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Constant Reader
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What I'm Reading - Feb 2013
Bernardette had asked what others thought of THE DINNER by Herman Koch (Dutch author).Well, I just finished ir! Wow! Two brothers and their wives meet for dinner at a swank restaurant to talk over what to do about what their teenage sons have done. The author has a wry sense of humor which I liked, but as the book continues it becomes not only suspenseful, but rather strange as well as you come to know the mind of the narrating brother. Scary, the lengths to which people will go to preserve their comfortable way of life. It certainly kept my attention to the end.
Marge
Love that Sherman Alexie book! Although I have not read it, Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World's Most Dangerous Weapon is supposed to be great & read like fiction. It's also a YA book (like The Absolutely True Diary...) I've been thinking of getting it for my 13 year old....who is not reading nearly as much since discovering the game Minecraft. Sigh.
Joan wrote: "Just finished Empire of the Sun. Here's my review.Having seen the excellent film numerous times, I decided to read Ballard’s fictionalized account of the period he spent as a boy interned by the J..."
Excellent book.
Helen wrote: "Hiya has anyone read this new poetry book on Amazon Kindle called 'Love,Hurt And Loss A collection of poetry By Helen Ingram' This is link to UK Amazonhttps://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00BJM9YN2
I thi..."
Helen, thanks for stopping by, but you need to put this in the Promotions Folder. I can't do it myself, since the message would be by me and not you.
Hiya Sherry have placed my review in that folder now sorry.
All I'll say is that much as she protested otherwise, I felt Hildy was (at least somewhat) psychic, but if she wanted to call it "reading people" fine by me.
Sara wrote: "Just finished The Good House on audio. Excellent reading by Mary Beth Hurt, but the book is so great I'm sure the narrator's voice is on the page. Like John, I'm afraid to say how wonderful I t..."
My goodness Sara! Jumping up and down. Between your and John's reviews, no wonder there are 129 people ahead of me at the library!
It takes place near you, Sue. I tried to figure out the most likely town that "Wendover" could be in real life, coming up with Ipswich. As for the raving, there isn't much in the way of "flaws" that I found to dissect - (almost) nothing over-the-top, the characters and events seemed completely credible to me.
I really am looking forward to this though it will likely be a couple of months before I get it unless the libraries get more copies. Similarly, not sure if I'll get Round House in time for the March 15th discussion. I'm #60 on about 35 copies so there is a chance.
Well, I hope you're planning on fitting in The Way We Live Now, too, Sue. I'm about 1/3 of the way through it, and it's another that I could rave about, too.
John wrote: "Well, I hope you're planning on fitting in The Way We Live Now, too, Sue. I'm about 1/3 of the way through it, and it's another that I could rave about, too."I have that on my kindle but haven't started it yet (except I did preview the first chapter) I'm looking forward to it.
Finished up History of a Pleasure Seeker by Richard Mason a few days ago. Here's my review.The protagonist in this book is insufferable, handsome, talented, and devious. Men and women fall in love with him at every turn. This reader almost barfed. However, she did continue with the book, hoping that the guy would get his comeuppance. Didn’t happen. Pfaw!
I'm putting aside the Good House, to force-read The Casual Vacancy, which I can only have for 7 days. I put this on hold on the library on the strength of one good review I read months ago. Since then I've read several reviews that were not so flattering. I'd forgotten about having it on hold when it showed up today. We'll see.
I'ma bit confused, Ruth. Have you started The Good House and have paused it, or do you mean that you were going to start it, but The Casual Vacancy pre-empted that?
John wrote: "I'ma bit confused, Ruth. Have you started The Good House and have paused it, or do you mean that you were going to start it, but The Casual Vacancy pre-empted that?"I put the Good House on pause.
I have Jeremy Irons' reading of the book on my TBR pile, Carol. However, I'll listen on a trip next month, so the details will be fresher for discussion for me.
That should be excellent , John. Jeremy Irons is a personal favorite of mine.
Carol wrote: "That should be excellent , John. Jeremy Irons is a personal favorite of mine."I think he may be a personal favorite of a lot of us. I actually have a Playbill around here somewhere that proves I saw him in London in 1972 in Godspell, of all things. Who knew!
Sue wrote: "Similarly, not sure if I'll get Round House in time for the Mar..."Sue, consider yourself lucky - I was #476 yesterday, when I checked...
I realized I hadn't read anything by Ruth Rendell in ages (my favorites are "The Bridesmaid" and "Live Flesh") and happened to find her 2007 "Adam and Eve and Pinch Me" on the local library's Kindle offerings. I'm well underway and she does not disappoint...dark, dark people and situations hypnotically gathering toward the eventual train wreck. I'm in awe of her understated style.
