Book a Week 2016 - BW29: Ernest Hemingway

[Robin M]

Happy Sunday dear hearts!  This is the beginning of week 29 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 - Ernest Hemingway:

 

 

I have Ernest Hemingway on my mind this week, especially since Old Man and the Sea is one of the American literature books James will be reading for 11th grade.  I read the book for the first time myself a few years back.  Don't know how I managed to skip it during my high school years.  Making up for lost time now and finding I appreciate the books more now than I would have then.  And coincidentally, July 21st is the anniversary of Hemingway's birthday.

 

I was pleased to find an audiobook version on youtube of Old Man and the Sea narrated by Charlton Heston. I just love his voice, don't you!

 

Versions of the movie with Anthony Quinn  or Spencer Tracy are available on Amazon instant video.

 

If you are a major Hemingway fan, get the Ernest Hemingway Audiobook library, compiled by publisher Simon and Schuster, narrated by a variety of actors including Donald Sutherland and Stacy Keach.

 

His books and short stories are also available in ebook online.

 

Happy Birthday, Ernest Hemingway!

 

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

 

History of the Renaissance World - Chapters 49 and 50

 

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

 

What are you reading this week?

 

 

 

Link to week 28

Edited July 17, 2016 by Robin M

[Ali in OR]

I mentioned midweek that I finished Yaa Gyasi's Homegoing which I found very worthwhile. Also finished my Regency mystery, Dinner Most Deadly, Sheri Cobb South's 4th John Pickett mystery which was light and enjoyable. Probably back to A Midwife's Tale next.

 

[Robin M]

I read Nalini's Singh's Allegiance of Honor which was a compilation of all the characters involved in the series. A where are they now and resolving story lines, while introducing new ones to be continued in another series.  A bit confusing at times, but otherwise well done.

[Loesje22000]

dd will probably read the old man and the sea next year too :)

 

I finished 'de citoyenne' about a women in the Benelux after/during the enlightment.

I am halfway 'the bookthief'.

 

My history planning is almost done, so I hope to finish Rousseau next week

[Lady Florida.]

Last night I finished Red Bones, the third book in Ann Cleeves' Shetland Island mysteries. There were originally supposed to be four books (she even called them the Shetland Island Quartet), but the series is currently ongoing. She's also the author of the Vera Stanhope series. Dh and I have enjoyed the Vera tv series and I want to give the books a go. 

 

I'm sorry to say Robin, that being required to read The Old Man and the Sea a million years ago in high school is what started my dislike of Hemingway. :( I've been trying ever since to find out what's so special about his writing. In the 40+ years since my high school days ended I only made it through one of his fiction novels - For Whom the Bell Tolls (didn't like it) - and gave up on The Sun Also Rises. The only thing I actually enjoyed is the non-fiction  A Moveable Feast. If it makes Hem's ghost feel better ;) I haven't been able to make through any of Faulkner's full length novels, though I have read a few short stories.

 

I'm floundering again in what to read (or continue reading). While I'm liking How Green Was My Valley  it's not really calling to me - at least not yet. I was also inspired to read the Barchester Chronicles after watching Doctor Thorne on Amazon. I loved The Way We Live Now but haven't read any other Trollope and always meant to. I started on The Warden and like it so far. 

Edited July 17, 2016 by Lady Florida.

[Ethel Mertz]

Last week's reading:

 

Another Leslie Meier cozy

Two mysteries by Anne Hagan

Another Miss Julia book by Ann B. Ross. I'm getting near the end of the series! Ack!

The Silver Chair – C.S. Lewis, (Bingo, color in the title)

The Moon Sisters: A Novel – Therese Walsh. Highly recommended.

 

Here are a couple of quotes (ok, 3) from The Moon Sisters

 

 

I was happy to point out the things that should be different ... yet I did nothing to create change. Why didn't I work for what I wanted? There was no one to stop me. Instead, I clund to my discontentment ... and acted the role of mercurial queen. p. 135, The Moon Sisters, Therese Walsh

 

and

 

I wish I could go back in time and tell her that maybe hope was no more than a foolish fire, but that maybe it could lead you to your heart's desires if you took a chance. I wish I could tell her that she could believe in her dreams with one percent of herself or ninety-nine percent or any percent in between, and she could believe in whatever she needed to about her parent's last thoughts before dying. p. 298, The Moon Sisters, Therese Walsh

 

and

 

 

"Funny how we don't let ourselves take hold of the things we rightfully should, sometimes," he said. "And how we hang on to other things long after it's time to let them go." p. 307, The Moon Sisters, Therese Walsh

 

Loved this book.

 

Currently in progress: 

I've got to finish a few books that are due soon: A Caribbean Mystery (Miss Marple #10, Agatha Christie; Blessing the Hands that Feed Us: What Eating Closer to Home Can Teach Us About Food, Community, and Our Place on Earth, Vicki Robin; $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America, Kathryn Edin; and The Last Battle, C.S. Lewis.

[Kareni]

I've recently finished two books both of which I enjoyed.

 

The first might appeal to readers of fantasy; it was a pleasure to read a book with a fifty year old heroine instead of the more typical mid-twenties heroine.  I'd happily read more by this author.

 

Impervious (City of Eldrich Book 1) by Laura Kirwan

 

"“Why couldn't she get me?â€
“Magic doesn't work on you. You're impervious . . .â€

Meaghan Keele faces menopause with no husband, no kids, and a job she hates. At her brother's request, Meaghan moves from Arizona to Pennsylvania to help care for their dying father, taking over his job as lawyer for the tiny town of Eldrich.

What Meaghan doesn't know is that law was merely her father's day job. Gateways to magical worlds riddle the forests surrounding Eldrich. Unaffected by magic—impervious—her father spent decades mediating magical disputes and guarding the human world. Without his imposing presence, old enemies are stirring.

Impervious, like her father, Meaghan soon senses that everyone around her is keeping secrets. A shocking confrontation on her first day of work quickly clues her in to her new reality. Her office manager and her secretary are witches. Jamie, her handsome young assistant, isn't exactly human. Eldrich City Hall is haunted. And Meaghan is expected to take over both of her father's jobs.

Struggling to accept her destiny, Meaghan is soon drawn into a brutal struggle in another world and a growing attaction to John Smith—exiled king, town drunk, and Jamie's estranged father.

And she thought life in Eldrich would be dull . . ."

 

**

 

I also read and enjoyed Mary Jo Putney's most recent historical romance Once a Soldier (Rogues Redeemed)

 

"As heir to a title and great wealth, Will Masterson should have stayed home and tended his responsibilities. Instead he went to war. Now, after perilous years fighting the French, he intends his current mission to be his last. But all his plans are forgotten when he arrives in the small mountain stronghold of San Gabriel and meets her.

Knowing herself to be too tall, strong, and unconventional to appeal to a man, Athena Markham has always gloried in her independence. But for the first time in her life, she finds a man who might be her match.

Two of a kind, too brave for their own good, Athena and Will vow to do whatever it takes to vanquish San Gabriel's enemies. For neither will back down from death, and only together can they find happiness and a love deeper than any they'd dared imagine. . ."

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

 

[-M-]

 

Happy Sunday!

 

Neither of the Grimes sisters would have a happy life, and looking back it always seemed that the trouble began with their parents’ divorce.

