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Post by scrubb on Sept 18, 2021 17:20:00 GMT -5
"Notes on a Scandal - shortlisted for the Booker - is on sale right now for kindle. $2.99. Also called "What was she Thinking?"
I'm hesitating. Usually I'd buy a Booker nominee automatically for that price, but I read some reviews and have the feeling I wouldn't enjoy it. The warped psychology of the main characters might be worthwhile, but it sounds like it's somewhat flippant and trying to be a comedy too, and that doesn't appeal much.
Anyone read it?
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Post by Liiisa on Sept 18, 2021 17:57:28 GMT -5
Well! I have now read the wikipedia entry for that book. It seems like there are enough interesting tension points and plot twists to keep one going. If I didn't now know the entire plot from reading the wikipedia entry, I'd probably read it if page 56 made the writing style seem tolerable.
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Post by sophie on Sept 18, 2021 20:13:26 GMT -5
The Madness of Crowds by Louise Penny. Another one in the series with the same characters. Set post pandemic in Quebec, it raises some excellent ethical questions about economic priorities but within the story line of a murder mystery.
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Post by Oweena on Sept 19, 2021 8:24:30 GMT -5
Detransition, Baby By Torrey Peters There are 3 main characters in this book. A trans woman, her ex-girlfriend, also a trans woman who after their breakup detransitioned and is now presenting as male, and his female boss who he's been sleeping with. I liked the plot, the characters, and the writing. Their lives are messy and at times, chaotic. But it all equals a good read. FYI there is some explicit sex in the book if that bothers you.
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Post by scrubb on Sept 19, 2021 17:20:34 GMT -5
Nightingale Point, by Luan Goldie. About the lives of several people who live in a tower on a Council Estate, when a plane crashes into it. I guess the event actually happened, though the book is fiction.
I enjoyed it. The mix of characters us interesting - a pair of brothers who have been on their own together since they were really young, a Philippino nurse who sort of looks after them, a developmentally delayed man, a high school girl, and assorted supporting players. Maybe a bit fluffy, but really engaging. It was longlisted for the 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction and the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize.
Edit: A few hours later, I realized that the author really cheated at the end. She jumps from 6 months after the event, to 5 years after, which would have been acceptable except that it meant she didn't have to write about the evolution of the main character. He was the good kid, the hard worker with dreams, who you wanted to see succeed and he was in a bit of a downward spiral... and then suddenly it's 5 years later and we just see where he's at then, without getting to see how he got there. Kind of lame.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Sept 20, 2021 7:34:40 GMT -5
59. A Second Chance, Jodi Taylor. I’m loving the mix of history, mythology, fantasy and science fiction in the Chronicles of St Mary’s.
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Post by lillielangtry on Sept 22, 2021 2:12:13 GMT -5
I only read 2 books on my holiday, but they were good ones.
#57 Fiona Mozley, Hot Stew Mozley wrote Elmet, which was shortlisted for the Booker a few years ago and which I LOVED, so I was looking forward to her next book. Elmet was set in very rural northern England; Hot Stew is very different, set mostly in Soho (London). I think you can really see how Mozley has grown as a writer, there are lots more characters and she does characters and place beautifully. The plot is perhaps not the main focus, but it carries you along. She looks at the interplay of sex workers, homeless people and super rich property developers who want to get them out of the area. I perhaps didn't love this as much as Elmet, but I very much enjoyed it.
#58 Maha Gargash, The Sand Fish My book for the United Arab Emirates, this is set in the 1950s in Dubai, which is at that time still a very traditional culture. The main character is a young woman sold off into a polygamous marriage with a husband who is in the pearl-diving business. She is a bit of a rebel, which is where the tension in the book comes from. It reads very quickly and almost has a romance vibe to it. Also the research and the details about the way of life, dress, food etc are very interesting. The one thing I would say is that the plot is not structured in the way I'd expect. It is completely linear - one thing happens, and then another thing and then another thing, and I thought we'd go back and find out what happened to some of the characters from the beginning, but no. At some point the book just ends. So that was a bit odd. But I must say I still liked it overall.
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Post by Liiisa on Sept 22, 2021 5:06:10 GMT -5
Wow lillie thank you - I didn't realize Fiona Mozley had a new novel. I loved 'Elmet' too.
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Post by lillielangtry on Sept 22, 2021 5:39:08 GMT -5
I forgot to mention - there is one aspect in the middle of the book, or one character, that I found unbelievable. The setting is completely believable, but what happens there was not, for me. Yet although I found it unrealistic, I liked that she was doing something different. Still a bit of a shame because the majority of the book seemed absolutely accurate to me.
