Joanna’s
Comments
(group member since Nov 17, 2010)
Joanna’s
comments
from the Reading with Style group.
Showing 641-660 of 2,306
20.1 Author! Author!Less Is Lost by Andrew Sean Greer
Not as good as Less, but still some great observations and really funny moments to be found in this meandering journey of self-discovery. I enjoyed revisiting Arthur Less, the slightly washed up, middle-aged, self-proclaimed "bad gay," author. His story about not knowing how to be comfortable in his own skin, even in his fifth decade, was vulnerable and touching. Still, I wanted something more from this book. Much like the protagonist, the plot never knew what it was doing or where it was going. Sadly for the reader, this made for quite a bit of drag as the characters meandered about.
The narrator for the audiobook is excellent (and is the same narrator who narrated Less). He's so good here that the audiobook won a well-deserved Audiofile Earphones Award. If you like audiobooks, the humor here translates very well to audio format.
+20 Task
+10 Review
Task total: 30
Grand total: 205
15.1 Celebration of StylesGalveston by Nic Pizzolatto
+15 Task - Young - author born 1975 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nic_Piz...)
Task total: 15
Grand total: 175
10.2 Moon and SunI'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
Lexile: 740
This is why I still read YA literature. I loved these characters. I loved the description of neuro-atypical thought in ways that really put me in the character's head instead of as an outside observer. I loved the idea of artistic images that sprang up in a character's mind so vividly they felt real--emotions expressed as hair turning to snakes, coiling around; girls as hornets buzzing. I can see why some people hated this book. But I loved it.
I loved that this book had difficult issues, but wasn't moralizing about them. The characters were imperfect.
The ending was a little to cute, but it's a YA book, so I'm more forgiving of that sort of perfect closure than I might be for a novel targeted at adults.
The narrators for the audiobook were great. The book translated well to audio other than the need to pay attention to the timeline because each chapter gave a date and if I missed it, it could take me a while to figure out whether I was hearing something from the book's past or the book's present.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+15 Prize-worthy
Task total: 35
Grand total: 160
20.10 LettersGalveston by Suzanne Morris
I grew up in Galveston, so when I came across this scruffy hardcover book in a used bookstore, I couldn't resist buying it. I've never heard of the book or the author other than stumbling across this book, promoted on the cover as "spanning three generations with the historic and romantic city as backdrop" or something like that.
I actually wanted more description of Galveston places, more streets, more high society. But that's really just for my own chance to see which places from the 1880s-1899 I could place in my memory of living there 100 years later. I'm also quite surprised that a book set in this time period in Galveston chooses to entirely skip over the 1900 storm. The first section of the book spans the end of the 19th century, then jumps forward 20 years, leaving the storm to be only mentioned in passing as something that happened a while ago.
Overall, the book felt a little too long, with the final section being the most uneven. There's a character who engages in long-standing southern cruelty, but in the last section, she goes off her rocker enough that the book lost believability for me. More subtle action would have been more believable and also more interesting.
Not a bad read, but not one that likely has much interest today unless one has a particular interest in Galveston or Houston.
+20 Task (There were a ton of letter and handwritten notes here, including the one written to her parents when a character runs off on the day of her wedding.)
+10 Review
+5 Oldies (1976)
Post total: 35
Grand total: 125
@Anika -- I also adored Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. I made my in-person book club read it, to somewhat more mixed feelings. I'm definitely right in the target audience for this book--computer geeky, gamerish folks who grew up in the 80s/90s. Basically, the same people who really liked Ready Player One.
20.5 Scandinavian NoirThe Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen
I don't read much from the Scandinavian Noir genre, so I'd never heard of this "international sensation." I enjoyed the book well enough--the plot is full of tension as the case of an unsolved disappearance is solved by the cranky detective who has just been put in charge of a stack of cold cases. The scenes are gritty and real, with not-so-happy outcomes for many of the characters.
This is definitely a man's book. The victim is described repeatedly, and endlessly, as breathtakingly beautiful. The detective has vaguely negative relationships with women. The only women who seem to work for the homicide unit are secretaries who, again, are described by their physical characteristics. These descriptions are consistent with the protagonist's relationships with women, but still make this a very male-gaze book.
