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Post by sprite on Apr 15, 2022 10:23:36 GMT -5
I never really cared for Hemingway's writing, but then I read an adaptation of one of his diaries, edited by one of his kids. He came across as a very affectionate and tender husband, with a subsersive sense of humour. Why didn't that come out in his novels??
The Final Girl Support Group, Grady Hendrix. Taking the idea of how one plucky, lucky girl survives the slasher movie, this novel imagines a group of them in a support group, a couple of decades after their horror. 6 women have chosen very different survival paths, and the novel is narrated by one who spends every waking minutes on constant surveillance. It looks like someone is picking off members of the group, but no one believes the narrator.
It's really well done--you genuinely believe these are real women, and that the little inserts between chapters are from real police interviews or academic journals.
I was mildly disappointed, because 'The Southern Guide to Slaying Vampires' was very darkly funny, but this book less so. It was a good read, but not life changing. If you're a horror fan, or think it's a type of movie that should be illegal, you'll probably enjoy this book more.
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Post by scrubb on Apr 16, 2022 17:11:54 GMT -5
Sparks Like Stars, by Nadia Hashimi. Set in Afghanistan in 1978 during/after the Saur Revolution, and in the USA & Afghanistan today, it's about a girl whose father was an advisor to the President, and whose family was caught up in the coup/Saur Revolution. She sees her family killed but escapes herself.
The start of the story kept me reading - how she escapes and the people who help her, and then what happens when she gets to the USA. Then it jumps ahead to her as a surgeon in NYC, shows how she's damaged by her past, and then she is confronted by someone from her past.
It's well done and enjoyable. I think I read an earlier book by the same author, and thought this one was a lot better. But it's not one that will stick with me, like "The Kite Runner", either.
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Post by Oweena on Apr 16, 2022 20:10:33 GMT -5
Lost & Found: A Memoir by Kathryn Schulz
The first half of the book is about grief. Based mostly around her fathers death, but in reality about impermanence and loss of all kinds.
The 2nd half is about her falling in love with her now wife. Again, she uses that story of finding love, to ruminate on love and finding something.
There's a shorter 3rd part, titled "And" which in a way sums up the book.
She takes the long way with these subjects, it's definitely not linear. Her examples of losing and finding are relatable, and they're not extraordinary in any way which is I guess how she makes it relatable. What made it interesting to me is her soothing style and the ability to see yourself in her shoes as she grieves and falls in love.
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Post by mei on Apr 18, 2022 13:35:06 GMT -5
I finished #7: Post Growth, Life after Capitalism by Tim Jackson. Very good. It's a book contemplating what a society would look like which is not capitalist. I very strongly believe that's what we need, and this was a good exploration of many different aspects of it. It starts off economical, but quickly moves into a more philosophical reflection, and uses really inspiring people to show examples and ways of thinking that can help.
What I'm missing is how we make the transition, but I don't think that would've fit in this book in any case. But away from the theory, I still struggle with the question how we put this in practice.
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Post by lillielangtry on Apr 19, 2022 5:55:39 GMT -5
Oh, I haven't posted anything for April yet:
Kapka Kassabova, To the Lake: A JOurney of War and Peace Non-fiction/travel writing. Kassabova is of Bulgarian heritage and lives in Scotland. This is her book about the region of southern Europe where North Macedonia, Albania and Greece meet by lake Ohrid. Fascinating and well written, although you would probably get more out of it if you understood something of the complex history of the region (I resorted to Wikipedia but even then, could have spent hours more researching).
Layla AlAmmar, The Pact we Made A book about a woman from Kuwait who is fast approaching 30 and still unmarried. The book is about how she basically unravels under pressure from her family and society. Very interesting, but I didn't know what to make of the ending. I spent most of the book not knowing if it was going to wind up in some sort of traditional "romance", which would have been weird. It didn't, but the alternative was odd too.
Ben Aaronovitch, Amongst our Weapons The next instalment in the Rivers of London series. Perhaps not the strongest in the series, but still enjoyable.
Alina Bronsky, Der Zopf meiner Großmutter (My Grandmother's Braid) A story about a Russian family that emigrates to Germany under the rule allowing people of Jewish origin to settle in the country. The narrator is a young boy with his grandparents; it's not initially clear what has happened to his parents. His grandmother tells everyone he is "slow" and "delicate", insisting on accompanying him to school, refusing to let him try most food, proclaiming he is stupid even while getting him to translate everything for her, etc. I *think* this was supposed to be amusing? But I found the grandmother character quite horrific, frankly. I didn't get the point of this whole book and only finished it because it was short and I wanted to know if it got any better.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Apr 19, 2022 7:14:48 GMT -5
21. Doom with a View, Kate Kingsbury. OK cozy mystery.
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Post by scrubb on Apr 19, 2022 14:02:00 GMT -5
For Rouenna, by Sigrid Nunez. A writer is contacted by a girl who grew up in the NYC projects with her - that childhood forming the basis of the book she published. She agrees to meet up, and they form a friendship of sorts. Rouenna isn't like her other friends - she's working class, obese, and the only "important" thing in her life was the year she spent nursing in Vietnam.
