2013 Where in the World are you?!? (Currently Reading)

[Chrissie]

thanks for your advice, Lilisa!

[Barbarac]

I am in New Zealand with In the Land of the Long White Cloud. I already started it and it's interesting but I'm not sure I like the characters too much.

[Vizara]

Lilisa wrote: "Chrissie wrote: "Is this your first Shors, Lilisa? Have you read others that you like? I have not had the courage to try him. The reviews are cut down the middle, so I am a bit skeptical."

Chrissi..."

Having just read this book I have to remark that I didn't like it at all. To me it almost seemed like a young adult book.

[Vizara]

At the moment I'm in Spain withJews of Spain: A History of the Sephardic Experience, well researched and well written.

[Chrissie]

Thanks, Vizara. I have a feeling Shors will not please me.

[Vizara]

Chrissie wrote: "Thanks, Vizara. I have a feeling Shors will not please me."

I finished that book with great effort. Also bought Cross Currents at the time, but will leave it on my shelf.

[Lilisa]

Chrissie and Vizara - haven't made any progress on Thousand Faces as I've been absorbed with Anya. I also bought Cross Currents a few years ago, but haven't read that one yet. I'll have to report back when I get back to Thousand Faces.

[Chrissie]

Thanks, Lilisa.

[Shomeret]

I'm on an island off the coast of Croatia in The First Rule of Swimming. I've discovered through online research that the island's actual name is Brac. I got a copy of this book through Net Galley. The novel deals with some fairly universal issues. I find the central character very sympathetic.

[Chrissie]

Shomeret, how much of the story actually takes place on Brac? I am tempted b/c I have been there.

[Lesley]

I have added The First Rule of Swimming to my TBR. Sounds interesting.
I am currently reading No Picnic on Mount Kenya: A Daring Escape, A Perilous Climb. It's just OK.

[Shomeret]

Chrissie wrote: "Shomeret, how much of the story actually takes place on Brac? I am tempted b/c I have been there."

I have read 22% of The First Rule of Swimmingand Magdalena,the central character, is still on Brac which the author decided to call Rosmarina after the plant from which Rosemary comes. This is a thematically appropriate name.

[Chrissie]

Thanks, Shomeret. Do you feel the beauty of the place? How has the author drawn it for you? Do you see it, smell it, is it really there before your eyes?

[Shomeret]

Here's a sample of description from The First Rule of Swimming , Chrissie:

"The jugo has blown for several days. Warm and sallow, it stirs up the detritus of the sea and brings it into Rosmarina's shallows. The waves move in long rows from the south and crash against the shore like an assault by lines of endless infantry."

[Chrissie]

Shomeret, I will wait for your review. Again, thank you.

[Lesley]

I've just started Lyrics Alley, set in Sudan.

[Rusalka]

I am up in Iceland with From the Mouth of the Whale

[Jane(Pixie)]

I have been sailing from Guam, Micronesia and the Northern Mariana islands with the Spirit of the voyage through the novel 'Brothers of the Fire Star. posting from Guam where I really am.

[Vizara]

Have just arrived in Brazil with State of Wonder which I really enjoy. I find it much better than Bel Canto which I read last year.

[Chrissie]

I am reading Red Azalea, simply b/c I am determined to read the books sitting here on my wooden shelves. I think I got it from my Mom. Neither I nor her knew that it has a central lgtb theme in addition to it being a memoir of the life of the author during the Cultural Revolution in China. The writing is extremely simplistic with short straight-forward sentences relating what happens, particularly in the beginning of the book. Little introspection. Maybe this will come later. Do you understand what I am saying? The text reads like: she did that and then he did that. I don't really think this is a result of English not being the author's native language.

[Chrissie]

Gaeta, I managed to finish "The Map of Love", and in a mood of generosity I gave it three stars. Good to know there are others who felt as I did.

[Chrissie]

At least you will not waste more time on it. Yes, yes - lots of people love it, but not Gaeta and I!

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

One thing I love about both of you as readers is how honest you are. And that you don't expect everyone to feel the same way about the books you have liked/disliked. I really value your opinions!

I'm trying out The First Rule of Swimming from NetGalley, set in Croatia and New York. I already read a book from Croatia, so I'm not going to feel bad abandoning it if I don't feel into it. :)

[Chrissie]

Jenny, :0)

[Chrissie]

Well, now I am blushing. Aren't we supposed to honestly tell others how we react to books. What is the point of GR otherwise?

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Well, isn't it nice to be appreciated anyway? :P

[Rusalka]

Ditto all of the above. So nice to have real reactions to books!

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I'm still in Croatia but decided to also start in on A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki, set in Japan and also a bit in Canada. Interesting story-telling so far. And I haven't been back to Japan since my reading binge last year!

[Lilisa]

That's it - The Map of Love is off my list!

I am still in Cambodia with my Temple of a Thousand Faces because four of the library books I was in the cue for became available! So I'm reading The Aviator's Wife and Birds Without Wings and I have Life After Life and Americanah waiting To be read. When it rains, it pours!

