Book a Week 2016 - BW31: august peregrinations

[Stacia]

Yeah mumto2, I feel of course compelled to read all of the book club books.  Like it's a social obligation! and I don't want to offend who chose the book.  And this choice was from a friend who's trying to expand my reading horizons...wow I sound like such a book-bigot.  :crying: I truly am in the camp of all reading = good reading...it's just I feel so time-crunched most of the time that reading has to be I don't know nutritious?  Whole-foods-ish as compared to junk-food-ish?  Not that I am not down with a can of Pringles...maybe I am, as my friend says, simply uneducated

 

:lol:

 

I must be a book club social boor then. Over many years, I have abandoned many book club books. At least I feel like I'm somewhat fair in doing so because I also feel free to abandon ones I've selected for book club reading.  :tongue_smilie:  (And, our next book club read is a fluff one & I started it. It's just not my taste & I'm not sure I'll pull myself along into reading the whole thing.)

 

I think that part of my problem is that, while I love fiction & especially contemporary fiction, I don't often like what would be termed "popular" books.

 

Why I haven't been booted out, I don't know.

 

[mumto2]

Yeah mumto2, I feel of course compelled to read all of the book club books. Like it's a social obligation! and I don't want to offend who chose the book. And this choice was from a friend who's trying to expand my reading horizons...wow I sound like such a book-bigot. :crying: I truly am in the camp of all reading = good reading...it's just I feel so time-crunched most of the time that reading has to be I don't know nutritious? Whole-foods-ish as compared to junk-food-ish? Not that I am not down with a can of Pringles...maybe I am, as my friend says, simply uneducated

 

 

I think Kareni and I could come up with far better fluff! ;) I honestly wouldn't recommend that book to anyone. It is entertaining and a fast read but I found it a bit too close to real people who didn't deserve being put in that storyline. I know public figures.....

[Jane in NC]

Fastweedpuller--I suspect that I am a confirmed book bigot for precisely the reason you state. There are so many good books so why waste time on mediocre or stinky ones. Of course, the latter reflects my judgements but also evolving tastes.

 

I cannot remember finishing a mystery/police procedural in tears but such was the case with The Unquiet Dead, authored by a woman who has specialized in human rights law and war crimes. The plot makes this a page turner but more importantly Ausma Zehanat Khan reminds us that the rubble of war includes many lost souls. This work of fiction is complete with footnotes, giving life to the forgotten.

 

Idnib, I believe that you recommended Khan's mysteries. Thank you.

 

Moving on now to The Plover. Or should that be sailing away on The Plover?

[-M-]

After posting here on Sunday, I developed my August reading plan:

 

â–  A Study in Scarlet (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; 1887. Fiction.)
â–  Letters from a Stoic (Seneca; 1494.)
â–  A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Clinton (Carl Bernstein; 2007. Non-fiction.)
â–  The Last Policeman (Ben Winters; 2012. Fiction.)
â–  Shylock Is My Name (Howard Jacobson; 2016. Fiction.)
â–  Eileen (Ottessa Moshfegh; 2015. Fiction.)
â–  My Name Is Lucy Barton (Elizabeth Strout; 2016. Fiction.)
â–  You Will Know Me (Megan Abbott; 2016. Fiction.)
■ An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth (Col. Chris Hadfield; 2013. Non-fiction.)
â–  Smarter Faster Better (Charles Duhigg; 2016. Non-fiction.)

 

Although I prefer to, as one of my favorite writers says, “read at whim,†I have had some luck this year with assembling small stacks and making my way through them. This one seems built to work.

 

Some notes: The Doyle is for the online book club / MOOC in which I participate, and I am already halfway through the Duhigg. (In 2012, I received a review copy of Duhigg’s The Power of Habit and thoroughly enjoyed it. While somewhat engaging, this latest effort seems slapped together from research assembled when that earlier book was being written.) I’m motivated to complete Jacobson’s entry in the Hogarth Shakespeare series before we see The Merchant of Venice. The Last Policeman, Eileen, My Name Is Lucy Barton, and You Will Know Me were shelved in my bedroom, which is as good as saying, “They were already on a TBR stack.†My youngest maintains that Astronaut’s Guide will be the perfect antidote to the angsty whine of Lab Girl. I put Seneca’s Letters and the Clinton bio on my summer reading shelf in May, then promptly forgot they were there! The former will be perfect for the drive home from university, eh? And the latter will probably be read in bites over this month and next.

 

[-M-]

Though it made me want White Trash hurry and show up in my Overdrive list...

 

 

I read one chapter of White Trash, a library book, and then it sat on my desk all week. That is a comment on how many other books I was juggling and not on White Trash, which now that it has been "test-driven," is in my Amazon cart for when my points balance swells again at the end of the month. I think it will be a companion read when I tackle Eviction.

[Chrysalis Academy]

After posting here on Sunday, I developed my August reading plan:

 

â–  A Study in Scarlet (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; 1887. Fiction.)

â–  Letters from a Stoic (Seneca; 1494.)

â–  A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Clinton (Carl Bernstein; 2007. Non-fiction.)

â–  The Last Policeman (Ben Winters; 2012. Fiction.)

â–  Shylock Is My Name (Howard Jacobson; 2016. Fiction.)

â–  Eileen (Ottessa Moshfegh; 2015. Fiction.)

â–  My Name Is Lucy Barton (Elizabeth Strout; 2016. Fiction.)

â–  You Will Know Me (Megan Abbott; 2016. Fiction.)

■ An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth (Col. Chris Hadfield; 2013. Non-fiction.)

â–  Smarter Faster Better (Charles Duhigg; 2016. Non-fiction.)

