|
Post by ozziegiraffe on Oct 4, 2019 8:04:49 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Liiisa on Oct 4, 2019 11:41:40 GMT -5
Thank you ozzie! Bookmarking.
I’m halfway through a Saramago novel that I love, but haven’t had much energy to read because work is so crazy and I’ve been driving. So, I’ll finish it some day.
|
|
|
Post by scrubb on Oct 5, 2019 1:45:07 GMT -5
Thanks, Ozzie!
Finished a book called: In Love and War: The Lives and Marriage of General Sir Harry & Lady Smith. By David Rooney & Michael Scott.
It read as thought Harry Smith is known by all, though I'd never heard of him. He must have been a prolific journal keeper or letter writer because there's a ton of detail. He had a pretty interesting life, and his 14 year old war bride went with him all over the world. For me, there was much too much military campaign description, but it was still kind of interesting overall. Not exciting enough to recommend, though.
|
|
|
Post by ozziegiraffe on Oct 5, 2019 10:19:46 GMT -5
63. Evil under the Stars, C A Larmer. I felt this story dragged in places, and the religious family were not well researched. However, the story picked up towards the end, and the book club members were able to work with the police to solve not one, but two murders. The Sydney settings rang true.
|
|
|
Post by sophie on Oct 7, 2019 9:57:04 GMT -5
My Secret Sister by Helen Edwards and Jenny Lee Smith. A true story of sisters separated at birth and their lives and ultimate reunion. One of the sisters (the adopted one) had a wonderful and loving family life; the other one (with birth mother) was subject to a terrible and abusive life. I found the birth mother was a narcissistic and nasty piece of work. At least the step father had the excuse of being in a Japanese pow camp, but he was also abusive. Interesting book.
|
|
|
Post by treehugger on Oct 7, 2019 10:15:47 GMT -5
I finished Toni Morrison's "God Help the Child" - Started it back in August on our holiday, but hadn't had a chance to pick it up again until I went on a work trip. It was excellent, truly beautifully written and moving, as all her books are. Packed a huge punch.
I also read "My Year of Rest and Relaxation" by Ottessa Moshfegh from start to finish while I was gone, loved this for it's savage humour and bleak outlook. It was definitely a GenX novel, set from 2000-01 and I think part of my joy reading it was reminiscing quite strongly at being in another eastcoast city this year (and of course rather envious of the ability to have a year of rest and relaxation!).
I've now started "What We Lose" by Zinzi Clemmons, I'm about half way through though it is may take me awhile to finish now that my bed's no longer my own.
|
|
|
Post by Liiisa on Oct 7, 2019 17:50:08 GMT -5
I LOVED "My Year of Rest and Relaxation"!
|
|
|
Post by Oweena on Oct 7, 2019 22:03:20 GMT -5
Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs by Caitlin Doughty
Doughty is the founder of the Order of the Good Death, and a leader in the death positive community. The book is a series of answers to questions she's been asked about death and what happens to our bodies when we die. Cremation, burial, decomposition, it's all discussed. Not a heavy read, it's written in a breezy manner and is meant to educate.
|
|
|
Post by Oweena on Oct 8, 2019 14:15:33 GMT -5
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
The latest from Patchett, and I loved it. It's not necessarily the story that I liked, but the way she writes these characters, especially the two main ones, a brother and sister.
I don't love it as much as I did Commonwealth, but it's definitely worth reading. My favorite book of hers is The Patron Saint of Liars, and this one felt close to that one in how the characters interacted. They never seem wishy-washy, and are willing to live with their decisions that others may not understand. Maybe because that's how I like my humans in real life?
|
|
|
Post by Liiisa on Oct 8, 2019 21:08:43 GMT -5
54. Jeremy Taylor, Body by Darwin
This is the nonfiction book I've been reading at night. It's interesting - each chapter describes a medical or anatomical theme that has some relationship to evolution or genetics, and discusses controversies and competing theories as people tried to get a handle on it.
|
|
|
Post by treehugger on Oct 9, 2019 4:11:45 GMT -5
54. Jeremy Taylor, Body by Darwin This is the nonfiction book I've been reading at night. It's interesting - each chapter describes a medical or anatomical theme that has some relationship to evolution or genetics, and discusses controversies and competing theories as people tried to get a handle on it. That sounds really interesting. I often read nonfiction to get to sleep, but I only usually manage a couple of pages unless it's directly related to something I'm currently researching and then I get obsessed and spend all night reading.
|
|
|
Post by Liiisa on Oct 9, 2019 5:06:21 GMT -5
@treehugger Ha yes, you can't read anything TOO absorbing, or you might as well be reading fiction.
|
|
|
Post by treehugger on Oct 9, 2019 5:42:23 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by scrubb on Oct 10, 2019 16:32:43 GMT -5
Didn't read too much on holidays - spent my evenings playing scrabble instead of reading... But finished a couple:
Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel by Carl Safina. He uses some examples (elephants, wolves, killer whales) to demonstrate behaviours that make it impossible not to believe that these animals have feelings and senses of self. Along with the detailed case studies he mentions things a lot of other animals do to support his case.