 

So begins Richard Yates’ The Easter Parade, a novel that is by turns wry and bleak. Here are two more passages for the commonplace book:

 

p. 47
But there was more to being an intellectual than a manner of speaking, more even than making the dean’s list every semester, or spending all your free time at museums and concerts and the kind of movies called “films.†There was learning not to be stricken dumb when you walked into a party full of older, certified intellectuals — and not to make the opposite mistake of talking your head off, saying one inane or outrageous thing after another in a hopeless effort to atone for whatever inane or outrageous thing you’d said two minutes before. And if you did make a fool of yourself at parties like that, you had to learn not to writhe in bed afterwards in an agony of chagrin.

 

p. 79
esides, college had taught her that the purpose of a liberal-arts education was not to train but to free the mind. It didn’t matter what you did for a living; the important thing was the kind of person you were.

 

This week’s reading in Dubliners yielded a commonplace book entry, too:

 

From “After the Raceâ€:

Rapid motion through space elates one; so does notoriety; so does the possession of money.

 

From “Two Gallantsâ€:
Though his eyes took note of many elements of the crowd through which he passed they did so morosely. He found trivial all that was meant to charm and did not answer the glances which invited him to be bold. He knew that he would have to speak a great deal, to invent and to amuse, and his brain and throat were too dry for such a task. The problem of how he could pass the hours till he met Corley again troubled him a little. He could think of no way of passing them but to keep on walking.

 

This coming week’s reading for the Dubliners MOOC / online book club comprises “Ivy Day in the Committee Room,†“A Mother,†and “Grace,†which leaves “The Dead†for the fourth and final week. (And, yes, that is a different edition than was featured in the picture in last week’s post. What can I say? I wanted endnotes and Colum McCann’s introduction. Totally worth it.)

 

Later this year, I have a MOOC about the healing power of literature, a topic that has interested me for more than fifteen years. Jonathan Bate, who will lead the course, served as one of the editors of Stressed, Unstressed, a volume that posits that reading poetry (here gathered under such categories as “stopping,†“grieving,†and “living with uncertaintyâ€) acts like a readerly balm on emotional unease. Lab Girl moved from the shelves to a TBR pile because my daughter chose the title as her “prize†for the local library’s summer reading program. We’re hoping to shoehorn it into the four weeks before she and her sister depart for university. Fingers crossed! The Gaiman and Ackerman titles in the stack above are also recent acquisitions, and The Elementals (from the shelves) will be this evening’s companion, as I have already finished the following (unpictured) books from my (unpictured) stacks:

 

â–  Wonder (RJ Palacio; 2012. Fiction.)
â–  Fell, Volume 1, Feral City (Warren Ellis; 2007. Graphic fiction.)
â–  Injection, Volume 1 (Warren Ellis; 2015. Graphic fiction.)
â–  Trees, Volume 1 (Warren Ellis; 2015. Graphic fiction.)
â–  The Curse of the Good Girl (Rachel Simmons; 2009. Non-fiction.)

 

Wonder, like Holes (Louis Sachar) and A Long Way from Chicago (Richard Peck) is one of those books for young-ish readers that begs to be a family read-aloud. Tender and touching, the story is being brought to the big screen next year.

 

Officially mad about Ellis, I am so looking forward to the second volumes of both Injection and Trees. Alas, there is no Volume 2 of Fell, which was easily the best graphic work I’ve read this year.

[Negin]

I read Of Love and Shadows - 4 Stars - This was a re-read. I read it several years ago shortly after reading my favorite Allende book, “The House of Spiritsâ€. I love most of her books and this was one was no exception. She truly is a superb storyteller. When I first read it, I know that I would have given it 5 stars, but since this was a re-read, I didn’t think it was as compelling as before.

 

One of my favorite quotes was advice for expatriates (and pretty much anyone really):

“All you will have is the present. Waste no energy crying over yesterday or dreaming of tomorrow. Nostalgia is fatiguing and destructive, it is the vice of the expatriate. You must put down roots as if they were forever, you must have a sense of permanence.â€

 

 

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.

[mumto2]

I read both books in Jeanette Grey's Art of Passion series. Kareni recently read the first book in the series. They were quite good. Definitely had the New Adult feel with lots of Adult content. The first one ended with a cliff hanger type ending so I was forced ;) to read the second one. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25067013-seven-nights-to-surrender

 

Not sure what I plan to read next on the kindle. I have some Tessa Dare Spindle Cove historicals and Bad Monkeys. I know what Stacia would recommend! :lol:

 

I have started the next Inspector Singh Investigates. I have to report that the series seems to be back to normal in A Curious Indian Cadaver. I am so relieved that one of my favourite new series isn't completely ruined.

[Faithr]

I'm only on Chapter 15 of Life of Samuel Johnson (Audible in the car).  I am enjoying it but, man, I think it will be until Christmas before I finish it!  And I'm also reading Life of Christ very slowly.  It is so thought provoking and deep that it demands slow reading.  It is another one that is going to take months to read.

 

I started Corduroy Mansions by Alexander McCall Smith because I needed a light book. I read maybe the first 7 books of his No. Ladies Detective Agency books.  And I read one of his Sunday Philosophy club.  I like him a lot as an author, but I am so darn tired by the time I get into bed that I can only read a page or two before I drift off.  So reading is going very slowly for me right now!

 

I've decided my August homeschooling encouragement book (to get me in the mood for the coming academic year) is going to be Cindy Rollins' book.  I love Cindy Rollins!  Do you all every listen to her podcasts at the Circe Institute?  I love them.  Her book is called Mere Motherhood.  Here's a link: https://www.circeinstitute.org/store/books/mere-motherhood

[Onceuponatime]

I'm still reading The Blood of Victory (which means oil). It is international intrigue and power struggles,1940-41. There are a few parallels between this and The Confidential Agent. In that book coal was being bargained for. I guess it's not surprising that fuel is a necessity for governments to stay in business and/or to seize power. The embedded paranoia and cryptic language sometimes makes the story line hard to follow. When I realize I missed something, I have to backtrack and read between the lines. I'm at a point where the main character is trapped inside a Bucharest hotel calmly eating sugared buns with raisins while there is shooting going on in the streets. When he ventures out, he sees the writing on a wall: "Homo homini lupus est, a phrase used by Hobbes, 'It is man who is the wolf of mankind.' And what heartbroken citizen had dared, in the hours of street fighting, to do such a thing? Well, he was Serebin's friend for life, whoever he was."

 

ETA: I am thankful the author embeds translations of non-English phrases in the text. I've never seen that done before.

Edited July 17, 2016 by Onceuponatime

[JennW in SoCal]

Hmmm, looks like this is a good week to finish Moveable Feast. I got about halfway through it before it got buried by life and Icelandic mysteries...

 

Speaking of which, I read Reykjavic Nights this week.  It is one of the more recent titles by Arnaldur Indridason, but it is a prequel to the series, set during the time when our detective inspector is just a traffic cop working graveyard shift.  It wasn't quite as compelling as others in the series.

 

I also finished Aeronaut's Windlass, one of the stupidest books I have stuck with til the end. I skimmed the last 1/3 of the book, a decision I cannot defend given all the much better titles I have scattered around the house. I guess it is supposed to be a YA series, which explains the existence of some truly insipid characters. What absolutely stumps me is all the glowing reviews I've read!  

[Stacia]

I love Hemingway. Interestingly, my dh is currently reading The Sun Also Rises because of the recent running of the bulls in Pamplona. I don't think he's read Hemingway since high school & doesn't seem overly impressed with The Sun Also Rises.

