Book a Week 2015 - BW24 - bookish birthdays and what not!

[Robin M]

Happy Sunday Dear hearts:  We are on week 24 in our quest to read 52 books.  Welcome back to our regulars, anyone just joining in, and to all who follow our progress. Mr. Linky is all set up on the 52 books blog to link to your reviews. The link is also in my signature.

 

52 Books Blog - Bookish Birthdays and what not!:  It's been a while for bookish birthdays and book news, so here we go.  Have fun following rabbit trails and adding to your wishlists! 

June 13:  William Butler Yeats - Irish poet and Dorothy L. Sayers - mystery novelist

June 14:  Harriet Beecher Stowe - best known for Uncle Tom's Cabin and John Bartlett - Editor and best known for his Bartlett Quotations

June 15:  Brian Jacques - Redwall series

June 16: John Howard Griffin - author of Black like me and Joyce Carol Oates - American Author

June 17:  Everhardus Johannes Potgieter - Dutch Poet and Henry Lawson - Australian Poet

June 18:  Chris Van Allsburg - children story writer and Phillip Barry -  best known for Philadelphia Story.

June 19:  Blaise Pascal - French philosopher and Thomas Buchan - Scottish Poet

June 20:  Vikram Seth - Indian novelist and  William Chestnut - African American Folklore



Flavorwire - 50 Essential Mystery Novels that Everyone Should Read

Addictive Books - Top 100 Thrillers of All Time

Worlds Best Detective and Murder Mystery Books

Mystery Novels from Around the World


 

*******************************************************************

 

History of the Medieval World 

Chapter 28 Great and Holy Majesty pp 193 - 202 

 

********************************************************************

 

What are you reading this week?

 

 

 

Link to bw23

[Robin M]

Diving back into Swann's way, although Vickram Seth's A Suitable Boy is calling  my name.  What  a conundrum!  :laugh:

[Kareni]

Last night I finished Julie Anne Long's historical romance It Started with a Scandal: Pennyroyal Green Series.  This is book 10 in the series, but I think it can stand alone.  It was an enjoyable read.  (Some adult content.)  I particularly enjoyed the witty banter between the two leads.

 

"Lord Philippe Lavay once took to the high seas armed with charm as lethal as his sword, and a stone-cold conviction: he'll restore his family's fortune and honor, no matter the cost. Victory is at last within reach—when a brutal attack snatches it from his grasp and lands him in Pennyroyal Green.

 

An afternoon of bliss brings a cascade of consequences for Elise Fountain. She is shunned by her family and ousted from a job she loves, and her survival means a plummet down the social ladder to a position no woman has yet been able to keep: housekeeper to a frighteningly formidable prince.

 

The bold and gentle Elise sees past his battered body into Philippe's barricaded heart . . . and her innate sensuality ignites his blood. Now a man who thought he could never love and a woman who thought she would never again trust must fight an incendiary passion that could be the ruin of them both."

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

[Loesje22000]

I finished a book about the French Revolution this week:

http://jaapterhaar.weebly.com/uploads/2/5/0/7/25079977/5084014.jpg?398

 

To refresh my knowledge for next year.

Try to find some more enjoyable about Napoleon, its follow-up

 

Meanwhile a reread of : Jacoba of Holland ( Zeeland and Henegouwen)

http://s.s-bol.com/imgbase0/imagebase/large/FC/4/6/2/1/1001004006831264.jpg

A Belgian-Dutch piece of Medieval History.

[Jane in NC]

Hello my reading friends!

 

After my tiring weeks of assisting my friend with her transition from winter home to summer cottage and a life without her soul mate of 60 years, I needed a comfort read.  Angela Thirkell to the rescue!  I read What Did It Mean? (1954) which features the committee work and machinations behind Barsetshire's coronation festivities.  This is probably not a good first read for those unfamiliar with Thirkell's world.  While all of her novels are free standing, this is her 30 something one in the series so the characters or their families are long established which I think adds to the joy the of her books.

 

Today I started Departure Lounge by New Zealand author Chad Taylor (Europa imprint).  It looks like a crazy ride which means that I'll probably send it to Stacia when I am finished.  ;)

 

VC, my library suffers from a dearth of Scottish literature.  On that note, I should probably start reading Smollett sooner than later, as each volume of Peregrine Pickle runs about 450 pages.

 

Rose, so glad that you enjoyed E.O. Wilson's Letters to a Young Scientist.  Might I suggest you also consider Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet for Shannon's reading?

 

Negin, I have placed Murder in Amsterdam on my list.

 

I should also confess that I have been neglecting HoMW and The Golden Legend. 

 

The heat is on here.  Very oppressive.  Will head out for a swim later in the afternoon.

 

Jane

[Kareni]

I suspect that someone else will enjoy looking at this BuzzFeed post ~

 

37 Borderline Erotic Photos For People Who Love Stationery

http://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahjewell/borderline-erotic-photos-for-people-who-love-stationery?sub=3742206_5400780&utm_term=.tiYyBaDy&fb_ref=.oyyX4Y5X#.bf6xAqGW2

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Robin M]

I suspect that someone else will enjoy looking at this BuzzFeed post ~

 

37 Borderline Erotic Photos For People Who Love Stationery

http://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahjewell/borderline-erotic-photos-for-people-who-love-stationery?sub=3742206_5400780&utm_term=.tiYyBaDy&fb_ref=.oyyX4Y5X#.bf6xAqGW2

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

Cool beans.  I really like #25 of the stationery shop.  I've gotten into writing with green, purple, and blue pens which turns out remarkably enough to be not only inspiring, but I can differentiate between writing exercises and notes much easier.  Espeically since I just use one notebook.  Can't keep track of more than one at a time.  :laugh:

 

[Onceuponatime]

A friend passed this article on to me:

http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/can-reading-make-you-happier

 

What a great job to have!

 

I finished Giant and was a little disappointed at the abrupt ending. Texas has changed a lot in many ways, others not so much. Edna Ferber probably got a lot of hate mail for this book.

 

I've started The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman, because it is as far away from Texas realism as I can get.

[Guest]

I could use some prayers/positive thoughts.  We're dealing with a nightmarish situation for which there is little we can do right now except pray.

 

I didn't make it here last week, so I have two week's of reading to update:

 

The two standouts from that time are both ones recommended by folks here:

 

Every Man for Himself by Beryl Bainbridge (sent to me by Jane - thank you, darling!) is advertised as a novel about the sinking of the Titanic, but it isn't, really.  It does manage to convey, I think, more about that event and more meaningfully than books more focused on it, but it is more about a time period and a culture than an event... which makes its a more nuanced, quieter, more moving book than it would be otherwise.  

