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What I'm Reading JUNE 2015
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Kat wrote: "Joan wrote: "Just finished The Financial Lives of the Poets Funny smart and engaging with a Breaking-Bad plot—lost job, house foreclosed, marriage failing, which leaves Matt, a forme..."I'll be reading that one too, Kat. I like his style.
Barbara wrote: "I love that book, BC. In fact, I love everything by Kent Haruf. I haven't read his latest though which he finished just before he died."I have had Plainsong on my TBR since it came out, but somehow just never got to it. So glad I finally read it. Am eager now to get to Eventide and Benediction.
Joan wrote: "Just finished The Financial Lives of the Poets Funny smart and engaging with a Breaking-Bad plot—lost job, house foreclosed, marriage failing, which leaves Matt, a former business-ne..."This sounds delightful.
In This Sign by Joanne Greenberg – 4**** The novel follows a deaf couple – Abel and Janice – through their lives from shortly after WWI to the mid 1960s. When their daughter is born Hearing, they begin to rely on her to be their ears and voice in a world they barely understand. Margaret struggles to find her own life in the face of the duty she feels to help her parents. Poignant and thought-provoking.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I've put that on my want to read list, Joan. I've had a brief dip into celebrity books, reading The Book of Joan: Tales of Mirth, Mischief, and Manipulation, then Robin Williams: When the Laughter Stops 1951 - 2014. I respected both of them very much as comedians, and along with much of the rest of the world, had felt it personally when someone of such intelligence, warmth, and humanity as Robin Williams took his own life.
I enjoyed reading more about Joan Rivers and hearing a few more of her jokes; she was such a unique woman and comic.
It was almost painful reading about Robin Williams, only because I still feel so sad about his ending, but I'm glad I did. I need to now again watch "Moscow on the Hudson" (not one of his remarkable films, but the one wherein I remember noticing that Williams was an attractive man) and "Aladdin," for the genie parts which are simply classic Williams standup.
Next up: A Little Life. Looking forward to some good fiction again.
Book Concierge wrote: " In This Sign by Joanne Greenberg – 4**** The novel follows a deaf couple – Abel and Janice – through their lives from shortly after WWI to the mid 1960s. When the..."
I read this novel at the time that my son's deafness was diagnosed, now a couple decades ago! I learned a lot from it.
Kat wrote: "Book Concierge wrote: " In This Sign by Joanne Greenberg – 4**** The novel follows a deaf couple – Abel and Janice – through their lives from shortly after WWI to t..."
Many years ago, my in person book club read Of Such Small Differences, by Greenberg, which is another book with valuable lessons for the reader.
I read In This Sign quite some time ago too and have good memories of it. I've been interested in Deaf culture ever since I worked with deaf children and other staff who were deaf when I was in my 20s.
I finished half of Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire. This was an interesting book, however, it went into more detail than I wanted. It is a moment-to-moment account of Mountbatten, Gandhi and Nehru right up to the end of the Indian empire.
I've been reading two books about the CIA recently. The first is David Quammen's 1987 novel, The Soul of Viktor Tronko. This was a fictionalization of the aftermath for a search for a Russian mole embedded int he CIA. Quammen is a great writer about nature, and I think that that this book was the only fiction he wrote. It was excellent all the way to the end, but it did move slowly at times. The non-fiction book dealing with the CIA is Michael Morell's The Great War of Our Time: An Insider's Account of the CIA vs. al Qa'ida. It actually deals with Morell's whole career in the CIA, although the main focus is just what the title says. For anyone who wants to understand how the CIA has dealt with the major issues of our day, it has many important insights. Certain politicians come out quite well (Bush, Obama, and Hillary Clinton) ... certain ones don't (Cheney, Rumsfield, McCain, and Graham).Over the past week we were traveling and had the opportunity to have dinner at Barbara Kingsolver's restaurant, HARVEST TABLE, in rural Southwestern Virginia. Good food, with a very strong focus on local sourcing. A thoroughly enjoyable experience.
I'm rereading Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse, which is so breathtakingly beautiful and fine that it amazes me that anyone who has read it has had the face to write another novel.
Kat wrote: "I'm rereading Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse, which is so breathtakingly beautiful and fine that it amazes me that anyone who has read it has had the face to write another novel."I've always loved it--as well as The Waves another marvelous book by Woolf.