 

Although I prefer to, as one of my favorite writers says, “read at whim,†I have had some luck this year with assembling small stacks and making my way through them. This one seems built to work.

 

 

 

I like your list! We've been reading and re-reading Sherlockiana at my house this summer, and of course I've raved about The Last Policeman and Shylock is My Name.  Eileen and My Name is Lucy Barton are both tentative TRs, so I will be interested to hear what you think of them both.

[Loesje22000]

I finished The Social Contract!

 

Now  I can start 'Danubia' about the Habsburger dynasty...

[-M-]

I finished In Cold Blood. This is my review: "These four stars were dragged out of me in reluctant admiration of the quality of the writing and storytelling. I hated the actual story. It made me feel sick inside." I finished it as quickly as possible .

 

Stacia, I felt the same about Waiting for Godot. Meh. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern was much more enjoyable.

 

 

 

Reading Helter Skelter earlier this summer prompted me to add In Cold Blood to my "must reread" pile. I confess: The true crime genre (including what is now widely regarded as the "creative non-fiction" variety Capote penned) absolutely fascinates me -- although I need longer breaks between the bleakness now that I'm older.

 

And I love that you've linked Godot with R&G. For me, it's a trilogy: Waiting for Godot, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, and No Exit. Rereading any one of them means than I will reread the other two.

 

Related aside: We saw (and read) Stoppard's Arcadia this spring at the Writers Theatre. Not sure why, with as much as I love R&G, it took me so long to read / see other works, but this season, we will continue to right that wrong *grin*: We already have tickets for the Court production of The Hard Problem and will also see the Remy-Bumppo production of Pirandello's Henry IV.

[-M-]

Is the "Like" feature odd for anyone else? I can like a post or two, and then it simply doesn't allow me to click another. So weird. Well, please know that, if I were able, I would like every post in this thread every week. I so appreciate this particular corner of the virtual livingroom.

Edited August 2, 2016 by M--

[Just Robyn]

 

And I love that you've linked Godot with R&G. For me, it's a trilogy: Waiting for Godot, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, and No Exit. Rereading any one of them means than I will reread the other two.

 

I read R&G this year and saw the performance and was so glad I had read Waiting for Godot a year or two ago. I loved them both, but did not know that I might want to read No Exit too. Thanks! Off to Amazon. Well, maybe my library website first, though I doubt they'll have that.

[Shawneinfl]

"far better fluff" LOL, you ladies crack me up. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

[Mom-ninja.]

I wanted to report back here that I started book #2 in the World Made by Hand series, The Witch of Hebron, and immediately abandoned it.  Some of the weird stuff at the end of the first book is apparently going to figure prominently in this one. Plus it begins with a horrible storyline involving cruelty & suffering of animals and children.  Nope, not going there. Letting this series go . . . 

Putting this on my Not To Read list

 

 

I finished Mr. Penumbra (another stay up too late book); it was a very fun and different book. 

[Chrysalis Academy]

Putting this on my Not To Read list

 

 

I finished Mr. Penumbra (another stay up too late book); it was a very fun and different book. 

 

Hah, that's a good thought - I have an abandoned shelf on goodreads, and I usually try and make a comment about why I abandoned a book, because I've repeatedly found myself trying a book a second time that I previously abandoned.  But maybe I need a Not to Read shelf too, to remind myself to avoid books you guys have already tried and pronounced stinkers?

[Stacia]

Rose, I think you're really going to love Underground Airlines.

 

Also, for everyone, one of the Goodreads Groups (Chaos Reading) is doing a fun/interesting reading challenge running from Aug. 1, 2016, to July 31, 2017. Lots of neat categories. I'm going to give it a go. (And it helps that there is already some overlap with my reading anyway. Plus, ds helped me come up with a list of some books that would fit the categories.)

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/18190806-treasure-hunt-iii

[mumto2]

I just discovered a new (rather old actually) mystery series that I am looking forward to reading. I discovered that the Mrs. Bradley series exits because I recorded a tv show on the Drama channel here because Diana Rigg stars in it. I only managed to tape two episodes :( but look who else was in one of those episodes!http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01bywqs

Not one but two Dr. Who's. So fun!!!!

 

Now for the books. I did already have the first book, A Speedy Death, marked as want to read. Not sure if that is from my British Cozy research or because of someone here. Gladys Mitchell was apparently a very prolific mystery writer at the same time as Christie and Sayers. Considered number 3 according to something I read this morning. Some of the books are available on Amazon Prime for free. I plan to check one out as soon as I read my current selection. I liked Mrs. Bradley quite a bit but that could just be because she was Diana Rigg. ;) looking forward to trying a book.

[Chrysalis Academy]

I finished The Gospel of Loki. I feel bad giving this book just 2 stars, because it wasn't a bad book, but I was really just "meh" about it. The tone - very snarky and sarcastic, like a lot of YA lit - was appropriate to the narrator, Loki, but I don't much enjoy that style. The characters? Well, you're seeing the story from the POV of the "villain" so you see all their bad qualities - the gods are vain, stupid, and selfish. Loki himself, while a sympathetic character for the most part, is so narcissistic and self-deluded that he's only partly likable. It's hard to read a whole book where you don't like any of the characters.

 

Where things got interesting was the question of free will vs determinism. What if, instead of being a confusing-but-benign force, and Oracle is subverted by the enemy and used to lure the characters into causing their own destruction? Do you cause a prophecy to come true by believing in it and behaving in a way that makes it inevitable? That was kind of an interesting twist.

