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What have you just read? Opinions, recommendations & reviews
Diane S ⛄ wrote: "Finished What Lies Between Ushttp://www.channel933.com/photos/main..."
You are one of my favorite reviewers! You don't ever have spoilers! I love you for it!:))) xoxoxo
I totally adored every minute with We, the Drowned.My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
For me I always feel I totally fail writing reviews for those very books I love best.
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Sandysbookaday (taking a step back for a while)
(last edited Feb 04, 2016 02:48PM)
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Just finished
Perfect Angel by Seth Margolis. It didn't really engage me at all. My reviewhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Christie, I feel the same. I feel like I mentally write the review of a good book in my head several times as I read but when the time comes to actually write one, I'm stuck.
Chinook, yeah, exactly. All the details you loved! You cannot list them one by one. I copied so many lines but used none in my review. Typicial. I am glad you understand how I feel.
Finished Where My Heart Used to Beat. 3.5 stars . My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I've finished The Bigness of the World by Lori Ostlund, a great short-story collection. It's the second great book I've read by her in the span of a few month, and I am really looking forward to more of her books. I've written a review as well: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Jenny, I love short stories and am always looking for someone new to try out, so this has gone on my TBR.
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Just finished
The Girl In The Ice by Robert Bryndza. It is one of those 'can't put it down' books! My review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Just finished A Yellow Raft in Blue Water. A tremendous read. Here is my review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Sandy *The world could end while I was reading and I would never notice* wrote: "Just finished The Girl In The Ice by Robert Bryndza. It is one of those 'can't put it down' books! My review https://www.go..."Wow! I wanted to read Bryndza for some time. Thanks for the review, looks great!
Just finished Nora Webster, which turned out to be a slow burner, but a good read. I've given it four stars.
I just finished The Garden of Burning Sand. Had the book kept to the African story, this would have been a strong crime investigation, courtroom drama story. However, the main character is American and the author just had to include her trust-funded, whiney, "woe is me; I've been wronged" attitude throughout and her story took over about half way through. Disappointing. Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I just finished
.I know Nicola /yes she is
sister/ from her blog and FB page, I love her humor and I wanted to get a taste of her writing.It's nothing like I expected.... It's a short novella and despite the slow start it was captivating to the end. :-)
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I've been on a whirlwind tour of new books over the last three weeks, here's my review page for some ARCs I received from netgalley. Several, including Railhead and Dark Matters, are great fantasy reads.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...
LauraT wrote: "RRead in one day a delicious little book on cats: James Herriot's Cat Stories. You have to read it if you love cats"I love Herriot's story-telling style! After my mother got over her shock of my adopting a cat (she is very much a dog person), she gave me this book :)
Mimi wrote: "I just finished Captivation.I know Nicola /yes she is Liane Moriarty sister/ from her blog and FB page, I love her humor and I wanted to get a taste of he..."
Mimi, please include titles (and author names) in addition to (or instead of) covers (and images) in your future posts. Thanks!
LauraT wrote: "Just finished The Glass Castle, my swap suggestion. Liked it extreamly, even if I could barely stand a couple of parents rising up their kids that way! I didn't know it was all real!"Well, sort of real. This is a memoir (not an autobiography) & while not as fictionalized as the one we discussed in This Day in Literature by James Frey, apparently some sections were "exaggerated for effect".
Leslie wrote: "LauraT wrote: "Just finished The Glass Castle, my swap suggestion. Liked it extreamly, even if I could barely stand a couple of parents rising up their kids that way! I didn't know it w...Well, sort of real. This is a memoir (not an autobiography) & while not as fictionalized as the one we discussed in This Day in Literature by James Frey, apparently some sections were "exaggerated for effect"."
That's the reason I have steered clear of this book, Leslie. Memoirs/autobiography should be just that, based on a factual life - not hyped up in order to sell copies!
LauraT wrote: "Just finished The Glass Castle, my swap suggestion. Liked it extreamly, even if I could barely stand a couple of parents rising up their kids that way! I didn't know it was all real!"I read this one as a semi-non-fiction because of the apparent exaggeration involved. However, since it was based on facts, I did come away thinking that mankind is very resilient and finds a way to survive the circumstances. These kids grew up strong, despite flaky parents, regardless of the truth of this book.
I also liked that she stayed loyal to her parents and tried to understand & accept them for who/what they were; she didn't shun them in later life, for example. I found that touching and part of the resiliency of being human.
Read and completed Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye. A finest take on the concept of physical beauty and the politics associated with it. Liked it. Four stars.My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Leslie wrote: "LauraT wrote: "Just finished The Glass Castle, my swap suggestion. Liked it extreamly, even if I could barely stand a couple of parents rising up their kids that way! I didn't know it w..."I read this and didn't realise it was exaggerated, although it doesn't surprise me. I still enjoyed reading it though. I have more problem with Wolf Hall and the like, as there is no one else alive to say what is true or not.
Loved this! Play Dead. My review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Harlan Coben can do no wrong!
