Book a Week 2018 - BW12 and BW13: March Equinox

[aggieamy]

Wow. That was a long break. Too long.

Can't wait to hear what everyone read!

And ... what's up with the reputation points?

 

[aggieamy]

On 3/23/2018 at 6:00 PM, JennW in SoCal said:

And about reads during The Great Blackout of 2018, I just found the most recent Inspector Lynley novel while shopping at Costco. Didn't even know there was a new one out, so finding it was a treat!

I loved those books about ten? twenty?!?! years ago. Then the last few in the series fell flat for me. I'm interested in your review.

[aggieamy]

I'm curious as to how the file upload feature works ... giving it a try ... now

Eta: Wow. That's super easy now. I just dragged the pic from my desktop into the box. FYI. That's me and my parents in DC with Chews on Books (John) a few weeks ago.

[TravelingChris]

I need to get back to reading my book,  Killers of the Flower Moon- The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann because I am leading the discussion on Friday morning in book club and I am only on chapter 11 of 26.  I misplaced my new Kindle Fire and so I have to read this on my old Kindle with the broken screen and that takes longer too.  I will update in future posts on a break.

[SKL]

Hi!  It's good to be back!

My daughter borrowed Hitler Youth from the library (she has morbid interests) and since it was a Newberry Honor book and looked interesting, I decided to read it too.  It was pretty good.

I am still reading Condoleezza Rice's Democracy.  I'm on the second country, so this will be a while.  It's worth the time though.

Still only about halfway through Seraphina (audiobook with the kids).  It's pretty long and not super easy to follow.  (I don't drive them around as much any more, so that drags it out.)  We also read the Book of Ruth as part of their scout requirements.  Haven't made any progress on our read-aloud lately.

[Lady Florida.]

Whew! I made it in. Will be back later after I explore and get used to the new forum.

[-M-]

Hello! It's been so long since I've been able to post. I hope you all have been well. Because it took a while to get re-established here (I picked an odd time to return *chuckle*), I only have time to post my list and say that fans of The Elementals will appreciate the Southern Gothic vibe of The Reapers Are the Angels. Don't let the zombies fool or deter you -- this is a beautiful meditation on what it is that makes us human.

January
■ Never Let Me Go (Kazuo Ishiguro; 2005. Fiction.)
■ An Enemy of the People (Henrikson Ibsen; 1882. Drama.)
■ The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning (Margareta Magnusson; 2018. Non-fiction.)
■ The Perfect Nanny (Leila Sliman; 2018. Fiction.)
■ Saga, Volume 8 (Brian Vaughan; 2018. Graphic fiction.)
■ Postal, Volume 6 (Bryan Hill; 2018. Graphic fiction.)
■ Bitch Planet: Triple Feature, Volume 1 (Kelly Sue DeConnick; 2017. Graphic fiction.)
■ Descender, Volume 5: Rise of the Robots (Jeff Lemire; 2018. Graphic fiction.)
■ Disappearance at Devil’s Rock (Paul Tremblay; 2016. Fiction.)
■ Fire and Fury (Michael Wolff; 2018. Non-fiction.)
■ You Deserve Nothing (Alexander Maksik; 2011. Fiction.)
■ The Woman in the Window (A.J. Finn; 2017. Fiction.)
■ Inheritors (Susan Glaspell; 1921. Drama.)

February
■ Killers of the Flower Moon (Dan Grann; 2017. Non-fiction.)
■ Shelter in Place (Alexander Maksik; 2016. Fiction.)
■ Childhood’s End (Arthur C. Clarke; 1953. Fiction.)
■ Landscape with Invisible Hand (M.T. Anderson; 2017. Fiction.)
■ Emilie (Lauren Gunderson; 2010. Drama.)
■ Memento Mori (Muriel Spark; 1959. Fiction.)
■ Alive, Alive Oh! (Diana Athill; 2016. Non-fiction.)

