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Post by scrubb on Nov 15, 2022 14:48:44 GMT -5
Tanya Tagaq - Split Tooth. I've copied part of the description off Goodreads:
It's ostensibly about a young girl growing up in a far northern community ravaged by drugs and alcohol (Resolute Bay); domestic and sexual abuse is rampant and young kids are sniffing solvents and cutting themselves. Little windows into day to day life alternate with poems, and with the girl communing with animals and the landscape in mythological ways. The ending mixes the realistic portions with the mythological other-worldly.
I liked it a lot.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Nov 15, 2022 17:02:55 GMT -5
71. Academic Curveball, James J. Cudney. This was a Goodreads cozy mystery corner monthly pick, and I read it because I’d acquired it cheaply on Kindle. It had a stilted, overly formal writing style, along with a glaring grammatical error repeated 3 times. The verb “ to be” doesn’t have an object so doesn’t require the use of “whom”. Not recommended.
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Post by sophie on Nov 16, 2022 1:16:24 GMT -5
No Plan B by Lee Child and Andrew Child. A thriller featuring Jack Reacher; good action, the good guys get their rewards, the bad guys get caught or killed.. oddly satisfying. An easy, fast read for an evening which needed something down that line.
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Post by Liiisa on Nov 16, 2022 6:31:23 GMT -5
That 'whom' error bugs me, ozzie - same with people saying "it is I." People think it sounds formal, maybe? but it's wrong.
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Post by lillielangtry on Nov 16, 2022 8:11:41 GMT -5
That 'whom' error bugs me, ozzie - same with people saying "it is I." People think it sounds formal, maybe? but it's wrong. Although "it is I", while it sounds old-fashioned for us, is correct, isn't it? To be takes a subject. Which is why you'd say in German "ich bins" and not "es ist mich" (it's me), as me is an object. Or am I going crazy? ;-)
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Post by Liiisa on Nov 16, 2022 8:30:44 GMT -5
Oh wait you’re right! So what is the “I” construction that bugs me? Hmm it’ll come back to me at some point.
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Post by sprite on Nov 16, 2022 10:42:11 GMT -5
Well, that seals it, I'll just watch one of the adaptations!
Kate Atkinson: One Good Turn. (Jackson Brodie series) I really enjoyed this. The writing is fast-paced, and there are enough funny bits to balance out the nasty people doing nasty things. It is a little similar to the first book, with lots of different events and people being connected to each other. I would have loved to see her trying to diagram the plot. I'm also partial because it takes place during Edinburgh's Festival season, and Atkinson has very realistically depicted what it would be like to be both a tourist and a resident that time of year.
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Post by sprite on Nov 16, 2022 10:47:23 GMT -5
That 'whom' error bugs me, ozzie - same with people saying "it is I." People think it sounds formal, maybe? but it's wrong. Although "it is I", while it sounds old-fashioned for us, is correct, isn't it? To be takes a subject. Which is why you'd say in German "ich bins" and not "es ist mich" (it's me), as me is an object. Or am I going crazy? ;-) I've always read that phrase 'It is I' as It = I, so no idea what the technical term for that is. (I just teach this language, I don't know all the names for stuff... sigh.) 'It' is the dummy subject, so 'is' could be followed by an object, which would be me? But I think there are situations where 'It is I!' is the only possible phrasing.
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Post by Liiisa on Nov 16, 2022 12:35:16 GMT -5
I know nothing of English grammar; it's all just whether it feels right or not, which appalled the editor I was working with about five years after he hired me as a copyeditor.
Anyway, I've gone and read another book:
60) Domenico Starnone, Trick (transl. Jhumpa Lahiri)
A grumpy elderly artist who lives in Milan is cajoled into babysitting his mischievous 4-year-old nephew while his parents are away at a conference; they live in Naples in the apartment the artist had grown up in. At the same time the artist is going through a crisis because he's been commissioned to illustrate a story by Henry James about ghosts and it isn't going very well, so there are all these layers of story happening at once, the ghosts in the apartment and the ghosts in the story and questions about aging and talent. I thought it was very good.
