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What have you just read? Opinions, recommendations & reviews
The House at the Edge of Night by Catherine Banner is a luxuriously long family saga set on a remote Italian island from the end of the 1800s to today. Love, pain, war, festivals, tragedies, magic. It's all there. 4★
My review
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I have finished a very short book that I received for free by an emerging writer in exchange of a honest review. There is only an Italian edition: Mi innamoravo di tutto: Storia di un dissidente by Stefano Zorba 3,5/5The title could be "I felt in love with everything: Story of a dissident".
It's not easy to talk about this book if we don't know what's going on or what happened in Italy in these last years (G8 of Genoa, the NoTav movement, etc.). Also the title of the book, is the title of a music album of a very famous Italian singer; also the nickname of the main character is the name of a song of the same singer-songwriter.
So, a very short synopsis: a dissident is caught by intelligence agents and while he is tortured, he thinks about his life: why he started to fight against injustices, his ideals till the day he is caught. It's not a spy thriller, but the book talks that in front of injustices we can't hide and do as if nothing happened; that it's important to know how things really are, to don't trust news because they tell us only what they want.
It was good, I liked it.
My (only) Italian review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
That sounds very interesting dely. Do you have any suggestions for non-fiction that would cover those issues?
Finished Diana Wynne Jones' first children's book, Wilkin's Tooth which was published in the States as "Witch's Business".
Chinook wrote: "That sounds very interesting dely. Do you have any suggestions for non-fiction that would cover those issues?"Not at all, I'm sorry! And there would be also another problem, to find those books also with an English translation.
Maybe LauraT or Marina can help you but sadly I don't read a lot of non-fiction about Italy.
Just finished The Pecan Man. Great debut. Here is my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Not as crazy about this as some. The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena doesn't involve the couple next door as much as I'd expected.Young family, new baby left at home with baby monitor while parents party next door. What happened and how? 3.5★ from me.
My review
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Really enjoyed this one. Funny and informative: You're Saying It Wrong: A Pronunciation Guide to the 150 Most Commonly Mispronounced Words--and Their Tangled Histories of Misuse by Ross Petras and his sister Kathryn Petras.The history is good enough to be interesting and short enough not to be boringly academic.
I've shared several examples of things we say wrong or cringe when friends say them wrong, as well as things I never knew. It's amazing how ignorant we can all be sometimes! :)
I gave it 4,5★ for an entertaining book. Great gift idea too.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I've just finished Fish Have No Feet. Very good; I must get organised to read more by Jón Kalman Stefánsson.Here's a link to my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I just finished Citizen: An American Lyricand it was incredibly moving and important. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Just finished
Broken Promise by Linwood Barclay https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... and
The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I’ve really been getting into annotated children’s books lately! I’ve just finished The Annotated Phantom Tollbooth.My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Leslie wrote: "@Suzanne - A new Coben! I will have to put in my library request :)"I love a good HC!
A memoir that is recommended. This edition is for the younger reader. Ugly: Younger Readers by Robert Hoge. My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Well..... everybody seems to love A Gentleman in Moscow but me! :0(
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
PattyMacDotComma wrote: "Really enjoyed this one. Funny and informative: You're Saying It Wrong: A Pronunciation Guide to the 150 Most Commonly Mispronounced Words--and Their Tangled Histories of Misuse by ..."That sounds like a fun book!
I was not surprised to find Hugh Fraser's narration of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd excellent -- one of Christie's best and Fraser was just right in his narration! 5★ (This was a reread for me - for maybe the 5th time! - but it was still a lot of fun even knowing who the culprit was.)
Citizen inspired me to read Between the World and Me next and it's just as moving and important. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Jen wrote: "Finished But You Did Not Come Back. 5*****. My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."I agree, that is a book worth five stars even if one has read zillions of holocaust books.
As usual I never know if we are to put our reviews of non-fiction books here or in the thread of what non-fiction books we are reading.....so I put it in both! I always enjoy books by David McCullough! Reading them gives pure pleasure. I can certainly recommend The Johnstown Flood.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
As usual, the audiobook narration by Edward Hermann was exemplary!
