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Post by lillielangtry on Mar 20, 2020 2:35:20 GMT -5
I've read that twice Liiisa (a reread for book club) and I didn't exactly like it, but I think he's an amazing writer. There's a film with Carey Mulligan and Keira Knightley.
#12 Joachim Meyerhoff, Ach diese Lücke, diese entsetzliche Lücke An audiobook by an author I was hoping to see at a literary festival, which is obviously now cancelled. He read the whole thing with a live audience - I assume over several performances as it's 12 hours long?! Anyway, it's the story of the author's time going to theatre school and living with his eccentric grandparents in Munich. It was pretty good.
#13 Robert Seethaler, Der Trafikant (available in English as The Tobacconist) I had liked one of Seethaler's other works but I enjoyed this even more as it had flashes of humour. It's about a young Austrian man from a quiet village, who goes to Vienna and becomes apprentice to a man who owns a newspaper stand/tobacconist's. It's also 1938, so you can imagine what the backdrop is, and it features an elderly Freud, who is preparing to flee to England.
#14 Tahmima Anam, A Golden Age (audiobook) This was another gem that I would never have read if I had not been trying, on and off, to read a woman from every country in the world. This was my pick for Bangladesh, although the author is based in the UK. There are many countries where it is much easier to find an author from the diaspora than one still living there and working in a local language. Anyway, it's the story of a woman set against the war for Bangledeshi independence - not a subject I knew anything about, honestly. I was very impressed. It's beautifully written with subtle, convincing characters.
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Post by sophie on Mar 20, 2020 14:25:46 GMT -5
The Story of More by Hope Jahren. I didn’t like it as much as her first book (Lab Girl) but it was a good book about the whole climate change issue. She had a neat habit of sticking in little known facts or numbers that make the book less dry.
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Post by Queen on Mar 21, 2020 16:19:17 GMT -5
The People's Act of Love James Meek I heard him interviewed and he sounded interesting, he's lived in Russia (where the book is set) and when asked about the book's reception in Russia he was quite dismissive "I don't think Russians need another book about Russia by a foreigner" which I found endearing. The book is about the weirdest groups trapped in Russia during the revolution, a group of religious nutcases who believed castration got them closer to heaven, various revolutionary groups, indigenous people, the Czech legion (who started fighting for the Tsar in the hope he would support their bid for statehood but were unable to get back to Czechoslovakia when the country formed because of the civil war and ended up going home via Vladivostok). There is only one significant woman character, and she has agency, I won't let on what happens to her but it's somehow satisfying. It's well written, peopled with strange and dangerous characters although I did skim some of the military tactics - I did the same with Tolstoy so he's in good company
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Post by tzarine on Mar 22, 2020 16:08:25 GMT -5
loved heart is a lonely hunter read it when i was really young i really felt for mick
liisa never let me go is kinda awful when that revelation is made liked the flick w andrew garfield & the only time i could stand keira knightley
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Post by Liiisa on Mar 22, 2020 16:38:03 GMT -5
14) Anthony Bourdain, Typhoid Mary
I was reading one of those dumb articles "10 Books to Read in a Pandemic" and one of the ones on the list was a book about Mary Mallon, or Typhoid Mary, written by -- Anthony Bourdain! What?!! So I went onto ABE Books and found a used copy, and it arrived just as I finished the Ishiguro.
Anyway, this is a great little book, which talks about her honestly (she was, obviously, rather problematic) but also kindly, from the perspective of another cook. Bourdain did his research, and the result is not just a generous biography but also a sketch of New York in the late 19th/early 20th century. Highly recommended.
(And wow, I miss Bourdain being in our lives so much - what a talented and amazing person.)
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Post by Queen on Mar 23, 2020 14:45:33 GMT -5
The Glass Room Ann Cleeves
Another from the Vera Stanhope Detective Series
Very good, if you like this sort of thing. For the first time I had no inkling of who the murderer was... but the clues were all there. Whereas in the others I've had it right, or nearly right (right person, wrong reason for example).
Good fun read.
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Post by Oweena on Mar 25, 2020 9:30:53 GMT -5
The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott
Female CIA agents/typists in the 1950s, Russian author Boris Pasternak and his lover, the Cold War, it's all in this historical fiction book based on what it took to get Doctor Zhivago published.
It's an engaging read that's prompted me read more about Pasternak and his winning the Nobel Prize for literature as well as the role the CIA played in that.
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Post by scrubb on Mar 26, 2020 13:25:33 GMT -5
Imperial Woman: The STory of the Last Empress of China, by Pearl S. Buck.
It was quite good - a very interesting view of that time in CHinese History. The end of the Manchu Dynasty, when western countries were starting to engage with the country, up to the Boxer Rebellion. Mostly a portrait of a very ambitious and intelligent woman - who demonstrates that power corrupts. The author showed her turn from sympathetic to evil about 1/2 way through, and at that point it became a little less enjoyable a read. Still good history, but no more involvement with the characters. I only call it "good", not very good or excellent, because it did drag more in the second half.
