What have you just read? Opinions, recommendations & reviews Showing 2,651-2,700 of 12,687

[Diane S ☔]

Bette BookAddict wrote: "@Diane, Yup! that's it. I could see your review anyway thru my friend link but you write excellent reviews which all the group will benefit from reading."

Thanks Bette.

[Diane S ☔]

I finished All My Puny Sorrows https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[dely]

I finished my other beach read: Behind the Forbidden Door by Tiziano Terzani.

I love everything Terzani writes: I like his writing style, I like the content of his books and I alwasy agree with his opinions.
He was one of the first foreigners who could go to China after Mao's death and in this book he talks about what he saw there in the four years he could live there. He really loved China, its culture and its people but when he could go there, Mao's China has been a big delusion for him. In this book we have China as it was in the past, as it was after the Cultural Revolution and Terzani's opinions about it. It has been written in 1984 so I'm sure many things are changed now but the book is however interesting.

[Diane S ☔]

Sounds wonderful Dely. I have added it and look forward to reading this.

[dely]

Diane S. wrote: "Sounds wonderful Dely. I have added it and look forward to reading this."

I hope you will like it ;)
I'm only sorry that a lot of Terzani's books have never been translated into English. Among all the books I have read by him so far, this is the one I have liked the less (though I've rated it with 3 stars and for me it's a high rating) perhaps because it isn't very actual (though he was able to see far in China's future) and because I don't know a lot about China so sometimes I was lost with all the details about history.

[Amber]

I finished The Infects, Nostradormouse, and The Unfairest of Them Alland they are all pretty good reads.

[Book Ninja]

I finished the secret garden today! Here is my review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Gill]

Rahat wrote: "I finished the secret garden today! Here is my review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."

I love this book, Rabat. Thanks for the review.

[Book Ninja]

No problem Gill!

[Chrissie]

Everybody knows of Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front, but wow, this guy wrote other marvelous books. He died in 1970 so he lived through WW2 also. In 1945 he published Arch of Triumph: A Novel of a Man Without a Country. I highly recommend it.

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[dely]

Chrissie wrote: "Everybody knows of Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front, but wow, this guy wrote other marvelous books. He died in 1970 so he lived through WW2 also. In..."

I have added it to my wishlist, it seems interesting.

[Chrissie]

Dely, and if you haven't read All Quiet on the Western Front you have to read that too, definitely worth a reread if read long ago. Arch is really good....I just wish I understood Joan better!

[[deleted user]]

I just finished Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage. I have a real passion for Japanese fiction, and I love Haruki Murakami. I thought this book was amazing. I love the writing, the imagery, and the insights into Japanese culture. A marvelous reading experience for me.

[Greg]

Chrissie, I really liked All Quiet on the Western Front! Thanks, when I get around to it, I'll try the other one you mention.

[dely]

Chrissie wrote: "Dely, and if you haven't read All Quiet on the Western Front you have to read that too, definitely worth a reread if read long ago. Arch is really good....I just wish I understood Joan better!"

I wanted to buy it last year but a friend of mine who was with me said it isn't worth so I didn't buy it. I hope to find it again!

[Jenny]

It's our next classic group read!! (All Quiet...that is)

Chrissie, I really like Remarque, the books I've read by him left a huge impression with me. The Black Obelisk is also really good!

[Chrissie]

I could take no more of Virginia Woolf's The Waves so I dumped it, after listening to a little less than half of it.

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
which I hope explains clearly exactly what I disliked.

[dely]

Jenny wrote: "It's our next classic group read!! (All Quiet...that is)

Chrissie, I really like Remarque, the books I've read by him left a huge impression with me. The Black Obelisk is also reall..."

Thanks for the information though I don't think I will take part in the group read.

[Chrissie]

Jenny, that is great that the group is reading All Quiet on the Western Front! I never say this comment until you told Dely! Strange!

[Chrissie]

Jenny wrote: "It's our next classic group read!! (All Quiet...that is)

Chrissie, I really like Remarque, the books I've read by him left a huge impression with me. The Black Obelisk is also reall..."

I will check it out. Thanks.

[Chrissie]

dely wrote: "wanted to buy it last year but a friend of mine who was with me said it isn't worth so I didn't buy it. "

Boy oh boy....such friends one can do without! It is an all time classic and really a "must" read.


Greg wrote: "Chrissie, I really liked All Quiet on the Western Front! Thanks, when I get around to it, I'll try the other one you mention."

Great. I don't think you will be disappointed.

[dely]

Chrissie wrote: "Boy oh boy....such friends one can do without! It is an all time classic and really a "must" read."

Lol :D
I tell him always that he doesn't understand anything about literature! Jokes aside, he recommended me also some good books in the past.

[Chrissie]

dely wrote: "Chrissie wrote: "Boy oh boy....such friends one can do without! It is an all time classic and really a "must" read."

Lol :D
I tell him always that he doesn't understand anything about literature! ..."

Everybody makes mistakes!

[LauraT]

Just finished Still Life and loved it a lot: loved the description of that little country village in CAnada; liked the style of writing, liked the characters and I like to know I'll find them, at least part of them, in following books! I only have to find them!!!

[GeneralTHC]

Finished Dry Bones in the Valley yesterday. For some reason I had the impression is was sort of a noir type of thing, but it wasn't what I thought at all .It was okay, though. I bet others will like it more than I did. I may have just broke it up into too many readings.

[Leslie]

Chrissie wrote: "Dely, and if you haven't read All Quiet on the Western Front you have to read that too, definitely worth a reread if read long ago. Arch is really good....I just wish I understood Joan better!"

Just a little reminder that All Quiet on the Western Front is our Group Classic Read for October-November!

