LauraT’s Comments (group member since Aug 06, 2013)

LauraT’s comments from the All About Books group.

town

Finished. Liked it, even if the last part was even more confused than the first ones!
It is, in my opinion a really complex book. Complex for its writing, its language; complex for its style. Complex for the hardness of the themes: immigration, addiction, addiction by medicinal drugs; war, PTSD from war and domestic violence, relationship with parents; gay relations.
It is also a book on guilt, guilt for having survived, survived the lover who got lost in drugs, survived his mother, grandmother because of his culture, his studies, survived the shame of being Vietnamese in USA...
What I've appreciated mostly is the poetry of the writing: sometimes is gorgeously beautiful!!!

Some examples:

Our hands empty except for our hands

I came to know, in those afternoons, that madness can sometimes lead to discovery, that the mind, fractured and short-wired, is not entirely wrong. The room filled and refilled with our voices as the snow fell from her head, the hardwood around my knees whitening as the past unfolded around us.

The boy ran away from home one night. He ran with no plans. In his backpack were a bag of Cheerios taken out the box, a pair of socks, and two Goosebumps paperbacks. Although he could not read chapter books yet, he knew how far a story could take him, and holding these books meant there were at least two more worlds he could eventually step into

In Vietnamese, the word for missing someone and remembering them is the same: nhớ. Sometimes, when you ask me over the phone, Con nhớ mẹ không? I flinch, thinking you meant, Do you remember me?
I miss you more than I remember you.

Greg wrote:
He understands and accepts her for who she is, without romanticizing her at all. The characterization and especially the lyrical prose are exquisite!
[...]
It's fascinating his definition of "monster": a "hybrid signal," a signal that points in mutliple directions. He says monsters are both a "shelter" and a "warning," both nurturing and dangerous I guess.

In this I TOTALLY agree: it's what I've noted down as remarkable!!!

And yes: the difficulty is from the language point of view; still I like challenges!!!

Started yesterday - I'm about 1/3 through.
Strange book, with interesting points, but not of an easy reading.
What do you think?

I'm in!

Orhan Pamuk Istanbul: Memories and the City pag 293
Diana Gabaldon Outlander pag 124
Rabih Alameddine An Unnecessary Woman pag 320
Gabriella Cinti Polifema pag 270
Arundhati Roy The God of Small Things pag 340
Orhan Pamuk Istanbul: Memories and the City pag 356
Tommasina Soraci Scrivere per non morire. Due donne del Sud: Letteria Montoro (1825-1893)-Mariannina Coffa pag 108
Barbara Pym Crampton Hodnet pag 216
Ellis Peters  Monk's Hood pag 288
Tirzah Price  Manslaughter Park pag 382
M.C. Beaton The Dead Ringer 29 pag 243
Barbara Pym Jane and Prudence pag 181
Tot pag 2697

Finished all the books of my previous post, I've started the one for our Group read: Ocean Vuong On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous

near

About to start: today or tomorrow at the latest. I'll come back next Monday!

I nominate The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

Petra wrote: "I nominate Sylvia's Lovers by Elizabeth Gaskell"

I second this! I was thinking of proposing something by her!!! We are really "kindred spirits"!!!

Thanks!!!

17 Alice Basso Le ventisette sveglie di Atena Ferraris ***
18 Tirzah Price  Sense & Second-Degree Murder **1/2
19 Barbara Pym Excellent Women ***1/2
20 Alice Munroe Dear Life **1/2
21 Kathrine Kressmann Taylor Address Unknown ****
22 Alessia Gazzola Miss Bee e il cadavere in biblioteca 1 ***
23 Jung Chang Cigni selvatici: Tre figlie della Cina ***1/2
24 Joël Dicker La catastrofica visita allo zoo ***1/2
25 Alessia Gazzola Miss Bee e il principe d'inverno 2 ***
26 Kirstin Hannah The Women ***
27 Suad Amiry Damasco ***1/2
28 Louise Penny The Grey Wolf ****
29 M.C. Beaton Pushing Up Daisies **1/2
30 Omer Friedlander The Man Who Sold Air in the Holy Land ***
31 Ellis Peters  One Corpse Too Many ****
32 Alba Donati La libreria sulla collina ****
33 Fausta Cialente Le quattro ragazze Wieselberger ****
34 M.C. Beaton Agatha Raisin and the Witches' Tree **1/2

Diana Gabaldon  Outlander
Reading now
Barbara Pym A Few Green Leaves
Reading now
Alessia Gazzola Miss Bee e il fantasma dell'ambasciata
Reading now

I'm finishing Outlander by Diana Gabaldon and both Miss Bee e il fantasma dell'ambasciata by Alessia Gazzola and A Few Green Leaves by Barbara Pym

reaper

Finally I've upfated my post - n 7, with my Total of 781 pages!

I'm going to finish
Diana Gabaldon  Outlander
Alessia Gazzola Miss Bee e il fantasma dell'ambasciata3
and Barbara Pym A Few Green Leaves

For a presentation that I have just after Easter I need to read this
Gabriella Cinti Polifema
And for our Gropu Read
Ocean Vuong On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous

A part from that here are some titles I'm considering; random!!!
Tirzah Price  Manslaughter Park
Ellis Peters  Monk's Hood
Ellis Peters  Saint Peter's Fair
M.C. Beaton The Dead Ringer
M.C. Beaton Beating About the Bush
Michael McDowell  Katie
Barbara Pym A Glass of Blessings
Rabih Alameddine An Unnecessary Woman

crem

Here I am!!!

Ellis Peters  One Corpse Too Many 153
Alba Donati La libreria sulla collina 81
Fausta Cialente Le quattro ragazze Wieselberger 277
M.C. Beaton Agatha Raisin and the Witches' Tree 270


Tot pag 781

I'm at the moment with The Man Who Sold Air in the Holy Land, and thinking of the terrible situation in Palestine today is really breath taking. At least we see - as well as know - that not all citizen of Israel think like its PM. Little consolation for all those dead children...

I've found it! I'll be starting it by the beginning of next month