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Post by ozziegiraffe on Oct 2, 2021 5:19:25 GMT -5
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Oct 2, 2021 5:26:47 GMT -5
61. Shakespeare’s Landlord, Charlaine Harris. If you enjoy Stephanie Plum or Kinsey Milhone, you will probably also like the feisty cleaner, Lily Bard.
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Post by Liiisa on Oct 2, 2021 6:19:25 GMT -5
Thank you ozzie!
I just started a very interesting book about the development of early states, particularly Mesopotamia. The author thinks we were better off as hunter-gatherers.
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Post by scrubb on Oct 2, 2021 13:38:00 GMT -5
Oops. I wrote my first Oct book in the Sept thread.
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Post by sprite on Oct 2, 2021 15:06:06 GMT -5
I can't remember the name and the book is all the way in the other room... But I started reading at 8:30 pm (we went to bed early) and finished a little after midnight.
Ah! Women of the Dunes, Sarah Maine An archeologist accidentally discovers a dead body from a century ago in a remote part of Scottish coastland where her great-great-grandmother gew up. Investigating the body leads to answering questions about this ancestor's secrets, and the archeological dig sheds light on a 1000 yr old legend including Vikings and monks.
I enjoyed this, the three stories fit together well. Not literature, but a page turner you don't feel dirty about reading later.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Oct 3, 2021 3:12:41 GMT -5
62. Aunt Bessie’s Holiday, Diana Xarissa. Next in an enjoyable mystery series usually set on the Isle of Man, though in this case the two lead characters visit a holiday camp in the English Lake District.
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Post by sophie on Oct 3, 2021 9:26:11 GMT -5
Her Heart for a Compass by Sarah Ferguson. Yes, That Sarah Ferguson. Not a book I would have bought (one step up from a harlequin romance) but it was passed on to me. Meh.
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Post by scrubb on Oct 3, 2021 17:30:21 GMT -5
Fishbowl, by Bradley Somer. It was pretty good - glimpses into the lives of various people - and one fish - who live in a highrise apartment. Written a bit experimentally (like coming back to the goldfish who is plummeting from the 27th floor in several different chapters) but his characters were the strongest part.
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Post by scrubb on Oct 6, 2021 13:53:13 GMT -5
A few days ago I treated myself to a book I'd somehow missed (Unsheltered, by Barbara Kingsolver - hadn't remembered she'd had a new book in the psat few years) and another on my "really want to read" list - The Dutch House by Ann Patchett.
And this morning I finished Unsheltered. As usual, I really like Barabara Kingsolver and her characters and her themes. This one is about societal transition in the US - a couple in their 50s with kids in their 20s, and how nothing has ended up working out the way they thought it would, the way it did for their parents, with security and kids who would do even better than they did. There are also chapters set in their house in the 1860s, showing many parallels with today's society (not the move away from security for most, but with poor leadership and the desire of the 1% to keep what's theirs). It's very easy to read and I agree with a lot of what she says. But it was maybe too political and not personal enough, or if that's not it, I don't know, it just didn't necessarily say anything very new and the themes were a little bit easy to go along with. I still really liked it, though.
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Post by Oweena on Oct 6, 2021 14:59:04 GMT -5
Back from vacation so here's the rundown.
We That Are Left by Clare Clark WWI novel focusing on how the loss of young soldiers affected one family that is left to deal with their grief in their own ways. One turns to seances, one ignores the grief, one buries herself in nursing soldiers, and another delves into hard science. The historical fiction aspect is done well and you can tell the author did some research on what life was like during the war and just after the Armistice.
You'll Grow Out of It by Jessi Klein Klein is a writer for several TV comedies (none of which I've watched) and her book deals mostly with her awkwardness and her inability to feel she fits in as a proper woman, and the supposedly funny ways she deals with it. The thing is, from her descriptions, it didn't seem funny but forced. Something about it didn't ring true with me. Of course I've never stressed over not being feminine enough as I just have never cared. I'm probably not her target audience.
