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Post by lillielangtry on Jan 15, 2018 3:56:59 GMT -5
#2 Maja Lunde, The History of Bees (translated from the Norwegian by Diane Oatley)*possible slight spoilers below*
This book has three strands - one set in Victorian Britain, one in 2007 in the US, and one in a futuristic China. The common strand is beekeeping/the decline of bees. It's engagingly written and an easy read and it focuses on an important issue. Unfortunately I felt (*slight spoiler*) that the optimistic ending just wasn't too convincing. Maybe that's the mood I'm in. But if you want to draw attention to an environmental disaster (colony collapse disorder), is it really right to rather glibly solve said disaster in the future of your book?
#3 Anna Gavalda, Ein geschenkter Tag (translated from the French; apparently published in English under the title "French Leave" or "Breaking Away" A light little story about a group of siblings who are on their way to a wedding but decide to go off and spend the weekend by themselves instead. It was amusing, but a bit stretched to describe it as a "novel" - it's 144 pages. I'd say it's a novella and it might have worked even better as a long short story.
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Post by HalcyonDaze on Jan 15, 2018 4:59:01 GMT -5
I know I started Breaking Away but I can't actually remember if I finished it!
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Jan 15, 2018 18:54:49 GMT -5
Bookmarking. I've been totally off the grid for ten days, and cafe with wifi was inexplicably closed yesterday, so I've read lots of books on my Kindle. Will update when I get back to Oz.
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Post by scrubb on Jan 16, 2018 9:05:38 GMT -5
Sophie - just saw your Lab Girl recommendation - I am definitely going to look for that!
ETA: it's not available on kindle in Canada. Grrrrr. And it's $20 for a physical copy!
Also, the author is the editor for the "Best American Science and Nature Writing, 2017" collection (which is also not available for kindle in Canada!).
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Post by shilgia on Jan 16, 2018 22:11:22 GMT -5
Somehow I lose steam with these threads midway through the year every year, but here goes another try.
1. Susan Cain - Quiet. Must-read if you at all think of yourself as an introvert. (Or maybe if you don't but you're married or a parent to one.) I had come across so many references to this book that I didn't think I'd learn much from it, but I'm so glad I read it.
2. J.D. Vance - Hillbilly Elegy. Quick read about the author's 'hillbilly' family. Rough and pretty depressing. It was a quick and easy read, and I don't regret it, but I'm not sure it really gave me that much new understanding, just bewilderment.
3. (Currently reading) Michael (Bornstein) Oren - Ally. The author is an American who moved to Israel and then became Israel's ambassador to the US. I severely disagree with about half of what he says about Israel, but I shall persevere with this book (or at least try to).
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Post by lillielangtry on Jan 17, 2018 6:46:13 GMT -5
*raises introvert hand from the Corner* that sounds interesting, shilgia.
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Post by mei on Jan 17, 2018 7:29:27 GMT -5
yes, Quiet is also still on my to-read list. Quite curious about it.
I'm currently in the middle of four books, which is well, not ideal! Hope to get *something* finished by the end of the month...
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Post by sprite on Jan 17, 2018 13:10:34 GMT -5
Quiet--her TED talk is good. she rambles on a bit about her grandfather, but her central point is good. (society is organised around extroverts.)
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Post by scrubb on Jan 17, 2018 22:54:45 GMT -5
Just finished "Murder on the Champs Elysees" by Alex Mandon. Set in "Belle Epoch" Paris although no famous people were brought into it. It wasn't bad - the setting was interesting/fun and the mystery was quite good, but some chunks of it were poorly written and other parts were poorly edited.
The author announced that "Alex Mandon" is a nom de plum, and that he's actually a best-selling, award winning author but "for various contractual reasons" he can't write these books under his usual name. I googled and didn't find any spilled beans, but I am almost certain that I heard a radio interview on CBC (Talking Books, I think) where some writer I'd never heard of more or less admitted it was him. (Didn't openly say it but made it clear anyway.)
Does anyone know who it is, or what I'm talking about? I'd like to look up the other books this person writes, maybe. It might be someone who writes gay-themed books, if that helps jog anyone's memory.
ETA: I found the author I heard interviewed on the radio and it wasn't this one. THis one, given the quality of the writing, might be lying about being a best-selling, award-winning author...
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Post by HalcyonDaze on Jan 18, 2018 3:56:55 GMT -5
I don't know who he is. What I did find interesting is that he reviews books as Alex Mandon on goodreads. I wonder if any of the other books he writes are in his reviews?