March
■ Briggs Land, Volume 2: Lone Wolves (Brian Wood; 2018. Graphic fiction.)
■ Dead People Suck (Laurie Kilmartin; 2018. Non-fiction.)
■ Instead of a Letter (Diana Athill; 1962. Non-fiction.)
■ The Walking Dead, Volume 29: Lines We Cross (Robert Kirkman; 2018. Graphic fiction.)
■ A Moon for the Misbegotten (Eugene O’Neill; 1947. Drama.)
■ Mary Stuart (Friedrich Schiller; 1800. (Trans. Peter Oswald; 2006.) Drama.)
■ Educated (Tara Westover; 2018. Non-fiction.)
■ Candide (Voltaire; 1759. (Trans. John Butt; 1947.) Fiction.)
■ hang (debbie tucker green; 2015. Drama.)
■ Dying (Cory Taylor; 2016. Non-fiction.)
■ The Reapers Are the Angels (Alden Bell; 2010. Fiction.)
■ Injection, Vol. 3 (Warren Ellis; 2017. Graphic fiction.)
■ Letter 44, Vol. 5: Blueshift (Charles Soule; 2017. Graphic fiction.)
■ Letter 44, Vol. 6: The End (Charles Soule; 2018. Graphic fiction.)
■ Exit West (Mohsin Hamid; 2017. Fiction.)

Postscript: By Sunday, I will have finished both of Celeste Ng's novels.

[Penguin]

Yay for being back!

While we were gone, I read The Girl in The Tower, which is the sequel to The Bear and the Nightingale. I gave it four stars. I definitely think that the author has improved her ability to write endings since the first book, but somehow it still did not get me into 5-star mode.

I also read Mighty Ugly: Exercises and Advice for Getting Creative Even When It Ain't Pretty by Kim Werker. I have read so many books of this sort over the years that there wasn't really anything new for me, but I did learn about some new artists that were worth checking out. I have watched Kim Werker's crochet classes on Craftsy, and she is adorable. She comes across as pretty adorable in the book, too. I didn't do any of the exercises, but I did crochet during the WTM Blackout :)

I finished Iza's Ballad by Magda Szabo right before the break, but I don't think I posted about it. Beautiful prose and a heartbreaking story.

Right now, I am reading Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale because I am going to see a live performance of it soon. And continuing with Middlemarch.

 

 

[Matryoshka]

1 hour ago, TravelingChris said:

I need to get back to reading my book,  Killers of the Flower Moon- The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann because I am leading the discussion on Friday morning in book club and I am only on chapter 11 of 26.  I misplaced my new Kindle Fire and so I have to read this on my old Kindle with the broken screen and that takes longer too.  I will update in future posts on a break.

Hey, I'm reading that too!  I'm finding it quite an engaging read, so hopefully once you get into it you'll be able to polish it off in plenty of time! :)

So, so happy the boards are back!  And that I finally figured out how to log in and reclaim my identity! Glad Tsuga posted instructions! 

Boo, it seems smilies are AWOL... :(

And now I'm going to try to insert a pic I took of my stack of not-English reading a while back that wouldn't post because it was too big... let's see if this works! :D

 

[Matryoshka]

18 minutes ago, Penguin said:

Yay for being back!

While we were gone, I read The Girl in The Tower, which is the sequel to The Bear and the Nightingale. I gave it four stars. I definitely think that the author has improved her ability to write endings since the first book, but somehow it still did not get me into 5-star mode.

I also read Mighty Ugly: Exercises and Advice for Getting Creative Even When It Ain't Pretty by Kim Werker. I have read so many books of this sort over the years that there wasn't really anything new for me, but I did learn about some new artists that were worth checking out. I have watched Kim Werker's crochet classes on Craftsy, and she is adorable. She comes across as pretty adorable in the book, too. I didn't do any of the exercises, but I did crochet during the WTM Blackout :)

I finished Iza's Ballad by Magda Szabo right before the break, but I don't think I posted about it. Beautiful prose and a heartbreaking story.

Right now, I am reading Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale because I am going to see a live performance of it soon. And continuing with Middlemarch.

Hey Penguin! :)  Thanks for the postcard! I was having such Board Withdrawal!!  Especially not being able to talk about books! :svengo:

I 5-starred the Katherine Arden books - I'm a huge sucker for a well-told fairy/folk-tale based story!

[Carol in Cal.]

I am so behind in recording all my reading.

[Matryoshka]

So, going to try to update what I've read since the Great Blackout began...

24. The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell - I was hesitant to read this book after hearing from some people how harrowing it was (even from those who rated it 5-stars), but my SciFi book club picked it, and I'm really glad I read it.  From both those reviews and ample foreshadowing from pretty much the first page, it was clear some Bad Stuff was going to go down, but I was well-braced for it, and I just loved all the characters and the themes it explored.  I'm now reading the sequel which is really a continuation of the original story, and that clarifies even more what happened in the first book, so anyone who's read the first, I highly recommend reading the second as well.  5 stars.

