Megan’s Comments (group member since Dec 30, 2017)

Megan’s comments from the EVERYONE Has Read This but Me - The Catch-Up Book Club group.

I second Silent Spring

I second Invisible Man, Enchanted April, The Three Musketeers and Siddhartha.

I second Frankenstein

This is one of my favorites, I’ll try to participate.

I'm doing level one, travel by car or boat. so:
Difficulty 1: Hard
Completed: 16 of 16 (deleted Ireland)

1. Australia : The Rosie Project READ July 11th
2. New Zealand The Whale Rider READ Dec 30th
3. Malaysia: The Ghost Bride READ June 19th
4. Korea:Pachinko , by Min Jin Lee, READ February 7th
5. Japan: Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto, Megan Backus (Translator), READ March 20th
6. Russia: Anna Karenina by Tolstoy READ 8/20
(Mongolia: the only option my library has that's not a reference book and/or written by an American or European, is a book written by a Chinese author about a Chinese intellectual experiencing Mongol culture in the 1960s,Wolf Totem by Jiang Rong, Howard Goldblatt (Translator),so it might just be an extra read. I watched the excellent documentary The Eagle Huntress, which gives a great feel for contemporary Mongolian culture and is very inspiring.)
7. China: Tao Te Ching READ May 11th
8. India:Aru Shah and the Song of Death READ OCT 31
9. Iran: Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return by Marjane Satrapi, Anjali Singh (Translator) READ NOV 19th
10. Armenia: Rooster Brother READ OCT 10
11. Turkey: Black Milk: On Writing, Motherhood, and the Harem Withinsomething by Elif Sharak READ Dec 31
12. Greece: an excellent opportunity to re-experience The Iliad, as an audiobook narrated by Dan Stevens. I read it over 20 years ago, for a Classics Literature class, so that should be fun. READ Dec 27
13. Italy: My Brilliant Friend READ July 20th
13. France: The Little Prince READ Aug 14th
14. Germany: The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate – Discoveries from a Secret World READ July 3rd
15. Britain: Wuthering Heights READ April 8th
16. Canada: Life of Pi READ July 26th

back to Australia on an ocean liner ; )

Courtney wrote: "The above review should ask...
Did anyone else make that connection?**
iPhones 🙄 lol"

I hadn't read Pachinko yet, so that story line made me think more of Amy Tan's books, but now that I have read Pachinko, I notice definite similarities.

I really loved this book, and felt like they did a great job with the movie too. I agree with everyone who wants to travel to Singapore now and try all that delicious sounding food! Rachel and Nick were both very relatable. I felt it was a little unbelievable that no one Rachel knew seemed to know anything about Nick’s family, when they were practically royalty (I felt like the movie handles his family’s social standing more believably) but I went along with it. I also agree that those girls were appalling to Rachel. I liked the family epic feel of the book, and how we got to know the whole family and watch them grow. I loved Astrid too, and hope things go better for her in the next book. I got really frustrated with Rachel’s reaction to her mother’s raising her as if her dad was dead. That’s pretty much code for “he was dangerously abusive” so I was surprised Rachel had such a hissy fit. Her mom’s story line felt like something straight out of an Amy Tan book. I’m curious as to how things continue to develop, tho I’m a little nervous about reading the next book cause I’ve read reviews that complain there’s less character development in the second book.

Welcome back Marcos!!!

I agree that we should wait to see if Marcos can start this off, as it’s really his baby and he was so excited about it.

I’m really grateful to Joanna and Marcos for stepping in and keeping the group going. This is one of my favorite groups! I hope Marcos gets things resolved and can participate again soon. I’m glad Tori can step in and pick up some of the slack.

I’m having a hard time with this too, I agree with the characters being more caricatures than fleshed out characters. The writer has a real weakness for cliched turns of phrase, which bothers me too. I’d rather be reading a WWII memoir, this feels too much like a novel (if that makes any sense). There are some really good memoirs out there too. And There Was Light: Autobiography of Jacques Lusseyran: Blind Hero of the Resistance is excellent. I’ll keep going though, since it’s supposed to get better at 40% and I’m not there yet.

I second Their Eyes Were Watching God, Brave New World, The Master and Margarita, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and The Man in the High Castle

I second Wuthering Heights, The Hate U Give, American Gods, Neverwhere, Dune, Dark Matter, The Jungle Book and The Sun Also Rises

And I second The Alice Network

I second Beloved, The Princess Bride, Educated , Watership Down, Americanah, The Fault is in Our Stars and The Sisters Brothers

Hey Kayla, if your library has an Overdrive account, that could be a good source for audiobooks. I got my LOTR audiobooks from Audible but I don’t know if they still have the unabridged version available. It’s free to try Audible for the first month, then there’s a monthly fee. Libro.fm is another audiobook membership service with approximately the same monthly fee as Audible that allows you to support your favorite local bookstore. Barnes and Nobles has a Nook audiobook app, and there are some cheaper audiobook membership services out there, just Google “alternatives to Audible.” YouTube can be a good source for audiobooks, people post various audiobooks on their channels, but the books don’t always stay up for long. Libravox offers free audiobooks on YouTube, but quality varies as it’s all volunteers.

I am loving this reread, or relisten, as it were. I’ve got the audiobooks narrated by Rob Inglis, who did am amazing job. I didn’t remember all the pointed presents Bilbo left for his relatives. Great social commentary on village life right there.

Looking forward to re-reading this, it’s been a long time since I first read it in school.

I just got this from the library. Looking forward to starting it as soon as I finish Pachinko (which was on hold forever; just two more chapters to go).

I love Anne of Green Gables! It's a childhood favorite that still reads well. And the rest of the series is quite good. I've always empathized with her imaginative adventures. I grew up with a very strong imagination too. Luckily, my parents encouraged me to tell stories and didn't accuse me of fibbing. My sister and I used to have all sorts of imaginative adventures in our back garden. I think Anne was highly influenced by Shakespeare, Tennyson, the Romantics, and the potboilers of the time. I think her imagination helped her cope with a lonely, sometimes abusive existence, but I don't agree with the PTSD style Anne in Anne with an E. My favorite media representation of Anne is the 80's mini series with Megan Follows as Anne, Richard Farnsworth as Matthew and Colleen Dewhurst as Marilla.
I don't think Marilla and Mathew had a weird relationship. Neither of them got married, so they lived together and kept the family farm going. That was a normal thing to do, and still is. I always liked Marilla, even though she's a little crusty. It's obvious her heart's in the right place. She reminded me of my great grandmother, a stern but loving woman with a spine of steel.