Greg’s Comments (group member since Jul 02, 2014)

Greg’s comments from the All About Books group.

Virginia (Ginny) wrote: "How I Learned to Speak Israel: An American’s Guide to a Foreign Policy Language by Alex McDonald. This is a very timely book with the situation in Israel/Palestine ..."

Hi Ginny, glad to have you here!

My only concern about this nomination based on the very low number of Goodreads reviews (7 ratings, 2 reviews) is whether the book is easily available worldwide for all our members. We have members in several different countries that participate.

Alannah, when you get a chance, can you check if this book is available in the UK in your library systems or by some other method? Is this book easily accessible to members in your region?

Alannah wrote: "Happy New Year Greg! I agree with you on the work resolution, it's also something I will be taking on. I have accepted a promotion in another department at work and I hope by doing that, I can go i..."

Congratulations on your promotion Alannah, and I have my fingers crossed for you. Hope we both manage to do it this year! 😃

Nidhi wrote: "Water is part of all religious rituals of Hindus, as a symbol of purity and as a witness..... so is fire.
In Covenant of Water, water is an almost an organic entity."

Interesting Nidhi!

Now that I think of it, some key Christian rituals involve water as well, such as baptism. And fire is an important symbol related to the holy spirit. It's interesting how much the different traditions share.

I still want to read The Covenant of Water someday! Back when the group read it, time got away from me.

That is an interesting aspect Nidhi, and it makes sense in that especially in ancient Mesopotamia, life followed the water. Water was life! I wonder if water containing memory is a part of any ancient belief systems?

Just read the second chapter, and I liked it even better than the first. Can't wait to see what happens to Arthur and his "gift." This is my first book by Elif Shafak; I think she's a wonderful storyteller!

Ronnie wrote: "Great resolutions, Greg! Best of luck on those. Your balance goal is similar to one of mine: to carve out some time for myself (which mostly means reading.) I've figured out how to create a workout..."

Thanks so much Ronnie! And yes, it is so important to carve out time for ourselves because life is short!

How is everyone doing in the new year? I feel like the last one went by very fast!

My new year's resolution is to have a little more balance in my life and not let work overtake everything. Hopefully I can manage it! And a second resolution is that I need to start taking the time to exercise again and lose some of the weight put on by extra treats during the holidays. 😀

I just noticed the General Chit Chat, part 2 is getting pretty long, close to 3,000 comments. I'm creating a fresh thread so that Goodreads doesn't have trouble.

wedding

I started this a couple days ago, and I quite like the writing style. It has a mythological feel. Also, I feel very intrigued by the setting - I don't think I have ever read anything set in ancient Mesopotamia before!

It was so interesting about the earlier goddess of writing being supplanted by the scribes' god Nabu.

And I've had to look up a few things. I had never heard of the lamassu before, or if I had heard of it, I had completely forgotten.

Oh, so sorry to have missed your post until now Laura! I was offline for several months in the summer because of a work disaster.

@Maria, interested to see what you think of Night Side of the River! I'd like to read more Winterson.

Do you like longer books in particular EJ? Just curious.

Anyway, that's a great and ambitious goal! I don't read books that long very often, but several of the ones that I have read, I ended up really liking.

Here's my tentative plan:

Finish up from last month:
✔ Happening by Annie Ernaux ★★★★★ (4.5)

Definitely:
in progress 56% Augustus by John Williams
in progress 18% There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak
✔ The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain by Charles Dickens ★★★ (3.0)
✔ Luster by Raven Leilani ★★★★ (3.5)

Probably:
Curtain by Agatha Christie
✔ The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story by Olga Tokarczuk ★★★★★ (5.0)

Possibly:
A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G. Summers

Unplanned:
in progress 43% The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
in progress 36% Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Finish up someday (maybe this month, maybe another):
in progress 28% Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
in progress 36% The Bone Shard Emperor by Andrea Stewart

Delayed from Prior Months, Get to Someday:
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher
Exit Strategy by Martha Wells
The Quest For Tanelorn by Michael Moorcock
Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

So glad Erica - looking forward to when I start tomorrow!

January:
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I second The House Behind the Cedars

Nidhi wrote: "I am on chapter three. I was having problems with narrative, so I read the description of book which GR provides, and now it's clear to me."

Glad to hear that the description helped Nidhi!

I plan to start this one next week.

Steve wrote: "I will second Excellent Women by Barbara Pym. Sounds great."

Thanks Steve 😊 I have never read anything by Pym before, but I keep seeing people talking about her books. A lot of Goodreads friends who generally enjoy the same sorts of books that I do have been rating hers very highly. I figured it's a good time to give one of her books a try.