come home. He is late and as the rest of the family starts to talk around the dinner table, their image of a "proper family" starts to fall apart. Apparently it is also a metaphor for socialism under East Germany, which I confess I didn't quite "get" while reading but once you know, you can see it...! It really is funny and devastating at the same time. Highly recommended (English translation is available).
#43 Die Stimme der Violine (Voice of the Violin), Andrea Camilleri Crime novel set in Sicily. Lots of good-sounding Italian food.
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Post by sprite on Jul 1, 2017 13:22:49 GMT -5
an Icelandic mystery. it's research. i actually read two, but one was crap and the second was good.
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Post by scrubb on Jul 1, 2017 13:23:46 GMT -5
Last night I finished "The Year's Best Crime and Mystery Stories" (edited by Kristine Kathryn Rusch) and thought they were almost all very good stories. Well worth reading and, as I said, lots of them I wouldn't have thought of as fitting into the mystery/crime genre but suppose they did have some element of it. So that's #52 for the year.
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Post by Oweena on Jul 2, 2017 7:33:43 GMT -5
The Wonder by Emma Donoghue
Really got into this book, finished it fast. Set in Ireland a few years after the Famine it's about an 11 year old girl who has apparently survived for 4 months without eating. Sounds weird but it's told from the POV of the English nurse hired to stand watch over her for 2 weeks to prove the child isn't eating anything in hopes it can be proven the child is somehow touched by God.
I know it sounds weird. It's part mystery, part historical novel, part statement on belief and family dysfunction. I found the nurse an intriguing character and liked the writing.
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Post by Queen on Jul 2, 2017 11:41:14 GMT -5
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