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Post by lillielangtry on May 18, 2023 11:42:19 GMT -5
Vaseem Khan, The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra The first in a series set in Mumbai. Inspector Chopra has just retired but can't leave his last case, his uncle has sent him a baby elephant, and his wife is plotting something. It was OK. The characters were not engaging enough for me (and there was not enough concern for the welfare of the elephant). Fine, but won't continue with the series.
Lori Gottlieb, Maybe you should talk to someone I listened to this on audiobook. It's a memoir about the author's work as a therapist and her own experience of therapy (not a self-help book). Really, really interesting and moving. I loved the main characters (presumably somewhat fictionalised) that she focuses on.
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Post by Q-pee on May 18, 2023 15:28:19 GMT -5
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. I've read it - I might not be the only one. I liked it a lot, loved that there was a kind of secret story in the paintings she did and in the portrait of her.
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Post by Q-pee on May 18, 2023 15:31:12 GMT -5
The Talented Mr Ripley
Patricia Highsmith
After the intensity of Kindred I wanted something light and fluffy, so something set in sunny Italy should be perfect... never mind about a brutal murder or two! I had to laugh at myself. But although there are two murders the focus isn't on them but on the psychology of Mr Ripley. I did get a bit sick of his internal monologue, but overall it did provide the switch in style that I needed.
I know there are more books featuring him... not convinced I want to read more.
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Post by scrubb on May 19, 2023 10:11:22 GMT -5
I've had The Marriage Portrait on hold at the library for a few weeks - there's a long wait.
42. Warlight,; by Michael Ondaatje. Narrated by a man who was a teenage boy whose parents "move to Singapore" during the war, leaving him and his sister in the care of a friend who brings an odd assortment of people into their lives. It's a wistful, melancholy book in many ways. The writing is beautiful - so evocative and moody. Lots of interesting characters drawn so well.
Really liked it.
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Post by Liiisa on May 19, 2023 15:40:30 GMT -5
It’s not amazingly good, but it is good.
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Post by scrubb on May 19, 2023 21:22:10 GMT -5
I've really liked the 2 Maggie O'Farrell books that I've read; can't imagine I wouldn't enjoy anything she writes. (Unlike Margaret Atwood.)
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Post by sophie on May 20, 2023 9:51:09 GMT -5
The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff. The main character, Geeta, deals with a runaway husband, a reputation as a self made widow and life in a small and poor Indian village. She decides to use her reputation to her advantage and discovers all sorts of secrets and alliances in the process. I loved the spiciness of the women, the convoluted subplots and the cleverness of both. Recommended especially if you enjoy cheering on a underdog. And the dog is well portrayed!!
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Post by scrubb on May 20, 2023 15:09:39 GMT -5
43. the 101 Dalmations, by Dodie Smith. I love "I Capture the Castle" by Dodie SMith, so wanted to read her other well known book. It's very much a kids book, and I was a bit surprised that there's not much tension in it. Although the dogs face challenges, even when Cruella de Vil is around it didn't feel very tense. Maybe it would for a small child, but I think the movie is scarier than the book.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on May 20, 2023 17:19:55 GMT -5
I read 101 Dalmatians so long ago I’d forgotten who wrote it. Long before the movie, which definitely added to the tension. Have you seen the movie Cruella?
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Post by scrubb on May 20, 2023 17:32:04 GMT -5
No, but I heard it was good and I want to see it! This morning I saw this meme: This afternoon I went to the used book sale that our symphony puts on every year. Lt's just say that I went with the heart, not the brain. Note: I have a stack of at least a dozen books I bought at this sale in the last 2 years and haven't read yet.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on May 20, 2023 17:38:32 GMT -5
That is so me. And with audible and kindle accounts, I’m only adding to it.
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Post by HalcyonDaze on May 20, 2023 20:31:27 GMT -5
41. Warlight,; by Michael Ondaatje. Narrated by a man who was a teenage boy whose parents "move to Singapore" during the war, leaving him and his sister in the care of a friend who brings an odd assortment of people into their lives. It's a wistful, melancholy book in many ways. The writing is beautiful - so evocative and moody. Lots of interesting characters drawn so well. Really liked it. That was one of my bookclub's choices - I was the only one who enjoyed it. Some didn't finish it. Others vehemently hated it. Like you, I loved the writing and also found a wistfulness about it.
