|
Post by Webs on Oct 10, 2017 11:50:17 GMT -5
I have really enjoyed the audiobook for "Lincoln in the Bardo". I would have enjoyed it more if they didn't actually read out all the foot notes and "op cit" references.
But the background story and all the characters were great. It was like listening to a reading of a stage play.
|
|
|
Post by scrubb on Oct 10, 2017 20:15:37 GMT -5
I have really enjoyed the audiobook for "Lincoln in the Bardo". I would have enjoyed it more if they didn't actually read out all the foot notes and "op cit" references. But the background story and all the characters were great. It was like listening to a reading of a stage play. The foot notes and "op cit" stuff is actually in the book that way too - they aren't footnoted, they're in the middle of the text, part of it. I just finished "Appaloosa" by Robert Parker. It's a western. Only one I've read before was True Grit. This was no True Grit, but it was entertaining - strong, silent cowboys who are great shooters. Saloons. Varmints. Lawmen. Whores. Piano players. The only thing that grated (since it was a short easy read) was that when they encountered the savage Indians, he called the men "bucks". I know it probably was realistic for the time but I still found it grated, knowing it wasn't written back then.
|
|
|
Post by lillielangtry on Oct 11, 2017 1:08:35 GMT -5
#68 Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale I read this about 15 years ago, I think, now rereading for book club. I loved it even more than I remember doing the first time round. Only thing is that because I saw the TV series recently, I really imagine Offred as looking like Elizabeth Moss, etc. But it was a very good TV series so that's not too bad.
#69 Stefan Zweig, Schachnovelle (Chess Story) Apparently this was Zweig's final book before he committed suicide and the only one in which he explicitly deals with Nazism, so that sheds a whole extra light on it. It's a novella about chess and a man who played chess games in his head to escape the mental torture of solitary confinement. I thought it was wonderful, but for some inexplicable reason my German edition explained the entire plot, including the ending, in the blurb. Why would you do that? I don't make a big deal of the odd spoiler generally because a fair amount of what I read is not so plot-focused that knowing a little totally ruins it... but this was weird. There was nothing left to find out, I knew what would happen, so I was reading for style alone.
#70 Colin Thubron, Shadow of the Silk Road My Audible book. Sometimes a bit difficult to focus on in audiobook format, but interesting. Thubron travels from China to Turkey on the path of the old Silk Road, talking to people along the way. I know very little about the Region (well, now I know a Little more!)
|
|
|
Post by Webs on Oct 11, 2017 9:39:32 GMT -5
Scrubb, that's what I figured. Still a great story.
|
|
|
Post by scrubb on Oct 12, 2017 22:13:41 GMT -5
#86 - Love From Nancy - letters of Nancy Mitford, edited by Charlotte Mosley.
I had high hopes, and had it on my "to read" list for a long time - but it was somewhat disappointing. At first I felt like I was getting more insight into her than the other books I've read by/about the Mitfords gave, but other than that there wasn't a lot there. There was lots of gossip about people I don't know or care about. Some letters were to her sisters or mother, but they tended to be logistics more often than anything insightful. Did appreciate a few letters around the time that Decca's "Hons and Rebels" came out, discussing how her sisters felt about it.
I do wonder... it was edited by Diana's daughter in law, or grand daughter. There wasn't a single letter that said anything negative about Diana, but there were a few with sly digs at Jessica. I have to wonder if that was because Nancy never wrote anything snide about Diana (which seems unlikely given her comments about EVERYONE ELSE), or if some the editor made that decision.
Anyway, it was ok but I just skimmed the last 1/3 or so as I wasn't really into it.
|
|
|
Post by Queen on Oct 13, 2017 10:05:11 GMT -5
scrubb That MUST be an editorial decision, or letters have been destroyed. Nancy wrote to the British Authorities supporting continuance of Diana's prison sentence I cannot imagine that she never commented in a letter. The letters between her and Evelyn Waugh are the best letter series I've ever read. They were both incredibly clever, but she was optimistic (despite the barbs) and wanted to entertain whereas he laboured and wanted to make a point. In the letters he responds to her lightness and cheers up a bit. She laments her lack of "seriousness" but does zero to change.
|
|
|
Post by scrubb on Oct 13, 2017 14:57:20 GMT -5
This collection had lots of letters from her to Waugh, but without responses they weren't really telling a story. They tended to be mostly gossip about society people. There were some good ones where she told him how much she loved his books, and responded to things he'd said about hers, admittedly.
