WHAT ARE YOU READING? - Part 2

We are chatty this year :) The first thread is getting long so time for a new one.

What are you reading early in the shortest month of the year? If you are setting monthly goals, does February throws all your planning off?

I’m deep in Chaucer: A European Life by Marion Turner. I’m also reading Poseidon’s Steed and occasionally City Lights Pocket Poets Anthology. I don’t have an audiobook going.

Still reading Men Who Hate Women by Laura Bates. I'm sort of still reading Dracula but I'm getting a little tired of novels at the moment so I'm sort of switching things up with non-fiction for a little while. It's part of my reading goals for this year to read more of it anyway :)

I am at page 700 of a 1100 page biography on the Morgenthau family and just started Run Towards The Danger by Sarah Polley

Does LT have a limit to the length of topics? Folks seem to roll over to new topics much more quickly than at other forums I've taken part in. Not a complaint, just an observation.

>5 KeithChaffee: No limit, just habit. I think threads tend to go ~200 posts, give or take a lot. At 150 posts a continue option appears and you can link to a new thread.

>5 KeithChaffee: After about 200 posts or so, threads start to load really slow on slower connections and smaller screens. That’s especially true for ones with pictures in them (covers and so on) and there the problem is made even worse by the jumping of the thread (it calculates where to drop it before it loads most of the images - so you are in a weird place when they load) but even regular ones can get slow. The automatic “continue this thread” which allows the automated linking at the top of the new one and bottom of the old thread comes up at 150 posts. You can continue it via it at any time after that and I tend to keep an eye on loading time when I am opening the thread. When it starts feeling slow, I roll it over.

>6 dchaikin: >7 AnnieMod: Thanks; very helpful.

I finished The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise. Good book. Currently working on TWO audiobooks which is unusual. I started Arsenic and Adobo but I couldn't get the volume high enough in the car to be able to understand it over the driving noise. So I'm listening to that in the house, and I started Homer's Odyssey. It's still on the soft side, but better. It seems to be a common issue with the Libby App. Does anyone have any tricks to get more volume?

>7 AnnieMod: “it calculates where to drop it before it loads most of the images - so you are in a weird place when they load”

I’m sure everyone has their own way of managing this. On my phone when i load a page and end up nowhere near the last read message, I click the up arrow, right side, that takes you to the 1st post. Then i click to “jump to last read message”. That gets me to the right place without reloading anything.

>10 dchaikin: Oh, yes - I know how to get to the correct place - but it is still annoying with all the jumping around. And on longer threads, sometimes I even start reading something before it moves away from me. :) I did not mention reloading anywhere - just the process of loading the images which moves the thread around. :)

Posted this on the old thread yesterday ,putting it up here in case folk missed it

Finished the lily hand review here https://www.librarything.com/topic/347243#

now reading A Far Cry from Kensington

Dan that little trick has been very helpful!

I'm reading The Madwoman of Serrano and have The Captive Mind at hand, although I'm only sporadically creeping along in it.

I tend to start a new thread around 250 posts, unless a new month comes along and I'm already over 200.

argggggh! So I spent much of the afternoon reading a far cry from Kensington and enjoying myself, till I turned the page, I realized there were two pages missing. I checked to see if they were stuck or something, then noticed that on the reverse side of page 65 was page 68. Ive never encountered printing mistake before . is there a way of finding pages 66 and 67 on line? Id appreciate any advice.

I'm reading Bunny by Mona Awad and it's really good! I've been doing a lot of driving to dog sit recently, so I've been listening to the audiobook on the drive. Unreliable narrators in horror-ish type books tend to put me in a weird headspace where I start to feel like an unreliable narrator myself, haha. I am really enjoying it, and am super immersed. 65% of the way!

>14 cindydavid4: Google with the publisher name, the title, author and the pages numbers and see if it will pop up somewhere? If it is a common misprint, it is very likely that someone had posted the missing pages somewhere. You may also have some luck searching with the last line on page 65 and/or the first on page 68 - combined with any of the other elements maybe.

It is a bit late in the book for an ebook sample to have a chance to be useful here. Maybe see if the library has an ebook you can borrow (unless there is a waiting list of course - then you are a bit stuck)? You can read it in a browser for 2 pages if need be.

Well googling didn't help.I called our indie bookseller and they did not have it, neither did our huge used bookstore. Library is not opened till 10am on Monday.. ..but thinking about it,would I be able to get it online? Thanks for your ideas

So does anyone have a copy that you could scan those two pages and send to my email?

>17 cindydavid4: what is on those pages? Which chapter and so on? Google books has 24 pages or so ( https://books.google.com/books/about/A_Far_Cry_from_Kensington.html?id=bQuhw84IC... no numbers but some seem to be later - They skipped some).

Note also the search :https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Far_Cry_from_Kensington/bQuhw84ICYAC?hl=en - that occasionally can pull pages if you look for a sentence from the pages you do have around the missing ones.

And as you need specific pages, sharing the publisher will help. Or last/first sentences…

>17 cindydavid4: i’m not home or i could send to you. Share the sentences immediately before after the glitch and I’ll try to help when i get home.

>19 dchaikin: chapter 6, pg 65 "but you should also tell the postman, the mechanic, the waiter, the porter, the grocer the butcher domestic hel;you shoud tell everyoneincluding people you meet on the train"

pg 68, "while waiting for another job I considered myself on holiday"

many thanks

>20 cindydavid4: i recognize the 1st line, p65. I love that line! Timeless job-search advice

>14 cindydavid4: A Far Cry ….. is available on OpenLibrary. org Wonderful resource for free e-books.

I finished reading The Woman in White yesterday, and I finished Burial Rites today. Both buddy reads/book club reads. I also read Theodor W. Stone's Immensee in Found in Translation.

I need to catch up on my reading of Bleak House, which got a touch derailed last month. Other reading includes Tress of the Emerald Sea and Happier Hour, both on Kindle. I need to figure out what I want to listen to next.

>15 liz4444: Oh I LOVE this book :)

I finished Annie Ernaux's The Years, which I thought was a different and interesting take on memoir, and I quite liked it as a whole (though it took me a while to get through... probably more about my reading life than the book).

Then read Elspeth Barker's O Caledonia on a friend's recommendation and woooo I just loved it. If you like dark coming of age, it might be your kind of thing. It just made me happy to read, even though it's not a happy book.

And picked Lydia Millet's Dinosaurs back up again after having a couple of library holds interrupt it. The boo went down easily and I liked it, though I couldn't quite escape the feeling that she was trying to do too many things with a simple narrative. But for all that, I'm glad it was simple and not some kind of ornate plot design.

Now I'm reading a book my sister sent me, Do I Know You?: A Family's Journey Through Aging and Alzheimer's by Bette Ann Moskowitz, a memoir of two sisters dealing with their mother's decline from dementia. I see why she wanted me to read it—there's so much that echoes what we went through too. I'm just nodding along, sometimes laughing—it's funny and sad all at the same time.

