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Book a Week 2017 - BW3: Author Oulipo Mashup


Robin M
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Happy Sunday my lovelies!  This is the beginning of week 3 in our quest to read 52 books. Welcome back to all our readers, to those just joining in and all who are following our progress. Mr. Linky is all set up on the 52 Books blog to link to your reviews. The link is also below in my signature.

 

52 Books Blog - Author Oulipo MashupAnd now for something completely different.  Have you ever heard of an Oulipo?  I was introduced to the form during one of my writing classes and found it quite intriguing.   Ouvroir de Litterature Potentielle or OULIPO was founded by French Mathematician Francois de Lionnais and writer Raymond Queneau in 1960.   Basically it is introducing a constraint while writing a poem, creating a short story, or a lipogram.  

 

My first experiment with creating an OULIPO using Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken took an interesting turn.   I tried the N + 7 route which is use the dictionary and replace the major nouns with another noun which is the 7th one below it.  However the first line ending up being Two robbers diverged in a women.  Hmmm! Once I quit laughing, I got the bright idea to take book titles and transform them into a story, but got as far as a weird poem.  

 

This week we have several literary author birthdays which made  it really hard to choose just one. So my Oulipo is a mashup of titles from their books, which once again makes either a strange story or weird poem. I'll leave that up to you to decide.  Also, without googling, see if you can identify the authors from the titles. Then add one or more of them to your want list to read this year.

 

 

 

A descent into the Maelstrom

Behind the Lines

Cry of the Owl

Deep Water

 

Facts of the case of M. Valdemar

Gold Bug

Hop Frog

Imp of the Perverse

 

Lady with the Little Dog

Mr. Pim

Nothing that Meets the Eye

Portraits and Speculation

 

Red House Mystery

Six Weeks in Russia

Talented Mr. Ripley

The Way We Live Now

 

Three Sisters

We Didn’t Mean to See

When We Were Very Young

Two People

 

A Letter to America

A Table Near the Band

Lovers in London

Purloined Letter

 

Agnes Grey

Benefactor

Cask of Amontillado

Secret Water

 

Once Upon a Time

Peter Duck 

Carol 

Four Day’s Wonder

 

Things in our Garden

Black Cat

Seagulls

Masque of Red Death 

 

House at Pooh Corner

Pit and the Pendulum

Where the Stress Falls

Premature Burial 

 

 

Why don't you give it a try with books from your own shelves and see what happens!  

 

 

What are you reading this week?

 

 

 

 

 

Link to week 2 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Robin M
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Book wise, I've finally organized my reading plans, which are quite flexible, because I never quite know when the mood will strike to dive into a comfort read or challenge myself with something heavier.  Since it is a prime year, I decided to shoot for 107 books which encompasses the Birthstone Bookology reads as well as A to Z read by author and/or title.    I used to read one book at a time, but no longer.  Amy, it's all your fault with have a book in every room.   :)  Half the time I'll start an ebook in the midst of reading a print book.  Then there's the bathroom book which right now is KonTiki by Thor Heyerdahl.  I'm working my way through my dusty shelves and my selections for Garnet are: 

 

 

Spartacus: the Gladiator - Ben Kane (completed)

Alexandria Link - Steve Berry  (completed)

Russian Winter - Daphne Kalotay (currently in progress)

Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami  

6th Extinction - James Rollins

The Translator - John Crowley 

 

I'm also working on reading more non fiction so my A by author book is Turn Right at Machu Picchu by Mark Adams.  

 

Writing wise, I just read  Jennifer Blanchard's Align your Writing Habits to Success: From procrastinating writer to productive writer in 30 days  which was a mini Artist Way reminder to get butt in chair and just write. 

 

K. M Weiland's Conquering Writer's Block and Summoning Inspiration is up next.   I've been procrastinating big time, reading instead of writing, so giving myself a swift kick in the butt and diving in again.  I'm also taking wibbly wobbly  timey whimey (thanks Dr. Who) words out of my vocabulary such as I hope too or will try and replacing them with I will and I am doing such and such.  Positive, optimistic, forward thinking!  Woot Woot!  

 

Edited by Robin M
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Published in 1901, My Brilliant Career is indeed a book ahead of its time.  For a girl in the bush, destiny was marriage and childbearing.  Miles Franklin wanted more and so, as a teen, she creates Sybylla Melvyn, a passionate rebel who craves beauty and art in a place ruled by hard labor. She is a feminist who rues her limited options and a progressive thinker whose ideas must have been considered radical at the time.

 

And I fell asleep thinking that parents have a duty to children greater than children to parents, and they who do not fulfill their responsibility in this respect are as bad in their morals as a debauchee, corrupt the community as much as a thief, and are among the ablest underminers of their nation.

 

As noted previously, I loved the film My Brilliant Career as a young woman and so it was with some trepidation that I read the novel written by a teenager.  Once again, my younger self did not disappoint! :lol:

 

By Gaslight awaited me at the library yesterday. I continue reading The Lost Art of Dress as my non-fiction selection and Vulture in a Cage (poetry).  All should keep me off the streets and out of trouble for a while.

 

Winter brings camellias.  From our stroll in a formal garden yesterday:

 

32310450635_fe3bf9a7d3.jpg

 

P.S. I have to think about those titles, Robin. Some I clearly know, others have me scratching my head. 

Edited by Jane in NC
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This year I would like to keep one fiction and one non-fiction going at all times. so, when I finished The Nordic Theory of Everything, I started on High Adventure: Our Ascent of Everest by Sir Edmund Hillary. I'm still working on Houses of Stone.

 

The Nordic Theory of Everything had lots of information about their education and medical systems and why they are so successful, causing the Nordic countries to be ranked among the highest in many desirable traits. It was eye opening.

 

So far, High Adventure is told in an engaging style. They endured so many hardships, but their enthusiasm was relentless. Just the leeches would have made me turn back. Who thinks about leeches and Everest? But they didn't just climb mountains, they traveled many many miles on foot in rugged terrain, across torrential rivers, in monsoons sometimes, before they even got to the mountains they wanted to climb.