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Post by snowwhite on Mar 26, 2020 14:35:22 GMT -5
Just finished Unnatural Causes by Dr Richard Shepherd, a forensic pathologist who worked on a lot of very high profile cases (the first one he talks about is Hungerford).
I found it an interesting contrast with All That Remains by Professor Sue Black, a forensic anthrolpologist, also a book about death and dead bodies, but Sue Black's humanity shines through, whereas Richard Shepherd seems to deal with the stress and trauma of his job by repression, which leaks through into his personal relationships (I'm not giving a lot away here). Sue Black explains how she copes using compartmentalisation.
They're both interesting reads, but I'd recommend All That Remains over this one, not least because I prefer the company of the author more!
For anyone interested, a forensic pathologist is a medical doctor who specialises in ascertaining the cause of death by measns of a post mortem, whereas the work of a forensic anthropologist relates to identifying human remains and also to working our whose remains they are (if that makes sense).
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Mar 27, 2020 6:29:23 GMT -5
Imperial Woman: The STory of the Last Empress of China, by Pearl S. Buck. It was quite good - a very interesting view of that time in CHinese History. The end of the Manchu Dynasty, when western countries were starting to engage with the country, up to the Boxer Rebellion. Mostly a portrait of a very ambitious and intelligent woman - who demonstrates that power corrupts. The author showed her turn from sympathetic to evil about 1/2 way through, and at that point it became a little less enjoyable a read. Still good history, but no more involvement with the characters. I only call it "good", not very good or excellent, because it did drag more in the second half. I think she’s the one we dubbed The Wicked Witch of the East, while touring the Forbidden City in 1983.
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Post by Oweena on Mar 27, 2020 8:32:41 GMT -5
Just finished Unnatural Causes by Dr Richard Shepherd, a forensic pathologist who worked on a lot of very high profile cases (the first one he talks about is Hungerford). I found it an interesting contrast with All That Remains by Professor Sue Black, a forensic anthrolpologist, also a book about death and dead bodies, but Sue Black's humanity shines through, whereas Richard Shepherd seems to deal with the stress and trauma of his job by repression, which leaks through into his personal relationships (I'm not giving a lot away here). Sue Black explains how she copes using compartmentalisation. They're both interesting reads, but I'd recommend All That Remains over this one, not least because I prefer the company of the author more! For anyone interested, a forensic pathologist is a medical doctor who specialises in ascertaining the cause of death by measns of a post mortem, whereas the work of a forensic anthropologist relates to identifying human remains and also to working our whose remains they are (if that makes sense). Forensic anthropologists are amazing! They've only recently been recognized for how valuable they can be to an investigation. When I was in homicide I worked for years with one who was great. On outdoor crimes scenes, where it's fairly normal to come across bones, she could tell in an instant if they were human or non-human, which saved us valuable time. In all the years I worked with her we only partially stumped her once, and that's because it was a bone that was eroded from decades outside and exhibited animal activity. She felt it was most likely human, and after further study back in her office it turned out she was correct. I've seen her be able to tell us whether the smallest bone or bone fragment was human. They're also great at being able to sex and age most any human bone, which is another time saver when working cases. After watching her work, I've been known to try to steer younger folks I know to look into forensic anthropology as a career. I never knew it was an option back when I was going to school.
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Post by snowwhite on Mar 27, 2020 11:20:51 GMT -5
Just finished Unnatural Causes by Dr Richard Shepherd, a forensic pathologist who worked on a lot of very high profile cases (the first one he talks about is Hungerford). I found it an interesting contrast with All That Remains by Professor Sue Black, a forensic anthrolpologist, also a book about death and dead bodies, but Sue Black's humanity shines through, whereas Richard Shepherd seems to deal with the stress and trauma of his job by repression, which leaks through into his personal relationships (I'm not giving a lot away here). Sue Black explains how she copes using compartmentalisation. They're both interesting reads, but I'd recommend All That Remains over this one, not least because I prefer the company of the author more! For anyone interested, a forensic pathologist is a medical doctor who specialises in ascertaining the cause of death by measns of a post mortem, whereas the work of a forensic anthropologist relates to identifying human remains and also to working our whose remains they are (if that makes sense). Forensic anthropologists are amazing! They've only recently been recognized for how valuable they can be to an investigation. When I was in homicide I worked for years with one who was great. On outdoor crimes scenes, where it's fairly normal to come across bones, she could tell in an instant if they were human or non-human, which saved us valuable time. In all the years I worked with her we only partially stumped her once, and that's because it was a bone that was eroded from decades outside and exhibited animal activity. She felt it was most likely human, and after further study back in her office it turned out she was correct. I've seen her be able to tell us whether the smallest bone or bone fragment was human. They're also great at being able to sex and age most any human bone, which is another time saver when working cases. After watching her work, I've been known to try to steer younger folks I know to look into forensic anthropology as a career. I never knew it was an option back when I was going to school. You should read Sue Black's book!
