Jump to content

Menu

Chrysalis Academy

Members
  • Posts

    13,613
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    20

Everything posted by Chrysalis Academy

  1. So Erin, talk to me about Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang - looks like you read it and liked it earlier this year. I started listening to the audio and am having trouble getting into it. I wonder if it's a better one to read than listen to. Is it worth persevering?
  2. Is anybody else reading La Belle Sauvage, the new Philip Pullman book? I just finished it. What a great story! But I don't want to say too much about it in case some of you guys are reading it right now . . .
  3. I agree with others, AC is very uneven. My favorite titles are ones where she does something really unique and interesting - she had a number of "firsts" among mystery writers. I'd say my top 3 books of hers are And Then There Were None, Murder on the Orient Express, and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. And Witness for the Prosecution is a great short story. They all have legitimately interesting and unique twists, not just a bunch of red herrings scattered about.
  4. Totally agree about that one, too. I loved that book, but the ending felt like it belonged to a completely different book. I've come to the conclusion that ending books in a satisfying way is really, really hard, so when it happens, I'm unduly impressed.
  5. Apparently great minds think alike! I read this during last year's Spooky October, and here is my GR review: "I kind of just picked 3 stars out of a hat. Things about this book I thought were fantastic - the description of the setting, the characters and the family dynamics. Just amazingly well-written and evocative. The spooky/suspense part was well done, too. But the horror/denouement? I didn't like it. But did I not like it because I don't really like gore & horror, or was it actually not well done, not right for the story, too much of a break from what came before? I'm not sure, I'm going to have to let this one sit for awhile. At this point it's a book that I really, really enjoyed, until the end, which I really disliked. But that could be my issue as much as the book's. "
  6. I have also felt many conflicting, strong emotions over the past couple of days, feelings I’ve struggled to put into words and share. What finally crystallized things for me was the stark contrast of metaphors presented in two adjacent posts, by Jennifer and Robin. Jen sees BaW as a front porch where we gather to talk books and share bits of our lives. Robin sees it as a sandbox where children play with their toys. The children must be monitored to ensure that they don’t break any rules, and bad children who break the rules can be told to pack up their toys and leave. Like everybody else, I appreciate the effort that goes into maintaining this space. But: that effort doesn’t automatically come with special powers of exclusion. It’s only a sandbox if you choose to see it as a sandbox. The sandbox, the porch, they’re both just stories. We all choose the narratives by which we live. Me? I choose to hang out on the porch with my friends. Pull up a rocker. Don’t kick sand in my lemonade.
  7. I hope both Kathy and Chews on Books (does he still?) had a very happy birthday. Eliana, I've put Black Radishes on hold for Morgan, thank you. We just started Animal Farm and next comes the tricky business of navigating WWII lit for a thoughtful yet sensitive 11 year old. So this was a well-timed suggestion. I've also put Three Parts Dead on my TR list, and Jo Walton's Tooth and Claw on hold - Jo Walton always makes me think of you, you're the one that turned me on to her, Ann Leckie, and Ada Palmer, my current triumvirate of favorite Scifi women. And I want to tell you I admire and appreciate the work you're doing with 350 Seattle. And I'm so happy when you find the time to check in here!
  8. I'm enjoying my currently-reading stack at the moment. I have two nonfiction - Utopia for Realists (recommended recently by Eliana) which is excellent, and Why Buddhism is True, which is also great. Both are unusually well-written for this kind of nonfiction (in contrast to Thinking) - very clear and fresh prose. I'm also reading the brand-new Chantal Acevedo novel, The Living Infinite, which is excellent so far, Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars, and Swastika Night, a little-known feminist dystopia from the 1930s, which may have influenced Orwell, Atwood, and others. Still listening to The Moonstone. I finished two notable books yesterday: a reread of Lord of the Flies, which I found inexpressibly brilliant in the context of other dystopian writings of the early 20th century, and Missile Paradise, a book set in the Marshall Islands following 4 characters through various misadventures. One Marshallese, 3 American characters. I don't usually love contemporary fiction with no fantasy/scifi elements, but I was sucked into this book right away and really enjoyed it. I found it while doing some "reading around the world" research - it's not a Marshallese novel, in the sense that it's written by an American, but it was on a "best books set in Oceania" list, and it did not disappoint.