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Published in 1901, My Brilliant Career is indeed a book ahead of its time.  

Jane, I'm adding this to my list. 

 

It may be odd to review a cookbook, but whenever I do, trust me, I pretty much read the entire book cover-to-cover. I read Food of Life: Ancient Persian and Modern Iranian Cooking and Ceremonies – 5 Stars - If you want to make Persian food, this is the cookbook to get. I’m Persian and have been blessed and spoiled to have a mother who’s a fabulous cook, especially with regards to Persian food. It’s always been so available to me that I had little reason to take the time to learn how to cook Persian food. I barely cooked in college, but once I was a newlywed and didn’t live close to my mother for that period of time, my husband and I craved the fabulous food from the old country. I had an older edition of this book and I made many of the recipes. They were pretty much all successes and easy to follow. That edition got destroyed and so after waiting for far too long, I decided to get a new copy. The photographs are gorgeous and the descriptions are just lovely. She’s also included poems, anecdotes, and art throughout.

The only downsides to Persian food:

I no longer live in a place where I can easily get most of the ingredients. I’ll have to order online and have them shipped.

Persian cooking takes a long time. The recipes are certainly not quick! But trust me, the food is incredibly good. As Bill (Spycar) once wrote on these boards: "It truly is one of the great cuisines of the world. The food is not ‘spicy’ (as in picante/hot) but it is deliciously well-spiced, and carries a complexity of flavors that are always in balance. Herbs, and nuts, and fruit (fresh and dried), and spices infuse the dishes. And delicious rice dishes are ever present. It is a cuisine for Kings (and Queens).†I couldn’t agree more. 

 

9781933823478.jpg

 

MY RATING SYSTEM

5 Stars

Fantastic, couldn't put it down

4 Stars

Really Good

3 Stars

Enjoyable

2 Stars

Just Okay – nothing to write home about

1 Star

Rubbish – waste of my money and time. Few books make it to this level, since I usually give up on them if they’re that bad.

 

 

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My plans for the year are coming together, too - I cleaned up my to-read shelves on goodreads and made one big one for my 240 Book Bingo. I have one or more options chosen for almost every Bingo square. I'm reading The Night Circus for my Night in the title square, while waiting for various other books to arrive from the library. And since Corraleno just praised Autobiography of Red, I decided to tackle the Modern Retelling of Classic or Myth category next, for which it is an option along with Foe, The Cave, and The Merciful Women.  So I just put all those on hold. Someone was asking the other week how you have serendipity in your life when you plan your reading. I was reflecting this morning that with 240 Bingo squares, I have plenty of room for planned serendipity!

 

Other current reads include Great Tales from English History Volume 2, The Fate of Gender, A Clash of Kings, Shift, and Silent Spring.  Still listening to Atlantic.

 

For the Garnet challenge, I read:

Great Tales from English History, Vol. 1

Northanger Abbey

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

Girls and Sex: Navigating the Complicated New Landscape

WTF Evolution

Tail of the Blue Bird

 

Another book I finished recently was Death Comes to Pemberley. One of my squares is Jane Austen fan fic, and as I was looking at books for this category, I noticed that this book - which I read soon after it came out - got really bad reviews on goodreads. I decided to re-read it to try and figure out why, because I remembered enjoying it.  I have a theory.  Often Jane Austen fanfic is (or tries to be) similar in tone - witty, sparkling, dialogue-driven - to the original.  This book is decidedly not like that.  It is a PD James murder mystery set in Austen's world using Austen's characters, but it is a James book, with all that this implies: dark and brooding, with characters developed via internal monologues vs. dialogue. There is very little dialog in the whole book. But there are long passages about what is going on inside of a character's head.  This, along with the dark-and-brooding-thing, worked really well for Darcy, but not as well for some of the other characters.  Anyway, if you like PD James - which I do - and you read it as a PD James mystery, I think it's a really great book. But if you're expecting something Austenian I can see why you'd be disappointed.

 

Something I noticed on this re-read that I didn't the first time: she very cleverly slides in references to the Eliots from Persuasion and to the Martins & Knightleys from Emma.  It was a small thing, but it made me smile - it was a clever nugget hidden inside the novel for die-hard Austen fans.  Anyway, I really liked it, again.

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I finished 2 books this week:

 

Phoenix aus Asche (read in Dutch, English translation available)

Is a book about a survivor of the Hindenburg Zeppelin accident during the Interbellum.

Somehow German books are easier to connect with then with French books, even if I read in them in Dutch.

I'm not sure it is a great book, but is was definetly not bad :)

 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/photo/15714514-een-phoenix-uit-de-as

https://www.goodreads.com/book/photo/18305606-de-zwarte-messias

 

I don't try to fulfill the bingo on purpose, but I like to try if I can find books in Dutch to cover them.

One of the bingo fields leads me to the discovery of the author Chika Unigwe.

She is a Nigarian - Flemish author who lives in America now.

I read the Black Messiah (de zwarte Messias). it is definitely historical fiction as several critics notified, but I liked the book.

The first part is written in a talkative style, almost diary like. The second (much smaller part) is written in third person and is about one of the daughters of Olaudah Equiano.

Although it is fiction it triggers me enough to dig deeper to learn about this man, I'd otherwise never heard about.

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I can't get the Murikami quote that Stacia linked to copy here, but I just wanted to say that it rings very true for me. I grew up in a religious cult and the people I know who joined it as adults (as opposed to being born into it, like I was, which is entirely different) don't look any different on the outside than anyone else. I do think many of them were carrying pain around inside that they didn't know how to deal with, but that's no different than most of us, right? I've always been fascinated by what draws people into groups like that, to charismatic leaders, etc.  Sounds like an intriguing book.

