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Post by sophie on Nov 13, 2018 23:26:32 GMT -5
Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn. It had been years since I read this. My book club decided to read and discuss this book particularly given all the controversial press it has received about being so politically incorrect and inappropriate for today’s youth. I certainly can see why it would be considered racist but it is a picture of the society of its day.
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Post by sprite on Nov 14, 2018 5:38:15 GMT -5
For the time, wasn't Huck fairly open minded? I remember preferring that book to Tom Sawyer, as a child. Tom was really up himself.
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Post by sophie on Nov 14, 2018 12:11:13 GMT -5
Sprite.. that is the key I think.. it has to be read bring so mindful of its time. And yes, I also preferred it to Tom Sawyer. Isn’t there a kid inside everyone who wants to make a raft and run away / drift away to determine your own destiny?
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Post by scrubb on Nov 15, 2018 23:29:17 GMT -5
Finished "The Tomorrow Tamer" by Margaret Laurence. Short stories, all set in West Africa and most related to independence. She lived there for a few years back in the '50s and I enjoyed her writing. There's an afterword, in which she is quoted as saying that she realized in later years that she had a lot of audacity, trying to write from the point of view of an African man, but that she's not sorry she tried.
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Post by sophie on Nov 15, 2018 23:41:44 GMT -5
Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver. I lone all of her work, but I am having problems getting into this one. I like the characters, but I am finding the two separate but connected stories distracting. It could be me. I am having a tough time concentrating at the moment.. I am about half done and I think I will put it aside for now.
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Post by Liiisa on Nov 16, 2018 21:57:10 GMT -5
59. Hannah Kent, Burial Rites OK, I found that impossible to put down. I agree with lillielangtry's assessment... really good. I feel like I've spent the past several days in 1830's Iceland. I really liked the way the ending was portrayed.
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Post by sophie on Nov 16, 2018 21:58:09 GMT -5
I also loved that book when I read it a while back
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Post by lillielangtry on Nov 17, 2018 5:29:03 GMT -5
It's always nice when someone pushes a book up the to-read list because of a recommendation and then actually enjoys it!
Frances Meynard, THe Seven Imperfect Rules of Elvira Carr OK, this is one for fans of Eleanor Oliphant and in some ways is a blatant copy of that book, which I think is a bit cheeky. HOWEVER it's amusingly written, the characters are very sympathetic and in fact I think I almost enjoyed it more than Eleanor. So if that book was your thing and you're looking for another optimistic, easy, very British read - go for it.
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Post by Oweena on Nov 17, 2018 21:26:05 GMT -5
The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner So much better than her other book I read (The Flamethrowers).
It's definitely not a feel good story and the characters for the most part aren't terribly likable. But they're interesting and at times, eerily realistic. The narrative moves quickly and it didn't take me any time to read which means it kept my interest more than some of my other recent reads.
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Post by Liiisa on Nov 18, 2018 6:42:24 GMT -5
Aha, thank you Oweena! I liked but didn't really love the Flamethrowers, so I was wavering about this one.
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Post by Liiisa on Nov 18, 2018 21:41:12 GMT -5
60. A. L. Kennedy, The Little Snake
This is a tiny little book that's written like a fairy tale. It's about how a tiny golden snake becomes friends with a little girl. It's really quite affecting and contains huge things in its tiny bounds, rather like the snake itself.
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Post by snowwhite on Nov 19, 2018 9:27:17 GMT -5
I just finished The Power, and I admire the writing, structure etc, but overall, just a really depressing message imo. Makes me despair of and for the human race reading stuff like this (and watching some of the news, and learning about history too quite often). Sorry.
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Post by Liiisa on Nov 19, 2018 10:18:27 GMT -5
I just finished The Power, and I admire the writing, structure etc, but overall, just a really depressing message imo. Makes me despair of and for the human race reading stuff like this (and watching some of the news, and learning about history too quite often). Sorry. Oh it’s depressing for sure! But it felt true (unfortunately).
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Post by Oweena on Nov 21, 2018 17:23:17 GMT -5
The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century by Kirk Wallace Johnson
Recommend. I'd listened to a podcast on this case and put myself on the waiting list for it at the library. Despite a total lack of knowledge about birds, fly tying, etc. the story was told in an interesting way and it kept me interested to the end.
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Post by scrubb on Nov 21, 2018 18:34:37 GMT -5
The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century by Kirk Wallace Johnson Recommend. I'd listened to a podcast on this case and put myself on the waiting list for it at the library. Despite a total lack of knowledge about birds, fly tying, etc. the story was told in an interesting way and it kept me interested to the end. That is going to the top of my "to read" list.
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Post by Liiisa on Nov 21, 2018 18:39:44 GMT -5
Yes, that book's been on my list too, but I hadn't gotten there yet!
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Post by lillielangtry on Nov 22, 2018 1:54:33 GMT -5
I got to see A. L. Kennedy at a literary Event a year or two ago, and she was amazing. It wasn't so much of a reading as a stand-up set at a book Festival (she also does stand up) and she was so funny, angry and energetic. I bought her "On Writing" and "Day" as a result and they were very good.
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Post by Liiisa on Nov 22, 2018 6:12:39 GMT -5
I got to see A. L. Kennedy at a literary Event a year or two ago, and she was amazing. It wasn't so much of a reading as a stand-up set at a book Festival (she also does stand up) and she was so funny, angry and energetic. I bought her "On Writing" and "Day" as a result and they were very good. I'll have to keep an eye out for her stuff! I had no idea who she was; I just saw the book on a new releases table at the bookstore, and since it had a beautiful dust jacket and I like snakes, I bought it.