I'd read another book in this series or by this author at some point, but don't feel any real desire to pick up the next one immediately. Maybe I should go read something about rainbows and unicorns first.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+15 Prize-worthy (Barry Award for Best Novel (2012), Prix du meilleur polar scandinave, Grand Prix des lectrices de Elle for roman policier (2012), Sealed Room Award (2012))
Task total: 45
Grand total: 90
20.6 WilderThe City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
A middle grade version of Wool and sort of reminiscent of The Giver. This book holds little interest for an adult reader, who would be better served to check out one of the other listed above. For a middle grade reader, maybe 5th-6th grades, this could hold enough interest and fast enough plotting to be entertaining.
The story is that for some reason "The Builders" constructed an underground city and for some generations, people have been living there not remembering anything about any other way to live. But the city is falling apart, the storerooms are running out of necessary items, and the society is starting to collapse. Luckily, a couple of courageous 12-year-olds to the rescue. The book operates at a pretty superficial level, but again, this might be fine enough for a middle-grade audience. I'm surprised by how many awards this won, so maybe I'm just grumpy or not familiar enough with middle-grade literature.
I won't be continuing with this series.
+20 Task (12 year old POV)
+10 Review
+15 Prize-worthy
Task total: 45
Grand total: 45
20.3 Favorites - 3d RoundBad Feminist by Roxane Gay
SP 18 - 20.2 The Blazing World - feminist book
+20 Task
Task total: 20
Grand total: 1010
And that's it for this season. It was fun going back through the past tasks!
20.2 Favorites - 3d RoundIf Cats Disappeared from the World by Genki Kawamura
WI 11-12 - 20.10 pub year has 1 and 2
+20 Task (published 2012)
Task total: 20
Grand total: 990
20.1 Favorites - 3d RoundFoxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch
FA 22 - 20.1 Jemison - main character is a person of color
+20 Task
Task total: 20
Grand total: 970
20.10 Favorites - Round 2Ghostwritten by David Mitchell
SU 18 - 20.4 The Piano Teacher - author's debut novel
+20 Task
+100 Finisher - 10 different seasons
Task total: 120
Grand total: 950
10.1 Protagonist over 60Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie
10.2 Moon and Sun
I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
10.3 Vowels
Kicked, Bitten, and Scratched: Life and Lessons at the World's Premier School for Exotic Animal Trainers by Amy Sutherland
10.4
10.5
10.6
10.7 Scrabble
Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O'Nan
10.8 FRIEND
Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About by Mil Millington
10.9 Georgia
Lost Lake by Sarah Addison Allen
10.10 Group Reads
20.1 Author! Author!
Less Is Lost by Andrew Sean Greer
Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov
20.2 War
Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
20.3 Dickens
Hunger by Knut Hamsun
20.4 Golden Age
Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
20.5 Scandinavian Noir
The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen
20.6 Wilder
The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau (age 12)
20.7 Christie
Time's Edge by Rysa Walker
Horse by Geraldine Brooks
20.8 Morrison
The Kingdom of Gods by N.K. Jemisin
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
20.9 Popular Science
Memory Craft by Dr Lynne Kelly
20.10 Pen and Paper
Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters
Galveston by Suzanne Morris
20.9 Favorites - 2d roundBurn by Maya Banks
FALL 2017 - 20.7 -Single Word - title is one word
+20 Task
Task total: 20
Grand total: 830
20.8 Favorites - 2d roundMemoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin
FALL 2015 - 20.1 Celebration - pub year has 0 and 7
+20 Task (pub 2007)
Task total: 20
Grand total: 810
Valerie wrote: "I have read the series by: Jussi Adler Olsen. I think it is the best contemporary Nordic Noir series ( and I do love Jo Nesbo!). You def have to start at the first book: [book:The..."Cool! My library has the audiobook available, so I've just placed a hold on it. Thanks!
Joanne wrote: "My library has only the second book of An Elderly Lady, Joanna-is it necessary to read book 1 first?"Not really. They are collections of short stories that start the "elderly lady" named in the title. There are mild cross-references, but not ones that would interfere with enjoying them out of order.
I've read very few of these authors or these types of books. Please help me out with some recommendations.For reference, I read Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow and found it interesting but also weirdly disappointing. I read the The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo books and enjoyed them. And I read An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good and the sequel and thought they were hilarious.
Will time travel books work here if the people are traveling back more than 50 years or forward more than 50 years? In many cases, the intervening time won't be covered--i.e., there will be some events taking place in, say, 1850, and other events in 2050, but the intermediate time isn't discussed.
20.7 Favorites - Round 2Purity in Death by J.D. Robb
Fall 2020 - 20.3 Prolific - auth has published 20+ books
+20 Task
Task total: 20
Grand total: 790
