Book a Week 2017 - BW22: Bookish notes and birthdays

[Robin M]

Happy Sunday and welcome to week 22 in our 2017 adventurous prime reading year. Greetings to all our readers and those following our progress. Mister Linky is available weekly on 52 Books in 52 Weeks  to share a link to your book reviews.

 

It's time for another round of bookish notes and birthdays.  A potpourri of books and birthdays as we usher out Eastward/Emerald May.

 

When you think of emeralds, what comes to mind?  How could we forget the emerald Isle's.   How about reading story set in  Emerald Isle, North Carolina or Emerald Isle of Ireland?  Check out Irish Central's Top Ten Irish novelists in History.  Nor should we forget Cleopatra, since emeralds were her favorite gemstone.  I have Stacy Schiff's Cleopatra: A Life currently on my shelves and have been wanting to read Michelle Moran's Cleopatra's Daughter for some time.  Browse through Goodread's list of nonfiction and fiction reads about Cleopatra and delve into her life.

 

Monday is Memorial Day here in the United States where we honor those who died fighting for our country.  Writer's Relief lists Our Memorial Day Reading list: A Tribute to Those who served.  The Art of Manliness has a great post with 43 Books about War every man (and woman) should read.

 

On the 50th anniversary of the publication of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude, Alvaro santana-Acuna ponders in The Atlantic: How It Became a Classic.

Author Birthdays:

 

May 28 - James Bond novelist - Ian Fleming and Australian Nobel Prize winner for literature - Patrick White

 

May 29 - Essayist - G.K. Chesterton and British novelist - T.H. White

 

May 30 - Children's writer - Countee Cullen and Argentine poet - Juan Gelman

 

May 31 - Essayist - Walt Whitman and poet - Elizabeth Coastworth

 

 

 

Have fun following rabbit trails!

 

 

 

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The Story of Western Science – Chapter 17

 

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What are you reading this week?

 

 

 

Link to week 21
 

Edited May 28, 2017 by Robin M

[Robin M]

This week I read  one of my dusty books -  The Mapmaker's War by Ronlyn Domingue - intriguing utopia story, although it was written in 2nd person point view, plus no quotation marks so summary and dialogue all ran together.  I've been putting it off for quite a while because of the you pov.  Finally was in the proper mood and slipped easily into the story.  

 

Also finished Sage Cohen's Fierce on the Page which inspired me writing wise. Lots of underlined portions, notes in the margins and epiphanies. 

[Kareni]

A one day only currently free Kindle classic locked room mystery ~

 

A Chain of Evidence by Carolyn Wells

 

About the Author

Carolyn Wells (1862–1942) was a poet, children’s novelist, and author of mysteries. Born in New Jersey, she became famous for writing humorous nonsense verse, which was collected in The Nonsense Anthology (1902). She wrote more than 170 books, including sixty-one starring the detective Fleming Stone.

 

 

"A Manhattan lawyer turns to master detective Fleming Stone to prove his beautiful neighbor innocent of murder in this classic locked-room mystery

A respectable young attorney in New York City, Otis Landon has barely settled into his new living quarters when an incident occurs in a neighboring apartment that he cannot, in good conscience, ignore. Robert Pembroke, a vicious, miserly man, has been murdered behind locked doors. The only people who had access to the victim were his servant and his niece. The latter, Miss Janet Pembroke, seems the suspect most likely to have eliminated her uncle with a hatpin, but her obvious distress and gentle demeanor convince Landon she is innocent. Besides, he may be falling in love with her.
 
Obsessed with proving Miss Pembroke’s innocence, Landon follows a perplexing chain of evidence that includes a railroad schedule, a key to a safe deposit box, ticket stubs to a music hall performance, and a monogrammed handkerchief. But with time running out and no solution in sight, he must turn to Fleming Stone, the only detective smart enough to make sense of it all."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Jane in NC]

From comments made throughout the week, it appears that many of our Maugham readers had a chance to finish The Razor's Edge.

 

First, let's thank Stacia for suggesting this book as a community read. Maugham is one of my more recent literary discoveries and I have enjoyed every book of his that I have read including this one.

 

Over the last few weeks, I have read comments from several of you praising Elliott but being more critical of Larry. Frankly I thought both men had far more in common than not.  Both are romantics--Elliott with his love of past European grandeur, Larry with his passion for knowledge.  Both are spiritual--Elliott as a traditional Catholic, while Larry tries on all religions for size.  Both are generous although Elliott certainly has more money to give.  Larry is there with time when needed.

 

I never warmed to Isobel and was even more disappointed in her as the book concluded.

 

I often fall in love with background characters who dispense cups of tea.  In this case, I was smitten with Mrs. Bradley for supporting the young people without judgement. 

 

Maugham paints a wonderful story with vivid settings and memorable characters.  Fortunately he was a prolific writer so other books await!

[Mothersweets]

Good Sunday morning to everyone! I've been doing some rereading this past week - Danse de la Folie https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15839687-danse-de-la-folie and Rondo Allegro https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22559338-rondo-allegro both by Sherwood Smith. 

 

I also read another 100 pages or so of Truman https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2279.Truman?ac=1&from_search=true so am slowly making my through it. 

