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Post by scrubb on Aug 12, 2022 16:45:45 GMT -5
Travels in the Third Reich, by Julia Boyd.
Recommended by some here, I think, it was a well done look at the experiences of tourists in Germany between the wars. Well worth reading.
That said, it wasn't what I'd imagined it was going to be - I'd imagined it would tell the whole stories of a few different people's trips. Instead it was chronological, discussing what various visitors had to say at that time. It was much less like a story and more like a history than I'd expected (based on nothing). So, don't expect it to read like a story!
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Post by Oweena on Aug 12, 2022 22:44:46 GMT -5
The Facemaker: A Visionary Surgeon's Battle to Mend the Disfigured Soldiers of World War I by Lindsey Fitzharris
Interesting story of Dr. Harold Gillies, who pioneered many of the techniques still in use today to address severe jaw/facial injuries. He used a collaborative approach; working with dentists, artists, and others to do more than stitch up the injured soldiers. He would literally rebuild noses, chins, foreheads, etc. Many of the soldiers had numerous surgeries as he would only do grafts and skin flaps a bit at a time in order to have better aesthetic results. Fitzharris does a good job of not having it be dry by telling individual named soldiers stories, from how they were injured on the battlefield through their surgeries to how their life worked out post-WWI.
If you're queasy, don't look at the photos at the rear of the book. I found the progression of how each surgery improved their faces fascinating.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Aug 13, 2022 5:22:08 GMT -5
50. A Dangerous Place, Jacqueline Winspear. Historical mystery set n Gibraltar and Spain during the Spanish Civil War. Sensitively deals with issues of grief and loss. I’m really liking this series.
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Post by lillielangtry on Aug 13, 2022 6:58:32 GMT -5
I really liked that, scrubb. You're right though, it is a lot of different people.
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Post by sprite on Aug 13, 2022 9:22:31 GMT -5
If I Never Met You, Mhairi MacFarlane.
RomCom. Laurie's partner of 18 yrs dumps her, the only Boyfriend she's ever had. A super hot colleague with a Lothario reputation suggests they fake a romance on social media; she'll get revenge and he'll convince the bosses that he's a serious person because he's in a serious relationship, thus earning him a promotion. The inevitable ensues.
It's chicklit, but it's funny, the best friend relationships are a full part of the story, family dynamics are explored, it's moderately feminist. It's not quite as sharp as some of her earlier novels, it feels a bit like she's used up all her best jokes.
And the lead character is black/mixed race, which is great in a mainstream novel, but it feels a bit like the author read lots of twitter posts from mixed race British women and then put them into that character. Like, there's a part where she gets a hair cut, and it feels like, "ooh, I've heard that people with afro hair struggle to find a hairdresser who understands how to cut that, must fit this into my book!" Maybe if I were mixed race, I'd read it differently?
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Post by scrubb on Aug 13, 2022 16:48:35 GMT -5
The Overstory, by Richard Powers.
Still deciding how good it was. Sometimes I loved it, sometimes I struggled a bit.
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Post by Liiisa on Aug 13, 2022 18:13:05 GMT -5
That's just about how I felt about it, scrubb. Actually I think that describes all his books for me.
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Post by scrubb on Aug 14, 2022 18:04:59 GMT -5
Drive your Plow over the Bones of the Dead, by Olga Tokarczuk.
Really good, but hard to describe. Events in a small vilage in Poland, narrated by an old woman who is an Astrologist.
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Post by Liiisa on Aug 14, 2022 18:30:41 GMT -5
Drive your Plow over the Bones of the Dead, by Olga Tokarczuk. Really good, but hard to describe. Events in a small vilage in Poland, narrated by an old woman who is an Astrologist. Yessssss I loved that book
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Post by sprite on Aug 15, 2022 3:54:39 GMT -5
Drive your Plow over the Bones of the Dead, by Olga Tokarczuk. Really good, but hard to describe. Events in a small vilage in Poland, narrated by an old woman who is an Astrologist. Also loved this book. With a title like that, you can't go wrong. I sort of guessed the ending 2/3 of the way through, but I think we were meant to--part of the character's development is her struggle to accept the world around her as it is.