 

ETA: Oh yeah, I was also going to confess to abandoning By Gaslight.  If an author's writing style (about which I am quite picky) isn't going to work for me, I usually know it right away. That was the case with this book - the style bugged me from the first paragraph. I could tell speedy-quick that I would never make it through 700 pages like that.  I don't mind experimental or different styles (like Saramago or Tail of the Blue Bird or even Marquez) but this just felt like bad writing to me - a lot of sentence fragments, weirdly structured sentences with misplaced modifiers, and long odd passages of description with weird imagery. And too many words! I thought the first chapter (all I read) could have used a good editing job and been about half as long.  

 

Sooooo, I won't be reading that book.  Different strokes, right?   :laugh:

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Briefly, since I'm trying to spend more time today reading than anything else, I finished Call the Midwife last night, so I'm 2/2- yay!- and am hoping to polish off Foundation: The History of England this week. I need to go through my Kindle pile- I have a ton of unread books there that I bought and then didn't feel like reading. Particularly the last two John Connolly books. I adore his books, but they can be so dark. I have to be in the right frame of mind for those! Perhaps I will do a Daniel Silva book here soon. I could use some Gabriel Allon adventure.  :001_wub:  I've been too deep in non-fiction for a while, I might be needing a break to something exciting! 

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Rose -- I also really liked Death Comes to Pemberley and agree with your assessment of why it got such negative reviews. I liked the mystery and how all the characters were treated -- it felt right.  I may have to reread it!  I haven't loved the other one or two PD James mysteries I've tried -- do you have a favorite I should try?

 

My current reading seems to be guided by Stacia, and it is proving a good thing! I'm half way through A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki and about 100 pages (or 1/7th) of the way through By Gaslight

 

I finished The Hundred Days by Patrick O'Brian. It is the 19th book in the Master and Commander series, and I would say that the series peaked about 5 books ago. I certainly enjoyed it, but it wasn't as compelling a story as previous entries.  I've only got the last one left (well, and the 2nd entry which I had skipped), but will save it for later in the year.

 

I'm enjoying a re-listen to Terry Pratchett's Thief of Time, but it is slow going because I'm listening at bed time and keep falling asleep! It has meant lots of rewinding every night to figure out where to start again. 

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ETA: Oh yeah, I was also going to confess to abandoning By Gaslight.  If an author's writing style (about which I am quite picky) isn't going to work for me, I usually know it right away. That was the case with this book - the style bugged me from the first paragraph. I could tell speedy-quick that I would never make it through 700 pages like that.  I don't mind experimental or different styles (like Saramago or Tail of the Blue Bird or even Marquez) but this just felt like bad writing to me - a lot of sentence fragments, weirdly structured sentences with misplaced modifiers, and long odd passages of description with weird imagery. And too many words! I thought the first chapter (all I read) could have used a good editing job and been about half as long.  

 

Sooooo, I won't be reading that book.  Different strokes, right?   :laugh:

Oh, oh...  I haven't cracked it open yet.  :leaving:

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Rose -- I also really liked Death Comes to Pemberley and agree with your assessment of why it got such negative reviews. I liked the mystery and how all the characters were treated -- it felt right.  I may have to reread it!  I haven't loved the other one or two PD James mysteries I've tried -- do you have a favorite I should try?

 

 

 

Well, it's been a long time since I've read it, but Devices and Desires sticks out in my mind, mostly because of the setting - it's set on a rocky, windswept coast where Dalgliesh goes to recuperate and then gets involved in solving a murder (of course).  The setting was particularly effective and matched well with her writing style.  I have to confess that I don't like the books of hers that I've re-read recently as much as I remember liking them the first time around, so it's possible that her books haven't stood the test of time as well? She has a few stock characters that she tends to re-use and they work in some plot-and-setting combos better than in others.  I do like Dalgiesh as a protagonist very much.

Edited by Chrysalis Academy
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ETA: Oh yeah, I was also going to confess to abandoning By Gaslight.  If an author's writing style (about which I am quite picky) isn't going to work for me, I usually know it right away. That was the case with this book - the style bugged me from the first paragraph. I could tell speedy-quick that I would never make it through 700 pages like that.  I don't mind experimental or different styles (like Saramago or Tail of the Blue Bird or even Marquez) but this just felt like bad writing to me - a lot of sentence fragments, weirdly structured sentences with misplaced modifiers, and long odd passages of description with weird imagery. And too many words! I thought the first chapter (all I read) could have used a good editing job and been about half as long.  

 

Sooooo, I won't be reading that book.  Different strokes, right?   :laugh:

 

And I'm loving the writing. It took a few pages to get used to the lack of quotation marks for dialog, but I'm finding it very atmospheric, drawing me into the setting in an immersive, visceral way. I like the repeated imagery throughout a section, the subtle means the author uses to set the scene and the mood.

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And I'm loving the writing. It took a few pages to get used to the lack of quotation marks for dialog, but I'm finding it very atmospheric, drawing me into the setting in an immersive, visceral way. I like the repeated imagery throughout a section, the subtle means the author uses to set the scene and the mood.

 

See, there you go!  Judgments of style can be so idiosyncratic and personal, don't you think? I wouldn't let my comments discourage anybody from trying the book. I'm just speaking up so all our newbies know it's really and truly ok to say you don't like something everybody else seems to!  ;)  :D

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Well, it's been a long time since I've read it, but Devices and Desires sticks out in my mind, mostly because of the setting - it's set on a rocky, windswept coast where Dalgliesh goes to recuperate and then gets involved in solving a murder (of course).  The setting was particularly effective and matched well with her writing style.  I have to confess that I don't like the books of hers that I've re-read recently as much as I remember liking them the first time around, so it's possible that her books haven't stood the test of time as well? She has a few stock characters that she tends to re-use and they work in some plot-and-setting combos better than in others.  I do like Dalgiesh as a protagonist very much.

 

 

The one Dalgliesh mystery I read was Shroud for a Nightingale, and I remember wishing the book had more of him, more of the detecting and solving of the mystery. It's funny that I didn't really like it because the hospital and the nurses in training have stayed clear in my mind. One of the benchmarks for me of a good book is if it stays with me, and clearly much of that book did stay with me!

