Book a Week 2019 - BW18: Whodunit Bookology - Peter Zak

[Robin M]

Welcome to week eighteen in our 52 Books rambling roads reading adventure. Greetings to all our readers, welcome to all who are joining in for the first time and everyone following our progress. Visit  52 Books in 52 Weeks where you can find all the information on the annual, mini and perpetual challenges, as well as the central spot to share links to your book reviews. 

Our Whodunit Bookology Detective for May is Peter Zak, the brainchild of author Hallie Ephron and Dr. Donald Davidoff. The character is the director of the Pierce Psychiatric Hospital in the five book medical/psychological series and is based loosely on Dr. Davidoff. 

There are a number of ways to complete the bookology challenge, including but not limited, to the suggestions below: 

Read the first book in the series.
Read one book per letter in the character's first or last name.
Read one book per letter in the author's first or last name.
If you're feeling really ambitious, one book per letter in the character's first and last name.
Follow in a character's footsteps and read a book set in the country or time period of the character.
Follow in the author's footsteps and read a book set in their place or time of birth.
Follow myriad rabbit trails with Nine Great Medical Thrillers chosen by a physician, Best New Medical Thrillers To Keep You Up All Night, Best 'real' psychological fiction, best fiction for neuroscientists or Fictional Psychologists/Therapists.

Happy trails!

What are you reading?

Link to week seventeen

[Robin M]

I have Amnesia,  the first book in the Peter Zak series, in my stacks to read. 

"Sylvia Jackson was shot in the head and left for dead in a cemetery in Boston, her boyfriend lying dead a few yards away. She's in a coma for six weeks, and when she wakes up, she can't remember anything--until three months later, when suddenly she begins to recall details of the crime and the killer. Finally, Sylvia accuses her ex-husband, remembering what seems like incontrovertible evidence of his guilt. Enter Dr. Peter Zak. 

Peter, the director of Pierce Psychiatric Hospital, quit acting as an expert on memory and crime for the Boston PD a year ago when his wife was brutally murdered by a killer he'd testified against in court. But when his old colleagues call and ask him to consult on this bizarre and seemingly rock-solid case of amnesia, he's hooked. It's Peter's job to determine how reliable her memory really is, and hopefully to use those memories to uncover what really happened that night in the cemetery."

Currently on book #7 Blaze of Memory in the Psy Changeling series. 

"Dev Santos discovers her unconscious and battered, with no memory of who she is. All she knows is that she's dangerous. Charged with protecting his people's most vulnerable secrets, Dev is duty-bound to eliminate all threats. It's a task he's never hesitated to complete...until he finds himself drawn to a woman who might prove to be the enemy's most insidious weapon yet.

Stripped of her memories by a shadowy oppressor and programmed to carry out cold-blooded murder, Katya Haas is fighting desperately for her sanity. Her only hope is Dev. But how can she expect to gain the trust of a man who could very well be her next target? For in this game, one must die..."

Writing wise, Finished Dennis Palumbo's Writing from the Inside Out.   Paired with Writer's Guide to Persistence, the ongoing theme the universe is trying to tell me is commit wholeheartedly  and treat your writing like a relationship and give it unconditional love and be persistent about it. 

Now reading Steven James Story Trumps Structure 

"Don't limit your fiction - LIBERATE IT. All too often, following the "rules" of writing can constrict rather than inspire you. With Story Trumps Structure, you can shed those rules - about three-act structure, rising action, outlining, and more - to craft your most powerful, emotional, and gripping stories.  Award-winning novelist Steven James explains how to trust the narrative process to make your story believable, compelling, and engaging, and debunks the common myths that hold writers back from creating their best work.  Ditch your outline and learn to write organically. Set up promises for readers - and deliver on them. Discover how to craft a satisfying climax. Master the subtleties of characterization. Add mind-blowing twists to your fiction. When you focus on what lies at the heart of story - tension, desire, crisis, escalation, struggle, discovery - rather than plot templates and formulas, you'll begin to break out of the box and write fiction that resonates with your readers. Story Trumps Structure will transform the way you think about stories and the way you write them, forever. "

 

[mumto2]

I saved a link from the SBTB blog to share with the romance fans among us.  I can think of a couple of BaWer’s who would be great at this!   They are looking for new reviewers and actually pay for reviews.   They want someone who is truly familiar with the romance genre...... Here’s the link if anyone is interested https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2019/04/reviewers-wanted/

My family has been keeping me busy and I haven’t finished listening to Milkman.  Hopefully I will manage to finish it soon!

After finishing the paper version of Tombland (all 800 pages of it) which I found a bit depressing,  I have been enjoying some lighter (in every way) books on my Kindle. A couple of Urban Fantasies, the next book in my Patricia Briggs reread,  Fair Game an Alpha and Omega https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12359238-fair-game., and a short story ( although I thought it was a book when I downloaded it 🤣) called Undercover Gorgon https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29368664-witches-war which was quite good.  I will probably try and figure the order of these books out and read them at some point.  I also finished The Fall of Water https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24558550-a-fall-of-water which is the last in the main Elemental series by Elizabeth Hunter.  I  may continue with some of the other books.  I also read a couple of romances that were OK, Plain Secrets (an Amish suspense) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13545607-plain-secrets and Under the Table https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13545607-plain-secrets.

 

[Mothersweets]

Didn't finish anything last week. Just wanted to pop in and say hi! 

[Lady Florida.]

I finished quite a few books since my last update almost a month ago.  I keep meaning to post but the week gets away from me. Before I know it, it's Saturday and I decide to just wait for the new thread. This time I decided I'd better jump in at the start of the week's thread so it doesn't happen again.

Finished -

Buried in the Sky
Pachinko
The Ghost Map
An Old Betrayal
The Laws of Murder
Richard II
The Beautiful and Damned audiobook - which I just finished about an hour ago.

I felt like it had been forever since I read a mystery and I was really missing my favorite comfort genre. I decided to read my next Charles Lenox mystery, An Old Betrayal. I must have really missed mysteries because I immediately started the next one, The Laws of Murder. I also could have easily picked up the next one but I had some other books I wanted to get to or finish. 

Buried in the Sky and The Ghost Map are both non-fiction and each was good in its own way.  Richard II was part of my personal Shakespeare challenge plus I had tickets to see it on Friday so although it wasn't necessary, I really wanted to finish it before the play. I finished just in time - Thursday night. 