 

It occurs to me that Norse mythology is somewhat unique in having its gods be able to die, and having them die - having the end of the world happen, as part of the past history. Are there other cultural mythologies that have that? I wonder if it is a function of the culture and religion being so thoroughly replaced and destroyed by Christianity? I wonder if the mythologies of the Americas or of parts of Asia that were colonized/taken over by Islam or other monotheisms have that same property, where the gods themselves are involved in an epic battle, and are destroyed.  Does anybody know? I'm not an expert on Norse mythology by any means, but comparing it to Greek & Roman mythology, it seems so different in that way. I guess its similar to the British mythology of Arthur, where he loses his battle and dies at the same time that the Celtic religions are losing ground to Christianity and dying.  Anyway, it filled my insomniac thoughts last night.

 

[Maus]

I need to put some audible books on my phone, since my daily walk is my most reliable alone time.  My phone memory is pretty full, though.

 

36. "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" by Jack Thorne, et al.  Not saying a word, except that it arrived yesterday afternoon, and I'd finished it and handed it over to DD11 by bedtime.  She just finished.  The format is less satisfying.

 

35. "The Wizard of Oz" by Frank Baum. 

34. "Adventures of Tom Sawyer" by Mark Twain.  (We listened as we traveled in Missouri!)

33. "Blue Fairy Book" by Andrew Lang.

32. "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing" by Judy Blume.

31. "Greenwich" by Susan Cooper.

30. "Dark is Rising" by Susan Cooper.

29. "Clash of Cultures" by Christopher and James Lincoln Collier.

28. "The Story of US: First Americans" by Joy Hakim.

27. "Freak the Mighty" by Rodman Philbrick. 

26. "The Mouse and the Motorcycle" by Beverly Cleary.

25."Caddie Woodlawn" by Carol Ryrie Brink.

24. "Frightful's Mountain" by Jean Craighead George.

23.  "The Power of Vulnerability" by Brene Brown.

22.  "My side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George.

21. "Cheaper By the Dozen" by Frank Butler Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey.

20. "Murder on the Ballarat Train" by Kerry Greenwood.

19. "Over See, Under Stone" by Susan Cooper

18. "Sing Down the Moon" by Scott O'Dell.

17. "Soft Rain" by Cornelia Cornelissen.

16. "The Collapse of Parenting" by Leonard Sax.

15. ""Flying Too High: A Phyrne Fisher Mystery" by Kerry Greenwood.

14. "Cocaine Blues: A Phyrne Fisher Mystery" by Kerry Greenwood.

13. "Let It Go" by Chris Williams

12. "Writing From Personal Experience" by Nancy Davidoff Kelton.

11. "Writing the Memoir" by Judith Barrington.

10.  "Boys Adrift" by Leonard Sax.

9. "Girls on the Edge" by Leonard Sax.  

8. "Christ and the Inner Life" by Truman G. Madsen. (LDS)  

7. "Gaze into Heaven" by Marlene Bateman Sullivan. (LDS)

6. "To Heaven and Back" by Mary C. Neal, MD.

5. "When Will the Heaven Begin?" by Ally Breedlove.

4. "Four" by Virginia Roth.

3. "Allegiant" by Virgina Roth.

2. " Insurgent" by Virginia Roth.

1. "Divergent" by Virginia Roth.

[Kareni]

Will read the thread once home.

 

A quick entry as we stopped in town to check email, buy ice, etc.  We're very much enjoying our nephew's four day wedding camping celebration.

 

Read and enjoyed Mary Balogh's older historical romance Secrets of the Heart

 

"Theirs should have been the perfect marriage. Sarah was as wildly in love with the Duke of Cranwell as he was with her...until, on their wedding night, Sarah was forced to reveal the secret of her past. And that, midst great public scandal, ended their marriage almost before it began.

Then in fashionable Bath their paths crossed again. The stunningly beautiful Sarah knew it was folly to think this dashing and sought-after lord would ever get over her shocking betrayal. His fury made it painfully clear that they should separate again, this time forever.

Sarah could find a thousand arguments against the wisdom - or likelihood - of so miserable an edict. For one, the duke's ridiculous masculine pride was no match for the sensuous power of her affection for him...as she counted on love to melt the last shred of his resistance to her passionate surrender..."

 

**

Driving to the camp, my husband and I listened to the exceedingly profane Sh*t My Dad Says by Justin Halpern.  We both laughed a lot, but this audio book is definitely not for everyone. 

 

“This book is ridiculously hilarious, and makes my father look like a normal member of society.â€
—Chelsea Handler

 

“Read this unless you’re allergic to laughing.â€
—Kristen Bell

 

“If you’re wondering if there is a real man behind the quotes on Twitter, the answer is a definite and laugh-out-loud yes.â€
—Christian Lander, New York Times bestselling author of Stuff White People Like

 

"Tuesdays with Morrie meets F My Life in this hilarious book about a son’s relationship with his foul-mouthed father by the 29-year-old comedy writer who created the massively popular Twitter feed of the same name."

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

[Jane in NC]

I just discovered a new (rather old actually) mystery series that I am looking forward to reading. I discovered that the Mrs. Bradley series exits because I recorded a tv show on the Drama channel here because Diana Rigg stars in it. I only managed to tape two episodes :( but look who else was in one of those episodes!http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01bywqs

Not one but two Dr. Who's. So fun!!!!

 

Now for the books. I did already have the first book, A Speedy Death, marked as want to read. Not sure if that is from my British Cozy research or because of someone here. Gladys Mitchell was apparently a very prolific mystery writer at the same time as Christie and Sayers. Considered number 3 according to something I read this morning. Some of the books are available on Amazon Prime for free. I plan to check one out as soon as I read my current selection. I liked Mrs. Bradley quite a bit but that could just be because she was Diana Rigg. ;) looking forward to trying a book.

