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Post by scrubb on May 2, 2018 23:11:06 GMT -5
Here's May's book thread! Link to April hereI'm about 1/3 of the way through Isabel Allende's "Island Beneath the Sea". |
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Post by ozziegiraffe on May 3, 2018 4:33:02 GMT -5
Bookmarking. Thank you Scrubb.
My reading rate has slowed down now I am back at work, and I had company today on my four-hour road trip.
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Post by Liiisa on May 3, 2018 5:07:11 GMT -5
Thank you scrubb!
I'm currently about 3/4 of the way through a REALLY GOOD book called "All for Nothing" by Walter Kempowski, which is about an alarmingly naive aristocratic family in East Prussia at the end of World War 2. I've read a lot of good books this year, but this may be the best so far, wow.
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Post by Liiisa on May 3, 2018 18:11:16 GMT -5
And then I finished it.
22) Walter Kempowski, All for Nothing
This is an incredibly well written book! as I noted yesterday - about this aristocratic family in Germany near the Russian border in 1945 near the war's close, and what happens to them all. The thing that sticks with me is how incredibly languid the book is, the writing style mirroring the characters' thoughts so well. And it really remains that way despite things going increasingly badly for the region by the end. RECOMMENDED
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Post by ozziegiraffe on May 5, 2018 22:29:10 GMT -5
43. The Cat, the Lady and the Liar, Leeann Sweeney. Quite a good mystery, although the characters and plot are a bit stereotyped, especially the suspects. I didn't detect the murderer till almost the end. Not as good as my favourite Cat Who... series.
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Post by Liiisa on May 6, 2018 4:18:19 GMT -5
23) John D. McDonald, The Brass Cupcake
I remember my dad reading John D. McDonald paperback crime novels when I was a kid, so when I saw this at a used bookstore I picked it up. Wow was the plot implausible, and the misogyny was stunning, which I guess was normal for a pulp fiction paperback written in 1950, but this one seemed kind of egregious. I couldn't stop reading it, though.
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Post by lillielangtry on May 7, 2018 2:00:54 GMT -5
On the audiobook front, Martha Gellhorn, The View from the Ground - a collection of Gellhorn's non-war-related essays from the '30s to the '80s. The first ones, from the time of the Depression, were fascinating. The Holocaust-related ones were very difficult to listen to and the one where she interviews a victim of torture in El Salvador equally so, if not more, as the description was so explicit. The Israel ones did not feel very evenhanded. An interesting collection.
I've also been dipping to Agatha Christie's Poirot short stories for light relief.
Nora Ikstena, Soviet Milk (trans Margita Gailitis)
My around-the-world book for Latvia ;-) It's from Peirene Press, which specialises in books under 200 pages, mostly European and in Translation. This one focuses on a mother-daughter relationship in Soviet-era Latvia. I thought it was very good.
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Post by lillielangtry on May 7, 2018 4:43:33 GMT -5
PS can we get this thread pinned please, mod? mod :-) |
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Post by fishface on May 10, 2018 6:56:36 GMT -5
Three books:
1. 13 Reasons Why
I haven't seen the TV series but after reading the book I think I will make a start on watching it to see how it was done. The format itself lends itself well to a television series (because the book, and I assume the series follows a number of stories as they each play out). Here's the thing though. It's about suicide...And I struggled so much to engage with the characters. I thought it was terrible and (without giving too much away) I can empathise with the situation and how strung out the characters - and the girl who committed suicide - must be. But I found them completely unengaging and uninteresting.
2. Crazy Rich Asians
I laughed many many times and read this in just a couple of sittings. It was strangely familiar (keeping in mind I dont knoe anyone super rich and from Singapore!). However, between the people I know who have lived in Singapore and Hong Kong, to some Asian friends and acquaintances I recognised enough in it for certain parts of the book to sound familiar. For instance, some of the rivalries and prejudices. E.g. my friend J who is considered a "good Asian" (by other kiwi asians) vs C who is not. Friend J has Hong Kong parents. Not mainland Chinese. Cos like, that carries less status. All sorts of stuff about status and 'rank'. Everyone in the book srrmd very conscious of their status in the book- from the daughter of a single parent, to the fashion forward woman who hasn't visited a Louis Vuitton store in years. Very very funny and biting.
3. The girl with seven names
I haven't stopped raving about this. I know I am years late to the party on this book but I don't care. It's about a North Korean woman who defects, and spends the text ten years of her life hiding and running from North Korea. It is written in a straightforward, matter of fact manner. Which is all the more striking when the author describes how she was seven years old when she saw her first public execution. Or the casual way her brother mentions meth use to stay awake when driving. The author has a TED talk and I will listen to it over the weekend.