 

ETA I also enjoyed the collection of stories in Mistletoe Murders. At least one of those was a Dalgliesh story, wasn't it?

Edited by JennW in SoCal
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Books I Finished This Week:

The Spy Who Couldn't Spell: A Dyslexic Traitor, an Unbreakable Code, and the FBI's Hunt for America's Stolen Secrets by Yudhijit Bhattacharjee 

Blind Descent: The Quest to Discover the Deepest Cave on Earth by James Tabor 

Greenglass House by Kate Milford 

 

Books I'm Still Reading:

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey (study with the older kids)

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster (read aloud for older kids)

 

Books I've Begun This Week:

Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why by Laurence Gonzales

One Rough Man by Brad Taylor

Tales from the Odyssey Parts 1 & 2 by Mary Pope Osborne (read aloud with little kids)

Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes by Jonathan Auxier (pre-reading for the family)

 

I know I'm heavy on the brain-candy this week, but until the sunshine returns, I'm going with what works right now.

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And I'm loving the writing. It took a few pages to get used to the lack of quotation marks for dialog, but I'm finding it very atmospheric, drawing me into the setting in an immersive, visceral way. I like the repeated imagery throughout a section, the subtle means the author uses to set the scene and the mood.

 

Is this a thing now? I started News of the World last night even though I said I wouldn't until I finished something (my excuse is it's a library book so it takes priority over ones I own). The author doesn't use quotation marks for dialogue either. It's a bit jarring but I hope I can get used to it because I like the story so far.

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The one Dalgliesh mystery I read was Shroud for a Nightingale, and I remember wishing the book had more of him, more of the detecting and solving of the mystery. It's funny that I didn't really like it because the hospital and the nurses in training have stayed clear in my mind. One of the benchmarks for me of a good book is if it stays with me, and clearly much of that book did stay with me!

 

Yes, that book was particularly . . . dated, I guess.  Particularly the female characters and their interactions. While it may have been very true to its time - 1960s England - it doesn't wear that well and I know I have a hard time identifying with any of the characters. I was born the year it was published, so it was really about women in my mother's or grandmother's generation but it didn't have that timeless feel to me.

 

ETA: Yep, Mistletoe Murders had one early Dalgliesh short story, but again, he didn't get enough airtime, I don't think! I liked 3 of the 4 stories very much.

 

 

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Last week:

 

The Watchmaker of Filagree Street -- this was an odd one for me in that there were several points where I got caught up in the story and then also several points where I wasn't interested enough to pick it up again -- to the point where if something better would have come along, I would have dropped this one and not looked back.  The last third did keep me riveted though -- and really stuck with me as well as I have pondered the ending.   This might actually end up being a reread some time in the future (although I must admit that with rereads I just skip the parts I don't care for  :D )

 

Redshirts -- Ok, I read this because it won the Hugo -- because otherwise I generally don't love books like this (and I've read a lot of them in my day -- Star Trek ones in particular even) -- they are the equivalent of Harlequins in some ways IMO (which I have also read a lot of).   And sadly, I have to say this book did not raise my opinion of the genre.  IMO the only thing that carried the story was the parody -- it needed more story to carry the parody. I am really surprised it won the Hugo and Locus awards -- because it wasn't really funny enough IMO.  (although I wonder if I would have liked it better if I had listened to it instead).

 

Myth of the Spoiled Child -- sad to say I'm pretty sure I read this book before and just didn't remember it -- or else Mr. Kahn uses a lot of the same 'stories' from book to book (which is certainly possible too).  Anyway, I can already tell it won't stick with me this time either.   It's too bad because I like many of his ideas, but Alfie Kohn does not impress me as a writer.  Plus for some reason, I have really been noticing lately when someone dings the 'other side' for logical fallacies or poor evidence AND then does exactly the SAME THING themselves.  :eek:   You cannot say someone else is wrong because they do not have enough evidence to prove their case and then not provide sufficient evidence yourself for your own case!  (or at least if you do that -- then you are proving yourself wrong as well)

 

 

 

 

 

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Rose, I like your theory as to why Death at Pemberley received so many poor reviews. At the time that I read it I couldn't understand why everyone disliked it so much cause I loved it! But, in keeping with your theory, I really like P.D.James and I like Austen but I'm not gushy about her like most fans are so I agree with your theory. 😃

 

Stacia, I had not heard of By Gaslight until you talked about it here but now I see it EVERYWHERE-- online and in real life. I looked for it online at our library site. The site is for all of the libraries in Saskatchewan. Well, there were over 20 copies listed and they were all out. I haven't decided whether I want put a hold on it yet cause over 700 pages in 3 weeks? With no chance of renewal? I'm not sure. But I do want to read this book.

 

Which brings me to the issue of lack of punctuation. I am sure this has always been a style choice but it seems to be a popular one lately. I have read three books this past year that did not use punctuation. I am curious as to why would an author decide to write in this style? Does any one have any ideas?

 

Lady Florida, I read News of the World last month and was delighted by it. So much so that I am reading it aloud to my kids now. Enjoy!

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I'm happy to be home after more than two weeks away.  My mother's move to an assisted living place went far more smoothly than I'd anticipated, but we (my mother, sister, and I) also had, and continue to have, some angst and challenges. 

 

My thanks to those who sent good wishes in earlier threads.

 

I'm currently making my way through the lengthy threads that I missed while away.  A few thoughts ~

 

Aggieamy, thanks for your link to Happy Ever After: 100 Swoon-Worthy Romances.  It's a fun list that contains books by some of my favorite authors.

 

Lady Florida, you mentioned recalling a J. D. Robb ... in Death story that took place on a space station.  I've read that one, too.  I don't recall the title, but I believe it's one of her novellas rather than a full length book.

 

And a book that's free today ~

In Praise of Folly by Desiderius Erasmus

 

"This sixteenth-century religious satire by a Renaissance critic and theologian is “a masterpiece of humor and wise irony†(Johan Huizinga, Dutch historian).

