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Post by Q-pee on Sept 4, 2022 2:11:33 GMT -5
Can't believe it's the 4th and I'm the first to finish a book... It was one of the Vera Stanhope series by Anne Cleves called Seagull - a complicated mystery that tugs at Vera's past. Very good, lots of suspense. I love the Vera character, she's one of the few females in literature that is not their for appearance or romance, has her own authority, has a high EQ but does not get soppy. She gets grumpy with her direct reports and they deal with it. She's complex, lives alone (more or less happily), takes no shit from anyone. I think it's her character that I keep coming back for more of. Anyway August's thread is here. And could the mods make this sticky please. |
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Sept 4, 2022 6:02:41 GMT -5
Thank you Q.
54. An Affair to Dismember, Elise Sax. Another cozy mystery/romance with a title bearing little resemblance to the plot. Not my cup of tea, but I finished it to complete a Goodreads cozy mystery challenge. Too many stupid characters, hormones and either hunky or sinister men.
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Post by Oweena on Sept 4, 2022 9:10:57 GMT -5
Thanks for starting off the September thread Q.
Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor
Short, very British novel that I checked out from the library when none of the books I have on hold were available. Mrs. Palfrey is a recent widower in the early 1970s who moves into a residential hotel. It seems none of the other senior residents are happy to be there and the plot follows each of them. I'm guessing the plot is supposed to be allegorical for the end of the British Empire. I didn't find the characters interesting or likable.
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Post by lillielangtry on Sept 4, 2022 10:24:20 GMT -5
Thanks Q!
If a mod sees this, would it be possible to unsticky a few of the older threads, it's getting a bit confusing up there? Thanks!
I have discovered free classic audiobooks on Audible and this week I was charmed by Elizabeth Gaskell's Cranford, read by Prunella Scales (yes! Best known for playing Sybill in Fawlty Towers! She does a great job here).
Not much plot, mostly character studies of the women of the small town of Cranford. Some genuinely funny moments. Honestly delightful.
I'm also coming to the end of
Translation Nation: Anerican Identity in the Spanish-speaking United States by Hector Tobar.
I picked this up off the free bookshelf. Tobar is an excellent nonfiction writer and his studies of the very varied Hispanic/Latino communities are fascinating. It was published in 2005 though, so obviously out-of-date. Not an inkling of the orange menace or his Wall. Some parts of this book were optimistic enough to make me very sad.
I'd happily read something more recent by this author if I came across it.
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Post by scrubb on Sept 4, 2022 18:06:26 GMT -5
70) A Sunlit Weapon, by Jacqueline Winspear. A Maisie Dobbs mystery. I've read probably half a dozen in the series and while they are good, there is something about the writing that feels stilted and unnatural.
That said, I enjoyed the book.
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Post by Liiisa on Sept 4, 2022 18:38:19 GMT -5
Thank you Q! And echoing the plea for pinned thread cleanup... bless you Mods
I started my next book on the 1st of September, so I won't be using this for a couple of days. It's a book by George Saunders that replicates the class he teaches on Russian short stories. I'm about halfway through - enjoying so far.
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Post by Q-pee on Sept 5, 2022 1:14:10 GMT -5
Thanks Q! If a mod sees this, would it be possible to unsticky a few of the older threads, it's getting a bit confusing up there? Thanks! I have discovered free classic audiobooks on Audible and this week I was charmed by Elizabeth Gaskell's Cranford, read by Prunella Scales (yes! Best known for playing Sybill in Fawlty Towers! She does a great job here). Not much plot, mostly character studies of the women of the small town of Cranford. Some genuinely funny moments. Honestly delightful. If you can find it the BBC made a delightful series out of Cranford. They tightened the plot but it remains all about the characters and has the most incredible cast. |
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Sept 5, 2022 4:14:53 GMT -5
55. The Alpine Recluse, Mary Daheim. Next in a series I enjoy, set in rural Washington State.
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Post by Liiisa on Sept 6, 2022 19:58:12 GMT -5
40) George Saunders, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain
Saunders teaches a class on Russian short stories, and decided to write this book based on that experience. So here we have seven stories by Tolstoy, Chekhov, Gogol, and Turgenev, and then a short discussion following each of them. I quite enjoyed it - I have to admit having read very little of the 19th century Russians, so this was a good start, and contained interesting writing advice for if I ever get around to bothering to write anything. I had no idea Gogol was so funny.
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Post by sophie on Sept 6, 2022 23:04:49 GMT -5
Liisa, that book about the Russian short stories sounds interesting. I may try to look for it next time I’m at the library or a bookstore.