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Post by lillielangtry on May 21, 2023 0:26:25 GMT -5
Scrubb, 101 Dalmatians and its sequel, which is called something like the Starlight Barking? were both in my primary school library and I read them repeatedly. I seem to remember at the time they struck me as quite grown up books, but I'm sure that would be different now!
And as for unread books, yes I have 30 or so on my shelf, many picked up secondhand. I absolutely love browsing book sales as you never know what you'll find. There's some on kindle as well, which I always take if I'm going away.
We also read Warlight for book club and it was a mixed pick here too. Some of my book club don't like a slower paced book. Thus month we're reading last year's Booker winner, The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, which was my pick, and it's kind of denser than I was expecting so we'll see what they make of that.
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Post by Q-pee on May 21, 2023 0:47:55 GMT -5
That is so me. And with audible and kindle accounts, I’m only adding to it. I recently re-organised the books on my kindle so that I can find the unread books easily. 135 That's how many were on there, some are samples that I plan to read and then decide whether to buy or not. 135 is 2-3 years of books, and there are plenty of physical books in the house that I haven't read. Looks like I'm set for the next pandemic.
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Post by Liiisa on May 21, 2023 4:22:24 GMT -5
Ooh I loved The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, and thank you for reminding me about Warlight.
I have a shelf full of books upstairs that I picked up in various places, and a pile down here. Eyeballing the pile it looks like there are 20, and there are maybe 30 up there, plus I've currently got 4 out from the library.
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Post by tucano on May 21, 2023 14:40:09 GMT -5
A book arrived that I ordered a while back, which is so academic I took one read of the first paragraph and my mind just went 'nope'.
(It's called The Social Psychology of Communication' and is probably a bit heavy for me right now)
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Post by Liiisa on May 21, 2023 20:38:05 GMT -5
44) Elvia Wilk, Oval
I was going to take this strange book out of the library last month because it was on the shelf next to where the Kevin Wilson book I was looking for would have been. But then I changed my mind... but when I was reading "Biography of X" I saw that "Elvia Wilk" was a character in it, so obviously I was meant to read this after all. (Plus when I went back for it, I noticed that it was blurbed by some of my favorite current authors: Tom McCarthy, Ned Beauman, and Jeff Vandermeer.)
ANYWAY it's a strange novel set in Berlin - darkly funny, explores things like greenwashing and other ways good ideas are coopted by capitalism. I thought it was pretty great.
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Post by tucano on May 22, 2023 7:09:18 GMT -5
The Talented Mr Ripley Patricia Highsmith After the intensity of Kindred I wanted something light and fluffy, so something set in sunny Italy should be perfect... never mind about a brutal murder or two! I had to laugh at myself. But although there are two murders the focus isn't on them but on the psychology of Mr Ripley. I did get a bit sick of his internal monologue, but overall it did provide the switch in style that I needed. I know there are more books featuring him... not convinced I want to read more. I love the film version.
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Post by Q-pee on May 22, 2023 8:22:01 GMT -5
I’ve seen the film, but had only remembered the happy sunny bit at the beginning not the murdering bit!
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Post by sophie on May 22, 2023 9:10:53 GMT -5
The Last Kingdom by Steve Berry. A decent thriller, with a premise that there was a missing deed to the kingdom of Hawaii given to King Ludwig 2 by the last king of Hawaii. The Chinese government is interested, the German government is interested, the separatists in Bavaria are interested and of course the Americans are interested. Bit too much of the shooting and fistacuffs but kept me reading to the end.
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Post by scrubb on May 22, 2023 14:33:11 GMT -5
44. Triptych, by Karin Slaughter. The first book in the Will Trent mystery series. I've been enjoying the TV show, so thought I'd try the books. And I did enjoy it, and found it quite compelling - but somehow I'm just not eager to run out and get the next one in the series which I usually am when I enjoy a mystery.