 

I've read a few Hemingway works & admire his sparsely-edited prose. Imo, it takes real skill to say so much with so little; many writers are too wordy, but not Hemingway. I think my favorite work (so far) of his that I've read is A Moveable Feast.

 

I finished the trio/set of Richard Brautigan works I was reading. I love surreal/experimental writing so this was quite a pleasure for me. It was also a little eye-opening for me to read 'older' surrealism & if I had to sum it up I guess I'd say it's "surreal Americana". I can definitely see that some of the modern surreal/experimental writers I have read have probably taken inspiration from Brautigan.

 

 

Trout Fishing in America:

I saw this described somewhere as poetic prose & I agree. The work is almost like a series of short (under one page up to two pages) essays, all loosely related to trout, fishing, camping, & nature. And all have some kind of surreal bent or observation to them. Trout Fishing in America is often referred to as a character/person, but not always & not in all of the sections. And there's mayonnaise.

 

The Pill versus the Springhill Mine Disaster:

I'm not a huge fan of poetry, though I liked this collection overall. His poetry is easy to read & most of his poems are very short. Some were amusing, some sad, some touching, some magical, or surreal, or odd.

 

In Watermelon Sugar:

This is the most story-like piece of the collection & seems like it might be a dystopian, futuristic, or folk/fantasy world -- it's just not quite clear. There are some really beautiful descriptions/ideas in here, including that the town buries people "all in glass coffins at the bottoms of rivers and put foxfire in the tombs, so they glow at night and we can appreciate what comes next." Despite the beauty, this is a melancholy tale set in an offbeat world.

 

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

Reading Trout Fishing in America allows me to mark off the "Birth Year" block on the BaW Bingo card.

[Stacia]

I also finished Aeronaut's Windlass, one of the stupidest books I have stuck with til the end. I skimmed the last 1/3 of the book, a decision I cannot defend given all the much better titles I have scattered around the house. I guess it is supposed to be a YA series, which explains the existence of some truly insipid characters. What absolutely stumps me is all the glowing reviews I've read!  

 

:lol:

 

My dd read that book & liked it. I told her your review of it. She was :scared: !

 

And, I don't know when I last posted my reading list to date. (Probably last week :laugh: , but my brain cells are fried, so I'll post again anyway.)

 

2016 Books Read:

 

01. The Sound of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel Vásquez, trans. from the Spanish by Anne McLean, pub. by Riverhead Books. 4 stars. Latin America: Columbia. (Brilliant & bittersweet story showing the impact of the rise of the Colombian drug cartels on an entire generation of people growing up during the violent & uncertain times of the drug wars.) [baW Bingo: Picked by a friend – idnib]

02. Gnarr! How I Became Mayor of a Large City in Iceland and Changed the World by Jón Gnarr, trans. by Andrew Brown, pub. by Melville House. 3 stars. Europe: Iceland. (A quick, easy, fun, & inspiring read with an emphasis on being nice & promoting peace. Just what I needed this week.) [baW Bingo: Non-fiction]

03. We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo, pub. by Reagan Arthur Books/Little, Brown and Company. 2 stars. Africa: Zimbabwe. (Child’s-eye view of life in post-colonial Zimbabwe & as a teen immigrant to the US. Choppy & hard to connect with the characters. Disappointed.) [baW Bingo: Female Author]

04. The Beast: Riding the Rails and Dodging Narcos on the Migrant Trail by Óscar Martínez, trans. from the Spanish by Daniela Maria Ugaz & John Washington, pub. by Verso. 5 stars. North America: Mexico. (Front-line reporting of the dangers migrants face – from physical challenges, terrain, kidnappings, robberies, murders, rapes, & more – when crossing Mexico while trying to reach the US. Required reading.) [baW Bingo: Library Free Space]

05. A Quaker Book of Wisdom by Robert Lawrence Smith, pub. by Eagle Brook/William Morrow and Company. 3 stars. North America: USA. (A quiet & inspiring look at basic tenets of living a life of love & service. Nice little book with valuable & thoughtful ideas for today's world.)

06. Good Morning Comrades by Ondjaki, trans. from the Portuguese by Stephen Henighan, pub. by Biblioasis. 4 stars. Africa: Angola. (Simple & charming child’s-eye view of life in Angola during revolutionary changes & civil war in the 1990s. Semi-autobiographical.) [baW Bingo: Set in Another Country]

07. The Three Trials of Manirema by José J. Veiga, trans. from the Portuguese by Pamela G. Bird, pub. by Alfred A. Knopf. 3 stars. Latin America: Brazil. (A mix of rural-life naturalism & the Kafkaesque in an allegory of life under [brazilian] military rule; captures the underlying fear & dread of a town. A serendipitous find.) [baW Bingo: Dusty]

08. What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi, pub. by Riverhead Books. 5 stars. Europe: Various. (Exotic, surreal, & magical collection of slightly interlinked short stories. Slightly sinister, fun, compelling, & completely delightful.) [baW Bingo: Fairy Tale Adaptation]

09. Necropolis by Santiago Gamboa, trans. from the Spanish by Howard Curtis, pub. by Europa editions. 3 stars. Middle East: Israel. (Chorus of stories, mainly based around an author attending a conference in Jerusalem. One attendee commits suicide. Or did he?)

10. North to the Orient by Anne Morrow Lindbergh, pub. by Harvest/Harcourt Brace & Co. 3 stars. Asia: Various. (A.M. Lindbergh served as her husband’s radio operator during their trek to try mapping new air routes to Asia by travelling north. Diary-like observations of some stops.) [baW Bingo: Historical]

 

11. An Exaggerated Murder by Josh Cook, pub. by Melville House. 4 stars. North America: USA. (Super-fun mash-up as if Pynchon met Sherlock Holmes & they had a few too many beers while sparring with Poe & Joyce. Entertaining, untraditional, modern noir detective romp.) [baW Bingo: Mystery]

12. Smile as they Bow by Nu Nu Yi, trans. from the Burmese by Alfred Birnbaum & Thi Thi Aye, pub. by Hyperion East. 3 stars. Asia: Myanmar. (Fiery & feisty natkadaw [spirit wife] Daisy Bond performs during a nat festival while dealing with the wandering heart of his assistant & love Min Min.) [baW Bingo: Banned (in Myanmar)]

13. Ajax Penumbra 1969 by Robin Sloan, pub. by Atlantic Books. 3 stars. North America: USA. (Mini-novella prequel to Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. Pleasant, nice, light reading about tracking down the single-surviving copy of a very old book.) [baW Bingo: Number in the Title]

14. Bossypants by Tina Fey, pub. by Little, Brown and Company. 3 stars. North America: USA. (Light & laugh-out-loud funny in places as Fey shares her life & fame. It’s easy to tell that she started as a writer -- her writing skill shines.)

15. The Expedition to the Baobab Tree by Wilma Stockenström, trans. from the Afrikaans by J.M. Coetzee, pub. by Archipelago Books. 4 stars. Africa: South Africa. (A haunting, stream-of-consciousness story of slavery, survival, solitude, strangeness, & strength. The language is lovely.) [baW Bingo: Translated]

16. A Kim Jong-Il Production: The Extraordinary True Story of a Kidnapped Filmmaker, His Star Actress, and a Young Dictator's Rise to Power by Paul Fischer, pub. by Flatiron Books. 4 stars. Asia: North Korea. (Fascinating & sometimes depressing look at the cult of personality & power of propaganda & film in North Korea, based around the 1970s kidnappings of two of South Korea's most famous movie personalities.)