I listened to The Beautiful and Damned because I've long been curious about other F. Scott Fitzgerald novels but have only read The Great Gatsby. I wasn't impressed. Bored, immoral rich people were interesting in the short, <200 page Gatsby, but 400+ pages of their empty lives was about 300 pages too many imo. I finished it because I wanted to have read at least one of his other novels (It isn't the only one I tried to read, but is the only one I was able to finish). I think I'm done reading Fitzgerald now. 🙂 

Currently reading - 

Still- Devil in the Grove and The Winter of Our Discontent. Both are good but also easy to put down. I don't think I'd call them sip reads but I'm reading them slowly and will finish when I finish. 

There, There is for my book club. It took a little while to grab me but now it has and I really like it. If I have any complaints it's that there are a lot of characters. I know from the synopsis that they'll all come together at one specific event but I hope by that time I remember who they all are. It's really quite good. 
And last, I'm reading the next book in The Saxon Stories, Sword Song. 

[Lady Florida.]

I didn't want to put this in with my book update but I also have an Emma update. She's free from the feeding tube! She had been pulling out the ng tube and they were going to have to have a gastric tube (stomach tube) inserted if they couldn't get her to take enough nutritionally from either a bottle or solid food. They had a date scheduled for the tube but the doctors said it could be cancelled as late as the day it was supposed to happen. Thanks to an amazing occupational therapist she's now taking a bottle regularly and they were able to cancel the procedure. She's also beginning to enjoy some tasty, albeit mushy, solid food. This is the first professional photo taken without her tube. All her previous ones had the tube taped to her cheek and going into her nose. 

 

[Ottakee]

1 hour ago, Lady Florida. said:

I didn't want to put this in with my book update but I also have an Emma update. She's free from the feeding tube! She had been pulling out the ng tube and they were going to have to have a gastric tube (stomach tube) inserted if they couldn't get her to take enough nutritionally from either a bottle or solid food. They had a date scheduled for the tube but the doctors said it could be cancelled as late as the day it was supposed to happen. Thanks to an amazing occupational therapist she's now taking a bottle regularly and they were able to cancel the procedure. She's also beginning to enjoy some tasty, albeit mushy, solid food. This is the first professional photo taken without her tube. All her previous ones had the tube taped to her cheek and going into her nose. 

 

I love the update and the picture.  

[purpleowl]

I had four finishes this week!

J. Gresham Machen, The Virgin Birth of Christ - academic work, very thorough, very good.

H. G. Wells, The Time Machine - it was okay. I mean, I read all of it, fairly quickly--it kept me engaged. But I think I was hoping for...maybe for more to happen? I don't know.

Steven J. Lawson, The Heroic Boldness of Martin Luther - a quick read, with a bit of general biographical info on Luther followed by an analysis of his preaching. It was a nice complement to the volume of Luther's writings (most of which were not sermons) that I read a few weeks ago.

Dale Ralph Davis, 1 Kings: The Wisdom and the Folly - commentary I'd been reading for personal devotions. I love Davis's exposition and will start his book on 2 Kings tomorrow.

I haven't decided what I'll be reading next. I have a couple of options in mind.

I am up to 26 books read for this year, with my Goodreads goal set at 40. I think participating in this thread is very motivating - I want to be able to post here and say that I've finished something each week! 😄

[Violet Crown]

1 hour ago, Lady Florida. said:

I didn't want to put this in with my book update but I also have an Emma update. She's free from the feeding tube! She had been pulling out the ng tube and they were going to have to have a gastric tube (stomach tube) inserted if they couldn't get her to take enough nutritionally from either a bottle or solid food. They had a date scheduled for the tube but the doctors said it could be cancelled as late as the day it was supposed to happen. Thanks to an amazing occupational therapist she's now taking a bottle regularly and they were able to cancel the procedure. She's also beginning to enjoy some tasty, albeit mushy, solid food. This is the first professional photo taken without her tube. All her previous ones had the tube taped to her cheek and going into her nose.

I clicked on "thanks" but I really wanted to click on the laughing face: all that adorableness literally made me laugh with joy.

[Violet Crown]

Two books this week:

31. Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels. Everyone remembers Lilliput and Brobdingnag from the children's versions, but reading the real book for the first time in years, it was striking how apposite the Laputa section is. Laputa, you recall, is a flying island, designed and run by socially inept technocrats contemptuous of anyone not good at math. They rule over the rest of the kingdom's inhabitants, who live in what is literally fly-over country, punishing those who resist the Laputan views by hovering over them to block out the sun, or where resistance is fierce, literally crushing them.

32. T. S. Eliot, Four Quartets. I read this last year; but poetry, like chili, is better every time it's reheated.
Go, go, go, said the bird: human kind/ Cannot bear very much reality.

This week's reading: Some American poetry, some Dante, and surely the times call for Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Not just because of the fire, but because for Bad Catholics, today is Quasimodo Sunday. Really! And I've never read it before. Or seen the movie.

 

Edited April 29, 2019 by Violet Crown

[Junie]

2 hours ago, Violet Crown said:

Two books this week:

31. Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels. Everyone remembers Lilliput and Brobdingnag from the children's versions, but reading the real book for the first time in years, it was striking how apposite the Laputa section is. Laputa, you recall, is a flying island, designed and run by socially inept technocrats contemptuous of anyone not good at math. They rule over the rest of the kingdom's inhabitants, who live in what is literally fly-over country, punishing those who resist the Laputan views by hovering over them to block out the sun, or where resistance is fierce, literally crushing them.

32. T. S. Eliot, Four Quartets. I read this last year; but poetry, like chili, is better every time it's reheated.
Go, go, go, said the bird: human kind/ Cannot bear very much reality.

This week's reading: Some American poetry, some Dante, and surely the times call for Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Not just because of the fire, but because for Bad Catholics, today is Quasimodo Sunday. Really! And I've never read it before. Or seen the movie.

 

I was just coming here to post that I finished The Hunchback of Notre Dame this week.  It was my first time reading it and I really, really enjoyed it.

I also finished another Agatha Christie book of short stories.

 

Edited April 29, 2019 by Junie

[Kareni]

Some bookish posts ~

7 TERRIFIC AUDIOBOOKS WITH THEATRICAL NARRATORS

https://bookriot.com/2019/04/15/audiobooks-with-theatrical-narrators/

50 MUST-READ LITERARY BIOGRAPHIES

https://bookriot.com/2019/04/12/literary-biographies/

Regards

Kareni
 

[Mothersweets]

Kathy, great update and she is a darling!

[JennW in SoCal]

Good Monday morning to everyone!