 

 

[Chrysalis Academy]

I woke up early while everyone else was asleep, enjoyed a cup of coffee in my favorite mug and in my most comfortable chair - it's good to be home! - and finished reading Blood Meridian. Well. Not sure what to say about that book, exactly. The writing is stellar - spare and evocative, with unusual and vivid descriptions. You can almost open the book at random and find a vivid and unusual metaphor. For example, p. 316: "A ship's light winked in the swells. The colt stood against the horse with its head down and the horse was watching, out there past men's knowing, where the stars are drowning and whales ferry their vast souls through the black and seamless sea."  Thematically, the book is a cross between Moby Dick and Lord of the Flies, but with men with guns in the desert instead of boys with wooden spears on an island.  It is brutal, violent, nihilistic and dark.  I can't say I enjoyed it, but I'm not sorry I read it, either.

 

For something completely different, I started Nick & Jake: An Epistolary Novel, recommended by Stacia. It's set in 1953 during the beginning of the McCarthy era and is peopled with characters both real and fictional: "Nick" is Nick Carraway from The Great Gatsby and "Jake" is Jake Barnes from The Sun Also Rises. The former is probably my favorite book, the latter I've read. You probably need to have read them in order to get all the humor. And apparently Larry Darrell makes an appearance, too . . . Thanks for the suggestion, Stacia, this is definitely a book I'm going to enjoy.

 

A wrap-up, so far, of May's reading:

111. Nick and Jake: an Epistolary Novel - Jonathan & Tad Richards

110. The Nightingale and the Rose - Oscar Wilde

109. A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess

108. Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy

107. Mansfield Park - Jane Austen

106. The Razor's Edge - Somerset Maugham

105. Herland - Charlotte Perkins Gilman

104. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

103. The Terranauts - TC Boyle

102. We - Yevgeny Zamyatin

101. Bring Up the Bodies - Hilary Mantel

100. Footsteps in the Dark - Georgette Heyer

99. The Yellow Wallpaper - Charlotte Perkins Gilman

98. Looking Backward - Edward Bellamy

97. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - John LeCarre

96. The Coming Race - Edward Bulyer-Lytton

95. Candide and other stories - Voltaire

94. Ghostwritten - David Mitchell

93. Born a Crime - Trevor Noah

92. The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas - Ursula LeGuin

Edited May 29, 2017 by Chrysalis Academy

[Matryoshka]

Rose, glad you're home.  Sorry you had such a stressful week.  :grouphug:   Mansfield Park I think is the only major Austen work I haven't read, but so many people have said how good it is this year, it's moving up my to-read list. :)

 

Also, I've loved all the vacation pics from everyone, and I'm a bit jealous of all the BaW meetups (in exotic locales, no less!)  Doubt I'll be going anywhere in the near future, as all the money is going to pay for college and kid adventures (dd18 is off to the Netherlands and Spain on Tuesday!), but if any of you guys are in the Boston area and want a tour guide, I'm at your disposal. :D

 

Finished three books this week. 

 

55. Razor's Edge - I quite enjoyed this!  Thanks for the read-a-long, Stacia and Jane.  I'll withhold commentary for a separate post. 4 stars.

 

56. Pachinko (audio book) - A long book about Koreans in Japan through the 20th century. another book where I wondered if I'd have liked it better with a different narrator?   I think that might have been a bit of the problem, but I think it was more that it seemed sometimes like the author sometimes jumped around to different characters (even ones who are introduced mid-novel and then dropped) to tell a different aspect of the Korean experience in Japan rather than because it was part of the main story being told.  I did like the historical details, as I knew pretty much nothing about Koreans in Japan, but as a novel I felt like it jumped around a lot and I feel like if a lot of chapters on extraneous characters had been edited out it would have been stronger as a story. 3 stars.

 

57. El ruido de las cosas al caer / The Sound of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel Vázquez - I enjoyed this one quite a bit too.  This is another book that included a history I didn't know much about - I mean, I knew that there were drug cartels and violence in Colombia, but not a lot of details of how it came about or how/when it got better, or how it affected the lives of everyday Colombians.  This book manages to cover all of that while having much stronger storytelling than Pachinko.  4 stars.

Edited May 28, 2017 by Matryoshka

[Just Robyn]

I finished reading Great Expectations, which I ended up liking a lot more by the end. AND I started reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and that's putting me to sleep too! And I know it's not boring, so maybe I am just tired or getting old. 

 

I also finished listening to Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory. Great book. Easy and entertaining while also informative and interesting. Flows well. 

 

I believe someone here was reading a bunch of artificial intelligence books (nonfiction) recently. I'd love to hear recommendations on those. Thanks!

 

Also, I think it was AggieAmy who recommended The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion. I've been making some of the recipes from that and loving it. I guess you deserve a thanks from my whole family. 

[Loesje22000]

Hebban is a kind of Dutch Goodreads and made a few year ago this list of war fiction:

https://www.hebban.nl/lijsten/de-mooiste-oorlogsromans

 

I think I will try to read some of that first :)

 

***

 

I finished three books this week:

- Bloodlands of Timothy Snyder.

A brute serie of facts that must be told.

Very readable in style, but it took me some nightmares to finish.

 

- Manderly Forever

A biography about Daphne du Maurier as some might have noticed :)

A good book to read between businesses, I liked the fact they gave a global plot of each book, so I'll have a better idea what I want to read and what not.

Thanks to Tress for the recommendation!

 

- The winter palace from John Boyne.

I read another one for my Eastern Europe Bingo Square, but I prefer this one.

The one I read for my bingo square was a light slog, and this book became a enjoyable read.

 

I started Wolf Hall and I am not sure what to think about the book.