Phrynne wrote: "My review of Cotillion by Georgette Heyerhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."
Yay, another Heyer fan! I like Cotillion but think Frederica is even better :-)
Andreea wrote: "Finished Blindness by José Saramago . Here is my review of it ."
That is on my shelf and I am determined that I will get to it sometime this year! Your review has pushed it up in my list - thanks!
I have finished The Stranger by Albert Camus, 3*I liked it though I can't enter in the main character's head. I understood his musings about life, but I don't agree with him, I can't believe that there could be a person like him that doesn't care about anything. I also think that sometimes Camus was too cryptic or too fast to explain his points of view about life and death.
Leslie wrote: "Andreea wrote: "Finished Blindness by José Saramago . Here is my review of it ."
That is on my shelf and I am determined that I will get to it sometime this year! Yo..."
I found it randomly in my bookshelf ( I must have received it as a gift ) and in my ignorance I thought that it would be an easy read. What a mistake.
It is incredibly beautiful in all the ugliness it describes. Totally worth the time I spent reading it.
If I could give Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets by Svetlana Alexievich more than Five Stars I would - My Review
Andreea wrote: "Finished Blindness by José Saramago . 
Here is my review of it ."
Thanks, Andreea. That was a very interesting review. What do you plan to read next?
Guy wrote: "If I could give Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets by Svetlana Alexievich more than Five Stars I would - My Review"
I'm glad you liked it that much! This is a book that everyone should read, it's really worth.
Gill wrote: "Andreea wrote: "Finished Blindness by José Saramago . Here is my review of it ."
Thanks, Andreea. That was a very interesting review. What ..."
Thank you, dear Gill ! I am currently reading Freedom or Death by Nikos Kazantzakis . Because I am such a fan of his. And afterwards I was thinking of For Whom the Bell Tolls . What about you ?
Andreea wrote: "Gill wrote: "Andreea wrote: "Finished Blindness by José Saramago . Here is my review of it ."
Thanks, Andreea. That was a very interesting ..."
I like Kazantzakis also, especially The Last Temptation of Christ. I'm going to read To The Bright Edge of the World next.
dely wrote: "Guy wrote: "If I could give Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets by Svetlana Alexievich more than Five Stars I would - My Review"
I'm glad you liked it that ..."
You are so right. It is eye opening and a paradigm shift for us westerners.
dely wrote: "I also think that sometimes Camus was too cryptic or too fast to explain his points of view about life and death. ."I agree.
Guy wrote: "If I could give Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets by Svetlana Alexievich more than Five Stars I would - My Review"
Glad you loved it.
Just finished
Resthaven by Erik Therme, a fast paced and creepy tale....Old deserted buildings hold a fascination for most people; those where people have died even more so.I can quite see why Jamie, who in my opinion is a nasty manipulative little brat, used Resthaven, an abandoned rest home, as the scene for a scavenger hunt for some 'friends'. More than that I am not going to say, except that this is a fast paced, creepy read. I devoured it.
The author has portrayed the vindictive bitchiness, the emotional eruptions, the vacillating 'friendliness' of the teenage girl with great expertise.
Thank you to author Erik Therme for providing an ARC of Resthaven in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.
Guy wrote: "You are so right. It is eye opening and a paradigm shift for us westerners. "You can try also Goodnight, Mr. Lenin: A Journey Through the End of the Soviet Empire by Tiziano Terzani. The author was in Russia in 1991 during the coup to Gorbachev. He was near the border with China but he decided to go to Moscow so he started travelling through the Soviet Empire. It's an interesting book if you are interested in the topic.
This one's a head turner Can You Keep a Secret? by Caroline Overington. Here's my review - 5 stars: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Phrynne wrote: "My review of A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton..."That is a blast from the past -- I read that series up until about M and then tired of it but recently I have started up again with the later letters (most recently X). I like Kinsey Milhone as she seems reasonably realistic to me.
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