[Leslie]

LauraT wrote: "Just finished Still Life and loved it a lot: loved the description of that little country village in CAnada; liked the style of writing, liked the characters and I like to know I'll f..."

:) Such a wonderful series plus I love the French Canadian setting... Glad you finally got to this Laura!

[Chrissie]

LauraT, Jenny just told us.

[Bionic Jean]

I've just finished my reread of Daphne du Maurier's The Scapegoat. I think it's one of her "top 5" in my opinion :)

Here's my review

[Angela M]

I just finished The Hand That First Held Mine. 5 stars for this beautifully written story. My review : https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[[deleted user]]

Just finished The Nixon Defense: What He Knew and When He Knew It. An amazing read! Even though so much has been written about Watergate, this book did reveal new information to me. This sinister portrait of Richard Nixon is quite well-written, I found it a compelling story.

[Chrissie]

This morning I completed Charlotte & Leopold: The True Story of The Original People's Princess. It certainly explained what she had to put up with from her parents! Unbelievable how they used her for their own ends. It is also fun learning about Britain's love for Princess Charlotte. Had she not died in childbirth, Queen Victoria never would have become Queen. Moral standard are a swing of a pendulum. Anyhow, the book was good, even if you learn very little about King Leopold. For that you have to read another book.

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Jenny]

I've just finished reading Pale Fire by Nabokov. What a mind-bender!! If you like books that challenge your general idea of what a novel should be like: this is for you!

[Chrissie]

Jenny, I am so tempted. But what if I don't like poetry. Could you explain a little bit more about it?! Is it very confusing? I love Nabokov's writing, that I know.

[Greg]

I am finding it hilarious Chrissie! It has a poem by a fictional author, but the bulk of the book is a fictional, pompous literary critic's commentary on the poem. The fun is in the difference between what the poem means and what the self absorbed critic says it means. Beautifully written and very, very funny so far. I'm not quite half done.

[[deleted user]]

I've just finished my recommendation swap book Bel Canto. I gave it 4*s and would definitely recommend it to other people. Here is my review and I will also post in the swap thread as well. Review is spoiler heavy do don't read if you haven't read the book and want to.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Chrissie]

Greg, that does sound VERY good. You are the first one who has explained so I can really grasp what it is about. thank you. I guess I should not just leave it on my shelves but read it.

[LauraT]

Leslie wrote: "LauraT wrote: "Just finished Still Life and loved it a lot: loved the description of that little country village in CAnada; liked the style of writing, liked the characters and I like..."

A really good suggestion. And I too was really interested in Quebeck. Hope I'll find the following books

[dely]

I have finished The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. Three hundred pages of boredom! The basic idea isn't bad but I didn't like how Ishiguro wrote about this idea. It's a 1 star book for me and I wouldn't recommend it.

[LauraT]

Angela wrote: "I just finished The Hand That First Held Mine. 5 stars for this beautifully written story. My review : https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."

It's already on my ereader. But this coming september I have too many books already on chedule - long ones as well as The Goldfinch or the one of the Lymond series. Maybe at the end of September/ beginning of October

[Greg]

Oh well Dely .. sorry you didn't enjoy it more. You are having some bad luck lately with reading things you don't like. Hopefully the next book you read you will really enjoy!

[dely]

Greg wrote: "Oh well Dely .. sorry you didn't enjoy it more. You are having some bad luck lately with reading things you don't like. Hopefully the next book you read you will really enjoy!"

I hope it! The problem with Ishiguro was that I couldn't bear 300 pages of Mr. Stevens talk. I know what the author wanted to communicate to the reader but I didn't like how he did it.

[Greg]

I understand dely. It just wasn't for you. I can see how the butler's formal manner could be distracting.

[dely]

Greg wrote: "I understand dely. It just wasn't for you. I can see how the butler's formal manner could be distracting."

Yes, his language was irritating me. Thanks God the book is now finished, I can forget it and start, hopefully, a better one :D

[Bionic Jean]

I enjoyed The Remains of the Day, personally. When I came to then watch the film I found it far less...subtle. Things were sometimes mere suggestions and impressions in the book, and that seemed to have been lost. Superbly acted, but...

[Greg]

I actually loved it too Jean! If I ever do the recommendation swap, I'm going to be really nervous because several books I love, people seem not to like. It never occurred to me about the butler's manner of speaking that it could be an obstacle, but in retrospect I can see how it could be seen that way. I still love the book myself. So subtle, suggestive, and I would say haunting.

[Jenny]

I think I am shying away from doing it so far for the same reason Greg. At the same time, I know that personally I've discovered so many treasures through personal recommendation of someone who resisted the temptation to play safe and find a 'pleaser' for me. Those were often books that I otherwise wouldn't have touched because they seemed out of my general comfort zone or because I wouldn't have heard about them otherwise. I guess I'd rather run the chance of the mild displeasure of finding myself reading a book I don't enjoy (knowing no-one forces me to finish) than loosing out on the chance of finding a literary treasure where I didn't expect one.

[Alice]

Hm, I think I would want to try Ishiguro some time.

[Jenny]

Chrissie wrote: "Jenny, I am so tempted. But what if I don't like poetry. Could you explain a little bit more about it?! Is it very confusing? I love Nabokov's writing, that I know."

Chrissie, Greg did a great summary there. You don't actually need to enjoy reading poetry as it is only a tiny fraction of the book. It is the mad commentary on the poem that takes up 80% of what the novel is. And you'll meet a fine example of an unreliable narrator. Oh and there's a fair amount of poet-bashing happening there which you might enjoy ;)

[Bionic Jean]

Hee hee hee Jenny - I do so love your turns of phrase :D