|
Post by HalcyonDaze on Oct 13, 2023 6:54:29 GMT -5
On a recommendation from Hal, "No Two Persons" by Erica Bauermeister It's about a writer, and the book she writes, and people who read the book, and well, it's a book. It's all very meta, reading about about people reading a book, without actually reading a book. I think Hal should have a specific instagram page that just shows what she's reading on the balcony. Hal, what do you think? Balcony Reads? Thing is, it's getting to hot to sit out and read! Might do, I am enjoying my current book, it is balcony worthy
|
|
|
Post by Webs on Oct 13, 2023 9:58:58 GMT -5
You could just go out on the balcony and take a pic of the book and then go back inside.
|
|
|
Post by sophie on Oct 14, 2023 0:41:29 GMT -5
Inspector Chen and the Private Kitchen Murder by Qiu Xiaolong. The author was born in China but now lives and writes in the US. This novel (part of a series of detective stories featuring Inspector Chen) deals with the politics of murder amidst a wealthy and well connected group of foodies in Shanghai. It was interesting but I don’t think I’ll run out and get the others anytime soon.
|
|
|
Post by HalcyonDaze on Oct 14, 2023 0:44:39 GMT -5
You could just go out on the balcony and take a pic of the book and then go back inside. But that's cheating! I just finished a book that was balcony worthy. I was going to move out but binged the ending while on the bed instead.
|
|
|
Post by ozziegiraffe on Oct 14, 2023 2:24:48 GMT -5
With all this talk of balcony reading, I remembered that I bought a day bed for reading on my back patio, but found I was more comfortable on my bed. I’ve since sold it.
|
|
|
Post by Liiisa on Oct 14, 2023 5:56:29 GMT -5
We have a deck with furniture but I never bother to get up and go sit out there.
|
|
|
Post by scrubb on Oct 14, 2023 14:40:58 GMT -5
I'm listening to a talking book on our patio right now, while making turkey soup on the BBQ side burner.
|
|
|
Post by Liiisa on Oct 14, 2023 15:45:14 GMT -5
Been raining all day, so the deck is unappealing anyway right now.
|
|
|
Post by scrubb on Oct 14, 2023 16:13:14 GMT -5
Finally finished the audiobook - I am not good at listening to books being read. My attention wanders. I had to replay lots of it because I realized I hadn't been paying attention.
Anyway, 86) Kate Atkinson, "Big Sky" - the 5th Jackson Brodie book. I forgot that I'd read it before, but I'd forgotten almost all of it anyway. I enjoyed it all over again.
|
|
|
Post by ozziegiraffe on Oct 14, 2023 21:52:07 GMT -5
I'm listening to a talking book on our patio right now, while making turkey soup on the BBQ side burner. I often have lunch on my patio with an audiobook. But for some reason, I like reading real books in bed.
|
|
|
Post by scrubb on Oct 14, 2023 22:08:00 GMT -5
I'm listening to a talking book on our patio right now, while making turkey soup on the BBQ side burner. I often have lunch on my patio with an audiobook. But for some reason, I like reading real books in bed. I read ebooks in bed, so that I don't have to turn the light on.
|
|
|
Post by ozziegiraffe on Oct 14, 2023 22:15:06 GMT -5
Me too, except in the daylight.
|
|
|
Post by sprite on Oct 15, 2023 10:57:04 GMT -5
Finally finished the audiobook - I am not good at listening to books being read. My attention wanders. I had to replay lots of it because I realized I hadn't been paying attention. Anyway, 86) Kate Atkinson, "Big Sky" - the 5th Jackson Brodie book. I forgot that I'd read it before, but I'd forgotten almost all of it anyway. I enjoyed it all over again. This was my holiday audiobook! I really enjoyed it. I like Jackson Brodie a lot, and I enjoy the way she can bring so many strands together. Some of the series has been adapted for TV, but they only gave about 2 hrs per book, so cut out most of the fun stuff. A Court of Mist and Fury (Sarah Maas) Second in the series that begins with a reworking of Beauty and the Beast. Feyre is learning what it is to be a High Fae, after being killed by Amarantha at the end of the first book and being brought back by the High Lords of Prythia (land of the Fae). Her relationship with High Lord Tamlin (the Beast) is struggling as they both try to deal with their trauma from being imprisoned by Amarantha for 3 months. On top of that, Feyre has to spend a week every month with Rhysand, High Lord of Night, because of a bargain struck while she was imprisoned. Rhysand has the ability to control minds, and his family and Tamlin's have been enemies for centuries. Meanwhile, it appears that Amarantha's boss is planning to invade, and enslave humans. Will Feyre and Tamlin find their happily ever after? Can they defeat the possible invasion? Will she find her new powers? I enjoyed this book, but Feyre can be a little self-absorbed and whiney. I know it's supposed to be a person struggling with PTSD, but it doesn't always land correctly. I'll wait awhile before reading the next one.
|
|
|
Post by Liiisa on Oct 17, 2023 5:14:19 GMT -5
77) Benjamín Labatut, The MANIAC
Three fictionalized biographies/historical pieces about brilliant but sometimes problematic people and how they were connected eventually to the development of artificial intelligence -- a physicist, a mathematician, and finally, a piece about the computer that learned to beat Go masters.
A lot like his earlier "When We Cease to Understand the World," which is a good thing. I enjoy his writing style, and the topics were fascinating.
|
|
|
Post by sprite on Oct 17, 2023 6:00:06 GMT -5
Yellowface, R F Kuang (audiobook on BBC Radio)
A completely different book from the Poppy War series.
