Fabulous books of February (2021)

[scrubb]

Here's the thread for discussing our books read in February. January's thread is here

[scrubb]

I needed a thread because I finished a book yesterday:

Harry's Trees, by Jon Cohen. Bookbub called it Literary Fiction. It was the Hallmark TV movie of literary fiction. Schlocky schmalz, but well written and enjoyable escapism.

Harry's wife dies in an accident for which Harry blames himself. On the same day, Oriana's father dies. Oriana is convinced her father isn't really dead, that he's been transformed somehow. Feathers and trees bring them together. It's trying to be a meta fairy tale, too.

[Liiisa]

Thank you scrubb! lol I didn't notice this thread, so I created one for February too, which I'm now going to try to delete. Anyway, I just finally finished the following, which I'd begun in December:

1. Eric Foner, Reconstruction

This is a rather long and well-written/researched history book about the ten years after the American Civil War. It describes the policies that were set up by the North after the war and then the forces, events, and people who essentially dismantled those policies, returning the American South to rule by those who'd been in power before the war and essentially abandoning the cause of ensuring civil rights under the Constitution for Black Americans.

I had only known the most basic stuff about this period; it was enlightening to read how it came to pass.

[ozziegiraffe]

Thank you Scrubb. Bookmarking, with one book nearly finished and audiobooks planned for a long road trip starting tomorrow.

[sprite]

Lathe of Heaven
Ursula le Guin

A very ordinary man manages to show his psychiatrist how he can change reality by dreaming. The psychiatrist then uses hypnosis to alter the man's dreams to make a better world, but it never quite works out.

What I found more interesting was how she envisioned earth in the very early twentieth century, as a place with no glaciers or polar ice caps, massive food shortages, and 7 billion people, with most of Asia and the middle East at war.
Each chapter started with a quote that hurt my head.

[riverhorse]

I'm making inroads into Ken Follett's A Column of Fire. By sheer coincidence, PG ordered the paperback version in German on Amazon the other day, so we are kind of reading it "together" - me in English on Kindle, and he in German in paperback.

The HenryVIII/Elizabethan/Tudor era is one of my favourites, so I'm enjoying the story immensely. It's of course a lot less heavy-going than Hilary Mantell's books so can get through it quite quickly.

[Liiisa]

Whoa sprite! That's a LeGuin that I've never read, and am going to put it on my list immediately.

[sprite]

It is beautifully written, and I may have to break down and actually buy Kindles of her books, as the library doesn't have more titles.

And only 200 pages. Remember when books were only 200 pages??

[Oweena]

Thanks for starting this scrubb.
I've got 3 books going at the same time, not recommended.
So it will probably be awhile until I can report back on even one of them.

[lillielangtry]

That Le Guin does sound good.

#6 Hans Fallada, Kleiner Mann - was nun? (English title Little Man, What Now?)
This took me ages although it was quite good. It's a modern German classic from 1932 and deals with a young man called Pinneberg, his new wife and their struggles in the Great Depression.
It has moments of humour - Pinneberg's friend takes him to a nudist club but he gets trapped in conversation with a very dull, and clothed, woman, for example - but it's also very sad and, indeed, very current, as they are constantly scraping by, counting every cent, facing unemployment, being exploited, dealing with bureaucracy for the little assistance they are entitled to. In some ways reading it was quite tiring for that reason and makes you reaise how little has changed. There are also little mentions here and there of the Nazis, although of course the author didn't know what was going to happen some years later.
Overall quite a good read, but I bet it's not a universally popular choice for book club.

[scrubb]

Finished another Harry Dresden. I still think he likes describing torture just a little too much, but if I skim those bits I still enjoy the books.

[sprite]

Another charm of magpies book from KJ Charles.
rag-and-bone is about romance between two men. one is a black paper seller in London and the other is a Cornish magician who can only do magic when he writes and isn't very good at it.
of course they fated great evil and must overcome their personal problems and insecurities to fight it! I won't give away the ending.

it's a fun little sexy romance and it's unusual to find gay stories from Victorian England with magic in them as well.

[Liiisa]

I should ask my SIL if he's read that one, sprite; he's a big gay romance novel fan and also reads lots of fantasy novels.

I've begun the latest Kim Stanley Robinson novel and the first couple of pages are not great, though since I usually love him I will persist. I also spotted a couple of weird errors about meteorology and Indian religious festivals in just those couple of pages that made me think it didn't get edited very carefully... I guess that happens with popular novelists, why put resources into it when it's going to sell anyway.

Don't let this dissuade you if you were going to read it, though, I'm just on page 10 and it could turn out to be great (but the Kumbh Mela is never in Varanasi).

[lillielangtry]

#7 Waris Dirie with Cathleen Miller, Desert Flower
My book for Somalia was the original memoir by model Waris Dirie, describing her childhood in a nomadic family and eventual move to London, "discovery" and career. Her story is really gripping and the book is easy to read, hence the fact I finished it in less than 24 hours. However I felt the difficulties of some parts were really skimmed over - learning to read and write as a young adult for example, and the two(!) sham marriages she goes through to try to get a legal immigration status. These things just seem to work out somehow and not bother her that much, which doesn't seem all that likely. She also expresses no anger towards the people, many of them family members, who shamelessly abused and expoited her. However, you have to have huge respect for her adaptability and resilience.
Naturally, there's a content warning as she describes the FGM she was subjected to, and its aftermath, in detail.