He also spends a lot of chapters scoffing at various studies that were interpreted to show that animals DON'T have thoughts or sense of self. Some of that was good, where he explained how they arrived at their conclusions and why he thinks they were wrong; but he spent too much time on it and sometimes he just dismisses studies because they are too academic rather than because of any faults in methodology. That part got redundant, while the animal stories were enthralling.
And "The Department of Missing Persons" by Ruth Zylberman. The premise is that a Jewish French woman born in the 1970s is deeply affected by her mother's experiences in WW2. Which is interesting and could have been really good, but the whole thing is written so vaguely/dreamily that it was hard to really be sympathetic to the narrator.
|
|
|
Post by ozziegiraffe on Oct 12, 2019 6:15:29 GMT -5
Finished two ebooks and one audio, while travelling over the last two weeks. Will post when I’ve recovered.
|
|
|
Post by ozziegiraffe on Oct 12, 2019 19:56:00 GMT -5
64. Doctored Evidence, Donna Leon. Another excellent Brunetti mystery. An old woman dies. No one likes her. Brunetti’s nemesis dismisses the case because it looks like the foreign housekeeper did it, but Brunetti is not so sure. A tour de force around the people who manage Venice. 65. The Secret Adversary, Agatha Christie. Tommy and Tuppence have always been my favourite Christie sleuths. It was interesting to reread this after seeing the television series a few times. I was right. The Tommy character in the tv series was all wrong. Tommy is young, thin and red haired, not dark, middle aged and physically slow. I much prefer the original Christie version. This is more a spy story than a detective one, and actually quite fanciful. 66. The Dog-Eared Delinquent. This is a fairly quick audio book that I started on a road trip. It was so silly, I chose something more engaging for my next trip, and have only just got back to it. It is still silly, not a real cozy mystery, just setting the scene for a series I couldn’t be bothered reading. Ho hum!
|
|
|
Post by Liiisa on Oct 14, 2019 5:49:31 GMT -5
55. José Saramago, The History of the Siege of Lisbon
A proofreader introduces a deliberate error into the proofs of a history of the medieval siege of Lisbon, and events transpire from there. It ends up as a love story.
I love Saramago's writing style, so I knew I'd love this one, and I did. The central character Raimundo Silva was so thoroughly and tenderly portrayed that I feel like I really know him. It was particularly amusing to me since my own training (and much of the work I do) involves proofreading. (It took me a while to read, but only because I was busy and distracted.)
|
|
|
Post by Oweena on Oct 14, 2019 20:34:53 GMT -5
Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall
Story of two couples and their friendship over several decades. The first section tells the stories of how the couples met. The men then end up together as co-ministers at a church in NYC in the early 1960s. The wives are polar opposites, don't get along, with one of them being an atheist. I liked the authors ability to describe situations, and the book went fast, but I'll admit the discussions of their faith felt repetitive. They weren't written to convert anyone, but since faith is a non-starter with me, I skimmed those parts.
|
|
|
Post by lillielangtry on Oct 16, 2019 3:58:15 GMT -5
We're already in the second half of October and I haven't posted in this thread at all!
I've been away and then very busy back at work, but have quite a few books to Report on from the end of September onwards:
Yoko Ogawa, The Memory Police (translated from the Japanese by Stephen Snyder) - Enjoyed, but not as much as the other book of hers I've read, The Housekeeper + The Professor
Ben Aaronovitch, The October Man - a novella from the Rivers of London world, but without Peter Grant, set in Germany. Aaronovitch's usual wit and careful Research, but didn't like as much as the novels.
Dana Todorovic, The Tragic Fate of Moritz Toth (translated from the Serbian by the author) - one for fans of Kafka or Bulgakov
Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (on Audio) - I'm late to the Party for this sweeping non-fiction work. It was good, although perhaps not my usual fare.
Michael Palin, New Europe (on Audio) - Palin travels around the countries he wasn't previously able to visit because they were behind the Iron Curtain. It's about 10 years old, so interesting to see what has changed. His tone of optimism at the beginning about European Integration is, given ongoing Events, sadly misplaced. I love Palin though, he is so warm and Observant.
Margaret Atwood, Hag-Seed - this is her Adaptation of Shakespeare's The Tempest. Only one for real fans of the Play, in my opinion.
I'm currently in the middle of a 700-page Armenian novel, so I may be some time. I do get myself into These things!
|
|
|
Post by Liiisa on Oct 16, 2019 20:54:23 GMT -5
56) Denise Mina, Resolution
A crime novel set in Glasgow. The protagonist is in deep trouble from various angles but she perseveres! I had a hard time putting it down, loved the setting, and the protagonist and her loyal friends are good to spend time with.
