Sweet (reading) November

[Webs]

What do you have in the works, what's new, whatcha readin'?

October

[Liiisa]

Thank you Webs!

I am about a quarter of the way through "Ducks, Newburyport," which means I likely won't be done with it until Christmas since it's about 17,000 pages long. I love it, though.

[ozziegiraffe]

Thank you Webs. As usual I am in the middle of several. One audio, two ebooks and one paperback, which I am about to resume reading.

[HalcyonDaze]

I have bookclub on Monday, so I really need to read Eleanor Oliphant. But I've tried reading it before and gave up, and I just don't want to pick it up again.

[mei]

#19 finished - Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami.

A re-read for a book club. Couldn't finish it in time, but wanted to continue reading the Japanese version anyway. Well, gave up on that this weekend and finished it in English today.

Still a really nice book. I didn't really remember much about it but a very strong sense of familiarity / I've read this before as I was reading. Quite odd.

[scrubb]

Just finished a re-read of "The Thief of Time", one of the Discworld books by Terry Pratchett. I don't remember what I thought of it the first time I read it, but I thought it was excellent this time.

I also just bought a 5 volume set of St. Aubyn novels, because I remember people on here saying he is good.

[HalcyonDaze]

Just finished Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine.


After being so reluctant to try this again I binged it in about two days and loved it. Which goes to show often it is not the book that is the issue, it is that it is the wrong time for whatever reason for the reader. I'm not exactly sure now what my problem was first time round - I remember not liking Eleanor and just not being able to continue or want to know what was going on with her.

[Liiisa]

scrubb the St Aubyn books are good, but in a "hilariously cutting and miserable" sort of way. I wasn't able to binge them all at once, in fact: it was just too much (now that I think of it, have I actually managed to read all five of them?). But they're SUCH a brilliant bring-down of the aristocrats and other rich people we're supposed to be so impressed by. Maybe I'll tackle the last couple now.

[scrubb]

Nov 3, 2019 17:27:02 GMT -5 Liiisa said:

scrubb the St Aubyn books are good, but in a "hilariously cutting and miserable" sort of way. I wasn't able to binge them all at once, in fact: it was just too much (now that I think of it, have I actually managed to read all five of them?). But they're SUCH a brilliant bring-down of the aristocrats and other rich people we're supposed to be so impressed by. Maybe I'll tackle the last couple now.

That's good to know. I'm not always all that fond of "hilariously cutting and miserable", so I won't try to binge on them.

Bookbub, $2.99, even if I only read the first one, it's worth it!

[lillielangtry]

Thanks webs!

Since my last update:

The Devil that Danced on the Water by Aminatta Forna (Audio)
Forna is a Sierra Leonean-Scottish writer and I would be interested to try her fiction as well, but this is her memoir/book about her father, who was involved in politics in Sierra Leone and eventually executed there following a sham Trial. It's Long and quite complex - there were a lot of names to Keep track, especially just listening to them - but well-written and interesting.

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
This was a reread. I didn't remember much about it but the Moment I saw those first sentences it came back ("Quiet as it’s kept, there were no marigolds in the fall of 1941. We thought, at the time, that it was because Pecola was having her father’s baby that the marigolds did not grow.") Morrison was a true Genius, even in this debut novel - despite the afterword contributed later in which she is rather critical of herself! A devastating book.

Agnes by Peter Stamm
A novella about a writer who falls in love with a woman, Agnes, and starts to write a Story about her and fiction and reality become intertwined. It's movingly written but fell short for me somehow.

The Gray House by Mariam Petrosyan (Armenia, translated from the Russian by Yuri Machkasov)
This is what has been mainly occupying me for weeks. A massive, sprawling Armenian novel about a Boarding School for disabled children/Teens. It took the author something like 18 years to write and to be honest I'm surprised it was published and absolutely astonished it was translated, because it's a pretty hard sell - but apparently also a cult book in the Russian-speaking world. It's got a very specific atmosphere, the house is at once a haven for the Kids and a deeply sinister place. Probably the most surprising book I've read for my round the world challenge so far. I'm not going to lie, I could've done with it being 300 pages shorter, but I'm glad I read it.