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Post by sophie on Mar 27, 2020 19:43:31 GMT -5
Husband Material by Emily Belsen. A chick lit type of book, amusing and light reading. It was what I needed.
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Post by Oweena on Mar 27, 2020 20:50:26 GMT -5
[/quote]You should read Sue Black's book! [/quote]
It's probably good, but it would be a bit too much like reading about work.
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Post by lillielangtry on Mar 28, 2020 8:05:45 GMT -5
Well, I'm certainly not ending up with loads of books read during this lockdown, because I'm working my way through the 900 pages of The Mirror and the Light!
So just
#15 Andrea Camilleri, Die Ermittlungen des Commissario Collura A very slim volume of short stories that were originally published as a newspaper column. It wouldn't have been worth buying this, but I picked it up off the free bookshelf here some weeks ago. I always find Camilleri a pleasant read, but there's an interview with him at the back of this book (to pad it out a bit, I suspect), in which he actually admits that the Commissario has no personality but is just a function of the plots.
#16 Alexander McCall Smith, The Full Cupboard of Life (Ladies Detective Agency #5) A relaxing audio book. I always have my phase with this series where I think, it's so twee it's a bit annoying, and then by the end I like it again.
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Post by mei on Mar 29, 2020 5:51:38 GMT -5
#7 Drive your plow over the bones of the dead by Olga Tukarczuk
Enjoyed this, although maybe I was expecting a bit more of it. Evocative writing, I liked the perspective on nature and animals and human's relationship to it. The astrology bits had me skimming some pages though!
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Post by Liiisa on Mar 29, 2020 7:22:09 GMT -5
Ugh astrology. That's definitely on my list, though, since I loved "Flights." And what a great title!
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Post by scrubb on Mar 29, 2020 13:32:53 GMT -5
I was reading "Upstairs at the White HOuse" (it was a Bookbub special) but I kind of lost interest in the whole thing. So I started another bookbub special called "After Kilimanjaro", which is a novel about a surgeon who goes to work in TAnzania for a year. Just started it last night and there is something wrong with the editing - it's missing words all over the place. Most annoying, though, is the premise of how she got there. She's a surgeon who applied for a research position at a maternal health clinic. THe author clearly has no idea how these things work because she's written that the surgeon wrote an application with a bunch of women's rights stuff, because she had no ideas about what kind of research she'd do there and didn't know anything about maternal health. And the grant agency awarded it to her because of her strong belief in women's rights. Yeah, right, that's how these things work There's this ridiculous scene where the chief doctor asks her what research she wants to do and she has no ideas. Yeah, people always get funding and positions based on having no plan... Now that I've written this, I'm wondering why I'm bothering to read it. But it's super easy reading and I do love the setting (at the foot of Kilimanjaro), when I've been struggling to get involved in anything recently. So I think I'll keep going and hope that it becomes less annoying.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Mar 30, 2020 3:45:27 GMT -5
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Post by Liiisa on Mar 30, 2020 7:54:46 GMT -5
They list "A Paradise Built in Hell"!!!! I LOVED that book and have been referring to it quite a lot in these recent days. Recommend recommend recommend. And I love Heather Havrilesky; I follow her on Twitter and try to keep up with her "Ask Polly" column. That's a great list, yay ozzie.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Mar 30, 2020 10:04:38 GMT -5
23. The Last Dingo Summer. Jackie French. I didn’t realise this was the eighth book of a series when I started it, but it didn’t really matter. An evocative story of Australia in fire and drought, very topical, given our recent climate disaster. The characters are well- drawn and believable. I may go back and read others in the series.
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Post by scrubb on Mar 30, 2020 14:01:09 GMT -5
I've read and really liked a few of the books on that list, but don't understand why "White Oleander" is on it. I read that years ago and don't remember it being anything special at all.
Most of them look great, though - I've read a different book by Sy Montgomery and like it quite a bit (about octopi). I'd definitely try another by her.
I finished the silly "After Kilimanjaro" by Gayle Woodson, that I mentioned above. IT didn't get less annoying, but was super easy to read which helped when I could not get to sleep last night. TUrned out it was just a romance novel, but I had hoped the Tanzania setting would make it better. In some ways it did, but there were so many errors that it mostly just irritated me more. She had a terrible editor - no one caught that she wrote about the toucans in Africa, for example. Plus lots of missing words and garbled grammar. Of course, the romance was also ridiculously annoying with stupid manufactured problems and double standards...