There were a few letters where she said she didn't much like Oswald Mosley, but only one I remember where she commented that Diana deserved to be (or stay, I forget which) in prison.
There was also not a single letter from her to her sister Pam, or to her father. Don't know if they weren't available to the editor, possibly? The same person also edited a big collection of letters between the sisters, which I read a few years ago. It was better, but it included far more from/to Diana than anyone else and seemed to make a point of making Decca look bad. By far the best Mitford book I've read was Decca, a collection of her letters. It made me wish I'd known her while still making it obvious that she could be annoying and hard to get along with.
Like I said, it was disappointing.
Oh, also, today I finished volume 8 of the Sandman - World's End. Good.
|
|
|
Post by ozziegiraffe on Oct 14, 2017 4:08:01 GMT -5
59. Peach Cobbler Murder, Joanne Fluke. I'm back at work and back to Cozy mysteries. I thought I might be getting jaded with this series, but this one was a lot of fun and piqued my interest for more. Some interesting character developments this time.
|
|
|
Post by scrubb on Oct 15, 2017 23:06:35 GMT -5
Vol 9 of Sandman - The Kindly Ones. It was double length, but it still ended unresolved. Was good but I'm unfairly irritated by not knowing what happened to Dream.
|
|
|
Post by mei on Oct 18, 2017 6:13:23 GMT -5
Boven is het stil - Gerbrand Bakker. A Dutch book, which a friend of mine has been recommending for a long time. (title translates as "It's quiet upstairs"). Really good book. The language is pretty sparse, which fits the setting and the main character. An old farmer, living in the north-west of the country, coming to terms with his life. Very well written.
|
|
|
Post by lillielangtry on Oct 20, 2017 3:04:33 GMT -5
#71 Gabriela Camara Cabezon, Slum Virgin A Argentinian novel from the new Charco Press, which Looks like a really interesting Publisher of translations. A quick read about a Journalist who becomes involved with a Buenos Aires Slum and its most colourful character, a trans woman called Cleopatra who believes she can communicate with the Virgin Mary. This was perhaps not the best Latin American writer I've discovered this year (Samanta Schweblin, Mariana Enriquez, Lina Meruane - it's a strong Group!) but I did enjoy the book.
#72 Robert Seethaler, Ein ganzes Leben (in English A Whole Life translated by Charlotte Collins) Ah, this was really beautiful. A quiet, restrained Story of a man who spends almost his whole life in an Austrian valley. Very much in the same category as John Williams' Stoner, I would say.
|
|
|
Post by scrubb on Oct 25, 2017 13:18:53 GMT -5
Finished "The Group" by MAry McCarthy. I think lillielangtry read it earlier this year, or last year? Story of a group of women who graduated from Vassar together in the class of '33 (though written in the early '50s).
I really liked it, although the society of the times is familiar to me only through books which makes some of the dynamics a bit hard to understand. But the dynamics between all the people were very real and very archetypical, showing today's readers that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
The only thing that seemed kind of odd about it to me was that although the author made a point of describing what each of the women looked like, it didn't stick at all. I had no mental picture of how most of them looked in spite of her careful descriptions. I don't think it was me being scatterbrained; I think that the way she described them wasn't "physical" enough or something. In fact, all the stuff put in near the beginning to try to differentiate them from each other didn't really work. Until it got into each individual's story, they all seemed the same. Which may have been sort of meta/intentional, but I don't think so. I think the ways she tried to make them seem different just didn't work.