@liisa - looking Forward to your Report of "Ducks"!

[Webs]

Starting Starless Sea by Erin Morganstern - Her second novel after the amazing debut "The Night Circus"

[mei]

Oooh curious what you think of it Webs. I loved The Night Circus so am excited about this new book.

[lillielangtry]

Yes, me too!

[HalcyonDaze]

The Bus on Thursday - Shirley Barret.

This started off as a fairly normal chick lit style diary of a young woman going through a trauma and moving to a small country town. And then it went into a strange sort of paranormal horror story set in the Snowy Mountains of NSW. I am still not sure what to make of the book. Parts of it were brilliant, and the writing was great. Other parts were just clunky and bizarre.

The Testaments - Margaret Atwood,

A friend on FB referred to this as Atwood does YA, and I can see it - certainly a much easier book to read than The Handmaid's Tale. I binged it in about a day. I did love getting Aunt Lydia's perspective.

Nine Perfect Strangers \- Liane Moriarty

Because I'd recently finished The Bus on Thursday I kept on waiting for this small country town Australian story to veer into horror or paranormal.
Chick lit that doesn't really surprise.

[Liiisa]

I was wondering about "The Testaments," Hal... I have a copy of it but for some reason haven't gotten to it yet; I guess I'm worried that I'll be disappointed by it since "The Handmaid's Tale" is such an important book. I'll just take a deep breath and do it (whenever I'm finally done with "Ducks, Newburyport").

My Kindle is no longer telling me which percentage I've read, or how many hours are left, so I feel like I'm floating in the sea, far from land... ducks, pies, Jake, (I still like it, though)

[HalcyonDaze]

The Testaments fleshed out Gilead a bit more but still didn't give the full story.

[lillielangtry]

The Testaments is not The Handmaid's Tale, that's for sure. It is an easier read - if I was being mean, I could say it's a cop-out in some ways? BUT I really enjoyed it. It flows, it keeps the pages turning, the characters are well-drawn. You know, the TV series is so well done but also so troubling, tense and depressing that I didn't want to continue after the first series. This is not like that and to be honest, I was relieved!

[scrubb]

Clandestine by James Ellroy. I think it's his first novel. Still noir detective fiction, still very good, but slightly less convoluted and polished than his famous books (The Black Dahlia and LA Confidential).

[Queen]

Another one curious about Starless Sea @webs

Maigret, Pietr the Latvian
Georges Simenon

I've seen some episodes with Michael Gambon in the lead role and wanted to read some of the original books... they're good fun to read! Good fun for commuting.

[ozziegiraffe]

Nov 8, 2019 7:50:13 GMT -5 lillielangtry said:

The Testaments is not The Handmaid's Tale, that's for sure. It is an easier read - if I was being mean, I could say it's a cop-out in some ways? BUT I really enjoyed it. It flows, it keeps the pages turning, the characters are well-drawn. You know, the TV series is so well done but also so troubling, tense and depressing that I didn't want to continue after the first series. This is not like that and to be honest, I was relieved!

Thank you Lillie. That is encouraging. I’ve been watching the Handmaid’s Tale, where I can’t watch Game of Thrones, after reading the first two books, because of the level of violence.
Now I’ll be looking for The Testaments to read.
Which reminds me, I’ve been watching the latest series of Grantchester, which has taken a completely different path to the books.

[treehugger]

Nov 4, 2019 2:41:57 GMT -5 lillielangtry said:

Thanks webs!

Since my last update:

The Devil that Danced on the Water by Aminatta Forna (Audio)
Forna is a Sierra Leonean-Scottish writer and I would be interested to try her fiction as well, but this is her memoir/book about her father, who was involved in politics in Sierra Leone and eventually executed there following a sham Trial. It's Long and quite complex - there were a lot of names to Keep track, especially just listening to them - but well-written and interesting.

