|
Post by lillielangtry on May 2, 2023 12:42:11 GMT -5
Here's the new thread for books in May! Come on in and tell us about your recent reads.
|
|
|
Post by lillielangtry on May 2, 2023 12:45:20 GMT -5
OK sadly my first book of the month was not a real success, but the fact is my reading around the world challenge is getting more, well, challenging because the choice for the smaller countries is limited.
Jana Benova, Abhauen! Translated from the Slovak by Andrea Koch-Reynolds. This is a short, stream of consciousness type novel about a woman called Rosa who is looking to escape her life. The writer is also a poet and the book is quite poetic. It wasn't really for me.
|
|
|
Post by scrubb on May 2, 2023 13:25:54 GMT -5
Thanks for starting this, lillie!
37. So Big, by Edna Ferber. She won the Pulitzer for this, I think. Set in Chicago and the nearby countryside, it's about Selina, who is vibrant and lovely and wants life to be an adventure. And when life turns out to be working very hard on a farm and then being a single parent after her husband dies young, she brings her love for life to that, too. And it's about her son Dirk. And his different path/life/character.
It was really excellent, and very much an American story.
|
|
|
Post by Liiisa on May 2, 2023 20:53:08 GMT -5
Thank you lillie! I'm only about 1/3 of the way through a nonfiction book ("Saving Time" by Jenny Odell), so it'll be a while til I'm back.
|
|
|
Post by ozziegiraffe on May 3, 2023 4:47:44 GMT -5
Thank you Lillie. Bookmarking, as I have two (one audio and one paperback) that I’ve almost finished.
|
|
|
Post by sophie on May 5, 2023 0:34:51 GMT -5
Homecoming by Kate Morton. A good story, well written chick lit..set in the Adelaide Hills, Sidney and a bit in London, it’s a murder mystery, a love story and a family secret all rolled into one. Recommended.
|
|
|
Post by ozziegiraffe on May 5, 2023 4:29:21 GMT -5
27. Scornful Scones, Kate P Abbott 28. Deader Homes and Gardens, Joan Hess. Both reasonably good cozy mysteries, if you like that sort of thing.
|
|
|
Post by Q-pee on May 7, 2023 16:48:44 GMT -5
Kindred Octavia Butler
So very very good, and so very very terrible.
A modern day (well 1979 when the book was written) black woman experiences time travel back to a period when her ancestors were slaves.
I do recommend it.
Need to read something a bit soft and fluffy next,
|
|
|
Post by Liiisa on May 7, 2023 18:06:42 GMT -5
Ohhhh, "Kindred" is so good. But yeah, hard to take.
|
|
|
Post by Liiisa on May 8, 2023 5:04:44 GMT -5
40) Jenny Odell, Saving Time
About time, and capitalism, and climate change, and the environment, and ideas swirling back and forth about modern expectations and society and how our perception of time is warped by these things. There were times when it felt so familiar to what I've been doing/thinking that it felt like she'd been writing it by looking over my shoulder and taking notes. A paragraph that began with the Brood X cicadas and ended with the Neskowin Ghost Forest! But also parts that I didn't fully absorb just because I was busy that day and fell asleep with it in my lap. Henri Bergson gets mentioned a lot, whom I've never read because I figure I won't really understand it (French philosopher); I'm waiting for a Twitter mutual who also loves Radiohead to finish writing her book about him.
Anyway, I took this out of the library and there's a waiting list for it, so now I'm going to have to return it and buy myself a copy so I can read some of the middle chapters more slowly and carefully. To give it time.
(lol edited because I realized I'd spelled the author's name wrong)
|
|
|
Post by lillielangtry on May 8, 2023 23:52:44 GMT -5
Winifred Holtby, South Riding It's not quite fair to say Winifred Holtby is a forgotten author because I think this book, judged to be her most important work, has been in print since it was published in 1936, but she's certainly not a household name, and this is an incredible modern classic. Holtby has an ensemble cast of characters based in the fictional South Riding of Yorkshire (actually East Yorkshire/Humberside), especially Sarah Burton, who arrives to become headmistress of the girls' school, Robert Carne, the local landowner struggling to keep up appearances, and his antagonist Joe Astell, who is fighting for social change. Then there's Mrs Beddows, a female Alderman - based on Holtby's own mother. Each one is drawn with such empathy and there are so many others. The backdrop is Yorkshire between the wars, there's a lot of tension between the more traditional and the modern elements. I was really moved by this book. And sadly Holtby died very young before it was even published, so it was her final masterpiece.
