Jessica’s Comments (group member since Nov 09, 2013)

Jessica’s comments from the Cedar Falls Public Library group.

I typically read a lot of 19th and 20th century historical fiction, mostly taking place in Great Britain, but I just started reading Jessie Burton's The Miniaturist, which takes place in 17th century Netherlands, so that's a departure for me.

I just finished All the Light We Cannot See, and it is really beautiful. The chapters are very short and center around just a handful of characters, which made me want to keep turning the pages to see what was coming. The writing is lovely. The ending wasn't totally satisfying, but I think that's inevitable in novels about WWII.

Yes Sheryl! The Little Stranger split Waters' fans, but I loved it! I can read any of her books over and over (except maybe The Night Watch).

I know it's still September, but might I also suggest Sarah Waters? Her latest novel, The Paying Guests, just came out last week, and it did not disappoint. All her novels are historical fiction in Britain; Fingersmith is outstanding.

I love historical fiction, and All the Light We Cannot See is in my to-read queue, so that's what I'll be reading.

And I would like to further recommend Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey. The protagonist, Maud, is an elderly woman in England who is slowly losing her brain to dementia, and she has just noticed that her best friend doesn't seem to be around anymore. As she struggles to discover her friend Elizabeth's fate, memories of her sister's long ago unsolved disappearance surface. It is a fascinating look at what it might be like to feel helpless in your body and betrayed by your addled mind, with some mystery thrown in.

I just finished Cartwheel, by Jennifer DuBois. It takes place in Buenos Aires, where an American student studying abroad has been arrested for the murder of her roommate (loosely inspired by the Amanda Knox case). We see different perceptions of Lily that range from awkward young woman to cold-blooded sociopath through the lenses of herself, her father, her reclusive and wealthy sort-of boyfriend, and her prosecutor. The overall effect is that it is simply not possible to completely understand all people, and that we are all overly complex beings (the story focuses on characters, not solving the crimes, by the way).

I loved Part-Time Indian and Eleanor & Park, though I don't normally read much YA. I really like coming of age stories.

I also like Galbraith's characters. I read Cuckoo's Calling, and The Silkworm is on my to-read list.

Amy, I'm fairly sure that you could pick up the second one, "A Monstrous Regiment of Women," and not feel lost.

I also recently read a mystery I liked, She's Leaving Home (aka A Song From Dead Lips) by William Shaw. It takes place in 1960s London, which is a time and place I'm interested in culturally.

The first King book, The Beekeeper's Apprentice, is kind of a tough one because the protagonist, Mary Russell, narrates various episodes of her life between ages 15 and 21; it's really a book to set up the series, and the following books generally follow a single mystery case rather than several small ones as in the first book.
I also love Sherlock, but TV's Sherlock is different from Laurie King's Sherlock, who is different from Conan Doyle's Sherlock....but I enjoy him so much as a character that I'm willing to try all the different interpretations.

I also enjoy Laurie R King's Mary Russell series, I've read the first three and was thinking of reading the fourth for my July mystery read. King's series is one of those "further adventures of Sherlock Holmes" offshoots, but with a female protagonist, which makes it interesting. I've tried Maisie Dobbs, but it didn't really capture my attention as well.

I don't think of myself as a mystery reader, but as it turns out there are several that I like. I love The Other Typist by Susan Rindell, which is set in the 1920s. I also love Alan Bradley's Flavia de Luce series; I adore brilliant child narrators. I'm a real sucker for British Victorian mysteries too, like the works of Mary Braddon and Wilkie Collins.

Right. I wonder what the sink thing represents? A desire to insert oneself into another's domestic life? Something is going on with the beards, too; I wonder if it has something to with characters in Moby-Dick, which I shamefully have never read.
I finally finished The Art of Fielding, and I kind of loved it. I feel that Harbach did an excellent job of showing what depression feels like to one suffering from it. The characters' choices drove me mad though; I suppose it's simply art imitating life, and in life people make terrible decisions.

In The Art of Fielding, did anyone else notice the importance placed on the growing and shaving of beards, or of cleaning other people's sinks?

I can't wait to see what you pick.

I've read a few Neil Gaiman books, and they are pretty likeable. I know this one wasn't as well received by his fans though. I don't care, I really like it! I have a thing for books with child narrators and magic; not to "spoil" anything but when the protagonist discovers something on the bottom of his foot, well, I found that profoundly creepy.
I started The Art of Fielding, and I do like it so far; another thing I enjoy is character-driven novels. So far it kind of reminds me of the work of David Foster Wallace, whom I love.

I just finished a book called The River of No Return by Bee Ridgway. Kind of a mish-mash of historical fiction and speculative fiction. Here is the premise: "What if you were facing your own violent death, but in the moment you should have died you instead open your eyes and you are not dead at all but alive, in an unrecognizable future, taken in by an organization that finds time-jumpers and readies them for life in a time may generations after everyone they know has died? And once you're over the shock, what is this organization really up to, and whose interests are they protecting?" It probably sounds a bit wacky, but I actually liked it....though as it turns out it is going to be first in a series. Series are so prevalent in novels these days that it's near impossible to avoid them, even though I try.

I've read The Night Circus and The at the End of the Lane and enjoyed both. The Art of Fielding has shown up in my recommendations a few times, but I'm turned off by the sports angle; is it worth it? Ready Player One has been on my to-read list, but I have a pretty large stack I'm trying to work through.