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Post by lillielangtry on Aug 15, 2022 8:20:59 GMT -5
I agree sprite - it's not exactly a twist but rather a dawning on the reader.
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Post by Liiisa on Aug 15, 2022 8:53:28 GMT -5
Such a good book. Unfortunately her new one is much more of an endurance exercise; I found it worthwhile but also think it would have been even better if it had been only 200 pp long.
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Post by lillielangtry on Aug 15, 2022 13:53:00 GMT -5
I've got a few updates:
Lucky Breaks by Yevgenia Belorusets (translated from Russian by Eugene Ostashevsky) A collection of short stories by a Ukrainian writer/photographer - some of her photos are included too. As with many collections, I enjoyed some of these more than others. The conflict in Ukraine, ie the one that has been ongoing since 2014, is a backdrop but not a direct subject of most of them.
Grey Bees by Andrey Kurkov (translated from Russian by Boris Dralyuk) The latest novel by Ukraine's leading novelist. This one deals much more directly with the conflict, as it's set in the "grey zone" between the main part of the country and its breakaway regions (obviously pre-invasion). Sergey is a middle-aged beekeeper and one of just two people left in his village in no man's land. Concern for his bees leads him to leave and come into contact with others in different parts of the country. It's sensitively written, sad and beautiful. The war is ever-present but it's not gruesomely described. Highly recommended.
Wie ein Stein im Geröll (available in English as Stone in a Landslide) (translated from Catalan by Heike Nottebaum) A novella about a Spanish peasant woman's life before, during and after the Spanish Civil War. Very simply told, which could be either beautiful or too sparse, depending on your preference. The cover of my edition says it's about "loving and being loved", but honestly I disagree. It's less about romantic love and more about family duty and sheer hard work.
Charles Dickens, David Copperfield I've been listening to this audiobook for about 6 weeks, but it is 40 hours long! Free on Audible. It's excellently read and honestly a great story with unforgettable characters. Yes, Dickens got paid by the word and, yes, he hadn't planned the ending when he started publishing it in instalments and, yes, there are SEVERAL astonishing coincidences that would make you think London was the size of a small village. But it's a wonderful journey to go on with him.
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Post by Liiisa on Aug 16, 2022 18:11:55 GMT -5
I should give Dickens another try some day... one of those things I was forced to read in school and didn't enjoy at the time.
34) Beautiful Souls, Eyal Press
This is a short group of journalistic pieces about people who acted against the mainstream in bad situations, endangering themselves for others. (E.g., A Swiss policeman in WWII who let Jewish people cross the border, a whistleblower who exposed her employer's fraudulent practices, an IDF soldier who refused to abuse Palestinians.)
He goes into research that showed what sort of people will take those kinds of risks when others will just go along. Interestingly in the Israeli portion, he also talked about other IDF soldiers who went against orders to support settlers, and talked about the difference between the motivations of these various factions.
I thought it was interesting - recommended.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Aug 17, 2022 6:43:52 GMT -5
51. Guidebook to Murder, Lyn Cahoon. An OK cozy mystery, with a title that bears little resemblance to the story.
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Post by lillielangtry on Aug 18, 2022 0:07:57 GMT -5
Co-Wives, Co-Widows by Adrienne Yabouza (translated by Rachael McGill) A book - I think the first ever by a woman, certainly the first to be translated into English - from Central African Republic. It's a very short novel about the two wives of a man who dies early on in the book and their solidarity with each other as they face up to his devious family members and move on with their lives. There's no discussion of polygamy as such, it's simply accepted as a part of society. The plot feels likes it doesn't exactly fulfil its potential and the book could even have been longer, but it's a light and refreshing read.
