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What have you just read? Opinions, recommendations & reviews
I loved Fingers in the Sparkle Jar: A Memoir. My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I also love the title.
Finished Good Time Coming: A Sweeping Saga Set During the American Civil Warhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I've just finished The Annotated Hunting of the Snark. My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Just finished
Quick and the Dead: A Contemporary British Mystery by Susan Moody 3* https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Finally I have finished reading The Toss of a Lemon by Padma Viswanathan 2**Didn't like it though the topic could have been interesting (three generations of a Brahmanic family and their customs and traditions). It was so boring, I wasn't involved with the story and I couldn't feel for any of the characters.
My only Italian review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I've just finished Exit West. I gave it 4.5 stars.I'm not able to post my full review until February 23rd 2017, but just to say that I think this is a book that should be read.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I've just finished Lions. What fabulous writing! I'll definitely read it again.Here's my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Finished the English translation of The Peach Blossom Fan. The translators did a superb job considering the difficult classical Chinese language and the numerous historical allusions. It's a story about a late Ming courtesan's struggles to stay loyal to her true love despite villainous attempts to tear the lovers apart. It reflects on traitorous deeds of the self serving power mongers who caused the Ming dynasty to fall. I'm giving this classical play 5 stars!
This year's Man Booker Prize winner, The Sellout by American Paul Beatty is certainly one from left field. I started it, got stuck, quit. Started it again and loved it.4.5★
You've got to appreciate both the absurd story and the even more absurd situation the world finds itself in which makes this story necessary.
Is apartheid a cure for racism? WHAT!? (It IS satire, after all.)
My review
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Unfortunately a one star read for me. Rain Music by Di Morrissey. Eeew.https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Another book that touches on racism, where the whites are getting more and more uncomfortable in South Africa.
Summertime
It's a fictionalised biography of the supposedly 'late' John Coetzee, written by Nobel Prize-winning and twice Booker winner J.M. Coetzee, formerly South African, now Aussie and very much alive in South Australia, as far as I know.
My review
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Gill wrote: "PattyMacDotComma wrote: "5★ superb! Right up there with favourite for the year is Lawrence Block's production/publication/collection of stories, [book:In Sunlight or In Shadow: Stori..."If you've seen an exhibition, I bet you thought about what the stories might be for the pictures, eh? :)
My review of Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen by Mary Norris
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Here's the link to my review of Snagged by author Carol Higgins Clark;-https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Pam wrote: "Finished book 6 in the Flavia de Luce series. Just missed 5 stars because of the murder's resolution - The Dead in their Vaulted Arches."I enjoy this series as well, and starting Dec 1 am going to listen to the latest one.
PattyMacDotComma wrote: "Gill wrote: "PattyMacDotComma wrote: "5★ superb! Right up there with favourite for the year is Lawrence Block's production/publication/collection of stories, [book:In Sunlight or In ..."You've got it!
Yeah, I can recommend: In the Country We Love: My Family Divided. My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I've just finished reading Speaking in Cod Tongues: A Culinary Journey Through Canada. There was a lot of theoretical background in the book, but also plenty of examples. I found it an interesting read.My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Recent read was The Moment She Left one and a half stars - a disappointing read for me.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
A lovely one which seems that I'm the last in the world to have read A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman. 4★ from me.My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Here is my review of The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson:-https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I've just finished The Years That Followed and liked it very much. Dunne is an Irish author and this is her 9th book. I'm already looking for some more to read by her.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Suzanne wrote: "A lovely one which seems that I'm the last in the world to have read A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman. 4★ from me.My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/s..."
No, I still have this on my shelf to read.......
Finished Good Time Coming: A Sweeping Saga Set During the American Civil War. 4 stars. My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Finished Victoria: The Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman Who Ruled an Empire - four stars from me, very interesting, engaging, well-written, great for bio and history fans. 
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...Finished Small Admissions - two stars from me (probably a 2.5 in reality but it was more OK than I liked it, so rounded down) - very easy reading but didn't connect emotionally or otherwise with the characters or proceedings, not overly substantive IMO, could be a nice read for fans of Prep
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Loved the writing but got annoyed at the extra people and chapters. Selfishly wanted more of the 'main' story in Idaho. This is the first novel for Emily Ruskovich, and she's a terrific writer, so I look forward to more from her.
3.5★ because I was annoyed by all those people.
My review
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I couldn't finish Red Sorghum. I don't feel for any of the characters, although the writing is fine.
Alice wrote: "I couldn't finish Red Sorghum. I don't feel for any of the characters, although the writing is fine."I started that one too, but didn't finish it. It is not often I give up on a book! One should be warned that the violence is graphic.
PattyMacDotComma wrote: "Loved the writing but got annoyed at the extra people and chapters. Selfishly wanted more of the 'main' story in Idaho. This is the first novel for [author:Emily Ruskovich|1524259..."
I'm very excited to pick this up in early 2017, thanks for your candid thoughts, Patty!
Finished Pachinko, four star read for me of a multi-generational Korean family epic set in Korea and Japan predominantly: beautiful prose, fantastic historical and social context and ideas but all done so well as to not interrupt the quality of the narrative or movements of the plot. Highly recommend.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I've just finished Requiem for a Nun (the last book for my 2016 challenge. Phew!)It's not the best book I've read by William Faulkner, but it has its good points. Here's my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
PattyMacDotComma wrote: "Loved the writing but got annoyed at the extra people and chapters. Selfishly wanted more of the 'main' story in Idaho. This is the first novel for [author:Emily Ruskovich|1524259..."
Reading this now, about a third of the way through.
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All About Books
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