Gladys Mitchell fan here. I am delighted that you can get her books from Amazon Prime since many seem to be out of print. Agatha Christie readers will appreciate Mitchell.

 

Diana Rigg fan too. In my youth I adored Mrs. Peel; now I find myself to be more of a Cathy Gale sort. But Diana Rigg remains fabulous.

[Violet Crown]

I finished The Social Contract!

 

Now I can start 'Danubia' about the Habsburger dynasty...

Congratulations on getting through Rousseau! On to Hobbes? Or perhaps enough political philosophy for a while?

 

I finished the C. Day Lewis translation of the Aeneid and should finally get around to reading my own book on the Habsburgs. I'm still fired up from the Houston exhibit of Habsburg bling earlier this year.

 

I was reading the Aeneid at Wee Girl's camp, and a nearby dad looked at the cover, got excited and said, "Wow! I had no idea he also translated the classics!" I was perplexed but it occurred to me later the guy was possibly mistaking C. Day for someone else.

Edited August 4, 2016 by Violet Crown

[mumto2]

I finished my prime book Boundary Born https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28496524-boundary-born by Melissa F. Olson. It was the third book in a paranormal trilogy which I have greatly enjoyed. Third books are frequently disappointing, this one was not. I liked the wrap up of the story greatly.

 

I also am a bit embarrassed about what I probably did to people's Goodreads feed this morning. I finally made an effort to get all my lists realigned. I think things are somewhat accurate now! :lol:

[Chrysalis Academy]

I'm on a tear - I started and rejected 3 books last night on my quest to create the perfect vacation-pack of books.  I tried Soon I Will Be Invincible, and realized, Hey - I just read this book, it's The Gospel of Loki but with superheroes.  Back in the bag.  I also tried Invisible Cities.  Confession: Not a fan of Italo Calvino. Never have been, never will be. This book seems to have mislaid a plot??  Then I tried Arkwright, which clearly is intended for a hard-core, hard-sci-fi audience. it's full of references, allusions, and in-jokes that I'm clearly supposed to get but I don't.

 

So I started reading No Country for Old Men, which I had intended to save for vacation, but I needed something I knew I'd like after kissing all the frogs!  My goodness, it is quite possibly the perfectly written book.  Now this is how you use a sentence fragment!  The descriptions are perfect, the dialogue is perfect. My mother is from New Mexico, and so I grew up visiting relatives and friends who talk, and think, exactly like these characters.  Well, the sheriff and Llewelyn, at least!  I've seen the movie, so knowing what happens allows me to focus on how the book is put together and I'm seriously impressed. I do have images in my mind from the movie, but the movie was so well cast and set and the dialogue follows the books so well, that's an enhancement rather than a detraction.

 

I picked up a few disposable paperbacks at the library book sale to take on the trip - All the Names, a visit from the goon squad, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, The Things They Carried, and The Bridal Wreath, the first Kristin Lavransdatter volume.  My vacation stack is coming together!

[fastweedpuller]

So jealous about your reading vacay, Rose!  Not that that's all you're going to do but how lovely.  And...I am completely nabbing your idea about the Abandoned shelf in your Goodreads lists...just like you I am a very late adopter of abandoning bad(ish) books.  Likewise I envy your McCarthy tear.  I think I tend to simply suck up all of an author's stuff (and then add as new books come along) and Cormac McCarthy had me at the first Border trilogy...fortunately his earlier books were just as good so I didn't have to suffer before the next one came along.  The Orchard Keeper heart heart

I read Miss Peregrine to Miss DD earlier this summer, that was quite a fun romp.

 

I started and nearly finished Stoner last night, thank you BaW! as it would've never come up on my radar otherwise. 

[JennW in SoCal]

Happy Thursday y'all.

 

Thanks to modern technology I've been able to skim through most of this week's posts while on the road up and down California, though I haven't figured out how to "like" anything from my phone's internet browser.  Audiobooks helped pass part of the time spent in the car whether stuck in LA gridlock or speeding along on the (relatively) open freeway. 

 

The Ghost Army of WWII was the daily deal at Audible last week which I picked up in anticipation of the drive (dh is a history buff and prefers non-fiction).  It's a really fascinating but not brilliantly written account of several American special effects units that were deployed around France between D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge.  They had inflatable tanks and jeeps that they would set up under poor camouflage to fool German air reconnaissance missions. They'd even use a tractor to add all the extra tracks that those fake tanks would have had to make.  They had giant loudspeakers mounted on trucks that blasted out military sound effects from tank movements to bridge building to conversations. And there were crack radio operators who sent decoy broadcasts.  I'd like to see the print version of it as I'm guessing there would be lots of sketches made by the artists who were an integral part of these units.

 

I remember thoroughly enjoying Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animals when I was in my 20s -- I think I may have loved it even more listening to it this week. I can't recommend it highly enough!  The animal stories and the characterizations of the Durrell family members made me laugh out loud. He paints such a vivid picture of his idyllic childhood in Corfu. I recently picked up the 3rd of the "Corfu trilogy" at a library used book sale and am so looking forward to reading it.  If you have teens who love the James Herriot books, these would be the next books to press into their hands.  Just wonderful!

 

In print I'm reading a bizarre but entertaining urban fantasy novel I picked up at Comic-Con.  London Falling is a standard police procedural in a world where ghosts and evil spirits exist. It is very different from either Jim Butcher's Dresden Files or Kevin Hearnd's Iron Druid series in that it reads like a police procedural and not like fantasy. I'm only about half way through it so am not totally convinced I like it, but it's different, and it works. I'm a total wimp when it comes to the horror genre, and this has a strong horror streak to it, so have to confess to needing to read it during the daytime (I've never even tried a Stephen King novel).  