 

Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel - this is a much better dystopia/postapocalyptic novel than most of the ones being produced these days.  I think the only reason I'm discontented after reading it is that the traveling performance group seemed more a device than a reality... and the transcendent possibilities of theater/music/the arts weren't talked about, but never made real for me.  If you go into it without expecting any of those things, I think it is a very enjoyable read.

 

Most of my other reading was drama:

 

3 Sartre plays: No Exit, The Respectful Prostitute, and The Flies.  Of these, The Flies was the most powerful, the most complex, and the most interesting.  The Respectful Prostitute felt overly simplistic and dated, but US racial relations looked at by a French writer intrigued me.  No Exit felt more meaningful to me as a teen than it does now... which makes me almost afraid to reread Les Jeux Sont Faits, which I found profound then, and might shrug at now.

 

2 TS Eliot plays + the Euripides he cites as a starting place for one of them: The Confidential Clerk, The Cocktail Party, and Alcestis.  The Confidential Clerk is amusing, almost farcical in places, and rather sweet.  The Cocktail Party started out intriguing and devolved into what felt like pretentious pseudo-mysticism.  Tying things up in a neat (if sanctimonious) bow detracted from any interest I might have had.  The most interesting part was trying to think about connections with Alcestis (an interesting play, but not one of my favorites - notable, in my mind, largely for its strong female lead and the interesting emphasis on a single virtue redeeming an otherwise unimpressive man).

 

2 Marlowe plays: Edward II and Doctor Faustus: These suffer when I try to compare them to Shakespeare, but are strong, interesting plays in their own right, if not completely satisfying.

 

Other things read:

 

Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor: Jane, you might like this one.  It is a quiet story with close observation and a spark of humor.  It isn't as sweet, or as tidy, a story as the movie made from it, but it is more real.

 

Glass Mountain by Cynthia Voigt: her one adult novel.  There are ways in which this riffs off Jeeves and Wooster in a modern setting.  There is much humor and sympathetic, if detached, observation, and a lot of Voigt's trademark integrity.  I have always been fond of this book and am very happy it is now available on kindle.

 

Young Fredle also by Voigt: This is a companion book to the juvenile Angus and Sadie, this time about a young mouse living on the farm.  It has more of a narrative arc than the other and a richer story, but some of the same things which made the other very appealing.

 

Chinese Folk Poetry - a slim collection of folk poetry from a wide span of time.  I would have appreciated some notes or background information, but I found this an enjoyable expansion of my experiences - I think I've mostly only read classical Chinese poetry.

 

Faust I by Goethe: I had forgotten just how gorgeous this is, even in translation (I don't feel up to tackling in German right now, though I should).  

[Just Robyn]

I finished A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn. I'm glad to have read it, though I didn't retain any of the many, many specific facts from the book, only the general points.

 

I also read Selected Poems of Corsino Fortes. I don't think I could imagine a meaning, even a basic surface meaning, for most of these poems, but there were nuggets of goodness throughout. Such as:

 

on the rock the sun breaks

                        the yolk of hunger

the wind grinds the stone

                     with the flour's white cry

the people and the people's hand

           write the longhand sentence in the earth

 

And I really liked this short poem:

 

Island

 

Sun & seed: root and lightning stroke

Drum of sound

                           That flourishes

On the bald head of God.

 

 

I am still reading Karate Chop, and I have started Blood Lyrics and To Kill a Mockingbird.

[Violet Crown]

Dang! I accidentally rated the thread at four stars. Now after a few votes everyone is going to wonder who gave the thread one star. Stupid bad eyesight. Sorry Robin!

 

Just finished As We Were today and haven't decided what to read next. There's some hilarious literary anecdotes in that book and I can't decide whether to share the one with Tennyson or the one with Henry James. Benson knew everyone who was anyone, or someone he knew did. What a fantastic book. What to read next? Middle Girl won't relinquish my Dickens.

 

ETA: ((((Eliana))))

[Chrysalis Academy]

Hello my reading friends!

 

 

 

Rose, so glad that you enjoyed E.O. Wilson's Letters to a Young Scientist.  Might I suggest you also consider Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet for Shannon's reading?

 

 

Jane

 

Thank you for the suggestion!

[Chrysalis Academy]

I could use some prayers/positive thoughts.  We're dealing with a nightmarish situation for which there is little we can do right now except pray.

 

I didn't make it here last week, so I have two week's of reading to update:

 

The two standouts from that time are both ones recommended by folks here:

 

Every Man for Himself by Beryl Bainbridge (sent to me by Jane - thank you, darling!) is advertised as a novel about the sinking of the Titanic, but it isn't, really.  It does manage to convey, I think, more about that event and more meaningfully than books more focused on it, but it is more about a time period and a culture than an event... which makes its a more nuanced, quieter, more moving book than it would be otherwise.  

 

Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel - this is a much better dystopia/postapocalyptic novel than most of the ones being produced these days.  I think the only reason I'm discontented after reading it is that the traveling performance group seemed more a device than a reality... and the transcendent possibilities of theater/music/the arts weren't talked about, but never made real for me.  If you go into it without expecting any of those things, I think it is a very enjoyable read.

 

 

 

:grouphug:

 

 

I just put Every Man for Himself on hold, and I've been waiting for Station Eleven for months now! I'm #26, so it won't be too long now.

[Chrysalis Academy]

I wrapped up quite a few books last week, and started a bunch of new things.  Almost 100% of my current reads are pre-reads for next year's school. Good thing we're studying topics I'm interested in, too!  (Not an accident  ;)).  I did finish A Feast for Crows and began A Dance with Dragons last night.  Someone posted a while back that the later books of the series didn't hold up as well for them. I can see that with AFfC, in that it's missing some of the more interesting characters - they are either dead or not included - and some of the featured characters are not my favorites.  Cersei is such a train wreck, it's almost hard to take her storyline seriously, and I can't care about Brienne, Arianne, and some of the other characters as much as I do about Dany, Tyrion, and Caetlyn.  Since I get to read ADwD immediately, it's no biggie, but I can't imagine having finished one of these books and waiting SIX YEARS for the sequel!  I definitely can't see my interest holding out that long.  Lucky for me the next book is forthcoming, supposedly.

 

Books Read in June:

88. Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? - Roz Chast

87. Age of Opportunity: Lessons from the New Science of Adolescense - Laurence Steinberg

86. The Clockwork Universe: Isaac Newton, The Royal Society, and the Birth of the Modern World - Edward Dolnick

85. A Feast for Crows - GRR Martin

84. String, Straightedge and Shadow: The Story of Geometry - Julia Diggins

83. The Golden Compass - Phillip Pullman

82. The Adoration of Jenna Fox - Mary Pearson

81. Letters to a Young Scientist - E O Wilson

80. The Science of Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials - Mary Gribbin

79. From Then Till Now: A Short History of the World - Christopher Moore

78. A Storm of Swords - GRR Martin

[Shawneinfl]

I suspect that someone else will enjoy looking at this BuzzFeed post ~

 

37 Borderline Erotic Photos For People Who Love Stationery

http://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahjewell/borderline-erotic-photos-for-people-who-love-stationery?sub=3742206_5400780&utm_term=.tiYyBaDy&fb_ref=.oyyX4Y5X#.bf6xAqGW2

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

 

Haha, I tried to check out your link Kareni I but Net Nanny won't let me see it. 