Just realized I used "train wreck" in the metaphorical sense, but this book is set in motion by an actual (if offstage) train wreck.
Ruth wrote: "I'm putting aside the Good House, to force-read The Casual Vacancy, which I can only have for 7 days. I put this on hold on the library on the strength of one good review I read months ago. Since t..."Looking forward to your take on this,Ruth, as I've been hesitant...reviews are mixed...
Dale wrote: "I realized I hadn't read anything by Ruth Rendell in ages (my favorites are "The Bridesmaid" and "Live Flesh") and happened to find her 2007 "Adam and Eve and Pinch Me" on the local library's Kindl..."I have this on my library kindle wishlist for when I have the right moment. Love being able to borrow that way.
I've finished As I Lay Dying, excellent, if troubling, book. Now I've also started Cairo: My City, Our Revolution, a first hand account of Egypt's January 2011 revolution.
Sue: The Cairo book sounds tempting. Last year I interviewed an Alabama physician who happened to be vacationing in Egypt with his family when all hell broke loose... http://birminghammedicalnews.com/news...
Dale wrote: "Sue: The Cairo book sounds tempting. Last year I interviewed an Alabama physician who happened to be vacationing in Egypt with his family when all hell broke loose... http://birminghammedicalnews.c..."It's very readable Dale and so strange, in a way, to be reading from the street, as it were.
And thanks for that article.
Joan wrote: "Looking forward to your take on this,Ruth, as I've been hesitant...reviews are mixed."So far I'm underwhelmed. And in need of a character chart.
Uh. Oh. I never read the Harry Potter books; not crazy about fantasy. But I have been reading George R. R. Martin's Game of Thrones (finished the third and taking a breather) after seeing the HBO presentation. I liked the first book best so far.
I just finished Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland's History-Making Race Around the World - this was quite enjoyable.
Joan wrote: "Uh. Oh. I never read the Harry Potter books; not crazy about fantasy. But I have been reading George R. R. Martin's Game of Thrones (finished the third and taking a breather) after seeing the HBO p..."I'm not a fantasy person either. I read the first Harry Potter because I bought for my grandson who was not an enthusiastic reader, and I wanted to check it out before I gave it to him. It was okay. Successful gift, tho, because he read it, and then gobbled up each book as it came out.
My grandkids also loved Harry Potter as well as a mythology based series "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" was one of the titles, I believe.
I think Lily read all the Harry Potter books when she was about 7. Then she read them all again. She reads much faster than I do, and much more. She wants to be a writer when she grows up. (Sorry for the sidetrack.)
Has anyone read THE END OF YOUR LIFE BOOKCLUB by Will Schwalbe? I got to about page 50 and tossed it. Looked like a few cursory remarks about a bunch of books he read. Couldn't believe this was a best seller. But, then, neither could I believe that a dull movie like Argo could be chosen best film of the year. LOLMarge
I just finished Truth and Beauty by Ann Patchett. This is Patchett's story of her close friendship with writer Lucy Grealy, who died of a drug overdose at the age of 38. Grealy was the very talented poet and writer famous for her book Autobiography of a Face, which describes a lifetime battle dealing with the aftermath of chemo and surgery, which destroyed half of her jaw. Obviously this is a very heavy subject, but Grealy was a lot more than just her excruciatingly painful medical history. She was very talented and had a rare ability to attract friends. She was a fighter, but also terribly self-destructive. Patchett was a far better friend than I could ever have been.
This may be Patchett's best book.
Just finished Gulliver's Travels for the first time in many years. Uneven but brilliant.
Ann wrote: "I just finished Truth and Beauty by Ann Patchett. This is Patchett's story of her close friendship with writer Lucy Grealy, who died of a drug overdose at the age of 38. Grealy was the very talente..."I read that and enjoyed (not exactly the right word) it very much. I wouldn't have been that good a friend, either. I thought Lucy was a pill.
Yes, the word "difficult" doesn't begin to describe Lucy.
Another member of the Lucy was a pill club here.
I rather liked "Autobiography of a Face" which was by Lucy Greeley, but I thought Patchett's book was somewhat parasitical.
Joan,One of her sisters wrote a letter to a British newspaper criticizing Patchett as a "grief thief". However,Patchett only mentions Lucy's family in passing a couple of times and only in reference to how they helped Lucy. Patchett paid the family to use copies of the letters which Lucy wrote to her.