 

By the way, those of you in the Bay Area are fortunate to have the Walt Disney Family Museum in your backyard. We spent our one free afternoon there while in San Francisco last week.  It isn't the commercial Disney, Inc that is on display, rather it is the history of the man and, best of all to my family at least, the artistic innovations in animation that developed in his company in the 30s and 40s.  The secondary building which houses rotating exhibits currently has The Art of Pinocchio on display with original sketches, character boards and animation roughs, with profiles of specific artists.  We spent half our time in there.  The museum is part of the Disney Family trust, founded by Walt's daughter, and completely separate from the Disney corporation.  Our Disney-employee ds didn't even get a discount on admission, but we didn't mind. It was a really delightful afternoon. (Until we had to pick up our other son in the financial district at 6:30pm on a Friday night.  We thought the Waze app was malfunctioning when it said "distance 3 miles, time 45 minutes" or something equally ludicrous!!!) 

 

My dh is taking me tomorrow night to see a musical version of Sense and Sensibility that is playing at a local theater. I hear it is quite good, and hope I can get past the weirdness of Mrs. Jennings breaking into song to enjoy it!

[Chrysalis Academy]

So jealous about your reading vacay, Rose!  Not that that's all you're going to do but how lovely.  And...I am completely nabbing your idea about the Abandoned shelf in your Goodreads lists...just like you I am a very late adopter of abandoning bad(ish) books.  Likewise I envy your McCarthy tear.  I think I tend to simply suck up all of an author's stuff (and then add as new books come along) and Cormac McCarthy had me at the first Border trilogy...fortunately his earlier books were just as good so I didn't have to suffer before the next one came along.  The Orchard Keeper heart heart

I read Miss Peregrine to Miss DD earlier this summer, that was quite a fun romp.

 

I started and nearly finished Stoner last night, thank you BaW! as it would've never come up on my radar otherwise. 

 

You just inspired me - the only other McCarthy I've read is The Road, but I'm now wanting to read the rest of his stuff.  I like to read a bunch of things by the same author, not necessarily back to back, but in a shortish span of time. 

 

The real problem with finding a book so amazing is that I don't want to do anything else! I just want to read No Country for Old Men all day. But, people, I have things to do today!!!

 

Yes, Stoner was something I was turned on to by BaWers, too, never would have known about otherwise, and am so glad that I read.  It's funny, because when it was first discussed here, I just assumed it was a 60s drug culture book! Silly me.  :001_rolleyes:

Edited August 4, 2016 by Chrysalis Academy

[Stacia]

I finished The Gospel of Loki. I feel bad giving this book just 2 stars, because it wasn't a bad book, but I was really just "meh" about it. The tone - very snarky and sarcastic, like a lot of YA lit - was appropriate to the narrator, Loki, but I don't much enjoy that style. The characters? Well, you're seeing the story from the POV of the "villain" so you see all their bad qualities - the gods are vain, stupid, and selfish. Loki himself, while a sympathetic character for the most part, is so narcissistic and self-deluded that he's only partly likable. It's hard to read a whole book where you don't like any of the characters.

 

Hmmm. I've had that one sitting on my shelf to read for awhile now.

 

I also tried Invisible Cities.  Confession: Not a fan of Italo Calvino. Never have been, never will be. This book seems to have mislaid a plot??

 

<snip>

 

So I started reading No Country for Old Men, which I had intended to save for vacation, but I needed something I knew I'd like after kissing all the frogs!  My goodness, it is quite possibly the perfectly written book.

 

I really liked Invisible Cities in relation to The Travels of Marco Polo. But, I'm not sure I would have liked it separately from that. You're right in that there's no plot. I saw it more as a collection of mosaic pieces; each piece something akin to poetry, or a miniature essay, or a piece of shiny glass. Together they make a whole & it's an interesting thought game in relation to the did he/didn't he question as to whether or not Marco Polo ever did the actual traveling he said he did. I can definitely see that this work would not be everyone's cup of tea.

 

And, I totally agree re: No Country for Old Men. As everyone here knows, I was totally blown away by that book. It's excellent. I loved it. Now you're making me want to re-read it!

 

In print I'm reading a bizarre but entertaining urban fantasy novel I picked up at Comic-Con.  London Falling is a standard police procedural in a world where ghosts and evil spirits exist. It is very different from either Jim Butcher's Dresden Files or Kevin Hearnd's Iron Druid series in that it reads like a police procedural and not like fantasy. I'm only about half way through it so am not totally convinced I like it, but it's different, and it works. I'm a total wimp when it comes to the horror genre, and this has a strong horror streak to it, so have to confess to needing to read it during the daytime (I've never even tried a Stephen King novel). 

 

That sounds pretty interesting, Jenn. I've read more police procedurals in the past year or two, so this sounds like a cool twist on them.

Edited August 4, 2016 by Stacia

[Chrysalis Academy]

Finished No Country for Old Men, and no, I didn't get much else done this past 24 hours.

 

I'm blown away by how amazing this book is. The voices are so real. They are the voices from my genes, I think. I can literally hear, in my mind's ear, my grandfather, my uncles, my grandmother, my aunts, speaking those words. Especially these:

 

"I think by the time you're grown you're as happy as you're goin to be. You'll have good times and bad times, but in the end you'll be about as happy as you was before. Or as unhappy. I've knowed people that just never did get the hang of it."