[JennW in SoCal]

I finished a book about the French Revolution this week:

http://jaapterhaar.weebly.com/uploads/2/5/0/7/25079977/5084014.jpg?398

 

To refresh my knowledge for next year.

Try to find some more enjoyable about Napoleon, its follow-up

 

 

Not that you are looking for fiction recommendations, but just the other day my college boy and I were just talking about how popular the Napoleonic War era is in fiction. Off the top of my head there is Naomi Novik's series, staring with His Majesty's Dragon that has dragons serving as an air force during the wars (and in which Napoleon actually succeeds in invading England), there is the entire Master and Commander series, and Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell in which magic is used to help defeat Napoleon. The revolution itself has inspired all sorts of books including Les Miserables, Tale of Two Cities, and the Scarlet Pimpernel, the original spy thriller.  

 

Of course, you can't study the French Revolution without watching this music video, using Lady Gaga's Bad Romance tune to explain the history of liberte, egalite, fraternite....

 

I suspect that someone else will enjoy looking at this BuzzFeed post ~

 

37 Borderline Erotic Photos For People Who Love Stationery

http://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahjewell/borderline-erotic-photos-for-people-who-love-stationery?sub=3742206_5400780&utm_term=.tiYyBaDy&fb_ref=.oyyX4Y5X#.bf6xAqGW2

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

Fetch my smelling salts!  I'm going to swoon!

 

I could use some prayers/positive thoughts.  We're dealing with a nightmarish situation for which there is little we can do right now except pray.

 

 

Chinese Folk Poetry - a slim collection of folk poetry from a wide span of time.  I would have appreciated some notes or background information, but I found this an enjoyable expansion of my experiences - I think I've mostly only read classical Chinese poetry.

 

{{{hugs}}} Eliana.

 

And I was unaware of there being any non-classical Chinese poetry, especially pre-1911. I'd be curious about her sources, but a brief google search is not coming up with much.  

[idnib]

I'm done with my examination of The Waste Land for now. I'm sure there's much more I could dig into, but I've got too much "real life" going on and the goodreads group is moving on to Four Quartets on Wednesday. The Waste Land is definitely meant to be read aloud, IMO. I liked it fine when reading it, but once I heard a reading of it, I loved it.

 

I'm almost done with Meltzer's The Zero Game, from last week. It's quite suspenseful and I'm glad I'm not claustrophobic. But I can tell when an author has written a book hoping it will be picked up for a motion picture, and this reads like that. It has a certain "see, it wouldn't be hard to make this into a script" quality about it. It's not just the dialogue, but certain details of how the scenes are laid out.

 

 

I could use some prayers/positive thoughts.  We're dealing with a nightmarish situation for which there is little we can do right now except pray.

 

---

 

Faust I by Goethe: I had forgotten just how gorgeous this is, even in translation (I don't feel up to tackling in German right now, though I should).  

 

I am praying for you and your family.  :grouphug:

 

I'll be reading Faust next month! I've never read it before.

[TeacherZee]

*hugs* Eliana *hugs*

 

Graduation was Friday and I do my last day on Monday. It is my last day at this school, I accepted a new position for the fall so instead of spending my summer reading I'll be spending it moving and finding some place to live. But I'm sure I'll get some reading done.

 

I read the first Miss Fisher but book this week and although I am pretty sure this is heresy I have to say I prefer the TV series. The book was good but not great.

[Stacia]

Today I started Departure Lounge by New Zealand author Chad Taylor (Europa imprint).  It looks like a crazy ride which means that I'll probably send it to Stacia when I am finished.  ;)

 

:lol:  I know nothing about the book & already I want to read it!

 

I stayed up late last night & finished The Infatuations by Javier Marías. I didn't really know much about it going into it (& wanted to keep it that way as I didn't want any spoilers). I'm on the fence about it. (And I think it's safe to say you can read the linked NPR review without fearing spoilers.)

 

The novel is very well-written, very European (the author is Spanish) in its attitudes, philosophical musings, style, etc.... The central idea itself is intriguing enough: a woman goes daily to the same cafe for a coffee before work & always sees the same happily married couple there -- the characters are all regulars at the cafe, same place, same time. The couple sort-of epitomize, for her, the idea of happiness, order, good things in the world; it starts her day in a nice way when she sees (from afar) this stable, attractive, married couple (who obviously enjoy each other) every morning. The pair stop showing up, which is not totally unusual as people sometimes travel or have other things going on, but after more than a week, she begins wondering, begins missing them. Later she finds out that the man had been brutally murdered in a senseless crime (which she had read about in the newspapers at the time but didn't realize the victim was the man since she knew him only by sight, not by name). The story continues from there, very much a philosophical & analytical journey. The author's style of writing is perfect for the way in which he muses about the lives of the couple (both the dead man as well as his wife, family, & friends left behind) & he pulls in central ideas from a couple of classical stories: Macbeth and Balzac's Colonel Chabert. Fans of "Novels"/"Literature"/"Writing"/"Big Ideas" will find some real beauty here.

 

Otoh, the musings, the repetition (which is very much a stylistic device here), the passive, wishy-washy narrator make the book a chore to read sometimes. More than once I thought tighter editing could have helped the story; more than once, I felt like I was trapped at a lengthy dinner with a self-inflated, didactic professor seated next to me.

 

In the end, there is plenty of food for thought & there are some ideas I may ponder awhile. There are some great elements but it's also not something I can say that I completely enjoyed reading either. I really, really did want to like it more than I actually did. 3 stars. 

 

Now, I'll probably go back to reading In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin & keep looking for the Douglas Adams book that is somewhere in the house....

 

ETA: Eliana, :grouphug: :grouphug:

 

--------------------------

2015 Books Read:

 

01. The Affinity Bridge by George Mann, a Tor book pub. by Tom Doherty Associates. 3 stars. Europe: England. (Entertaining steampunk with likeable characters.)

02. The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami, trans. from the Japanese by Ted Goossen, a Borzoi book pub. by Alfred A. Knopf. 4 stars. Asia: Japan. BaW January author challenge. (Creepy campfire style story; thought-provoking ending made me rethink the entire story.)

03. Extraordinary Renditions by Andrew Ervin, pub. by Coffee House Press. 4 stars. Europe: Hungary. (Triptych of stories in Budapest touching on the Holocaust, racism, corruption, the power of music,…)

04. Rue du Retour by Abdellatif Laâbi, trans. from the French by Jacqueline Kaye, pub. by Readers International. 4 stars. Africa: Morocco. (Poetic paean to political prisoners worldwide by one who was himself in prison for “crimes of opinionâ€. Explores not only incarceration but also readjusting to a ‘normal’ world after torture & release.)