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Post by sophie on Aug 18, 2022 9:01:27 GMT -5
Horse by Geraldine Brooks. Fabulous novel based on a real race horse, who was bred and raced just prior to the civil war in the US. She uses a modern setting as a secondary setting and effortlessly shifts the setting between the different times and places, with threads beautifully linking them together. Recommended.
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Post by Q-pee on Aug 19, 2022 3:39:21 GMT -5
The Personal Librarian
Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray
It's a fictionalised biography of Belle da Costa Greene, who as the Personal Librarian of JP Morgan, and key in establishing the collection and transforming it into a public institution after he died. She was the daughter of the first black man to Graduate from Harvard, but lived her life as a white woman - she would never have been able to hold the same role as a black woman. She apparently destroyed her most of her personal papers before she died. She is utterly fascinating.
This book is not. The authors have focused on her romantic life, and contrived some scenes eg; the reconciliation with her father, and it reads as far more "chicklit" than she deserves.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Aug 19, 2022 5:52:12 GMT -5
52. Agatha Raisin and the Witch of Wyckhaddyn, M.C. Beaton. Surprisingly good, much more depth than the tv show.
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Post by scrubb on Aug 19, 2022 12:54:49 GMT -5
Daddy King: An Autobiography, by Martin Luther King, Sr. The first half is a really interesting look at his childhood as the son of poor sharecroppers and what it was like to be black in Georgia in the early 1900s. The second half is about his life after moving to Atlanta, marrying, and having kids. It was worthwhile.
ETA: this book lead me to something kind of odd. On Goodreads I noticed it had a 1 star rating. Out of curiosity - because it's not badly written and I couldn't imagine what would make someone give it 1 star - I checked the profile of the person who rated it.
Turned out to be a guy who wrote his own book about "Daddy" King. Apparently he's a lawyer who represented King at some point, and claims years of friendship with him. He only has about 10 books on his 'read' shelf, and about half of them he wrote himself. He gave his own books all 5 stars, and the other books on his shelf 1 star. None of his books have very many ratings (2 to 5 or so). Best guess is he wanted his book about King to pop up as having higher ratings than any other book about King? But it does seem odd to give a terrible rating to your friend's autobiography.
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Post by Liiisa on Aug 20, 2022 19:29:27 GMT -5
35) Khadija Abdalla Bajaber, The House of Rust
A strong girl in the seafaring town of Mombasa Kenya becomes stronger. It starts off with her going to sea to find her father, who had vanished at sea, and continues with the aid of some magical creatures and her own innate sense. I was occasionally a little confused but it all worked out in the end.
I'm coming to love African novels.
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Post by scrubb on Aug 20, 2022 19:46:37 GMT -5
Gourmet Rhapsody, by Muriel Barbery.
Major disappointment after how much I liked her first book (The Elegance of the Hedgehog). A short novel about the last couple days of a food critic's life. He desperately wants a particular taste but can't figure out what that taste is. His chapters recollect a number of amazing food experiences, and they are intercut with chapters from the point of view of his family and other people in his life.
Normally I love discussion of food, but this one didn't do it for me. And the ending didn't provide much resolution.
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Post by riverhorse on Aug 21, 2022 2:38:39 GMT -5
"One Last Stop" by Casey McQuiston. The author describes this in her acknowledgements as a "lesbian time-travel subway romcom" which pretty much sums it up.
It's about August, a cynical misfit who moves to NYC, who falls in love with a woman she meets on a subway named Jane Su, a punk lesbian from the 1970s who has been misplaced in time and is trapped on the subway. It sounds weird but I really enjoyed reading it and all the characters were so well-drawn, you ended up really invested in their fates and captivated by their stories.
Of course being a romcom it was with a happy ending, but the way the time travel part of the plot was solved was really clever and almost believable!
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Post by Liiisa on Aug 21, 2022 5:01:37 GMT -5
I'm not usually a romcom person river but that sounds amusing!
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Post by Liiisa on Aug 21, 2022 20:46:09 GMT -5
36) Sarah Moss, The Fell
A very short book that I read in about 2 hours by the writer who wrote the book about the creepy Iron Age reenactment camp. She's one of the authors I always look for new titles by.