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Post by Liiisa on May 22, 2023 20:02:09 GMT -5
45) Mohsin Hamid, The Last White Man
In this short novel, something has happened that causes the white people in a town to become, one by one, people of color. It was quite tender, the way the protagonists and their relationship were described. The racists in the story are described as behaving predictably but in the case of the protagonists' family members, are described with compassion as they come to terms with the new identities of people they love. I thought it was very good.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on May 24, 2023 8:11:01 GMT -5
31. Trust. Chris Hammer. I think why I like his books is they are all set in places I’ve lived and know well, albeit fictional in the first two books, set in outback NSW and the Far North Coast region where I now live. Trust is set in a very real and familiar Sydney.
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Post by lillielangtry on May 26, 2023 1:05:27 GMT -5
Agatha Christie, Hickory Dickory Dock This is one of the later Poirots and I think I prefer the earlier ones - I find Christie's, and Poirot's, attempt to move with the times a little jarring. But some of Poirot's views on international students in the mid 50s were amusing. The audiobooks are read by Hugh Fraser, who played Hastings in the BBC TV adaptations.
Shehan Karunatilaka, The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida Book club responses were a little mixed, but I loved this dense, fantastical novel set amidst the Sri Lankan conflict of the 1980s. I didn't know a great deal about the context but I felt he did a good job of weaving in enough details for it to make sense (the book was originally published in India under a different title and was somewhat revised for western audiences). There are funny and poignant moments, and yeah, I think it's an amazing achievement. I liked it so much I looked up his first novel but apparently it's about cricket, and sorry, but that's a step too far for me ;-)
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Post by ozziegiraffe on May 26, 2023 3:32:37 GMT -5
32. The Widows of Malabar Hill, Sujata Massey. Historical mystery set in Bombay and Calcutta between 1916 and 1921, highlighting the lives of the women of the Parsi and Islamic communities.
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Post by lillielangtry on May 26, 2023 4:38:05 GMT -5
32. The Widows of Malabar Hill, Sujata Massey. Historical mystery set in Bombay and Calcutta between 1916 and 1921, highlighting the lives of the women of the Parsi and Islamic communities. I have this on my audible wishlist and may go for it next.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on May 26, 2023 7:19:44 GMT -5
I’d be interested to see your opinion of the narrator!
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Post by Q-pee on May 27, 2023 3:37:56 GMT -5
From these Broken Streets Roland Merullo
A fictional account of the Four Days of Naples, when Naples rose up and forced the German occupiers out of the city just before the allies entered.
It's a bit of history that gets overlooked, and the author did a good job of telling the story via five characters whose lives intertwine... but he let the research show with long detailed descriptions of journeys street by street. If you're from Naples you'd know but for me it was a bit tedious. I'm not usually into battle descriptions, and there was a bit much of that as well.
Did like that most of the key characters were regular, local people, more pragmatic than brave. One quibble with the bookish glasses-wearing guy. At the crucial moment he turns out to be physically fit, very strong and muscled (after years with no food in the city) - able to use different guys and an excellent shot, even jumping in to operate a machine gun which he's supposed to never have seen before.
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Post by scrubb on May 27, 2023 11:27:21 GMT -5
45. The raw and the Cooked: Adventures of a Roving Gourmand, by Jim Harrison.
A collection of short pieces focused on food, but more about his philosophy of how food relates to nature, and to well-being, especially mental and emotional. He loves to eat, and eat well - he walks 10 miles a day just so that he can eat guilt-free - so he's definitely a man after my own heart!
He comes across to me as a more self-aware and kind Hemingway type. Loves the outdoors, fishing and shooting (birds) and being in the wilderness, but also talks about how often he cries. And had a very long, successful marriage and a great relationship with his daughters.
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Post by Liiisa on May 27, 2023 21:19:57 GMT -5
46) Helen Scales, The Brilliant Abyss
The first half of this book is a fantastic and utterly surprising series of descriptions of animals, habitats, and geography of the deepest parts of the sea. Then it shifts into several chapters on exploitation of the deep: fishing, mining, etc. This part lacked the joy and fast pace of the first half of the book, but it's important stuff to know about if we want the contents of the first half to continue rather than being obliterated.
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