I'm coming out of a surreal weekend, bookended by large violent spectacle, namely the Avengers Endgame movie and last night's Game of Thrones epic battle. But the real horror happened just 2 blocks from my church, the shooting at the Chabad synagogue on Saturday. My church, active in the area interfaith community, was the location of the candlelight vigil held the night of the shooting. I have friends who live around that synagogue, I have friends who teach at the high school where the shooter graduated and where the dad taught. My facebook has been full of friends sharing their grief over who they know. 

It is just surreal to have this happen within my community and yet my life continues to chug along.

So books! I went to my favorite independent bookstore to celebrate Independent Bookstore day and bought a few fun titles, one of which is a slim volume "what to read with what you read". It has recipes or food recommended by authors to go with their book along with book recommendations of their own. For instance Pachinko author MIn Jin Lee has specific Korean take out recommendations, while Lisa Halliday has a recipe that isn't part of the recommended menu of what to eat while reading her book. And there are blank pages for your own notes and book club party planning. 

Since I last updated here I managed to finish a few books:

Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsy was really good sci fi.  I thought it might wind up a thriller/horror book given that half the book is about giant sentient arachnids, but it was a much smarter book than that. Great characters, unexpected turns in the plot. 

Hidden Depths by Ann Cleeves, part of the Vera Stanhope series. I love the Vera books, and this was no exception. Vera herself is a great character, but Ann Cleeves often fills her books with all sorts of interesting characters and she lets us in on the inner workings of their very imperfect, human minds.

Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch. This is a reread, but this time on audio. I found it just as delightful as the first time, but even better thanks to the narrator. I'm not sure if these books reheat as well as poetry and chili, but I anticipate revisiting them from time to time the way I do the Master and Commander books and all the Discworld books. 

Am currently reading the non-fiction Map Thief by Michael Blanding. It is a great mix of the history of maps and map making and the inner world of map collectors. And the guy who got caught with *a box knife* at Yale's Beinecke Library -- one of the great rare book collections in the world.

Code of the Woosters has been the perfect light listen to balance out the surreal weekend.  

[SKL]

I finished Book 7 of the Mahabharata.  Hoping book 8 goes fast.

I took 10 days off of reading during our travels.  Just got back last night.  I did take a book to read, but between all the running around & trying to keep up with my work, I had no time or energy for fun reading.  Sleep was at a premium.

I misplaced our audiobook "The Long Winter" which we had almost finished the week before Easter.  Anyway my car is in the shop - hope to have it back along with (hopefully) the misplaced audiobook tomorrow.

[aggieamy]

On 4/28/2019 at 3:02 PM, Mothersweets said:

Didn't finish anything last week. Just wanted to pop in and say hi! 

This is me. Or the week before. I'm in such a reading rut. Ugh.

22 hours ago, Lady Florida. said:

 

I hope this isn't creepy but she's so cute I kinda want to hold her close and smother her in kisses. In a friendly BaW auntie type way. Not in a creepy internet weirdo type way.

Please don't get a restraining order. 

5 hours ago, JennW in SoCal said:

I'm coming out of a surreal weekend, bookended by large violent spectacle, namely the Avengers Endgame movie and last night's Game of Thrones epic battle. But the real horror happened just 2 blocks from my church, the shooting at the Chabad synagogue on Saturday. My church, active in the area interfaith community, was the location of the candlelight vigil held the night of the shooting. I have friends who live around that synagogue, I have friends who teach at the high school where the shooter graduated and where the dad taught. My facebook has been full of friends sharing their grief over who they know. 

It is just surreal to have this happen within my community and yet my life continues to chug along.

 

 

I know just what you mean. A block from my house a man had a seizure while driving and hit a 14 yo girl walking home from school ON THE SIDEWALK. My DD didn't know her because they went to different schools but the neighbor girl did. She was drug half a block and died. Two blocks away there's a family that's devastated by a random tragedy. And yet my children are healthy and happy and doing great.

((HUGS))

[Kareni]

A fun bookish post from the Word Wenches site ~

What We're Reading: April Edition

Also:

8 HAND LETTERING BOOKS TO GET YOU STARTED WITH THE ART

Regards,

Kareni

[Ottakee]

I don't participate in the threads much but I love getting ideas for new books and authors here.

I just finished an excellent audio book.  The kind that makes you want to sit in the car longer just to hear more of the story.  Send Down the Rain by Charles Martin.  I had enjoyed one of his previous books, The Mountain Between Us, but this one tops that one.  A story of hope and redemption.

[mumto2]

3 hours ago, Ottakee said:

I don't participate in the threads much but I love getting ideas for new books and authors here.

I just finished an excellent audio book.  The kind that makes you want to sit in the car longer just to hear more of the story.  Send Down the Rain by Charles Martin.  I had enjoyed one of his previous books, The Mountain Between Us, but this one tops that one.  A story of hope and redemption.

My library has it! 😁

I finished last month’s spelling challenge......Brother Cadfael

B......Cast a Blue Shadow by PL Gaus

R......The Last Victim by Karen Robards

O......Not Quite Over You by Susan Mallery

T........Tombland by CJ Sansom

H.......Hush Hush by Mel Sherratt

E.......The French Girl by Lexie Elliot

R.......Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield

 

C......Connections in Death by JD Robb

A.......The Flight Attendant by Chris Bihjalian

D.......Disco for the Departed by Colin Cotteril

F........Circle of the Moon by Faith Hunter

A........Thr Right Attitude to Rain by Alexander McCall Smith

E........One Corpse Too Many by Ellis Peters

L........Sew Deadly by Elizabeth Lynn Casey

Edited April 30, 2019 by mumto2

[Violet Crown]

The plan for reading Notre-Dame de Paris has foundered on the shoals of unavailability. The public library doesn't have it; the university (!) mega-library doesn't have it (except for a lonely Puffin adapted-for-children edition); the local used bookstores don't have it; the usual $0.01+shipping copies are not to be found on bookfinder.com. I can only conclude that the fire at the Cathedral spiked demand. Never mind; we can be patient.

[Loesje22000]

I finished 'The Teagirl from Hummingbirdlane' and 'Stonecutter' last week.

I missed quite some BaW threads I am afraid, so I was wondering if there is any summer read a long again?

[mumto2]

39 minutes ago, Violet Crown said:

The plan for reading Notre-Dame de Paris has foundered on the shoals of unavailability. The public library doesn't have it; the university (!) mega-library doesn't have it (except for a lonely Puffin adapted-for-children edition); the local used bookstores don't have it; the usual $0.01+shipping copies are not to be found on bookfinder.com. I can only conclude that the fire at the Cathedral spiked demand. Never mind; we can be patient.