  9. It's not you, it's the book. Fascinating topic, but I agree, the book is plodding. Which gets first place? I'm thinking Aslan of Narnia, but maybe that's not High School. We were beaten over the head with the symbolism in my high school English class (I went to parochial school). Hence my years-long dislike of both Hemingway and symbolism in novels.
  10. Angel, :grouphug: to you and Aly. I can relate, so much. I hope you get answers and she gets relief soon.
  11. Yep. You cycle through the timelines once, from mid-1800s to the far future, then back in reverse order. The last two scenarios (in the time sequence) have more of a sci-fi flavor - the first kind of cyberpunk and the second post-apocalyptic. It's a very unexpected novel in many ways, but I definitely think you guys should stick with it. It rewards the attention you give it. I'm definitely planning to re-read it next year in the context of my Dystopian project. As you were one of my fellow admirers of the Ada Palmer series, I especially think you'll enjoy Cloud Atlas.
  12. We use Esberitox (echinacea) and Elderberry syrup at the first sign of a cold/virus and can often head them off this way. Vit C and Vit A&D from fish oil/cod liver oil help too.
  13. Oh yeah, that's a good one! Speaking of passing along books, one of you lovely people sent me Jar City. Dh and I have both read and enjoyed it and I'd be happy to pass it on. I also have Horrorstor, read and reviewed by Stacia, which I'd be glad to share. I'm going to hang on to Snow Crash b/c Shannon says she might want to read it. Let me know if you want either of these books.
  14. Poe's Murder's in the Rue Morgue? Sherlock Holmes? There are lots of short stories that would give you the flavor if you didn't want to tackle a long book, although for 25-Bingo I think they have to be over 200 pp. The Hound of the Baskervilles would work, and I enjoy that one more than most. I'm listening to The Moonstone right now, which fits both the "classics you should read", mystery, and birthstone categories, but it's not a quick and easy mystery by any stretch. Murder on the Orient Express is about to be made into a movie, so if you haven't read that it might be a fun one. I don't think all of Christie's mysteries are classic must-reads by any stretch, but the other ones I like enough to suggest in this category are And Then There Were None and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.
  15. This is pretty much our scenario with dd11, too. It's much easier now that she's old enough to fix herself an alternative. I don't keep any junk food in the house and if she doesn't like what I cook she can fix herself something else. I have to go through a lot of contortions to cook for chronically ill dd14 who has a lot of dietary restrictions and no way am I willing to be a short order cook. I'm not gonna lie, it's been a struggle and we had a lot of conflict when she was you dc's age. As she got a bit older, I shifted my efforts to trying to teach her about nutrition and what her body needs to be healthy. Now our food discussions/negotiations tend to go something like this: Me: "What are you making yourself for breakfast/lunch?" Dd "(a carbohydrate)" Me: "You need to add a protein and/or a healthy fat to have a balanced meal." Dd "How about cheese/an avadado/yogurt etc." Me: "Great!" At dinner, if she doesn't like what I fix she can make herself something different and join us at the table with it. Last night it was a rice cake & cream cheese and a bowl of blueberries. It's not ideal but it's better than fighting every night.
  16. Stacia, I enjoyed perusing your book list, you read such interesting stuff! We definitely have an overlap in the Venn diagram of our reading interests, but you are more adventurous than I am when it comes to writing style. You've turned me on to some interesting and some great books over the past few years. And you saved me the trouble of writing a review for Snow Crash: "34. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, pub. by Bantam Books. 3 stars. North America: USA. (Cyber-punk sci-fi that merges virtual reality, a dystopian future, & a link to ancient linguistics. Interesting topics to ponder; enjoyed concept more than the book itself.)" I agree. Reading this in the context of my Utopian/Dystopian project, I can say that while this book is full of ideas, they are more linguistics/programming/VR type of ideas rather than social organization/dystopian type ideas, although his extrapolation of a future US based on current trends is darkly funny. Sounds like Shannon might like the vampire book you just read . . . although I think she needs to read the original first! How have we made it this far without her reading Dracula! I'll have to pull that out for her at some point, though she just finished Brave New World and 1984 and is now coming up for air with a digression into her umpteenth David Eddings re-read.
  17. Checked off my Crimean War square: The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline, a YA mystery starring Sherlock Holmes's younger sister Enola. She's a scrappy heroine, it was a cute book.