[Stacia]

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Edited November 2, 2017 by Stacia

[Onceuponatime]

I haven't finished anything, but I'm reading three things at once, two non-fiction books and Uprooted. Uprooted improved as it went along and has become quite action packed and dramatic, magic spells flying fast and thick, lol. The small (itty bitty so far) romance angle could have been left out, IMO. I've decided to restrict myself to reading only from books currently in my possession, for the month of June.

[Matryoshka]

Oops, I forgot the Currently Reading part of my post... Currently Reading:

 

- Song of the Dodo by David Quammen.  This is Q for my A-Z author challenge.  I'm liking it, but it's looong!  

 

- The Green Road by Anne Enright (audiobook) - for my Emerald birthstone book.  Not sure I'll get through it by the 31st, though!  Guess I've taken Robin's suggestion about the Emerald Isle. :D  Just started yesterday, so don't have much of an opinion yet...

 

- Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown (ebook) - I've been on hold in Overdrive for this one since January!  Figured I had to read this eventually, as I row crew. :)  An eight, just like in the book (but muuuuch slower!)  And I'm also going to count this as my Q for A-Z title, as "Quest" is in the subtitle. 

 

 

[Matryoshka]

Razor's Edge:

 

I don't remember exactly what I said about Larry last week, but I think I might have agreed that he had some selfish traits.  As the book closed, I came to think of him more of just the personality type who seeks spiritual knowledge.  Hence the monastery and hanging out with the Hindu gurus.  Almost all cultures have the holy men and women who close themselves off from 'standard' human relationships of marriage and family.  No one spends time decrying monks or priests or nuns as essentially selfish.  Yes, there is some selfishness to it, but it probably says something that most cultures have carved out a role for this type of person in society.  (I do think it's quite a bit more selfish to do this if you're already married with a family, like the guy from India he met on the boat.  Pick one and commit).

 

I think I defended Isabel a bit last week, but I liked her quite a bit less in the last part.

 

Sophie was tragic, but I think she was right not to marry Larry ( she says: I didn't want to play Mary Magdalene to his Jesus Christ...)  While I think what Isabel was wrong to play the trick she did, I don't think she was necessarily wrong that his motivation of saving her by marrying her was not a good reason to actually do it.  That's not a good foundation for a solid marriage (or recovery from addiction).

 

For something completely different, I started Nick & Jake: An Epistolary Novel, recommended by Stacia. It's set in 1953 during the beginning of the McCarthy era and is peopled with characters both real and fictional: "Nick" is Nick Carraway from The Great Gatsby and "Jake" is Jake Barnes from The Sun Also Rises. The former is probably my favorite book, the latter I've read. You probably need to have read them in order to get all the humor. And apparently Larry Darrell makes an appearance, too . . . Thanks for the suggestion, Stacia, this is definitely a book I'm going to enjoy.

 

 

I think that sounds really interesting too!  I've read Gatsby, but it's been years (since high school??), and I haven't read The Sun Also Rises.  I think I may try to reread the one and read the other, and then have a go at Nick & Jake.  At some point in the future. :)

 

Edited May 28, 2017 by Matryoshka

[mumto2]

So Razor's Edge......

 

Sophie is so tragic. At one point Larry was talking about how much he had enjoyed talking with the teenage Sophie and made a comment that perhaps she was the only person he could ever marry. I think he found her personality to be as 'searching for something indescribable' as his own. All their discussions in gardens about her writing. The difference between them is she found the contentment she was searching for and tragically lost it. I don't think their marriage ever would have worked but do think his gentleness towards Sophie is what brought out Isabel's dislike and cruelty towards her.

 

Obviously I disliked Isabel.

 

I found Larry curing Grey to be interesting. Grey was a bit of the ultimate nice guy who for some reason loved Isabel.

 

Larry....I am back to the ptsd diagnosis. Although I tend to think he was traumatized by the loss of a family at a young age which was compounded by his war experience. He certainly had an inability to connect with people on a long term basis. Overall a good guy who was doing his best.

 

While I liked Elliot his last words were so meaningless. Worrying about his fake party invitation. For a moment I thought he knew it was not a real invite but as I ponder it I think he truly cared about a silly invitation from someone he didn't particularly like.

 

I enjoyed The Razor's Edge and have really enjoyed the read along. Thanks to both Jane and Stacia for making this happen! I do need to say I found the ending disappointing. It just sort ended with everyone losing touch. Perhaps it was one of the most realistic endings ever. Elliot was what held them together.

[Violet Crown]

I'm reading this week two more Scottish books: Culloden, by John Prebble -- a sort of people's history of the Rebellion and its disastrous failure & aftermath -- and James Hogg's The Three Perils of Man -- like Walter Scott but darker and more genuinely border Scottish, less elite Edinburgh Scottish.

 

I want to talk about Elliott but am stymied by the need to type on a tiny phone with bad eyesight and wifi that keeps going out, so my comments will have to be skeletal. Elliott irritated me at first because he seemed like a stock figure of the Catholic Decadence (began with Preraphaelites: through Walter Pater, Huysmans, the Symbolists, Verlaine, Baudelaire, Wilde), which centered on aestheticism and eroticism, particularly homoeroticism. But later on in the novel I was more irritated* by Larry's sophomoric objections to Catholicism (followed by a naively uncritical embracing of Hinduism), and found Elliott's decadence much more humane. The best part is his aesthete's funding and superbly tasteful furnishing of the little church, which the literati of Maugham's day would have recognized as a reference to the lesbian writer and Catholic convert Radclyffe Hall's lavish furnishing of her parish church in the little writer's village in Sussex where she and her partner lived. Nice quote from that section, Stacia.