I can certainly see interest increasing in The Hunchback of Notre Dame........... I thought I had a free kindle edition but my sort does not seem to be making it appear.   I know Dd read it which may mean we have a physical copy somewhere.  I would say that this would be a great summer read except availability will be a problem and @Juniejust read it.

13 minutes ago, loesje22000 said:

I finished 'The Teagirl from Hummingbirdlane' and 'Stonecutter' last week.

I missed quite some BaW threads I am afraid, so I was wondering if there is any summer read a long again?

@Robin MI would be happy to participate in a summer read along but I don’t think Robin has officially planned one so far.  I believe we discussed a couple of potentials back in December or January but can’t remember what they were, and it may just have been me and my lists.  Ideas,  I suspect might be needed.🤔

[Matryoshka]

I haven't updated in a few weeks... oops... I think this is what I've read since my last update.  Lots of Murderbot!: 

35. Artificial Condition (Murderbot Diaries #2) by Martha Wells (ebook) - I apparently only gave the first book 3 stars (might have been 3.5, no way to tell on GR...), but if anything these seem to get more fun as they go along, as I gave this 4 stars.

36. I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown (audio) - A long cathartic rant/memoir about being black (and female) in a society that assumes whiteness in all things as a default.  Thought it was worthwhile reading.  4 stars.

37. Rogue Protocol (Murderbot Diaries #3) by Martha Wells -  and the next one...   4 stars.

38. Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor - This was okay, but fell short of what I'd hoped for.   Shape-shifting aliens land in Lagos, Nigeria, and lots of stuff happens.  It was a bit disjointed.  3 stars.

39. The Girl Who Smiled Beads by Clemantine Wamariya and Elizabeth Weil (audio) - A memoir of a girl who survived the Rwandan genocide, and how it continued to affect her even though she was a 'success' story - went to Yale, went on Oprah, was reunited with her family.  It alternates the story of her life after coming to America as a refugee with her life from 6-12 as a refugee with her older sister over many countries in central and southern Africa.  I thought it was very well done. 5 stars.

40. Exit Strategy (Murderbot Diaries #4) by Martha Wells - the last book in the Murderbot Diaries (could easily have been combined into one big book!). There's supposed to be an actual Murderbot novel coming out soon...  4 stars.

41. The Argonautika by Appolonius - Jason and his peeps go and get the Golden Fleece from Aeëtes.  I remembered that Herakles came along on this trip, but not that they abandoned him very shortly into it.  Also interesting after having recently read Circe, where many of the same characters come up (although the relationships and sequences are not always the same).  Ends just as they return; soonish will read Medea the play.  Using this for the Sea Voyage square.  3.5 stars.

42. The Monk of Mokha by Dave Eggers (audio) - this started off a bit slow, but by the end I got fairly caught up in it.  It's a biography, so a real story.  The main character starts off as one of those guys that has grandiose plans but is actually working as a doorman and living with his parents after never finishing college.  But this one makes good - he's an autodidact, and he finally fixes on a grandiose plan - one so big that it seems undoable - but that he makes good on, with some really crazy adventures in Yemen along the way. 4 stars.

43. The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson (ebook) - a concubine and a mapmaker who can make magical maps escape from the Alhambra with the help of a jinn on the eve of its fall to the Reconquista.  So, historical fantasy?  3 stars.

44. Barrayar (Vorkogsian Saga #7) by Lois McMaster Bujold - Even though this says it's #7, I've only read one other in this series, which chronologically is just before this one.  A woman from an advanced, enlightened colony in space ends up falling in love with a nobleman from a relatively backward and militaristic planet where they still have things like noblemen and an Emperor (a child for whom her new husband becomes regent), and women are not considered equal.  Lots of political intrigue and machinations, so I'm using for the Machiavellian Bingo square.  3.5 stars.

Currently reading: 

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner (audio) - I'd never read any Faulkner, and this had better narration than the copy of The Sound and the Fury on Overdrive.  I'm honestly not liking it.  But I'm over halfway done, and it's audio, so I'll persist, and then I can have an informed opinion about Faulkner, at least.  It's not the stream of consciousness or the multiple narrators I have a problem with at all - it's that I can't stand any of these characters and they're all annoying me. Which is likely intentional as most of the neighbors can't stand them either, but still.  But I can even sometimes like books with unlikable characters if the book has other redeeming qualities - makes me think, say - but the whole story premise (carrying around a rotting corpse because ... stubborn idiots). What am I supposed to learn or ponder here?  I tried to find some literary analysis that tells me what's so great, but can't find any insight there either. And Darl has quite the thesaurus-worthy vocabulary having grown up in a family where everyone else is as dumb as a rock.  This is supposed to be one of the best novels of the 20th century???  Why???

And still reading Atemschaukel/The Hunger Angel by Herta Müller and The Warning Voice (Story of the Stone #3) - this I'm one reading slowly so it doesn't end too soon - delightful.  And about to start on The Lowells of Massachusetts (nonfiction, ebook) and Memory of Empire for my SciFi book club.

[Emba]

I listened to the audio of The Naming of the Dead by Ian Rankin. It’s my first Inspector Rebus book, and I enjoyed it, especially because I was sure, just sure, I knew who done it very early on, and was wrong. Nice to be surprised.

 

[Violet Crown]

1 hour ago, Matryoshka said:

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner (audio) - I'd never read any Faulkner, and this had better narration than the copy of The Sound and the Fury on Overdrive.  I'm honestly not liking it.  But I'm over halfway done, and it's audio, so I'll persist, and then I can have an informed opinion about Faulkner, at least.  It's not the stream of consciousness or the multiple narrators I have a problem with at all - it's that I can't stand any of these characters and they're all annoying me. Which is likely intentional as most of the neighbors can't stand them either, but still.  But I can even sometimes like books with unlikable characters if the book has other redeeming qualities - makes me think, say - but the whole story premise (carrying around a rotting corpse because ... stubborn idiots). What am I supposed to learn or ponder here?  I tried to find some literary analysis that tells me what's so great, but can't find any insight there either. And Darl has quite the thesaurus-worthy vocabulary having grown up in a family where everyone else is as dumb as a rock.  This is supposed to be one of the best novels of the 20th century???  Why???