05. Nigerians in Space by Deji Bryce Olukotum, pub. by Unnamed Press. 4 stars. Africa: South Africa & Nigeria. (Scientists lured back home in a ‘brain gain’ plan to start up Nigerian space program. But, things go awry. Is it legit, a scam, or something more sinister?)

06. The Jerusalem File by Joel Stone, pub. by Europa editions. 2 stars. Middle East: Israel. (Noir detective tale re: jealousy. Ambiguous, unsatisfactory ending.)

07. The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire by Jack Weatherford, pub. by Crown Publishers. 4 stars. Asia: Mongolia. (Non-fiction. Even with gaps, fascinating pieces of lost &/or censored history.)

08. Goat Days by Benyamin, trans. from Malayalam by Joseph Koyipally, pub. by Penguin Books. 3 stars. Middle East: Saudi Arabia. (Simple tale of enslaved Indian forced to herd goats in the Saudi Arabian desert.)

09. The Good Lord Bird by James McBride, pub. by Riverhead Books (Penguin Group). 5 stars. North America: USA. (Sharp satire, historical fiction & folly, standing on top of heart, soul... & freedom.)

10. The Duppy by Anthony C. Winkler, pub. by Akashic Books. 3 stars. Caribbean: Jamaica. (A duppy [ghost] relates ribald & amusing anecdotes of Jamaican heaven.)

 

11. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, pub. by Scribner Classics. 4 stars. Europe: France & Spain. (Lost generation of post-WW1 expats living, loving, & arguing in France & Spain.)

12. Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor, pub. by Viking (Penguin Group). 3 stars. Africa: Nigeria. (YA fantasy lit in the vein of HP but with a West African base of myth & legend.)

13. Kismet by Jakob Arjouni, trans. from the German by Anthea Bell, pub. by Melville House (Melville International Crime). 4 stars. Europe: Germany. (Tough Turkish-German PI in the middle of a turf war as a Croatian organized crime group tries to take over territory of Albanian & German mobs in Frankfurt. Darkly funny & nicely paced.)

14. The Razor’s Edge by W. Somerset Maugham, pub. by Penguin Books. 5 stars. Europe: France. (Interlinked stories of friends in post-WWI France as they move through life & each finds his or her own version of success.)

15. Cat Out of Hell by Lynne Truss, pub. by Melville House. 3 stars. Europe: England. (Creepy, frivolous fun horror/mystery mash-up… and a cat who wants Daniel Craig to voice him if there’s a movie version.)

16. Under the Frangipani by Mia Couto, trans. from the Portuguese by David Bookshaw, pub. by Serpent’s Tail. 3 stars. Africa: Mozambique. (Murder mystery that ultimately examines the things that kill a people, a country, a place; told through a magical realism lens of the living & the dead, traditions vs. modern mores, colonization against freedom, & war facing off against peace.)

17. Gassire’s Lute: A West African Epic, trans. & adapted by Alta Jablow, illus. by Leo & Diane Dillon, pub. by Dutton. 4 stars. Africa: West Africa, incl. Ghana & Burkina Faso. (Children’s poetic book [part of the epic of Dausi], telling of Gassire who gives up his noble lineage & warrior life to become a bard/griot.)

18. Orlando by Virginia Woolf, pub. by Harcourt Brace & Company. 4 stars. Europe: England. BaW March author challenge. (Woolf’s love letter to Vita Sackville-West; story of man/woman Orlando spanning over 300 years of English history. Wordy but redeemed by flashes of profound beauty & brilliance.)

19. Missing Person by Patrick Modiano, trans. from the French by Daniel Weissbort, pub. by David R. Godine (a Verba Mundi Book). 4 stars. Europe: France. (After WWII, an amnesiac tries to piece together the people & events of his past. A lyrical, yet spare, examination of identity & history.)

20. No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy, pub. by Vintage International. 4 stars. North America: USA. (Spare & brutal tale of stolen drug money in Texas. Classic themes which are hard & beautifully-crafted.)

 

21. Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood, pub. by Poisoned Pen Press. 3 stars. Australia. (1920s lady detective Phryne Fisher storms the Melbourne social scene with moxie while on the trail of a suspected poisoning, a back-alley abortionist, & the head of the cocaine trade.)

22. Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis, pub. by Scribner. 3 stars. Other: Malacandra. (Professor Ransom is kidnapped & taken to Malacandra, where he escapes his captors & interacts with local life on the planet.)

23. Guantánamo Diary by Mohamedou Ould Slahi, pub. by Little, Brown and Company. 5 stars. North America: USA. (Shocking diary by a never-charged Guantanamo detainee. Shines a harsh light on rendition, interrogation, torture, & US thought & policy shifts after 9/11.)

24. Going Postal by Terry Pratchett, pub. by Corgi Books. 4 stars. Other: Ankh-Morpork. (Moist von Lipwig’s punishment for being a con artist is being put in charge of the Postal Service & getting it back in profitable shape. Witty & fun.)

25. Duplex by Kathryn Davis, pub. by Graywolf Press. 3 stars. North America: USA. (Weird & compelling, chilling & disorienting.)

26. The Dead Mountaineer’s Inn by Boris & Arkady Strugatsky, pub. by Melville House. 3 stars. Europe: Russia. (Fun sci-fi/murder mystery mash-up in a snowed-in Russian ski chalet; a zany cast of misfits.)

27. No Cause for Indictment: An Autopsy of Newark by Ronald Porambo, pub. by Melville House. 4 stars. North America: USA. (Scathing look at racism, the Newark riots, the Mafia, crooked & militant police, corrupt politicians, feeble justice institutions, failing medical & educational systems, a meek Fourth Estate, & more….)

28. Petroglyphs of Hawaii by L. R. McBride, pub. by Petroglyph Press. 3 stars. North America & Oceania: USA/Hawaii. (Brief overview of petroglyphs of Hawaii; light on info concerning the history & meaning of the petroglyphs.)

29. Yesterday in Hawai’i by Scott C. S. Stone, pub. by Island Heritage Publishing. 3 stars. North America & Oceania: USA/Hawaii. (Magazine-like chapters present brief overviews of highlights of Hawaiian history; nice photos.)

30. The Infatuations by Javier Marías, pub. by Alfred A. Knopf. 3 stars. Europe: Spain. (A psychoanalytical exploration of identity, reality, truth, love, & death after a man is brutally murdered in a senseless crime in Madrid.)