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Post by scrubb on Nov 23, 2018 1:04:53 GMT -5
I finished Lost Horizon by James Hilton last night. Enjoyed it.
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Post by sophie on Nov 23, 2018 12:50:43 GMT -5
Just started ‘Killing Commendatore’ by Haruki Murakami.. his newest. Only on page 47 and love it.. for me, I can dive into his world, his words effortlessly and be totally immersed. I am reading while waiting for my oil to be changed so I have to surface and get on with the rest of the day.
Edit to say I have finished it, and loved it. One has to let the magic realism wash over the whole reading and enjoy the process. He is an amazing writer!
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Post by Liiisa on Nov 23, 2018 14:34:27 GMT -5
Just started ‘Killing Commendatore’ by Haruki Murakami.. his newest. Only on page 47 and love it.. for me, I can dive into his world, his words effortlessly and be totally immersed. I am reading while waiting for my oil to be changed so I have to surface and get on with the rest of the day. Ooooh I can't read that yet because I made the mistake of telling pero I wanted it for Xmas instead of just buying it the minute I saw it! Just another month....
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Post by Liiisa on Nov 23, 2018 16:08:18 GMT -5
61. Toni Morrison, Beloved
!!!
This book is deservedly part of the canon of important American novels - so well written, and deeply affecting. It's about a group of people who had been slaves together. The action goes back to the plantation but its present is in the early 1870s, after Emancipation and the end of the Civil War. It has some magical realism aspects but also is deeply, disturbingly realistic, containing both terrible pain but also beauty and joy.
And so yeah, it took me many years to finally get to the point where I was ready to read this book; it came out in 1987. I think this is partly because I knew it would be emotionally difficult but then after some years it was embarrassment that I hadn't been able to bring myself to read it yet. Glad I did, but wow, you have to be ready for it.
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Post by scrubb on Nov 24, 2018 10:42:04 GMT -5
I'm reading a book that has all kinds of plaudits (is that the right word?) on-line and plenty of people rave about - The Light Between Oceans. It's about a lighthouse keeper. But a couple months ago I read "The Lightkeeper's Daughters" which was also about a lighthouse keeper. And I am sort of mixing them up while reading them - there's already a major plot point that is almost exactly the same...
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Post by Oweena on Nov 24, 2018 19:16:45 GMT -5
I read one of those scrubb. Whichever one has the baby found in the boat. Hopefully that's not the shared plot point.
Just finished French Exit by Patrick deWitt. I found the characters unlikable. They came across as lazy and self centered, which I suppose was the point of much of it. There were maybe three times I found an exchange funny or insightful, the rest of the time I was reading it just to get to the end. Reviews describe it as a black comedy of errors. I found very little comedy, black or otherwise. The supposed scandal they were fleeing was lame, not sure how it amounted to a scandal.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Nov 25, 2018 5:43:40 GMT -5
Loved The Light Between Oceans, but haven’t read the other one. The Lihgt Between Oceans certainly had the baby.
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Post by scrubb on Nov 25, 2018 13:41:28 GMT -5
YEah, the found baby is the shared plot point. With an identifying rattle.
Guess I'll reread The Sisters Brothers before picking up deWitt's new novel, Oweena. I enjoyed it.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Nov 25, 2018 16:08:18 GMT -5
87. Death and the Redheaded Woman, Loretta Ross. This was a Goodreads Cozy Mystery Choice, but is a little more explicit than most cozies. Both major characters have unusual backgrounds, the story is well written and interesting, and there are fun minor characters who could develop well in a series. There is scope for further stories, as the book leaves the reader with something of a teaser.
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Post by scrubb on Nov 25, 2018 18:52:30 GMT -5
Finished 87. The Light Between The Oceans (M.L. Stedman). A WWI veteran becomes a lighthouse keeper, meets a woman who will go out and live on the lonely island with him. It was fairly compelling reading but left me dissatisfied at the end, for some reason. Maybe there just couldn't be a good ending to that story. I don't know. Or maybe it needed to go all the way and be truly tragic. Or maybe it's that it couldn't make one of the main characters all that sympathetic - I found her more annoying than anything even when I think I was supposed to really care about her.
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Post by sprite on Nov 26, 2018 4:13:56 GMT -5
The women of baker Street. (Michelle birkby)
Mary Watson and Mrs Hudson get together to solve crimes, this one starting when Mrs Hudson ends up in hospital and sees a patient murdered at night. It was the second in a series and looks like it could be fun. The other baker Street characters weave in and out, and some interesting characters are introduced who might feature in other stories.
It was reasonably realistic for the time--they aren't doing Jujitsu or walking alone at night. The only thing that annoyed me was the way she kept referring to an event from the first book ( the house at baker Street). Not enough to spoil the book,but just too frequently.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Nov 26, 2018 5:28:44 GMT -5
88. The Cruellest Month, Louise Penny. Another great mystery set in a beautiful Canadian village. I’m glad I’ve already visited Canada, if not Quebec, as I understand the country a little more than I might have (eg references to Tim Horton’s). At first the second plot seemed to get in the way, but it did become more relevant. The development of the characters over the three books I’ve read so far in the series is handled very well, and I’m beginning to feel as though I know them.
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