It's set in England last year, during the COVID lockdown. A woman who's supposed to be quarantining can't stand it anymore and goes for a hike, but then doesn't return, which sets up the action. Most of the novel is about people's interior thoughts; the injured woman, her worried teenage son, their neighbor, one of the rescuers. I thought it was wonderful - lots of important ideas about life and responsibility and freedom and such.
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Post by sprite on Aug 22, 2022 5:22:45 GMT -5
52. Agatha Raisin and the Witch of Wyckhaddyn, M.C. Beaton. Surprisingly good, much more depth than the tv show. Isn't it funny? I've given up reading Beaton's books, because I find the prose really stilted. But I enjoy the tv shows and even partner finds them amusing. A Deadly Education, Naomi Novik (Book 1 of The Scholomance) Harry Potter meets Lord of the Flies. Magical children from around the world are automatically sucked into a mgical school which exists in a semi-alternate universe. There are no adults, but there are monsters that sneak around the protection barriers. The survival rate is not great, but on the other hand, students are highly motivated to score highly on assignments that teach them spells for fighting back. On graduation day, a tunnel opens up for seniors to exit the building--but they literally run the gauntlet of things that will eat them. Most graduates don't. Galadriel takes us on a tour of what it's like to spend years trapped inside a place that hates you, but is ironically safer than the real world. The concept of privilege is explored not through ethnicity or wealth, but by the concept of 'enclaves' which are sort of associations that have created protected spaces for themselves. Their children are protected as they go through the school by other children desperate to join these enclaves on graduation. Galadriel struggles with an affinity for highly destructive magic, so doesn't make any friends--until a wierdo from one of the most powerful enclaves saves her life 3 times in one week. I really enjoyed this book--I love all of Novik's stories so far. It's firmly teenager-against-the-apocalypse ficiton, but still enjoyable. Galadriel opens up more emotionally as the book goes on, and the world of magic is well-developed and believable.
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Post by Oweena on Aug 22, 2022 9:01:25 GMT -5
You Play the Girl: On Playboy Bunnies, Stepford Wives, Train Wrecks, and Other Mixed Messages by Carina Chocano
Finished this yesterday and still trying to figure out what the author's point was. She used a lot of references to movies and TV shows I've never seen or watched so maybe that's why I didn't relate to her anecdotes of portrayals of women in pop culture. Plus I never felt the pressure to be girly, wear makeup, or be more feminine.
Not recommended.
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Post by Liiisa on Aug 22, 2022 11:04:39 GMT -5
Yeah Oweena I think that would be a hard sell for me just based on the title.
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Post by scrubb on Aug 22, 2022 11:55:10 GMT -5
Cottonmouths, by Kelly J Ford. A Bookbub special that wasn't really worth the $1.99, unfortunately. It's hard to even say what the point of the book is. Young woman flunks out of college, goes back to small town Arkansas, gets mixed up with her first girlfriend again who has a meth lab on her farm but "it's not my lab, it belongs to the kid I rent the chicken house to". She's still in love with the girl so manages to ignore constant lies about everything, even when someone dies.
The narrator/main character isn't engaging at all, and the writing - though competent in terms of capturing scenes and characters - is lazy. Not recommended.
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Post by lillielangtry on Aug 22, 2022 13:07:02 GMT -5
The Mad Women's Ball by Victoria Mas (translated by Frank Wynne) A short historical novel set in the psychiatric the Salpetriere in Paris. A young woman is committed for claiming to commune with spirits and seeks to get an older nurse to help her to get out. It's easy to read and keeps the pages turning, but I wasn't quite convinced by the thoughts of the characters, they seemed quite anachronistic in places. It was very clear what the author "wanted" us to think (and she probably wasn't wrong, I mean about locking away women who were troublesome in some way, I just found it a bit heavy-handed). Anyway, it didn't surprise me at all to learn the author works in the film industry and apparently there's a film of this book available on Amazon.
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