The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith. The 6th in the series with Cormorant Strike and his private detective agency. I’ve enjoyed the previous ones, but this one was a bit tedious and needs serious editing. Too many threads, too much information (including many chapters written as chat room conversations which are a bit of a problem to read). It’s okay.
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Post by lillielangtry on Sept 7, 2022 0:39:20 GMT -5
That is Rowling's major issue as a writer for me - she's very wordy and needs a good, and ruthless, editor, yet she's apparently too famous to get one.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Sept 7, 2022 7:26:33 GMT -5
56. Lady with a Cool Eye, Gwen Moffat. I’m not sure how much I like this series. The protagonist is a middle aged woman whose hobby is mountaineering, and who solves mysteries on the side. The settings so far are darkish and bleak, but I like the concept. This is the first in the series, but the second I’ve read, and I’m still reserving judgment.
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Post by scrubb on Sept 8, 2022 19:32:36 GMT -5
Lab Girl, by Hope Jahren. A fascinating combination of memoir and geobiology by a PhD with (now controlled) bipolar disease. As per Wikipedia: "Her book Lab Girl (2016) has been applauded as both "a personal memoir and a paean to the natural world", a literary fusion of memoir and science writing, and "a compellingly earthy narrative."
I think it was sophie (?) who read and recommended this a couple years ago and I'm so glad I kept it in mind. Definitely one of my favourites this year.
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Post by sophie on Sept 8, 2022 22:58:51 GMT -5
Yes, it was me. I really liked that book.
I just finished the first of a trilogy by R.F. Kuang.. The Poppy War. A fantasy loosely based on Chinese history and legends, it made for a good but dark read. The main character as well as the author are female.. I do think that is why I am enjoying the (few) fantasies I read. On to the next book in this set.
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Post by scrubb on Sept 8, 2022 23:47:16 GMT -5
I read that last year, Sophie. Really liked it at first, but by the end it had lost me and I wasn't interested in continuing with the series.
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Post by Liiisa on Sept 9, 2022 19:45:41 GMT -5
41) Paolo Bacigalupi, The Water Knife
Another near-future dystopia, this time centered in the American Southwest where various political and environmental events have ended up in a situation where there's hardly any water and it's kind of analogous to the cartel situation in Mexico right now, only for water. It's really more a thriller than a sci-fi novel, with people double-crossing each other and doing various terrible things. It's pretty gruesome and violent, but I couldn't put it down.
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Post by scrubb on Sept 10, 2022 13:09:39 GMT -5
Ick. The Little Paris Bookshop, by Nina George. I think I realized it was going to be a romance but the initial premise was intriguing - the main character has a barge on the Seine in Paris which is a bookshop, except he "prescribes" the right book for the right person.
But, it was just bad. I really don't know why I bothered to finish it. The main character had a lover who left him 20 years ago and he locked up his emotions. Then he meets a woman who he very quickly falls in love with (i.e., 2 brief meetings) and the rest of the book is his 'voyage' (on his book barge) where he processes his emotions. Blergh.
To be fair, it may have been less bad in the original German - the fact that the translator used the word "tummy" for every reference to a stomach tells me that it wasn't necessarily well done.
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Post by Liiisa on Sept 10, 2022 14:20:42 GMT -5
Wow scrubb yeah I would find that intolerable
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Post by tzarine on Sept 10, 2022 14:29:03 GMT -5
40) George Saunders, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain Saunders teaches a class on Russian short stories, and decided to write this book based on that experience. So here we have seven stories by Tolstoy, Chekhov, Gogol, and Turgenev, and then a short discussion following each of them. I quite enjoyed it - I have to admit having read very little of the 19th century Russians, so this was a good start, and contained interesting writing advice for if I ever get around to bothering to write anything. I had no idea Gogol was so funny. love gogol's the nose |
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Post by Liiisa on Sept 10, 2022 16:11:36 GMT -5
"The Nose" is the Gogol story that was in that book! Hilarious.