  18. Hmm, that's not something I've paid an ounce of attention to. It looks like the translator for most of his books that I've read is Margaret Jull Costa. It looks like she's won several translation awards for both Spanish and Portuguese works. There's a different translator for Blindness. I can't say I noticed a difference between his translation and hers. I can only imagine Saramago is not easy to translate. I guess I am a fangirl, although I've abandoned a couple of books because I didn't find the character or story compelling. I really enjoy the writing style, though it leaves me a bit breathless at times and I can't read it in distracting surroundings. When you go 5+ pages without a paragraph break it's not easy to dip in and out of. I don't read unless I know I'll have time to focus and read a whole chapter, because in his stream-of-consciousness writing, a chapter is pretty much the smallest unit that makes any sense. Of the books I've read, here's how I rank them (roughly): Death With Interruptions Blindness The Gospel According to Jesus Christ Cain The Elephant's Journey The Tale of the Unknown Island I abandoned All the Names and Seeing and returned The Stone Raft unread (though I may pick it up again). The premise of DwI is that death - the death responsible for the single, landlocked European country in which the story is set - decides to go on strike for about 7 months. Then she changes the rules. Then she has a surprising experience. I'll say no more. But I really liked it, and I'd recommend it as a good starting place. Blindness is very dark. Gospel and Cain are great if you have a high tolerance for irreverence.
  19. I've always wanted one of these. For the other side of my window from the Bingo list! I'm a dork. I finished Death With Interruptions. I loved it. It took an odd turn about 2/3 of the way through and I wasn't sure if I was going to be happy with how it ended, but I was. It was brilliant. That's now my favorite Saramago novel. I always like how he writes, even if the topics don't always grab me, but this one was great on both counts.
  20. I finished Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, and another Bingo row: Voodoo – Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil – john Berendt Free Space – Great Tales from English History Vol. 2 – Robert Lacey Written by a blogger – Girls & Sex: Navigating the Complicated New Landscape – Peggy Orenstein Free Space – The First Twenty Minutes – Gretchen Reynolds Something silly – 1066 and All That: A Memorable History of England – WC Sellar & RJ Yeatman
  21. Nice! I will have to share that with Shannon. Already got the book on hold, I'm #4 so should get it soon.
  22. I *love* Cloud Atlas, and dh did too. I'm looking forward to having dd read it later in our Dystopian year. I kind of really hated what they did with the movie, but only because I liked the book so much and it really watered down/changed the message. I might read The Cat for the cozy square too, unless I re-read Unnatural Causes which is my favorite Adam Dalgliesh novel. Granted, it's not *exactly* cozy, but it's as cozy as that broody poet-policeman gets.
  23. Negin, I listened to The Secret History, read by the author. I absolutely loved her voice, her accent, and how she read the book. I think that's really a big part of what made me like that book so much. I'm always surprised by how much a voice can make or break a book for me. And while I generally like an author reading their own book the most (but not always - I'm looking at you, EL Doctorow), I also like it when an author who is great at differentiating the characters with accents reads. OTOH, I don't love having different characters read by different people. I wonder why?
  24. This week I finished a re-read of 1984, plus reading the Bloom's Guide. I listened to The Patience Stone. Currently I'm listening to The Moonstone, and reading Why Buddhism is True, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Snow Crash, Death With Interruptions, and some of Orwell's essays. I finished another Bingo row: Set in Asia –The Patience Stone – Atiq Rahimi Local Author – The Terranauts - TC Boyle Random book from the 240 shelf at the library –Help Thanks Wow: The Three Essential Prayers, Anne Lamott Female Villain – A Feast for Crows – GRR Martin Book translated from a non-European language – The Vegetarian – Han Kang That's 12 rows completed. I've decided to keep working on the Bingo, but not try to finish it by Dec. 31, because at this point It's come down to some of the less-compelling (for me) categories, and there are other things I want to read - both new fiction, and my Utopian/Dystopian reading project, which I've expanded. So I'll probably have 1 Bingo book going at a time, which means I'll only read another 10-20 this year. I have 61 books left to complete . . . so yeah, it will spill over. I have finished 214/241 books for my 2017 Reading Challenge, so I will hit that . . . just not all my "assigned" Bingo books. Ok, I'm done obsessing over lists and numbers. Carry on with talking about books ;) :D
×
×
  • Create New...