17. Narconomics: How to Run a Drug Cartel by Tom Wainwright, pub. by PublicAffairs. 4 stars. Various: mainly Latin & North America. (Interesting look at illegal drugs & cartels through an economist’s eyes, analyzing them like any other large global corporation.) [baW Bingo: Published 2016]

18. The Mirror Thief by Martin Seay, ARC copy, pub. by Melville House. 3 stars. North America: USA; Europe: Italy. (Interwoven stories linking “Venice†from the 1500s, 1950s, & present day. Mix of thriller, historical fiction, magic/alchemy, & philosophy.) [baW Bingo: Over 500 Pages]

19. West with the Night by Beryl Markham, pub. by North Point Press. 5 stars. Africa: Kenya. (Markham’s amazing & wonderful tales of her life growing up in Africa & her adventures as a pilot.)

20. A Dark Redemption by Stav Sherez, pub. by Europa editions. 4 stars. Europe: England. (Well done gritty crime/thriller, good detective duo, & nice twists involving international politics & African rebel groups. A series I might read more of….)

 

21. Harp of Burma by Michio Takeyama, trans. by Howard Hibbett, pub. by Tuttle. 3 stars. Asia: Burma [Myanmar]. (Slightly didactic view of a troop of Japanese soldiers & POWs in Burma at the end of WWII. The group is united by music. Probably revolutionary when written in 1946.)

22. Eleven Days by Stav Sherez, pub. by Europa editions. 4 stars. Europe: England. (Same comments as with his first novel – well done gritty crime/thriller, good detective duo, & nice twists involving international politics. Looking forward to future books in the series.)

23. Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols & Other Typographical Marks by Keith Houston, pub. by W. W. Norton & Company. 3 stars. (Book for font/typography/punctuation nerds tracing the history of various marks. Some chapters are better than others.)

24. Time and Time Again by Ben Elton, Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press. 3 stars. Europe: Various. (Time-travel book going back to 1914 to prevent the start of WWI. A bit uneven but quick to read. Thought-provoking ending.)

25. The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, pub. by Doubleday. 4 stars. Asia: India. (A feminist retelling of parts of the Mahabharata, focusing on the viewpoint of Panchaali throughout her life. Makes me want to know more about the original.) [baW Bingo: Epic]

26. The Stranger by Albert Camus, trans. from the French by Matthew Ward, pub. by Vintage International. 4 stars. Africa: Algeria. (Camus’ famous tale, clipped & clinical, about malaise & murder on the beach in Algeria.) [baW Bingo: Nobel Prize Winner]

27. The Meursault Investigation by Kamel Daoud, trans. from the French by John Cullen, pub. by Other Press. 4 stars. Africa: Algeria. (Daoud’s rebuttal tale to The Stranger. Breathless [reminiscent of Camus’ narrator in The Fall] story poured out by the murdered man’s brother. Yin & yang to The Stranger – separate, opposite, yet twins too.)  

28. Sergio Y. by Alexandre Vidal Porto, trans. from the Portuguese by Alex Ladd, pub. by Europa editions. 5 stars. Latin America & North America: Brazil & USA. (This is a beautiful & inspiring book. A gem of understated beauty about the quest for happiness. Left me with a tear in my eye & a smile on my face. One of the very best I have read this year.)

29. An Unattractive Vampire by Jim McDoniel, pub. by Inkshares. 4 stars. North America: USA. (Really 3 stars, but extra points for the humor, cool cover art, & bringing old-school vampires back to life. Plus, vampires don’t need to wear seatbelts. Fiendishly fun.) [baW Bingo: Pick based on the cover]

30. The Island of Last Truth by Flavia Company, trans. from the Catalan by Laura McGloughlin, pub. by Europa editions. 4 stars. Other (unnamed island off the coast of Africa). (Small, smart, mesmerizing nautical tale to rival the likes of Robert Louis Stevenson.) [baW Bingo: Nautical]

 

31. Warlock Holmes: A Study in Brimstone by G.S. Denning, pub. by Titan Books. 4 stars. Europe: England. (Delightful & funny -- a smart & amusing twist on Sherlock Holmes & Dr. Watson. For Sherlock lovers who don't mind a playful retake with supernatural tendencies.)

32. Uprooted by Naomi Novik, pub. by Del Rey/Random House. 5 stars. Europe: unknown; probably eastern European. (Excellent mix of traditional high fantasy, Tolkien-esque touches, & eastern European folklore & fairytales mesh to create something riveting & new. Layered, deep, & well-written. Loved it. Nebula Award winner for Best Novel 2016.)

33. Tail of the Blue Bird by Nii Ayikwei Parkes, pub. by Flipped Eye Publishing. 4.5 stars. Africa: Ghana (CSI-type criminal investigation mixed with traditional Ghanaian village life & folklore form a unique police tale. Lovely & riveting. Highly recommended.) [baW Bingo: Color in the Title]

34. Kokoro by Natsume SÅseki, trans. from the Japanese by Meredith McKinney, pub. by Penguin Books. 4 stars. Asia: Japan. (Read because SÅseki [1867-1916] is "being recreated as an android†this year; novel explores mind/emotion shifts between Meiji era into modern era. Low-key, compelling, simple, & straightforward with melancholy overtones. A lovely work.) [baW Bingo: Classic]

35. The Plover by Brian Doyle, pub. by Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press. 5 stars. Other: Pacific Ocean (A magical & beautiful maritime tale of with true characters full of flaws, & wonder, & hope. Gorgeous. Now a favorite of mine.)

36. Trout Fishing in America/The Pill versus the Springhill Mine Disaster/In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan, pub. by Houghton Mifflin/Seymour Lawrence. 4 stars. North America: USA (Surreal Americana with trout & mayonnaise.) [baW Bingo: Written in Birth Year]

Edited July 18, 2016 by Stacia

[Faithr]

I remember reading Richard Brautigan back when I was in high school in the 1970s.  I remember my 16 yo self finding him rather depressing.  I do remember laughing at the mayonnaise thing though! 

[Just Robyn]

Thank you, Kareni for linking to the Tor eBook club. I just downloaded The Three-Body Problem!

 

Last Sunday I had started The Island of Last Truth by Flavia Company, and I finished it later that day. For me, I felt like I needed more details about how what happened happened in order to really believe it, but it was a relaxing read - easy, compelling and twisty. AND dh read it, which is really great. That's the only book he's read this year. 

 

I am now half way through The Return of the King. It draws me into the story often enough, but when I pick it up to read, I am more interested in finishing it than I am in continuing it. 

 

Oh, and I scored a copy of Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio for 50 cents at the library book sale.

[Stacia]

Last Sunday I had started The Island of Last Truth by Flavia Company, and I finished it later that day. For me, I felt like I needed more details about how what happened happened in order to really believe it, but it was a relaxing read - easy, compelling and twisty. AND dh read it, which is really great. That's the only book he's read this year. 

 

I am now half way through The Return of the King. It draws me into the story often enough, but when I pick it up to read, I am more interested in finishing it than I am in continuing it. 

 

Oh, and I scored a copy of Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio for 50 cents at the library book sale.

 

I would agree w/ what you said about The Island of Last Truth. I liked the twisty-ness of it, even though some of the details that were probably needed were sparse. Otoh, maybe that amount of detail would have weighed down the story too much.

 

I have no idea if I'll read an Arthurian book this year or not.

 

I read Clash of Civilizations a few years ago. Hope you enjoy it. 50 cents is definitely a score for a Europa book, imo!

