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Post by lillielangtry on Oct 1, 2017 6:47:57 GMT -5
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Post by Queen on Oct 1, 2017 8:41:37 GMT -5
Loving the punning #50 The Two of Us Andy Jones finally something published this decade It's a rushed love story, where a couple went from meeting to pregnancy to losing a baby within a year. It's written from the man's point of view and he's in love from the beginning... the sad bits are really well handled and the protagonist, Fisher, references his difficulty of understanding what she's going through even while he's grieving. It's good, I would say holiday read but it's a bit too emotional for that.
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Post by Liiisa on Oct 1, 2017 11:38:58 GMT -5
Thanks lillie!
Currently about 2/3 of the way through "The Regional Office is Under Attack!" by Manuel Gonzales. The plot is something you'd expect from Marvel Comics - the "Regional Office" is an organization that recruits and trains superpowered young women to, ostensibly, fight to save the world, but as always things are more complicated than they seem at first. Fun, gripping; yet poignant at times because of the author's insight into small group dynamics.
PS: I want to spell the author's last name as "Gonzáles," but it's written throughout the introductory material without the diacritical. FYI for those who are wondering.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Oct 2, 2017 6:02:21 GMT -5
Bookmarking. Thanks Lillie. Hope to report soon.
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Post by scrubb on Oct 2, 2017 10:11:37 GMT -5
I finished the 7th in the Sandman series yesterday - it was a much more linear story than most, with a creative story arc but not much creative in the individual bits, if that makes sense? The idea of this one was creative, I mean, but the actual telling of it was kind of straightforward, compared to most of them.
I'm about 1/3 of the way through "Love from Nancy", a collection of letters from Nancy Mitford. I've read quite a few books about the Mitford sisters, including a few letters collections, but this one is giving me a far better idea of her than the others, which tended to focus on some of the others who were in closer touch with each other. I'm liking Nancy much more when seen through her own words than in the other books.
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Post by sophie on Oct 2, 2017 10:40:49 GMT -5
Camino Island by John Grisham. His newest.. a quick and easy read, entertaining at the same time.
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Post by Liiisa on Oct 2, 2017 18:27:19 GMT -5
42. Manuel Gonzales, The Regional Office is Under Attack!
My in-process description above pretty much covers it. Really enjoyed this!
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Post by Queen on Oct 3, 2017 10:42:08 GMT -5
#51 Anna Katharine Green, The Circular Study
This includes the wonderful Amelia Butterworth but it's the third book she's in and of course I've read it first.
So many twists and turns, some I guessed but some I really really didn't and the denouement is so dark!
Lots of things in it made me think "Agatha Christie must have read this".
So glad Lillie put me on to her, she's fab.
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Post by lillielangtry on Oct 3, 2017 11:56:01 GMT -5
Oh this sounds good, Q. I have other stuff to read at the moment but I must come back to her.
Another name I discovered at the same time (I think it was a tweet about lesser known Victorian women writers) was Mrs Oliphant and I want to try some of her stuff too at some point, but haven't yet.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Oct 3, 2017 17:26:58 GMT -5
I like the sound of Q's book too.
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Post by scrubb on Oct 3, 2017 17:38:59 GMT -5
Last spring I bought a Bookbub bargain book by an author I'd never heard of, and really enjoyed it. So I bought another one by her last month. Wow, did it suck.
"The Third Angel" by Alice Hoffman. The first section seemed like a really bad romance novel, that finished with no resolution for anyone. The rest of the story moved back further in time to show what lead to the first story. But the style was terrible, like it was written for a 10 year old. Every sentence was a short, factual statement with no insight behind it. She told the reader everything, showed us nothing. When her characters contradicted themselves (which they did frequently) there was never anything believable about it - we weren't shown any internal conflict that explained it.
It really put me off the author.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Oct 6, 2017 3:48:10 GMT -5
57. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell. A brilliant sweep from the past to the future. I listened to it as an audiobook on several long road trips. It was bizarre to listen to the section on a dystopian future Korea while driving across Australia's Outback, but the book stretched so far across time and the earth that it was also kind of appropriate.
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Post by Liiisa on Oct 6, 2017 4:24:10 GMT -5
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Oct 6, 2017 4:31:34 GMT -5
Fascinating, Liiisa. I'm a bit of a weather aficionado, after spending a year teaching it to 7 year 9 classes, a couple of decades ago.
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Post by scrubb on Oct 6, 2017 21:47:56 GMT -5
Well, finished another BookBub bargain that wasn't worth a penny more than the $1 I paid for it... Fugitive Colors by Lisa Barr. Had a really great premise - about artists under the Nazis. She sort of moved a few events forward by a few years and got her characters caught up in the attack on "degenerate" art as well as the theft of great works that happened through out Germany, and in its neighbours countries.
But that interesting setting & premise was all that made the book bearable. The writing was amateur; the characters were unbelievable and poorly executed; the story was ridiculous.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Oct 7, 2017 7:12:19 GMT -5
58. The Princess Diarist, Carrie Fisher. Interesting as an audiobook, read mostly by the author, especially since she died recently. However, I found her story a little disappointing. 59. The Merry Wives of Maggody, Joan Hess. Maybe a bit sillier than some in the series: could anyone seriously believe golf widows needed charitable support? However, I continue to find Joan Hess's books good, light-hearted fun.