The book is the narrator's reflection on Rouenna's life, with some unacknowledged comparisons to her own life and some more general philosophical thoughts. Nothing really concrete or definitive, but it's quite readable and I found it worthwhile.
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Post by lillielangtry on Apr 20, 2022 9:28:32 GMT -5
Hannah Azieb Pool, My Fathers' Daughter Pool is a former Guardian journalist who was adopted from Eritrea when she was a baby (her adoptive father being a specialist in the region). This book is her story of discovering her biological father was still alive and she had a whole extended family, who were actually looking for her, and her return to Eritrea to meet them. She can write well and as a story of meeting a biological family it is interesting, but I found it overlong - it would have made a fascinating long-form article, but it felt stretched out as a book as it really deals only with a single, 2 or 3 week trip. It was originally published in 2005 and has recently been reissued, but the worsening of the situation in Eritrea is only dealt with in a brief afterword.
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Post by lisamnz on Apr 20, 2022 22:19:23 GMT -5
I can't remember where I got up to.
The Caretakers, Amanda Bestor-Seigal. Really quite good once I got it. It's the same story told in parallel from the perspective of many different characters.
Hunted, Darcy Coates. Could have been really good, it got quite tense at times, a well written suspenseful horror. But the ending was too trite and tidy.
And a bunch of light trash that I won't bother to list.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Apr 21, 2022 5:40:33 GMT -5
22. Aunt Bessie Knows. Next instalment of a favourite cozy mystery series set on the Isle of Man.
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Post by Liiisa on Apr 22, 2022 21:45:46 GMT -5
13) Robert Silverberg, Those Who Watch
One of those weird little pulp sci-fi novels from the 60s that I'm so fond of. In this one there are aliens whose mission is to keep an eye on Earth. One of their ships crash-lands in the desert, setting off interesting events.
Again this is from the 60s, so there are some stereotypes here and there that are a little eye-rolling now, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
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Post by sophie on Apr 23, 2022 0:19:03 GMT -5
Unsinkable by Silken Laumann. Introspective autobiography by one on Canada’s top rowers who came back from a terrible leg injury in record time to win an Olympic medal in Barcelona. Because she was quite prominent in Canadian sports for several decades, I found the book interesting but I question the need to write a book about the ‘real you’ as part of therapy. Perhaps self-indulgent.
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Post by Oweena on Apr 25, 2022 20:40:44 GMT -5
Since it's National Poetry Month I picked up a book of poetry.
The Nightfields by Joanna Klink
I struggle on our book threads here on figjam to describe and/or review the books I read. So I won't try to sum up her poetry except to say I really liked all of them.
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Post by Oweena on Apr 25, 2022 21:33:25 GMT -5
Revolution: The History of England from the Battle of the Boyne to the Battle of Waterloo by Peter Ackroyd.
Book 4 of 6 on the history of England.
This volume was more interesting than the previous ones. It had the madness of King George, the American Revolution, Nelson, Wellington, and Napoleon. And lots about the start of the Industrial Revolution, to include the Luddites.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Apr 26, 2022 7:10:45 GMT -5
23. Outback Midwife, Beth McRae. A lovely autobiography of an Australian nurse and midwife. She’s about my age, and listening to her (it was an audiobook) made me think I should write some of my own stories down. I chatted to Hellis about this when I saw her. Most of the writing I do is very concise and factual, so I need help with colour. I downloaded this book after my extreme disappointment with a thinly disguised romance entitled Midwife on the Orient Express.
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Post by scrubb on Apr 26, 2022 21:26:41 GMT -5
This is Happiness, by Niall Williams. There is a story in the book but it's much more about time and place. The narrator tries to have 1950s rural Ireland come to life. He does it with long, rambling stories written in a bit of a brogue.
It didn't work for me. It was tooooo slow, and since you don't know any of the people the stories are about they aren't very meaningful. Random Irish names with a 3 sentence story, and you never hear that guys name again, or if you, you don't remember. The narrator is an old dying man looking back and telling the story of his summer in Faha with his grandparents, after his mother has died and he lost his faith and left the seminary. There's some very nice writing and some good truisms, but it dragged and didn't deliver.
