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Post by sprite on Jun 30, 2020 15:30:43 GMT -5
i mean, there were sentences i stopped and read out loud to my partner--and he'd just finished reading it!
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Post by Oweena on Jun 30, 2020 16:58:15 GMT -5
The Cactus League by Emily Nemens
If you don't like baseball, don't read this book. It was on a list of good summer reads is how I tripped across it and it's underwhelming and full of unlikeable characters.
The only redeeming feature may be that not everything was wrapped up all nice in the end. Because if you're going to write a supposed realistic novel, not much in life ends up all happy and resolved, right?
Oh, and the author really didn't sell me on any reason to ever return to Arizona.
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Post by scrubb on Jun 30, 2020 18:23:17 GMT -5
M is for Magic, by Neil Gaiman. A collection of short stories, most of them with supernatural elements. I think he says they're for "younger readers", and they are very imaginative and fun. And although I think he considers himself a horror author, I felt they fit into the fantasy genre more than horror.
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Post by Liiisa on Jun 30, 2020 21:00:37 GMT -5
Huh, I don't think of Gaiman as horror... maybe because to me horror has to be very frightening, and his work isn't frightening, just a little disturbing at times, mostly just very imaginative. So maybe just "weird"?
Anyway --
31) Margaret St. Clair, Message from the Eocene
I saw this sci-fi paperback from 1964 advertised in another 1960s-era sci-fi paperback and thought "the Eocene! wow!" and immediately ordered it from ABE Books. But wtf, it had exactly nothing to do with the Eocene. It starts out in the Archean and then jumps directly to 1964. So that was disappointing. That said, it had a bizarre and wonderfully nonsensical plot in the way that only early-1960s sci-fi paperbacks can. Like wait -- what?
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Post by HalcyonDaze on Jun 30, 2020 21:14:32 GMT -5
47. The Witch's Kind - Louisa Morgan
A strange little tale. I found I loved the historical fiction part, was ok with the idea of magic and less impressed with the shoe horning of aliens into it all.
48. Away with the Penguins - Hazel Prior
Wonderful story. A stubborn old woman decides to leave her fortune to a penguin research station after watching a documentary one night. Though before she does this she makes two decisions - to check that she really is alone in the world and to go and stay at the research station on a sub Antarctic Island. This introduces us to Patrick. her grandson and to the scientific researchers along with the penguins.
One of those sweet books with a lot of heart. I am going to be handing my library copy over to Mum tomorrow for her to read.
49. Saturdays at Noon - Rachel Marks
Debut author with a decent tale of Emily and Jake who meet at an anger management clinic. Emily grew up in foster homes and has various issues to work through. Jake is trying to keep his marriage together while he and his wife deal with a very difficult 6 year old son. Alfie, the son, bonds with Emily, one of the few people who seem to get him.
I enjoyed this - sure, some chick lit standards were there but I liked the voice of Emily and the perspective of Alfie was well done. A good luck at parenting, family and relationships. And refreshing to see that no one in the marriage was painted as 'the bad guy' - it was just a look at how people deal with hardships and how that can change people.
I would look for another book by Marks.
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Post by HalcyonDaze on Jun 30, 2020 21:19:59 GMT -5
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Post by scrubb on Jun 30, 2020 23:24:44 GMT -5
Huh, I don't think of Gaiman as horror... maybe because to me horror has to be very frightening, and his work isn't frightening, just a little disturbing at times, mostly just very imaginative. So maybe just "weird"? Yeah, I don't necessarily think of him as a horror writer but in the intro to this book that's how he referred to himself. Well, not as "a horror writer" but he said something about "when you're writing horror...". Maybe "dark fantasy"?
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Post by lillielangtry on Jul 1, 2020 0:37:24 GMT -5
I am really interested in the Wilder now but I have been buying quite a few books lately and reading less because of not commuting, so I am NOT going to get it!
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Post by riverhorse on Jul 1, 2020 1:25:20 GMT -5
Just in time to still make the June thread, I finished Jackdaws last night. Thrilling pageturner right to the end and I read somewhere online that the BBC are turning the story into a series. Really looking forward to that - I'm trying to imagine who would make the best main female protagonist.
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Post by HalcyonDaze on Jul 1, 2020 2:40:27 GMT -5
Are these all through Libby?
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Jul 1, 2020 3:36:25 GMT -5
Thornton Wilder, Bridge of San Luis Rey What a lovely, wonderfully crafted little book. Set in 17th centry Peru, the author relates the investigation of a monk, after 5 people die when a rope bridge collapses. he's seeking the pattern of God's plan in their deaths, and uncovers their lives. the book is so compelling, that I actually googled the event, i was convinced it was real. The first chapter is about an old woman rejected by her social climbing daughter, and it's pointedly funny. the mother is no saint, but becomes famous for the letters she has written her daughter. the chapters slowly become more serious, and by the end, it's quite sad. at less than 200 pages, it's a fast read, and very easy, despite being written in 1927. I'd read more of his books, i'd only known that he wrote plays. I read that one at school, which is so long ago, all I remember is it was set in South America.
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Post by Liiisa on Jul 1, 2020 4:53:46 GMT -5
scrubb - Dark fantasy! That's good.
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Post by riverhorse on Jul 1, 2020 7:49:48 GMT -5
Are these all through Libby? Yes! It makes such a difference being able to download up to date books in English!
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