Katy’s
Comments
(group member since Aug 04, 2010)
Katy’s
comments
from the Reading with Style group.
Showing 1,001-1,020 of 1,214
20.8 Exiles and EmigrantsThe Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
I’d heard this book compared to Gone Girl, which I liked a lot, so I picked this up. It’s a hard one to review without spoilers, which would ruin the experience, but I’ll try. It’s like Gone Girl in that there are a whole batch of unreliable narrators, so you can’t trust anyone, and you don’t really want to, given how awful, troubled, or confused they all seem to be. In Gone Girl, I did end up feeling like I just disliked all the characters, and in The Girl on the Train, I did feel sympathy for Rachel, the “girl on the train” and main character (though two other characters share the narration). She made some pretty bad choices, but she was well-drawn enough as a character that I empathized with her. The plot was strong – I read a lot of thrillers but this book did keep me guessing for a while, which was fun. Overall, this book held my interest – I read it in about 2 days – and I enjoyed every minute of the experience.
+20 task (according to her GR profile, she was born in Zimbabwe then moved to England)
+5 combo (10.4 - takes place entirely in the UK)
+10 review
Task Total: 35
Grand Total: 600
Thanks for a great season, mods! I appreciate your hard work making this happen for all of us!
20.8 Exiles and EmigrantsA Beautiful Place to Die by Malla Nunn
This had languished on my to-read list for a while, but I’m glad I picked it up. I have always been interested in South African history and government, and I adore a good mystery, so this was perfect. I really did enjoy the book – Malla Nunn does a great job evoking the South Africa of the 1950s (obviously I can’t speak to the accuracy from personal experience, but it rang true based on the reading I’ve done and classes I’ve taken) through the eyes of a police detective. The most interesting thing about the setting was the way that the apartheid laws, as they were put in place, changed things at different rates and in different ways. I had never really thought about it, but I suppose that if pressed, I would have imagined a more immediate roll-out of laws that, right away, took away rights and changed people’s opinions, rather than the confusing set of small changes that Detective Cooper encounters – changes that some people take advantage of and others ignore, almost like they’re imagining they are just another short lived government program.
+20 task (Malla Nunn was born in Swaziland and emigrated to Australia)
+10 review
Task Total: 30
Grand Total: 530
10.4 Island DreamsGood Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman
I really liked this book – not too surprising since I’ve liked both Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman many times before. I think I would have liked it less in audio format so I'm glad I happened to pick this one up on the Kindle instead. I started it a while ago and wasn't particularly compelled to keep reading (not a great sign) but once I got a little ways in and saw how it was going to go, I thought it was hilarious. I read the bulk of it on a long airplane flight, so that also had an impact on my enjoyment -- though the fact that it kept me engaged the whole time was a great thing! There were so many great details -- I loved the Crowley descriptions, the little side notes, and the chattering nuns.
+10 task (UK)
+5 combo (10.7 - #2 on list)
+10 review
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 500
I've read them all already, but the Dublin Murder Squad series should work -- different narrators that come and go in each book, many different characters, different time periods (within 10-20 years or so). The most recent one is terrific.
20.10 Goodreads FeatureOrfeo by Richard Powers
Wow. I don’t know what else to say. I just finished this book, wrapped in a coat and hat, sitting in my car overwhelmed with this book, because I just had to push through to the end before going upstairs. This book resisted and resisted me – I must have started and set it aside at least three times in the past six months, but once I got going, it was amazing. The first part of the amazing was the way the writing felt like music, echoing the plot and details. Some of the passages of description were just unbelievable. He describes 9/11, “a quartet of passenger planes turned the dream of the present into a greasy plume” and suddenly I could not imagine a more beautiful way to describe an unspeakably bad event. I could stop, like here, and be conscious of Richard Powers as a craftsman, but more often, I found myself pulled along at his mercy. The structure even mirrored the music he writes about, with multiple layers, shifting timelines, and patterns revealed only later in the book. And then, finally, at the very end, I remembered the title, and was hit with another wow moment. I wanted to immediately go reread the whole thing with the Orpheus myth more front and center in my mind. In fact, I do expect I’ll re-read this one, as it felt like there was just far more than I took in on the first go. Meanwhile, thanks to whoever first added it as a Group Read and to all those who recommended it!