[ozziegiraffe]

9. The River, Chris Hammer. I’d recently read the first two of Chris Hammer’s novels when I discovered he’d written a non-fiction book about the Murray-Darling river system while working as a journalist. I knew I had to read it while living in one of the Darling’s iconic towns.
He brilliantly managed to visit the length of both rivers, and interview representatives of most of the grass roots stakeholders, listening to their stories and reporting them.
The people responsible for the river management plan should read this book. It was written ten years ago. Sadly, nothing appears to have improved, and in many areas, we are going backwards.

[Oweena]

The Doctors Blackwell: How Two Pioneering Sisters Brought Medicine to Women and Women to Medicine by Janice Nimura

Elizabeth Blackwell was the first woman to receive a medical degree in the United States and the first female on the Medical Register in the UK. She was driven to become a doctor so women could be treated by a female physician.
Her younger sister Emily followed a few years later, becoming a well-regarded surgeon.
The story covers their upbringing, studies in the US, Paris, and Edinburgh as well as their later years of starting a hospital for indigent women and children in New York City.

[scrubb]

Sounds really interesting, Oweena - was it well done?

I started a memoir by the spy who captured Eichmann but just needed something really easy and involving, so I reread the final Harry Potter.

[Oweena]

Yes, it was well done scrubb. The sisters wrote a lot of letters as did their 7 siblings. So quite a bit of the book is based on their real words.
My only complaint would be the author ignoring the reality of the 28 years long same sex relationship of the younger sister Emily with Dr. Elizabeth Cushier. She skated around the relationship using euphemisms when it's documented elsewhere. But that's a minor quibble.

[riverhorse]

I've just finished The Column of Fire by Ken Follett, and very enjoyable it was too - it wove through all sorts of different historical highlights that have always interested me - the ascension of Queen Elizabeth, the whole Mary Queen of Scots saga, the St Bartholomew Massacre in France, the Spanish Armada, the Gunpowder Plot. Rollicking stuff! And lots of well developed and interesting characters as well.

[ozziegiraffe]

10. The Alpine Menace, Mary Daheim.
11. A Trick of the Light, Louise Penny.
Both goodreads Cozy mystery challenges, and both continuations of series I enjoy. Both would be recommended for people who’ve read earlier books in the series.

[sprite]

i'm about 25% into Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrel.
I can't decide if I quite like it, or if I just want it all to be finished. 1000 pages!?!

[sophie]

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. Her first novel, universally praised, deals with the very difficult topics of racism, family violence, incest.. all very current although this book was first published 50 years ago. I found it very difficult to read (reflective of my current state no doubt) and struggled to finish it despite it being a very short book. Superb writing.

[mei]

Feb 10, 2021 9:49:04 GMT -5 sprite said:

i'm about 25% into Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrel.
I can't decide if I quite like it, or if I just want it all to be finished. 1000 pages!?!

ah that's my feeling about the book as well! I've started it, but the size is pretty daunting and it hasn't pulled me in enough to ignore that (but yes, quite liked it at the time). I feel I should try again though.

[lillielangtry]

Ah, I'm a fan, but I totally understand not being sure about the time commitment! Her new one, Piranesi, is MUCH shorter ;-)

[HalcyonDaze]

Picked up the latest Mike Chen book at the library on Wednesday and over half way through already. I've reached that stage in a fun book where I don't want to finish it so I try to slow down a bit.
So far it iil 3 from 3 for excellent books by Mike Chen.

[Oweena]

All Change by Elizabeth Jane Howard
5th and last book in the series that I somehow started by reading book #4.
I won't need to read books 1-3.

This final volume was set in the 1950s in the UK. It felt like there was way too much emphasis on the young children and their whining and infighting and needs. The adult and late teen characters would have been a fair enough book, the repetition about what babies to 14 year old kids do in their daily lives seemed like dull filler.

[lillielangtry]

#8 Madeline Miller, Circe
I know some people here read this a while back. Miller is an excellent writer and the story really keeps you reading, even though it feels quite episodic rather than typically novel-structured. It's very good. For some reason I just liked, and didn't love it though.

[ozziegiraffe]

12. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini.
At first I didn’t like the main character at all, as he came over as a spoilt brat. However, the book became more compelling. A fascinating insight into the recent history of Afghanistan.

[sprite]

I enjoyed Circe, and have got Achilles on hold.
Years ago, I read the Penelopiad, and Circe sort of reminds me of that, but the Penelopiad was more poetic.

The Kite Runner made me feel more emotions than I'm comfortable with. Not only the book, but just knowing that the story would apply to thousands of other children.

[ozziegiraffe]

Feb 14, 2021 6:15:37 GMT -5 sprite said:

The Kite Runner made me feel more emotions than I'm comfortable with. Not only the book, but just knowing that the story would apply to thousands of other children.

We’ve done some training in working with refugee children, but we have no idea, really, what some of them have been through.