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Post by sophie on Apr 27, 2022 0:32:59 GMT -5
The Last Garden in England by Julia Kelly. Story of a grand garden started by a woman in 1907 then how it was during WW2 and finally being restored currently through the action and viewpoints of three women in particular. A quick read, interesting but too chopped up for my taste.
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Post by sprite on Apr 27, 2022 8:06:58 GMT -5
Go for it Oz, you probably have half a dozen books in you. with illustrations from Canayjun?
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Post by riverhorse on Apr 27, 2022 8:37:44 GMT -5
Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah. The story of two sisters who have chosen very different paths in life, one who stayed where she grew up to take over the family business and raise her family, and another who roams the world as a war photojournalist. Both haunted by the cold, dysfunctional relationship with their mother.
The mother is originally from Russia and eventually the truth comes out about her harrowing experiences in wartime.
The only thing I didn't like was there is a family reunion situation at the very end which just seems a wee bit too coincidental to ring true, but overall it was a very enjoyable, although at times harrowing read.
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Post by lisamnz on Apr 27, 2022 22:09:45 GMT -5
Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah. The story of two sisters who have chosen very different paths in life, one who stayed where she grew up to take over the family business and raise her family, and another who roams the world as a war photojournalist. Both haunted by the cold, dysfunctional relationship with their mother. The mother is originally from Russia and eventually the truth comes out about her harrowing experiences in wartime. The only thing I didn't like was there is a family reunion situation at the very end which just seems a wee bit too coincidental to ring true, but overall it was a very enjoyable, although at times harrowing read. I like Kristin Hannah. But the temptation to have a nice tidy ending is sometimes too strong, I think.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Apr 28, 2022 6:15:18 GMT -5
Go for it Oz, you probably have half a dozen books in you. with illustrations from Canayjun? Brilliant idea. With a dedication to TTWT
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Post by Liiisa on Apr 30, 2022 6:08:22 GMT -5
14) Amin Maalouf, Ports of Call An interestingly structured short novel about a man from Lebanon who was descended from Ottoman rulers, who ended up in the Resistance and then suffered various complications due to the political situation at home. I don't remember how I acquired it; it had been on my to-read shelf for quite a while. But I'm glad I kept it, I had a hard time putting it down as it approached the end. Edited to add that this this an RMUBAP (thank you scrubb)
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Post by scrubb on Apr 30, 2022 18:16:18 GMT -5
A read from the pile that has been on my shelf a long time* - Meridian, by Alice Walker.
Her second published novel, it's about activist workers in the south. Events are likely autobiographical.
It was good, but I'm not sure it will stay with me the same way some of her other books have.
*RMUBAP
RMUBAP = Read My Unread Books Accountability Post
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Post by sophie on Apr 30, 2022 22:18:45 GMT -5
A Sunlit Weapon by Jacqueline Winspear. This was another Maisie Dobbs novel, with many of the characters being carried along in each story. This one takes place in London during the blitz and deals with potential spies/political assassinations. Enjoyable read for this genre.
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Post by lillielangtry on May 1, 2022 23:52:16 GMT -5
Two more for April:
Mónica Ojeda, Jawbone (translated by Sarah Booker) Ojeda, who is from Ecuador, writes unsettling fiction in the vein of Samantha Schweblin and Mariana Enriquez from Argentina. If you like those two and don't mind something verging on horror, I would strongly recommend this. It's a story based around a group of teenage girls at a private school and one of their teachers. It's about teen friendships gone wrong, mothers and daughters, teachers and students and yeah, it's a bit creepy/gross in places, and I really liked it.
Patricia Highsmith, The Talented Mr Ripley This was our book club read in April. I'm sure everyone at least knows the film. It feels very fresh, very fast-moving. A deserved modern classic.
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Post by Liiisa on May 2, 2022 5:11:10 GMT -5
I haven't seen the film or read the book of "The Talented Mr Ripley" -- I have "Highsmith!!" written on my to-read list, but keep not getting to it. Maybe I'll read that next after this very long history book that I seem to have committed myself to at the moment.
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Post by scrubb on May 2, 2022 14:32:10 GMT -5
Exactly like Liiiiiiisa, Highsmith and Ripley have been on my list forever. Maybe soon!
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Post by ozziegiraffe on May 4, 2022 7:09:59 GMT -5
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Post by Liiisa on May 4, 2022 20:31:53 GMT -5
Thank you ozzie!
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Post by mei on May 8, 2022 9:17:14 GMT -5
Maybe I'll read that next after this very long history book that I seem to have committed myself to at the moment. That sounds like me! Not really getting a lot of reading done because of it...
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