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Post by scrubb on Jan 18, 2018 11:34:06 GMT -5
Heh - I bet the answer is yes! Any very glowing reviews, I'd be suspicious.
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Post by shilgia on Jan 18, 2018 11:40:00 GMT -5
Maybe he's Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb, who apparently churns out novels at such a breakneck speed that her publisher refuses to publish them all under the same name.
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Post by scrubb on Jan 18, 2018 11:51:02 GMT -5
I've read a few Nora Roberts, and her writing is smoother than Alex Mandon's. His/hers isn't BAD, but the odd bit was jarring.
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Post by Liiisa on Jan 18, 2018 17:40:19 GMT -5
Ugh, I just read two fairly terrible novels!
4) Tom Rachman, The Imperfectionists
OK - maybe not completely terrible, but this set of interconnected stories about people working for an international newspaper based in Rome had terrible female characters. I would have abandoned it but it was either that or the American Airlines in-flight magazine.
5) Steve Martini, The Arraignment
Ah ha ha ha ha ha... this was hilariously bad but difficult to put down because it was so hilariously bad and also because it was there and everything else looked worse. A lawyer is trying to track down why another lawyer who was a friend of his was shot in front of the courthouse in San Diego. It turns out the deceased and his hottie second wife were somehow involved with a crooked construction company that was going to build a resort in Cancún, and his firm was selected because it was "right across the border"... in, um, San Diego.... Extra points that the hottie's boyfriend is driving a Jaguar with actual Jaguar fur seats. AVOID
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Post by HalcyonDaze on Jan 18, 2018 22:17:24 GMT -5
Liiisa, I tried to read The Imperfectionists as I really enjoyed one of Rachman's other books, but I just couldn't finish it .
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Post by Liiisa on Jan 18, 2018 22:45:25 GMT -5
Liiisa, I tried to read The Imperfectionists as I really enjoyed one of Rachman's other books, but I just couldn't finish it . Thank you! It had been raved about so I put it on my list, but no.
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Post by sophie on Jan 18, 2018 23:41:32 GMT -5
Liisa, agree with you on the Steve Martini novel.. I took it out of the library once as an easy read when I was feeling like a brainless read, and it was so awful I couldn`t read it. I actually remember this book (I often forget titles and authors) because it was so bad.
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Post by Liiisa on Jan 18, 2018 23:58:12 GMT -5
Good choice on your part sophie, though it did keep me amused in that kind of “ohmygod no he did NOT just write that” way.
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Post by sprite on Jan 19, 2018 7:58:27 GMT -5
Maybe he's Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb, who apparently churns out novels at such a breakneck speed that her publisher refuses to publish them all under the same name. barbara cartland could crank out up to 21 a year, didn't seem to bother her publisher.
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Post by scrubb on Jan 19, 2018 17:52:21 GMT -5
Finished "Furiously Happy:A Funny Book about Horrible Things" by Jenny Lawson. I'll quote from the write up on Goodreads:
"In her new book, FURIOUSLY HAPPY, Jenny explores her lifelong battle with mental illness.... According to Jenny: "Some people might think that being 'furiously happy' is just an excuse to be stupid and irresponsible and invite a herd of kangaroos over to your house without telling your husband first because you suspect he would say no since he's never particularly liked kangaroos. And that would be ridiculous because no one would invite a herd of kangaroos into their house. Two is the limit. I speak from personal experience. My husband says that none is the new limit. I say he should have been clearer about that before I rented all those kangaroos."
She's very open about her many issues, from crippling anxiety and depression, to compulsions to pull out her hair and pick at herself until she bleeds and harm herself in other ways - but she makes the most of the days that are good by just doing what makes her happy, whatever it is. She struggles to feel good about herself and so mixed in with the funny stuff she does and says is some self-helpy type stuff about accepting yourself and realizing that it's ok to not be perfect.
Mostly it was pretty funny, but occasionally the whacky stuff she does seems slightly contrived - doing/saying weird stuff for the sake of being weird.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Jan 20, 2018 7:38:00 GMT -5
Books read so far in January, all but the third were on the Kindle app on my phone or iPad, or in one or two cases, iBooks.