The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish Now this one was funny. Haddish is hilarious and unfiltered and her brutal upbringing with a mentally unstable mom, an abusive stepfather, time in the foster system doesn't sound like the stuff of comedy but she makes it zing. She is foul-mouthed throughout and her stories of a longtime cheating boyfriend made me laugh. Also her time as a pimp (no, really) was funny. There is one chapter where she lets you know up front it's not funny. That's the chapter about her marriage to a stalker/abusive husband. But even that you have to admire how honest she is about the confluence of bad decisions that lead to the relationship. It's a quick read I read on the 6 hour flight home.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Oct 7, 2021 2:33:19 GMT -5
63. How the Light Gets In, Louise Penny. This appears to be the keystone book in the Gamache series. I was reading it in the middle of a corruption scandal forcing our state premier to resign, so it was sort of appropriate. And the primary murder mystery involved a family that the real life version of always fascinated me, because of my interest in genetics (any more detail would be a spoiler). Loved it.
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Post by scrubb on Oct 7, 2021 13:14:56 GMT -5
The Dutch House, by Ann Patchett. I like everything she's written, and this one was excellent. Danny tells the story of his and his sister's lives, focused largely on The Dutch House which is a mansion where they grew up.
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Post by lillielangtry on Oct 7, 2021 14:12:15 GMT -5
The Dutch House, by Ann Patchett. I like everything she's written, and this one was excellent. Danny tells the story of his and his sister's lives, focused largely on The Dutch House which is a mansion where they grew up. The audio book, as I think I mentioned before, is read by Tom Hanks (a friend of the author!) and is also excellent.
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Post by lillielangtry on Oct 8, 2021 2:26:32 GMT -5
#62 Trevor Noah, Born a Crime This was a gift, I'm not really aware of Trevor Noah but I know he is famous in the US. A fascinating memoir about growing up as a mixed child (of an illegal union between a white father and black mother) in Apartheid South Africa. I feel like I don't know enough about his era as I was quite young at the time. I remember Mandela being released but i didn't really understand why he was imprisoned in the first place.
#63 The Afghan Women Writers Project, The Sky is a Nest of Swallows A short anthology of poems and essays by, as it says, Afghan women writers. This is available on Kindle and was originally published in 2012. It's very moving, some of the pieces are deeply sad. Others are more hopeful but they also made me sad, given the recent return of the Taliban.
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Post by scrubb on Oct 8, 2021 12:25:37 GMT -5
#83 Daddy was a Number Runner, by Louise Meriwether. A year in the life of Francie, growing up in Harlem during the Great Depression. It was so well done. I think it's a deliberate parallel of "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn", with a young narrator of the same name. The introduction by James Baldwin points out that it's clear that "poverty has a color" - which made me realize that we didn't get to hear these stories in western literature until relatively recently. When I read ATGiB as a teen, I don't remember wondering how the even worse off parts of society survived.
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Post by Liiisa on Oct 8, 2021 19:45:11 GMT -5
36. James C. Scott, Against the Grain
We've all been told that early states like Sumer and Egypt were a positive development in human society and that the people who weren't in those cities were worse off. The author offers a very convincing argument that that is wrong.
This book has been on my to-read list for at least 10 years, since I heard about it from one of my professors and I graduated in 2011!
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Post by scrubb on Oct 9, 2021 12:58:11 GMT -5
Woohoo! Today Bookbub offered a book I've had on my list for ~5 years for $1.99. I think someone here recommended it - it follows a migrant on the trail through central America/Mexico. "The Beast: Riding the Rails... something or other".
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Post by lillielangtry on Oct 10, 2021 1:12:58 GMT -5
Yes, I think I read that at some point. It was good.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Oct 11, 2021 3:12:23 GMT -5
64. A Village Murder, Frances Evesham. A modern mystery in classic English cozy style, chosen to complete a goodreads challenge.
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Post by mei on Oct 14, 2021 12:59:01 GMT -5
I finished #16, I think? "A Matter of Death and Life" by Irvin D. Yalom & Marilyn Yalom.
It's a personal description of Marilyn being ill (and dying) and of Irvin continuing life without her. It's sad, because it's about a life finishing but it's also interesting to read their reflections on life and so on.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Oct 15, 2021 1:43:35 GMT -5
65. Shakespeare’s Champion, Charlaine Harris. A mystery dealing with racism in a small American town.
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Post by Liiisa on Oct 15, 2021 21:23:01 GMT -5
37. Javier Marías, A Heart So White (transl from Spanish by Margaret Jull Costa)
An interesting little novel. The protagonist's father has secrets - one dead former wife, and possibly another, and how? and a lot of the forward movement of the novel is about whether these will be revealed by the end. Other than that it's a pretty introspective novel; you spend a lot of time in the protagonist's head. It reminded me a lot of Saramago - it's not as quirky as Saramago, but has the same kind of density. I really like Marías, this is the second book I've read by him.