[Kareni]

I just finished the contemporary romantic suspense novel Intimate by Kate Douglas; I enjoyed it.  (Substantial adult content.)

 

"HER BEAUTY IS POWERFUL.
They call her Kaz. She's a gorgeous model with a good head for business-until now, at least. Kaz has just been fired from her latest photo shoot for having the wrong tattoo in the wrong place at the wrong time. But a chance encounter with photographer Jake Lowell could make everything right again...if Kaz is willing to accept his proposition. What does she have to lose?

 

HIS DESIRE IS DANGEROUS.
Jake has been searching for the perfect model to pose for a body-jewelry shoot-one that will leave no room for modesty. Is Kaz, who is nothing if not professional, ready to bare it all for a man she is not sure she can trust? It's an offer that's too good to refuse...and as Kaz finds herself growing more comfortable with Jake, the attraction between them reaches arousing new heights. But while the artist and his subject learn more about each other in the intimacy of wine country, evil lurks in the shadows-and soon it becomes clear that someone else has designs on them..."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Stacia]

I've started reading a YA book. I think it came from one of the lists Kareni posted a few weeks ago.

 

Glory O'Brien's History of the Future (NY Times review)

 

 

YA is not normally my favorite genre, but I've definitely been sucked into the story.

 

Kirkus has given it a starred review:

An indictment of our times with a soupçon of magical realism.
 

The daughter of a gifted photographer who spun out Sylvia Plath–style, Glory seems bent on following in her mother’s footsteps in more ways than one as she finishes high school. But after Glory and her lifelong frenemy and neighbor Ellie make a reckless late-night decision, they are cast headlong into a spell that allows them to see the pasts and the futures of the people who cross their paths, stretching many generations in both directions, and Glory’s life changes course. As with King’s other protagonists (Please Ignore Vera Dietz, 2010; Reality Boy, 2013), Glory’s narration is simultaneously bitter, prickly, heartbreaking, inwardly witty and utterly familiar, even as the particulars of her predicament are unique. The focus on photography provides both apt metaphors and nimble plot devices as Glory starts writing down her visions in order to warn future Americans about the doom she foresees: a civil war incited by a governmental agenda of misogyny. Glory’s chilling visions of the sinister dystopia awaiting the United States are uncomfortably believable in this age of frustrated young men filling “Pickup Artist†forums with misogynistic rhetoric and inexperienced young women filling Tumblrs with declarations of “I don’t need feminism because….â€
 

With any luck, Glory’s notebook will inspire a new wave of activists.

 

[JennW in SoCal]

:lol:

 

My dd read that book & liked it. I told her your review of it. She was :scared: !

 

Did she blink first? Cause that is what every character in the book would do :laugh:.  Tell her I did enjoy the cats, often thinking, "That is exactly what a cat would say." And I was disappointed that it wasn't what I initially thought it would be, a steampunk Master and Commander with airships instead of masted frigates. It started out like that, but devolved quickly. I basically hated every single character except the captain, with the cats being mostly just o.k.

 

Blech. Comic-con is in a few days and I usually love wandering the book aisles, but they'll be peddling nothing but epic or YA fantasy and after this book I just can't face it! I saw Jim Butcher at comic-con a few years back. He was dressed as Wolverine which suited him so well I can't quite think of him in any other way! 

 

I made up for all that stupid fiction this afternoon by reading Hemingway's description of his trip to Lyon with F Scott Fitzgerald, and I'm now heading back to the English countryside with Remains of the Day. 

Edited July 18, 2016 by JennW in SoCal

[Stacia]

I made up for all that stupid fiction this afternoon by reading Hemingway's description of his trip to Lyon with F Scott Fitzgerald, and I'm now heading back to the English countryside with Remains of the Day. 

Well, both of those are amazing reading! I loved the part about Hemingway's trip w/ Fitzgerald.

[Violet Crown]

I'm still reading Trollope's Phineas Redux, but it is nearly 900 pages long. And for a while Trollope was providing the backstory, from Phineas Finn, and it went on and on and on, and after a hundred pages I realized that I had picked up Phineas Finn, with its identical unmarked blue Oxford binding, and was re-readng it! So there went some of my reading time. (But it was actually useful to review a bit.)

 

I watched a bit of Dr Thorne on Amazon, and it wasn't bad, but the characters all said things that Trollope would never allow them to say but only think and imply. Which of course is a tricky business on the screen. But so far in Phineas Redux there have only been twice that characters have bluntly said what they meant: the first had his marriage proposal turned down flat, and the second followed it up by shooting at the head of the person he spoke bluntly to. So I think I will read instead of watch.

[Violet Crown]

I'm floundering again in what to read (or continue reading). While I'm liking How Green Was My Valley  it's not really calling to me - at least not yet. I was also inspired to read the Barchester Chronicles after watching Doctor Thorne on Amazon. I loved The Way We Live Now but haven't read any other Trollope and always meant to. I started on The Warden and like it so far.

 

Sister!

 

I watched enough of Dr Thorne to be reminded that many of the Barchester characters show up as minor characters in the Palliser novels (and vice versa). I think I might like the political series even more than the ecclesiastical, though it's been many years.

 

 

  

I'm only on Chapter 15 of Life of Samuel Johnson (Audible in the car).  I am enjoying it but, man, I think it will be until Christmas before I finish it!  And I'm also reading Life of Christ very slowly.  It is so thought provoking and deep that it demands slow reading.  It is another one that is going to take months to read.

Remind me whose Life of Christ you're reading?

[fastweedpuller]

RE:  YA fiction.  Was there such a genre when I was growing up?  I recently had this discussion with a fellow long-in-tooth reader.  My library must have had just too paltry a section (I was born in 1965) and all I remember were things like Flowers in the Attic, The Outsiders, and Judy Blume.  So I read spy novels.  I read my lifetime fill of spy novels, apparently, asI feel no need to pick up a one again...suppose it helps that the Cold War is over?  But yeah, nothing like capitalism to monetize something like YA!  My goodness the things my kid chooses voluntarily to read...she came back from camp this week with *more* choices of agita and angst, sigh

 

I finished Puirty by Jonathan Franzen this weekend.  I liked it, thought the characters were believable.  I would say his books are always a half a bubble off though in terms of being really great books; perhaps it is because his characters and story lines generally document the worst of human impulses. 

 

I also scratched the itch and purchased a subscription to the Brooklyn Public Library for access to their much-bigger-than-mine Overdrive account.  Nearly no waiting, checkout limit 15, hold limit 10.  So DD and I are flipping whose Kindle becomes the "dead" Kindle with airport mode on and all those overdue books on it.  Happy late birthday to me!  Now I need to find the time to finish some of them...

 

 

[Chrysalis Academy]

 

 

I'm sorry to say Robin, that being required to read The Old Man and the Sea a million years ago in high school is what started my dislike of Hemingway. :( I've been trying ever since to find out what's so special about his writing. In the 40+ years since my high school days ended I only made it through one of his fiction novels - For Whom the Bell Tolls (didn't like it) - and gave up on The Sun Also Rises. The only thing I actually enjoyed is the non-fiction  A Moveable Feast. If it makes Hem's ghost feel better ;) I haven't been able to make through any of Faulkner's full length novels, though I have read a few short stories.

 

 

 You have perfectly captured my feelings about Hemingway, Kathy!  I can say that being beaten over the head with the Christ symbolism in 9th grade is one of the things that turned me off from being an English major!