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Post by Oweena on Sept 23, 2021 6:11:35 GMT -5
All In AN Autobiography By Billie Jean King, Johnette Howard and Maryanne Vollers
Listened to an interview with King on Fresh Air about this book so decided to read it. She did a ton of behind the scenes stuff to get the women tennis players equal pay, starting in the early 1970s and continuing today. I think most people don't realize that about her and only know her as an athlete. Her early days of tennis are interesting to read about as well as her struggle with figuring out her sexuality, and being outed by a former girlfriend. But a good chunk of the book came across as a lecture, or patting herself on the back. I suppose an autobiography is the place to do that, but there seemed to be a lot of it compared to other autobiographies I read.
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Post by Liiisa on Sept 23, 2021 20:05:15 GMT -5
33) Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café
A group biography/history of the main protagonists of Existentialism and various movements/ideas leading to it and out of it, particularly Sartre and de Beauvoir, of course, but also many other interesting characters. I thought it was just splendid, both for the writing and the ideas.
It's not a dry, difficult philosophy text, but rather really did feel, as the title hints, like being in a cafe with a group of interesting, occasionally exasperating people. Really enjoyed it and am going to go back to Paris now, bye
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Sept 24, 2021 7:08:04 GMT -5
60. Killer Cables, by Reagan Davis. A good cozy mystery except that it is written in the present tense, which comes over as stilted. A pity, as I like the characters and the setting, a knitting shop in a lakeside Canadian village.
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Post by scrubb on Sept 25, 2021 20:40:57 GMT -5
Into That Good Night, by Lev Keltner. Mixed feelings about it, and it's longer than it needed to be, but overall worthwhile. Turned out to be YA fiction, but it's very dark. About a group of kids in middle school - and I guess either I'm very out of touch (entirely possible), or this author is out of touch, but I didn't think that it was common for 11 - 13 year old kids to do a lot of drugs and have a lot of sex. Not unheard of, of course, but in this fictional school there were lots of them.
One of these partying/having sex at 11 or 12 children is murdered in the woods where they go to party. A group of misfit kids get together to try to solve the case by digging in the woods. There are hints that satanic rituals were taking place there, etc., so they're looking for clues. They end up moving in dark directions, but also bonding, and it's all confused about whether or not they are being manipulated, and by who. Main character's interior monologue is confusing and awkward, like the kid, which can be frustrating.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Sept 26, 2021 5:06:48 GMT -5
Not the sort of book I’d be recommending for middle-schoolers then. In my decades of experience working with this age group, there are a small proportion that start doing drugs in primary school age 9 or 10, and an even smaller proportion that are sexually active around 11 or 12, often children that have been abused. A book like that may encourage them to think those behaviours are normal.
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Post by lillielangtry on Sept 26, 2021 10:29:37 GMT -5
My numbering is out of synch with Goodreads again, how does that even happen...
#60ish Juli Zeh, Corpus Delicti (English title: The Method) This was written over 10 years ago, so not inspired by recent events, and yet... it's set in a near-future society that upholds public health as the ultimate good. Alcohol, tobacco and caffeine are all illegal and citizens have to submit compulsory blood tests and are only allowed to have relationships with those with compatible immune systems. The main character is a young woman whose brother was accused of rape, with DNA evidence, and who subsequently killed himself. Initially a compliant citizen, she starts to rebel against "The Method", not really because she wants to but out of grief and then it sort of snowballs. It's very readable and thought-provoking, but quite sketchy - apparently it was originally a play and that shows.
#61 Evan S. Connell, Mrs Bridge My mum gave me this and she either asked for a recommendation or read somewhere that this book was for people who liked Stoner by John Williams. And I can see why! It's the story of a Kansas City housewife, Mrs Bridge (there's a companion volume for Mr Bridge apparently) and it's both blackly humorous and deeply sad. Really liked it, well done mum.
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Post by scrubb on Sept 26, 2021 16:48:26 GMT -5
Not the sort of book I’d be recommending for middle-schoolers then. In my decades of experience working with this age group, there are a small proportion that start doing drugs in primary school age 9 or 10, and an even smaller proportion that are sexually active around 11 or 12, often children that have been abused. A book like that may encourage them to think those behaviours are normal. It did make one of the sexually active 11 or 12 year olds an abused child. But the one who was murdered wasn't. Most of the characters were finishing grade 8, so would have been 13 or even 14. But even that seems young. Lillie, I loved Stoner so will keep my eyes open for that. I also loved Elmet, so will keep an eye open for that new one.
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Post by Liiisa on Sept 27, 2021 20:28:32 GMT -5
34. Jack Williamson, Golden Blood
This is one of these strange little pulp sci-fi paperbacks that I like to buy for the cover art. This one was sort of misplaced in the sci-fi section - it's an Exotic Adventure type story originally published in some magazine in 1933, in which a manly fighting sort of man and his kind of sketchy comrades venture into the Empty Quarter of the Arabian Peninsula in search of a fabled city of gold.