There was also a subplot about how she ended up teaching traditional women some basic first aid and how to handle complications in pregnancy, to try to improve maternal outcomes. That was her big research project. Realistically, I'm certain these types of clinics exist and are a good idea, but I"m equally certain that they are not put together and taught by surgeons. There are trained midwives in the country already, who would be the logical instructors. And I've yet to hear of surgeons teaching CPR. Oh, plus of course the main character also easily convinces all the traditional birthing assistants to shun FGM, with one easy lecture. Bleah.
So, not recommended.
Oh, oh! Editing to add: they went on safari in the Serengeti, and drove into the bush to park under a tree with a lion in it. 1. IN the Serengeti the vehicles have to stay on the tracks, it's against park rules to go off them. 2. Lions generally don't climb trees. They could, but only rarely do and it's rarely or never seen in Tanzania.
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Post by Liiisa on Mar 30, 2020 20:30:13 GMT -5
15) Nina MacLaughlin, Wake, Siren: Ovid Resung
WOW, ok, that was a very intense book. Another take on Greek/Roman myths, only this time told as though many of the characters were contemporary, and also with a very feminist approach -- clearly expressing the contempt that contemporary women would feel for men who behaved like the gods behave in Greek/Roman myths. A couple of them were so violent and horrible that I didn't know if I could finish it, but that was just a couple of them. But hey, she didn't change a thing about the basic action of these stories - she just didn't use formal/ancient/word-mincing language, so it hits you with its full force.
So if you're in the kind of space where you can read these comfortably, I'd say it's fantastic: but fair warning.
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Post by lillielangtry on Mar 31, 2020 1:50:10 GMT -5
#17 Hilary Mantel, The Mirror and the Light I decided I had to finish this in March, so I could pick up a new book for April. If you like Mantel, and you like the Tudor period in English history, this is a masterpiece. Sink yourself in it and enjoy. It's not possible to rush it - it's not just the page length, it's the density of it. I think the whole Wolf Hall trilogy is one of the best things I have ever read. But I'm not saying it's for everyone. There are many, many characters with similar names and I can totally understand how that's frustrating. If you are familiar with the period, it's fun to spot the personalities who rose to fame after the time in which the book is set.
Oh, also recently someone asked me if Thomas Cromwell was related to Oliver Cromwell, and I said I didn't think so, but apparently I was wrong - Thomas was Oliver's great-great uncle, or something like that.
So if you look at my number of books for the year, I'm way behind my usual count, but in terms of page numbers, not so much!
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Post by sophie on Mar 31, 2020 8:58:23 GMT -5
Hannah’ s War by Jan Eliasberg. An interesting novel about a female scientist involved in the Manhattan project after escaping from Germany. It made me think about how many women had their work hijacked or stolen by male coworkers as well how the difference between male and female perceptions of applications influenced the development of scientific discoveries.
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Post by Oweena on Mar 31, 2020 9:11:45 GMT -5
lillie I've read the first two Mantel books, not sure I'll tackle this one although I suppose lockdown is as good a time as any...
RE: Oliver Cromwell. He did so much damage in Ireland and on all our trips there you'll stop and read a historical marker or in a museum it seems to always say something like "and this was wonderful until Cromwell came along and destroyed it or killed them all". This has resulted in us blaming Cromwell for pretty much any ruins we come across in Ireland (or even elsewhere).
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Post by Liiisa on Mar 31, 2020 12:29:16 GMT -5
That's fair Oweena... he (and those who came after him) have a lot to answer for
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Post by Oweena on Mar 31, 2020 21:21:22 GMT -5
Marilou Is Everywhere by Sarah Elaine Smith
The plot: poor teen girl in Pennsylvania lives with her two older brothers in a world with no adults around. She learns of the disappearance of another teen girl from her town under suspicious circumstances. She ends up looking after the missing girls mother in a dysfunctional relationship as the mother is mentally ill and thinks the the teen is her missing daughter.
It sounds weird and it is. But the writing is lyrical and there are gothic elements to the writing and vibe. The despcriptions of people and places are what made it for me.
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Post by scrubb on Apr 1, 2020 9:07:40 GMT -5
Last night, still March, I finished Sourdough, by Robin Sloan. He wrote Mr. Penumbra's 24 hour Bookshop, which I enjoyed, and I enjoyed this one too. A (stereotypical) programmer in San Francisco is given sourdough starter and it takes her life in a new direction. There's a smidge of mysticism, and some good story telling, and the character is believable and likeable.
The story gets fairly ridiculous, though, with warring farmers markets, robot cooks, and futuristic development of nutrient-complete "food". The the last big scene devolves into farce. It felt a bit forced. But still, fun overall.
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Post by scrubb on Apr 1, 2020 22:17:43 GMT -5
Started April's thread here
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