 

I had a rough weekend.  Dh has begun the floor installation, and it didn't go well.  He repeatedly lost his temper and vented, which I didn't handle that well - it's hard not to react emotionally even when you know it's just venting.  But the weekend ended ok - I nested with the girls in my bed yesterday morning, comforting all of us, and then took them to the pool. By the time we returned, Dr. Jekyll was back in control and I think that we're going to stay married after all.  DIY constructioin project suck!!!!  I may need therapy before this is done.

 

Let's see, I finished a couple of things:  Too Like the Lightning, by Ada Palmer.  I went ahead and optimistically gave it 4 stars, but it's really unrateable at this point.  This volume is really only half a story, if that.  It covers the first 4 of 7 days, presumably the sequel to be published next year cover the last three, although I see she is working on books 3 and 4 of the series, so not sure where that will go.  It wasn't like the first book in a series: it was like half a book.  A fascinating, challenging, frustrating, intriguing, disturbing book, but just the first half. So I'm sort of withholding judgment.  It was a dense and difficult read, requiring focus, with more complex mutli-name characters than a Russian novel. The unreliable narrator is both endearing and horrifying, definitely disturbing.  Palmer reminds me of Jo Walton and Ann Leckie thematically, although the style and plot points are very different.  Sort of a splinter genre - philosophical sci fi?  Anyway, the book intrigued and frustrated me, but I'll definitely be back for more - though I will have to re-read this one and take notes before I can read the sequel, no doubt!

 

I also finished Cover Her Face, PD James's first Dalgiesh novel.  I do love PD James as a writer, I love her psychological insights and her pithy, yet descriptive prose.  This was a comfort read this weekend, I'll probably work my way through James again, as needed. It's nice to read an author that I enjoyed years ago, but who hasn't "lost it" for me.

 

Currently reading The Just City by Jo Walton.  This is also a challenging book - I had hoped to read it with Shannon as a modern/Ancients book, but I think the themes are a little to adult. There is a lot of challenging stuff about consent and autonomy but i think she'd find the sexual content - focused on the idea of consent - disturbing.  Also reading Far North by Marcel Theroux, an interesting Dystopia, reminds me a bit of The Road. 

 

I picked up The Hunger Games to re-read it, trying to decide if Shannon was ready for it, but concluded once again that it is completely unreadable.  I just can't hack the incoherent use of tenses and the weird sentence fragments.  Shannon read a couple of pages and agreed with me - she's a stickler for grammar and would not be able to turn off her critical brain, I don't think! It's funny, because I can cope with experimental language use/stylistic choice, but this just feels like bad writing.  

[Faithr]

Violet Crown, I am reading Fulton Sheen's Life of Christ.  it is a masterpiece! https://www.amazon.com/Life-Christ-Fulton-J-Sheen/dp/0385132204

[Violet Crown]

Violet Crown, I am reading Fulton Sheen's Life of Christ. it is a masterpiece! https://www.amazon.com/Life-Christ-Fulton-J-Sheen/dp/0385132204

Looking forward to the review! I have Endo's (author of Silence, the best Catholic novel ever written) Life of Christ on my TBR stack/shelf/house. Funny how it's a genre that was so popular mid-century and has kind of disappeared now. Edited July 18, 2016 by Violet Crown

[Faithr]

Violet Crown, I have never read anything by Endo.  I've been meaning to for years.  In fact I was cleaning through a bunch of clutter and found one of those little memo books where I'd started to write a list of books I wanted to read and Silence was on there!  That was like 8 years ago.  Still haven't gotten around to it.

 

I read Jesus; a Biography from a Believer by Paul Johnson a few years ago.  It was ok but it wasn't nearly as profound or as poetically written as Sheen's.  Sheen is amazing in his penetration and ability to convey really deep points in very moving language.   He reminds me of Chesterton in that he uses lots of paradox.  

[mumto2]

Ethel......My Miss Julia book came on overdrive and I read the whole thing during the night. Sleep issues, I read both Tessa Dare's also. I just wanted to say thanks for the recommendation. She is an enjoyable character and I have the second book in the series ready to go.

 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/77520.Miss_Julia_Speaks_Her_Mind?ac=1&from_search=true

[Kareni]

I read an enjoyable contemporary romance fantasy last night; it's one I'll be re-reading.  (Adult content)

 

Astounding! by Kim Fielding

 

"Carter Evans is founder and editor-in-chief of Astounding!—a formerly popular spec fiction magazine currently in its death throes. Not only can he do nothing to save it, but stuck in a rathole apartment with few interpersonal connections, he can’t seem to do much to rescue his future either. And certainly all the booze isn’t helping. He snaps when he receives yet another terrible story submission from the mysterious writer J. Harper—and in a drunken haze, Carter sends Harper a rejection letter he soon regrets.

J. Harper turns out to be John Harper, a sweet man who resembles a ’50s movie star and claims to be an extraterrestrial. Despite John’s delusions, Carter’s apology quickly turns into something more as the two lonely men find a powerful connection. Inexplicably drawn to John, Carter invites him along on a road trip. But as they travel, Carter is in for some big surprises, some major heartbreak… and just maybe the promise of a good future after all."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

Some bookish pieces ~

 

From a WTM-er: Mind Blown: Coping When a Book Knocks You Silly by Nicole Mulhausen

 

"Toward the end of last December, Goodreads kindly sent me a fancy graphic email, a summary of my 2015 reads. The font for that total number was HUGE. And the number itself, shockingly small. Sixteen.

 

What. the. heck.

 

I was surprised. I had never used Goodreads to track totals, which didn’t interest me, and I had never counted at the end of a year. Because, why? I’m a slow reader, I admit that. Even so, that number seemed stinkin’ skimpy. I looked back to check, and sure enough, my average for each previous year was more than twice that...."

***

 

Senate confirms first black female librarian of Congress

***

 

The U.S.-Canada Border Runs Through This Tiny Library   by Sarah Yahm

 

"Rumor has it that the 18th-century surveyors who drew the official line between the U.S. state of Vermont and the Canadian province of Quebec were drunk, because the border lurches back and forth across the 45th parallel, sometimes missing it by as much as a mile. But the residents of the border towns didn’t particularly mind, mostly because they ignored it altogether. 

 

For nearly 200 years Derby Line, Vermont, and Stanstead, Quebec, essentially functioned as one town. Citizens drank the same water, worked in the same tool factory, played the same sports (primarily curling), fought in the same world wars, and were born in the same hospital in nearby Newport, Vermont. They also shared the same cultural center, the Haskell Free Library and Opera House, an ornate Victorian edifice built deliberately on top of the international border in 1901 by the Canadian wife of a wealthy American merchant. ..."

 

 

Regards,

Kareni

[JennW in SoCal]

Some bookish pieces ~

 

From a WTM-er: Mind Blown: Coping When a Book Knocks You Silly by Nicole Mulhausen

 

 

The Durrell family is haunting me! 

 

One of the mind blowing books Nicole writes about in that linked article is Lawrence Durrell's Justine, part of the Alexandria Quartet. I was only vaguely aware of that work until searching yesterday afternoon for books from my birth year. Turns out the last of the quartet was published in that year, and based on the glowing, rapturous reviews I'm thinking I'd like to read them.

 

But it isn't just Lawrence suddenly, randomly popping up on my book-radar. Just 2 weeks ago at a used book sale I picked up Garden of the Gods by Gerald Durrell, the last of the Corfu trilogy. I was thinking I'd revisit My Family and Other Animals, an old favorite, before reading this one. 