 

[Negin]

I read Call the Midwife - 5 Stars - This was an utterly fascinating memoir. What made it even more enjoyable for me was that I am a bit familiar with the East End. I spent six weeks there in my late teens (30 years ago) while staying with a friend. I haven’t seen the TV series yet and don’t know if I’ll have time to do so, even though I’d like to. I can’t wait to read the sequels.

 

Also read Amsterdam: A History of the World's Most Liberal City - 2 Stars - This was just okay. I skipped through the boring parts, which were quite a lot, possibly because I’ve been reading quite a bit about Amsterdam lately :lol: ! Some of it was fine, but the rest was a bit monotonous and tedious for me. One part that I thought was particularly interesting was towards the end of this book, the author reminds us of the story of “The Boy Who Held Back the Sea†– one that many are familiar with. I had previously read that this is not a Dutch story, but was actually written by an American over a century ago. A Dutch friend reminds the author that the story is “purely Americanâ€, that in the Netherlands, “dike building and dike repair are communal enterprises, were the Dutch to construct such a fairy tale, the 'hero' would be town water board."

 

  

 

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. 

[Maela]

Finally finished book #15!  I'm behind by nine books!  ahhhh!  Still, I'm finishing more books than I have in previous years, so I guess it's okay.  :-)

 

Book #1 - So Many Books, So Little Time: A Year of Passionate Reading

#2 - Keep Calm and Parent On: A Guilt-Free Approach to Raising Children by Asking More from Them and Doing Less

3 - Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

4 - If They Give You Lined Paper, Write Sideways

5 - God Is Not Great

6 - The Paying Guests

7 - The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God

8 - Book, Line, and Sinker

9 - The Catcher in the Rye

10 - Childhood's End

11 - Books Can Be Deceiving

12 - The Strange Library

13 - The Girl On the Train

14 - Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl

15 - The Time Paradox: The New Psychology of Time That Will Change Your Life

 

 

 

ETA:  Also, I'm sorry I'm not keeping up with the thread.  I read it every now and then, but not often.   :o

 

[Jane in NC]

I suspect that someone else will enjoy looking at this BuzzFeed post ~

 

37 Borderline Erotic Photos For People Who Love Stationery

http://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahjewell/borderline-erotic-photos-for-people-who-love-stationery?sub=3742206_5400780&utm_term=.tiYyBaDy&fb_ref=.oyyX4Y5X#.bf6xAqGW2

 

Oh my goodness!

 

I could use some prayers/positive thoughts.  We're dealing with a nightmarish situation for which there is little we can do right now except pray.

 

<snip>

 

Every Man for Himself by Beryl Bainbridge (sent to me by Jane - thank you, darling!) is advertised as a novel about the sinking of the Titanic, but it isn't, really.  It does manage to convey, I think, more about that event and more meaningfully than books more focused on it, but it is more about a time period and a culture than an event... which makes its a more nuanced, quieter, more moving book than it would be otherwise.  

 

<snip>

 

 

2 TS Eliot plays + the Euripides he cites as a starting place for one of them: The Confidential Clerk, The Cocktail Party, and Alcestis.  The Confidential Clerk is amusing, almost farcical in places, and rather sweet.  The Cocktail Party started out intriguing and devolved into what felt like pretentious pseudo-mysticism.  Tying things up in a neat (if sanctimonious) bow detracted from any interest I might have had.  The most interesting part was trying to think about connections with Alcestis (an interesting play, but not one of my favorites - notable, in my mind, largely for its strong female lead and the interesting emphasis on a single virtue redeeming an otherwise unimpressive man).

 

<snip>

 

 

Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor: Jane, you might like this one.  It is a quiet story with close observation and a spark of humor.  It isn't as sweet, or as tidy, a story as the movie made from it, but it is more real.

 

 

My thoughts and heart are with you, Eliana.

 

Bainbridge is a writer whom I need to revisit.  Glad you enjoyed the book.

 

Perhaps I'll give The Confidential Clerk a try.  The Cocktail Party was rather bizarre, the second act that is.  This fan of Eliot was certainly baffled.

 

Mrs. Palfrey is on my list.  Thank you for the recommendation.

 

I also read Selected Poems of Corsino Fortes. I don't think I could imagine a meaning, even a basic surface meaning, for most of these poems, but there were nuggets of goodness throughout. Such as:

 

on the rock the sun breaks

                        the yolk of hunger

the wind grinds the stone

                     with the flour's white cry

the people and the people's hand

           write the longhand sentence in the earth

 

And I really liked this short poem:

 

Island

 

Sun & seed: root and lightning stroke

Drum of sound

                           That flourishes

On the bald head of God.

 

 

Fortes writes with such quiet beauty even when the topic is one that is less than beautiful.  Maybe we should travel to Cape Verde to seek a greater understanding?

 

Just finished As We Were today and haven't decided what to read next. There's some hilarious literary anecdotes in that book and I can't decide whether to share the one with Tennyson or the one with Henry James. Benson knew everyone who was anyone, or someone he knew did. What a fantastic book. What to read next? Middle Girl won't relinquish my Dickens.

 

ETA: ((((Eliana))))

 

While I enjoyed Benson's Lucia novels, I never cared for others that I tried; but I suspect that As We Were is my cuppa.  Thanks for putting it on my radar.

 

Lovely swim this afternoon!  Cloud cover helped mitigate the oppressive heat.

[mumto2]

Haha, I tried to check out your link Kareni I but Net Nanny won't let me see it.

:lol: Now that I am thinking about it I can look at them (lovely btw) but can't figure out why I can look at erotic photos and not look at the menu for a favorite chain of Pub Restaurants which are very family friendly! The menu is the only thing I have ever been blocked from, odd.

 

Eliana, Praying for you and your family.

 

I have been starting and stopping books for the last couple of days. Nothing feels right or interesting. I finally started the next Pink Carnation book just to read something familiar. I am getting down to just having books that I am really looking forward to so need to be careful! :lol:

[Ali in OR]

I opened this thread chanting in my head, "you will not put anything on hold, you will not put anything on hold, you will NOT put anything on hold...". You all are making it hard. But so far, I'm adding to my MENTAL books-to-read list instead of my library hold list Every Man for Himself and The Infatuations. I need to spend some time reading some books my dds will be reading this summer and this school year, and they are physically piling up now, so I need to get to them sooner rather than later.

 

From last week's three that I thought I would be starting (The Road to Character, The Crucible, and The Moor), I only started David Brooks' The Road to Character. It's the 14-day book, and being non-fiction it goes a little slower for me. But it turned out to provoke some good thinking for me, so I didn't start the other two yet. I hope to finish TRtC today or tomorrow. In this book, Brooks' explores character by looking at the lives of some specific people that he believes exemplify a particular attribute of character. He also discusses contemporary issues--that in today's "selfie" society, we no longer value character as say the WWII generation did. We have too much focus on ourselves. I particularly like his explanation of our Adam I and Adam II sides--Adam I represents "resume virtues (sorry I can't get the accents on resume)" of worldly progress like educational attainment and high salary, while Adam II is "eulogy virtues" that demonstrate "he was a good man"--kindness, self-control. Anyway, the book is not perfectly executed--some chapters/people are stronger than others, but the book hit me at a good time. As I've been planning for next school year, I have not had any clear notion of what to do with dd in our "Bible/devotional time". We spent all of last year reading old testament books which fit in well as we were studying Ancients in history. Other than wanting to switch it up a bit this year, I've had no clear calling. I now know that I want to explore character issues with her. This book is not the right tool for that, but it's got me thinking about it, and I do think I will use the Adam I and Adam II explanation with her.