Gulsifat Shahidi, The City where Dreams Come True A short collection of interlinked stories from Tajikistan. Promising, but I find it hard to believe a native English speaker did that translation or even read it over. There isn't a translator named either, which is suspicious.
|
|
|
Post by Q-pee on May 9, 2023 1:22:00 GMT -5
I read everything by Winifred Holtby and Vera Brittain as a teen. Both were lovely writers, both under-valued. and if I had stupid amounts of money to spare I would definitely be interested in this... www.peterharrington.co.uk/south-riding-161992.html
|
|
|
Post by scrubb on May 9, 2023 19:19:30 GMT -5
38) A Naturalist At Large: The Best Essays of Bernd Heinrich, by Bernd Heinrich. I enjoyed some of these essays quite a bit, but the collection wasn't as good as either of his other books that I've read - one was on hibernation, and one was on "the animal way of death". Also, some of them were essays that came from those other books so I'd already read them.
I think he's at his best when he describes animal behaviours and his experiments to observe them. Some of these essays were a little more philosophical and he's just not as good at that. Still, enjoyable.
|
|
|
Post by scrubb on May 11, 2023 0:16:10 GMT -5
39) The Spectacular, by Zoe Whittall. Missy is a 21 year old rock star on tour with her band. She's a wild child, born on a commune. Her mother left when she was a kid and she hasn't seen or heard from her since.
Chapters alternate between her and her mom, and there are flashbacks to when they were together and when the Mom left. In the second half there are a few chapters from Missy's paternal grandmother (who looked after her when her mom left).
It's about female self empowerment, and motherhood, and the importance of having agency, especially in becoming, or not becoming, a mother, and some of it's really good and some of it doesn't really work. I enjoyed the first part quite a lot, then it sort of bogged down. Then it picked up again near the end. The mother's character and motivations didn't really come across until very late in the book. Lots of interesting characters in the music industry and commune worlds - fluid sexuality, etc.
|
|
|
Post by ozziegiraffe on May 12, 2023 4:25:59 GMT -5
29. Requiem for a Mezzo, Carola Dunn. Cozy mystery set in 1920s London. Another good one.
|
|
|
Post by Liiisa on May 12, 2023 19:49:14 GMT -5
41) Kevin Wilson, The Family Fang
I love Kevin Wilson, so it's funny that I hadn't gotten around to reading this very successful first novel of his until now. It's about the adult children of a pair of performance artists, and their complicated relationship with these parents.
What was amusing about having read his later books first is that the plots of the later books were inspired by things in this book. I wonder if everything he writes from now on will be based on images from his earlier work... why not, it's as good of a source of ideas as any.
|
|
|
Post by scrubb on May 12, 2023 23:13:46 GMT -5
I enjoyed the Family Fang, but felt like there was no emotional engagement, and that his later books are quite a bit better.
|
|
|
Post by Liiisa on May 13, 2023 4:11:51 GMT -5
I enjoyed the Family Fang, but felt like there was no emotional engagement, and that his later books are quite a bit better. Yes, I agree.
|
|
|
Post by scrubb on May 14, 2023 0:45:53 GMT -5
Fox 8, by George Saunders. A novella, maybe it doesn't even count as a novella - it's a short story in book form. Fox 8 learns Yuman speech by listening to a Mom reading bedtime stories to her kids. He even learns to read by sqwinting his eyes through the window onto the buks. This buk is a letter he's writing to a human to ask them about some horrible things that humans have done.
It's quite charming.
|
|
|
Post by Liiisa on May 14, 2023 4:56:30 GMT -5
I love George Saunders - haven't read that yet, noted
|
|
|
Post by Liiisa on May 14, 2023 19:42:03 GMT -5
42) Kelly Barnhill, The Crane Husband
A tiny book, a twist on the old "Crane Wife" story.
I read it pretty much in one sitting-- cruel and beautiful at the same time, rather like a crane.