[Jane in NC]

Quick hello to my book friends. I started reading two books yesterday, Four Fish by Paul Greenberg and Theatre by Somerset Maugham. The former is an examination of four favorite wild foods (salmon, sea bass, cod, tuna) and their fates with overfishing and the limitations imposed by biotechnology.

 

The latter is Maugham. Nuff said?

[Ethel Mertz]

Ethel......My Miss Julia book came on overdrive and I read the whole thing during the night. Sleep issues, I read both Tessa Dare's also. I just wanted to say thanks for the recommendation. She is an enjoyable character and I have the second book in the series ready to go.

 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/77520.Miss_Julia_Speaks_Her_Mind?ac=1&from_search=true

 

So glad you enjoyed the first book and sorry about the sleep issues. Some books in the series are better than others, but as a whole, they are so entertaining that I have become thoroughly enamored of them.

 

For this week's reading, I just picked up the book The Hills At Home by Nancy Clark and I must share the very first paragraph with you all.

 

 

Outside, the night blew perfectly foul and all of the Hills had stayed home. Rain flung itself by the fistful against the clapboards, rain spangled the windowpanes, and the rain bore down so hard against the roof that shots bounced up from the slates and rained down again in shattery shards and splinters. The wind wheeled round and the startled rain skidded sideways. The rain sought, the rain battered, the rain invaded. This was an extravagant rain, as if somewhere, somehow, someone, miserly and profligate in turn, had been amassing rain until he possessed enough to hurl down fiercely and decisively upon the helplessly spinning earth.

[Kareni]

And a few more book-ish posts ~

 

Stacia, this one (a re-issue) made me think of you:  I Got Your Weird Right Here: 100 Must-Read Strange and Unusual Novels by Liberty Hardy

**

 

I enjoyed reading about Justin Cronin and his son in this piece; I suspect a number of us have done similar things with our children  ~  Justin Cronin on Star Trek and Shakespeare

**

 

Books to Read if You Love Fierce, Smart Women  by Domenica Ruta and O Magazine's The Reading Room

**

 

Some of these are truly bizarre ~

5 of the Strangest Books Ever Written   by Paul Ratner

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

And a non-bookish post on the Word Wenches site by a favorite author of mine, Joanna Bourne ~ The Story of a Fork.

 

"If you figger folks in ye olden days had it tougher than we do now, you don’t have to look further than the matter of forks. Oversimplifying like mad, one may say that Europe went from a state of no forks whatsoever, to the slightly more satisfying condition of two-pronged forks, to the multiply pronged jobbies we enjoy today...."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

And a couple of currently free books for Kindle readers ~

 

Agent of Change (Liaden Universe)  by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller.   The Amazon link says this is book 9; however, the description says this is the first book chronologically in the series.

 

"Once a brilliant First-in Scout, Val Con yos'Phelium was "recruited" by the mysterious Liaden Department of Interior and brainwashed into an Agent of Change—a ruthless covert operative who kills without remorse.

Fleeing the scene of his latest murderous mission, he finds himself saving the life of ex-mercenary Miri Robertson, a tough Terran on the run from a team of interplanetary assassins. Thrown together by circumstances, Val Con and Miri struggle to elude their enemies and stay alive without slaying each other—or surrendering to the unexpected passion that flares between them."

 

**

Engraved on the Eye by Saladin Ahmed

 

"A medieval physician asked to do the impossible. A gun slinging Muslim wizard in the old West. A disgruntled super villain pining for prison reform. A cybernetic soldier who might or might not be receiving messages from God. Prepare yourself to be transported to new and fantastical worlds.

The short stories in this collection have been nominated for the Nebula and Campbell awards. They’ve been reprinted in The Year’s Best Fantasy and other anthologies, recorded for numerous podcasts, and translated into several foreign languages. Now they are collected in one place for the first time. Experience for yourself the original voice of one of fantasy’s rising stars!"

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Stacia]

 Stacia, this one (a re-issue) made me think of you:  I Got Your Weird Right Here: 100 Must-Read Strange and Unusual Novels by Liberty Hardy

**

 

Kareni, I :001_wub:  you for this list! Thank you. Such a fabulous find. I'm printing it out. :hurray:

 

I've read some (15!):

The Manual of Detection

The Weirdness

An Exaggerated Murder (my 2016 BaW Bingo Mystery read)

Duplex (re: her comment on this one -- I didn't get it either :lol: )

Zeroville (a favorite)

The Raw Shark Texts (cool & out-there)

The Ninth Life of Louis Drax

Pym

Three Scenarios in Which Hana Sasaki Grows a Tail (great collection of short stories)

The Story of My Teeth (another favorite)

Remainder (McCarthy is a great writer even though I loved his book "C" better)

The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear (a book I bought based on the cover & it's still one of my favorite covers ever)

Mr. Fox (another favorite)

Masters of Atlantis

The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil

 

Tried (& rejected) one:

The Teleportation Accident

 

And read some of the authors, though not their particular works listed in this list:

Margaret Atwood

Mikhail Bulgakov

Nick Harkaway

David Mitchell

Haruki Murakami

Nnedi Okorafor

Kurt Vonnegut

Jeanette Winterson

Dexter Palmer

 

ETA: And I just love her short descriptions! Perfection. This is a list of complete awesomeness.

Edited July 19, 2016 by Stacia

[Stacia]

I finished Glory O'Brien's History of the Future by A.S. King.

 

As a YA book, I'd probably rate it 4 stars (but 3 stars just putting it in amongst all the books I routinely read). I like some of the overall messages in the book. It has a peep into a future dystopia (where women basically become non-entities) & a drive/desire to make sure that is not the future that happens, while simultaneously addressing normal teenage angst & confusion, family & friend ties, etc....

 

In this masterpiece about freedom, feminism, and destiny, Printz Honor author A.S. King tells the epic story of a girl coping with devastating loss at long last--a girl who has no idea that the future needs her, and that the present needs her even more.

 

Graduating from high school is a time of limitless possibilities--but not for Glory, who has no plan for what's next. Her mother committed suicide when Glory was only four years old, and she's never stopped wondering if she will eventually go the same way...until a transformative night when she begins to experience an astonishing new power to see a person's infinite past and future. From ancient ancestors to many generations forward, Glory is bombarded with visions--and what she sees ahead of her is terrifying: A tyrannical new leader raises an army. Women's rights disappear. A violent second civil war breaks out. And young girls vanish daily, sold off or interned in camps. Glory makes it her mission to record everything she sees, hoping her notes will somehow make a difference. She may not see a future for herself, but she'll do anything to make sure this one doesn't come to pass.

 

I liked this teen observation of some of the adults in her life:

Aunt Amy was cleaning up in the kitchen and I went downstairs to help her. She talked to Dad as if they'd been friends for a lifetime, and I guess they had been. I never saw it that way before -- how adults have lives on top of lives on top of lives. Layers.

 

A couple of caveats:

1) If you pre-read YA books for your teen, this does have some discussion of teenage sex. Not actual scenes, but things about touching certain places, as well as crabs as a result.

2) If you're thin-skinned about how homeschooling is portrayed in stories, you might not like the homeschooled character (or group) in here. She/they is/are portrayed as hippie/commune/cult-ish.