I just finished The Bookseller of Kabul. A great nonfiction book, compelling as a good novel but left me sad for being wiser about the reality of life for women in traditional Afghan families. The writing is clear, direct, though not particularly beautiful. The people, their stories, kept me turning the pages. I'm very glad I read this book.
Mary Ellen wrote: "I just finished The Bookseller of Kabul. A great nonfiction book, compelling as a good novel but left me sad for being wiser about the reality of life for women in traditional Afghan f..."I read it some years ago. Very interesting.
Kat wrote: "Book Concierge wrote: " In This Sign by Joanne Greenberg – 4**** The novel follows a deaf couple – Abel and Janice – through their lives from shortly after WWI to t..."
It really is a good book, and I've heard from several people who know someone who is deaf who have commented on how accurately Greenberg writes of the experiences in that age. As I mentioned in my full review, this is a re-read for me - I first read it back in the early 1970s. Also, there's a made-for-TV movie starring Mare Winningham as Margaret - titled "Love is Never Silent"
Kat wrote: "I'm rereading Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse, which is so breathtakingly beautiful and fine that it amazes me that anyone who has read it has had the face to write another novel."Thanks for reminding me of this book. I’ve wanted to read this for a long time but I have never got round to is. I’ve put it on my to-read list now.
I've started the Elizabeth Taylor for our group discussion next month, and I think I can say without fear of spoilers that it is excellent. Thanks to Barb for nominating!
Barbara wrote: "I read In This Sign quite some time ago too and have good memories of it. I've been interested in Deaf culture ever since I worked with deaf children and other staff who were deaf when I was in my..."I read it quite a while ago also. She is also the author of I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, which she originally published under the pen name Hannah Green.
Nicole, I agree and I'm glad you're enjoying Mrs. Palfrey so much too. I started it a while ago and was reading it so fast that I made myself take a break halfway through. I didn't want to finish with lots of time before the discussion date and forget things. I'm looking forward to returning to it in a few minutes.
Barbara wrote: "Nicole, I agree and I'm glad you're enjoying Mrs. Palfrey so much too. I started it a while ago and was reading it so fast that I made myself take a break halfway through. I didn't want to finish..."I'm very much enjoying it, too, Barb. Haven't read her before, so thanks!
Sara wrote: "Barbara wrote: "Nicole, I agree and I'm glad you're enjoying Mrs. Palfrey so much too. I started it a while ago and was reading it so fast that I made myself take a break halfway through. I didn'..."I enjoyed it also. I am reading Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, which has been on my 2015 challenge.
Well, I'm mortified. I love Edith Wharton and had never read this. I'm 200 pages in and can't bear it. I somewhere read that it was considered her greatest novel, so you can imagine my chagrin that I'm not drawn to it at all. I'm putting it aside, and making a public confession.
Just finished
. Like all his books, fascinating, but at a remove. So now I'm having a grand old time and laughing through
I deserve a break. And then back to some of the half-dozen books I'm into. Work is just so demanding lately that I find my concentration isn't there, but that doesn't explain my Wharton-phobia. It just seems like such a dated book, and I'm listening to The Golden Bowl at night as I drift off to sleep, which I love, of course, and I think the Wharton just suffers by comparison. And it doesn't seem to have the compassion she always had for her characters. Does anyone know it? Or does anyone have any interest, whether you know The Custom of the Country or not, to tell me that whoever thinks it's her greatest book must have been disturbed? I don't care about anyone in it! Imagine!
I put it on my "threw it against the wall" shelf, because GR doesn't seem to have a category between "Read" and "Want to Read" to signify that one chose not to finish it.
Ellen wrote: "Well, I'm mortified. I love Edith Wharton and had never read this. I'm 200 pages in and can't bear it. I somewhere read that it was considered her gr..."
I agree that Custom of the Country isn't up to Wharton's usual standard. It's been a long time since I read it, but I remember the characters being one-dimensional in comparison to the usually complex beings Wharton explores in Age of Innocence and House of Mirth.
Kat wrote: "Ellen wrote: "
Well, I'm mortified. I love Edith Wharton and had never read this. I'm 200 pages in and can't bear it. I somewhere read that it was con..."
Oh, thanks. I feel so much better! You know, it struck me, that book may have had a sensational quality in 1913 (?) that it doesn't have now? Not that the clash of cultures (Apex v. Washington Square) isn't interesting, but "one-dimensional" is an excellent way to describe it!