At the onset of his hugely successful satire of medieval European society, Dutch scholar Desiderius Erasmus invokes the goddess Folly, daughter of Youth and Wealth, who was raised by Drunkenness and Ignorance. She’s followed by idolatrous companions, including Self-love, Flattery, Pleasure, and Laziness.
 
Through Folly’s wry and humorous speech, Erasmus denounces the superstitions and nonsensical eccentricities of his contemporary theologians and churchmen, monastic life, and the condition of the Catholic Church. An immensely influential humanist text, In Praise of Folly helped lay the groundwork for the Protestant Reformation and marked a transitional time between medieval beliefs and modern ideals."

 

Regards,
Kareni

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I read three books this past week:

Lab Girl by Hope Jahren. I didn't like it at the beginning but kept plugging along with it and am glad that I did. It picked up by the middle.

 

Love That Boy by Ron Fournier. This was an okay read but it seemed to me that this book just didn't know what it wanted to be. Fourner's son was diagnosed with Asperger's when he was 12 years old and this book is Fournier's way of dealing with it. So the book could be categorized as memoir/parenting book/presidential history book. That was too many categories for me. I think two would have been less busy.

 

The Couple Next Door by Shari LaPena. Suspense/ thrillers are my genre of choice, my comfort read (that sounds awful doesn't?). When life is tense I love reading a thriller and escaping the stress. That's what this book did for me, it helped me escape.

 

I am currently reading Underground Airlines by Ben Winters and a Daniel Silva book whose title escapes me at the moment.

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My birthstone challenge update:

 

Garnet in the title: Miss Garnet's Angel by Sally Vickers

 

Planned historical connection for Rome: The Ides of April by Lindsey Davis

 

G....As Time Goes By (read) Mary Higgins Clark

A....All the Little Liars (read) Charlaine Harris

R....The Cat Who Saw Red (almost complete) Lillian Jackson Braun

N....Norwegian Wood (read) Murakami

E....Hilbilly Elegy (read) JD Vance

T....The Trouble with Dukes (in stack) Grace Burrows

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Negin, I want to add that I not only enjoy Persian food, I also found the desserts very appealing--less sweet than American desserts.  Cardamom ice cream!!

Jane, now craving that ice cream!

Our ice cream maker died and I simply refuse to get another one. 

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Last week:

 

 

 

Redshirts -- Ok, I read this because it won the Hugo -- because otherwise I generally don't love books like this (and I've read a lot of them in my day -- Star Trek ones in particular even) -- they are the equivalent of Harlequins in some ways IMO (which I have also read a lot of).   And sadly, I have to say this book did not raise my opinion of the genre.  IMO the only thing that carried the story was the parody -- it needed more story to carry the parody. I am really surprised it won the Hugo and Locus awards -- because it wasn't really funny enough IMO.  (although I wonder if I would have liked it better if I had listened to it instead).

 

 

 

I totally agree with your assessment of Redshirts - it was wannabe good parody, but it didn't quite make it. I'm surprised it won awards, too. I read it because I read some other John Scalzi books that I enjoyed - I thought Locked In was excellent and have been waiting for its sequel for years - but I was disappointed by Redshirts.

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I finished The Name of the Wind. I'm hooked. There were just a few nitpicky things that kept me from giving it five stars. I went ahead and requested The Wise Man's Fear from the library. It's over 1000 pages though, looks a little daunting. Lin-Manuel Miranda has apparently signed on as creative producer of an adaptation of the trilogy, so it will be interesting to see what happens with that.

 

This week I also picked up (and almost immediately put back down) The Curated Closet by Anuschka Rees. I'm fashion-challenged and I thought this book might offer some guidance, but it didn't take long to realize that I don't care enough about style to actually read a book and follow advice about it. Perhaps when I was 20 I would have been willing to "set aside an afternoon or evening to look at pinterest, magazines, and other sources and clip pictures of looks you like," but no more.

 

A lot of my reading time this week was taken up with middle grade books to go along with my kids' history chapter. I do have some things for myself on deck: Lab Girl by Hope Jahren, Winter is Coming by Garry Kasparov, and The Girl You Left Behind by JoJo Moyes. As to that last...I wouldn't have picked another JoJo Moyes book (didn't love Me Before You), but it is my "recommended by a librarian" book for the PopSugar challenge.

 

 

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A lot of my reading time this week was taken up with middle grade books to go along with my kids' history chapter. I do have some things for myself on deck: Lab Girl by Hope Jahren, Winter is Coming by Garry Kasparov, and The Girl You Left Behind by JoJo Moyes. As to that last...I wouldn't have picked another JoJo Moyes book (didn't love Me Before You), but it is my "recommended by a librarian" book for the PopSugar challenge.

 

I read Me Before You last year, and did kind of enjoy it, but my IRL bookish friend bought me After You. Now I will have to read another JoJo Meyes book.

 

I finished In Search of England, by H.V. Morton, and surprisingly did not enjoy it. This had been on my shelves for a long time, and I had high hopes. That makes two of the three books I read this year, books I didn't really enjoy. :thumbdown:

 

 

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Books read since I left home on December 28 ~

 

For my sister's book group, I read a book which I think a number of you might enjoy.  It's  

Our Souls at Night: A novel  by Kent Haruf.  It was a quick but meaty read and the author's last book written before his death from cancer.

 

"A spare yet eloquent, bittersweet yet inspiring story of a man and a woman who, in advanced age, come together to wrestle with the events of their lives and their hopes for the imminent future.

In the familiar setting of Holt, Colorado, home to all of Kent Haruf’s inimitable fiction, Addie Moore pays an unexpected visit to a neighbor, Louis Waters. Her husband died years ago, as did his wife, and in such a small town they naturally have known of each other for decades; in fact, Addie was quite fond of Louis’s wife. His daughter lives hours away in Colorado Springs, her son even farther away in Grand Junction, and Addie and Louis have long been living alone in houses now empty of family, the nights so terribly lonely, especially with no one to talk with.