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Post by lillielangtry on Sept 11, 2022 7:38:55 GMT -5
Ick. The Little Paris Bookshop, by Nina George. I think I realized it was going to be a romance but the initial premise was intriguing - the main character has a barge on the Seine in Paris which is a bookshop, except he "prescribes" the right book for the right person. But, it was just bad. I really don't know why I bothered to finish it. The main character had a lover who left him 20 years ago and he locked up his emotions. Then he meets a woman who he very quickly falls in love with (i.e., 2 brief meetings) and the rest of the book is his 'voyage' (on his book barge) where he processes his emotions. Blergh. To be fair, it may have been less bad in the original German - the fact that the translator used the word "tummy" for every reference to a stomach tells me that it wasn't necessarily well done. I was intrigued so I looked her up in German- seems like the original is about 10 years old. She also writes under a couple of different pseudonyms - including a number of self-help books about sex under the name Anne West and some detective novels co-authored with her husband. Nothing that made me want to rush and buy her work to be honest... |
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Post by Liiisa on Sept 11, 2022 20:07:25 GMT -5
42) Gish Jen, The Resisters
Another near-future dystopia; what a surprise. In this one American society has been divided into the Netted and the Surplus, the latter being people who don't have work and are living on a basic income stipend, which sounds ok except that they're subject to internet-of-things surveillance and other terrible things. The family at the center of it are Surplus people who have been working to undermine the system. It's also very much about baseball, since their daughter is a prodigy baseball pitcher who gets an athletic scholarship.
If I'd known that this book had a lot of baseball in it, I probably would never have picked it up. Which would have been too bad, because I ended up thinking it was great. So that's a really strong recommendation: me liking a book that's largely about baseball, since I usually think that articles and books about baseball are deadly boring.
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Post by scrubb on Sept 11, 2022 23:11:10 GMT -5
That reminds me of The Brothers K (by David James Duncan), which I read on a recommendation. If I'd read a synopsis that told me it was about baseball, which I really can't stand, I'd never have bothered, and that would have been really too bad because I loved it.
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Post by lillielangtry on Sept 13, 2022 9:38:50 GMT -5
Free by Lea Ypi
This is an autobiographical work about growing up in Albania before, during and after the collapse of Socialism. The most compelling part for me is around the end of 1990 when 11-year-old Lea suddenly realises that everything she has ever been taught has changed. I didn't find every part as good as that, but it is very interesting.
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Post by Liiisa on Sept 13, 2022 11:20:32 GMT -5
scrubb we should start a list of Books About Baseball for People Who Hate Baseball Edited to add ugh no wait, then we'd have to read a lot of books about baseball
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Post by scrubb on Sept 13, 2022 20:58:15 GMT -5
scrubb we should start a list of Books About Baseball for People Who Hate Baseball Edited to add ugh no wait, then we'd have to read a lot of books about baseball Oh, right, that's a definite downside to the idea! |
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Sept 14, 2022 4:25:21 GMT -5
57. The Amazing Mrs Pollifax, Dorothy Gillman A quick read, quite absurd but very funny. Mrs Pollifax is the world’s most unlikely secret agent, and goes to some of the worlds most unlikely places.
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Post by scrubb on Sept 14, 2022 20:50:27 GMT -5
57. The Amazing Mrs Pollifax, Dorothy Gillman A quick read, quite absurd but very funny. Mrs Pollifax is the world’s most unlikely secret agent, and goes to some of the worlds most unlikely places. I'm a big fan, at leat of the first 5 or 6 in the series. They were my comfort reading for many years. Emerald City, by Jennifer Egan. Collection of short stories. I liked them all. ETA: I just discovered that I read this book in 2015 and apparently liked it. It's a bit distressing that absolutely none of the stories were even vaguely familiar. |
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Post by Q-pee on Sept 15, 2022 14:19:20 GMT -5
Ick. The Little Paris Bookshop, by Nina George. I think I realized it was going to be a romance but the initial premise was intriguing - the main character has a barge on the Seine in Paris which is a bookshop, except he "prescribes" the right book for the right person. This is the premise of Chocolat. I've been tempted a couple of times by this book and I'm glad I resisted. If you want something intriguing with the charm of Chocolat, try "Before the Coffee Gets Cold" Toshikazu Kawaguchi, Geoffrey Trousselot (Translator) |
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Post by Q-pee on Sept 15, 2022 14:38:36 GMT -5
The Marrying of Chani Kaufman
Eve Harris
An orthodox Jewish girl/woman heading towards marriage, with glimpses into the lives of the women around her.
I'm afraid I kept hoping that Chani would run away and not marry the guy who decided to marry her based on an accidental sighting of her at another wedding.
A more interesting character was the Rabbi's wife...
I wasn't sure what to expect but this is over-simplified caricatures with no real depth, the conversations are rather stilted, with (I think) no conversations between Chani and her mother as Chani dates and then marries. We're supposed to be seeing inside a world we wouldn't normally see - but we're never really inside if that makes sense, it all feels rather distant.
It was long-listed for the Booker, but I'm not sure why.
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