Well, I'm mortified. I love Edith Wharton and had never read this. I'm 200 pages in and can't bear it. I somewhere read that it was con..."
Oh, thanks. I feel so much better! You know, it struck me, that book may have had a sensational quality in 1913 (?) that it doesn't have now? Not that the clash of cultures (Apex v. Washington Square) isn't interesting, but "one-dimensional" is an excellent way to describe it!
I loved Custom of the Country, but I don't remember why.
I like Ralph enough. I can't warm to Undine. (Like the old lime about coming home from a cocktail party, "Loved him, hated her." Funny.) The details are wonderful, Undine's dad is a great character. I just cannot pull it together. I'm sure it's me. Maybe a glass of wine tonight, some cheese, a Shih Tsu at my feet... There you go. Oh, also one of the villains of the piece is the portraitist, I don't know if you remember. Pop-something, Poppery? I think I've unconsciously identified him in my mind with John Singer Sargent, whose work I just love. (I love portraits, anyway, but his are so so so, you know?)
Ellen wrote: "Well, I'm mortified. I love Edith Wharton and had never read this. I'm 200 pages in and can't bear it. I somewhere read that it was considered her gr..."
Custom of the country is my very favorite Wharton. Wow, could she ever slip in the knife.
Well, I certainly respect your opinion. I'll get back to it!
I'm actually re-reading this right now, partly in response to a Jonathan Frantzen piece about Wharton (executive summary: he uses beauty and how it affects the reader's empathy levels as a kind of exploratory tool to talk about three Wharton novels). I'm only a little bit into it, but I'm already liking it more than the House of Mirth. I think Undine provides a kind of way for the reader to see the society she always depicts from the outside instead of from the inside as we usually do with her. So, Undine is kind of ridiculous, and there are some basic things that she doesn't understand, but she is also a way in for the reader, and a way to see how ridiculous the society she is aiming at is, also. Oh, and I think it's Popple, for the portrait painter.
Oh, Nicole, what an interesting way to look at Undine; I never would have thought of it, that she stands outside and sees clearly. I thought she stood outside and was blind. Seriously. I have to say, I was brought up by people with pretentions, and taught what one does and what is simply not done, and on and on and on (let me make clear: there were no basis for the pretensions). And I hear my mother's voice (does anyone know when this stops?) every time Undine does fails to understand what's going on around her saying, "Who are her people?"
Undine. Now look at what Wiki says:
What undines lack, compared to humans, is a soul. Marriage with a human shortens their lives on Earth, but earns them an immortal human soul.[11]
Hmm. I don't know what's wrong with me. Well, I'll polish off the Nick Hornsby, and back to Ms. Wharton.
Undine. Now look at what Wiki says:
What undines lack, compared to humans, is a soul. Marriage with a human shortens their lives on Earth, but earns them an immortal human soul.[11]
Hmm. I don't know what's wrong with me. Well, I'll polish off the Nick Hornsby, and back to Ms. Wharton.
Children of God by Mary Doria Russell – 4**** In this sequel to The Sparrow , Emilio Sandoz returns to Rakhat to face the consequences of that initial human contact. Once again, Russell gives us a morality play wrapped in science fiction. It’s a fascinating story, deeply spiritual (as the title suggests), but which lacks the impact of her first book. Anna fields does a marvelous job performing the audio version.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Ellen wrote: "Oh, Nicole, what an interesting way to look at Undine; I never would have thought of it, that she stands outside and sees clearly. I thought she stood outside and was blind. Seriously. I have to..."I will always prefer things seen from the inside. Illuminating moral complexity is for me the greatest fictional achievement possible. But of course there's value in that outside thing too. :)
Book Concierge wrote: " Children of God by Mary Doria Russell – 4**** In this sequel to
The Sparrow
, Emilio Sandoz returns to Rakhat to face the consequences of that initial human ... It’s a fascinating story, deeply spiritual (as the title suggests), but which lacks the impact of her first book. "
BC, you are so right. It's a very good book, but it "lacks the impact of her first book."
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Constant Reader
Books mentioned in this topic
Children of God (other topics)Children of God (other topics)
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The Custom of the Country (other topics)
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John Williams (other topics)Wilkie Collins (other topics)
Christina Stead (other topics)
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I read this a few years ago and really enjoyed it. Quit different from his novel Beautiful Ruins, which got so much more attention. I liked that one too.