 

I want to say more and go back and express myself better but it's taken 45 minutes to type this. Must go read now. Thanks for the book pick, Jane and Stacia!

 

*I spend a lot of my reading time being irritated; it's not really a reliable gauge of how good a text is, nor how much I end up liking it.

Edited May 28, 2017 by Violet Crown

[Stacia]

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Edited November 2, 2017 by Stacia

[Ali in OR]

Razor's Edge: I could identify with Isabel when she broke off her engagement to Larry and I agreed with her reasoning. I even liked her for marrying Gray. But I fell out of like with her for how she treated Sophie (which I felt was inspired more by jealousy than anything else) and how she interfered with Larry's chance for happiness because he couldn't be happy with her. Or she with him. When Maugham pointed out that she didn't really connect with her kids that was another strike against her.

 

I had a friend in my teacher education school who loved this book and Larry--I think he wanted to be Larry. I have no desire to be a Larry or marry one, but I still enjoyed the book.

 

This week I also finished Tell Me Three Things, an easy YA romance. A lighter read once in awhile is nice. There are some themes in there that aren't so light, but somehow anything high school just feels light to me. Or at least quick to read. I am now reading Jar City because it was here (bought it at library book sale earlier this year) and it fits on the treadmill stand. I like it a lot but I don't have a lot of reading time at the moment--end of school year rush of stuff. So it's probably good that I don't have to finish quickly to get it back to the library.

[Violet Crown]

Re: The Three Perils of Man -- One of the characters in this novel is apparently Roger Bacon in disguise. What an odd book.

[Kareni]

Folded book art ~

#DIY Friday with Julie Rowe

**

 

And a few currently free books for Kindle readers ~

 

Undertaking Irene: A Jane Delaney Mystery, Book 1  by Pamela Burford

 

Falling for Fitz: The English Brothers #2  by Katy Regnery

 

Empyrean (The Leron Series Book 1)  by Nicole L. Bates

 

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Butter]

What are you reading this week?

 

This morning I finished reading the 7th Mosaic Chronicles book, Obscure.  There's only one more out right now, Enshroud, and then #9 which finishes the current arc will come out in July.  The author just started following me on Twitter.  I guess I've read and reviewed enough of her books now lol

 

I should finish Lost to the West in the next day or two.  Then I'll be pre-reading The Railway Children.

[Kareni]

I just finished an enjoyable historical romance novella set in the early sixties in the South (US).  The hero is a young black woman and the hero a boxer who is white and Jewish.  I enjoyed it and recommend it.  There are reviews here and here.

 

Let It Shine  by Alyssa Cole

 

"Sofronia Wallis knows that proper Black women don’t court trouble by upending the status quo, but it’s 1961 and the Civil Rights movement is in full swing. Sofie’s spent half her life being prim, proper, and reserved—as if that could bring her mother back—but the nonviolent protests happening across the South bring out her inner agitator.


Ivan Friedman has devoted his life to boxing, loving the finesse of a well-delivered punch and the penance of receiving one. His family escaped from Europe before the horrors of WWII, and Ivan decides to help fight injustice in their new country, even if it goes against all his instincts as a fighter.

When Ivan and Sofie meet, they realize that their pasts are intertwined and—with the sparks that fly between them—perhaps their futures will be too. With everything in their society lined up against them, will Sofie and Ivan be able to beat the odds? Or will their chance at love be destroyed by the tumultuous times they live in?"

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Matryoshka]

On the 50th anniversary of the publication of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude, Alvaro santana-Acuna ponders in The Atlantic: How It Became a Classic.

 

 

Robin, thanks for the link to that article.  Cien años de soledad is one of those books that I've been 'meaning' to get to for years - it and Don Quixote, another one, are sitting on a shelf I can see from right here, mocking me.  I've gotten about 15 or so (short) chapters into Don Quixote in the past, but I don't think I've made it past the first page of Cien años.  :blushing:   I have read El amor en los tiempos de cólera (years and years ago, now), which I liked okay, but didn't embolden me much to read what was rumored to be a much-sloggier book by the author.

 

So I was interested to read that article.  What does make it a classic?  Do I need to read it, or can I stop feeling a bit guilty?  Does seem from that that there's been a lot of disagreement even among critics... ;)  That book's been regurgitating in my face a bit lately, too... this article today, dd18's friend came over the other day and announced it was one of her favorite books ever, and it was mentioned in the novel I just read, by a fellow Colombian author, who had his character (an American living in Colombia) say this about it, when she receives the book as a gift:

 

"He explained that it was a book by a journalist that came out a few years ago and kept selling; that the guy was a lowlife but the book, from what they said, wasn't bad.... Elaine ripped the paper from the gift and saw a design ... everything seemed absurd and gratuitous, and the title, One Hundred Years of Solitude, exaggerated and melodramatic.  ... Days later, in a letter to her grandparents, she wrote: 'Send me reading, please, because I'm bored nights.  The only thing that I have here is a book that was given to me by my host, and I have tried to read it, I swear I have tried, but the Spanish is very hard and everyone is named the same thing.  It's the most boring thing I've read in a long time, and there are errors in the printing.  ... When I think that you are reading the latest by Graham Greene.  It's not right.' "

 

:lol:   So I guess we know what that author thinks of it.   :lol:

 

Well, I hope to get to it someday.  And Don Quixote.  And, oh yeah, Moby Dick.  But not this week.  Later...   :gnorsi:      

[JennW in SoCal]

For what it's worth, about Razor's Edge and Larry....   A dear friend is a social worker who works with military veterans. She made a passing comment to me recently that PTSD is exacerbated by previous trauma, that young men and women with troubled pasts or who were raised in bad situations are less equipped to cope with the traumas of war. They are mentally or emotionally wounded and handicapped to begin with, and the wounds of war compound their difficulties in coping. Her words were on my mind while reading Razor's Edge, and added to my thoughts on Larry.