 

"Anyway, you never know what worse luck your bad luck saved you from . . . You always pay too much. Particularly for promises. There aint no such thing as a bargain promise. You'll see. Mayb eyou done have. "

 

"You fix what you can fix and you let the rest go. If there aint nothin to be done about it it aint even a problem. It's just a aggravation."

 

[Loesje22000]

Congratulations on getting through Rousseau! On to Hobbes? Or perhaps enough political philosophy for a while?

 

 

Thank you!

 

I read one philosophical book per year normally :)

And I consider The Social Contract much more difficult to read then 'Emile on or Education'.

 

The book from Yalom about the Spinoza Puzzle made me curious to read him, so maybe I will try Spinoza next year, but maybe that is too ambitious....

[Kareni]

Arrived home today and still haven't had a chance to read the thread.  The four day wedding camping celebration was a lot of fun.

 

This may have already been posted ~

 

"On the first of each month, the Tor.com eBook Club gives away a free sci-fi/fantasy ebook to club subscribers. We're happy to announce that the pick for August 2016 is The Just City, by Hugo Award-winning author Jo Walton! The first book in the recently completed Thessaly trilogy, The Just City spins a tale of time-traveling gods, the brilliant children they choose from throughout human history in their effort to build the ideal human society, and of the god Apollo, who chooses to incarnate as one of the children. This title will be available for download through August 1st to August 7th; for legal reasons the offer is only open to readers in the U.S. and Canada, but all are welcome to join the conversation on Tor.com throughout the month!"

 

**

 

Spiders, anyone?

 

Genre Fiction’s Greatest Spiders   by Leah Schnelbach

 

"Spiders don’t get enough positive attention! They’re fantastic little beasts, and when we decided to round up a list of our favorite fictional arachnids, everyone was only too happy to chime in on the email thread… but once it came time to do the necessary image search, literally everyone else became queasy when they thought of how many creepy crawly creatures they’d have to look at.

 

Ridiculous.

 

Spiders are the BEST. They eat all the truly terrifying bugs like roaches, and they have pretty eyes, and they move in such a wonderful random scuttley fashion that leaves you no way to predict where they’re trying to go, or how close they’re going to come to you, or if they might jump on you and crawl into your hair or walk across your face while you sleep! Spiders bring spontaneity into their every interaction with humanity, and dammit, I think they deserve celebration. So here are 11 of our favorites. And before you click through, note how artist Roberta Tedeschi shows us just how cute a spider can be with the above picture of Li’l Aragog...."

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

[Chrysalis Academy]

Ok, after a second day's raid on the library book sale, I changed my strategy for vacation reading: I'm just going to take the books that I bought, no library books. That way I can hand them off to family members, leave them on the ferry or the vacation house, or generally scatter them up and down the west coast, without worrying about losing anything or library fines. 

 

So here's what I've got:

Suite Francaise - Irene Nemeroff

Madame, Will You Talk - Mary Stewart (ok, this wasn't on my TR list, but I have fond memories of it from my girlhood and I think Shannon will like it, too)

The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro (because Stacia raves about it, and I've never read it, though I've seen the movie)

Little Bee - Chris Cleave

The Bridal Wreath - Sigrid Undset

The Things They Carried - Tim O'Brien

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Ransom Riggs

A Visit from the Goon Squad - Jennifer Egan

All the Names - Jose Saramago

 

Nonfiction:

The Faraway Nearby - Rebecca Solnit

The Beak of the Finch - Jonathan Weiner

The Hidden Forest - Jon Luoma

American Exodus: Climate Change and the Coming Flight for Survival - Giles Slade

 

Pretty eclectic mix, something for every mood. Right? And I figure at least some of these will be good to hand off to Shannon when I'm done.

Edited August 5, 2016 by Chrysalis Academy

[Lady Florida.]

I finished Dead Before Morning - Rafferty and Llewellen #1. Kareni posted a link to a free bundle of the first four in this series. I have mixed feelings about this one but I'm hoping the negatives are just because it's a first novel. Since I have the bundle, I'll read the next one and hope for improvement. Obviously if I'm going to read the next one, this one wasn't awful. It's just that I've read better police procedurals. 

 

I also started the Audible version of The Things They Carried. Enjoying is the wrong word to use for this kind of book, but it's definitely powerful.

 

 

[idnib]

I finished The Last Policeman and I'm not sure what to think. I didn't particularly like the writing, and the plot reminded me of an online RPG (role playing game) in which you wander around and meet new characters and get information. OTOH, I was intrigued by the idea of continuing to do the right thing at the end of the world: "The perseverance in this world, despite it all, of things done right." Part of it appeals to my morality and humanity, part of it to my perfectionistic tendencies.  ;)  And I'm interested enough in what appears to be a dangling thread (trying to be vague) to request the next book in the trilogy from the library.

 

 

 

You just inspired me - the only other McCarthy I've read is The Road, but I'm now wanting to read the rest of his stuff.  I like to read a bunch of things by the same author, not necessarily back to back, but in a shortish span of time. 

 

The real problem with finding a book so amazing is that I don't want to do anything else! I just want to read No Country for Old Men all day. But, people, I have things to do today!!!

 

 

There are a few books I wish I could go back and read again for the first time, and this is one of them. Although I like it as an old friend as well. I do think it's McCarthy's best book, but I'd be interested to hear what you think. 

 

I enjoy hearing about your family. One of the reasons they cast Tommy Lee Jones as the sheriff in the movie is that he is from a small town in West Texas (San Saba) and I read an interview at the time about he instantly understood his role, the people, the culture the accent, etc.