25. Stay with Me by Ayobami Adebayo (audiobook) - A heartbreaking book in many ways, but I still really liked it.  The characters all had really good intentions but for reasons including societal/cultural expectations and pressures things go horribly wrong, again and again (in this it's similar to The Sparrow, I realize as I type this).  I listened to this on audio, and I think the narrator's voice also enhanced the story.  4.5 stars, rounded up on GR.

26. We Were Eight Years in Power by Ta-Nehisi Coates (ebook) - What a powerful book; I think Coates is an amazing writer.  As others have mentioned, the framing previews/ruminations on each of the eight pieces are as interesting and insightful as the pieces and really flesh out and expand the themes in the essays.  So depressing to realize the title is not a reference to the Obama years as I had assumed, but a quote from a leader in the Reconstruction period...  5 stars.

27. The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning by Margareta Magnusson (ebook) - as Kareni predicted when I worried a while ago about finishing this before Overdrive ate it, a fast, easy, and fun read.  Didn't tell me a lot I didn't already know I should be doing, but fun anyway - the author has a great voice.  Summary: Your Swedish grandmother really wants you to get rid of your crap. ;) And a recipe for homemade beet sherry, who knew that was a thing. 3 stars.

28. The New Spaniards by John Hooper - finally finished this one, and in time for my trip to Spain! :D  Really interesting if you're at all interested in Spain or Spanish history.  This is the new revised version, but still a bit over 10 years old, so lots of things have happened since it was written!  4 stars.

Currently reading: 

- Middlemarch (audiobook) - still marching on! ;)  Another of my audiobooks I've been on hold for finally came in on Overdrive, so I may take a break to listen to that - as this book is almost 32 hours(!!) of listening and also an 'always available' book so I don't have to rush.  But I'm really enjoying it!  

- Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann (ebook) - A chapter of American history I'd never even heard of!  I'm finding it quite fascinating.

- Children of God by Mary Doria Russell - the sequel to The Sparrow.  If you liked the first book at all, I'd highly recommend reading this one as well.

Coming up:

The audio of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine just came in on Overdrive.  I've been first in line for Home Fires forever but it keeps not coming off hold anyway!  I've got We Are Legion (another SciFi book club book) waiting for me at the library...  I think I'd also like to try to knock off the next Erlendur before I'm off to Spain - haven't read a German book in a while, and I'm bringing Spanish reading to Spain - I may have reading time there.

[Penguin]

Since it seems like posting photos is easier now, I am going to try that later! I love looking at Bookstagram photos on Instagram, and would like to take some book photos but I don't want to put a ton of time into the photography. But I don't think you guys would be super harsh critics :)

[Maus]

So happy to be back!

24. "Vanishing Girl" by Shane Peacock. (London, Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, Bedforshire, and Hampshire! --  I'll have my choice, and I've finally left London on my Brit trip!)  Third in the Boy Sherlock Holmes Series.  He chases his suspects by train out of London through several other English villages and towns.

23. "Honey for a Child's Heart" by Gladys Hunt.  Looking for some great new read-alouds.

22. "How to Train Your Dragon" by Cressida Cowell.  Our first successful read-aloud chapter book with DD8!  She actually begged for more each time we read, so we got through the whole thing in only three sittings.

21. "Death in the Air" by Shane Peacock. (London) Second in the Boy Sherlock Holmes Series.  An unusual writing style, as it's in the third person, but in the present tense, so that instead of being full of "Sherlock remembered," it's full of "Sherlock remembers."

20. "Her Royal Spyness" by Rhys Bowen. (London)  My mom recommended this.  Clever premise.  I'll be trying the next in the series.

19. "Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire" by Rafe Esquith.  I'm searching for less traditional ways tp engage my three, who are all 2E.  I'll have to give some of his methods a try.

18. "Every Falling Star" by Sungju Lee.  Compelling story about his life, first as the only child of a favored military official in North Korea, then as impoverished citizens when his father falls from favor, then as an abandoned street kid.  Eventually he escapes through China to South Korea.