June is a talented but failing novelist, and friend of the wildly successful Athena--who is about to publish a new book. Athena dies unexpectly, and June takes possession of the draft before anyone else sees it. But June is white American, Athena was Chinese American, and the book is a history of Chinese immigration in the USA. Can June get away with publishing it as her own? Will anyone ever find out?
I really enjoyed this, although there were a few moments where nuance would have been more effective.
|
|
|
Post by HalcyonDaze on Oct 18, 2023 2:59:47 GMT -5
I think Hal should have a specific instagram page that just shows what she's reading on the balcony. Hal, what do you think? Done.
|
|
|
Post by Liiisa on Oct 18, 2023 4:51:50 GMT -5
Dang now I'm going to need to quit ignoring instagram again!
|
|
|
Post by lillielangtry on Oct 19, 2023 5:05:26 GMT -5
I've been reading a couple of topical books.
Narges Mohammadi, White Torture: Interviews with Iranian Women Prisoners (translated by Amir Rezanezhad) Mohammadi has just won the Nobel Peace Prize and is currently imprisoned in Iran. She completed this compilation of interviews with other female political prisoners about their experiences of solitary confinement while on furlough from prison and was charged with additional offences relating to this book. As the contributors were unable to edit their pieces, they are repetitive in some places, but this only reinforces the horror of the abuses related. This is, predictably, a difficult read but also a testament to the extraordinary courage of Mohammadi and the other women (including Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian woman released last year).
Adania Shibli, Minor Detail (translated by Elisabeth Jaquette) This book has been out in English for a few years and was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize. It was due to be awarded a literary prize tomorrow at the Frankfurt Book Fair, but, as it is currently politically undesirable to honour a Palestinian in Germany, the award presentation has been postponed, resulting in some controversy. I didn't read this very short novel when it first came out because I thought the subject matter - the rape and murder of a young Bedouin woman by Israeli solders in 1949 - would be too distressing. And, indeed, it is another very tough read, but it is also, in my opinion, extremely well done. Shibli really ramps up the tension and the two halves of the book are very carefully structured. Shibli's British publisher is offering Minor Detail for free download for the duration of the Book Fair in protest at the cancellation of the ceremony.
Do I need something lighter to read now? Well, yes, I probably do, but I also should read next week's book club book (Georgi Gospodinov's Time Shelter) and the new Zadie Smith in preparation for an event I'm going to, so we'll see...
|
|
|
Post by Liiisa on Oct 19, 2023 5:21:55 GMT -5
Whew lillielangtry - those both look like very good books (that need some light reading to recover from). I am angry about Shibli not being awarded that prize! It's not the Palestinian people who shelled Israel, it's just a specific group! It would be like punishing some individual Israeli for the things their government does (oh wait, people do that too). ANYWAY... "Time Shelter" was interesting. I read it back in June - sounds like I found it nonlinear but/and subtly amusing.
|
|
|
Post by scrubb on Oct 19, 2023 17:49:50 GMT -5
A Morbid Taste for Bones, by Ellis Peters. The first Brother Cadfael mystery, set in Shrewsbury and Wales in the 12th century. Enjoyable - I'll likely read more when in the mood for mysteries.
|
|
|
Post by HalcyonDaze on Oct 19, 2023 18:32:14 GMT -5
They were good comfort reads.
|
|
|
Post by sophie on Oct 19, 2023 18:58:20 GMT -5
I also liked that series
|
|
|
Post by Liiisa on Oct 19, 2023 19:06:12 GMT -5
That setting does make them sound interesting! I'll weave some in between my other stuff too.
|
|
|
Post by ozziegiraffe on Oct 19, 2023 20:33:52 GMT -5
I loved the Cadfael books. I even visited Shrewsbury when I was last in England and brought home a teddy bear dressed as a monk as a souvenir. I left the whole series of paperbacks behind in Solomon Islands in the library of the Franciscan Brothers, as a thank you for letting me borrow their books while I was teaching in a school nearby.
|
|
|
Post by scrubb on Oct 20, 2023 3:06:32 GMT -5
I was in Shrewsbury last month, which is why I got the bo9k out of the library.
|
|
|
Post by lillielangtry on Oct 20, 2023 4:04:54 GMT -5
There used to be a TV series as well, I think.
|
|
|
Post by sprite on Oct 20, 2023 9:06:24 GMT -5
Yes, still available online on some of the UK apps. I love that series, for the way she weaves the history in, and then all the herbal lore.
|
|
|
Post by Q-pee on Oct 21, 2023 15:36:35 GMT -5
Trust Hernan Diaz
Very Very good
Well, it did win a Pulitzer
4 voices, 4 perspectives on one woman's life. Who do you believe?
The reviews talk about the lives of the wealthy and the destruction they may have... but there are also themes of integrity,power, who gets to have power and who is excluded. And who is believed.
I don't want to say more because spoilers.
I already want to reread it.
|
|
|
Post by Liiisa on Oct 21, 2023 16:13:45 GMT -5
Yay! I thought "Trust" was great.
|
|
|
Post by Liiisa on Oct 21, 2023 20:06:43 GMT -5
78) Sy Montgomery, The Soul of an Octopus
In the course of researching this book, the author befriends a number of Boston aquarists and a couple of octopuses. It's amazing how the octopuses can recognize different people, and respond intelligently to them. She describes interesting octopus research and shows just how much personality and intelligence these slippery beasts have.
|
|