And it was surprisingly engaging and non-problematic. The protagonist, while implausibly indefatigable, was a pretty good guy.
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Post by Queen on Sept 29, 2021 8:17:54 GMT -5
Black Tulip Alexandre Dumas
It's set in the Netherlands and around a politically messy time... there's danger and adventure and romance. All the ingredients of a good romp in a novel.
Fun to read, especially as some of the places he writes about are still here - He was writing in 1840s about events in the 1670s.
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Post by scrubb on Sept 29, 2021 19:13:48 GMT -5
Black Tulip Alexandre Dumas It's set in the Netherlands and around a politically messy time... there's danger and adventure and romance. All the ingredients of a good romp in a novel. Fun to read, especially as some of the places he writes about are still here - He was writing in 1840s about events in the 1670s. I had to read that in French, in high school. I remember enjoying it enough that I searched out an english version later. Thinking back, it was probably a simplified edition in French. Would have taken me a really long time to read a full length French book
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Post by sophie on Sept 30, 2021 0:14:28 GMT -5
The Code Breaker by Walter Isaacson. A non fiction book about (mostly) Jennifer Doudna and the whole field of gene editing (CRISPR) and development of the vaccine for Covid-19. I found it fascinating, but it can be a bit dry and technical at times. Worth reading as this whole field will be changing how we view medicine in the future. He also doesn’t shy away from the ethical issues gene editing raises which I believe will be very important for our society in the near future.
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Post by sprite on Sept 30, 2021 4:46:17 GMT -5
between being on holiday and the tablet that I read on slowly dying, I haven't read much, and it's been in "real" books, which is a shock.
I've finally got a dictionary on my 'bed' device, so I may finish that Maigret before Christmas.
Lord Peter Views the Body: Dorothy Sayers. A collection of short stories. Excellent holiday read, light, funny, not all murders. I do find the sexism surprising, the casual assumptions that women aren't normally interested in intellectual discussions, or aren't capable to dealing with difficulty--these aren't presented as insider jokes (Ah, silly man, thinks women can't cope with blood!).
COffin Scarecly Used: Colin Watson, first in a series about a police detective in South West England during the 50s. AGain, light murder, some humour, good characters. Everything revolves around men and men's thoughts, but that's less surprising given the author and the time.
I've put both of these authors on my list to look for more of their books.
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Post by sprite on Sept 30, 2021 4:47:56 GMT -5
Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. (Jane Austen and Ben Winters) From the people who brought you Pride/Prejudice/Zombies. Exactly what it says on the tin. Very silly, but good fun.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Sept 30, 2021 6:18:05 GMT -5
Love Dorothy Sayers, but hated Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Sophie, that book about gene editing sounds fascinating.
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Post by riverhorse on Sept 30, 2021 8:23:46 GMT -5
Oddly enough, now that I'm back at school working 60 hour weeks, my reading has fallen waaaay behind.
In September I managed The Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis, which was a really enjoyable historical mystery jumping between pre-WW1 and 1990s New York, set in the New York Public Library. Who is stealing the priceless literary works held by the library?
I also read Because of You by Dawn French. About a grieving mother who gives birth to a still born child, raises another as her own and then the past catches up with her. I can't say more than that without giving too much away, but oh, the ending. It really gets you in the feels.
I also read The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah. I had already read The Nightingale by her, but this is so much different. A beautifully told story, even though a major thread (domestic abuse by a Vietnam vet suffering PTSD) is sometimes very hard to deal with. However, the descriptions of life in the Alaska wilderness, where this family escape to to try and start again, are very evocative. Another gets you in the feels ending.
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Post by Liiisa on Sept 30, 2021 19:25:07 GMT -5
35) Nnedi Okorafor, Lagoon
In which aliens appear in Lagos, Nigeria
This was a great book. I love the setting, and how thoroughly the author personified it; the characters; the use of sound and smell to describe what's happening; and how she uses Pidgin in a lot of the dialog and just lets us figure out from context what they're saying (there's a glossary in the back, though). Really very good.
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Post by scrubb on Oct 1, 2021 19:03:36 GMT -5
Three Among the Wolves: A Couple and Their Dog Live a Year with Wolves in the Wild by Helen Thayer.
The author is the first woman to have soloed to the North Pole. She's trekked across the Gobi Desert. She's incredibly fit and adventurous.
And she tells you that in the first couple pages. I would have enjoyed the book more if all that info about how amazing she is had come out organically. For example when they were pulling 350 lb sleds while skiing across ice packs, she could have compared the ordeal to something else she had done.
Still, a great story about the pair (and their dog) camping beside wolves for a year. I just didn't think she was a great writer. She just writes down what happens and how she felt, which is fine, but this book could have been great in the hands of someone who really knows how to tell a story.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Oct 2, 2021 5:21:12 GMT -5
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