Their brave adventures—their pleasures and their difficulties—are hugely involving and truly resonant, making Our Souls at Night the perfect final installment to this beloved writer’s enduring contribution to American literature."

 

 

 

... It took a few pages to get used to the lack of quotation marks for dialog, but I'm finding it very atmospheric, drawing me into the setting in an immersive, visceral way. I like the repeated imagery throughout a section, the subtle means the author uses to set the scene and the mood.

 

 

Is this a thing now? I started News of the World last night even though I said I wouldn't until I finished something (my excuse is it's a library book so it takes priority over ones I own). The author doesn't use quotation marks for dialogue either. It's a bit jarring but I hope I can get used to it because I like the story so far.

 

Our Souls at Night is yet another book that did not use quotation marks!

 

 

Other reads ~

 

On my outbound flight, I read Mariana Zapata's newest contemporary romance Wait for It which I enjoyed at the time.  I realize now though that I recall next to none of it perhaps due to distraction.  I'll doubtless re-read it at some point.

 

a re-read of Thea Harrison's A Dragon's Family Album: A Collection of the Elder Races

 

Lisa Marie Rice's romantic suspense Midnight Secrets (Men of Midnight Book 3) which I also enjoyed.  (Adult content)

 

a re-read of The Search by Nora Roberts

 

Anna Richland's paranormal romance First to Burn (Immortal Vikings Book 1)  which was a fun read

 

and a re-read of her spin-off contemporary romance novella (NOT paranormal) which numbers amongst my favorites: His Road Home

 

and the romantic suspense Flash of Fire (Firehawks Book 4)  by M. L. Buchman which I enjoyed (but not as much as some of his other books)

 

Regards,

Kareni

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Books I Finished This Week:

The Spy Who Couldn't Spell: A Dyslexic Traitor, an Unbreakable Code, and the FBI's Hunt for America's Stolen Secrets by Yudhijit Bhattacharjee

Blind Descent: The Quest to Discover the Deepest Cave on Earth by James Tabor

Greenglass House by Kate Milford

 

Books I'm Still Reading:

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey (study with the older kids)

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster (read aloud for older kids)

 

Books I've Begun This Week:

Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why by Laurence Gonzales

One Rough Man by Brad Taylor

Tales from the Odyssey Parts 1 & 2 by Mary Pope Osborne (read aloud with little kids)

Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes by Jonathan Auxier (pre-reading for the family)

 

I know I'm heavy on the brain-candy this week, but until the sunshine returns, I'm going with what works right now.

Do you listen to the read aloud revival podcasts at all? There is an author interview with Jonathan Auxier that was great to listen to and left me wanting to try the Peter Nimble book.

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Another book I finished recently was Death Comes to Pemberley. One of my squares is Jane Austen fan fic, and as I was looking at books for this category, I noticed that this book - which I read soon after it came out - got really bad reviews on goodreads. I decided to re-read it to try and figure out why, because I remembered enjoying it.  I have a theory.  Often Jane Austen fanfic is (or tries to be) similar in tone - witty, sparkling, dialogue-driven - to the original.  This book is decidedly not like that.  It is a PD James murder mystery set in Austen's world using Austen's characters, but it is a James book, with all that this implies: dark and brooding, with characters developed via internal monologues vs. dialogue. There is very little dialog in the whole book. But there are long passages about what is going on inside of a character's head.  This, along with the dark-and-brooding-thing, worked really well for Darcy, but not as well for some of the other characters.  Anyway, if you like PD James - which I do - and you read it as a PD James mystery, I think it's a really great book. But if you're expecting something Austenian I can see why you'd be disappointed.

 

Something I noticed on this re-read that I didn't the first time: she very cleverly slides in references to the Eliots from Persuasion and to the Martins & Knightleys from Emma.  It was a small thing, but it made me smile - it was a clever nugget hidden inside the novel for die-hard Austen fans.  Anyway, I really liked it, again.

 

Adding this to my list.  I like PD James--but I can't offer the titles I have read off the top of my head.  While I live my life as an optimist, I prefer dark and brooding literature.  What is that all about?

 

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I haven't finished any books, but I have far too many in progress right now. A lot of holds came in all at once and I can't seem to settle to finishing anything because I want to taste them all. Hopefully I'll find a bit more time to read this week and focus on finishing something. We have a quieter week and then next week it's back to school and all the routines and extracurriculars that go with it.

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I read one book this week--the last of the Belgariad series, Enchanter's End Game. I enjoyed the whole series, but it does feel more like Christmas break reading. I will now try to get to some of the books lying around the house so I can donate some back to the library book sale which is next month. I've got Gilead, Love in the Time of Cholera, and The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat out for now...we'll see which one I pick up first.

 

I'm officially in my math class now (was on waitlist). It feels good to use the brain again, and working math problems is fun for me. But even when you know what you're doing it takes a fair amount of time. Eats into the reading time a bit.

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An interesting & thought-provoking work. I'm thankful for the voices of all who spoke out (because I know it was very against the nature of a typical Japanese citizen to do so at the time) & for Haruki Murakami for seeking out these voices. A work I am very glad to have read.

In the longer term, I do think Murakami has mulled over these people, these groups... leading him to include facets of what he uncovered in some of his subsequent fiction works, including 1Q84.

 

 

I think Murakami capturing nuances of Japanese society is what I enjoy about his books. I was on a Japanese movie kick several years ago and loved the experience. I'll have to read this book.

 

Redshirts -- Ok, I read this because it won the Hugo -- because otherwise I generally don't love books like this (and I've read a lot of them in my day -- Star Trek ones in particular even) -- they are the equivalent of Harlequins in some ways IMO (which I have also read a lot of).   And sadly, I have to say this book did not raise my opinion of the genre.  IMO the only thing that carried the story was the parody -- it needed more story to carry the parody. I am really surprised it won the Hugo and Locus awards -- because it wasn't really funny enough IMO.  (although I wonder if I would have liked it better if I had listened to it instead).