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Post by sophie on Oct 15, 2021 21:34:32 GMT -5
The sweetness of water by Nathan Harris. For a first novel, this book is remarkable. The writing and character development is done exceptionally well; we are talking like a mature writer at their peak. No wonder it was a Oprah’s book club selection. Deals with post civil war society and issues in the defeated south but with contemporary twists: racism, same sex love, poverty… highly recommended.
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Post by Oweena on Oct 17, 2021 8:45:11 GMT -5
The Irish Assassins: Conspiracy, Revenge, and the Phoenix Park Murders That Stunned Victorian England By Julie Kavanagh
Delves into The murders of Lord Frederick Cavendish and Thomas Burke in Dublin's Phoenix Park in 1882. Heavy on the history of the Irish Land League and how many criminal acts committed against the English during the struggle for Irish independence in the late 19th century were funded by Irish Americans.
Lots of focus on Parnell and his years long relationship with the wife of a fellow MP as well as Davitt and his radicalization. Lots of the "action" if you can call it that takes place in Parliament. But there's also Dublin, Chicago, and South African locations covered.
You definitely need an interest in Irish history to wade through this book. That said, I liked it and it added to the small understanding I have on that time period.
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Post by Liiisa on Oct 17, 2021 16:08:41 GMT -5
38. John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids
I've known about the film and the original novel of "The Day of the Triffids" forever, but never got around to reading it. It's an early 1950s postapocalyptic novel, in which a disaster that affects most of humanity is compounded by the fact that someone has developed these plants called Triffids, which are kind of like a Giant Hogweed only somewhat sentient and bloodthirsty.
Hard to put down, suspenseful, and interesting.
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Post by scrubb on Oct 18, 2021 0:46:21 GMT -5
The Beast: Riding the Rails and Dodging Narcos on the Migrant Trail by Oscar Martinez.
An excellent, very depressing book about migrants between Central America and the USA. It was written over 10 years ago and an update would be fascinating, especially one that took in the the orange menace years. It's mostly about what happens to them in Mexico where they are subjected to assault, robbery, rape, and often kidnapping.
The chapter on women was depressing. Over half of all female migrants are raped but the chapter focused more on the Central American women working as prostitutes and bar girls in Mexico. It came across that they pretty much all came from such desperate backgrounds that there were no other options for them. There are a few women that think they'll get jobs as waitresses or salesclerks in the US, and they end up being trafficked into prostitution in Mexico instead - but it came across that most of them came from the streets, from horrible abuse, or from already being prostitutes in Honduras or Salvadore, and they go to Mexico because they pay is better. Desperately sad.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Oct 18, 2021 4:29:06 GMT -5
38. John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids I've known about the film and the original novel of "The Day of the Triffids" forever, but never got around to reading it. It's an early 1950s postapocalyptic novel, in which a disaster that affects most of humanity is compounded by the fact that someone has developed these plants called Triffids, which are kind of like a Giant Hogweed only somewhat sentient and bloodthirsty. Hard to put down, suspenseful, and interesting. I read all of John Wyndham’s books decades ago. Good stuff. But I did a double take when I saw his name, as I know someone with the same name, who I can’t imagine would write science fiction!
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Post by Liiisa on Oct 18, 2021 4:57:00 GMT -5
That's funny when that happens, ozzie!
And yikes scrubb.
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Post by sprite on Oct 18, 2021 8:30:48 GMT -5
Bel Canto, Ann Patchett. Everyone who has ever recommended this book is so right. It should have one pretty much every prize going, not just the Orange.
Set in an unnamed South American country, a swanky birthday party featuring an American opera singer goes terribly wrong when it's invaded by a rebel group hoping to assassinate the president. He's at home watching soap operas, leaving the invaders unwilling to retreat without a prize, but unwilling to kill anyone else in the house.
The rest of the story is beautiful, looking at the power of music and language. It's also a masterpiece in tension; with less than 10 pages to go, the captors and hostages are all still alive and well, enjoying a quiet life with lots of live opera--which we all know is going to end very badly.
I could have read it faster, but it was such a pleasant read I made it last longer. I'm sure I read something else by her but don't recall enjoying it quite so much.
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Post by Liiisa on Oct 18, 2021 12:01:23 GMT -5
I loved that book! She has a new one which I need to remember to get ahold of.
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