Reading (again, apparently) Gurnah's second novel, Pilgrim's Way.

edited to note the book is the author's second not first novel....

After finishing The Word is Murder I've started Arrowood.

>23 shadrach_anki:

I loved The Woman in White. Will need to look up your thread to see your thoughts.

I found an audiobook that’s working (really nicely so far): The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride. This was a Club Read recommendation last year from rocketjk and others (maybe Cindy?)

(One parallel to my themes: McBrides’s Jewish mother married his father in 1942 in the NYC area, about the same time Richard Wright married Ellen Poplar, also Jewish, in NY. They married in 1941 and had two daughters.)

I've started another book from the Dadelus Africa series: The Ultimate Tragedy by Abdulia Sila. It's the first novel from Guinea Bissau to be translated into English. So far it's very good, and unlike Madwoman of Serrano give a strong sense of place and history.

I'm slowly making my way through Harlem Shuffle, the latest novel by Colson Whitehead, and South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation by Imani Perry, the winner of last year's National Book Award for Nonfiction. The latter book will be very appropriate next week, as I'll drive from Philadelphia to my previous home in Atlanta and back.

>23 shadrach_anki: I loved the Woman in White. I read it with my partner and he loved it as well. I'd be interested to know your thoughts on it :)

>21 dchaikin: oh she has many of those. the one had me craking up

(Hector is a nemisis of the Narrator who has called him a Pissuer de copia.she it talking to a luncheon partner)

"How did you come upon this job mrs hawkins"

I told him the story

"and what was the name you called the man?"

"pissuer de copia"

'which means? "

"in the literary world there are many pissuer de copia but Hector Bartlett is the top poc"

"Oh but have met him.....poor fellow does he have a real problem with is bladder then?"

and

"Mrs Hawkins I take incalculable pains withmy prose style Hector said"

He did indeed She thought. The pain shows.

Thanks for the info on the Open library!

>29 dchaikin: I read it for a book group. Liked it until....dont remember but it has to do with his Jewishness. Will need to backt o see what the problem was

I finished The Summer Book a few days ago and loved it. 5*

I’ve begun a reread of The Sound and the Fury as I continue to make my way slowly through Joseph Blottner’s biography of Faulkner. This is an outstanding biography, and I’m in no rush to finish it. I’m at the point where Faulkner has finished Light in August and is about to leave for Hollywood to earn some money as a screenwriter. It’s such a shame that although by this point in his career, he was recognized as an outstanding writer, his books did not sell well enough to bring him a comfortable income—or else his publisher went bankrupt and failed to pay him royalties he was owed.

Currently juggling a few things:
Exercises in Style
The Ballad of the Sad Cafe
Girls I Know
Rodney Dangerfield's biography
Piano Stories
It's looking like McCullers is most likely going to be the next one I finish, and I'll probably end up moving to The Member of the Wedding after that, unless someone has an idea of which biography of her is the best. Queneau is fun when it's fun, has the distinct affect of hitting a page count when it's not, but has distinct limitations in translation (which isn't to say the translation is poorly done).

A more general question for you all: I have never been an audiobook person -- I think the only audiobook I've ever made a diligent effort at was some sort of commentary on Genesis, if I recall correctly. What do you look for when you are deciding on an audiobook?

I just finished Men Who Hate Women by Laura Bates. It was a really great book, and a very challenging one as well but I'm really glad I read it. I do recommend it but to just be aware that it holds nothing back.

I am about a fifth of the way through Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry. This is the February selection for my monthly reading group. I am very much enjoying Berry's beautiful use of language and gentle, affectionate storytelling style. After all the histories and biographies I've been reading about racism, cruelty, poverty and war, this Berry's novel is just what the doctor ordered for me and I've been happily sinking into it, kind of like lowering myself into a warm bath after a day of satisfying but physically demanding labor.

>29 dchaikin: Sounds like you're enjoying The Color of Water, Dan, which makes me happy.

>36 slimeboy: I try to listen to a snippet before purchasing, to see if I like the narrator's voice.

>33 cindydavid4: Good stuff. i really enjoyed the humor in A Far Cry from Kensington

>36 slimeboy: the short answer is try samples. Audible offers free 5 minute samples. And second is expect some trial and error. i initially found I liked nonfiction light books, the more like NPR the better. But i now use audio for a variety of styles.

>36 slimeboy: What do you look for when you are deciding on an audiobook?

I look for unabridged titles, and if I'm not already familiar with the narrator I'll typically listen to a sample first to make sure the voice works for me. And if there are multiple options (see any number of classics) I'll frequently sample several versions before deciding.

When I first started listening to audiobooks, I mostly stuck to things I had already previously read, or that I had access to a print edition of. Audiobook listening is a skill, and I had to develop it before I felt comfortable just listening to something completely new. I also found that being able to adjust the playback speed was a real game-changer, and all of the modern audiobook apps I've used have a nice level of granularity to the controls.

>36 slimeboy: Im not generally an audio person, I tend to get too distracted. But when I have, I look for the best narration. its not always the author

Finished the Gurnah, now reading from the The Forward Book of Poetry 2023 and have started another Gail Jones novel, Our Shadows

>26 avaland: Second, not first, isn't it? Memory of Departure came out a year earlier (unless I missed somewhere a note about this one being written earlier - the style kinda sounds closer to his later ones though so it does not feel like one...)

Review of far from kensington here https://www.librarything.com/topic/347243#

I started The Tuner of Silences last night. I've been looking forward to this since reading Darryl/kidzdoc's review in 2021. So far it's very compelling, both voice and writing.

I unexpectedly finished my book on Chaucer on the airplane taxiway before takeoff. It had 40 pages of references. So I quickly downloaded The Trees, (and then back to airplane mode before takeoff). I got a bunch of smartass dialogue, which I also didn’t expect, except it’s actually funny. Gets more serious. Anyway that’s what I’m reading now.

A Three Book Problem came in at the library so I picked it up on Thursday and finished it on Sunday.

One of my bookclub members is lending me City of Miracles which I must resist starting until I finish Cloud Cuckoo Land which is due back in less than a week and I have over 500 pages left to read.

>36 slimeboy: What do you look for when you are deciding on an audiobook?

I only use audio for nonfiction; I don’t track a story very well in audio and also the different voices to mark dialogue annoys me. And since I check out audiobooks from the library digitally, I don’t bother to vet them with samples or anything, if they annoy me for any reason I just return it.

>14 cindydavid4: It might be contagious. This happened in my morning (almost finished!) read of Celestial Harmonies:

>50 ELiz_M: Ha! Although 16 or 32 pages missing is a binding issue and not so uncommon in non digitally created books especially- always annoying though :) 2 pages missing, starting from an even one is a lot weirder because it is a printing error... I cannot even think of an easy way for it to happen while printing...

