Tamara’s
Comments
(group member since Mar 26, 2019)
Tamara’s
comments
from the 2025 Reading Challenge group.
Showing 201-220 of 542
7/53. Animal Life by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir; translated from the Icelandic by Brian FitzGibbon.My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Thank you, Lisa.
5/53. The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell. My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Thank you, Nikki.
My challenge for 2023 is to read 53 books. I read a lot more than that each year, so it's not a very ambitious goal. But I want to take my time, savor the books I read, and perhaps do more of my own writing. 1/53. Stealing from the Saracens: How Islamic Architecture Shaped Europe by Diana Darke.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Goal: 52 Books64/52. Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout.
Another book in the Lucy Barton series. I sort of can see why some readers rave about it, but I felt it had very little substance or depth. This is the second book I've read in the series. I doubt if I'll read any more in the series.
Goal: 10 Books by Women Authors
39/10. Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Goal: 52 Books63/52. Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks. A historical novel about the plague in a seventeenth-century English village. Unfortunately, what was otherwise a good historical novel, in elegant language and immersive detail, was spoiled by its improbable and somewhat bizarre ending.
Goal: 10 Books by Women Authors
38/10. Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Goal: 52 Books62/52. I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death by Maggie O'Farrell.
In this unconventional memoir, O'Farrell chronicles seventeen self-contained episodes in which she comes close to death. She communicates the intensity of each experience in detailed, evocative diction with a fear and anxiety that is palpable. A compelling memoir.
Goal: 10 Books by Women Authors
37/10. I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death by Maggie O'Farrell.
Goal: 10 Books of Non-Fiction
17/10. I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death by Maggie O'Farrell.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Goal: 52 Books61/52. Winter in Sokcho by Elisa Shua Dusapin; translated from the French by Aneesa Abbas Higgins.
The narrator is a young woman working in a run-down resort hotel close to the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. Very little action occurs since most of it takes place beneath the surface. The novel's strength lies in the narrator's interiority.
Goal: 10 Books by Women Authors
36/10. Winter in Sokcho by Elisa Shua Dusapin; translated from the French by Aneesa Abbas Higgins.
Goal: 10 Books in Translation
19/10. Winter in Sokcho by Elisa Shua Dusapin; translated from the French by Aneesa Abbas Higgins.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Goal: 52 Books60/52. A Collection of Essays by George Orwell.
Orwell's essays are classics. His insights continue to speak to us across the decades. Of particular relevance in this age of fake news and incendiary language is his essay, "Politics and the English Language."
Ten books of Non-Fiction
16/10. A Collection of Essays by George Orwell.
Ten Classics
13/10. A Collection of Essays by George Orwell.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Goal: 52 Books59/52. Walking on the Ceiling by Aysegül Savas.
This is the second novel I've read by this Turkish author. I enjoyed her White on White, but I enjoyed this novel more. Her style is unusual--very subdued and muted. Nothing much happens in her novels, but her character's interiority is fascinating and her voice, mesmerizing.
Goal: Ten Books by Authors from the Middle East and Africa
9/10. Walking on the Ceiling by Aysegül Savas.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Goal: 52 Books58/52. The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng.
I enjoyed it although I had some minor quibbles with the narrator and the extended passages of martial arts. I thought his The Garden of Evening Mists was a much better novel.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Goal: 52 Books57/52. Augustus by John Williams.
Another great novel by John Williams. This is a fictional retelling of the life of Octavius Caesar Augustus, unfolding through a series of letters, journal entries, excerpts from memoirs, dispatches, and senate dictates.
Williams was an incredible author. His novels tackled different subjects, but they were all equally brilliant. I'm a huge fan of his writing.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Goal: 52 Books56/52. Orwell's Roses by Rebecca Solnit.
I've loved everything I've read by Rebecca Solnit, and this was no exception. Here she takes as her starting point Orwell's love of gardening and then explores a variety of subjects, including Orwell's life and writing, totalitarianism, climate change, social justice, and the degradation of the natural environment.
Goal: 10 Books by Women Authors
34/10. Orwell's Roses by Rebecca Solnit.
Goal: 10 Books of Non-Fiction
15/10. Orwell's Roses by Rebecca Solnit.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Goal: 52 Books55/52. Hotel Iris by Yōko Ogawa, translated from the Japanese by Stephen Snyder.
I loved Ogawa's The Housekeeper and the Professor. This couldn't be more different. It is full of really disturbing sexual violence, bondage, humiliation, etc. etc. I didn't get the point at all. This novel just wasn't for me.
Goal: 10 Books by Women Authors
33/10. Hotel Iris by Yōko Ogawa, translated from the Japanese by Stephen Snyder.
Goal: 10 Books in Translation
18/10. Hotel Iris by Yōko Ogawa, translated from the Japanese by Stephen Snyder.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Goal: 52 Books54/52. Ithaca by Claire North.
This is the first book in the upcoming trilogy. It is a delightful retelling of Penelope's Ithaca while she waits for Odysseus' return. North makes the unusual choice of having Hera narrate the story. Her snarky voice is the source of much of the humor. An original and enjoyable take on the myth.
Goal: 10 Books by Women Authors
32/10. Ithaca by Claire North.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