 

In addition to The Crucible and The Moor, my high schooler's summer reading has arrived from Amazon: The Housekeeper and the Professor (reread for me but I love it) and Things Fall Apart. Also got a few character-type books to look at for other dd. Then I need to finish planning history so I can see what else youngest might be reading.

[Kareni]

It seems that the multi quote option is back.  Yay!

 

A friend passed this article on to me:
http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/can-reading-make-you-happier
 

 

What an enjoyable article; thanks for sharing it!  I've browsed through The Novel Cure: An A-Z of Literary Remedies which is mentioned in the article.  It's not a book to read cover to cover, but it's fun to look up an entry or seven.

 

I could use some prayers/positive thoughts. 

 

Sending positive thoughts your way, Eliana.

 

Haha, I tried to check out your link Kareni I but Net Nanny won't let me see it. 

 

Hmm, I didn't think the link was that risqué!  It's basically a collection of stationery type items over which to drool.

 

 I finally started the next Pink Carnation book just to read something familiar. I am getting down to just having books that I am really looking forward to so need to be careful! :lol:

 

It might interest you to know that Lauren Willig has a non-Pink Carnation book coming out in July.  It's titled

The Other Daughter: A Novel.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Cinder]

Mostly still working on the same books: 1Q84 for me and reading aloud The Phantom Tollbooth and Lincoln: A Photobiography with dd.

 

Also just started Size Matters Not by Warwick Davis as a read-along with another group.

 

 

[mumto2]

 

 

 

 

It might interest you to know that Lauren Willig has a non-Pink Carnation book coming out in July. It's titled The Other Daughter: A Novel. [\quote]

 

I knew it was coming out from looking at the fantastic fiction website a couple of weeks ago. They do a really nice job with upcoming realeases. :) I am glad you posted because it wasn't available to request in any of my libraries when I last looked. I am now first on the list! :lol:

[Caroline]

Eliana, you are in my thoughts.

 

I finished Judy Blume's In the Unlikely Event. I loved it. Couldn't put it down. Like I said earlier, I love Judy Blume. I love her characters. This book is not like the rest of her adult fiction. I could hand it to my mother to read. And now I want to read more about mobsters and Las Vegas in the 1950's, if anyone has anything to suggest. I might try to read The Godfather. (However, I will admit I read the book because I saw her on The View the first week I was off school for the summer.)

 

Next on the list is Brad Metzler's first book. I also want to read They Poured Fire On Us From the Skies as that is one of my son's summer reading for APHG. He will also be reading Outcasts United because he will recognize the local soccer teams in the book and read about the plight of refugees here. I think it will make the other book more interesting from the beginning.

[Stacia]

I also want to read They Poured Fire On Us From the Skies as that is one of my son's summer reading for APHG. He will also be reading Outcasts United because he will recognize the local soccer teams in the book and read about the plight of refugees here. I think it will make the other book more interesting from the beginning.

 

My ds read this about a month ago because it's on his summer reading list too. Even though he's a sensitive guy, he thought the book was great & talked about it a lot to me. I would also like to read it. (I know he'll be skimming it again later this summer to be prepared closer to the beginning of school.)

 

I'll have to look up Outcasts United....

[Rosie_0801]

I could use some prayers/positive thoughts.  We're dealing with a nightmarish situation for which there is little we can do right now except pray.

 

 

:grouphug: 's to you, Honey.

[Butter]

After taking a little break and focusing on other books for a bit, I am now 60% through Les Mis.  I realized that whatever book I finish next will be my 52nd book of the year.  I think it would be pretty cool for that book to be Les Mis.  I've been half-heartedly reading it since February.

[NoseInABook]

Eliana, praying for you.

 

TeacherZee, it sounds like you have an exciting summer ahead of you!

 

 

Still reading Ghosts of Tsavo. I may have gotten a wee bit distracted with season 3 of Orange Is The New Black and binged all weekend leaving not much time for reading. Oops. *shifty eyes* 

[6packofun]

I finished The Girl Next Door by Ruth Rendell; now onto Chelsea Cain's latest, One Kick.  I found her Gretchen Lowell books to be a bit too sadistic for me as the series went on so we shall see. This new character is intriguing.

 

My mom is reading The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley and I may follow suit.  From Amazon:

Maia D’Apliese and her five sisters gather together at their childhood home, “Atlantisâ€â€”a fabulous, secluded castle situated on the shores of Lake Geneva—having been told that their beloved father, who adopted them all as babies, has died. Each of them is handed a tantalizing clue to her true heritage—a clue which takes Maia across the world to a crumbling mansion in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Once there, she begins to put together the pieces of her story and its beginnings.

Eighty years earlier in Rio’s Belle Epoque of the 1920s, Izabela Bonifacio’s father has aspirations for his daughter to marry into the aristocracy. Meanwhile, architect Heitor da Silva Costa is devising plans for an enormous statue, to be called Christ the Redeemer, and will soon travel to Paris to find the right sculptor to complete his vision. Izabela—passionate and longing to see the world—convinces her father to allow her to accompany him and his family to Europe before she is married. There, at Paul Landowski’s studio and in the heady, vibrant cafes of Montparnasse, she meets ambitious young sculptor Laurent Brouilly, and knows at once that her life will never be the same again.

In this sweeping, epic tale of love and loss—the first in a unique, spellbinding series of seven novels—Lucinda Riley showcases her storytelling talent like never before.

 

Next on my to-read list for my reading challenge is The Gods of Gotham by Lyndsay Faye.  I always have my nose in several books on Christian apologetics, but I won't bore you all with titles.  LOL

[beckster]

I could use some prayers/positive thoughts.  We're dealing with a nightmarish situation for which there is little we can do right now except pray.

 

 

 

Prayers and hugs!!!

[Loesje22000]

Not that you are looking for fiction recommendations, but just the other day my college boy and I were just talking about how popular the Napoleonic War era is in fiction. Off the top of my head there is Naomi Novik's series, staring with His Majesty's Dragon that has dragons serving as an air force during the wars (and in which Napoleon actually succeeds in invading England), there is the entire Master and Commander series, and Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell in which magic is used to help defeat Napoleon. The revolution itself has inspired all sorts of books including Les Miserables, Tale of Two Cities, and the Scarlet Pimpernel, the original spy thriller.