If you are missing that many, thats gotta affect the story line. Can you find another that has the pages? Looks like a very intersting book; thats a place and history I really don't know much about.
Aside from the missing pages how are you liking it?

>50 ELiz_M: oh, that stinks. Especially at page 817! Sorry Liz.

So close and yet so far!

Started I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy.

>44 AnnieMod: You are correct. Gawd, I love his books. Just the newest one to read....

Just finished reading I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jeanette McCurdy. For once, a book that actually lives up to the insane amount of hype. It was amazing and it's going to have a permeant place on my shelf because it really means a lot. I can't wait to see what McCurdy writes next because I'll buy anything that she puts out :)

>1 AnnieMod: I am planning to read more books written by R.L Stine. Especially his famous Goosebumps books.

Right now I am on Goosebumps Series 2000 #21: The Haunted Car. After reading that I will read; Goosebumps #50: Calling All Creeps and The Art of Goosebumps.

Started The Autobiography of Malcolm X.

Have set aside (temporarily) one novel to read another, Altered Light By Jens Christian Grøndahl.

I'm reading Devil in the Grove, an autobiography of Thurgood Marshall and one of his pivotal cases. It's really hard to read about 1940s America for Black people, but it's also important and really informs the issues we still have today.

I've also finished my reread of To the Lighthouse and started The Land of Green Plums. This will be difficult, I think, because I don't have a lot of background in Romania during Ceausescu.

I'm reading Alice Munro's wonderful Friend of My Youth.

my review of mort is here https://www.librarything.com/topic/347243#n8061175

next in line the book of chameleons

I finished The Trees, which did something to unsettle me, I think. I'm going back to the seahorses in Poseidon's Steed, but sadly I'm not feeling into them. And I'm tossing about what to read next. I have By the Sea by Abdulrazak Gurnah on my plan next.

I felt like something light for a Friday afternoon (I'm enjoying Cloud Cuckoo Land but light it ain't) so I picked The Case of the Missing Marquess off Mt TBR.

>66 dchaikin: Gurnah, always a good choice, imo.

Started The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas

>66 dchaikin: thats a good one

Finished The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas. It was only 139 pages but I thought it was crap. I have a feeling it was the translation, which was horrifically bad, but either way I didn't like this book at all.

>71 Bamf102: Oh, that's too bad! I loved The Ice Palace.

>72 japaul22: I'm glad you did but I didn't connect with it in the slightest lol

I'm now reading Joan Is Okay by Weiki Wang.

I just read the first chapter of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke, and I had a smile on my face the entire time. I don't really know why this book has grabbed me so quickly, but I do know that I haven't felt this excited by a novel in quite a while. I have that butterfly feeling in my stomach and it's lovely :)

I tried that book twice and for some reason it just didn't take. iT should have: magic, fantasy, england, whats not to love? I may have to try it again.

Now reading a desert harvest I am not familiar with the author but apparently he has done a lot of work about the southwest over his life time. Lives in Aspen and is involved in the Folk Festival there, Liking his style so far and he's not pushing any of my buttons. Hes got several other books, so if this one works out Ill try some more

>76 cindydavid4: Possibly, but maybe it's just not the right book for you and that's fine :)

>66 dchaikin: >68 avaland: I have Abdulrazak Gurnah’s By the Sea pre-ordered on Audible. It’s not due for audio release till the end of August this year. I’m also waiting for Donal Ryan’s The Queen of Dirt Island but it’s due in a couple of weeks on Audible.

February has been a difficult week for me physically and I’ve been unable to settle on anything I’ve picked up. Reservoir 13: A Novel by Jon McGregor is a beautifully written but unusual novel about English village life which is mesmerizing but I can’t grip on it. Other novels I’d hoped to read have had the same result.

>79 kjuliff: wish you well. I listened to Gurnah's Afterlives in December and I thought it was terrific on audio.

>80 dchaikin: I loved Gurnah’s Afterlives too. He’s now one of my favorites.

I'm currently reading a book called Iron Gold by Pierce Brown. Really good book. Its a five book series and I'm on the fourth.

I’m reading Beyond This Point Are Monsters by Margaret Millar.

I'm 62 pages into Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, and it makes me so happy. I love the dry Jane Austen style humour and comedy of manners thing a lot. The world feels so real to me and like I can touch and smell everything that's being described. I love how the sentences are formed and how people talk to each other. Hopefully it continues to be this great because I'm really happy right now :)

>62 japaul22: I'll be curious to read your thoughts on Land of the Green Plums. I read it and Hunger Angel but never connected fully with her writing.

>50 ELiz_M: My library system had a copy of Celestial Harmonies, so I was finally able to finish it. I also read and finished two shorter books this week: W, Or the Memory of Childhood and Tentacle.

I’m currently reading Liberation Day: Short Stories byGeorge Saunders and I am really impressed. I can’t remember who put me on to this book - I’d never heard of this writer. I can see it in a couple of members’ libraries that I follow- banjo123 and framji, but maybe it came up in the Science Fiction Fans group.

In any case I’ve only read the first story, which has the same name as the title, and I can’t wait to read more of Saunders’ work. So a big thank you to whoever put me on to this exciting set of short stories,

Review of the book of chameleons is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/347243#n8064838

>87 kjuliff: Lincoln in the Bardo is his most famous book. It is best on audio.

>89 dianeham: I feel I have uncovered a goldmine.

I've just finished Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry. This is a beautiful reverie of a novel about life in the small, rural Kentucky river town of Port William, the people who live and, especially, farm there and the changes that gradually drain the life out of the town's way of life over the years, from the 1910s through the 1980s. The story is told via a sort of fictional talking memoir by the title character, a keen and loving observer of and commentator about the life of the town and the gradual death of its way of life. The wonderful strengths of this book are Berry's powers of observation and description, his obvious love of his fictional town, its people and rhythms and its natural setting. Berry is also a poet, and as one of the blurbs on the back of my edition of this book points out, that poetic facility is readily evident in the ebb and flow of Berry's sentences and paragraphs. There is love and sadness in this book, but also much gladness and humor. I've put up a longer review, with several longish quotations, on my CR thread.

I've now gone back to one of the many series I'm in the middle of, digging into The Devil's Punchbowl, the third book in Greg Iles' enjoyable Penn Cage mystery series.

Today I zipped through Tomas Tranströmer's little collection of childhood vignettes called Memories Look at Me. Next up: The First Wife: A Tale of Polygamy by Paulina Chiziane.

>87 kjuliff: nice to hear. I really like George Saunders, but haven't actually read any of those short stories he is famous for.

So, I did start reading By the Sea by Gurnah, and only 35-pages in, I'm quite happy to be there. Also I picked up another book of poetry (I'm expecting a gasp. Please consider). Sorry, anyway, I cracked open the Collected Poems of Donald Justice, published in 2004, the year he passed away. I feel pretty content with my day's reading.