Edited August 5, 2016 by idnib

[Stacia]

I finished Ben H. Winters' Underground Airlines. It is a very good book & I'd definitely recommend it.

 

 

I can't say that I've read a lot of alternative history books. I am impressed with this one because I think he did a very good job of combining real history/issues & mixing it with his fictional/revised version of history. This book brings up some really great questions that apply very much to slavery & race issues, not only of the past, but also of today & the future. I think this book would be a great one for a book club discussion -- there are many topics this book explores. And it's not just what the book explores, but also the conversation about a white, Jewish author writing in the voice of a black male protagonist within this story, especially in relation to our own current events. After reading The Last Policeman & now this one, I'd love to go to dinner with Ben Winters. He explores such interesting thoughts & scenarios that it would be fun to have a far-ranging conversation with him.

 

From the New York Times:

But even for someone who brazenly flouts literary conventions, taking on slavery in the context of a sci-fi thriller seemed dicey.
 

“The first impulse is to go, oh man, are you supposed to be writing about that, as a white American?†he said. “We tend to think of racism and slavery as something that’s appropriate only for black artists to engage with, and there’s something troubling and perverse about that.â€
 

“Underground Airlines,†which Mulholland Books will publish on Tuesday, is already striking a nerve. Independent booksellers have rallied behind the novel, and the American Booksellers Association chose it as its top book for July.

 

When I was close to the halfway mark, I thought I knew where the story was going to go & I wondered how he was going to sustain the story for the second half of the book. As it turns out, I had no idea where he was going with the story & I'm really glad that he took the story beyond where I imagined.

 

From NPR: 'Underground Airlines' Is An Extraordinary Work Of Alternate History

 

I think you should read it.

[Stacia]

British Muslim woman detained under terror laws after cabin crew report her reading Syrian art book on plane

[fastweedpuller]

I finished a good one last night, too.  It was Maggie Nelson's The Argonauts.  It hit a lot of high notes for me:  it's by a poet, it's about a culture I know but do not know intimately (queer/lesbian/trans community), it is about motherhood and more importantly the true universality of love and care. And it scratched my art school/philosophy student itch big-time.  I even went through and nabbed a couple of quotes for you:

this might sound familiar:

"A day or two after my love pronouncement, now feral with vulnerability, I sent you the passage from Roland Barthes by Roland Barthes in which Barthes describes how the subject who utters the phrase “I love you†is like “the Argonaut renewing his ship during its voyage without changing its name.†Just as the Argo’s parts may be replaced over time but the boat is still called the Argo, whenever the lover utters the phrase “I love you,†its meaning must be renewed by each use, as “the very task of love and of language is to give to one and the same phrase inflections which will be forever new.â€

"Indeed, one of the gifts of genderqueer family making...is the revelation of caretaking as detachable from—and attachable to—any gender, any sentient being."

"Homonormativity seems to me a natural consequence of the decriminalization of homosexuality: once something is no longer illicit, punishable, pathologized, or used as a lawful basis for raw discrimination or acts of violence, that phenomenon will no longer be able to represent or deliver on subversion, the subcultural, the underground, the fringe, in the same way."

and hilariously on fiction (as I am heading into a No More Fiction kick):

"We bantered good–naturedly, yet somehow allowed ourselves to get polarized into a needless binary. That’s what we both hate about fiction, or at least crappy fiction—it purports to provide occasions for thinking through complex issues, but really it has predetermined the positions, stuffed a narrative full of false choices, and hooked you on them, rendering you less able to see out, to get out."

But I love the bolded below:

"...if in practice I am more of a serial minimalist—an employee, however productive, of the condensery. Rather than a philosopher or a pluralizer, I may be more of an empiricist, insofar as my aim is not to rediscover the eternal or the universal, but to find the conditions under which something new is produced (creativeness)…. I have never really thought of myself as a “creative personâ€â€”writing is my only talent, and writing has always felt more clarifying than creative to me. But in contemplating this definition, I wonder if one might be creative (or queer, or happy, or held) in spite of oneself."

Here's more background thanks to the New Yorker. 

I realize this might not be everyone's cuppa but it was thoroughly enjoyable...by a heteronormal like me! :lol:

[Ethel Mertz]

British Muslim woman detained under terror laws after cabin crew report her reading Syrian art book on plane

 

Oh good grief. Detained for reading a book. The rebel in me wants to start a movement where we all read so-called "controversial" books in public. As DS once said, in a very different context, "How can I get in trouble for reading a book?"

[Stacia]

Oh good grief. Detained for reading a book. The rebel in me wants to start a movement where we all read so-called "controversial" books in public.

 

:thumbup1:

[Robin M]

Happy Birthday Jenn!   Hope you are having an awesome day!  

 

:party:  :cheers2:

 

 

Today is also my son's 17th.  The boy asked for 17 things for his 17th birthday. Yes, he wrote a list of 17 things, but putting it in writing doesn't always mean he will get the specific items. Mixed in with several dollar store gifts are a few of the items specified on his list. Enough to make him happy and not break the bank. 

 

[Robin M]

Oh good grief. Detained for reading a book. The rebel in me wants to start a movement where we all read so-called "controversial" books in public. As DS once said, in a very different context, "How can I get in trouble for reading a book?"

Same here! 

[mumto2]

Happy Birthday to Robin's Ds and to Jenn!!!!!

[Maus]

37. "Thinking in Pictures" by Temple Grandin.  Fascinating to read about autism from the inside out.  The movie based on her autobiography helped my mom be a little more understanding of my kids.

 

36. "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" by Jack Thorne, et al

35. "The Wizard of Oz" by Frank Baum. 

34. "Adventures of Tom Sawyer" by Mark Twain.  (We listened as we traveled in Missouri!)

