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What have you just read? Opinions, recommendations & reviews
I have The Forgotten Garden but haven't gotten around to reading it yet.
Gill, if you are interested in two other books about Shostakovitch I can recommend Leningrad: Siege and Symphony: The Story of the Great City Terrorized by Stalin, Starved by Hitler, Immortalized by Shostakovich and Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad. Both are non-fiction, and I thought both were worth four stars. It does not feel too repetitive to read both.
Chrissie wrote: "Gill, if you are interested in two other books about Shostakovitch I can recommend [book:Leningrad: Siege and Symphony: The Story of the Great City Terrorized by Stalin, Starved by Hitler, Immortal..."Thanks, Chrissie. I'll have a look for these.
I’ve just finished Damned Whores and God's Police by Anne Summers for the Aussie Readers’ Awesome August Challenge. It’s as relevant today as it was when it was first published in 1975.My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Good book, 4 stars. Our Tiny, Useless Hearts by Toni Jordan. My review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
A 3 star read from an author I've not read before. Broken Silence by Danielle Ramsay. My review is here:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I've just finished a very good poetry book Jogging with the Great Ray Charles. Here's a link to my review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I finished Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Parts One and Two. I enjoyed it. It was fun and entertaining & I'd see it on stage if it came here. My review (spoiler free): https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Just finished The Master and Margarita. Excellent book!Short review (because what can I say that hasn't already been said)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I just finished East of Eden, the single best reading experience in years and my new, all-time fave book! My review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I've been meaning to read this for a while, since she's a favourite of mine: Kate Atkinson's book of short stories, Not the End of the World.Quirky, odd, sort of Nero-fiddling-while-Rome-burns, not unlike much of the world's current drawbridge mentality.
La-la-la-hum-hum (hands over ears) - Warning? What warning?
My review: 4★
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I have just finished reading Asce di guerra. It's only in Italian but I thought I would share it as well, in case there are Italian followers.A book I very much recommend (my review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... )
Before that, I read 1984 a wonderful classis 1984
Hannah, glad you so liked Bulgakov's book. I had more trouble than you with East of Eden. I felt the message was pounded in too hard!
Mod
Going to finish them this summer then!
One to make you think, bought to us via Andy Griffiths.
. It will make you think about indigenous literacy. My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I've just finished Absalom, Absalom!. Here's a link to my short review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I read The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell for the second time.My review is at: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Finished A Fine Balance. It was long (my copy has 713 pages); it was heartbreaking; but it was worth every minute and the emotional tumult (I cried several times). 5-stars.My Review
5★ for what reads like a real translated journal of a very funny, witty, disabled Russian teen who's a victim of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Doesn't sound funny? Neither does M*A*S*H, when you think about it. Who would have believed the Korean War could be so full of jokes?
Scott Stambach could have fooled me with his terrific new novel:
The Invisible Life of Ivan Isaenko: A Novel
My review
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Alice wrote: "Finished A Fine Balance. It was long (my copy has 713 pages); it was heartbreaking; but it was worth every minute and the emotional tumult (I cried several times). 5-stars.My Review"
It's on my to read-list. Glad you liked it!
Completed reading The Betrothed. If you want to visit 17th century Italy (Milan and its surroundings), go for it and you will have no regrets. A lovely feel-good novel.Here is my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I just finished this month's group fiction book - A Thousand Acres. An enthusiastic 5 stars from me!!
Mod
Here is my re..."
Loved it!!!
Completed reading Muriel Spark's The Public Image. Liked it. Three and half stars. My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Mod
Wonderful Leslie! I'm looking forward to getting further in it - I just started yesterday
PattyMacDotComma wrote: "I've been meaning to read this for a while, since she's a favourite of mine: Kate Atkinson's book of short stories, Not the End of the World.Quirky, odd, sort of Nero-..."
Good review Patty. I didn't know she'd written the books that the 'Case Histories' TV series is based on - loved that series.
LauraT wrote: "Finished yesterday the third of the Cazalet series Confusion. Loved it, as the others, even a bit better.Going to finish them this summer then!"
I've read the complete Cazalet series and greatly enjoyed all the books. Since then, however, I've tried several other of Elizabeth Jane Howard's novels and not liked them.
Pam, loved the Case Histories series too. Was kinda my intro to Atkinson. Wire In The Blood, based on Val McDermid's novels, was my intro to her work. Funny how tv series can lead you to great authors.
I finished up 2 books -- both from the Guardian's list of 1000 novels :)The Great Impersonation,
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
and The Tin Drum, the new translation,
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Pam wrote: "PattyMacDotComma wrote: "I've been meaning to read this for a while, since she's a favourite of mine: Kate Atkinson's book of short stories, Not the End of the World.Good review Patty. I didn't know she'd written the books that the 'Case Histories' TV series is based on - loved that series. "
I hadn't seen the series until after I'd read the books. It wasn't quite how I pictured it, but the series was true to the spirit of the books, I think.
B the BookAddict wrote: "Pam, loved the Case Histories series too. Was kinda my intro to Atkinson. Wire In The Blood, based on Val McDermid's novels, was my intro to her work. Funny how tv series can lead you to great auth..."I haven't yet read McDermid, and haven't seen Wire in the Blood, mainly because I have so many TV shows to catch up on - didn't know that was based on hers.
Just finished Hart's Redemption Road...great thriller. Here is my review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
It won the Pulitzer, and deserved to, but it was too long, so I docked it half a star (like anyone will ever care - ha!).4.5★ for All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.
WW2, parallel stories of a blind French girl, a German radio prodigy drafted into the Hitler Youth, a rotten Nazi officer (no surprises there), a hidden diamond - plenty to work with. Oh yes, and birds and snails and a fixation on Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas.
My review
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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All About Books
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Shirley, I read Morton's books for a relaxing read now and then, and like you, enjoyed The Forgotten Garden. A #1 bestselle..."
Yes, her books are quite comforting, good to escape into.