>93 dchaikin: There’s an insightful review of Liberation Day: Short Stories by Anne Enright in the Guardian
(10/2022)
Liberation Day by George Saunders review – a hell of a ride

Started Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda. This is a different sort of vampire tale apparently, and I haven't read many vampire novels. Very little of them actually, so I'm curious to see how this one is and it's only 210 pages :)

I started City of Miracles which is the last book in the Divine Cities trilogy.

George Saunders is currently discussing the writing of one of his own stories, "CommComm," in his Story Club newsletter/class. I can't recommend it enough, even though I tend not to participate that much in the online conversations, not being an actual writer of fiction. But his takes on the writing process, and his insight into what makes it work or not on a really personal basis, are just great. I am a big fan.

I finished Bette Ann Moskowitz's Do I Know You: A Family's Journey Through Aging and Alzheimer's, which my sister sent me—so many of our own experiences were reflected in Moskowitz's account, and it got me thinking about how something made up of so many unique stories can have so many core experiences that they share. It made me think a lot about my mom's last years and the many decisions we had to navigate, and actually left me feeling good about that for the most part.

Now reading Andrea Barrett's short story collection Natural History. I'm always happy to sink into work—I love the good writing and the science-historical themes.

I had a long drive today, so I started listening to Middlemarch on audio (read by Maureen O'Brady). I remembered liking it very much when I read it decades ago, but I had forgotten how funny Eliot's turn of phrase can be. I laughed out loud in the car.

>97 lisapeet: Thanks for letting me know of this. I’d love to listen. But need to be a paid subscriber for this session.
https://georgesaunders.substack.com/p/commcomm-2
I checked and it’s not so expensive but am on a tight budget. Still I’ll look into it some more to see if Story Club covers more of my writing interests. I subscribed to the free option.

>98 labfs39: it’s a great listen. I had been concerned it wouldn’t work well narrated but Maureen O’Brady did a great job. I’ve started doing searches on translator names when looking for a new Audiobook.

>98 labfs39: Juliet Stevenson also does a fabulous job narrating Middlemarch. She makes it impossible to miss those sly ironic jabs. So glad you’re liking it in audio.

Finished Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda. This book was just..ok? The vampirism felt completely pointless and I didn't really understand why it was there at all. The main character was really dull and I felt like I was always at a distance when reading the book, and the topics discussed were not executed that well in my opinion. I only finished it because it was so short and read quite fast, but nothing really happened in it at all.

reading kingdom of elfin for the February author read. Am bummed that I didn't get the edition with a forward by Neil Gaiman and a cover from Arthur Rachman. But I am liking it the book enough

>100 kjuliff: I’ve started doing searches on translator names when looking for a new Audiobook.

That's a great idea.

>101 dianelouise100: I listened to a sample of Stevenson's reading and liked it a bit more than O'Brady perhaps, but I didn't have to use a credit for the O'Brady, so went with that one.

Started The Age of Innocence this morning - Wharton was writing historical fiction about the 1870’s (Wharton was born in 1862, and TAoI was originally published in 1920.)

>105 dchaikin: I'm planning on reading that book this year so I'll be interested to see what your thoughts are :)

>84 Bamf102: I've been meaning to read this forever! I loved Piranesi by Susanna Clarke, and I've seen this book recommended on goodreads based on my other reading. This has convinced me to bump it up my list!

>107 liz4444: I hope you enjoy it! I have a copy of Piranesi and I'll get to it this year, but I'm not sure what I'm going to think about it

Review of small things like these here https://www.librarything.com/topic/347243#n8066450

next up the hero of this book which I might just be reading for the March rtt challenge, or just for me. I do like her writing

Started The Shining by Stephen King because I have a hankering for horror. I'm still enjoying Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke a lot, I just haven't read much of it in the last few days lol

I've started reading The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. My review of A World on the Wing: The Global Odyssey of Migratory Birds is on my thread, along with brief reviews of some short stories from 100 Creepy Little Creature Stories.

Had you already read circe? I think it's easier to approach Achilles if you read circe first . I had some Friends who didn't and were turned off by the book..

>114 cindydavid4: ( >113 Julie_in_the_Library: ) interesting. I don’t see that. The two Miller books are independent. Song of Achilles came out first and it’s the book Miller spent ten years on, rewriting, until she found the style that she liked.

It might be good to read the Iliad before The Song of Achilles. 🙂 (it does add to her book!)

Song of Achilles I actually DNF'd last year, but I love Circe. I think this is just a case of me connecting a lot more to Circe's story rather than Song of Achilles though

I didnt realize at the time that Circe was her second, and which explains why I thought it the better of the two. Its not that I didn't like it but I think I had more of a bsckground of the lay of the land esp getting refamilar with the pantheon of the gods. For those who dont have that background, will ilkely be more confused if they read Achilles first. imho of courses :)

>117 cindydavid4: I definitely don't have the background but I do have a copy of The Iliad and I plan on reading it this year, so maybe once I do that I might return to Song of Achilles

Heirs to the Forgotten kingdom: Journeys into the Disappearing Religions of the Middle East This sounds good. Hope Ibstick with it.

So I'm almost halfway through The Shining and I'm really enjoying the book overall, but the characterisation of Danny isn't really working for me. He's 5 years old and talks like an adult about 95% of the time, and I understand that he's a strange child and isn't supposed to talk like a normal 5 year old, but it really throws me off. It wouldn't be so bad if more adults around him commented on the way that he talks, but even Jack and Wendy don't find it that odd they just assume he talks that way because they don't talk down to him. I care about Danny and want this family to be ok, but his character voice kinda ruins my immersion a bit and I'm always aware that this is just a story.

>114 cindydavid4: >115 dchaikin: I have not read Circe, though it is also on my TBR. it doesn't surprise me that some of you liked it better. Authors often gain in skill as they write more books.

I have read the Iliad, more than once, for different college courses. I own the 2004 edition of the Robert Fitzgerald translation, if I need to look anything up or re-familiarize myself with any aspects of the story.

I also still have the notebooks I used to take notes during most of my college classes (though I haven't actually unboxed them from the move in 2020), so if I need or want to, I can also find my class notes on the Iliad for even more context. I actually started digitizing them a few years back, so my notes from Greek Civilization and Ancient Epics are both in my OneNote already.

>121 Julie_in_the_Library: fwiw, I preferred The Song of Achilles. I enjoyed how she mixed it into the Illiad, which I had read shortly before (obviously a much larger commitment. I read Miller as an add on, sort of). Circe doesn’t have much classical text to tie into, just pieces here and there and a cameo in The Odyssey. So I missed the talking between the books.

Finished The Shining. I thought this was decent overall and I enjoyed the character study of Jack, but I didn't really care for the story that much really. It was entertaining enough but nothing really special for me and I wouldn't read it again, but I'm glad I read another classic of King's books.

