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What have you just read? Opinions, recommendations & reviews
I finished a YA audiobook yesterday which I really didn't care for much, Cruel Beauty. It wasn't the narration, which was fine, but the book itself. Perhaps I was biased because I was put off in the very beginning by these characters from the time of ancient Greece drinking coffee. However, my main problem wasn't the various anachronisms but the love story between the two main characters wasn't believable to me. So I don't recommend this one (2★) unless you really love paranormal YA and don't mind historical inaccuracies.
I've just finished reading The Lay of the Land. It's another five star novel from Richard Ford. There is more wisdom in this book about midlife and impending mortality than in a whole pile of self-help books put together.
LOL Leslie! I nearly spilt mine over the keyboard then! :D
Gill, Ford is one of those writers that I've been meaning to read since forever. Somehow I am stubbornly determined to start with The Sportswriter which always seems to be unavailable whenever I want to get it from the library and then I forget about it again. Would that indeed be a good book to start with?
Jenny, of the four books by Ford that I've read I liked The Sportswriter the least. But I think that's because I'm not interested in sports writing! I still gave it five stars by the way. I started with Canada which I thought was really good. I think if you can't get hold of the one you're looking for, it would be pretty good to start with Independence Day, which is the second book in the Frank Bascombe series. You could always go back to the Sports writer later.
Jean wrote: "LOL Leslie! I nearly spilt mine over the keyboard then! :D":) The coffee drinking was bad but the ticking clocks made me want to throw it against the wall (but for the fact that it was on my iPod which I don't want to damage!). Seriously, how hard is it to do a little research if you want to write about a historical time and place?
It's hard to understand why someone wouldn't care, I do agree!
Leslie wrote: "I finished a YA audiobook yesterday which I really didn't care for much, Cruel Beauty. It wasn't the narration, which was fine, but the book itself. Perhaps I was biased because I..."This is the problem I have reading YA books. The really good ones are well researched but some are not researched at all. Does the YA group care or is it only us, the adults that read YA care and want accuracy. I like some of the books of this genre just not sure how I should
Rate them.
I have finished At the Water's Edge. 3 stars (2.5 rounded up). My review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....
Diane, I suspect that most of the YA audience doesn't know any better (lack of experience & young age so not fully educated yet). As for rating, I rate them as I would any other book. Writing for teens doesn't mean that sloppy writing is acceptable in my eyes! I do give a little leeway regarding vocabulary but not much.
Angela M wrote: "I have finished At the Water's Edge. 3 stars (2.5 rounded up). My review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...."I won't read your review just yet, Angela. My copy of this arrived today.
I'll look for your thoughts , Dale .
Angela M wrote: "I'll look for your thoughts , Dale ."It might be a while yet, Angela. A few others in the queue.
I'm always look at what you are reading so I'll see it when you get to it !
Here's my review of Enzan: The Far Mountain: A Connor Burke Martial Arts Thriller enjoy!Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Leslie wrote: "Diane, I suspect that most of the YA audience doesn't know any better (lack of experience & young age so not fully educated yet). As for rating, I rate them as I would any other book. Writing for..."
I don't really enjoy YA for this purpose but when I was a young adult I was more interested in a great story to get stuck in with. I think young readers deserve well written books with good research and stories though
I don't really enjoy YA for this purpose but when I was a young adult I was more interested in a great story to get stuck in with. I think young readers deserve well written books with good research and stories though
Heather - I agree with this wholeheartedly. I've always hated kids being fobbed off with second best in books, TV programmes, toys etc.
Jean wrote: "Heather - I agree with this wholeheartedly. I've always hated kids being fobbed off with second best in books, TV programmes, toys etc."Hear hear!!
I have finished Our Souls at Night: A novel. 5 stars . My review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I definitely liked Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, another reworking Shakespeare's Hamlet. It was fun.My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Chrissie wrote: "I definitely liked Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, another reworking Shakespeare's Hamlet. It was fun.My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."
I finished it fairly recently as well and very much enjoyed it (5 stars). I have Macbeth on my Kindle and iPod the next time I want to travel down that road.
Tom, I have Macbeth now on my wish-list. I put it there after completing Hamlet! I will definitely be doing that one soon.
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This looks great Monica! Added it to my to-read list :)
In the light of Steven Jackson's marvellous films relating to The Hobbit, it seemed a good idea to reread the original by J.R.R. Tolkien again properly.Here is my review
Leslie - you might like to look at the final 2-ish paragraphs, where I talk about the films. I'm now a bit worried that I might have over-egged the films to you, and that they might not be to your taste ... :/
Greg wrote: "Monica wrote: "For anyone interested in cultural tales (folklore) I recommend the public domain book Old Peter's Russian Tales. Very enjoyable to read, and some great titles: The Stol..."Enjoy the tales, Greg...good for some smiles to brighten the day.
Jean wrote: "In the light of Steven Jackson's marvellous films relating to The Hobbit, it seemed a good idea to reread the original by J.R.R. Tolkien again properly.Here is my revi..."
What do you mean by over-egged the films?
