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Post by lillielangtry on Sept 15, 2020 23:58:26 GMT -5
Well, the book thread is where I feel most at home! :-)
Lois Pryce, Revolutionary Ride: On the Road in Search of the Real Iran A friend who has been to Iran gave me this after I mentioned, as above, that it's where my boyfriend is from. My interest in South America means that I have rather neglected the rest of the non-European world! I was a little wary because I sort of felt it would be better to read about Iran from Iranians and some travel writing can be rather dismissive of the people living there (playing them for laughs, if you know what I mean). But honestly this is a good book. Pryce sets off alone on her motorbike - which women in Iran aren't actually allowed to drive - to Shiraz. She is overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity of the people she meets along on the way and, yes, she has a couple of hair-raising incidents too. She gives a good insight from the perspective of a foreigner; she doesn't speak the language (it doesn't seem to have occurred to her to even try to learn the alphabet for the purpose of reading road signs, but never mind) so she's restricted to interacting with people who speak English, but she has a way of painting a scene with words.
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Post by Oweena on Sept 16, 2020 16:35:00 GMT -5
The Fixed Stars by Molly Wizenberg
Memoir of her failing marriage, birth of her child, and mostly her confusion over becoming attracted to women in her mid thirties. This is her third book, the first two documenting the opening of two restaurants in Seattle. I'm guessing that's why I got this book, trying to support a local author. It bothers me when someone writes their story so soon on the heels of the events that happened. Does that make sense? I feel like it's more a confessional diary when you're documenting current events. Give it a few years and tell us how it all worked out once the dust settled. I don't wish her ill, but I feel like three years from now she'll be flogging her latest memoir of how her first long term queer relationship faltered and ended.
Maybe I'm just in a really cynical place...
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Post by HalcyonDaze on Sept 16, 2020 17:45:58 GMT -5
Lillie, I read Censoring an Iranian Love Story by Shahriar Mandanipour a few years back and loved it. Might be one to look out for.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Sept 17, 2020 7:09:52 GMT -5
53. The Scandal at Bletchley. Jack Treby. I chose this book because I’ve been fascinated by the role of Bletchley Park during World War II, but was rather disappointed. The whole premise of the story, a man living as a woman in 1929, is rather absurd, as is its depiction of MI5. It was obviously written to set the scene for a series of books, but I’m not particularly interested in reading any more of them.
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Post by Queen on Sept 18, 2020 15:53:15 GMT -5
I finally read a thing I liked!!!
Convenience Store Women Sayaka Murata
This was recommended by someone here or on FB, I've lost track.
Keiko is off, she's not normal and she knows it, she fits in by slightly mimicking her colleagues movement and speech. She works part time in a convenience store and the rules of the company and her daily shifts give her days meaning. Something happens that derails this.
I found myself WORRYING for Keiko... in a way I didn't for ELeanor Oliphant (the two characters have some similarities).
It's funny in places, in a dark way, it's mostly satirising modern life and the dreary routine of it all. For some reason the mental picture I have of the convenience store is that it's all ice cream colours and slightly retro 50s style .. while outside the store was harsh and grim. This sensation was so strong that I went back and looked. Neither environment is specifically described. Maybe it's just the ersatz good cheer of the store that led me to fill in the background.
The ending feels a bit rushed, but I liked the book and would read more by this writer... although probably not with Keiko as the lead.
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Post by lillielangtry on Sept 19, 2020 2:37:23 GMT -5
I read and enjoyed that one last year, Q, although it's been quite hyped so you may have seen it elsewhere as well. It was her first book to be translated into English but I see there is another one coming out next month by the same translator. (it's sometimes interesting when books get a whole second life when they are published in English, eg Yoko Ogawa's The Memory Police has been very big in translated literature circles the past year or so, but it was actually written in the 90s).
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Post by Queen on Sept 19, 2020 2:57:49 GMT -5
It might have been you, I often like the books you like, but I think this was a bit more recent.
No idea... must start writing things down.
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Post by Liiisa on Sept 19, 2020 4:30:54 GMT -5
I'll have to put that one my list, Q & lillie!
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Post by Oweena on Sept 19, 2020 7:16:53 GMT -5
Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man by Mary L. T r u m p Yes I read this. I don't think I learned anything new--but man that is a screwed up a family--dysfunction for several generations. He's not the odd man out in the family, they're all apparently incapable of compassion, empathy, or admitting a mistake.
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Post by mei on Sept 19, 2020 7:51:39 GMT -5
I also like the sound of that Murata book. On my list now also!
I just finished tonight's book club read: Albert Camus' The Stranger (L'Étranger). (read it in Dutch of course). A classic book, I think. I liked it, I think. The writing style is very 'dry' (don't know how to describe it differently) which matches the main character who considers life while in prison. It's also a short book, which I liked after having read some pretty big books recently.