>121 Julie_in_the_Library: >122 dchaikin: Another Song of Achilles fan here. As Dan says, it fits into the canon well, whereas Miller had to imagine a lot more for Circe. I like Circe too, especially since it brings light to an interesting female character only glancingly referred to in Homer, but thought SoA the better book. Everyone approaches a book from a different place. I'll look forward to your impressions.

I finished The Devil's Punchbowl by Greg Iles. This is the third entry in Iles' Penn Cage mystery/thriller series. Cage is an ex-Houston Assistant District Attorney who, at series start, has moved back to his hometown, Natchez, Mississippi. By now he is the mayor, two years into his 4-year term. As the book begins, an old friend brings Cage evidence that their is evil afoot emanating from the riverboat casino whose presence Cage, as mayor, has arranged for in order to bring jobs and tax revenue. Before long, naturally, mayhem has ensued. The evildoers running the casino are, in fact, evil indeed. Very evil. Super evil. There is some graphic violence, including a couple of rape scenes. If those are not deal killers for you (they teeter on the brink of that for me), and if you are in the mood from some escapist good vs. evil thriller reading, this series is otherwise nicely written and pretty good. I'm rating this 3 1/2 stars.

Next up for me will be An Easy Burden: The Civil Rights Movement and the Transformation of America a memoir by Andrew Young.

Reading Things We Never Got Over by Lucy Score. Usually I hate romcoms and small town romances but I'm 45% of the way through this and I'm loving it :)

>124 labfs39: whereas Miller had to imagine a lot more for Circe.

see thats what makes it fun! But then I like takes on old stories (see Natalie Haynes books for more

sigh I just received a lovely copy of the first edition of the brothers ashkenazi so at present I am juggling I think 6 books and this really is not tenable. Think I need to finish Februarys books first but all those other shiny covers are calling to me like Sirens

Finished Things We Never Got Over by Lucy Score and I absolutely loved it! I'm shocked because it has almost everything I don't like in a romance but I was obsessed, and the author even made me love every single character and got me invested in the town! Rarely happens with romance because I'm usually just interested in the main couple but this was awesome. There's a second book coming out in a few days so I'm really excited and I can't wait to read more of the author's backlist :)

I might just have to try that! and i wonder,is there really a Knockemout, Virginia?

>130 cindydavid4: Only one way to find out lol

Reading Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice. I'm 44 pages into this and just kind of surprised. It has way more depth to it than what I was expecting, I thought it would be a lot more pulpy like the movie is, but it's not and I'm so drawn into the story. I was obsessed with the movie when I was a teenager, and I never read the book but I don't think I would have liked it back then. I'm almost 30 now and it's been a long time since I last watched the movie, but the book is pretty different so far. I'm interested in seeing how this develops further and I might even continue on with the series :)

Slight change of plans for me. I'm only about 40 pages into An Easy Burden: The Civil Rights Movement and the Transformation of America, a memoir by Andrew Young. I'm enjoying it so far, but I'm going to set it aside only to first read Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott. I know very little about this recent novel, other than the fact that my wife recently read it and loved it. She wants me to read it, too, because she wants to be able to discuss it with me. I was going to wait and read An Easy Burden first, but now Steph's friend wants to borrow Thistlefoot, so I'm going to switch and get to it immediately to free the book up for friend lending.

I've put Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell on hold for now because it's kinda testing my patience and I'm not really in the headspace for this kind of book at the moment, so I'm replacing it with The Stand by Stephen King. I did originally read about 700 pages of this book a few years ago and was really enjoying it, but things got in the way at the time and I never went back until now :)

I’m about halfway through The War that Ended Peace: The Road to 1914 by Margaret MacMillan. This is a very enjoyable history, clearly written, systematic, informative, and readable. It’s also opening up numerous historical rabbit holes into countries and regions I know so little about.

my review of the hero of this book is herehttps://www.librarything.com/topic/347243#n8072126

Reading In a Jam by Kate Canterbary because I seem to want light-hearted romance alongside the horror novels I'm reading lol

>132 Bamf102: I remember reading Interview with a Vampire. I was a grad student (LT reminds me it was 1996). I rented the movie afterwards, as a VHS. I remember there was some controversy because Rice made some criticism of the movie. My VHS opened with her telling the audience how she completely approved of the movie. Then after that the movie started. Anyway, I had trouble with the body counts, but otherwise enjoyed both.

I finished Poseidon’s Steed, a 2009 book that is supposed to be on Seahorses, but seems to be about everything else, instead. Otherwise carrying on. I’m enjoying everything _else_ I’m reading

I'm trying to finish up Devil in the Grove and The Man Who Died Twice this long weekend - I have President's Day off (serious and light, as I often balance things!)

After that I will start Shrines of Gaiety which I just got from a library hold and a yet-to-be-determined nonfiction title.

>138 dchaikin: Ahh interesting, I never knew that she wasn't into the movie but I'm not surprised given how different they are. I don't have an issue with high body counts in horror movies, I just have an issue with them feeling really unnecessary lol

This morning I dropped my 18-yr-old daughter off on a train from just outside Philly where she’s going by herself to meet my niece at Penn Station in Manhattan. On the way home I finished The Color of Water, and had tears. Certainly they were at least partly because of the book, which is excellent and wonderful on audio. (And includes a ten-yrs-later reflection on the impact of the book in McBride and his mother.)

Eta - not “home”, but regardless, back somewhere

>141 Bamf102: officially Rice was into the movie 🙂 (which I think was well done, so may actually really appreciate it). My only issue with the body counts was that it was unrealistic - the idea of a murder per day in 1840 or whatever New Orleans, without drawing massive attention. Just doesn’t make sense. 🙂

>142 dchaikin: That's a wonderful book. One of my favorite memoirs.

>144 rocketjk: it feels like the best audio ever right now. It’s that good. Of course, I’ve felt that way before, it’s probably not my favorite _ever_. But i was moved and involved throughout. And in hindsight the structure works to make that happen. We learn meaningful aspects in the same trend he learned about them in his life. Thanks for the suggestion. 😉

>143 dchaikin: Yeah I agree with you actually. I've seen it many times and eventually I did start to wonder why more people weren't suspicious as hell lol

>145 dchaikin: I've told this story before here, so apologies if you remember it, but The Color of Water was the last book I read on my mother's recommendation. She and I used to talk about books quite a bit (she was a literature major in college). She read and recommended McBride's memoir shortly before her advancing dementia made it impossible for her to concentrate on reading anything longer than a short newspaper article. So in addition to being excellent in its own right, the book has a special place in my memory for that reason.

>147 rocketjk: that’s really sweet. Also cool that your mother was a literature major and it made an impression on your reading.

Just finished In a Jam by Kate Canterbary, and I absolutely loved it! It's nice being able to find different subgenres of romance that I originally thought I didn't like but turns out I do :)

Started By a Thread by Lucy Score. Super excited for this! :)

After finishing Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead earlier this week I'm now reading Transparent City by the Angolan author Ondjaki for this month's African Literature Challenge, and I'm still slowly making my way through South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation by Imani Perry.