The strangeness of the premise (and the stranger aspect that she isn't even really dead until they bury her) may work better for you if you think of it as Tragic Farce (or I suppose farcical tragedy, depending on how you weight the novel). The fractured, stream-of-consciousness narrative is very Faulknerian (at least in As I Lay Dying he tells you who you're hearing from now, as opposed to switching narrators unannounced in the middle of a paragraph), and takes some getting used to; it seems to be how he prefers to achieve his effect of particular realism.

It strikes a lot of people that Faulkner's characters seem to talk, or at least think, like Faulkner; again, he wants to achieve a kind of realism, backwards as that may seem, by letting the reader have the immediacy of Darl's thoughts, and not distorting them second-hand through the prism of his dialect, intelligence, or lack of education. At least that's how I read it. YMMV.

[Kareni]

Thus far this week I've read Maria Vale's A Wolf Apart (The Legend of All Wolves Book 2) which I enjoyed. I seem to recall that @mumto2 read this. I'll continue on with the series. (Adult content)

 "Can a human truly make room in her heart for the Wild?

Thea Villalobos has long since given up trying to be what others expect of her. So in Elijah Sorensson she can see through the man of the world to a man who is passionate to the point of heartbreak. But something inside him is dying...

Elijah Sorensson has all kinds of outward success: bespoke suits, designer New York City apartment, women clamoring for his attention. Except Elijah despises the human life he's forced to endure. He's Alpha of his generation of the Great North Pack, and the wolf inside him will no longer be restrained... "

**

I also reread Anne Bishop's Wild Country which I continue to think has a large cast of characters. It's not my favorite entry in the series, but I definitely look forward to more books in this world.

 "There are ghost towns in the world—places where the humans were annihilated in retaliation for the slaughter of the shape-shifting Others.

One of those places is Bennett, a town at the northern end of the Elder Hills—a town surrounded by the wild country. Now efforts are being made to resettle Bennett as a community where humans and Others live and work together. A young female police officer has been hired as the deputy to a Wolfgard sheriff. A deadly type of Other wants to run a human-style saloon. And a couple with four foster children—one of whom is a blood prophet—hope to find acceptance.
 
But as they reopen the stores and the professional offices and start to make lives for themselves, the town of Bennett attracts the attention of other humans looking for profit. And the arrival of the outlaw Blackstone Clan will either unite Others and humans...or bury them all."

Regards,

Kareni

[Robin M]

On 4/28/2019 at 4:00 PM, Lady Florida. said:

I didn't want to put this in with my book update but I also have an Emma update. She's free from the feeding tube! She had been pulling out the ng tube and they were going to have to have a gastric tube (stomach tube) inserted if they couldn't get her to take enough nutritionally from either a bottle or solid food. They had a date scheduled for the tube but the doctors said it could be cancelled as late as the day it was supposed to happen. Thanks to an amazing occupational therapist she's now taking a bottle regularly and they were able to cancel the procedure. She's also beginning to enjoy some tasty, albeit mushy, solid food. This is the first professional photo taken without her tube. All her previous ones had the tube taped to her cheek and going into her nose. 

 

Yeah and Aw! Always happy to hear an Emma update. She's absolutely adorable. 😍

[Robin M]

Summer readin', happen so fast,  I met a book crazy as can be.  da dum da dum.  Tune courtesy of Grease. 

🤩

I'm open for a readalong so if anyone has any suggestions, fire away.  I'll do a bit of brainstorming, plus look through the older threads VC mentioned.  

[aggieamy]

On 4/30/2019 at 8:27 PM, Robin M said:

Summer readin', happen so fast,  I met a book crazy as can be.  da dum da dum.  Tune courtesy of Grease. 

🤩

I'm open for a readalong so if anyone has any suggestions, fire away.  I'll do a bit of brainstorming, plus look through the older threads VC mentioned.  

My vote would be for one of those classics that we were supposed to read in high school (or that we did read) but are better understood as adults. I don't know what exactly though. As long as it isn't Hemingway! 

[Violet Crown]

7 hours ago, aggieamy said:

My vote would be for one of those classics that we were supposed to read in high school (or that we did read) but are better understood as adults. I don't know what exactly though. As long as it isn't Hemingway! 

Ooooo! Can I make a list? I think I mentioned above that Gulliver's Travels is much better now that one can recognize Laputa as a transparent satire on Silicon Valley. 

[mumto2]

28 minutes ago, Violet Crown said:

Ooooo! Can I make a list? I think I mentioned above that Gulliver's Travels is much better now that one can recognize Laputa as a transparent satire on Silicon Valley. 

You should definitely make a list!

I finished listening to Milkman (good) and am now on to a 3 book “Expanse” audio marathon.  They have all arrived with perfect timing because I am trying to finish a quilt project.  I also need to stay ahead of my daughter who loves this series too!  She is chugging her way through the paper versions.

I read the second AD Scott “A Double Death in the Black Isle” which was a good solid mystery with great characters.....the main character is an abused spouse so be advised.  It’s not cozy at all.  One of my Scotland reads.

 

 

[Lady Florida.]

On 4/29/2019 at 5:40 PM, aggieamy said:

 

I hope this isn't creepy but she's so cute I kinda want to hold her close and smother her in kisses. In a friendly BaW auntie type way. Not in a creepy internet weirdo type way.

Please don't get a restraining order. 

 

 

Don't worry. I have a facebook friend I've never met in person who said something similar when I shared that picture on FB.  😂

On 4/30/2019 at 10:32 AM, Violet Crown said:

The plan for reading Notre-Dame de Paris has foundered on the shoals of unavailability. The public library doesn't have it; the university (!) mega-library doesn't have it (except for a lonely Puffin adapted-for-children edition); the local used bookstores don't have it; the usual $0.01+shipping copies are not to be found on bookfinder.com. I can only conclude that the fire at the Cathedral spiked demand. Never mind; we can be patient.

 

On 4/28/2019 at 9:42 PM, Junie said:

I was just coming here to post that I finished The Hunchback of Notre Dame this week.  It was my first time reading it and I really, really enjoyed it.

 

 

I have the free Kindle version and was going to start it but I need to finish another book or two first. Out of curiosity I checked my library. They have it always available as an ebook (there are a number of public domain classics on their always available Overdrive list). There are hard copies available at several branches. Oddly, it's the audio books and dvd's of various movie adaptations that are all checked out and have long hold lists. 

[aggieamy]

2 hours ago, Violet Crown said:

Ooooo! Can I make a list? I think I mentioned above that Gulliver's Travels is much better now that one can recognize Laputa as a transparent satire on Silicon Valley. 

Please do! 