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Post by scrubb on May 11, 2018 22:08:38 GMT -5
Finally finished my first book of the month - Island Beneath the SEa by Isabel Allende. Set mostly in Haiti in the late 1700s, the story follows a group of interconnected people - French colonists, slaves, free coloured people, Spanish colonists, and their children. I liked it a lot, though there were some parts that got a bit expository.
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Post by scrubb on May 14, 2018 16:10:11 GMT -5
Just finished "Pure Drivel", a collection of Steve Martin's short pieces, many published previously in the New Yorker. They were mostly pretty funny and crazy. He is talented. I could often imagine him saying the dialogue - he has a distinct voice!
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Post by Liiisa on May 14, 2018 19:32:01 GMT -5
24) Michelle deKretser, The Life to Come
I had never heard of deKretser until people started talking about her in here, and then coincidentally a couple days later this book showed up on the new acquisitions shelf at the library, so I grabbed it. The book consists of a set of interconnected narratives featuring people who all are connected in some way to this one woman (who really irritated me for most of the novel, to be honest). She can't be described as the protagonist, though, because she's really only the protagonist in one of the stories.
I wasn't sure about it at first - I think because I haven't been to Sydney, I wasn't able to grasp how well she describes the locations her characters are in. But the chapter that's set in Paris was the one that hooked me. I thought it was really very good - the final part is really quite affecting.
PS: just read lillie's review of her other book back in the April thread, and this one is the way that sounds - loosely connected and acutely observed. I love stuff like this & will look for her other books.
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Post by Queen on May 15, 2018 2:11:14 GMT -5
Jane Austen at Home
Lucy Worsley
A review of Jane Austen's life, from the perspective of where she lived. It combines formidable research, the books and a great deal of chat.
Lots of stuff I didn't know about how the book industry then worked, why she published anonymously, her contact (briefly) with royalty - one book, Emma, was dedicated to the Prince Regent and she paid to have a very beautifully bound copy sent to him.
It's very good, but occasionally stretches interpretations to fit a modern feminist pattern. I am sure Jane Austen was frustrated at the limits of her gender, and I am sure she wanted more - based on her writing alone. But she was of her time... and although there are things in her life that show her as breaking this book pushes that a bit far I think.
But fun to read and now I want to re-read Mansfield Park.
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Post by tzarine on May 15, 2018 21:46:52 GMT -5
persepolis
as good as the first time
dark humour & personal politics in a coming of age tale
love when marjane's dad smuggles iron maiden & kim wilde posters from turkey
& when she tries to convince her teacher that her michael jackson badge is malcolm x
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Post by ozziegiraffe on May 16, 2018 6:50:18 GMT -5
Oh dear, I just bought 5 audiobooks, because they were offering 33% off. But then I have five hours driving tomorrow.
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Post by sprite on May 16, 2018 6:57:22 GMT -5
Q, did you know that Lucy W does quite a few BBC4 history documentaries?
She's a bit enthusiastic for me at times, but she does a great job of describing everyday life, focusses a lot on women, and has somehow become a presenter despite a mild speech oddity.
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Post by Queen on May 16, 2018 14:15:03 GMT -5
sprite yes, and I think this was one of the documentaries, I only saw a little bit of it. She did a good one on the Tsars. I quite like her people first approach but I think she's unrealistic sometimes about the women bit... and I understand those who find the enthusiasm a little OTT
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Post by Webs on May 18, 2018 13:50:01 GMT -5
I enjoy her presentations but when she gets overly enthusiastic she makes me think she's just a performer and not an actual anthropologist.
I did like her Wives of Henry the Ate.
I've pre-ordered a book called Old in Art School, by a woman who went back to get her art degree in her 60s. Granted she was in retirement and financially stable. But I look forward to reading her experiences.
I'm re-reading a couple of Discworld books in the meantime.
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Post by Liiisa on May 18, 2018 18:32:58 GMT -5
25) William Gibson, Pattern Recognition
Have you people READ this? It's 15 years old and I somehow missed it. A super compelling novel, with a great protagonist (a young woman who advises companies on their logos and what's going to be cool next, but she also has great plausible weaknesses and such) and an interesting plot.
But the greatest bit is that since it was from 2003, there's all this ancient tech from the not-so-distant past. They don't have smartphones! They have to use dialup in hotels! They have Palm Pilots! And a large chunk of the action takes place among people who spend all their spare time on an INTERNET FORUM! Seriously, if you haven't read it yet I think you'll be amused.
The final thing I have to say is that the reason I had this book is that I was in this bookstore and I saw a bowl full of books wrapped in newspaper. I asked the guy at the desk what that was about, and he said they were grab bag books, so of course I had to buy one of them, because I love randomness. And look what it was! Brilliant.