+20 task (from The Goldfinch's page)
+5 combo (10.9 - 2014 list)
+10 review
Task Total: 35
Grand Total: 470
20.9 Respect EldersMrs. Pollifax Unveiled by Dorothy Gilman
+20 task (Gilman lived 1923-2012)
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 435
20.10 Goodreads FeatureNight Film by Marisha Pessl
I picked up this book for the author, having really enjoyed Special Topics in Calamity Physics, and stayed for the absolute weirdness of the story. The book tells the story of an investigation into the death of Ashley Cordova, daughter of a legendary, reclusive “night film” director. On one hand, it’s a straightforward mystery with the interesting element of having some “primary sources” included in the book, like photos that the investigators discover, scraps of paper with addresses, web searches, etc. On the other hand, it’s a bizarre story populated by characters that are both really really strange and somewhat unbelievable. I enjoyed reading it, in the end, and also enjoyed the “extras” you get if you download a free app and scan certain illustrations in the book.
+20 task (from The Goldfinch)
+10 review
Task Total: 30
Grand Total: 415
20.10 Goodreads FeatureBig Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
This is a fascinating way to structure a mystery, since the book starts out revealing that a murder has occurred/will occur, but you don’t know who was killed, or why, or who the murderer is, until the end. No spoilers, but I will say that I was surprised by who got killed, although I maybe shouldn’t have been. Big Little Lies isn’t truly a mystery – but it is true that as a reader, I found myself most interested in the mystery of what was happening and what everyone’s backstory was. It also was an enjoyable read, despite dealing with some very heavy topics – lots of well-written humor, and joked about kids and family topics without feeling like that was ALL it was about.
+20 task (from The Goldfinch here)
+5 combo (10.4 - Australia)
+10 review
Task Total: 35
Grand Total: 380
10.8 Two for OneLawful Interception by Cory Doctorow (32 pages)
and
The Day the Dead Came to Show and Tell by Mira Grant (84 pages)
+10 task
Task Total: 10
Grand Total: 345
20.10 Goodreads FeatureOrphan Train by Christina Baker Kline
Apparently I am getting soft in my old age, because this is the second “feel good” book this season that I have loved. Orphan Train is a story within a story – the frame story is that of Molly, a 17 year old foster child who ends up having to do community service in the house of 91 year old Vivian Daly. The main story is that of Vivian, who as a child rode the orphan trains out west to Minnesota and experienced various hardships and challenges along the way. At first, when I saw where this was going (stories that highlight the connections between orphans/foster care then and now, “overcoming obstacles” narrative) I was just eh about it – but as I kept reading I found that I could not stop myself from caring deeply about what happened to Molly and Vivian. Christina Baker Kline writes her characters well and also writes the history like she lived it herself – to an admittedly low-knowledge reader, at least, it rings true. I really enjoyed this read.
+20 task
+5 combo with 20.8 (Author born in England; lives in the US)
+10 review
Task Total: 35
Grand Total: 335
20.9 Respect EldersCrocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters
Elizabeth Peters is a great example of a writer who has long been on my radar but I never actually picked up a book of hers. This book, the first in a long series (hooray!), consists of Amelia Peabody’s recounting of a frightening series of events during her boat trip up the Nile River, while stopped at an archaeological site. I enjoyed the character of Miss Peabody, who says things like “People of that sort seldom fall ill; they are too busy pretending to be ill. Yet no sooner had we reached Rome than Miss Pritchett succumbed to the typhoid, like the weak-minded female she was.” A lot of what Miss Peabody says made me laugh out loud, like that did. She is in some ways such a caricature of this “type” of Victorian lady, but in other ways defies the type in fascinating ways. This definitely reads like a cozy mystery even though it is set in the middle of the desert – but I liked it far more than I usually enjoy that sort of mystery. I will definitely pick up the next book.
+20 task (Elizabeth Peters lived from 1927 to 2013 - 86 years)
+10 combo (20.3 - #95 on list; 20.5 - female narrator)
+10 review
+5 oldies (published 1975)
Task Total: 45
Grand Total: 300
20.3 Historical FictionAll the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
I loved this book! The book tells the story of two young people in the leadup to and events of WWII. One is a blind Parisian girl, the daughter of a museum’s locksmith. The other is a German orphan boy with a talent for radios and electronics. The story alternates between their perspectives until finally, their stories cross paths. I enjoyed the characters and plot, and wanted to read on, but what kept making me pause to marvel during reading was the author’s command of the structure of the book. Rarely do I actually stop to think about an author’s craft while reading, but this book forced me to, and it was a pleasure. I loved how Doerr was able to tell the two stories, which we read both forwards and backwards in time, with so much attention to what was revealed at what moment, so the whole picture unraveled in my mind slowly. I also liked his choice to write mostly very short chapters – at first it struck me as kind of pretentious but I ended up loving it because it felt so well-matched to the story, like you were getting snapshots or postcards along an already-traveled route. Definitely recommended!
