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Post by sophie on Sept 24, 2018 9:45:08 GMT -5
Transcription by Kate Atkinson. A good spy/mystery with her typically clever style. Before, during and after WW2, it is more time cohesive than many of her novels. Fairly easy read.
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Post by Liiisa on Sept 24, 2018 17:37:11 GMT -5
47. Jennifer Egan, Manhattan Beach
And then I finished the other book I was reading simultaneously today. I think someone else here has already read this? Or am I just thinking of reviews I've read? Anyway, this is the latest from the author of A Visit from the Goon Squad, which I really liked.
I also pretty much liked this one. Well ok: I loved the beginning, which is set in Brooklyn in the Depression and then into WW2. Anna, the protagonist, has a father who absconds from the family, and you start to understand that he probably got on the wrong side of some gangsters. That part is tense and well done, and I also really loved the part where Anna starts working for the war effort, like so many women did then. But the second half has some bits that are like "really? you're going to have THAT happen next," and whereas I thought it was really honest, the way things probably did happen, there were just a couple things that I was a little disappointed by. But like I said I did like it (had trouble putting it down despite).
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Post by scrubb on Sept 25, 2018 19:27:48 GMT -5
Finally finished "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" by Dee Brown. What an utterly depressing read. I hate humanity.
That said, it's important to know what was done to the Indians when Europeans spread out across America. I knew some of the very broad strokes - this book provides specific details about what happened to several tribes in areas between Colorado and the Dakotas, Montana, etc. Some names are well known (Sitting Bull, CRazy Horse, Geronimo) but other names of leaders who did just as much as those leaders were unfamiliar - I hadn't heard of Red CLoud, for example - one of the few who "won" to some extent, in that he got a reserve for his people that was actually in their traditional area instead of being forced to a different part of the country.
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Post by Liiisa on Sept 25, 2018 20:53:11 GMT -5
48. Nnedi Okorafor, Binti A tiny novella. Binti is a young woman from the Himba tribe of Namibia, although in this book it's a Himba tribe that is I think on a different planet, that has relations with civilizations elsewhere in the galaxy. She is extremely skilled in mathematics, and so has gotten a scholarship to go to the most selective university in the galaxy. Unfortunately something happens on the spaceship that is to carry her to the university.... I REALLY enjoyed this little book. I've never read science fiction told from an African perspective, and it was wonderful. Okorafor is an imaginative writer, and Binti was a great character.
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Post by lillielangtry on Sept 26, 2018 0:54:09 GMT -5
I've heard mixed things about that book, Liiisa, but your recommendation always carries weight with me!
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Post by Liiisa on Sept 26, 2018 4:47:38 GMT -5
Oh, thank you lillie! It's a slight little thing, not revelatory in any way, but I enjoyed it. What did those people say?
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Post by lillielangtry on Sept 26, 2018 6:12:50 GMT -5
One Person in particular thought it was badly written.
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Post by scrubb on Sept 27, 2018 21:44:27 GMT -5
The Wine of Solitude, by Irène Némirovsky. SHe's an amazingly good writer, but this book was about a lot of unlikeable and not particularly sympathetic characters so I didn't love it. But it's still an excellent book.
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Post by Liiisa on Sept 28, 2018 4:40:49 GMT -5
One Person in particular thought it was badly written. Huh. I guess if they define good as "stylistically inventive" they might be disappointed; one thing happens, and then another thing happens, and then everything turns out. Otherwise I can't see how one could say there was anything wrong with the writing. Curious.
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Post by scrubb on Sept 29, 2018 17:06:41 GMT -5
The Lightkeeper's Daughter, by Jean Pendziwol. Really enjoyed it. I'm not convinced that it was great literature, but it pulled at my heartstrings, had a good mystery, and lots of likeable characters which made s nice change from my last couple of reads. A bookbub special that I'm glad I bought.
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Post by lillielangtry on Sept 30, 2018 4:43:20 GMT -5
OK, here's the rest of my September reading:
Kamila Shamsie, Home Fire winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction. It's a modern retelling of Antigone, but there is no need to know anything about Greek plays to read and enjoy. It's about a UK in which a Conservative of Muslim background becomes Home Secretary (life mirrors art - since this book was written Sajid Javid has become Home Secretary) and, partly because of the discrimination he has himself experienced, takes an ultra hard line with people going out to fight in Syria. Meanwhile, his son is becoming involved with a family in which the father was a Jihadi fighter. It's beautifully written. Perhaps a little abrupt in places, but it leaves you wanting more at the end of each chapter, which is a lot better than many books where you think "good, but it could have been 100 pages shorter".
Asa Briggs, Secret Days I read this entirely because of Ozziegiraffe's reading of a book about the code breakers of Bletchley Park in which Briggs, who was my grandmother's cousin, was mentioned. It was very interesting to me on that level. Not a good introduction to Bletchley though; he assumes a lot of prior knowledge about the war, important figures etc and his style is a bit idiosyncratic as well. Probably not really to be recommended unless you are very interested in the subject or related to the author, I'm afraid!
Octavia Butler, Kindred Butler is known as a sci fi author; I would not really say this is sci fi although it has an obvious fantasy element. It's about an African American woman in 1970s California who keeps finding herself transported back to the antebellum South to save the life of a white slaveowner. But why? And what will happen if she changes the future? And how will she get home? It's so good. So, so good. Heart-wrenchingly and page-turningly. If you haven't read it and you think you can at all deal with the combination of time travel and slavery (it shouldn't work but it does), please do so.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Sept 30, 2018 5:11:46 GMT -5
I'll post when I get to Papeete, when I should have free wifi.
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Post by Liiisa on Sept 30, 2018 5:19:52 GMT -5
Oh yeah lillielangtry: Kindred is SO good. (but yes, as you say, heart-wrenchingly so)
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Post by scrubb on Sept 30, 2018 21:51:21 GMT -5
KIndred has been on my "to read" list for ages. Must get my hands on it soon.
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Post by scrubb on Oct 2, 2018 18:59:46 GMT -5
Oops - moved to Inktober!
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Oct 8, 2018 1:11:59 GMT -5
74. Dead in the Water, Agatha Frost and Evelyn Amber 75. Murder on Moon Trek 1, Diane Vallere. Quite a good start to a promising series combining two of my favourite genres, science fiction without warfare and cozy mystery. 76. Deception in The Cotswolds, Rebecca Tope
The last one was finished crossing the international dateline west to east, giving us two Sundays 30th September.
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