I'm halfway through Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice, and I'm enjoying it quite a bit. I do think that it took me a while to get properly into it because the way the story was being told wasn't in the most compelling way after the first 30 or so pages, but then once a certain character is introduced I was a lot more into the book. I ordered a used copy of the second book because I really want to know the backstory of a specific character and I think it'll be an interesting time if nothing else

Finished Interview with the Vampire and I really enjoyed it overall. It did take me a little bit to get fully into the story, but once I did I just couldn't stop reading it and I thought the way Rice wrote the vampires in this book was so fascinating and very different from what vampires are like now in pop culture, so that was a nice surprise. I'm really excited to continue on with the series, especially since the next book is about Lestat :)

I read the first four volumes of The Story of the Stone in 2021 and then because I love not finishing books I'm enjoying, I didn't read the final volume, volume 5, in 2022 and instead read it this month. So I have now finished this wonderful Chinese classic.

I've picked up a Jane Harper's Force of Nature. I enjoyed her first crime novel , Dry. I've been "off" mysteries/crime novels for sometime now, so we'll see if this one can break the curse.

Finished By a Thread by Lucy Score. I loved this even more than Things We Never Got Over, which I found to be really surprising because initially the couple in By a Thread wasn't really doing much for me because their attraction to each other was mostly physical, but the way it was developed throughout the book and how they grew together was great. This book made me cry multiple times and I won't go into why because it was to do with my own personal experiences, but it really impacted me a lot. I think Lucy Score is a new favourite author for me :)

Finishing Unsettled Ground by Claire Fullerhave to say am finding the end a bit disappointing. Thought the poverty bit was over-labored and though I know such poverty existed in England, I kept thinking I was reading an Irish novel sans the full poignancy.

Also the strong woman theme becoming mandatory now. Guess I’m getting jaded in my dotage .Emma Bovary, Anna K, I need you.

Will soon start The Dutch House by Ann Patchett. It’s in so many similar member libraries. February has been a strange month for me. Unsettled actually. And now I’m silly enough to tackle another two siblings in a house book. When will I learn?

>157 kjuliff: I've wanted to read The Dutch House so I'll be interested to see what you think :)

>157 kjuliff: Tom Hanks reads The Dutch House! And it’s really nicely done on audio.

>158 Bamf102: do you use audiobooks?

>159 dchaikin: Ive read it, and would get the audio of it just to hear him read!

>159 dchaikin: I do! I'm even more inclined to read it now that I know he reads it :)

Slight self-promotion (not about books, though!) which I hope will be forgiven. I go on the radio at 1 pm Pacific today (Monday) with the Mardi Gras version of my weekly jazz program, The Jazz Odyssey. 1 - 3 pm Pacific, streaming live at www.kzyx.org. Cheers, all!

>160 cindydavid4: >158 Bamf102: >159 dchaikin: Yes I have the audio version. Was unaware of the narrator, I just grabbed it as soon it came off my NYPL hold. Will start tonight.

Still "keeping it light" and I can't believe I've already read 10 books this year! Currently reading The Dinner Lady Detectives. I love anything set in Wales, and this was on hold for quite awhile before I finally got it this week. Also just started Heart of a Samurai - it's a library book due in 3 days and apparently there is a hold waiting so I can't renew it. It's a children's book, so I decided to see if I can read it in 3 days. In the car I'm listening to Key of Light - all my other holds are weeks away, and this was available. I may have to stop dissing Nora Roberts. Ha ha. I've only read one other book by her and liked that one, so.... I just assume that because she is popular and she writes "love stories" which isn't my thing that I won't like her, but this incorporates some Celtic paranormal stuff, and quite a bit of humor so I am enjoying it. I probably will end up reading the whole trilogy one after the other.

I’ve started Kate Atkinson’s new book, Shrines of Gaiety, which I’ve seen mixed reviews of but am really liking so far.

For nonfiction, I’m reading The lady Queen by Nancy Goldstone. It’s about Joanna I, Queen of Naples in the 1300s. I’m not sure how scholarly her work is, but she really makes the people she writes about come alive so I always enjoy her books.

>165 japaul22: I was so disappointed with Shrines of Gaiety. I had it on preorder but I found the characters boring and the stories of no interest. I didn’t finish it.

>165 japaul22: OMG Nancy Goldstone and her husband have written much about t he middle ages. their books are well researched, scholarship well respected and well written, havent read that one but I am assuming it will be excellent. report back pls! Think my fav of hers is the four queens

>166 kjuliff: So glad someone felt the same way I did; felt guilty for disliking it so much, so many others loved it. But yeah after 50 pages, I was done. Pity, I usually like her books

>168 cindydavid4: I too felt guilty. I pretended I liked it to a few people because I disliked it so much I didn’t want to waste words on talking about it. I felt like Mr Knightly in Emma saying to Ms Atkinson, “Badly done, Ms Atkinson, badly done!”
And yes, I am also a Kate Atkinson fan.

Ha! and I love the jazz age so this would be up my alley. Ah well I can always reread her earlier ones!

I was looking for a new audiobook book, found one, then started reading about Baseball and spring training and the Astros and stumbled on a new book out on the 2017 Astros cheating scandal. So I’ve picked up Winning Fixes Everything bu Evan Drellich, who was fired over his early reporting of the scandal. It was released Feb 14. I’m completely fascinated.

Also I just finished Gurnah’s By the Sea and then started Native Son.

>170 cindydavid4: Her earlier ones are great. I was so sure I’d love this one I pre-paid.

>171 dchaikin: Did you review Gurnah’s By the Sea? It will be released by Audible in the next couple of days and I want to check what you thought of it. I don’t know how to look up review by member.

>173 kjuliff: You go to the work page and look at the list of reviews. Or you go to the user's library, find the book and click on the book from there.

I do not see a review from Dan but I did review it last year if you are interested: https://www.librarything.com/work/1307399/reviews/213647448

>173 kjuliff: i just finished maybe an hour or two ago on a flight. So no review yet. It’s a beautiful book, full of Gurnah’s graceful kindnesses amidst his story tensions.

>174 AnnieMod: I’ll have to revisit your review

>174 AnnieMod: Thanks. I tried going to Dan’s library (he’d recommended By the Sea, plus I like Gurnah) but it’s so huge and I have low vision. But I’ll try the other way around and check yours as well. BTW can you do a search on another member’s library?

>175 dchaikin: Thanks. I’m looking forward to it even more now. So many good novels coming from African-English writers - though the Brits don’t do the adding first country to theirs as is done on the US. Australia similar to the Brits I’m afraid.

I should expand the African to refugees. Lately I’ve discovered novelists new to me, who were refugees from Sri Lanka and Pakistan. And expand even further to writers who voluntary settled in country other than that of their birth, such as Rushdie and V S Naipaul.