 

 

 

• 17. "The Nature Fix" by Florence Williams.
• 16. "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" by J,K. Rowling. (London and Surrey)
• 15. "Why Don't Students Like School?" by Daniel T. Willingham.
• 14. "Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd" by Alan Bradley. (London and fictional Bishop's Lacy)
• 13. "Eye of the Crow" by Shane Peacock. (London)
• 12.  "Secret Adversary" by Agatha Christie.  (London and fictional England, and WWI at the beginning -- The opening scene is set on the sinking Lusitania.)
• 11.  "Mysterious Affair at Styles" by Agatha Christie.   (London and fictional England, and WWI -- Hastings is home from the war for convalescence.  So to go with it, I read the poem, "In Flanders Field" by John McRae, and several of the other poems on the same site.)
• 10.  "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" by J.K. Rowling. (London or Surrey)
• 9.  "An Unsuitable Job For a Woman" by P.D. James. (Mainly Cambridge, some London)
• 8. "Creative Schools" by Ken Robinson and Lou Aronica.
• 7.  "CopShock: Surviving Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)" by Allen R. Kates.
• 6. "Rethinking School: How to Take Charge of Your Child's Education" by Susan Wise Bauer.
• 5. "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" by J.K. Rowling.  (London or Surrey)
• 4. "Guerrilla Learning: How to give your kids a real education with or without school" by Grace Llewellyn and Amy Silver.
• 3. "Monkey Mind: A Memoir of Anxiety" by Daniel Smith.
• 2. "Mother had a Secret: Learning to love My Mother & Her Multiple Personalities" by Tiffany Fletcher.
• 1. "Life's lessons Learned" by Dallin H. Oaks. (LDS)

[mumto2]

Trying the photos........ This is my current EPP project.  That’s what I have been doing...  I have finished a few books too!

 

eta......I can’t believe I can post pictures!  How incredibly fun!

 

 

Edited April 3, 2018 by mumto2

[marbel]

So nice to be back! 

I did finish two books during the break:  Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng, and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie.  The first was OK; the second was surprisingly good - I didn't expect to like it as much, and I was completely stunned by the ending!

So at the end of the first quarter of the year, I am already at 40% of my reading goal.  But since I didn't make last year's goal, I cut back a little.

And, I'm hoping to have a little less free time for reading soon, because I'm applying for a part-time job at my local public library! Open jobs there are few and far between, and I'm sure more qualified people are applying, but I have to give it a try.  If I get an interview I know all my library love will shine through!  

 

[mumto2]

So what have I been reading.........

Castles in the Air by Christina Dodd for Robin’s Air challenge.  I suspect it was a reread but I loved it.  Fluffy historical romance that Amy would enjoy. England and Wales border

The Virgin Queen’s Daughter  by Ella March Chase.  Imagine Elizabeth1 had a child before becoming queen....this is apparently true speculation for lack of a better description.  Really grew to dislike this as I listened to it but I had nothing else!  Lincolnshire and London

Murder on a Summers Day by Frances Brody.  Not the best of the Kate Shackleton series but I now have them all checked out. North Yorkshire

Sweet Revenge by Andrea Penrose.  I needed an R for Clover and that says it all.  Btw I still need the E. ;) London

Lonesome Road by Patricia Wentworth, it’s the third in this series.  No more fore a while mainly because they aren’t for kindles on my overdrive any longer. England

Murder in Thrall by Anne Cleeland.  I listened to the first three in this series because it is one big continuous story.  They are interesting but I have to admit part of that was my horror that the main male character is a stalker and the female is just fine about the stalking.  These characters are strange and do some pretty awful things as the story progresses......they are both police detectives. Adult content.  London and Surrey

Face Down Upon an Herbal by Kathy Lyn Emerson.  Good cozy mystery set in Tudor times with a strong female main character.  I have a stack of these that I ended up saving for this month because they are vowel rich for the flower spelling challenge.  Gloucester, Bedfordshire, Warwickshire, and Kent

Claws for Concern by Miranda James.  The latest in my favorite cozy series with a Maine Coon Cat.  I adore Diesel the cat!

The Primrose Convention by Jo Bannister.  A lovely cozy.  More by this author in the stack but could not get the other book in this series.  Set in West Midlands and Scotland.

Sovereign by CJ Sansom.  It is the third in the Shardlake series which are historically pretty accurate to the best of my knowledge.  Set during Henry 8’s reign while he was on his Progress to the North (York).  He was married to Catherine Howard at the time.  They stayed irl at Gainsborough Hall near my house......many Tudor home ed trips where their feasting etc was acted out.  Loved it.  Fat and chunky so am waiting a bit before I read the next.  London, Staffordshire, and York with all points in between......Derbyshire for sure.

 

 

 

 

 

[Robin M]

Waving hello, I'm here.  Will get the new thread set up in a few.  

[Robin M]

Link to week 14 - please continue conversation in new thread