But that's my only real criticism - it was very good.
|
|
|
Post by Webs on Oct 25, 2017 13:28:12 GMT -5
May have listed this before but I'm reading "the Fifth Season" by NK Jemisen. She's a Brooklyn based author that has great reviews for her work. It's also science fiction/Fantasy which in keeping with my desire to read more new women authors just fits perfectly. AND it's a series.
Now this is one of those books you have to commit to, because the world is so different and new and most of the beings and places are unfamiliar. There's "earthlike" similarities and it could possibly be set on a future earth. But some of the characters belong to a class of beings that are beyond human and besides being totally necessary to function of this world are seen as somehow degenerate and lower class. It's really a whole new world. It's taken me about halfway through the book to really get into it and finally commit to some of the characters and story lines.
I'm really enjoying it.
|
|
|
Post by lillielangtry on Oct 26, 2017 2:35:11 GMT -5
Yes, I loved The Group. It's interesting what you say about the descriptions - I think often that I'm not a very visual person when reading. I can rarely conjure up images of people or indeed houses or landscapes, even when they're minutely described. So it's not something that struck me because it's my norm. Rereading the Handmaid's Tale recently was odd because I had images of the actors in my mind from the TV series. I know People often say it's difficult when a book is adapted because the characters are "not how they imagined" but I don't have much of a physical Image of them so it rarely bothers me (although changes in the story might do!). I don't know why that is.
|
|
|
Post by ozziegiraffe on Oct 26, 2017 5:04:57 GMT -5
60. Carrot Cake Murder, Joanne Fluke. Another good read in this series, but I am getting a little tired of the on-going love triangle!
|
|
|
Post by sophie on Oct 26, 2017 8:57:36 GMT -5
I have been slogging through ‘Homo Deus’ by Yuval Noah Harare for a few months.. partially because I have been lazy and partially because I read a bit then think about his ideas. I am finding this book not as easy to read as his first (Sapiens). Also some of his ideas about the future are difficult to imagine without letting go of some deeply valued tenets like human rights, liberalism and those sorts of ideas. I am not finished yet but it is very close so I thought if I wrote it here, I will finish it for sure this week!
|
|
|
Post by mei on Oct 26, 2017 9:58:25 GMT -5
can everyone just stop reading such good books? my to read list is becoming longer than I can handle :-(( (just added 'the group' as well, sounds interesting!)
|
|
|
Post by scrubb on Oct 27, 2017 0:17:54 GMT -5
HEre's one not to add to your list, mei... just finished #90 "His Last Bow" which is a collection of Sherlock Holmes stories (Arthur Conan Doyle). THey were fine, but it's not worth putting on a "to read" list!
|
|
|
Post by lillielangtry on Oct 27, 2017 1:37:59 GMT -5
Yeah, my tbr (as it is known on bookish social media!) is too long as well. I've got about 100 books marked as "to read" on Goodreads, but there could be many more. I don't own all those books, thankfully!
|
|
|
Post by scrubb on Oct 27, 2017 10:49:25 GMT -5
My list on Goodreads is similarly long, or longer - I keep trying not to add to it until I've read some of them!
|
|
|
Post by Liiisa on Oct 29, 2017 13:10:05 GMT -5
44) Helen Oyeyemi, What is Not Yours is Not Yours
I really liked the novel that I read by this author a year or so ago, but these short stories weren't quite as effective for me... they seemed like exercises, maybe, like "write a short story in the style of mid-period Surrealism" or "write a short story in the style of Bulgakov." It was great in parts, though.
|
|
|
Post by scrubb on Oct 29, 2017 13:48:54 GMT -5
Finished " Even Silence Has an End: My Six Years of Captivity in the Colombian Jungle" by Ingrid Betancourt. SHe was a politician kidnapped by the "rebel forces" (who were financed with drug money...). It was interesting to see how the guerillas functioned. She talked a little bit about the motivations to join up (poverty, lack of options).
It was a very self-focused book - she didn't try to tell anyone else's story, just her own. What she felt and thought. She became more religious during her captivity and I read that she's now studying theology. Some of the other prisoners have written negative things about her attitude and behaviour. She made it clear that she disliked some of the other prisoners (specifically the guy who wrote about her) but held back from being openly, harshly critical. She also made a couple of good friends among the hostages.