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Post by sophie on Sept 19, 2020 9:28:32 GMT -5
Miss Graham’s Cold War Cookbook by Celia Rees. An interesting spy type book set in the British sector right after WW2. The main character is a 20 something teacher, fluent in German, who has applied for and has been accepted as a employee with the Control Commission. She also knew a wanted war criminal from her university days, who is being hunted by various groups. She ends up in the middle, of course. A few unexpected twists, good writing.. a decent read.
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Post by scrubb on Sept 19, 2020 11:52:32 GMT -5
A Fatal Grace, by Loiuse Penney. Second in the Inspector Gamache mystery series set in Three Pines, Quebec.
She has excellent characters but the mysteries aren't particularly strong. There's always a great reveal with all kinds of secrets from the past, which is great, but the murder itself is sort of unconvincing, or somehow just not completely explained. Details don't quite gang together, or something.
Still, I'm enjoying the series.
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Post by scrubb on Sept 21, 2020 16:17:10 GMT -5
The next one in Louise Penney's Inspector Gamache series, The Cruellest Month. Again, the murder itself seems... improbable. Very elaborate and requiring unrealistic planning. But the characters and side plots are great.
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Post by lillielangtry on Sept 23, 2020 4:39:27 GMT -5
Brit Bennett, The Vanishing Half Lives up to the hype! A really interesting story about twins growing up in a small US town where a lot of very light-skinned African Americans live. When they are older, one of them starts to "pass" and live as white, while the other returns home with her dark-skinned daughter. This book jumps around a bit through time periods and the author has that ability to make you want to know more about every single character.
Nella Larsen, Passing I was reminded that I've had the modern classic "Passing" on my to-read list for ages and I'm pretty sure it must have formed one of the inspirations for The Vanishing Half, so I read it too. It's set in 1920s Harlem, where Irene, a light-skinned black woman, meets an old childhood friend of hers who is now "passing" as white and married to a racist man who has no idea of her heritage. You can already tell this isn't going to end well...
The two books really complement each other, with themes of identity, perception, etc.
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Post by lillielangtry on Sept 23, 2020 4:45:28 GMT -5
Oh, and, I think I am going to abandon an audiobook, Around the World in 80 Trains by Monisha Rajesh. I've listened to a couple of hours of it and while, yes, I understand that a round-the-world trip is going to involve seeing a lot of countries in a short amount of time, it's just very superficial so far. I realise I prefer a deeper look at a smaller number of places. So far the author has pointed out that she can only speak to English-speaking Russians since she only has "four words of Russian" - well, given she spent 5 straight days on a train in that country, why didn't she use the time to learn a few more?! She says she downloaded War and Peace for the journey but it made her fall asleep! In Ulaanbaatar, she talks to other foreigners and justifies why she sees nothing else of the country. Having arrived in Beijing, she takes a guided tour around the city, but not without getting in a dig at the "type of people" who usually take tours and/or cruises. Maybe it gets better, but I'm not feeling it and as Audible allows you to return a book and get your credit back to use on another one, I think I'm going to do that.
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Post by Liiisa on Sept 23, 2020 4:57:54 GMT -5
Yeah lillielangtry that travel book sounds a little idiotic. I've still never read War and Peace... I worry that it would put me to sleep too. But those other two books you read sound excellent, and will go on my list.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Sept 23, 2020 7:10:30 GMT -5
54. Murder in the South of France, Susan Kieran-Lewis. Don’t bother. Not fast-paced, not a thriller, and definitely not cozy. The heroine is a spoilt little rich girl with no common sense, who moves in with a foreign conman without any information on his background. She then proceeds to take ridiculous risks. The story was totally unbelievable, and not in a good way.
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Post by scrubb on Sept 23, 2020 18:23:35 GMT -5
A Rule Against Murder, by Louise Penney. Next one in the series. I think it held together overall better than the earlier ones - a more feasible murder, to go with the characters' stories and the settings and all.
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Post by Liiisa on Sept 24, 2020 17:29:50 GMT -5
43) Eugenia Cheng, The Art of Logic
I have always been terrible at arguing, or formulating coherent arguments in writing, so when I heard about this book I decided to read it. Cheng is a mathematician who is the scientist in residence at the Art Institute of Chicago, which was a big selling point. What would the scientist in residence at an art school do?
Anyway, it took me a little while to get through because I wanted to read it carefully, but I really enjoyed it. I think I'll benefit quite a bit from it, and she has a fun writing style.
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Post by mei on Sept 25, 2020 5:21:02 GMT -5
sounds interesting Liiisa!
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Post by Oweena on Sept 27, 2020 11:36:44 GMT -5
I was camping for 5 nights so had time to read:
Hidden Valley Road:Inside the Mind of An American Family by Robert Kolker Harrowing true story of the Galvin family where 6 of their 12 children (yes, 12) ended up with schizophrenia. The family has been used in numerous studies over the years in the search for a cause and a cure for the disease. The book sucks you in with the stories of each of the kids and how the disease progressed over their lifetime and the affect the ill kids had on the 6 who escaped the same diagnosis. There's also quite a bit on the pharma industry and the scientists working on the disease.