Kevin just finished Great Expectations and spent thirty minutes telling me how JK Rowling ripped off the story idea for Harry Potter from Dickens and added wizards. That was the only change according to him. 

[Violet Crown]

2 minutes ago, Lady Florida. said:

I have the free Kindle version and was going to start it but I need to finish another book or two first. Out of curiosity I checked my library. They have it always available as an ebook (there are a number of public domain classics on their always available Overdrive list). There are hard copies available at several branches. Oddly, it's the audio books and dvd's of various movie adaptations that are all checked out and have long hold lists. 

Interesting! I haven't checked e-books because I hate reading electronically so much (it's on Project Gutenberg too, but I lasted three pages). But the long hold list seems to support the recent-interest theory.

1 minute ago, aggieamy said:

Kevin just finished Great Expectations and spent thirty minutes telling me how JK Rowling ripped off the story idea for Harry Potter from Dickens and added wizards. That was the only change according to him. 

We'll throw that one on the stack then! Here's a quick list; please add. (Sorry table format unavailable)

This high school work is better in our maturity...
1. Dickens, Great Expectations
2. Euripides, Medea
3. Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
4. Homer, The Iliad
5. Swift, Gulliver's Travels
6. Sartre, No Exit
7. James, The Portrait of a Lady
8. Shakespeare, King Lear
9. Faulkner, As I Lay Dying
10. Poe, "The Cask of Amontillado"
11. James, The Turn of the Screw
12. Shakespeare, Hamlet
13. Melville, Moby Dick

... because now we've all ...
1. ... read Harry Potter and want to see the source material. (h/t Kevin)
2. ... seen a horrifying marital break-up where both spouses know exactly which buttons to push.
3. ... met people who go through life blithely wrecking things and letting others pick up the pieces.
4. ... found out first-hand what damage ungoverned anger does.
5. ... lived in a society ruled by overweening technocrats.
6. ... discovered the hard way that Hell really is other people.
7. ... known women abused by men who never laid a finger on them.
8. ... begun to see Regan's and Goneril's point.
9. ... had neighbors like the Bundrens, whom we'd gladly pay to Go Away.
10. ... entertained that particular fantasy. Oh, we'd let them out after a while. Really.
11. ... hired at least one crazy babysitter.
12. ... seen kids who come home from college all judge-y about their parents.
13. ... started cheering for the murderous whale. Hey, no one made you go harpooning endangered species.

Dishonorable mention:
Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird ... is worse in our maturity, because now we've all ... met our hundredth child named Atticus or Scout.

[Violet Crown]

One last post before getting some actual homeschooling done. Just in case, here's the works that may count as classics on my current to-read list. If anyone is seized with a desire to read along.

Anonymous, Beowulf
Anonymous, "The Phoenix" (poem)
Asser, The Life of King Alfred
Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment
Emerson, Essays
Euripides, Bacchae
Hesiod, Theogony/ Works and Days
Irving, The Alhambra
James (Henry), Roderick Hudson
James (William), Psychology, A Briefer Course
Lucretius, De Rerum Natura
Perez Galdos, Fortunata and Jacinta
Plautus, Amphitryon
Sophocles, Oedipus Tyrannus
Terence, Phormio

Edited May 2, 2019 by Violet Crown
hit post too soon

[madteaparty]

22 minutes ago, Violet Crown said:

Interesting! I haven't checked e-books because I hate reading electronically so much (it's on Project Gutenberg too, but I lasted three pages). But the long hold list seems to support the recent-interest theory.

We'll throw that one on the stack then! Here's a quick list; please add. (Sorry table format unavailable)

This high school work is better in our maturity...
1. Dickens, Great Expectations
2. Euripides, Medea
3. Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
4. Homer, The Iliad
5. Swift, Gulliver's Travels
6. Sartre, No Exit
7. James, The Portrait of a Lady
8. Shakespeare, King Lear
9. Faulkner, As I Lay Dying
10. Poe, "The Cask of Amontillado"
11. James, The Turn of the Screw
12. Shakespeare, Hamlet
13. Melville, Moby Dick

... because now we've all ...
1. ... read Harry Potter and want to see the source material. (h/t Kevin)
2. ... seen a horrifying marital break-up where both spouses know exactly which buttons to push.
3. ... met people who go through life blithely wrecking things and letting others pick up the pieces.
4. ... found out first-hand what damage ungoverned anger does.
5. ... lived in a society ruled by overweening technocrats.
6. ... discovered the hard way that Hell really is other people.
7. ... known women abused by men who never laid a finger on them.
8. ... begun to see Regan's and Goneril's point.
9. ... had neighbors like the Bundrens, whom we'd gladly pay to Go Away.
10. ... entertained that particular fantasy. Oh, we'd let them out after a while. Really.
11. ... hired at least one crazy babysitter.
12. ... seen kids who come home from college all judge-y about their parents.
13. ... started cheering for the murderous whale. Hey, no one made you go harpooning endangered species.

Dishonorable mention:
Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird ... is worse in our maturity, because now we've all ... met our hundredth child named Atticus or Scout.

Anna Karenina is so much better in middle age, too. 

[Kareni]

I'm visiting my sister in anticipation of my nephew's wedding next weekend. (So therefore my sister and brother-in-law just left for two days; their plans changed after I booked my ticket...oops!) While traveling yesterday, I enjoyed reading Lucy Parker's The Austen Playbook

 "In which experienced West End actress Freddy Carlton takes on an Austen-inspired play, a scandal at a country estate, an enthusiastic search for a passion outside of acting…and the (some people might say icy*) heart of London’s most feared theater critic.

*if those people were being nice

Freddy Carlton knows she should be focusing on her lines for The Austen Playbook, a live-action TV event where viewers choose the outcome of each scene, but her concentration’s been blown. The palatial estate housing the endeavor is now run by the rude (brilliant) critic who’s consistently slammed her performances of late. James “Griff” Ford-Griffin has a penchant for sarcasm, a majestic nose and all the sensitivity of a sledgehammer.

She can’t take her eyes off him.

Griff can hardly focus with a contagious joy fairy flitting about near him, especially when Freddy looks at him like that. His only concern right now should be on shutting down his younger brother’s well-intentioned (disastrous) schemes—or at the very least on the production (not this one) that might save his family home from the banks.

Instead all he can think of is soft skin and vibrant curls.