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Post by kraken on Oct 7, 2017 10:17:51 GMT -5
I re-read Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go which I've been meaning to pick up again and was prompted to by Ishiguro's Nobel win. There's something ethereal and delicate about it I struggle to put into words - even on a second reading when you know exactly how it goes,it's still immensely moving.
I need to do more reading.
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Post by lillielangtry on Oct 7, 2017 16:26:18 GMT -5
That's the only one of his books I've read, and I've read it twice as well. It is impressive.
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Post by Liiisa on Oct 7, 2017 16:57:28 GMT -5
I need to read that one then, I guess!
I've read a couple of his books: - Artist of the Floating World: enjoyed - Remains of the Day: enjoyed - When We Were Orphans: don't remember, but I know I read it. I think it was sad but well written? - The Buried Giant: I thought it was horrible. Nearly abandoned it several times but couldn't believe that such a good author could write something so terrible, so I kept reading it on the assumption that surely it would be worthwhile eventually, but no, I just suffered through it. Other people loved it, though!
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Post by scrubb on Oct 7, 2017 22:49:36 GMT -5
I've read: - A Pale View of the Hills (Or a View of the Pale Hills?) -- thought it was pretty good - When We Were Orphans -- found it so vague that I couldn't enjoy it - REmains of the Day - really liked - Never Let Me Go - thought it was very good, but somehow wasn't really moved by it anyway
Overall, though I like some of his stuff, I've seen him described as a BRitish Murakami, and I really prefer Murakami.
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Post by Liiisa on Oct 8, 2017 5:29:01 GMT -5
I vastly prefer Murakami!
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Post by Liiisa on Oct 8, 2017 7:15:36 GMT -5
Having abandoned that cliché, predictable, irritating novel about young things in Manhattan, I read the following instead, which was quite a relief:
43. Colm Toibín, House of Names
This is a retelling of the events described in various Greek tragedies like the Oresteia and Electra, told from the perspectives of Clytemnestra, Orestes, and Electra. Toibín has invented some of the plot elements, which I only realized after reading it when I referred to plot synopses of the original plays (since I don't know those plays very well). Bloody, grim, and wonderful; couldn't put it down.
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Post by lillielangtry on Oct 8, 2017 8:52:03 GMT -5
Re Ishiguro/Murakami - I'm not an expert on either (I've read 1 Ishiguro and 2 Murakamis) but the comparison strikes me as odd. Almost as if we have to compare them because they both have Japanese names, although Ishiguro has lived in the UK since the age of 5. Their books strike me as quite different; from what I've read, Ishiguro is melancholic, deliberate, more obviously "literary", while Murakami is more whimsical. Hm. But I could be wrong.
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Post by sophie on Oct 8, 2017 11:08:12 GMT -5
Re Ishiguro/Murakami - I'm not an expert on either (I've read 1 Ishiguro and 2 Murakamis) but the comparison strikes me as odd. Almost as if we have to compare them because they both have Japanese names, although Ishiguro has lived in the UK since the age of 5. Their books strike me as quite different; from what I've read, Ishiguro is melancholic, deliberate, more obviously "literary", while Murakami is more whimsical. Hm. But I could be wrong. I agree with you.. as well, I wonder how Murakami would be if no translation was involved.
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Post by scrubb on Oct 8, 2017 11:32:49 GMT -5
Although I mostly agree with them not being very similar, both of them do have some "magical realism" in many of their books. Or even tip over into fantasy. That may be enough to sort of categorize them together.
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Post by Liiisa on Oct 8, 2017 16:44:05 GMT -5
It's true that they do share some magical realism elements. But I don't find them particularly similar (well, otherwise I wouldn't be able to prefer Murakami as much as I do, I guess).
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Post by kraken on Oct 8, 2017 17:47:32 GMT -5
I haven't read Murakami so can't compare, I seem to remember I found The Unconsoled really depressing, whereas I loved Remains of the Day, which is very different from Never Let Me Go but shares a similar delicate feel.
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Post by mei on Oct 9, 2017 9:16:57 GMT -5
I've only read one book by Ishiguro (Artist of the floating world) which I really enjoyed if I remember well. It was also a TT (FJ?) secret santa gift :-D
I would like to read more by him, especially like the reviews above of Never Let Me Go. Can't compare him with Murakami though.
Anyway, I came in to say, another book finished! An 800 page one so it took some time: A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin. Enjoyed it, though not quite as captivating as I had partly expected (although the end was). Still, may try to find the next part in the series at some point.
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Post by Queen on Oct 10, 2017 9:09:46 GMT -5
I've read Remains of the Day and When We Were Orphans which I loved and The Unconsoled I couldn't really get... it was like reading molasses. I haven't read anything by him since.
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Post by Queen on Oct 10, 2017 9:14:12 GMT -5
#52 Don't Tell Alfred Nancy Mitford
A reread, she is so funny, and there's a major plot thing that I have missed in my previous 83 reads of this book. Funny world. NM just observes people so well and you have the whole picture of the person in two or three lines.
She's very rude about Americans in this... but it's a particular type of American, those who travel and are in a country five minutes and know everything about it and she has a marvellous character that speaks in impenetrable prose....
She also has one character ask if the Americans are friendly and the response is fab "Oh yes, they make one long for an enemy"
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