Sorry Diane - is that a British expression? I mean I was very enthusiastic about them to Leslie (and generally!) but I know Leslie has great respect for the original. (In fact I think she once commented here that she spent some time watching the film of The Fellowship of the Ring and being aware of all the inconsistencies as regards the novel.) My over-urging to give The Hobbit films a try may have been misplaced in Leslie's case. My high opinion of both films and book has not changed though. I explain more in my review.Edit - just realised it's probably derived from "egging somebody on" :)
Jean wrote: "Leslie - you might like to look at the final 2-ish paragraphs, where I talk about the films. I'm now a bit worried that I might have over-egged the films to you, and that they might not be to your taste ... :/ "I watched the first one but it was too different from the book for me. And some things were changed for no reason that I could see (such as when the dwarves show up unexpectedly at Bilbo's -- where were their different-colored cloaks and hoods?).
Yes, that's the sort of thing I meant, Leslie. Lots of what I would call cosmetic changes, but also far more serious ones to do with history and plot - and feel. Sorry I didn't catch you in time to prevent you viewing the first one. Glad you came in here though. I had begun to feel I was talking behind your back! :D
Gill wrote: "I've just finished reading The Lay of the Land. It's another five star novel from Richard Ford. There is more wisdom in this book about midlife and impending mortality than in a whole pile of self-help books put together. "Oh yes, Gill, you are SO right in that summation.
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My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."
I've recently read Fool, a rewriting of King Lear. I have to say it didn't add anything new - even if he changed the story and the ending quite a lot....
Why don't you try something of your own I thought?
Just finished The Homecoming of Samuel Lake. 5 stars . My review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Angela M wrote: "I have finished Our Souls at Night: A novel. 5 stars . My review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."Added to my tbr, Angela!
Bette and Laura , It got a lot of good reviews from a number of my GR friends and I owned it in my kindle for a while . It was a pretty gripping story . Hope you like it as well .
Re "over-egged", it's from the English expression "over-egging the pudding", ie. overdoing something, or spoiling something by overdoing one aspect of it.
Jean wrote: "Sorry Diane - is that a British expression? I mean I was very enthusiastic about them to Leslie (and generally!) but I know Leslie has great respect for the original. (In fact I think she once comm..."Ahhh, that I get. Thanks, Jean.
LauraT wrote: "Chrissie wrote: "I definitely liked Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, another reworking Shakespeare's Hamlet. It was fun..."I've recently read Fool, a rewriting of King Lear. I have to say it didn't add anything new - even if he changed the story and the ending quite a lot....
Why don't you try something of your own I thought?..."
LOL, Laura! I feel that way about a lot of "fan fiction". But I have liked some retelling of classic stories, such as Christa Wolf's Medea and the film Roxanne with Steve Martin redoing Cyrano de Bergerac.
LauraT wrote: "Chrissie wrote: "I definitely liked Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, another reworking Shakespeare's Hamlet. It was fun.My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."
I'v..."
I agree with your thought that if the revision adds nothing, why bother! What I liked about Hartley's and Hewson's is that the changes made served a purpose and at the same time the authors kept the psychological and ethical themes of the original....if one can speak of THE original, there being several versions.
I really enjoyed Adeline, not sure if this is included under the fan fiction umbrella but I thought it was a remarkable portrayal of Virginia's mind and how hard she had to fight to stay in control and how much this effort ultimately cost her,
Here is my review of Paris, Paris: Journey into the City of Light: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Not a favorite book!
Finished No One Gets Out Alive, a couple days ago. If you're looking for a good horror book Adam Nevill's your man.
Just finished The Tiger's Wife for my bingo challenge. Unfortunately I have been left feeling a bit 'meh' by the book. I didn't love it but there wasn't anything bad either. I think it lacked depth and detail
Heather wrote: "Just finished The Tiger's Wife for my bingo challenge. Unfortunately I have been left feeling a bit 'meh' by the book. I didn't love it but there wasn't anything bad either. I think ..."I agree Heather. It took me a month to read it and the only reason I didn't toss it was the bingo challenge. I kept hoping the end would make up for it, but it didn't.
I finished Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal. Once started, I had to keep reading to find out what happens to these children. What a wonderful story! It's so full of positive and hopeful actions.
The situation in Nepal (and other poorer countries, I'm sure) where parents try to do the best for their children but the children end up hurt and used is appalling. The thought that right now these children are hungry and scared is really painful. Yet we (the world) don't hear these stories or know the plights of the children.
This book is warmly written and the story told in non accusatory ways. Conor shows that the parents are as much victims as the children.
It's wonderful that organizations such as Next Generation Nepal exist. They're doing wonders for these kids and their families. Conor's story shows that one person can make a difference. Getting started is the hard part; from there everything snowballs into something big, good and life-changingly helpful.
The descriptions of the Humla and Kathmandu districts of Nepal are incredible. Nepal is one of the countries I'd love to visit one day and these descriptions brought that back. The strenuous hiking of the Humla district that is described makes me realize I'd better start mountain hiking to get used to this sort of terrain. It's not something to be trained for in a week or two and will be greatly needed in order to enjoy a vacation in this country and/or region.
The children are incredible. This book shows how resilient children are and how they can thrive with a little attention and love.
I really enjoyed this book and am very glad I read it.
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All About Books
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My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
It is not an easy read.