***** HOWEVER, strong warning to anyone who doesn't want to read books with abuse and violence in them: there are some terrible things described in this novel. *****
Finally, I now see that this is the third part of a trilogy, but not having read the first two books didn't affect my understanding of it. I'd never heard of the author until I read an interview with her and decided that she sounded interesting and intelligent, so I picked it up despite only very rarely reading crime novels.
|
|
|
Post by treehugger on Oct 17, 2019 3:43:03 GMT -5
56) Denise Mina, Resolution A crime novel set in Glasgow. The protagonist is in deep trouble from various angles but she perseveres! I had a hard time putting it down, loved the setting, and the protagonist and her loyal friends are good to spend time with. ***** HOWEVER, strong warning to anyone who don't want to read books with abuse and violence in them: there are some terrible things described in this novel. ***** Finally, I now see that this is the third part of a trilogy, but not having read the first two books didn't affect my understanding of it. I'd never heard of the author until I read an interview with her and decided that she sounded interesting and intelligent, so I picked it up despite only very rarely reading crime novels. That sounds excellent, I will check it out
|
|
|
Post by sprite on Oct 17, 2019 4:33:02 GMT -5
Maisie Dobbs--To Die but Once
I don't understand the title, but enjoyed the book. It's set at the time of the Dunkirk Evacuation in WWII, and I learned quite a bit about that. A young man goes missing while part of a crew using a mysterious paint on military sites. Maisie is a private investigator who goes off to look for him, and of course discovers that he has died--murder or accident? The investigation leads to the world of corruption in wartime contracts.
This is part of a series I enjoy, the history is woven in at a human level, and although she has some sort of ESP thing, it isn't a focus and it doesn't ever give her the complete solution to a problem.
|
|
|
Post by scrubb on Oct 17, 2019 18:23:31 GMT -5
Uh oh. I found another book sale today. All the books were $2, except we were there right at the end so they were half price.
|
|
|
Post by lillielangtry on Oct 18, 2019 1:22:37 GMT -5
Uh oh. I found another book sale today. All the books were $2, except we were there right at the end so they were half price. That basically morally obligates you to buy twice as many, right?
|
|
|
Post by Oweena on Oct 18, 2019 13:12:18 GMT -5
Five Days Gone by Laura Cumming
True tale of the author's mother who in 1929 at age 3 was kidnapped off a beach in Lincolnshire. She was recovered 5 days later in different clothes, in a village nearby.
Nobody in her family ever spoke of this incident, and she didn't find out about it until she was an adult. The book documents in the mothers words, and the authors, how this mystery unfolded and the secrets that family and entire communities will keep for decades.
The story interested me as it highlights the secrets and shame that existed around adoption in the early to mid 20th century. The author spent a lot of time on what I felt were detours that didn't advance the story. They were about how artwork and photography affect our memories, and I'm guessing she spent time on this as she's an art critic when she's not writing the story of her mother.
|
|
|
Post by scrubb on Oct 18, 2019 21:18:52 GMT -5
Uh oh. I found another book sale today. All the books were $2, except we were there right at the end so they were half price. That basically morally obligates you to buy twice as many, right? Well, duh! Anyway. Finally finished Azar Nafini's "Reading Lolita in Tehran". I started it once about 15 years ago but didn't get very far, and I have to say it was a bit of a slog this time, too. It's very interesting to see the IRanian Revolution described by someone going through it, but I just didn't enjoy her style. It's a memoir-cum-literary-criticism-cum-history and it jumps around between its functions in a fairly erratic way. Maybe the least engaging aspect was that she didn't make many of her characters (mostly her students) very memorable. And she brought in someone she called her "magician" - a man she went to visit and discuss literature and the regime with - but it's never really clear at all why she calls him that or even why he's so important to her. Anyway. Worth reading, but I'm glad to be done with it. I think she's probably better at academic writing than she is at whatever kind of writing this would be called.
|
|
|
Post by scrubb on Oct 19, 2019 16:46:10 GMT -5
Lost in My Own Backyard: A Walk in Yellowstone National Park, by Tim Cahill.
It's about several walks in the park, not just one. His love of nature in general, and Yellowstone in particular, comes through. Entertaining writing style. Made me want to go hiking RIGHT NOW.
|
|
|
Post by tzarine on Oct 19, 2019 19:44:35 GMT -5
scrubb
totally agree w your assessment of reading lolita in tehran i really wanted to know the students better
|
|
|
Post by Oweena on Oct 20, 2019 17:50:29 GMT -5
The Other Americans by Laila Lalami
I liked this one, she's the author of The Moor's Account which I know a few of us have read and posted about.
This is totally different from that one. The main character is Nora, a 20 something who returns home to the Mojave desert area when her father is killed in a hit and run accident. The novel delves into the stories of a cast of characters who intersect with her story. Each short chapter tells the story from one of their points of view. The everyday racism inflicted against those who are perceived as not "us" is in the background of many of the characters.
If you're looking for a quick character-driven story this one fits that bill.
|
|
|
Post by lillielangtry on Oct 21, 2019 0:43:39 GMT -5
Ah, I have vague of memories of loving Reading Lolita in Tehran but it was a Long time ago. I've added it to my Audible wishlist so I might "reread" it on Audio in the near future.
|
|