1. Susan Duncan, Salvation Creek, a biography from someone who write evocatively about Pittwater in Sydney. Love her books, 2. Cee Cee James, Booked for Murder, a shortish Cozy mystery. 3. Sara Woods, Nor Live So Long, English 1980s murder mystery, well written. 4. Cee Cee James, Deadly Reservation, more Cozy. 5. Helen Ellis, The Greek Connection, 8 excellent Greek themed short stories. 6. Romain Puertolas, The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir Who Got Trapped in an IKEA Wardrobe. Hilarious! 7. Ellis Peters, The Grass Widow's Tale It's a while since I've read any of hers, but I think there are a few others in the Felse series I haven't read either, so worth looking for. 8. T E Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country. A bit like an English Miss Fisher, but not quite so fashion conscious. 9. James Anderson, The Affair of the 39 Cufflinks, early 20th century setting for a cozy. 10. Chimamanda Adichie, We Should All be Feminists, more an essay than a book, brilliantly written.
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Post by sophie on Jan 20, 2018 11:42:16 GMT -5
Midnight in Siberia by David Greene. Well written but with a very American bias towards Russia and various people who form a series of vignettes as the backbone of this book. I was hoping for more of a book about the train journey itself, but is was a minor part of the book. I have been thinking about a trans Siberian train trip for some time which is why I wanted to read this book. It isn’t what I had hoped for but nonetheless a decent read about Russia.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Jan 21, 2018 7:24:38 GMT -5
Two more to add to my list: 11. Suzanne Kellman, The Rejected Writers' Book Club, surprisingly, a funny road trip story. 12. James Runcie, Sidney Chambers and the Perils of the Night. Better plotted than the TV series, in my opinion.
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Post by sprite on Jan 22, 2018 14:00:03 GMT -5
Agnes Grey, by Anne Bronte. It was at the charity book shop, and I think she's the only Bronte i haven't read. but i could be wrong.
it was surprisingly easy to read--i was on trains for 8 hrs this weekend plus quite a bit of underground, and finished this long before the end of my trains.
it's a simple story of a kind, intelligent governess from a well-educated but poor family, and the rich, spoiled children she works with. against all odds, she meets a kind and lovely man who she respects, but one of her older charges has decided to break his heart for her own amusement. will he succumb?
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Post by lillielangtry on Jan 23, 2018 2:09:12 GMT -5
Yes, Anne's style is much more straightforward and "modern" seeming than her sisters, isn't it? I read Tenant of Wildfell Hall a few years back. It's about a woman who leaves an abusive relationship and basically goes into hiding with her young son - for the time, shockingly open about alcoholism, domestic violence and the like.
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Post by lillielangtry on Jan 24, 2018 2:18:58 GMT -5
#4 Ann Quin, The Unmapped Country This was my first book from my subscription to publisher And Other Stories. I signed up to receive 6 books from them this year, the year in which they are Publishing only women writers. I really like a lot of their books, many of which are translated fiction. However, by the very nature of a subscription you don't get to choose and this first one was not for me. A few of the stories were interesting but I didn't really want to carry on and read the rest of them. Never mind.
#5 Rabih Alameddine, An Unnecessary Woman A novel by a US/Lebanonese writer about an older, single woman in Lebanon. She is a bit of a recluse and lives alone, translating great works of literature into Arabic but never publishing or showing anyone the translations. This is a really lovely book, especially for book lovers - it contains lots of snippets about other writers. Aaliyah is a great character as well, cynical, grumpy, but with a soft heart as well.
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Post by sprite on Jan 24, 2018 15:27:57 GMT -5
Yes, Anne's style is much more straightforward and "modern" seeming than her sisters, isn't it? I read Tenant of Wildfell Hall a few years back. It's about a woman who leaves an abusive relationship and basically goes into hiding with her young son - for the time, shockingly open about alcoholism, domestic violence and the like. oh, duh. yes, i read that too. very modern for the time! i wonder how many women got "ideas" from reading it.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Jan 26, 2018 1:04:51 GMT -5
13. Wicked Charms, Janet Evanovich and Phoef Sutton. More Evanovich silliness while on holiday.
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Post by Oweena on Jan 26, 2018 16:23:44 GMT -5
Finished Fates & Furies by Lauren Groff, a book from 2015 that apparently got some good press back then. Looks like Q-pee and lillielangtry read it back when it was fresh. I liked the 1st (longer) half and the author's style, yet I struggled with the implausibility of the 2nd half.
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Post by scrubb on Jan 26, 2018 21:16:45 GMT -5
7) Raquela: A Woman of Israel by Ruth Gruber. Written in 1978 and won the NAtional Jewish Book Award. It is the life story of a woman who was born in what was then Palestine (Jerusalem) in the 1920s. It's really the story of the birth of Israel - in later chapters it just turns into a history, much of the time - but it's very well written and I learned a lot.
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