The only downside is that I now have the Decemberists' "Crane Wife" stuck in my head only as "Crane Husband" and that doesn't really work with the rhythm of the song.
|
|
|
Post by ozziegiraffe on May 15, 2023 4:18:43 GMT -5
30.Finished Murder and the Glovemaker’s Son by Lesley Cookman while waiting to see the doctor. Good mystery set in an English village. It was well into a series, but quite easy to get to know the characters.
|
|
|
Post by sophie on May 15, 2023 19:59:19 GMT -5
The Day the World Came to Town by Jim Defede. The book which was the basis for the Broadway show ‘Come from Away’. After seeing the show this past week, I wanted to read the book. It was okay. While a quick read, it didn’t have the emotional impact or the warm fuzzies I got from the musical.
|
|
|
Post by mei on May 16, 2023 5:01:57 GMT -5
I finished a new book, "Billionaires on the guillotine" (translated) by Sjors Roeters. A Dutch book which explores alternatives to capitalism. Not necessarily new information as I read about this quite a bit, although some aspects I didn't know much about such as the anti-work movement. But it's a very well written and accessible book, so I hope this book also makes this topics more understandable for others.
Now on to a re-read, which I don't often do, but my bookclub picked The Ministry for the Future for our meeting next month which I am facilitating. Very excited about it, but also need to refresh the book for myself.
|
|
|
Post by scrubb on May 17, 2023 11:29:21 GMT -5
41. Alex Landragin, Crossings. The book has 3 sections but it also offers an alternative reading pattern - I had the kindle edition, so at the end of each section there was a link that said "Go Here" to read the chapters in a different order. ( I saw a review where the guy said "you can read any book from start to finish - why not take the opportunity to read this one differently?" And that makes some sense.)
The concept is introduced right away - that it's possible to "exchange souls" by staring deeply into someone's eyes for a long time. It started on an island that later became Mauritius, with a spiritual leader being the one who teaches how to do it, etc. You're never supposed to "cross" without crossing back. The plot begins with crossings where they didn't go back, and then the 3 different stories follow the people who didn't cross back as they travel through geography and time. It also includes Charles Baudelaire, and Coco Chanel, in the plot.
It was enjoyable and well done, and he's a decent writer (used to write Lonely Planet guidebooks!). One reviewer who read it the traditional way (cover to cover) said the third and longest section kind of dragged on a bit, but with the alternative pattern that jumps around between characters more, it moved well and only very occasionally became sightly confusing.
|
|
|
Post by lillielangtry on May 17, 2023 13:05:38 GMT -5
That's really interesting scrubb. The only book I can think of with 2 possible structures is Julio Cortazar's Hopscotch, although I'm sure there are more...
|
|
|
Post by scrubb on May 17, 2023 13:35:37 GMT -5
It's a kind of fun premise. I don't think this book is as complex- and definitely not as literary - as Hopscotch is supposed to be.
If I'd really loved it I probably would have started over to read it straight through right away, but I doubt I'll ever bother.
|
|
|
Post by Liiisa on May 17, 2023 16:08:45 GMT -5
That does sound interesting! And tangentially, it reminds me that I still haven't read any Cortazar.
|
|
|
Post by lillielangtry on May 17, 2023 16:32:28 GMT -5
I tried to read Hopscotch. I just didn't get it, it was such a slog and I gave up halfway through. And yes, it's a classic and I am interested in Latin American literature. And Cortazar himself thought Gregory Rabassa's translation was amazing. But nope, I didn't like it.
(I would recommend his story, Casa Tomada/House Taken Over, which can be read as an allegory of authoritarianism)
|
|
|
Post by Liiisa on May 17, 2023 20:22:07 GMT -5
Ok thank you - yeah, I feel like "The Savage Detectives" satisfied any need I had for Latin American slogs, at least for the time being, so I'll pass on that for now. But anyway,
43) Maggie O'Farrell, The Marriage Portrait
I think someone here has already read this? Well-written historical fiction about the very young wife of a Renaissance duke. You learn at the very beginning that there was speculation at the time that she was murdered, so it starts off suspensefully from the beginning. Lucrezia, the Duchess, is a great character.
|
|