[Chrissie]

Americanah has be interested, and some of those others are rally good but others meh........

[Lilisa]

Chrissie wrote: "Americanah has be interested, and some of those others are rally good but others meh........"

Seriously, Chrissie - tell me how you really feel :-) I like the "meh" - very expressive!

[Chrissie]

Lilisa, I didn't want to repeat myself. This is what I thought of Life After Life: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Yes, Atkinson writes well, but the message I found rather unremarkable.

I adored Birds Without Wings.
Review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Skeptical about The Aviator's Wife, but I have not read it, so what do I know?!

I was trying to say that some I loved and some were not to my taste.

[Chrissie]

Wow, the audio of Americanah IS available in Europe. For once, we get it first!

Gaeta, you must tell me how you react to The Aviator's Wife! Would you recommend both The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb and Alice I Have Been? Unreliable narrators aren't my favorite. I think I am more interested in the former.

[Chrissie]

That is what I thought! I am no Victoriana fan!

[Lilisa]

I am liking The Aviator's Wife - haven't read anything on the Lindberghs before, so find it rather interesting and, yes, Lindbergh is not likeable and full of himself. And, enjoying Birds Without Wings! And, I like this string of comments - it's great to see difference of opinions - I dislike it when everyone agrees - we can't all like the same things - it's impossible since we're all different and have gone through different life experiences and read and listen through different lenses!

[Chrissie]

Gaeta, thanks for your thoughts. In any case other books draw me more than Benjamin's.

Lindbergh's antisemitic views are discussed in the book I am listening to now: The Hopkins Touch: Harry Hopkins and the Forging of the Alliance to Defeat Hitler.

[Shomeret]

Yesterday I was shuttling back and forth on the English Channel. I spent the early morning in London with the urban fantasy Whispers Under Ground. Then I left for work, and using my Kindle as a time travel device, I navigated to France just before the revolution withSpirit of Lost Angelswhich is turning out somewhat differently than I expected. The protagonist's life contains many twists and turns.

[Vizara]

At the moment I'm in ancient Greece.....no, in Asia Minor on the plains of Troy with The War That Killed Achilles: The True Story of Homer's Iliad and the Trojan War and so far I like it very much. I read the Iliad and the Odyssee at school in Greek (parts of the book, not all of it) and I have always loved them.
Both Iliad and Odyssee highly recommended.

[Lilisa]

I've just begun Americanah - has started in the U.S. and moves to Nigeria at some point in the book - not sure when exactly. Excited at reading another of Adichi's books. Loved her The Danger of a Single Story Ted Talk piece - check it out.

[Lilisa]

Chrissie wrote: "Lilisa, I didn't want to repeat myself. This is what I thought of Life After Life: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Yes, Atkinson writes well, but the message I found rather unremarka..."

i didn't enjoy Life After Life so didn't bother to do a review! I probably needed something less confusing so Rules of Civility did it for me!

[Rusalka]

I'm sort of in Jamaica with Midnight Robber. It's a sci-fi book where another planet is colonised by the Caribbean culture instead of the American, Euro or Asian cultures.

The sci-fi elements are not to in your face, but the Caribbean culture is, and the book is written in Creole. It's been a bit slow going, I think partly because of this. But now I have my head around it a bit more, and the story is taking off.

A friend of mine from Trinidad is next in line for it. I showed her the book and she read a few pages and got incredibly homesick. That's always a good recommendation.

[Chrissie]

Lilisa, I don't know....it seemed like everybody but me loved Life After Life, but your response seems similar to mine. What is all the fuss about this book! And was the message worth all the confusion? Glad I am not alone.

[Lilisa]

Chrissie wrote: "Lilisa, I don't know....it seemed like everybody but me loved Life After Life, but your response seems similar to mine. What is all the fuss about this book! And was the message worth all the confu..."

It was too confusing for me and way too much work. I was very disappointed - i was really looking forward to it. Oh well - on to other books.

[Lilisa]

I am with Americanah and loving it - I'm loathe to put it down but life is getting in the way...

[Chrissie]

I will be reading that soon, Lilisa! Nice to know it is so good.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I'm in Holland with The Dinner by Herman Koch.

[Lilisa]

Jenny wrote: "I'm in Holland with The Dinner by Herman Koch."

Jenny - would be interested in what you think of it. I read it not too long ago.

[Barbara]

Hey Lilisa
I read The Dinner when it first came out because of all the hype.
I think it was too much hype for the book...the book was a little flat. Reminded me a lot of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf.
What did u think?

[Barbara]

I am in Cambodia with In The Shadow of the Banyan.
So far so good.
I like the author's detailing of the surroundings. You can feel like you are there.

[Lilisa]

Barbara wrote: "Hey Lilisa
I read The Dinner when it first came out because of all the hype.
I think it was too much hype for the book...the book was a little flat. Reminded me a lot of Who's Afraid of Virginia W..."

Barbara - my review on The Dinner here - http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...