>177 kjuliff: Yes. Same place where you search inside of yours. Usually top right corner on the catalog view (the top search is the site search, the one under it is the search inside of the catalog you are looking at)

>171 dchaikin: Ooh, I'll have to look out for that book about the Astros scandal.

Loved that book, its slow but in a good way.

>174 AnnieMod: excellent review!

Started Soul Eater by Lily Mayne.

>182 cindydavid4: :) Thanks.

Meanwhile maybe I should just mention what I am reading and then go catch up on reviews instead of just waiting to catch-up.

I like the Scottish crime writers so figured I really need to go and read Laidlaw - the first novel of the trilogy that started the whole subgenre and had been cited by a few of my favorite authors as an inspiration for their own work. Plus Ian Rankin finished the 4th novel in that series after McIlvanney's death and I'd rather not read it before I read the original 3 novels. So far, I am enjoying it.

And I am slowly making my way through A History of the World in 100 Animals which is interesting in more than one way.

>158 Bamf102: I>159 dchaikin: I just started The Dutch House (audio) and am finding the characters confusing. Mixing up names of the children, wives, staff. Partly because of the Tom Hanks American accent - I can understood all his words except for the names. I’ve googled to find out the names. May help.

I finished Joseph Blotner’s excellent and exhaustive one-volume edition of Faulkner: A Biography a few days ago. I’m very glad I took this slowly, but the upshot of that is that my head and heart are still in Oxford, Ms and Yoknapatawpha County; any substantive review must wait until I can settle my thoughts more clearly. This a fine resource for any Faulkner fan or fan of American literature, as well as a compelling story.
5*

Well at last I can move on to The Dutch House, having finished a disappointing Unsettled Ground. Reviewed HERE

>166 kjuliff: >168 cindydavid4: I'd heard lots of reviews of Shrines of Gaiety like yours, but for some reason I'm liking it so far! Early on, so we'll see, but I like the way she's connecting up the many characters.

>167 cindydavid4: I've read The Four Queens and The Shadow of the Empress and liked both of them, so I'm sure The Lady Queen will be good as well!

Finished Soul Eater by Lily Mayne, and I really enjoyed it. For a debut novel, I thought it was pretty good even though there were some words and phrases that were repeated too often but that's generally common with debut novels. I think the world building in this book was decent but not great, but I imagine that the later books in the series will have improved world building even though I'm already endeared to the world. I loved the romance in this book and the characters are all great. I'm definitely looking forward to continuing on with the series :)

Started Triple Duty Bodyguards by Lily Gold. I've never read this author before so hopefully this will be good. I'm also putting The Stand on hold for now because I'm just more focused on romance right now and I have plans to continue on with The Vampire Chronicles series by Anne Rice tomorrow so..yeah lol

Edit: DNF'd Triple Duty Bodyguards at 17% because I just can't stand the heroine at all and it was just painful to read her POV and read her interacting with people lol

Tomorrow the Audible version of Gurnah’s By the Sea is released. Plus I’m getting into the vibe (was slow-going) of The Dutch House which looks like being a pleasant read now that I’ve worked out the names of the characters from googling - Maeve is apparently pronounced differently in the US so I had no idea if it was one or two people with names starting with M.

I can begin enjoying hearing Tom Hanks.
Now if only Paul Newman had been an audio narrator!

Edit - sadly I was mistaken. By the sea is not released on Audible till August - long wait.

>189 Bamf102: I’m always wary of debut novels. Sometimes the debut turns out the be it. As in Kinflicks by Lisa Alther and Perfume by Patrick Suskind.
I’m interested - what put you on to Soul Eater?

I'm reading "Infinite Game" by Simon Sinek, as well as "So Long A Letter" by Mariama Ba. I'm also getting ready to delve into "The Complete Modern Orchestration" by Alfanso Girardo. I've also got "Dvorak's Prophecy" checked out from the library.

>191 kjuliff: glad you’re enjoying. I couldn’t think of who May was, but Maeve I remember. (Although i never saw it written while listening)

>192 kjuliff: Well I hadn't tried an m/m fantasy romance before and because this series is quite well loved and it's post apocalyptic, I wanted to see what I thought. I would say it's more of a dystopian story with fantasy elements, at least the first book is so if that sounds like something you might enjoy then go for it. Just be aware that there's quite a few detailed sex scenes, which I loved, but I tend to read a lot of smutty books and I'm aware that it's not everyone's thing if they read romance lol

Started The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice and I'm already kind of obsessed with it. It's so wonderfully queer and Lestat is just an amazing character :)

I've finally got to Zola and started Germinal. Only about 100 pages in but enjoying it.

I've just started Babel by R. F. Kuang, and even though I'm only three chapters in, I'm already loving it.

>195 Bamf102: Think I’ll give this one a miss, though I usually like your choices. Thanks for letting me know; I’m the opposite ;-)

>197 AlisonY: a great Zola to start with. I recently read Germinal for the third time after a couple of decades. Gets better on every read.

>174 AnnieMod: I reviewed Gurnah's By the Sea, and then after I revisited your review from March. I enjoyed your thoughts a lot, especially after having read the book.

I finished Thistlefoot, an inventive if not always well written novel based on Slavic & Jewish mythology. My review is posted on my Club Read thread.

Now I'm back to An Easy Burden, Civil Rights Movement leader Andrew Young's memoir/autobiography.

I've been in a reading rut, so decided to pick up this month's book club selection a little early. It's Five Tuesdays in Winter by Lily King, a Maine author. It's definitely not something I would have picked up on my own, but it's okay. Short stories, mostly involving coming-of-age teenagers to some degree.

A good haul at the library today: Lost in the Moment and Found by Seanan Maguire, The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz, and Inside of the Cup by Winston Churchill (not the British statesman, but the American novelist born three years earlier).

Just finished The Dutch House and perhaps I’m a shallow person, but I just didn’t see the point. I’m also getting tired of the siblings and the old house theme. So I decided to check out The Past by Tessa Hardley and what’s it about - 4 adult siblings going back to their old house in the country!

I’m also tiring of the jumping around in time and think it was overdone in Thg Dutch House. Needed short intervals between sessions so as not to get confused. I found the character of Mauve unconvincing and flat. Just didn’t really get any of the characters.

So while I wait for the next Donal Ryan to be released on audio and for Pastoralia to come off library hold, and with Gurnah’s By the Sea to come to Audible, am reading Roddy Doyle, Life Without Children - short stories. - read by the author. No big houses here!

I put down Natural History for a minute to read Obasan by Joy Kogawa for my book club, about a Japanese Vancouver family during the forced property seizure and relocation of Japanese citizens during WWII, from the point of view of the daughter. Beautiful writing, but also just heartbreaking.

>206 lisapeet: I have Obasan on my shelves. Good to know it's well-written.

>205 kjuliff: I also was disappointed by The Dutch House...

Working through Vox and Gore Capitalism at the moment.