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
This was a reread. I didn't remember much about it but the Moment I saw those first sentences it came back ("Quiet as it’s kept, there were no marigolds in the fall of 1941. We thought, at the time, that it was because Pecola was having her father’s baby that the marigolds did not grow.") Morrison was a true Genius, even in this debut novel - despite the afterword contributed later in which she is rather critical of herself! A devastating book.

I love both of these so much. Did you know Forna is a professor at Bath Spa? I had several of her books on my guestroom bookshelf and one of my Airbnb guests was in her class and told me. She's one of my favourite writers. I really liked The Hired Man - quite a departure from her previous work and really nice to see a black author covering a conflict in Europe.

[lillielangtry]

I didn't tree, thanks for that. I remember there being quite a buzz around her novel Happiness (which was at least on the shortlist for several Awards I think?) and it sounds really good, but I was looking for an audiobook and I often do better with non-fiction on Audio.

[treehugger]

I listened to The Hired Man and really enjoyed it, but I know what you mean. I tend to listen to autobiographies and history/science/political commentary usually.

[Webs]

Nov 6, 2019 17:26:58 GMT -5 Webs said:

Starting Starless Sea by Erin Morganstern - Her second novel after the amazing debut "The Night Circus"

Okay, so far it's as mystical and magical as the Night Circus.

There is a story within a story and it has many layers. I'm listening to the audio book, but I plan to read it too.

I tried to describe it to my niece as a book about going through doors and books as doors that lead to books that lead to doors.

I am enjoying it very much.

[mei]

I'm currently reading 'The Republic of Wine' by Mo Yan. I've wanted to read one of his books for a while - a Chinese Nobel Prize winner - and have one or two at home, but of course the book club pick was another one. It's a kind of brutish magic realism, which makes it a pretty interesting read - even if the topic is cannibalism

[Liiisa]

Thanks for the warning, mei; reading about cannibalism makes me kinda queasy.

I think I read another thing by him a couple of years ago... (looks it up): yes, in 2013 I read "Shifu, You'll Do Anything for a Laugh."

[scrubb]

I read a Mo Yan - The Garlic Balkads, I think? It was good, not great. I forget most of it to be honest.

I just finished the first Patrick Mrlrose novel by E. St. Aubyn. Never Mind. Such awful, awful people. So well done. I think I'll carry on with the second one, but will need a break after that.

[sophie]

I read ‘Red Sorghum’ which I think was his first novel and liked it. For some reason I haven’t read anything else by him. I think I will do something about that when my current to-read pile gets smaller.

[Liiisa]

Nov 12, 2019 12:35:34 GMT -5 scrubb said:

I just finished the first Patrick Mrlrose novel by E. St. Aubyn. Never Mind. Such awful, awful people. So well done. I think I'll carry on with the second one, but will need a break after that.

Yup, exactly my experience.

[sprite]

Miss Peregrine's book 2: HOllow City. (Ransom Riggs)
a fun read, and the characters seem true enough; flawed but admirable, moments of humour, and i can see how it would make a great movie. it has a cliff hanger ending, which i'm less keen on, but i'm halfway through book three now.

Middle England (Jonathan Coe)
ok, cheating a little here as i actually only listened to the first and last 1.5 hrs. I'm being paid to write about this, and have just realised that we're on holiday the week my article is due, so no time to do the whole thing.
i have the book on hold--me and 20 other people--so when that arrives next month, i'll be able to slow down a little. it sounds like a lot of interesting things happen in the middle.

the book covers several years, after the crash of 2008 and up to just after the brexit referendum. there's quite a lot of conflict between ages and social groups, and a constant theme is how the main character just doesn't experience Britain like many of the people in his circle, for various reasons. he's an intelligent man, yet always seems a little shocked by these differences.
the author clearly voted Remain, but is still sympathetic to some (not all) of the Leave voters in the novel.