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Post by scrubb on Nov 16, 2022 12:43:41 GMT -5
Oh wait you’re right! So what is the “I” construction that bugs me? Hmm it’ll come back to me at some point. "Come and visit Brad and I".
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Post by sprite on Nov 16, 2022 12:52:21 GMT -5
Yeah, the linguists I (prefer) to follow would pretty much agree with the 'if it feels right, it is right' method. Which is a hard mindset to be in when preparing people for exams that test their grammar.
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Post by scrubb on Nov 16, 2022 15:39:26 GMT -5
Joan is Okay, by Weike Wang.
About Joan (or Joanne, or Jiu-an), a doctor in NYC. Her parents immigrated from China before she was born, but moved back when she started college.
The book starts with her father dying, back in China. I haven't finished figuring out the book yet - it's about grief, culture, family, independence, and how society - and family - make it difficult to be oneself, when you are... different, but also hate the term "different".
I really liked it.
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Post by Liiisa on Nov 16, 2022 17:57:16 GMT -5
Oh wait you’re right! So what is the “I” construction that bugs me? Hmm it’ll come back to me at some point. "Come and visit Brad and I". That's it! Thank you
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Nov 17, 2022 2:26:47 GMT -5
That 'whom' error bugs me, ozzie - same with people saying "it is I." People think it sounds formal, maybe? but it's wrong. Although "it is I", while it sounds old-fashioned for us, is correct, isn't it? To be takes a subject. Which is why you'd say in German "ich bins" and not "es ist mich" (it's me), as me is an object. Or am I going crazy? ;-) I went to school when grammar was taught, and also studied Latin for 7 years. A few years ago, I did a TESOL course, which required 100% in the grammar quizzes to pass! From my high school days, I learnt that the verbs “be”, “appear”, “become” and “ seem” cannot have an object.
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Post by lillielangtry on Nov 17, 2022 2:27:48 GMT -5
Robert Menasse, Die Hauptstadt (engl. The Capital) This won a major German book prize a few years ago. It's a satire about the workings of the European Commission in Brussels. Some funny moments, but I was disappointed in the ending.
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Post by sophie on Nov 18, 2022 11:01:00 GMT -5
Finale by Ian Hamilton. A tie in to his Ava Lee series, it tells of the final years of Uncle Chow Tung’s life once Ava came to be his business partner. Short, well written, I enjoyed it but then I’ve read all of his other books so it made perfect sense. Not sure it would work as a stand alone.
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Post by scrubb on Nov 20, 2022 11:31:36 GMT -5
The Maltese Falcon, by Dashiell Hammett. I thought it was actually very good. It was "of its time" in its treatment of a gay character, but less egregiously than I expected when he was first introduced. I guess I didn't expect it to actually be more about the anti-hero's mentality than the mystery, but it was. And it did it really well.
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Post by Liiisa on Nov 20, 2022 12:48:09 GMT -5
61) Graeme Macrae Burnet, Case Study
I bought this based on the interesting cover and the fact that it was on the booker longlist.
The conceit of this is that an author who has been doing research on a radical psychotherapist in 1960s London receives some notebooks supposedly written by someone who had known him, and the book is structured with alternating chapters of biographical information about the psychotherapist and this person's notebook entries. The psychotherapist is kind of an asshole. His idea of people having multiple identities underpins the whole thing. I found it quite absorbing.
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Post by scrubb on Nov 20, 2022 13:57:14 GMT -5
I really liked the first book I read by Graeme Macrae Burnet (His Bloody Project) which I think won some award, or got longlisted. But the next one was not particularly good (The Disappearance of Adele Bedeau).
The style you describe seems similar to his other books. I remember him alternating reports by others with transcripts and letters, in His Bloody Project.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Nov 21, 2022 3:03:15 GMT -5
72. Never Neck at Niagra, Edie Claire. A short story from the middle of a Cozy mystery series I enjoy. Not particularly memorable.