+20 task
+10 review
+ 5 jumbo (544 pages)
Task Total: 35
Grand Total: 255
10.10 Group ReadsThe New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
I’m so glad I got to this book. Especially in light of the recent protests around the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown, this book felt really useful as I consider our place in history at this moment. I learned a lot about the historical context of Jim Crow and Reconstruction, and was particularly interested to learn about some more direct parallels than I had realized existed – like the ways that convict labor worked after Reconstruction versus what I know about it now. The book made me reflect on my views about crime and justice, as well – which laws to me seem “minor” versus “major” and why? We all (well, most of us, I suppose) violate the law in various ways, from speeding on up. The book made me think that the ways that some violations of the law are handled selectively, or viewed with more or less seriousness, says as much about our beliefs about the perpetrators of violations as about the crime itself.
+10 task
+10 review
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 220
Favorite book of 2014 is tricky...I really liked Brown Girl Dreaming, The Secret Place, The Light Between Oceans, and Lock In.I realized in looking back at my books-read list that I didn't read a ton of new-to-me authors I loved. Maybe something to try for in 2015! But I did enjoy Daniel Price and would read more by him.
I was definitely surprised by enjoying The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry so much - thought it would be much more cheesy, a quick feel-good read and nothing more, but it was terrific.
20.5 Mystery WomenUntil Thy Wrath Be Past by Åsa Larsson
I’ve now finished all the Rebecka Martinsson books that have been translated into English (so far) so until I learn to read Swedish, this is it. I think this fourth book might have been my favorite. More complicated characters and a plot that was compelling and made me want to learn more about the Nazis in Scandinavia. In this installment, Rebecka Martinsson now works for the prosecutor’s office in the north Sweden town of Kiruna and is finally tackling a murder as an official member of law enforcement. The investigation leads to some revelations about how various Swedish communities reacted during World War II. One of Larsson’s things as a writer seems to be interweaving other perspectives – in one book, it was a wolf’s perspective. In this one, it was the murder victim’s. I liked this a lot more than the wolf’s point of view. Although gimmicky, it was interesting and done well.
+20 task (Larsson on list; protagonist female)
+10 review
Task Total: 30
Grand Total: 185
20.10 Readers Also EnjoyedThe Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
If my year in reading were a basketball game, this book would be the surprise bench player who never gets much playing time, doesn’t look all that athletic, doesn’t brag in interviews, and then gets tossed on the court after the starters are in foul trouble, and somehow saves the game. I had viewed this book as a “feel good” book (which to me sort of feels like the book version of a light romantic comedy…not bad but not usually top of my list) and wasn’t especially excited – but I can happily say I was wrong. I did feel good reading the book, though not because everything worked out perfectly, but because it was just such a pleasure to read it. It read almost like a fable in some ways – the language was spare and the story covers a lot of time in a relatively short number of pages. In that spare language, though, Zevin developed characters that rang true to me and made me care what happened to them. A surprise 5-star read is a great feeling!
+20 task (from The Goldfinch)
+10 review
Task Total: 30
Grand Total: 155
20.5 Mystery WomenThe Black Path by Åsa Larsson
The first two books in the series, Sun Storm and The Blood Spilt, have religious themes, which were fascinating. This book I liked somewhat less, partly because the main problem in the story was around greed and financial crime rather than political or crimes of passion. The setting, far north in Sweden, is fascinating and new to me, and Larsson does a really good job developing compelling characters. I enjoyed the book overall, and the ending made me sit in my kitchen fully dressed in hat, scarf, and coat for outdoors, delaying my actual departure so I could finish the book. I just enjoyed it slightly less than the previous two. I’m heading forward to the fourth book in the series, which I think is the last one that has thus far been translated into English, and looking forward to it.
+20 task (Larsson on list; protagonist female)
+10 review
Task Total: 30
Grand Total: 125