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Post by whothingie on May 18, 2018 23:39:53 GMT -5
persepolis as good as the first time dark humour & personal politics in a coming of age tale love when marjane's dad smuggles iron maiden & kim wilde posters from turkey & when she tries to convince her teacher that her michael jackson badge is malcolm x Sounds interesting. As I'm just back from Persepolis probably should read it. Tried looking for it on Amazon Kindle - but no joy. Could you provide a link please. |
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Post by Liiisa on May 19, 2018 6:18:59 GMT -5
whothingie, I wouldn't think it would be on Kindle because it's a graphic novel. I looked for it on comixology and didn't see it there, so unless there's some other source for electronic comics that I don't know about, you're going to have to go with a paper copy, I think.
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Post by tzarine on May 19, 2018 14:22:13 GMT -5
who
then check out the film, catherine deneuve is the voice of mother & the fab danielle darrieux as marjane's grandmother.
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Post by scrubb on May 19, 2018 14:39:30 GMT -5
Just finished REservoir 13 by Jon McGRegor. Just read lillielangtry's review in March's thread - she's bang on. It's so good, just going through the years in this village, following everyone's story a little tiny bit at a time.
I have to admit it took me a little while to get into it; I'd enjoy while reading but kept setting it down. But I got more and more into it and by the half way point was loving it, and this morning I just read the last 120 pages at once.
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Post by Liiisa on May 19, 2018 18:49:19 GMT -5
scrubb that was my experience too with that book - took a little getting used to but then I couldn't put it down.
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Post by snowwhite on May 20, 2018 11:37:11 GMT -5
I've read Brilliant Bread, by James Morton, which is a bit like a text book on how to make bread, as well as having recipes in roughly increasing order of complexity / demandingness technically (I'm sure there's a better way of saying that). I've made the first recipe and liked it, and plan to make a few more at least  I'm also about a third of the way through American Gods by Neil Gaiman, and enjoying it too - very easy reading I find, in a good way. Engaging and well-written. |
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Post by mei on May 20, 2018 11:45:07 GMT -5
WOOT! I just finished a book! This has not been a good year in terms of regular reading and actually finishing stuff. So I'm happy to finally have finished something :-) This book I've been reading on and off for about 6 months, "Doughnut Economics" by Kate Raworth (#3). Very good. Non-fiction, basically about how to reform economics and economic policy to make a fair and green planet, in which we can all live well within the planet's means. Very interesting. She offers seven ways in which to fundamentally change the economic discourse to make economics distributive, regenerative, inclusive, not-growth-dependant, etc etc. Recommended for anyone interested in this kind of stuff ( Liiisa). |
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Post by lillielangtry on May 20, 2018 12:10:15 GMT -5
An American Marriage, Tayari Jones
This has been quite hyped in the US I think, since Oprah picked it for her book club; not so much in the UK.
It focuses on the relationship between a young African American couple, Celestial and Roy, and the devastating event that affects their lives and future. It's told from both of their points of view and also the point of view of her childhood friend, Andre.
It's beautifully written and highlights stories that I, as a white European, have little personal experience of (but I could empathise with something massive happening very early on in your marriage). All the main characters can be quite unlikeable at times. It stretches credability in a few places - not the main premise, which is all too plausible in the American South. So not a perfect book but a really interesting and valuable one, imho.
Arnoldo Galvez Suarez, Die Rache der Mercedes Lima
Sadly this is only available in Spanish (original) or German at the moment. I hope an English language publisher picks it up because I thought it was really good. It alternates between the story of a man who was murdered in Guatemala in the 80s and his son, 20 years later, trying to find out what happened to him. I very much enjoyed the way the reality of Guatemala at that time was woven into the story.
I am having a good book run. My current read is also excellent.
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Post by Liiisa on May 20, 2018 16:27:50 GMT -5
Ooh mei - I read a piece about the basic concept of "Doughnut Economics" but somehow didn't know there was a book - thank you! |
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Post by ozziegiraffe on May 21, 2018 6:56:30 GMT -5
44. The Garden Plot, Marty Wingate. A good start to a new series. For a cozy set in England by an American writer there were none of the cultural errors that make non-Americans cringe. The plot may have been slightly far-fetched, but I liked the characters, and am interested to hear more of their doings.
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Post by mei on May 21, 2018 12:05:46 GMT -5
I need more weekends like these (well, except for the procrastinating). I finished another book!
Another that I've been reading for a long time, as it's 1000 pages long and too heavy to carry around: 4321 by Paul Auster (#4). It's big, in physical size but also the basic concept of the book and how it's put together. The idea is simple: what would life be like for a single person if circumstances were different? It has one main character, who leads four different lives, each one different because of circumstance. These lives run parallel, which sometimes makes it confusing but it's really well put together. I really enjoyed it and wish I'd been able to read it faster.
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