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Post by Liiisa on Nov 21, 2022 6:27:23 GMT -5
I really liked the first book I read by Graeme Macrae Burnet (His Bloody Project) which I think won some award, or got longlisted. But the next one was not particularly good (The Disappearance of Adele Bedeau). The style you describe seems similar to his other books. I remember him alternating reports by others with transcripts and letters, in His Bloody Project. Interesting - I guess he decided that's a template that will work for lots of different stories.
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Post by lillielangtry on Nov 21, 2022 6:31:50 GMT -5
Yes, I read His Bloody Project too and really enjoyed it - pretty sure it was shortlisted for the Booker (without looking that up) and it was exciting because "crime" novels are not that common for that prize, and also he was published by a micro-press with something like 2 part-time employees. What a scramble for them to organise reprints, but exciting too! Anyway I've kind of wanted to something more by him, but never got around to it.
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Post by Liiisa on Nov 21, 2022 6:36:54 GMT -5
The cover of this one says that it was longlisted for this year's Booker, too; hopefully the publisher was more ready for it this time around. I'll have to put His Bloody Project on my list.
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Post by sophie on Nov 21, 2022 11:16:44 GMT -5
Rhys Bowen, Where the Sky Begins. A quick read, decently written novel about a London woman during WW2 being evacuated to a rural setting and how it changes her life. Apparently this author is well known and highly regarded. As far as I know, this is the first book of hers I’ve read.
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Post by tucano on Nov 21, 2022 12:01:36 GMT -5
Richard Osman, The Man Who Died Twice.
Second of the Thursday Murder Club series. A perfect light holiday read. I hadn't read the first book but it didn't really matter. Would read the third book which has just come out.
I liked the shout out to my favourite local bookshop in the book too!
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Post by scrubb on Nov 22, 2022 14:37:22 GMT -5
Miriam Toews, Fight Night. Really enjoyable read. She has a talent for great characters who find joy everywhere. One thing that bothered me at first, and then I started liking it, was that the 9 year old narrator's name is "Swiv" and we never learn what it might be short for. Later, we find her mother's name is "Mooshie" and again, no hint as to what the original name is.
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Post by Q-pee on Nov 23, 2022 10:41:54 GMT -5
Stone Blind - Natalie Haynes
The story of Medusa told from the perspective of women. Perseus does not come out well in this version of the story.
Lots of dramatic irony for comedic effect, my favourite being Athene persuading Orion to go into battle... "Come on, and if you do die I'll put a word for you to get a constellation. Promise"
You'll get more of the jokes if you know the standard texts, but it's enjoyable even with limited knowledge.
Strong recommendation for the book and for her "Standing up for the classics" podcast.
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Post by Liiisa on Nov 23, 2022 11:42:54 GMT -5
62) Junichiro Tanizaki, In Praise of Shadows
A very short book - an essay, really - about Tanizaki's love of the traditional Japanese aesthetic. It was written in 1933, so it's interesting that he was already complaining about westernization there (bright electric lights, especially); I wonder what he'd make of Tokyo now (not to mention whether he was for or against the war that would begin in a few years).
In one part he talks about how gold paint on Japanese lacquerware looks when reflecting dim light in a traditional building, and since I have a gold-painted Japanese lacquerware saucer right here by my chair I asked pero if he minded my turning the table lamp off so that I could see what Tanizaki is saying, and yes, he's right, in dim light the gold reflects the light and shows the curve of the saucer beautifully, while with the light on the effect is quite different and less subtle.
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Post by sprite on Nov 23, 2022 12:56:50 GMT -5
BBC Sounds also has an audio book of Stone Blind; I really enjoyed it.
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Post by Q-pee on Nov 23, 2022 16:07:11 GMT -5
BBC Sounds also has an audio book of Stone Blind; I really enjoyed it. seems to be geoblocked... bastards.
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