 

 

I loved Scalzi's concept, but it really fell apart after the big reveal. It's a wink and nod to Star Trek fans (I think Will Wheaton actually reads it). I really liked the first three Old Man's War novels, but I haven't been impressed with Scalzi's work since then. Zoe's Tale is next on my list so I'll see if my enjoyment of his first books carries forward.

 

I finished The Name of the Wind. I'm hooked. There were just a few nitpicky things that kept me from giving it five stars. I went ahead and requested The Wise Man's Fear from the library. It's over 1000 pages though, looks a little daunting. Lin-Manuel Miranda has apparently signed on as creative producer of an adaptation of the trilogy, so it will be interesting to see what happens with that.

 

 

Warning: The Wise Man's Fear was not enjoyable (for me) and I thought The Name of the Wind magical. I was so disappointed and I worry about the last book in the trilogy. 

Edited by ErinE
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Negin, thanks for posting those books. I'm not overweight but I love books about health, nutrition, and exercise. I'm very interested in the fasting book. While reading Spark I found it interesting that rats who are fed less than the "optimal" amount of calories lived longer and had fewer diseases. I'm interested to hear the ideas of how fasting is beneficial. It makes complete sense to me from an evolutionary view point. Now that I am no longer nursing a little one, and I am no longer underweight I can give fasting a try. I'll read the book you posted first. 

 

 

Am I allowed to say I don't love food? I mean, I enjoy yummy food as much as the next person, but really I'm just as content to eat a bowl of unseasoned, steamed broccoli and call it good. That's not to say I don't enjoy the brownies my ds bakes. But if I had to chose what brings me greater sense of joy or satisfaction it would not be the brownies he but a run I take. No food has ever given me the great feeling I get from exercise. Ever. I've had many many times that I regretted eating something. I have never regretted a workout. It's funny cause this morning my dh made eggs and bacon. It smelled delicious. However, I did not eat it because I had an hour long workout of HIIT, weights, and pilates waiting for me. That brings me more joy than bacon. I sucked down a pouch of applesauce instead for fuel. I know. Weird.  

 

OnceUponaTime, I also always have a fiction and a non-fiction going. I used to almost only read non-fiction so I balanced it out. 

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My name is Heather and I am addicted to adding books to my currently reading pile.

 

I am at some point in the following books

(to spell out GARNET):

Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee

Acne, Asthma, and Other Signs You Might Be Half Dragon by Rena Rocford

Rena's Promise as told to Heather Dune Macadam

Nelson Mandela by Lillian Kendall

Every Day is a Holiday by George Mahood

Terminal Value by Thomas Waite

(A to Z authors):

Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson

(Well-Educated Mind):

Don Quixote

(because my daughter begged me, plus it's dystopian so bingo square)

The Fever Code by James Dashner

(reading to my little guys at bedtime):

The Rabbit Are My Flip-Flops by Rachel Elizabeth Cole

(collection of short stories bingo square):

Stories from Separation, Texas by John J. Asher

(chunky book):

Texas by James A. Michener

(mind voyages challenge that I'm doing with my husband):

The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon

(BAW read along):

Norwegian Wood

 

And then today I added:

The Train to Crystal City by Jan Jarboe Russell (it's the San Antonio mayor's book club choice for spring)

Summer at Sunset by Beth Labonte (I read the first Summer book and loved it; then I noticed this one is available on Kindle Unlimited and since my trial ends in a week and I haven't used it at all I figured I'd better jump on it and save 3 bucks)

 

I'm about a third of the way through Norwegian Wood.  It starting to suck me in.  The audiobook hold for The Yiddish Policemen's Union came available for my husband this morning so I need to hurry up and read that book.  It's just not grabbing me.  Summer at Sunset I expect will take me very little time to read if it's anything like Summer at Sea.  I read the first one in one day.  So I should get a few books done this week, hopefully.  Especially since tomorrow is a day off.

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Quick question about the birthstone challenge and challenges in general -

 

Do all the challenges have the same rules as bingo? I don't want to repeat the same questions if they do. Also for the birthstone challenge can we ignore articles if article if the first word in the title?  Example - I was looking at opal, and for O considered The Ocean at the End of the Lane.

 

ETA: Yes I know opal is almost a year away lol. I was thinking of only joining in my birthday month as well as possibly dh, ds, and dss. October (opal) is my month.

Edited by Lady Florida.
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Books read last week:

 

  • Morning Star (Red Rising #3) by Pierce Brown. Science Fiction. Darrow continues his bid to overthrow the ruling class while his allies fight among themselves for the ideal government. The last book in the trilogy, it was a satisfying end to this action-adventure story set in space. It's not very thought provoking, but a good read for sci-fi fans. (ETA: I put fun, in the sense of not thought provoking, thriller style, but changed my mind upon reflection. Several characters are tortured and the descriptions are brutal)
  • To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey. Literary Fiction. An epistolary, it follows the tale of an American colonel navigating the wilds of Alaska while his wife discovers a love for photography back home. It had lovely magical realism elements along with a peek at modern day and historical settlement of the state. Highly recommended.
  • A Dream in Polar Fog by Yuri Rytkhea, trans. Ilona Yazhbin Chavasse. Originally written in Russian, a Canadian sailor, through an unfortunate accident, is stranded among the Chukotka of Siberia and over time, learns to assimilate in the culture. Many thanks to Stacia for this gorgeous read!
  • Understanding Cultural and Human Geography by Paul Robbins. Geography, History, and Sociology. An interesting look at how geography influences history and culture. I enjoyed this course from The Great Courses, but I find these sorts of discussions fascinating.
  • American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Folktale Horror. A recently released convict is pulled into a scheme to save the gods living in the United States. I loved all the different cultural heroes incorporated in this story, but the main character Shadow didn't move me. There was only one emotional scene into Shadow's past and I wish Gaiman had included more like them. After reading Deborah Chester's The Fantasy Fiction Formula, I've read books more critically looking for those emotional reflective moments. I did enjoy Gaiman's descriptive writing and will likely read more from him.
  • Virtual Light by William Gibson. Speculative Fiction. A former police officer tracks down a client's missing parcel. Gibson is considered to be the founder of cyberpunk; in his influential debut novel Neuromancer, he coined the term cyberspace and heavily influenced The Matrix movie series. His style is usually not my cup of tea as he tends to throw the reader into an unfamiliar world and move into the action quickly. The moment where the MacGuffin was revealed felt anti-climatic to me, but the story was fine. The Bingo science fiction read.
  • The Angels' Share by J. R. Ward. Romantic Fiction. The heir to a bourbon company must keep his family and business from falling apart. Normally in a romantic series, each book has a couple finding romance, but that's not the case for the second book in the Bourbon Kings series. There really wasn't much progression to the storyline. A reviewer called it a soap opera, an apt description if you enjoy the style.
  • Boneshaker by Cherie Priest. Steampunk. In a Seattle destroyed by poisonous gas and populated by zombies, a mother seeks her missing son. The worldbuilding in the book was really cool, but I didn't find the characters very compelling. The steampunk read for Bingo. 
  • Miss Garnet's Angel by Salley Vickers. A former English teacher travels to Venice. My birthstone read for January. It didn't feel like the various plots were woven together well. 