I thought about whether the book was fair for awhile, but decided that, for me, the book was justified. Patchett did a great deal for Lucy in terms of personal and even financial support over many years. In addition, the two were drawn together by writing. Writers draw on personal experiences to exercise their craft. Lucy would have done the same thing to Ann in a heartbeat if it had been convenient.
Lucy might have been a "pill," but she had something that really drew people to her. I was astonished by the generosity of her many friends. Her letters also make clear that she was a very interesting thinker and writer. The descriptions of her many facial surgeries were horrendous, especially when you consider that the effects were not permanent. She was very brave for a long time. Unfortunately, the drugs and her demons undid her in the end.
All that is true, yet I'm still uncomfortable with the notion of a friend storing up this stuff to write about after her death, though of course it is commonly done and doesn't normally offend me (all the memoirs about Plath for instance or Sexton)--thus, there's something in Patchett's tone that I found disturbing.
I found the whole book disturbing. A strange, needy relationship for both of them.
I finished Brideshead Revisited , it was a bit heavy on religion , but it was passable. I was curious about Bless Me, Ultima , so I started it. All I can say right now is it is mystical and magical. Is it good, time will tell. It suited my mood of the moment.
Carol wrote: "I finished Brideshead Revisited , it was a bit heavy on religion , but it was passable. I was curious about Bless Me, Ultima , so I started it. All I can say right now is it is mystical and magica..."I just read a positive review of the Bless Me Ultima movie in Truthout today.
I haven't read Patchett's book, but the comments make me think of recent reviews of Jamaica Kincaid's new novel (haven't read that one either), which is apparently highly autobiographical and exposes all the details of her family life--her husband (now divorced) and kids, I mean. It made a number of reviewers pretty uncomfortable. But it's true that writers have been plundering their families and friendships for centuries now. We tend to forgive those who are long dead more easily than ones who are writing today, and the great more easily than the good (to say nothing of the mediocre). I have to admit I admire writers who put their art before their relationships, possibly because I can't do it myself.
I loved Bless Me Ultima--it is indeed magical.
Excellent points, Sara. Memoirs are definitely shaped by invented dialog, changing the timing of incidents for dramatic effect, etc. etc. I still have a weakness for them.Grealy's own memoir was Autobiography of a Face. Patchett's book recounts an interesting exchange between Grealy and a woman at one of her readings.
Fan: "It's amazing how you remember everything so clearly...All those conversations, details. Were you ever worried that you might get something wrong?
Reply: "I didn't remember it," Lucy said pointedly. "I wrote it. I'm a writer."
Some people like being needed, and that may apply to Patchett. At the same time, that is not necessarily a bad thing. I think that Patchett genuinely loved Lucy and did her best to help her. She wrote the book to try to understand her very complicated friend and to work through her own grief. It is extremely personal. Knowing that, people can choose to read it or not.
I just started film historian David Thomson's latest attempt to write a one-volume history of the movies, "The Big Screen." As always, Thomson brings a wide range of knowledge and a love of the subject, as well as an abstract theme that sometimes gets him into odd corners. He's generally enlightening and fun to read as well.
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Constant Reader
Books mentioned in this topic
Citizen Sherman:: A Life of William Tecumseh Sherman (other topics)Dangerous Liaisons (other topics)
Salvage the Bones (other topics)
Citizen Sherman:: A Life of William Tecumseh Sherman (other topics)
Autobiography of a Face (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Ann Patchett (other topics)Orlando Figes (other topics)
Jennifer Haigh (other topics)
Having seen the excellent film numerous times, I decided to read Ballard’s fictionalized account of the period he spent as a boy interned by the Japanese in a camp near Shanghai. The boy, Jim’s upbringing was one of privilege; his father a wealthy owner of a Shanghai cotton mill. Jim experienced the typical upper-class life of British expatriates, but he was also exposed daily to the gritty
realities of the street—beggars lying in the ditches, coffins floating in the Yangtze. In a way, this prepared him for the brutal routines of the cam[ps. Jim links up with various questionable characters, having been separated from his parents and forced on his own devices after war was declared. He admires the Japanese soldiers (later befriends one and ultimately feels responsible for his death) and is fascinated by airplanes, typical of a boy his age. He learns that only the strong survive, that collaborators may preserve their lives, which he understands but does not admire. Even armed with such knowledge, Jim’s basic humanity often surfaces causing him to aid others even at his peril. Obsessed with games of war and death, Jim remains at the camp even after the Allied liberation. When at last reunited with is parents, who were interned elsewhere, he feels distanced—that they endured their own war, and he cannot communicate to them what he experienced. Returning to an England he has never seen, Jim feels that a part of him will always remain in Shanghai.