 

Of course, you can't study the French Revolution without watching

, using Lady Gaga's Bad Romance tune to explain the history of liberte, egalite, fraternite....

 

 

The book I read was a combination of fiction and non fiction, so one had several pages describing the history and then a glimp of how it would look like voor people in that time in story style.

I'm a fan of Scarlet Pimpernel, it is one of my annual rereadings and we just watched a tale of two cities with dd. I'm not sure I want to read a tale of two cities in English or Dutch ( or I should buy it in both languages as usual: in Dutch for me and it's original for DH & DD)

 

The battle of Waterloo is 200 years ago now, so we get a lot of 'napoleon' on the market, but it is hard to find the useful stuff: I don't think dd will want to read a three book biography from the day he is born until his death....

[Shawneinfl]

Finished two books this week: Dead Wake by Erik Larson and Big Little Lies by Erin Moriarty. The Larson book was interesting and informative but kind of boggy in spots. I enjoyed Devil in the White City much more. The Moriarty book was a definite summer "by the pool" read for me. It was a big change from my normal "non-fiction" fare but I enjoyed the change of pace. Has anyone read her other books? I'd like to try another of her books but only if they aren't formulaic. 

 

4 stars for both.

[Shawneinfl]

Prayers and thoughts are with you, Eliana. :grouphug:

[6packofun]

Finished two books this week: Dead Wake by Erik Larson and Big Little Lies by Erin Moriarty. The Larson book was interesting and informative but kind of boggy in spots. I enjoyed Devil in the White City much more. The Moriarty book was a definite summer "by the pool" read for me. It was a big change from my normal "non-fiction" fare but I enjoyed the change of pace. Has anyone read her other books? I'd like to try another of her books but only if they aren't formulaic. 

 

4 stars for both.

 

Good assessments of both books; I concur.   :)  I've read most of Moriarty's books and some are better than others, of course.  I think The Husband's Secret was pretty good (I hear it's being made into a movie?) and so was What Alice Forgot.  But The Hypnotist's Love Story was just OK.  I enjoy them as the fluff that they are and mostly like her characters, but character-driven books tend to be a bit formulaic, IMO, because people are, well, sorta predictable!  lol  (Oh, it's Liane Moriarty, btw! ;) )

[Violet Crown]

Settled on Ian Macpherson's Wild Harbour, sort of a Scottish Robinson Crusoe set in the near future of the 1940s, when a Second World War has broken out and a pacifist couple escapes to live in the countryside near Inverness. It's not great literature but is very engaging and should be a quick read.

[Halcyon]

I have been spending more time knitting than reading lately. I did buy an audible specifically to listen to while knitting, but ended up watching Frankie and Grace on netflix instead-so funny :)

 

 

Still listenign to The Royal We and finished Unravel, which was okay. Given the rave reviews on Amazon, one would think this book had life-altering potential. Not so much.

[Pink and Green Mom]

Hugs to you, Eliana.  :grouphug:

 

Stacia, in reading through your list of books you've completed, I am glad to see someone else who enjoyed No Country For Old Men.  I thought I was the only one.

 

I finished #19 - Where Women Are Kings, by Christie Watson.  I wanted to love it.  But I suspect the author never spoke to one single adoptive family, let alone anyone who had adopted a traumatized child.  So unrealistic.  I think this book paints a sunshine and roses picture of the whole thing (with few exceptions), which is far from the norm of any family I have known that has adopted a traumatized, older child.  My kids are adopted and I know virtually and IRL several dozen such families.

 

Off to start The Truth According to Us.  Don't know anything about it.

[Stacia]

Stacia, in reading through your list of books you've completed, I am glad to see someone else who enjoyed No Country For Old Men.  I thought I was the only one.

 

As brutal of a book as it is, I really loved it.

 

Which makes me want to ask the BaW group in general -- do you ever go back & change your ratings on books after the fact? I find that after a few months of mulling over books, I'm inclined to either raise or lower their star ratings, lol. For example, I gave No Country For Old Men 4 stars, but it's one I keep thinking about & really stands out in my mind as one of the best books I've read this year. So, I may go back & bump it up to 5 stars. In the meantime, there are lots of books that I rated 4 stars at the time, but then later feel like I want to go back & rate a 3.

 

Am I the only one? :lol:

 

[Pink and Green Mom]

As brutal of a book as it is, I really loved it.

 

Which makes me want to ask the BaW group in general -- do you ever go back & change your ratings on books after the fact? I find that after a few months of mulling over books, I'm inclined to either raise or lower their star ratings, lol. For example, I gave No Country For Old Men 4 stars, but it's one I keep thinking about & really stands out in my mind as one of the best books I've read this year. So, I may go back & bump it up to 5 stars. In the meantime, there are lots of books that I rated 4 stars at the time, but then later feel like I want to go back & rate a 3.

 

Am I the only one? :lol:

 

 

No.  LOL.  I do it often on Goodreads, too.  I think "what was I thinking??"  but it is almost always moving a score down, hardly ever up.

[Jane in NC]

As brutal of a book as it is, I really loved it.

 

Which makes me want to ask the BaW group in general -- do you ever go back & change your ratings on books after the fact? I find that after a few months of mulling over books, I'm inclined to either raise or lower their star ratings, lol. For example, I gave No Country For Old Men 4 stars, but it's one I keep thinking about & really stands out in my mind as one of the best books I've read this year. So, I may go back & bump it up to 5 stars. In the meantime, there are lots of books that I rated 4 stars at the time, but then later feel like I want to go back & rate a 3.

 

Am I the only one? :lol:

 

This is part of the reason that I no longer rate books.  I was having a hard time reducing them to a single digit but a harder time during the end of year wrap up when I wanted to re-rate everything.  Maybe you should do that.  Give a book its initial score and then its score in perspective.

[Angel]

Hey all!  Last week was crazy with a church garage sale to benefit our youth group's history trip.  We raised enough to cover each teen's portion as well as mine and dh's!  It was very exciting!  Now to find affordable, but nice, lodging in Boston lol!  I finished two books last week before the garage sale craziness started, but I've yet to write up my reviews.  Hopefully tomorrow.

 

Which makes me want to ask the BaW group in general -- do you ever go back & change your ratings on books after the fact? I find that after a few months of mulling over books, I'm inclined to either raise or lower their star ratings, lol. For example, I gave No Country For Old Men 4 stars, but it's one I keep thinking about & really stands out in my mind as one of the best books I've read this year. So, I may go back & bump it up to 5 stars. In the meantime, there are lots of books that I rated 4 stars at the time, but then later feel like I want to go back & rate a 3.

 

Am I the only one? :lol:
 

 

I have found myself thinking about books and mentally changing their rating.  The one that comes to mind is Gaiman's The Graveyard Book.  After much thought I would have rated this higher than I originally did.  Which leads to...