No, YOU Shut Up by Symone D. Sanders Sanders is a young, Black female who was Bernie Sanders national press secretary in the 2016 election cycle and now serves as a senior advisor to the Biden campaign. Written more as an urging to young people to get active and to not take no for an answer it was a quick read and she makes some good points about agitating for change from inside the apparatus of the Democratic party as well as being a more mainstream activist. She obviously practices what she writes about since she has been able to rise in system by not taking no for an answer when setting her mind on something.
Save Yourself by Cameron Esposito Esposito is a queer comic I follow on Twitter and occasionally listen to her podcast. In this book she talks about her coming out experience with the background of how her strict catholic upbringing screwed that up. Enjoyable enough book with funny spots and of course anger at organized religion.
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Post by mei on Sept 27, 2020 12:41:06 GMT -5
Finished two books this weekend. It was a good weekend 😁
#18 "Ho llan d" by Rodaan Al Galidi. Written in Dutch by an originally Iraqi refugee (I think; pretty impressive he's writing novels in his adopted language). It follows Semmier, also an Iraqi refugee, after he finally obtains legal residence status in the Netherlands after 9 years and tries to build a life for himself here. It's full of poignant reflections on Dutch society and how we deal as people and as a society with people from outside. Good read.
#19 Kombini Ningen by Sayaka Murata. I don't remember the English name but Q mentioned it above. I read it in the Dutch translation though. Quick read, it took me one afternoon. I found it pretty depressing, because although it's dramaticized to a certain extent it definitely points to so many issues in Japanese society that I dislike. It won the most major literature prize in Japan and I can definitely see why it resonates.
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Post by Queen on Sept 27, 2020 14:32:59 GMT -5
The Terracotta Dog - Andrea Camilleri The Shape of Water - Andrea Camilleri
These are the first two books of the Inspector Montalbano series, and of course I read them in the wrong order.
They're detective stories, and usually a quick read. Set in Sicily so there are swirls of Italian politics around each story, but also lovely scenery and delicious food. Very entertained that a reference to another book set in Sicily came up - and it's a book I read earlier this year.
Fairly macho though, it might be a while before I read another one.
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Post by Queen on Sept 27, 2020 14:42:00 GMT -5
#18 "Ho llan d" by Rodaan Al Galidi. Written in Dutch by an originally Iraqi refugee (I think; pretty impressive he's writing novels in his adopted language). It follows Semmier, also an Iraqi refugee, after he finally obtains legal residence status in the Netherlands after 9 years and tries to build a life for himself here. It's full of poignant reflections on Dutch society and how we deal as people and as a society with people from outside. Good read. It's been translated into English under a different title: Two Blankets, Three Sheets
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Post by mei on Sept 27, 2020 15:28:28 GMT -5
#18 "Ho llan d" by Rodaan Al Galidi. Written in Dutch by an originally Iraqi refugee (I think; pretty impressive he's writing novels in his adopted language). It follows Semmier, also an Iraqi refugee, after he finally obtains legal residence status in the Netherlands after 9 years and tries to build a life for himself here. It's full of poignant reflections on Dutch society and how we deal as people and as a society with people from outside. Good read. It's been translated into English under a different title: Two Blankets, Three SheetsActually, that's the translation of his previous book. Ho llan d is the sequel, following the same protagonist after he's allowed to leave the refugee center.
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Post by scrubb on Sept 27, 2020 23:38:32 GMT -5
Finished "A Brutal Telling", the next Inspector Gamache mystery by Louise Penney.
Though I am enjoying the series (enough that I'm binging on it), some of it's kind of silly sometimes. Some of the murders are ridiculously elaborate and unlikely. Some of the premises are really thin. But overall the characters are so likeable that they're worth it.
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Post by Queen on Sept 28, 2020 6:22:59 GMT -5
Actually, that's the translation of his previous book. Ho llan d is the sequel, following the same protagonist after he's allowed to leave the refugee center. Ah! OK, I bought it anyway. Hopefully the next one also gets translated.
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Post by lillielangtry on Sept 28, 2020 6:53:56 GMT -5
The Terracotta Dog - Andrea Camilleri The Shape of Water - Andrea Camilleri These are the first two books of the Inspector Montalbano series, and of course I read them in the wrong order. They're detective stories, and usually a quick read. Set in Sicily so there are swirls of Italian politics around each story, but also lovely scenery and delicious food. Very entertained that a reference to another book set in Sicily came up - and it's a book I read earlier this year. Fairly macho though, it might be a while before I read another one. I read one or two of these a year when I need to relax. Yeah, there is some irritating sexism involved, it's not quite bad enough to make me abandon the series though. The stories and the food descriptions keep me going.
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Post by Queen on Sept 28, 2020 10:45:28 GMT -5
lillielangtryI think I'll be much the same... I've almost exhausted the Vera Stanhope series so here's to something new!
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Post by mei on Sept 29, 2020 5:26:28 GMT -5
do graphic novels count? if so, I just finished the first part of the graphic novel edition of American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Really diverse art work which was really cool. I wonder how different this is to read than the actual book, which I'll have to try at some point as well.
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