It's a long book, but then, 6 years is a very long captivity. I appreciated the insight into the mental and emotional side of the long years, the kind of things she did that helped her cope and what was the most difficult.
|
|
|
Post by Queen on Oct 29, 2017 17:27:11 GMT -5
#54 The Affair Next Door Anna Katharine Green
Great Mystery, balancing the information the reader gets so that you can solve some clues but probably not the whole mystery, this is told from the perspective of Miss Amalia Butterworth who sleuths out a murder in competition with a policeman.
It's fun, and interesting as an example of it's time. I like Miss Butterworth as a protagonist
|
|
|
Post by Liiisa on Oct 29, 2017 18:41:28 GMT -5
Miss Butterworth's mom, I guess:
|
|
|
Post by Queen on Oct 30, 2017 0:36:18 GMT -5
and now I want pancakes...
|
|
|
Post by lillielangtry on Oct 30, 2017 2:16:51 GMT -5
Finished " Even Silence Has an End: My Six Years of Captivity in the Colombian Jungle" by Ingrid Betancourt. SHe was a politician kidnapped by the "rebel forces" (who were financed with drug money...). It was interesting to see how the guerillas functioned. She talked a little bit about the motivations to join up (poverty, lack of options). It was a very self-focused book - she didn't try to tell anyone else's story, just her own. What she felt and thought. She became more religious during her captivity and I read that she's now studying theology. Some of the other prisoners have written negative things about her attitude and behaviour. She made it clear that she disliked some of the other prisoners (specifically the guy who wrote about her) but held back from being openly, harshly critical. She also made a couple of good friends among the hostages. It's a long book, but then, 6 years is a very long captivity. I appreciated the insight into the mental and emotional side of the long years, the kind of things she did that helped her cope and what was the most difficult. She's written a novel as well, The Blue Line, which I would like to read.
|
|
|
Post by HalcyonDaze on Oct 30, 2017 4:40:56 GMT -5
I finished The Affair Next Door last night - very enjoyable.
|
|
|
Post by ozziegiraffe on Oct 30, 2017 7:41:35 GMT -5
I finished The Affair Next Door last night - very enjoyable. Sounds like a series I would enjoy. Where are they available?
|
|
|
Post by scrubb on Oct 31, 2017 15:34:48 GMT -5
Spent a lot of time in the airport and on a plane this morning, so managed to finish "Among the Lesser Gods" by Margo Catts, another Book bub special. It wasn't bad - a woman who's just finished college, pregnant, with no direction, an unhappy past, and a lot of self-loathing, goes to the small town in the west (maybe Montana or Colorado) where her grandmother lives and where she spent her summers while growing up.
A lot of the themes are fairly clichéd and run of the mill - self-discovery, findings ways to forgive yourself; wise old grandmother; families healing after loss; etc. - but it's mostly handled quite welland there are a few unique elements that really did make me think. The character really did do something terrible as a child. I don't know if I've read anything before that addressed self-blame carried from childhood, and the author did a reasonably good job with it.
There was some slightly awkward writing - there was a LOT of internal dialogue - but she hit some really true notes, too. If this was a first novel (I'm not sure) then I'd guess she'll either lapse into total feel-good bullshit chick lit, or she'll write something really really good next time.
|
|
|
Post by Queen on Oct 31, 2017 16:17:45 GMT -5
I finished The Affair Next Door last night - very enjoyable. Sounds like a series I would enjoy. Where are they available? Guttenburg has them as digital versions for free, so I've read them on my Kindle, but they have other formats available. Here's "That Affair Next Door" www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/21617There are just three in the Amelia Butterworth series - I've read the first and the last and I liked them both. That Affair Next Door (1897) (Amelia Butterworth I). Lost Man's Lane: a Second Episode in the Life of Amelia Butterworth (1898) The Circular Study (1900) (Amelia Butterworth III)
|
|