33. "Blue Fairy Book" by Andrew Lang.

32. "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing" by Judy Blume.

31. "Greenwich" by Susan Cooper.

30. "Dark is Rising" by Susan Cooper.

29. "Clash of Cultures" by Christopher and James Lincoln Collier.

28. "The Story of US: First Americans" by Joy Hakim.

27. "Freak the Mighty" by Rodman Philbrick. 

26. "The Mouse and the Motorcycle" by Beverly Cleary.

25."Caddie Woodlawn" by Carol Ryrie Brink.

24. "Frightful's Mountain" by Jean Craighead George.

23.  "The Power of Vulnerability" by Brene Brown.

22.  "My side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George.

21. "Cheaper By the Dozen" by Frank Butler Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey.

20. "Murder on the Ballarat Train" by Kerry Greenwood.

19. "Over See, Under Stone" by Susan Cooper

18. "Sing Down the Moon" by Scott O'Dell.

17. "Soft Rain" by Cornelia Cornelissen.

16. "The Collapse of Parenting" by Leonard Sax.

15. ""Flying Too High: A Phyrne Fisher Mystery" by Kerry Greenwood.

14. "Cocaine Blues: A Phyrne Fisher Mystery" by Kerry Greenwood.

13. "Let It Go" by Chris Williams

12. "Writing From Personal Experience" by Nancy Davidoff Kelton.

11. "Writing the Memoir" by Judith Barrington.

10.  "Boys Adrift" by Leonard Sax.

9. "Girls on the Edge" by Leonard Sax.  

8. "Christ and the Inner Life" by Truman G. Madsen. (LDS)  

7. "Gaze into Heaven" by Marlene Bateman Sullivan. (LDS)

6. "To Heaven and Back" by Mary C. Neal, MD.

5. "When Will the Heaven Begin?" by Ally Breedlove.

4. "Four" by Virginia Roth.

3. "Allegiant" by Virgina Roth.

2. " Insurgent" by Virginia Roth.

1. "Divergent" by Virginia Roth.

[Stacia]

Happy Birthday, Jenn!

 

[Stacia]

Happy Birthday to your ds, Robin!

 

[Kareni]

Happy  birthday   to those celebrating!

 

What Cather should I do next?

 

I read a number of Willa Cather's books in my twenties.  I most enjoyed Death Comes for the Archbishop.

 

... an ear infection is dissolving my brain.

 

I hope that your ear - and your brain - are both well.

 

 

I must be a book club social boor then. Over many years, I have abandoned many book club books. ...

 

Why I haven't been booted out, I don't know.

 

I suspect you have not been booted out due to your sparkling wit (or perhaps you bring good wine and snacks).

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

But maybe I need a Not to Read shelf too, to remind myself to avoid books you guys have already tried and pronounced stinkers?

 

 

Ah, but one man's trash is another man's treasure.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

Today I finished Genevieve Cogman's The Invisible Library (The Invisible Library Novel) which I had started last week.  It was an enjoyable read and a story that I could envision as a movie.  I see that the sequel is coming out next month, and I'll be requesting it from the library.

 

"One thing any Librarian will tell you: the truth is much stranger than fiction...
 
Irene is a professional spy for the mysterious Library, a shadowy organization that collects important works of fiction from all of the different realities. Most recently, she and her enigmatic assistant Kai have been sent to an alternative London. Their mission: Retrieve a particularly dangerous book. The problem: By the time they arrive, it's already been stolen.
 
London's underground factions are prepared to fight to the death to find the tome before Irene and Kai do, a problem compounded by the fact that this world is chaos-infested—the laws of nature bent to allow supernatural creatures and unpredictable magic to run rampant. To make matters worse, Kai is hiding something—secrets that could be just as volatile as the chaos-filled world itself.
 
Now Irene is caught in a puzzling web of deadly danger, conflicting clues, and sinister secret societies. And failure is not an option—because it isn’t just Irene’s reputation at stake, it’s the nature of reality itself..."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Stacia]

Thanks to whomever recommended The Last Policeman - I enjoyed it a lot and am onto the second book in the series.  I'm sorry I can't remember who mentioned it!

 

I think Rose was the one who first raved about it....(?)

 

[mumto2]

I finished the latest in a series that I have read for years. Definitely not a cozy series but a psychological one. Jonathon Kellerman has been writing his Alex Delaware books since the mid 80's. Alex is a psychiatrist residing in LA who consults on police cases via his best friend Milo. The cast of characters has been kept small considering there are now 31 books so it is possible to miss a few books in the series. ;) I have probably read them all. :lol: The last few haven't seemed as good. Well... The old Alex is back!

 

Breakdown https://www.goodreads.com/series/41421-alex-delaware is a good addition to the series. Several years ago Alex had done a consultation for a friend regarding the child of a mentally ill, but functional, actress mother. He was never consulted again until he receives a call regarding the mother, his friend has passed away and he has been oddly left on her file as the psychiatrist of record. Because it's a time sensitive situation he decides to visit the emergency center that she has been admitted to mainly because he is concerned for his patient, her son.

 

The search for the son begans......

[mumto2]

Nan, I have no idea how this happened but gators are in Massachusetts according to this http://www.necn.com/news/new-england/Alligator-Taken-From-Massachusetts-Home-389250242.html.

 

Thought of the BaW thread and had to post!

[Chrysalis Academy]

Ah, but one man's trash is another man's treasure.

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

Very true. But, faced with the so many books, so little time phenomena, I am more often looking for reasons *not* to read a book than reasons to read one! Books seem to find their way on to my TR list all too easily.