As he’s reluctantly dragged into her quest to rediscover her passion for the stage and Freddy is drawn into his research on a legendary theater star, the adage about appearances being deceiving proves abundantly true. It’s the unlikely start of something enormous…but a single revelation about the past could derail it all. "

Incidentally, the three former books in this series (all of which can standalone and which I enjoyed) are on sale for $1.99; this is quite a deal!  London Celebrities Collection: An Anthology

Regards,

Kareni

[Liz CA]

I am late to the party this week. I need to look into Peter Zak mysteries - thanks, Robin. Sounds right up my alley.

I am thoroughly enjoying "Sebastian St. Cyr" by C. S. Harris as well. 

Reading:

Where Shadows Dance (my first Sebastian St. Cyr book - loved it) I was not able to get the first book in the series on Overdrive.

"When Gods Die" by C. S. Harris

Audiobook:

"The Anatomist's wife" by Anna Lee Huber

I am not far enough in to say much about it yet.

[Matryoshka]

3 hours ago, Violet Crown said:

Interesting! I haven't checked e-books because I hate reading electronically so much (it's on Project Gutenberg too, but I lasted three pages). But the long hold list seems to support the recent-interest theory.

We'll throw that one on the stack then! Here's a quick list; please add. (Sorry table format unavailable)

This high school work is better in our maturity...
1. Dickens, Great Expectations
2. Euripides, Medea
3. Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
4. Homer, The Iliad
5. Swift, Gulliver's Travels
6. Sartre, No Exit
7. James, The Portrait of a Lady
8. Shakespeare, King Lear
9. Faulkner, As I Lay Dying
10. Poe, "The Cask of Amontillado"
11. James, The Turn of the Screw
12. Shakespeare, Hamlet
13. Melville, Moby Dick

... because now we've all ...
1. ... read Harry Potter and want to see the source material. (h/t Kevin)
2. ... seen a horrifying marital break-up where both spouses know exactly which buttons to push.
3. ... met people who go through life blithely wrecking things and letting others pick up the pieces.
4. ... found out first-hand what damage ungoverned anger does.
5. ... lived in a society ruled by overweening technocrats.
6. ... discovered the hard way that Hell really is other people.
7. ... known women abused by men who never laid a finger on them.
8. ... begun to see Regan's and Goneril's point.
9. ... had neighbors like the Bundrens, whom we'd gladly pay to Go Away.
10. ... entertained that particular fantasy. Oh, we'd let them out after a while. Really.
11. ... hired at least one crazy babysitter.
12. ... seen kids who come home from college all judge-y about their parents.
13. ... started cheering for the murderous whale. Hey, no one made you go harpooning endangered species.

Dishonorable mention:
Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird ... is worse in our maturity, because now we've all ... met our hundredth child named Atticus or Scout.

LOL on so many of these, except I have to say the Bundrens need to Go Away no matter what my age.  I don't think I've disliked a book so viscerally in quite a while.  If Vardaman says "My mother is a fish" one more time I may have to drive into a tree (listening in car...).  The only explanation for the characters in this book is that there must be a very high level of lead in their well.  There is no excuse for making me read about these horrible people.  You made a valiant effort trying to tell me why this book isn't just awful, but I don't buy it as any kind of tragic farce either.  Then there should be humor.  I feel like Cash - being forced to ride in a wagon atop a rotting corpse with a broken leg wrapped in cement for no reasonable purpose.  If this is typical Faulkner, this will be my last (again, no problem at all with stream of consciousness.  That's not the problem...)

I just finished Moby Dick, but I loved it (and I had been expecting a slog!)  I'll highly recommend the William Hootkins audio again for anyone who's interested.   You all should pick that as the readalong and consider that I just jumped the gun.  I'd love to talk more about it. 

Medea, the original play and a retelling as well, are on my list this year...   The Turn of the Screw was one I read in high school and didn't much like at the time but has stuck with me and I've somehow gained appreciation for as it's sat with me these many years.  I've thought of re-reading it.

3 hours ago, madteaparty said:

Anna Karenina is so much better in middle age, too. 

I never read this until I was an adult.  I loved it, but even as I read it I thought this was a book you needed to read after already having been married to really appreciate...

3 hours ago, Violet Crown said:

One last post before getting some actual homeschooling done. Just in case, here's the works that may count as classics on my current to-read list. If anyone is seized with a desire to read along.

Anonymous, Beowulf
Anonymous, "The Phoenix" (poem)
Asser, The Life of King Alfred
Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment
Emerson, Essays
Euripides, Bacchae
Hesiod, Theogony/ Works and Days
Irving, The Alhambra
James (Henry), Roderick Hudson
James (William), Psychology, A Briefer Course
Lucretius, De Rerum Natura
Perez Galdos, Fortunata and Jacinta
Plautus, Amphitryon
Sophocles, Oedipus Tyrannus
Terence, Phormio

I'd been toying with Irving's The Alhambra - a friend recently read it and said it was wonderful.  But not sure if I'll get to it this year.

I think I would like to read Fortunata and Jacinta - I went to look to see if I'd already read it, but I think I was just very familiar with the title from Spanish Lit classes.  I was a bit worried when I realized it was the same author as Marianela, but someone on GR wrote a great review saying how much that story bored them in high school (when I also read it) but that they loved this book.  I think I'll shortlist it for next year; my Spanish reading card for this year has no room for a 1000+ page book! 

[Matryoshka]

On 4/30/2019 at 10:32 AM, Violet Crown said:

The plan for reading Notre-Dame de Paris has foundered on the shoals of unavailability. The public library doesn't have it; the university (!) mega-library doesn't have it (except for a lonely Puffin adapted-for-children edition); the local used bookstores don't have it; the usual $0.01+shipping copies are not to be found on bookfinder.com. I can only conclude that the fire at the Cathedral spiked demand. Never mind; we can be patient.

Huh.  My library has most checked out, but not all, and I think on most I'd be the first in line.  Although for something like this, that was surely badly translated the first couple of times (for most 19th century French novels, the aim was fast and dirty and 'editing' was sometimes heavy) - I'd want to figure out what's the best translation and resign myself to maybe having to buy it.  This would be very apropos for a readalong this year...  maybe things will have died down by summer, when good intentions and public attention span wane...

[Violet Crown]

6 minutes ago, Matryoshka said:

Then there should be humor.

But the end was hilarious! Got me mah NEW TEETH!!

However, there are supposedly Great Books that no earthly power could make me re-read, too; so I'm right there with you in spirit, if not with regard to the particular text.

[Matryoshka]

Just now, Violet Crown said:

But the end was hilarious! Got me mah NEW TEETH!!