 

I've enjoyed the discussion, enjoyed that it was spread over the month so that a late comer to the book like me could still participate. Thank you to Jane and Stacia!

 

My "currently reading" pile is rather diverse at the moment.

 

Non-fiction: Women Sailors and Sailor's Women: An Untold Maritime History.  I'm reading a chapter here and there, hoping to get through the book before it is due. It is by a former curator at the Maritime Museum in Greenwich, and is a rather scholarly book. I picked it up hoping to learn more about the world of my beloved Master and Commander series. It is fascinating, though I was rather disappointed that the male author (& his editors) had to start the book out with 2 chapters focusing on prostitutes, as if the book needed to appeal to the prurient interests of its readers. I'm no prude, but for heaven's sake, I wanted the book advertised on the book cover flap, the book about the wives of the captains (thinking of Admiral Croft's wife in Persuasion), or about the women who passed as men and sailed the 7 seas. Those stories finally started around chapter 3 -- I was going to abandon it but thought I should skip ahead first.

 

Fiction: Wind up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami. Wonderfully weird from page one.

 

Audible: The Dragon Reborn. Yes, I'm still plugging away at the Wheel of Time series, and have to confess to actually enjoying it. I still want to edit it, still hate how he writes women, but it makes for a good background while I drive or do needlework. 

 

And when my dh and I are in the car together, we are plugging away at the audio version of Truman. We had to leave off this afternoon in the summer of 1945....

 

[Stacia]

.

Edited November 2, 2017 by Stacia

[Robin M]

Robin, thanks for the link to that article. Cien años de soledad is one of those books that I've been 'meaning' to get to for years - it and Don Quixote, another one, are sitting on a shelf I can see from right here, mocking me. I've gotten about 15 or so (short) chapters into Don Quixote in the past, but I don't think I've made it past the first page of Cien años. :blushing: I have read El amor en los tiempos de cólera (years and years ago, now), which I liked okay, but didn't embolden me much to read what was rumored to be a much-sloggier book by the author.

 

So I was interested to read that article. What does make it a classic? Do I need to read it, or can I stop feeling a bit guilty? Does seem from that that there's been a lot of disagreement even among critics... ;) That book's been regurgitating in my face a bit lately, too... this article today, dd18's friend came over the other day and announced it was one of her favorite books ever, and it was mentioned in the novel I just read, by a fellow Colombian author, who had his character (an American living in Colombia) say this about it, when she receives the book as a gift:

 

"He explained that it was a book by a journalist that came out a few years ago and kept selling; that the guy was a lowlife but the book, from what they said, wasn't bad.... Elaine ripped the paper from the gift and saw a design ... everything seemed absurd and gratuitous, and the title, One Hundred Years of Solitude, exaggerated and melodramatic. ... Days later, in a letter to her grandparents, she wrote: 'Send me reading, please, because I'm bored nights. The only thing that I have here is a book that was given to me by my host, and I have tried to read it, I swear I have tried, but the Spanish is very hard and everyone is named the same thing. It's the most boring thing I've read in a long time, and there are errors in the printing. ... When I think that you are reading the latest by Graham Greene. It's not right.' "

 

:lol: So I guess we know what that author thinks of it. :lol:

 

Well, I hope to get to it someday. And Don Quixote. And, oh yeah, Moby Dick. But not this week. Later... :gnorsi:

Synchronicity and the Universe putting this book up front and center in your life is telling you to read the book. However it is one you have to be in the mood for. I led a writing literature class on the book last year for Writer's University, where we analyzed the heck out of the story, so I think at some point you may enjoy it. I have quite a few links should you decide to dive in. Historical, political and war conflicts, mythical and biblical symbolism, imagery, characters, even the theme of solitude and obsession. Folks either loved the story or hated it. Worth reading if magical realism attracts you, otherwise don't feel guilty if you don't end up reading it.

 

For 12th grade, I'm going to have James read an abridged version of Don Quixote (courtesy of Oak Meadow) which should be interesting. And before you decide when and if you want to read Moby Dick, check out Why Read Moby Dick by Nathaniel Philbrick. Made me want to read MD, but also has lead me to read his nonfiction books and have Heart of the Sea currently waiting on my shelves.

Edited May 29, 2017 by Robin M

[Chrysalis Academy]

And I'm the opposite - I hated One Hundred Years of Solitude but I was strangely captivated by Love in the Time of Cholera. Go figure. 

 

I didn't like Don Quixote or Moby Dick either.  :leaving:

 

ETA: What struck me so much about LitToC, and has stuck with me, is his depiction of Love in Old Age. It's strange and beautiful and touching and sad and even though Florentino Ariza is not a character I admire or relate to, Fermina Daza is, and I love the way their love is depicted. I guess I've spent enough time around old age, old and infirm bodies, to appreciate an author who can write frankly about the physical aspects of aging and the physical aspects of love among the very old in such a sensitive and respectful way. I had this feeling even when I read this book as a young woman, and have it much more strongly in re-reading it recently after seeing the physical deterioration in my aging parents. I find it very touching and strangely comforting.

Edited May 29, 2017 by Chrysalis Academy

[Chrysalis Academy]

OMG, I'm cracking up!! In Nick and Jake, Larry Darrell is an undercover CIA agent who engineers the coup in Iran. I didn't see *that* character twist coming!  :lol:

Edited May 29, 2017 by Chrysalis Academy

[mumto2]

Now for the currently reading......

 

I am still listening to The Bear and the Dragon by Tom Clancy. I "only" have 25 hours to go. I managed to renew it so hopefully I will finish in the next two weeks. The temptation to just read the book is getting pretty strong. If a different audiobook takes my fancy I probably will make the switch.

 

I finished Paper and Fire which is the second book in a YA series called the Invisible Library. Enjoyable. The best way to describe it is Amy's dd would probably like this series but only if it's readily available. It's an interesting series and definitely YA. It ended on a cliffhanger so I am now waiting for part three! https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25890355-paper-and-fire

 

The latest Jane Yellowrock is my current book. I'm trying to beat the overdrive return date. So far I am really enjoying this one.

 

I have finished spelling Emerald.

 

E......Echo Burning by Lee Child

M......Music in the Hills by DE Stevenson

E......The Seduction of Elliot McBride by Jennifer Ashley

R......Running Blind by Lee Child

A......Undercover Amish by Ashley Emma

L......The Safest Lies by Megan Miranda

D......Pushing Up Daisies by MC Beaton

 

I plan to attempt to read my other Emerald book, The Hot Rock, as soon as I finish Cold Reign.

[Jane in NC]

For what it's worth, about Razor's Edge and Larry....   A dear friend is a social worker who works with military veterans. She made a passing comment to me recently that PTSD is exacerbated by previous trauma, that young men and women with troubled pasts or who were raised in bad situations are less equipped to cope with the traumas of war. They are mentally or emotionally wounded and handicapped to begin with, and the wounds of war compound their difficulties in coping. Her words were on my mind while reading Razor's Edge, and added to my thoughts on Larry.

 

 

Yes, this was my lens as well, Jenn.  I have read a fair amount of post-WWI American ex-patriot lit which is often driven by the trauma of the war.  Even "cozy" British lit of the early to mid 20th century has echoes of the trenches and "shell shock" as people attempt to put their lives back together.  One reason we always see the chorus of "maiden aunts" in these books is that so many men died or were seriously disabled.

 

By the way, this is the second "read along" that I have done here on BaW.  Last year we read A Passage to India.  I will be happy to do this again--next year or in the fall.  My preference is for classic fiction.  Of course, others are welcome to lead the charge.

 

It has taken a while, but I have finished Wolf Hunt, a novel that was published in Bulgaria four years before the fall of the Berlin Wall and only recently translated into English.  The lives of six villagers are woven together through all of the wars and political changes of the 20th century--economic changes too as the youth leave traditional village life for education and urban opportunities.  Bulgaria's story is no different than our own in that way. But collectivism and Stalinesque tactics create added tension. We witness the hell that is unleashed on one remaining family when a son defects to the west.  Not an easy book to read.

[mumto2]

Yes, this was my lens as well, Jenn. I have read a fair amount of post-WWI American ex-patriot lit which is often driven by the trauma of the war. Even "cozy" British lit of the early to mid 20th century has echoes of the trenches and "shell shock" as people attempt to put their lives back together. One reason we always see the chorus of "maiden aunts" in these books is that so many men died or were seriously disabled.

 

By the way, this is the second "read along" that I have done here on BaW. Last year we read A Passage to India. I will be happy to do this again--next year or in the fall. My preference is for classic fiction. Of course, others are welcome to lead the charge.

 

One thing that always amazes me when visiting a small village is the comparatively long list of names on their war memorials. The length frequently seems impossible but true. Dh ended up having to do pretty extensive research on "our" village memorial because of another local project. Such sad stories......

 

I would love to participate in another of your read alongs. Just let me know when! :)

[Chrysalis Academy]

It seems I have completed this month's gemstone challenge without even realizing it!

 

E - Nick and Jake: an Epistolary Novel - Jonathan & Tad Richards

M - Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy

E -  The Razor's Edge - Somerset Maugham

R - The Nightingale and the Rose - Oscar Wilde

A - The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas - Ursula LeGuin 

L - Looking Backward - Edward Bellamy. 

D - Footsteps in the Dark - Georgette Heyer

 

 

ETA:  I do *not* recommend The Nightingale and the Rose.  Horrible story. Unless you loved Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree, in which case you would probably like it. I was sorry I read it.

Edited May 29, 2017 by Chrysalis Academy

[Lady Florida.]

(((Rose))) I'm sorry about what you're dealing with. Glad you're home and somewhat away from it now.

 

Aggieamy, mumto2, and Violet - Thank you for sharing the photos. If any BaWers ever make it to Florida and want to meet let me know. I'm a few minutes from Kennedy Space Center and less than an hour from the Orlando theme parks. 

 

While I won't be doing the monthly birthstone reading, Robin asked what comes to mind when we think of emeralds. My mother. Her birthday was in May and she loved her birthstone. She had an emerald ring she loved, and eight years after she passed I still can't bring myself to get rid of it though I know I'll never wear it. Emerald is a lovely gem and a lovely color in general.

 

I finished The Talented Mr. Ripley while on our mini-getaway. I had some time to read at the pool as well as in the car on the way there and back. I enjoyed it but am not sure I want to read the other books. I don't know if I care about Tom Ripley and his murderous activities to spend time with him in more novels.

 

The Razor's Edge - I agree with what most everyone else said. Larry shouldn't have married Sophie, but what Isabel did was absolutely horrible. I don't like her. If I tried hard enough I could dislike Gray for settling in life, but he's happy and loves his kids so he's hard to dislike. Though I think Larry is selfish, I do feel sorry for him. PTSD was not only not properly recognized and treated in his day (other than being called shell-shocked), people who had it were considered weak. The long part about Buddhism bored me and though Maugham did say we could skip it of course I couldn't. :) I think at the time the novel was written though, that part would have been necessary as many (most?) Westerners wouldn't know much about Buddhism and would need it explained to them. I still love Elliot. I thought Maugham inserting himself into the novel was brilliant. Much better than a lot of expository writing about the characters would have been. I loved the novel overall. Thank you for leading our read-along, Jane.

 

Currently reading: 

When Breath Becomes Air - for book club

Floodpath - This is sometimes boring but mostly interesting, especially considering the water issues in California today.

 

Audio book - The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place

 

Trying to decide what fiction to read next. I can't decide if I want to go with a classic or something more current. Literary or genre. I'll probably read a bit in several different Kindle books and see which one grabs me.

 

[Matryoshka]

Synchronicity and the Universe putting this book up front and center in your life is telling you to read the book. However it is one you have to be in the mood for. I led a writing literature class on the book last year for Writer's University, where we analyzed the heck out of the story, so I think at some point you may enjoy it. I have quite a few links should you decide to dive in. Historical, political and war conflicts, mythical and biblical symbolism, imagery, characters, even the theme of solitude and obsession. Folks either loved the story or hated it. Worth reading if magical realism attracts you, otherwise don't feel guilty if you don't end up reading it.

 

LOL, that's what I'm worried about.  I haven't wanted to tackle any of these this year yet, as my first goal was to get back into the habit of reading, and I figured sloggy books were not the place to start. :D  Maybe toward the end of the year, or next...

 

For 12th grade, I'm going to have James read an abridged version of Don Quixote (courtesy of Oak Meadow) which should be interesting. And before you decide when and if you want to read Moby Dick, check out Why Read Moby Dick by Nathaniel Philbrick. Made me want to read MD, but also has lead me to read his nonfiction books and have Heart of the Sea currently waiting on my shelves.

 

 

I read In the Heart of the Sea earlier this year, and am counting it for my Local Author square; I don't live on Nantucket, but it is in my state; I'm hoping the author doesn't actually have to be from my town to count!  I was thinking of tackling Moby Dick after that, but haven't for the same reasons as above. I also almost read it when I did a big whaling unit for history with the kids back when they were in elementary.  Had so much fun with field trips (we've got the motherlode here) and kids' books on the subject; I even took the book out of the library - but didn't actually manage it...  I think I've already decided, though, that I'm going to try it next on audio; I've heard one of the versions is really good, and Overdrive has it.

[Matryoshka]

Matryoshka, I hated Love in the Time of Cholera. I am glad I read One Hundred Years of Solitude, but I cannot count it as a favorite book. (I haven't read the linked article yet.) I do consider it a classic for the magical realism genre since it's often cited as the major work that kicked off that genre. (But others often mention Mexico's Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo as an earlier one. I read that one also.) I would say both Pedro Paramo & One Hundred Years of Solitude are musts for the magical realism genre, if that's something you enjoy & you're wanting to read the ones that started the genre. However, I've read various/more modern books that could fall into those categories (or similar ones) that I enjoyed reading more.

 

I remember that section in The Sound of Things Falling where she receives the book as a gift! Lol. I also remember being intrigued by her description of the cover & so I looked it up & it does look like the cover description is accurate for the first edition cover:

 

 

There is some beautiful writing in One Hundred Years, but it is also very long. I first tried reading it when I had a toddler & an infant. Big mistake! :lol:  With so many characters sharing the same names, it is confusing at times (which may be part of the point). I read it in 2012 & here were my comments at the time:

 

Overall, I can say I enjoyed it & am glad to have read it. Parts were entertaining/interesting/funny; I found more of it to be somewhat sad/depressing than not. My favorite characters were Úrsula & Melquíades. I also LOVED the ending -- brilliant & wonderful. I can see how, esp. when it was first published (1967), it made a big spash & was a grand introduction to a fairly new way of writing (magical realism). Some passages were completely magical (no pun intended) & lyrical, but a few sections did drag a bit for me (mostly the war-related sections); perhaps I would have appreciated some sections more if I had a better knowledge of Columbian &/or South American history in general. The book partly reminds me of the great epics, tackling the age-old topics of family, love, time, generations, war, peace, prosperity, loss, etc....; it is a book of big, important themes told in the context of a multi-generational family. In the meantime, since magical realism & surrealism in writing have become more popular & prevalent during my lifetime, I think there are other works in the genre that I prefer more than this one. (I know some will consider it sacreligious for me to say that about the grandfather of magical realism.) Even so, One Hundred Years of Solitude should be on 'must read' lists, imo, as it is a modern classic; I see this one being around for many generations to come, just like the Buendía family....

 

Oh, my - yes, that's the cover described, complete with the backwards "E"!  I snipped the description out of my excerpt for brevity, but that's exactly what it described :lol:

 

I'm glad to hear at least you loved the end, it helps to know that there may be a pay-off for the slogging!  Maybe now that my reading stamina is so greatly improved I can tackle it in the not too distant future.  Mañana. :lol:

Edited May 29, 2017 by Matryoshka

[Ethel Mertz]

On Icelandic Isolation ...

[Lady Florida.]

 

I read In the Heart of the Sea earlier this year, and am counting it for my Local Author square; I don't live on Nantucket, but it is in my state; I'm hoping the author doesn't actually have to be from my town to count!  I was thinking of tackling Moby Dick after that, but haven't for the same reasons as above.

 

I read In the Heart of the Sea and Moby Dick back to back a few years ago, but I don't remember in which order. I was not impressed by Moby Dick. To me, it earned its reputation as a universally hated novel. It's one of the few books I finished even though I wasn't enjoying it and one of the few I read because I thought I should read it.

[Violet Crown]

I read In the Heart of the Sea and Moby Dick back to back a few years ago, but I don't remember in which order. I was not impressed by Moby Dick. To me, it earned its reputation as a universally hated novel. It's one of the few books I finished even though I wasn't enjoying it and one of the few I read because I thought I should read it.

*snif* 😢

[Lady Florida.]

*snif* 😢

 

But I loved War and Peace. :D

 

That's another one I read because I thought i should. I ended up being very glad I did, and am considering a re-read soon.

[Matryoshka]

But I loved War and Peace. :D

 

That's another one I read because I thought i should. I ended up being very glad I did, and am considering a re-read soon.

 

I finally read my first Tolstoy a few years ago, Anna Karenina, which I also ended up loving.  I haven't gotten to War and Peace yet, but that's a tome I'm rather looking forward to, rather than dreading.

 

On the other hand, the only Melville I've read is Billy Budd, which was assigned in high school, and which I hated with the fire of a thousand suns...

[Violet Crown]

But I loved War and Peace. :D

 

That's another one I read because I thought i should. I ended up being very glad I did, and am considering a re-read soon.

Oo, me too! If you wait until after June, I'll join you. Edited May 29, 2017 by Violet Crown

[JennW in SoCal]

Oooooh, a late summer read along of War and Peace. I'd totally be up for that. 

 

I recommend listening to Moby Dick, though at least with a book you can skim when your eyes start to glaze over. It is a mixed bag of a book as huge chunks are nothing more than a descriptive narrative of every single detail of whaling. Then there is that entire chapter devoted to a philosophic discussion on the color white. A very small portion of the book is the Shakespearean drama of Captain Ahab's quest for the white whale. But it is a book that has stayed with me and that I don't regret reading.

[mumto2]

Re: War and Peace read along, I would be willing to try.

[Stacia]

.

Edited November 2, 2017 by Stacia

[Kareni]

A one day only currently free Kindle classic American biography  ~

 

 

The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams

 

"The Modern Library’s number-one nonfiction book of the twentieth century and winner of the Pulitzer Prize: The acclaimed memoir of a brilliant man reckoning with an era of profound change

The great-grandson of President John Adams and the grandson of President John Quincy Adams, Henry Adams possessed one of the most remarkable minds of his generation. Yet he believed himself fundamentally unsuited to the era in which he lived—the tumultuous period between the Civil War and World War I.
 
One of the finest autobiographies ever written, The Education of Henry Adams is a remarkable and uniquely unclassifiable work. Written in third person and originally circulated in a private edition to friends and family only, it recounts Adams’s lifelong search for self-knowledge and moral enlightenment and bears witness to some of the most significant developments in American history."

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

 

[Lady Florida.]

Oo, me too! If you wait until after June, I'll join you.

 

It's a deal. Or a date. I can wait. :)

 

Oooooh, a late summer read along of War and Peace. I'd totally be up for that. 

 

I recommend listening to Moby Dick, though at least with a book you can skim when your eyes start to glaze over.

 

I listened to the audio book. I tried reading it more than once, so I thought maybe listening would be a little better. Maybe it was a very little, but I still didn't like it. 

[Matryoshka]

Oooooh, a late summer read along of War and Peace. I'd totally be up for that. 

 

I'd also be up for that. :)  I really enjoyed the Razor's Edge read-a-long. 

[Chrysalis Academy]

I'm totally up for a War & Peace readalong too. I haven't read it since high school and I don't really remember anything about it.  I've been meaning to re-read it for awhile now.

 

I did try to re-read Anna Karenina earlier this year, but I quit. I have to say that both Anna and Vronsky were really annoying me. I remember liking this book in the past, so maybe it was just bad timing.

Edited May 29, 2017 by Chrysalis Academy

[Butter]

I finished two books this morning.

 

Enshroud by Andrea Pearson.  The 8th Mosiac Chronicles book.  The last in that arc doesn't come out until July.  I really don't know how she's possibly going to finish this.

 

Lost to the West by Lars Brownworth.  I truly enjoyed it.  It's all about the Byzantine Empire.  Somehow it is fitting that I finished it today.  It's the 564th anniversary of the fall of Byzantium.

[Matryoshka]

Lost to the West by Lars Brownworth.  I truly enjoyed it.  It's all about the Byzantine Empire.  Somehow it is fitting that I finished it today.  It's the 564th anniversary of the fall of Byzantium.

 

I also truly enjoyed that book!  I felt like it filled in so much history we just gloss over or just downright ignore by focusing on Western Europe (Rome fell to 'barbarians', then there were the dark ages till Charlemagne...) Erm... not quite!  Glad to hear you liked it too! :)

[Ethel Mertz]

War & Peace? Hmmm. Maybe.