Mimi wrote: "I just finished .I know Nicola /yes she is
sister/ from her blog and FB page, I love her humor and I wanted to get a taste of he..."These two sisters are brilliant! Have met Liane Moriarty and was captivated! I haven't read this book though.
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Leslie wrote: "LauraT wrote: "Just finished The Glass Castle, my swap suggestion. Liked it extreamly, even if I could barely stand a couple of parents rising up their kids that way! I didn't know it w..."
I'm glad it has been exagerated somehow!
I can't say that I do, I don't like that they are exaggerating their stories just to sell books. Makes me feel tricked somehow.
What exactly is exaggerated in The Glass Castle? What is incorrectly presented? Could it be a question of different interpretations of the same event?
Chrissie wrote: "What exactly is exaggerated in The Glass Castle? What is incorrectly presented? Could it be a question of different interpretations of the same event?"I don't know what was exaggerated, Chrissie. But I'm reminded of that saying 'never let the truth get in the way of a good story'!
I just read Reached number 3 in the matched trilogy and found that it was really revealing. Although I lost interest around the middle, I plugged through and enjoyed the ending.
B the BookAddict wrote: "Chrissie wrote: "What exactly is exaggerated in The Glass Castle? What is incorrectly presented? Could it be a question of different interpretations of the same event?"I don't know wh..."
Are you saying you have read the book and this is just your impression? I am kind of confused.
I read The Glass Castle when it first came out and liked it very much. Was I gullible to believe it? Then there is her second book about her grandmother: Half Broke Horses. I liked this book a lot too. It has funny lines. The author has said this is a book of fiction because although it is about her grandmother (Lily) and the youth of her mother, the star of The Glass Castle, Jeannette was only eight when her grandmother died. What we are told are the stories repeated by her family. The dialogs are invented, but that is OK by me. There are lines filled with humor and wisdom. She was upfront about the whole thing so it seems OK by me. I gave both four stars.
BUT, Bette, if youhave heard that this is total fabrication please inform me and tell me what specifically you know. Any sources?
People always have different impression of the same facts. I kept this in mind when I read both books.
Laura, so you are saying you did like the book?
Chrissie wrote: "What exactly is exaggerated in The Glass Castle? What is incorrectly presented? Could it be a question of different interpretations of the same event?"I don't remember the details - sorry. I read this with a real life book club about 9 years ago and don't have a copy of the book anymore (I think that I might have read a library copy). I do remember that the exaggeration or truthfulness of the story made up a big part of the discussion though. And this is when I first learned about the distinction between memoir and autobiography.
Patricia, thank you; I appreciated reading that. Just as I thought, no two people will rember the same event in the same manner.Leslie, you are right. There is a difference between an autobiography and a memoir........except that I also take the information presented in an autobiography with a pinch of salt too. The Glass Castle is clearly a memoir. I find her view interesting! I like her lines. What is wrong with looking at her pov?! I think there is a difference in reading a book for the "absolute facts" and looking at how people felt and reacted to given events. I like both. You just have to keep in mind what your are reading. I think you have to do this with ALLbooks.
Patricia wrote: "Chrissie, here is a 2005 interview with Jeanette Walls: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by..."Thanks Patricia, that helps clear things for me. I don't have a problem with the truth being elaborated, especially since no-one can remember whole chunks of conversation, and memory is very unreliable. What is important (to me) is that none of her family denied what she wrote, even if they would have told it differently.
I agree if that was her viewpoint, how she remembers it than that for me makes it valid.
Chrissie wrote: "Patricia, thank you; I appreciated reading that. Just as I thought, no two people will rember the same event in the same manner.Leslie, you are right. There is a difference between an autobiograp..."
I agree with you - I was just pointing out (in response to LauraT's comment about it being a true story) that some of it was perhaps not 100% "true".
In general, if a memoir is how the author remembers events (even if inaccurate) that is fine with me. What I don't care for is the deliberate changing of some aspects to make a better story. I don't know if Walls did this or not but the fact that I remember this as being an issue discussed in the book club means that the question must have been raised by somebody.
Leslie wrote: "What I don't care for is the deliberate changing of some aspects to make a better story. ."I agree.
Read the link Patricia gave us. It is good. Yet again we are hearing her view. There are also statements from other members of her family.
Chrissie, no, I haven't read The Glass Castle; quite simply because thru my previous f2f book group, I had heard that all details were not fact. But I can't give you specific examples. I suppose that those claims are hard to prove or disprove. But, were those rumours amongst readers about Walls' story true or not? Maybe I shouldn't perpetuate those rumours as I don't have concrete evidence that it is true!Your link is interesting to read, thanks Patricia . As an similar example, I have an incredibly good memory and remember things from our very early childhood which my sister does not. My earliest memory is from age three, hers in from age six; so individuals memory differs.
Mark Twain's quote: 'never let the truth get in the way of a good story' is for me, the same as Leslie says, the deliberate changing of some aspects to make a better story ."
I think I'm still quite confused as to the difference between a memoir and an autobiography!
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All About Books
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My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...