However, there are supposedly Great Books that no earthly power could make me re-read, too; so I'm right there with you in spirit, if not with regard to the particular text.

LOL, haven't gotten there yet (almost!) but there has been enough heavyhanded foreshadowing that it isn't really a spoiler... 

[Violet Crown]

2 minutes ago, Matryoshka said:

Huh.  My library has most checked out, but not all, and I think on most I'd be the first in line.  Although for something like this, that was surely badly translated the first couple of times (for most 19th century French novels, the aim was fast and dirty and 'editing' was sometimes heavy) - I'd want to figure out what's the best translation and resign myself to maybe having to buy it.  This would be very apropos for a readalong this year...  maybe things will have died down by summer, when good intentions and public attention span wane...

Yeah I have my eye on the Oxford World's Classic.

I like to visit the big used bookstore near Big State U. about this time of the semester, for the lovely Oxford and Penguin Classics on the clearance shelf, from undergraduates who couldn't get rid of the books fast enough.

[Violet Crown]

5 minutes ago, Matryoshka said:

LOL, haven't gotten there yet (almost!) but there has been enough heavyhanded foreshadowing that it isn't really a spoiler... 

Whoops. Well there's more at the end that I didn't reveal, which may yet (crossing fingers) make you change your mind. Or maybe not. 😉

So, my biggest Faulkner disappointment: I read The Wild Palms (an older edition, before it was renamed If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem), and got a little whiplash from the interweaving of the two plots. Not only are they set in completely different times and places, but the tone is utterly different. How would these two disparate storylines eventually unite? I wondered.

Well they don't. They're two separate novellas, utterly unrelated (despite Wikipedia's desperate attempt to find a common basis in that they're both, um, about a man and a woman, see?) Faulkner just makes you read them both alternately, whether you like it or not, with no hint that they're DIFFERENT BOOKS.

[madteaparty]

13 minutes ago, Matryoshka said:

Huh.  My library has most checked out, but not all, and I think on most I'd be the first in line.  Although for something like this, that was surely badly translated the first couple of times (for most 19th century French novels, the aim was fast and dirty and 'editing' was sometimes heavy) - I'd want to figure out what's the best translation and resign myself to maybe having to buy it.  This would be very apropos for a readalong this year...  maybe things will have died down by summer, when good intentions and public attention span wane...

The version I have of this is decidedly bad. Font is too small, and anyway I have the tiniest of attention spans. Some of these books have this baptism of fire in the beginning to make sure you will stick. Think the catalogue of ships in the Iliad and the catalogue of demon-cum-idol in Paradise Lost book one or two.if you need an encyclopedia by your pillow, well...

i recall the Hunchback of Notredame has some sort of extended, crowd-size inside joke at the beginning and I never made it past. Penguin classics versions have served me so I will turn to that once I muster some wherewithal.

[Lady Florida.]

23 minutes ago, Matryoshka said:

Huh.  My library has most checked out, but not all, and I think on most I'd be the first in line.  Although for something like this, that was surely badly translated the first couple of times (for most 19th century French novels, the aim was fast and dirty and 'editing' was sometimes heavy) - I'd want to figure out what's the best translation and resign myself to maybe having to buy it.  This would be very apropos for a readalong this year...  maybe things will have died down by summer, when good intentions and public attention span wane...

Yes, I'd like to know that too. I'm pretty sure my free Kindle version is one of those early translations. I tried to look it up but I guess it's not as popular a topic as translations of other novels. Usually I can just google "best translations of _____" and get a bunch of hits. Not so with this one. I'd prefer an ebook edition but would go with a print book if that's the only way I can get a really good translation. 

[Matryoshka]

10 minutes ago, Lady Florida. said:

Yes, I'd like to know that too. I'm pretty sure my free Kindle version is one of those early translations. I tried to look it up but I guess it's not as popular a topic as translations of other novels. Usually I can just google "best translations of _____" and get a bunch of hits. Not so with this one. I'd prefer an ebook edition but would go with a print book if that's the only way I can get a really good translation. 

 

I just googled and found this helpful review with different translations (and the original!) side-by-side.   What do you all think?  I maybe be starting to go cross-eyed trying to compare them...  (and I have to say I rather like the sample translation by random internet dude (the author of that comparative review) - too bad it's just a paragraph).

Edited May 2, 2019 by Matryoshka

[Lady Florida.]

16 minutes ago, Matryoshka said:

 

I just googled and found this helpful review with different translations (and the original!) side-by-side.   What do you all think?  I maybe be starting to go cross-eyed trying to compare them...  (and I have to say I rather like the sample translation by random internet dude (the author of that comparative review) - too bad it's just a paragraph).

Hmmm. Apparently I have the Hapgood (1888) translation. According to that reviewer he's one of the translators among "all the rest defacing Hugo as much as his detested 'masons' were then defacing the medieval facade of Paris".  

I'm not very good at choosing a translation on my own which is why I usually look at a number of sites and read many opinions before choosing one. I know enough to know that word for word translations (which a lot of early translators did) is usually not the best way to go, and that those who can translate the author's voice without changing too much are the best. However since I don't read any other languages I'm not able to make that decision on my own. That's where opinions, essays, comparisons, and discussions are helpful to me.

[Teaching3bears]

I'm trying to get back into reading.  I have been too busy but it grounds me in times of stress.  I have been reading snippets of a bunch of non-fiction books.  The only book I read cover-to cover for myself lately was Note to Self edited by Gayle King which is a collection of short letters by famous people to their younger self.  It makes you want to figure out what you would tell your younger self if you could.  It's a short read.

For homeschooling we are reading the Tripod trilogy as well as the prequel which we read first.  It is really grabbing DSs' attention on days when they are so jumpy that it is hard to read to them.  I think it was considered science fiction but today I really think it would be considered dystopian.  I read one of the books as a tween but none of it felt in any way familiar to me.  It's so sad how much we forget.  Anyways, it's a well-thought out series.  We are also reading Sophie's World.  For me, it is the third time reading this and I am enjoying it even more this time around. 

[Loesje22000]

I read The Hunchback a few years ago and have it shelved in memory as ‘very good readable’...

From the list from Violet Crown I read:

1. Dickens, Great Expectations

7. James, The Portrait of a Lady

11. James, The Turn of the Screw
 

I just finished a Faulkner and I don’t think I can handle another one that soon...

Maybe I should hunt for a better Translation of Gulliver, because that book I left unfinished, because the book went totally over my head... I felt sooo dumb 😞

I want a book I can read in Dutch as summerreading, if possible.