Edited July 19, 2016 by Stacia

[Kareni]

Last night I read another highly enjoyable book by author Kim Fielding; it's a 2015 Rainbow Award Honorable Mention title.  This is a contemporary romance featuring two men, and it's a book I will re-read. (Adult content)

 

Rattlesnake by Kim Fielding

 

"A drifter since his teens, Jimmy Dorsett has no home and no hope. What he does have is a duffel bag, a lot of stories, and a junker car. Then one cold desert night he picks up a hitchhiker and ends up with something more: a letter from a dying man to the son he hasn’t seen in years.

On a quest to deliver the letter, Jimmy travels to Rattlesnake, a small town nestled in the foothills of the California Sierras. The centerpiece of the town is the Rattlesnake Inn, where the bartender is handsome former cowboy Shane Little. Sparks fly, and when Jimmy’s car gives up the ghost, Shane gets him a job as handyman at the inn.

Both within the community of Rattlesnake and in Shane’s arms, Jimmy finds an unaccustomed peace. But it can’t be a lasting thing. The open road continues to call, and surely Shane—a strong, proud man with a painful past and a difficult present—deserves better than a lying vagabond who can’t stay put for long."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

Regarding I Got Your Weird Right Here: 100 Must-Read Strange and Unusual Novels by Liberty Hardy

 

Kareni, I :001_wub:  you for this list! Thank you. Such a fabulous find. I'm printing it out.

 

I'm glad it hit the spot, Stacia.  Make sure you read the comments as there are a few more suggested titles there.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Angelaboord]

I am sitting in the hospital with Abby right now. She came through surgery quite well - no surprises - and now we are waiting until tomorrow morning when they take the ventilator out. As of now, she "looks great." So I am still stressed out with all the tubes and wires but relieved we made it through the first, big hurdle. Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and prayers!

 

I am reading Scott O'Dell's Cruise of the Arctic Star right now. I guess technically I'm pre-reading it, because I think I'm going to pass it on to Andy to read aloud to the boys at night. It is a fascinating mix of history, natural science, memoir, and sailing. Not really YA/children's like O'Dell's fiction, but good reading for many different ages, including mine. It's the story of a sailing trip O'Dell and his wife took up the Pacific Coast from San Diego to Alaska. The book only covers the portion of his trip to the Columbia River and is mostly about his home state of California. It's a nice read for me as I sit in the hospital. Not too tough, and interesting without being the kind of book that completely sucks me in. Recommended.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[JennW in SoCal]

I am sitting in the hospital with Abby right now. She came through surgery quite well - no surprises - and now we are waiting until tomorrow morning when they take the ventilator out. As of now, she "looks great." So I am still stressed out with all the tubes and wires but relieved we made it through the first, big hurdle. Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and prayers!

 

I am reading Scott O'Dell's Cruise of the Arctic Star right now. I guess technically I'm pre-reading it, because I think I'm going to pass it on to Andy to read aloud to the boys at night. It is a fascinating mix of history, natural science, memoir, and sailing. Not really YA/children's like O'Dell's fiction, but good reading for many different ages, including mine. It's the story of a sailing trip O'Dell and his wife took up the Pacific Coast from San Diego to Alaska. The book only covers the portion of his trip to the Columbia River and is mostly about his home state of California. It's a nice read for me as I sit in the hospital. Not too tough, and interesting without being the kind of book that completely sucks me in. Recommended.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

So glad you checked in, and thankful that Abby is doing so well.  Can't imagine having an infant in the hospital with all those tubes and wires.  :grouphug:

 

Arctic Star sounds really wonderful -- right up my alley. So good that you found the right book to keep you company.

[Kareni]

I am sitting in the hospital with Abby right now. She came through surgery quite well...

 

I'm glad to hear that the surgery is over, Angela, and hope that Abby's recovery goes smoothly.

 

**

 

Since it's July, I read a Christmas novella.  (It's Christmas in July!)  I was at a thrift store today and purchased A Regency Christmas Feast: Five delicious romances and holiday recipes since I saw that it contained a story by Mary Balogh who is one of my favorite authors.  The story I read was “The Wassail Bowl," and I enjoyed it.  As the subtitle suggests, the story also included a recipe for Wassail.  I think it's safe to say that I would not care to drink wassail; I did enjoy the story though.

 

ETA: I see the story is also available in an e-book collection that contains two other stories by the author. 

Christmas Miracles by Mary Balogh

 

"CHRISTMAS MIRACLES brings together three previously published and long out-of-print novellas, each of which demonstrates how the wonder of the season can bring together two would-be lovers or two estranged lovers and create a bond between them that will last a lifetime and beyond.

 

In "The Wassail Bowl" an aristocrat has summoned his young son to a family house party but is disconcerted when his estranged wife and her illegitimate daughter arrive with him. When he expresses his displeasure, she picks up a large bowl of wassail from the hall table and dumps its sticky contents over his head. The only way for the story to proceed after that is up!

 

In "The Bond Street Carolers" a gentleman who hates Christmas is appalled when his ears are assailed on fashionable Bond Street by a group of inferior carolers--until, that is, he is rooted to the spot by the pure soprano voice of a young boy soloist. As a connoisseur of music and the arts, he must have the boy to sing at one of his concerts--but the child's widowed mother will have nothing to do with what she sees as exploitation.

 

In "Guarded by Angels" an estranged couple are separately marooned at the same cottage by a snow storm and must spend Christmas together without coming to blows. But they have a great deal of assistance from their very different guardian angels."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Jane in NC]

My guy was one with tubes and wires after a stint in the neonatal ICU and then surgery at age four weeks. Same guy who recently hiked the Appalachian Trail (about 2200 miles) in less than four months.

 

Talk about resilience.

 

Sending good thoughts to Abby and her family.

[Stacia]

Angela, thanks for the update on Abby.

 

:grouphug: :grouphug: , loving wishes, & speedy recovery thoughts are being sent to Abby (& all of you).

 

 

[Stacia]

I started reading The Last Policeman by Ben Winters earlier today after Rose's glowing review of it (when we were discussing Winters' newest book cover). I'm a few chapters in & hooked already.

 

"[The] weird, beautiful, unapologetically apocalyptic Last Policeman trilogy is one of my favorite mystery series."—John Green, author of The Fault in Our Stars and Paper Towns

Winner of the 2013 Edgar® Award Winner for Best Paperback Original!

What’s the point in solving murders if we’re all going to die soon, anyway?
 
Detective Hank Palace has faced this question ever since asteroid 2011GV1 hovered into view. There’s no chance left. No hope. Just six precious months until impact.
 
The Last Policeman presents a fascinating portrait of a pre-apocalyptic United States. The economy spirals downward while crops rot in the fields. Churches and synagogues are packed. People all over the world are walking off the job—but not Hank Palace. He’s investigating a death by hanging in a city that sees a dozen suicides every week—except this one feels suspicious, and Palace is the only cop who cares.
 
The first in a trilogy, The Last Policeman offers a mystery set on the brink of an apocalypse. As Palace’s investigation plays out under the shadow of 2011GV1, we’re confronted by hard questions way beyond “whodunit.†What basis does civilization rest upon? What is life worth? What would any of us do, what would we really do, if our days were numbered?

 

[Lady Florida.]

I am sitting in the hospital with Abby right now. She came through surgery quite well - no surprises - and now we are waiting until tomorrow morning when they take the ventilator out. As of now, she "looks great." So I am still stressed out with all the tubes and wires but relieved we made it through the first, big hurdle. Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and prayers!

 

 

 

I'm so glad to hear that it went well. Sending good thoughts for her recovery, the next hurdle(s), and for your nerves.  :grouphug:

[mumto2]

Angela, So glad to hear that Abby is doing well after her surgery. :grouphug: