Book a Week 2018 - BW2: Miyuki Miyabe and Haruki Murakami

[Soror]

I've figured out that I tend to read in bursts and then nothing for awhile so I don't know that a weekly thread will work for me, but maybe I can pop in now and again. After some thought, I decided my goal would be to read at least 24 books for the year (to average to 2 a month). I think I read at least that last year but I didn't keep track, this year, I started a list in my (new) bullet journal, I've tried online tracking and it just annoys me.

 

I started the Dark Is Rising series at solstice because there was a post about it on the board. I bought it for ds ages ago but have never read it myself. I finished The Dark is Rising in Dec, quite honestly I had a hard time getting into it, I only kept with it because of the hype, in the end, I did enjoy it but I thought the other books in the series were better (except the last one which I somewhat wish I hadn't read, the ended was to me, rather anticlimactic and disappointing). I loved that there was a King Arthur connection to the series, I was on a KA binge last year or the year and would still love to delve into more.

 

January's Reads: 

(DoR 1)Over Sea, Under Stone

(DoR 3)Greenwitch

(DoR4)The Grey King

(DoR5)Silver on the Tree

 

I'm working on an organizational book for boys with ADHD but started it before getting sucked into The Dark is Rising series, I can't remember the name offhand. I scouted the favorite books of 2017 and requested from the library- The Art of Asking (it just came in but I haven't picked it up yet), A Man Called Ove, The Hundred-Year Old Man. Ds is reading The Hobbit, so I'm re-reading it with him, that will be stretched out a couple of months. I'm considering picking a classic to slowly read but I've not picked anything yet.

Edited January 12, 2018 by soror

[aggieamy]

For all the mystery readers, a book I read last year and really enjoyed was The Golden Age of Murder by Martin Edwards. It tells the story of the creation of the Detection club which was a group that started in the 1920s/1930s of mystery writers in Britain. Lots of info about Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers among others. He also talks about a lot of real crimes that inspired them or that they were interested in. 

 

Thanks for posting that. Just added it to my to-read list.

 

I just found this. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/crime-fiction-around-the-world-in-80-sleuths-873660.html Around the World in 80 Sleuths, that is so very me!

 

Totally my next project when I finish books for Brit Tripping.

 

That is so you! Interesting mix of hard boiled and cozy mysteries on there. I see Agatha Christie twice which is always a good sign.

[aggieamy]

Two more books for me to post about:

 

Stormy Petrel by Mary Stewart - I'm a big fan of Mary Stewart. Her beautiful exotic locations. Her wonderful strong heroines. Her twisty turny mysteries. This book had none of that. Mostly it was about birds nesting. At 60% nothing at all happened. I don't know why I didn't abandon it. Two stars.

 

Confessions of an Organized Housewife by Denise Schoffield - I love all things related to decluttering and home organization so I frequently pick up home organization books from the library for a bit of light reading. After years and years of doing this I've come to realize that there's a million books and it's a rare one that offers something other than the authors fiddly daily schedule and to-do. This one was more of the same. Probably some good stuff in there but I didn't have the patience for it. Instead I'd recommend How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind.

[Pink and Green Mom]

So I just finished #3 - The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde.  The only reason I read it was because DS16 had to read it for Honors English II.  So i asked him if he'd like to discuss it and was flatly told "no, I understand everything" complete with a sigh and an eyeroll.  He got a 50 percent on his quiz.....

 

On to # 4 for the year, Britt-Marie Was Here, by Fredrik Backman.  The main character (20 pages in) sort of reminds me of the main character in Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine - a book I really enjoyed last year. 

 

[aggieamy]

Just planning ahead for 2019 a bit. I'm thinking I'm going to attempt a Golden Age of mystery challenge of some sort. We all think of Christie and Sayers during that time but there are a ton of great mysteries from that era that have disappeared a bit into history. I think it would be fun to read some of the more obscure authors of that age.

 

 

And *drum roll*

 

On January 28th the official rules of the 2018 Great Mysterious British Road Trip (aka Brit Tripping) will be rolled out. We'll be starting on February 4th. Everyone is welcome. There will be something for all readers to join in on if they'd like. 

[Violet Crown]

I'm doing plenty of reading for homeschooling that doesn't count as it's not books, but so far this week I've read Grahame Greene's short story "The Destructors," and these poems: Edwin Arlington Robinson, "The House on the Hill"; Tennyson, "The Deserted House"; Milton, "L'Allegro" and "Il Penseroso"; and Christina Rossetti, "A Birthday." And discussed them, a lot.

[Lady Florida.]

So I just finished #3 - The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde.  The only reason I read it was because DS16 had to read it for Honors English II.  So i asked him if he'd like to discuss it and was flatly told "no, I understand everything" complete with a sigh and an eyeroll.  He got a 50 percent on his quiz.....

 

 

I thought that play was good fun but I saw it performed before I read it*. I made ds go when we were still actively homeschooling and it was part of the Orlando Shakespeare Theater's season (they actually only do a few of the bard's plays each season and quite a few non-Shakespeare plays through their season). We went with our homeschool group, and quite a few of the teens who felt like they were dragged there ended up laughing and enjoying it. Ds sat with his friends but I heard him exclaim "Oh no!" when everything was coming to a head.

 

*I'm a big believer that plays are meant to be seen rather than read. However, I'm going against that belief this year with my own Shakespeare in a Year challenge, which obviously means I'll be reading ALL of his plays. 

[PeacefulChaos]

Well, this week has thus far been less bookish than last, but I expected that - four books in one week is not the norm for me anymore, for sure!

 

I'm still working on Never Let Me Go.  I'm thinking about setting it aside tomorrow and picking up Year One first since that one has a shorter loan time at the library.  I like NLMG, but it's a little slow and odd.  But at the same time interesting enough.  lol

 

My back has been feeling better this week though still bothering me a bit.  And it's no wonder we haven't had a bookish week because it's been a busy one!  Link got his braces Tuesday, we had co-op Wednesday, and yesterday I had a urologist appointment.  I usually see the uro every 6 months for recurring kidney stones; this time I had to go back sooner because the stone that had just left my kidney in July was still about 5cm from my bladder in November :svengo: ... now it's still about 2cm from my bladder.  GOOD. GRIEF.  

On the upside, it doesn't hurt me most of the time.  We are wondering what sort of weird shape it may be that is causing it to be moving so slow - I've never had a stone take this long to make its way 'out', and I've had a lot of stones.

 

But I should have reading time this weekend, as the kids are at my ILs all weekend.  They were going there every weekend for about a year, but MIL was recently diagnosed with leukemia or something like it/similar (I feel like maybe it's called myeloproliferative neoplasms?) and they had taken a break for about a month while she was in the hospital.  She has been feeling ok but she starts a new treatment this week and she wanted the kids to come this weekend before she starts this new medicine; they're telling her she'll feel pretty bad in the coming weeks, and it'll wreak havoc on her immune system, of course, so no one will be able to come.  We were all like 'Are you sure you want them to come?' and she was like 'YES! It's been so quiet, I miss them being there!'  <3  They're really involved grandparents, we're really lucky to have them.  They regularly had anywhere from 5-8 grandkids there every weekend.  Most are 12-15 so it wasn't like they had to be taken care of; she just liked having them around.  And they're mostly boys, too, just like her kids were (all 4 boys), so I think it's kind of familiar and nice for them.  

Anyway, hopefully this upcoming treatment will work and her discomfort will be minimal.  

 

Sorry about the tangent lol.  :)

[SEGway]

Finished Rethinking School by SWB. It's nothing super-new and earth-shaking...but it's a helpful distillation all in one place. I'm glad I read it. I think it will help me think carefully through the choices for next year and maybe tweak a bit of the way we do things for the rest of this year. I heart SWB. 

 

Tonight, I read Christie's Murder Is Announced. I think it was a re-read, but I couldn't remember quite whodunnit until close to the end. I heart Agatha Christie, too. :)

[Ausmumof3]

:crying:

 

I think of you guys every time I see a south Cali news report.

Is the mudslide occurring where the fires were? We had ongoing problems with roads washing out for the next two years after the fire here because all the growth that held stuff in place was gone. Sorry to hear that it's so bad.

[Ausmumof3]

I just found this. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/crime-fiction-around-the-world-in-80-sleuths-873660.html Around the World in 80 Sleuths, that is so very me!

 

Totally my next project when I finish books for Brit Tripping.

That looks fun

[Negin]

I liked the sequel War and Remembrance more, but some sections were very difficult to read.

Oh dear. I do plan on reading the sequel, but I'm such a baby when it comes to difficult parts. 

[FriedClams]

Just an FYI that today's audible deal (Saturday 1/13) is a book by Haruki Murakami for $1.95.

[mumto2]

I just finished my very first cozy house mystery by Georgette Heyer and loved it! That is being said even though I knew who did it from the second that character was introduced. I had a conversation with my Dh last week regarding how something that happened in our village was just so stereotypical British cozy mystery which led to how the professions etc indicate who did it. Dh was a bit offended because I consider people because of their profession he would consider above reproach as my prime suspects, at least in mysteries! The whodidit profession in this cozy was one of my examples. :lol:

 

Footsteps in the Dark frankly had it all. Atomsphere....A group of siblings in their 20's inherit a run down Abbey from a distant uncle. They decide to live in it for awhile keeping their London flats. Strange things happen. People keep appearing on their land telling them they have a ghost of a monk. So good.......no murder, so it's my crime other than murder Bingo Square.

 

The really irritating thing about it was the places are all made up. I added up what clues there were and gave it a county for Brit Tripping purposes. Firstly, the Abbey is within an hour and a half of London. The place names were a mishmash of very close to several places that were all too far away. One comment talked about 'astings and caves. Hastings makes sense including the caves and is in Sussex. So I used Sussex. We definitely do not plan to be overly strict on proof for counties! On some of the challenges location other than England won't matter.

 

Peacefulchaos, :grouphug: I hope your mil does well on her treatment.

[Butter]

The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo - I read it to the boys.  I'm not sure I like the writing style, but the story was very sweet.  My 9yo absolutely loved the end.  He was practically in tears and said, "I just love a good ending!"

 

Intelligence Was My Line by Ralph W. Hauenstein.  That was I in turquoise.  The author was an intelligence officer during WWII.  Interesting stuff, but he repeated himself a whole lot.

[Cascadia]

What did you think of Many Waters?  On rereading it very recently for the first time since childhood I was annoyed by it, and pretty much none of the online reviews really echoed/clarified why I was so annoyed. (normally if a book irks me I go read negative reviews until I read someone else saying the same thing, and then I feel better).

 

I wanted to ponder before I responded to this, as I felt "meh" about Many Waters but hadn't really identified what made it so for me. I think that for me, Sandy and Dennys have always been supporting characters in the Murray books that I had read so far. Their role had seemed to be restoring normalcy for Meg and Charles Wallace when they returned from their adventures, as well as being the pragmatic, "normal" kids in the family. I didn't think that their characters were developed enough to carry this book, and especially that they weren't developed as individuals. 

 

Reading so many L'Engle books in a row made me realize that I don't care for her pacing at the end of the books. They all seem to fly through the resolution, and I also find myself wanting to know just a bit more about what happened to some characters and why they made certain decisions. That's just my personal preference.

 

I finished Why Gender Matters yesterday. I had purchased it this summer after hearing Andrew Pudewa mention it in a conference presentation, and I just realized that a second edition with additional and updated information came out right after I bought it! I thought that there was good information in the first edition that will be helpful for me with my son, and the second edition is now on it's way... :001_rolleyes:

[aggieamy]

Well, this week has thus far been less bookish than last, but I expected that - four books in one week is not the norm for me anymore, for sure!

 

I'm still working on Never Let Me Go.  I'm thinking about setting it aside tomorrow and picking up Year One first since that one has a shorter loan time at the library.  I like NLMG, but it's a little slow and odd.  But at the same time interesting enough.  lol

 

My back has been feeling better this week though still bothering me a bit.  And it's no wonder we haven't had a bookish week because it's been a busy one!  Link got his braces Tuesday, we had co-op Wednesday, and yesterday I had a urologist appointment.  I usually see the uro every 6 months for recurring kidney stones; this time I had to go back sooner because the stone that had just left my kidney in July was still about 5cm from my bladder in November :svengo: ... now it's still about 2cm from my bladder.  GOOD. GRIEF.  

On the upside, it doesn't hurt me most of the time.  We are wondering what sort of weird shape it may be that is causing it to be moving so slow - I've never had a stone take this long to make its way 'out', and I've had a lot of stones.

 

But I should have reading time this weekend, as the kids are at my ILs all weekend.  They were going there every weekend for about a year, but MIL was recently diagnosed with leukemia or something like it/similar (I feel like maybe it's called myeloproliferative neoplasms?) and they had taken a break for about a month while she was in the hospital.  She has been feeling ok but she starts a new treatment this week and she wanted the kids to come this weekend before she starts this new medicine; they're telling her she'll feel pretty bad in the coming weeks, and it'll wreak havoc on her immune system, of course, so no one will be able to come.  We were all like 'Are you sure you want them to come?' and she was like 'YES! It's been so quiet, I miss them being there!'  <3  They're really involved grandparents, we're really lucky to have them.  They regularly had anywhere from 5-8 grandkids there every weekend.  Most are 12-15 so it wasn't like they had to be taken care of; she just liked having them around.  And they're mostly boys, too, just like her kids were (all 4 boys), so I think it's kind of familiar and nice for them.  

Anyway, hopefully this upcoming treatment will work and her discomfort will be minimal.  

 

Sorry about the tangent lol.   :)

 

Oh my goodness. You guys have a lot going on. A dear friend just got kidney stones and was miserable. He missed Christmas Day entirely because he was in bed asleep (and heavily drugged for pain apparently). Hope that kidney stone ... um ... departs your system soon. Don't know how to phrase that!

 

I've added a life goal to my list to be like your IL's. How lucky you and your kids are!

[eternalsummer]

Well, this week has thus far been less bookish than last, but I expected that - four books in one week is not the norm for me anymore, for sure!

 

I'm still working on Never Let Me Go.  I'm thinking about setting it aside tomorrow and picking up Year One first since that one has a shorter loan time at the library.  I like NLMG, but it's a little slow and odd.  But at the same time interesting enough.  lol

....

 

Never Let Me Go is slow and odd, but (imo) masterfully written and worth getting all the way through.  It's not exactly a page-turner for suspense purposes, though!  I liked it more than any of his other books.

 

I just looked up Year One, which looks like totally my thing, but is written by Nora Roberts - I thought she wrote sort of schlocky romances?  I am not sure how I feel about the idea of dystopian romance novels, to be honest.

[eternalsummer]

I wanted to ponder before I responded to this, as I felt "meh" about Many Waters but hadn't really identified what made it so for me. I think that for me, Sandy and Dennys have always been supporting characters in the Murray books that I had read so far. Their role had seemed to be restoring normalcy for Meg and Charles Wallace when they returned from their adventures, as well as being the pragmatic, "normal" kids in the family. I didn't think that their characters were developed enough to carry this book, and especially that they weren't developed as individuals. 

 

Reading so many L'Engle books in a row made me realize that I don't care for her pacing at the end of the books. They all seem to fly through the resolution, and I also find myself wanting to know just a bit more about what happened to some characters and why they made certain decisions. That's just my personal preference.

 

I finished Why Gender Matters yesterday. I had purchased it this summer after hearing Andrew Pudewa mention it in a conference presentation, and I just realized that a second edition with additional and updated information came out right after I bought it! I thought that there was good information in the first edition that will be helpful for me with my son, and the second edition is now on it's way... :001_rolleyes:

 

Yes, I think that was part of what frustrated me about Many Waters too - Sandy and Dennys are basically the same character, which is fine when they're there for 3 sentences of a book but not great when they're the main characters.  It's like she's got this idea that identical twins are physically and psychologically identical, I dunno.

 

Plus, for me, the whole tension of the book was the dramatic tension of being stuck during the Flood and what were they going to do to avoid getting killed and how were all of the characters going to avoid getting killed (other than the biblically saved ones, of course).  And then it was all sort of literally just deus ex machina'd, and some of it was even left unresolved!  So I dunno.  I get that it's quite hard to resolve killing off everyone including babies, and that she was between a rock and a hard place because she wasn't going to change what happened in the Bible, but it's like she was thinking about how to do it and then just said, oh well, this is too hard and gave up.

 

Okay enough venting :)

 

Read Hallowe'en Party by Christie; still working through The Sea Around Us (Rachel Carson) - great one to read in the bath, chapter by chapter. :)  Very relaxing read before bed.  Boy is she an excellent writer.  

[guilfordlake]

Well, this week has thus far been less bookish than last, but I expected that - four books in one week is not the norm for me anymore, for sure!

 

I'm still working on Never Let Me Go.  I'm thinking about setting it aside tomorrow and picking up Year One first since that one has a shorter loan time at the library.  I like NLMG, but it's a little slow and odd.  But at the same time interesting enough.  lol

 

My back has been feeling better this week though still bothering me a bit.  And it's no wonder we haven't had a bookish week because it's been a busy one!  Link got his braces Tuesday, we had co-op Wednesday, and yesterday I had a urologist appointment.  I usually see the uro every 6 months for recurring kidney stones; this time I had to go back sooner because the stone that had just left my kidney in July was still about 5cm from my bladder in November :svengo: ... now it's still about 2cm from my bladder.  GOOD. GRIEF.  

On the upside, it doesn't hurt me most of the time.  We are wondering what sort of weird shape it may be that is causing it to be moving so slow - I've never had a stone take this long to make its way 'out', and I've had a lot of stones.

 

But I should have reading time this weekend, as the kids are at my ILs all weekend.  They were going there every weekend for about a year, but MIL was recently diagnosed with leukemia or something like it/similar (I feel like maybe it's called myeloproliferative neoplasms?) and they had taken a break for about a month while she was in the hospital.  She has been feeling ok but she starts a new treatment this week and she wanted the kids to come this weekend before she starts this new medicine; they're telling her she'll feel pretty bad in the coming weeks, and it'll wreak havoc on her immune system, of course, so no one will be able to come.  We were all like 'Are you sure you want them to come?' and she was like 'YES! It's been so quiet, I miss them being there!'  <3  They're really involved grandparents, we're really lucky to have them.  They regularly had anywhere from 5-8 grandkids there every weekend.  Most are 12-15 so it wasn't like they had to be taken care of; she just liked having them around.  And they're mostly boys, too, just like her kids were (all 4 boys), so I think it's kind of familiar and nice for them.  

Anyway, hopefully this upcoming treatment will work and her discomfort will be minimal.  

 

Sorry about the tangent lol.   :)

Oh my goodness, I am so sorry! I've only had one (knock on wood) that went about 2 weeks and it was awful. I'll be thinking about you.  :grouphug:

[Negin]

Kindle book on sale today

 

[Granny_Weatherwax]

I squeezed in another book for Week 2 - 1984 by George Orwell. I give it 4 stars.

 

DH and listened to this as an audiobook on our drive home yesterday. We would listen for a bit then discuss the book, listen a bit more, discuss...and so on and so forth all day. I love being able to share audiobooks with DH when we travel. He has already put in requests for our next trip (months from now).

 

--

While on vacation we visited many antique stores and thrift stores (DH was looking for old vinyl records) and the temptation to purchase used books was great. I did not succumb and am still on the no spend challenge. I did have to stop by B&N, however, and purchase a new book light as mine died on the trip.

 

I"m still working my way through Wind/Pinball. I hope to finish those this week.

[Robin M]

Link to week three - please continue conversation  in new thread

[Carol in Cal.]

Two books completed during Week Two.

 

I’ve been sort of non-intensely reading about Middle America for the last year or so, and last week finished another book in that vein, called “Hand To Mouthâ€. I heard about it here, I think, and several of the chapters were familiar. I believe that the author published all or most of them as blog posts or essays or articles before the book was published. Conceptually it’s a translation piece about the challenges of being poor here, and what it is really like, and why obvious solutions don’t add up to a safety net or to anything of value sometimes. I found it very inspiring as a basis for moving our food nonprofit more broad. We need to figure out how to organize and tackle dental and optical care for our peeps, I think. That is a big gaping hole in the ‘net’ in general, and I had not previously considered how hard it would be to find a job if your teeth are messed up or if you don’t have glasses that you see properly through. This stuff is like a blinding glimpse of the obvious, really. I wonder if we could at least pass on old glasses in our clothing give away area. That is something that I think people would donate if we asked them to.

 

And I completed a work of fiction that I enjoyed but don’t remember the title of. Drat. Will return with it when it comes to me.

 

ETA: The work of fiction is “How To Party With An Infantâ€. This is a novelized version of what could be read as a series of blog posts about various members of a parents’ group in San Francisco, with an overarching theme of the primary narrator’s life with her own toddler daughter over a period of several months. This is not the first time I have read this book—rather it’s the second or third. I enjoy the writing tremendously, and the area in which the book takes place is all familiar to me, which is fun. One of the most surprising things about this novel is the references to pop Mom culture of *today*, which apparently has moved on considerably in the last 20 years. For instance, pre-masticated food is evidently a thing—passing on the nutrients and also Mom’s bacteria. This kind of makes sense—after all, baby food is fairly recent, and even soft ‘first foods’ have not been available everywhere that there are people. Thinking about this, I wonder what people fed babies as first foods in the 1500s in Northern Europe—veggies boiled to death? Maybe bread soaked in broth? Did they do this pre-masticate thing? Or, another example—‘elimination specialists’—good gosh, I’m glad I missed this trend. Anyway, in summary, it’s a well-written, killingly funny book in a unique format that has opened my eyes to how long it has been since I had a baby, and how irrelevant my knowledge of that time of life has become, and I will undoubtedly read it again in 6 months or so and enjoy it all over again.

Edited January 15, 2018 by Carol in Cal.