I see the problems with Dutch House but still liked it. Just not my fav of hers

I am reading my first bok on my brand new kindle! the assassins apprentice just in time for my Sci/Fi Fantasy book group.Loving that I can make the text larger! However when I do that, the page readings are different, so there are a couple more 'pages' for each page.Thats fine but I am having trouble turning the pages sometimes, not sure if im not swiping fast or hard enough? Im still learning. But Ive been wanting to read this for a long time and really loving it! Once I get the hang of it I think Ill be reading more ebooks

>210 cindydavid4: Just tap it lightly - it is more likely that you are pushing too hard than that you are not doing it hard enough so the thing kinda... gets confused. It also helps if you press towards the middle of the screen vertically and not exactly on the edge but close to it. It gets automatic the more you do it - my finger kinda knows where to go these days (although my new Kindle is a tad wider than my older one and that is causing me some issues with positioning just now but it will get readjusted).

Also - go to Settings -> Reading options -> Page Refresh and turn that thing off. It is a nuisance IMO and when I have it enabled, turning pages is much slower (because it wipes the page and so on) and is annoying me.

>201 dchaikin: Thanks Dan! I will stop by your thread in a bit (nice notes on that one!).

>208 AlisonY: I really feel I was missing something with The Dutch House. I couldn’t see the point. The characters seemed flat. And I kept worrying about how they kept all the glass walls clean. I have a friend who had a young up-coming architect design aa very similar house and though it is a tiny urban house it’s very interesting architecturally - gets featured architectural in magazine etc, but living in it is difficult. So I did understand why the first wife fled to India.

>212 kjuliff: i liked Dutch House and find the comments here very interesting. i admit, i just liked the characters, the siblings, in Dutch House. I liked the nostalgia. And I liked how the narrator never lets on that he’s not a particularly nice person and not particularly grateful for all his sister did for him. And, in hindsight, I’m intrigued by the idea of a saint who hurts those who are closest to them. But these are kind of small things. I don’t think it’s a novel that should work for everyone, or that needs to.

>213 dchaikin: it’s rare that I can’t see what others see in a well-written novel. Perhaps it was be cause I didn’t get the nostalgia at all, or relate to any of the characters. As for the mother sacrificing her children to help others, I felt this as so unrealistic. Do saints do that? Leave their children like that?

The height of my February reading is going to be, without doubt, the discovery of George Saunders. How could I have been so unaware of this brilliant writer?
Meanwhile, while waiting for a couple of books to be released or come off library hold, I’ve been filling in my time with some works of Roddy Doyle. Currently reading Smile which is the worst of the Irish and the best of the Irish. A bit of a mishmash of life in Dublin in the early 21st century it has its highs and lows. Much like my readings this February.

I just started Remembering the Bones by Frances Itani. She’s Canadian.

>216 dianeham: That is my favourite of hers - enjoy!

>217 Yells: thanks. I just looked up some of the conversations about this title and her.

thanks for that! made the change and its working much better now!

>215 kjuliff: Oh I loved his barrytown trilogy Saw the movie Committments, still listen to the soundtrack now and again, and afterwards read all three books Just m arvelous

>216 dianeham: She also wrote deafening a book I read when I was getting my masters in Deaf Ed. Powerful look at growing up deaf, as well as the horror that was WWI.

>221 cindydavid4: I’ll add that to my list, thanks.

>214 kjuliff: saints... it's a good question.

>214 kjuliff: Oh I was very bothered by the mothers story and would rather she hadn't come back. I didn't think it realistic that her children were ok with that.

>224 cindydavid4: oh, I thought Danny and Maeve were gutted by that. The stolen house echoing the lost the mother. hmm. Not that they did or could express that. You have me thinking more of The Dutch House than I have in a while. (I really liked it, so it's a good thing)

>224 cindydavid4: I totally agree with you. To make the mother’s actions at all credible the writer would have had to buildup a foundation of her strange altruism. It was all so vague, going to India to help people. I know people do that - my brother actually did- but I cannot imagine a woman doing that to small children. I think there’s a small statement that she thought they’d all be happy. I’m beginning to like the novel even less the more I think of it.

>225 dchaikin: Mauve accepted her mother back very quickly. Danny’s reaction was more believable. I found the mother to be annoying and unlikeable. Her going off to help patients and families in a New York hospital just doesn’t ring true. On reflection, I didn’t like any of the characters. Plus I didn’t like the house. Interestingly I never visualized any of the characters, which is unusual for me. I remember wondering what they looked like while listening to the novel.

>227 kjuliff: I think I'm with you on all that. I liked the unlikable characters. I hated the mom. Can't imagine...either as parent or kid. (of course, I pictured Danny as a young Tom Hanks)

>220 cindydavid4: I’ve read the Commitments some years ago but was unaware that two novels followed. Will have to see if I can get them on audio. Have you read Smile?

>228 dchaikin: For some weird reason I pictured Danny as a 19t0s American businessman in an ugly gray suit! I always feel better with a visual.

Reading Cancion by Eduardo Halfon, and continuing with The Selected Works of Audre Lorde (so much she had to say is still so relevant.

>229 kjuliff: no I haven't, that looks really good! BTW did you see the movie? The soundtracks are out of this world, still listen to them from time to time

>232 cindydavid4: yes I saw and loved the movie. I think you’d enjoy Smile. I’m listening to it and Doyle’s the narrator. The Irish accent lends itself to good story-telling, or “yarns” as they’re called in Australia. Smile isn’t a great novel; very patchy. But the patches when good are very very good. The humor is great. If you do listen to it watch for his description of an Irish funeral. I actually did laugh out loud.

So Native Son is insane. I’m literally stressed reading it. It’s not a fun stress.

I whipped through Station Eleven, a well-written dystopian novel by a Canadian author who was new to me. Was not as emotionally powerful as Octavia Butler's Parable books, but has interested me in reading more by St. John Mandel.

>234 dchaikin: I remember reading Native Son a long time ago (pre-LT) and having a similar reaction.

>235 labfs39: I was introduced Emily St John Mandel with The Sea of Tranquility which I really liked. I thought it was better than Station Eleven and than The Glass Hotel which is popular right now.

I finished Shrines of Gaiety, which I really liked, and I started An Island by Karen Jennings, which many of you recommended. So far I really like it.

>237 kjuliff: Id recommend all of those. Cant wait for her next one

Review for assassins apprentice here
https://www.librarything.com/topic/347243#n8081063

>239 cindydavid4: I have to re-read The Glass Hotel. I was interrupted about a third of the way through and never really got back on track.

Just startedQueen of Dirt Island by Donal Ryan which became available on Audible today.

Just about done with In on the joke

pastoralia by George Saunders came off library hold today. Two quite different writers - Saunders and Donal Ryan. How will I cope?

Finished Cancion and have now picked up a short story collection, Journeys, by Ian R. MacLeod

>245 avaland: What did you think of Canción?