 

 

This is part of the reason that I no longer rate books.  I was having a hard time reducing them to a single digit but a harder time during the end of year wrap up when I wanted to re-rate everything.  Maybe you should do that.  Give a book its initial score and then its score in perspective.

 

This year I've decided not to rate books as 1-5 five or anything like that.  I'm trying to give a small sum up of how I feel about it so that I can do a better job at the end of year wrap up!  

 

We are headed to the beach soon for "Christmas in June" with dh's family.  I picked up a Georgette Heyer and Lonesome Dove for beach reading.  I needed a Pulitzer Prize winner for my Book Challenge and Lonesome Dove seemed a good choice.  My parents loved the movie!  I'm also reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and listening to The Goose Girl (which dd has been wanting me to read for years but so far is just very depressing).  

 

Eliana - I will be keeping you in my prayers!

 

Robin - hope you are feeling better soon!!

[JennW in SoCal]

I never reported on last week's reading.

 

In addition to continuing with Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell in both print and audio, I read one of the Amsterdam based police procedurals by AC Baantjer, Murder on the Menu.  Charming is an odd word to use to describe a murder mystery, but it was charming, with some very odd turns of phrase which I'm thinking were simply direct translations from the Dutch.  My library has a few others on the shelves, and as they are short and are decent mysteries, I'll no doubt pick others up when I need a quick mystery.

 

 

 

Which makes me want to ask the BaW group in general -- do you ever go back & change your ratings on books after the fact? I find that after a few months of mulling over books, I'm inclined to either raise or lower their star ratings, lol. For example, I gave No Country For Old Men 4 stars, but it's one I keep thinking about & really stands out in my mind as one of the best books I've read this year. So, I may go back & bump it up to 5 stars. In the meantime, there are lots of books that I rated 4 stars at the time, but then later feel like I want to go back & rate a 3.

 

Am I the only one? :lol:
 

 

I've often marveled at how reviewers can immediately spit out thoughtful reviews of books or movies or performances. I have an initial reaction, but I do need some time to consider it before I can form a well thought-out opinion. I've started rating books for the first time this year, and have initially given most everything 4 stars because I haven't been able to commit to a 5 or 3!  (And when something was going to rate a 1 or 2, I just abandoned it!) Looking at the list now, halfway through the year, yeah I'd bump some of those stars up or down. And I get bogged down because sometimes a piece of fluff is excellent 5 star fluff, but it is still fluff and should it merit the same 5 stars as something more literary?  Or should I give the fluff 5 pink hearts instead and save the stars for Serious Books?

 

Just a sample of the things I can find to worry about.

[Kareni]

I'm currently reading Anthony Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel for my book group which meets on Thursday.  It's an intriguing story, and the author has a true gift for description.  I'm about a third of the way through at this point. 

 

I'm starting to think that my group reads too many WWII novels!  There are elements in this book that remind me of two of our past choices ~ The Madonnas of Leningrad  and Suite Française.

 

"WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE

From the highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning Anthony Doerr, the beautiful, stunningly ambitious instant New York Times bestseller about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.

Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where he works as the master of its thousands of locks. When she is six, Marie-Laure goes blind and her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighborhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great-uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel.

In a mining town in Germany, the orphan Werner grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments, a talent that wins him a place at a brutal academy for Hitler Youth, then a special assignment to track the resistance. More and more aware of the human cost of his intelligence, Werner travels through the heart of the war and, finally, into Saint-Malo, where his story and Marie-Laure’s converge."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[mumto2]

I never reported on last week's reading.

 

In addition to continuing with Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell in both print and audio, I read one of the Amsterdam based police procedurals by AC Baantjer, Murder on the Menu. Charming is an odd word to use to describe a murder mystery, but it was charming, with some very odd turns of phrase which I'm thinking were simply direct translations from the Dutch. My library has a few others on the shelves, and as they are short and are decent mysteries, I'll no doubt pick others up when I need a quick mystery.

 

 

 

 

I've often marveled at how reviewers can immediately spit out thoughtful reviews of books or movies or performances. I have an initial reaction, but I do need some time to consider it before I can form a well thought-out opinion. I've started rating books for the first time this year, and have initially given most everything 4 stars because I haven't been able to commit to a 5 or 3! (And when something was going to rate a 1 or 2, I just abandoned it!) Looking at the list now, halfway through the year, yeah I'd bump some of those stars up or down. And I get bogged down because sometimes a piece of fluff is excellent 5 star fluff, but it is still fluff and should it merit the same 5 stars as something more literary? Or should I give the fluff 5 pink hearts instead and save the stars for Serious Books?

 

Just a sample of the things I can find to worry about.

I find rating difficult also. I always find myself torn because although I read quite a bit of fluff I do know what "good" literature is supposed to look like. ;) But then you get into the reality of what makes it good, which I think really boils down to how much did the reader enjoy the book. Also what was the reader's purpose for reading the book.....a two hour distraction equates to a decently written piece of fluff. If it did its job well it probably deserves a 4 or 5 because it did it's job well. I probably couldn't summarize it in a week but it was good. I always worry that my giving it a 2 or 3 on goodreads will mean that someone looking for fluff won't read it because I considered it unworthy, even though I actually liked it. Does this make sense? I actually grade my books that are considered literature much harder I think. They need to be placed against like works. Much more is expected of them.......I am also hard on popular best seller type books. They should be well written and do their literary style in an exemplary manner. Part of my dislike of Gone Girl was based on my belief that I thought it was done really poorly. Not nearly as cleverly done as it should have been. Especially considering the fanfare. It did make me remember it though, maybe I should up my rating! :lol: Enough rambling.....

 

ETA. I did up rate a couple of books last year to 5 when doing my end of the year summary and I moved a couple out of 5 star also. 4 tends to be my rating if I am unsure, but enjoyed it. My 3 ratings tend to be equated with a feeling of just fine, I finished it.

[Halcyon]

TOday I think I will start Euphoria by Lily King. It's an historical novel based on the life of Margaret Mead, and won a number of awards. Has anyone here read it? 

 

Today I start my very first online writing class. I am quite nervous. I have never written before and think I need to read some more Flannery O'Connor's short stories...but then again, I will feel intimidated...or maybe inspired... :crying:

[Nan in Mass]

Eliana, holding you in the light.

 

Jane, I can,t remember if I told you, but Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day got me through the funeral. Thank you so much.

 

I am now reading Guards, Guards. My mother and husband both enjoyed it. And Japanese textbooks.

 

TOday I think I will start Euphoria by Lily King. It's an historical novel based on the life of Margaret Mead, and won a number of awards. Has anyone here read it?:

No, but I have read Blackberry Winter, which is an autobiographical account of the first piece of her life.

 

Nan

 

Nan