I've started Death, Dying, and the Afterlife from The Great Courses and I have a couple books in the queue to read, but I'm finding it tough to get started. It turns out you can get tired of resting in bed and reading all day.

Edited by ErinE
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Quick question about the birthstone challenge and challenges in general -

 

Do all the challenges have the same rules as bingo? I don't want to repeat the same questions if they do. Also for the birthstone challenge can we ignore articles if article if the first word in the title?  Example - I was looking at opal, and for O considered The Ocean at the End of the Lane.

 

ETA: Yes I know opal is almost a year away lol. I was thinking of only joining in my birthday month as well as possibly dh, ds, and dss. October (opal) is my month.

Yep.

 

Articles don't count. For example of The Ocean at the End of the Lane can use Ocean, End or Lane for one of the letters of the birthstone.  You aren't limited to the first word in the title.  All of rules for Bingo apply to Birthstone challenge

 

Page count minimum is 200 pages.  
Novellas and rereads don't count as that would be too easy.
Book has to be started and completed this year, no carry overs from last year. 
No double dipping. 
Audiobooks are fine as long as has substance and the actual book is over 200 pages in length
 
If just doing straight forward 52 books read, there isn't a required 200 page length as long as the book has substance, Can count rereads or book started in 2016 but finish in 2017.  
Edited by Robin M
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Today, I finished The Inquisitive Cook by Anne Gardiner and Sue Wilson. I don't have a lot to say about it. Dry but informative - a short textbook. I am still reading Norwegian Wood and listening to Our Revolution. To stick to my Every Other Book Is Dusty goal, I've started on Into the Blue Reacha book of Rilke poems translated by Ingrid Amalia Herbert and Alison Kolodinsky. I was thinking of reading The Frozen Thames next, a book that I believe Jane recommended to me? But since it's Oulipo week, perhaps I'll read Sphinx instead, a book I saw on several of the lists linked to last year. It was written by a female member of Oulipo. I haven't decided yet. First, I must finish Murakami.

 

Here's an untitled poem from the Rilke book:

 

Forget, forget, and let us now live

to see only this, how the stars pervade

the bared night sky, how the cirque of the moon

fully scales the gardens. For so long

we've sensed how reflection deepens in the dark;

how a gleam emerges, a white shadow

in the sheen of darkness. But now

let us completely step into the world

which is moon--

 

          -Paris, summer 1909

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I'm 2/3 finished with Weed the People: The Future of Legal Marijuana in America by Bruce Barcott. My favorite chapter so far is "How We Got Here," which traces the history of legislation in the USA. If the author would have stuck to writing about policy and science, I would be liking the book better. Whenever he gets personal, he annoys me. He too often make statements about "my generation" that just don't ring true for me at all, and he is only two years younger than me. And there are too many pop culture references that have nothing to do with what he is trying to say.

 

Written in 2015, it is already somewhat out of date. But in spite of my gripes, I have learned quite a bit. I am reading this for a nonfiction book club. It's a new club at the indie bookstore, and I am new in town. So I have never met any of the people. It could be an interesting discussion!

 

Also plugging along with:

 

The Arabian Nights (Husain Haddawy version)

The Prince, Machiavelli

 

 

 

 

Edited by Penguin
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I finished The Name of the Wind. I'm hooked. There were just a few nitpicky things that kept me from giving it five stars. I went ahead and requested The Wise Man's Fear from the library. It's over 1000 pages though, looks a little daunting. Lin-Manuel Miranda has apparently signed on as creative producer of an adaptation of the trilogy, so it will be interesting to see what happens with that.

 

I'm afraid I agree with ErinE; I didn't like Wise Man's Fear nearly as much as the first one. You can skip the entire sex goddess chapter; it's not relevant to the plot. I usually don't like the second book as the first though, so hopefully the final installment is better!

 

I hadn't heard about the Lin-Manuel Miranda adaptation. Intriguing!

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I'm still in the early parts of Condoleezza Rice's No Higher Honor.  It's not novelly, but I would recommend it for people interested in how the government works at the top and in recent history.

 

I tried to start the read-aloud of Arabian Nights yesterday.  I had to stop, because the prologue had a scene that sounded like an orgy or something - definitely not appropriate for 10-year-olds - so now I see I will have to pre-read and edit before I continue with that.  Oops.

 

In the car, we're listening to Tom Sawyer.  A little uncomfortable when they use the N-word and talk about the glory of learning how to smoke.  It's not super engaging for my kids, as the reader talks slowly, on top of the wordiness of the narration.  But it's still a good choice.  Better to listen to the audiobook than to miss the book all together.

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