What I'm Reading NOVEMBER 2013

[Karlyne]

Kat wrote: "Robert wrote: "Finished Nero Wolfe up through book 4. Too Many Cooks up next. Going through the 13 books on film I've read the last month for notes for v. 3. Looking forward to getting this next vo..."

Interestinger and interestinger!

[John]

I went through almost the entire Wolfe canon as audiobooks earlier this year: Too Many Cooks is one of the stronger stories.

[Cateline]

Ruth wrote: "Cateline wrote: "I've started another novel by Andre Dubus III....House of Sand and Fog."

Here's a link to our discussion back in 2000. http://constantreader.com/discussions...

It was a good discussion .
..."

It was a great discussion, just read it through.
Thanks again, Ruth. :)

[Ruth]

:)

[Cateline]

I've started and finished The Preacher by Camilla Lackberg. Swedish detective/mystery. A bit cookie-cutter, but ok.
My full review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Jan]

I'm also reading Instructions for a Heatwave. Not bad so far.

[Joan]

Civil War buffs should read The Life of Billy Yank: The Common Soldier of the Union a scrupulous study of the ordinary life and circumstances of the Union soldier. Chroniclers of the civil war like Bruce Caton and Shelby Foote cited this book for its excellent source material. While there is a goodly amount of repetition in the excerpts of the letters and journals of the various soldiers, it serves to cement their attitudes.

[Mary Anne]

Titania wrote: "I'm just finishing up I Am Malala, the autobiography of the teenage girl who survived being shot in the head by the Taliban for her promotion of girls'/women's education. I've been ..."

I have this book, Titania, but have not dipped into it yet. Thanks for the recommendation.

I am listening to Case Histories, having read it several years ago, and loving the language in the hands of Kate Atkinson. Right now, I'm thinking of listening to all of her books. Such a treat!

[Cateline]

Started The Inverted World by Christopher
Priest. Interesting premise featuring a constantly moving city.

[Larry]

Cateline wrote: "Started The Inverted World by Christopher
Priest. Interesting premise featuring a constantly moving city."

I absolutely adored Priest's The Separation It was so much better than the average alternate world SF novel.

[Cateline]

Larry wrote: "Cateline wrote: "Started The Inverted World by Christopher
Priest. Interesting premise featuring a constantly moving city."

I absolutely adored Priest's The Separation..."

Just now finished The Inverted World and marveling at the simplicity of it. Fascinating. Truly fascinating on many levels.

[Andrew]

Barbara wrote: "Andrew wrote: "I'm currently reading Earth Girl by Janet Edwards. It's a YA science-fiction novel and it was in the goodie bag of a convention I went to back in February. I don't th..."

Well I finished it (delayed due to a break to read Bedroom Farce ahead of an audition next week). For me it fell apart at the end slightly - a slightly-too-perfect ending lent the whole book a slightly Mary Sueish feel with hindsight. But it was an enjoyable read. I'm now moving on to some bad fantasy novels I won in a raffle back in September! I'm reading a fair bit of rubbish at the moment so I can take the books to charity shops and free up a bit of shelf space...

[Ann D]

I started reading The Red House by Mark Haddon, but bailed part way through.

I really liked both his earlier The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and A Spot of Bother, but this one was just too arty and confusing- stream of consciousness on the part of 8 alternating characters; especially at the beginning, you had to guess whose head you were even in. There were also a lot of breathless, incomplete sentence descriptions, which had some nice images but many others that just added to the confusion.

This book got some nice reviews, but I think the New York Times reviewer hit the nail on the head: “The Red House,” on the other hand, reads as if it were written to silence those critics who damn Haddon with the faint praise of being too “readable.” Mission accomplished.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/08/boo...

This is definitely a "difficult read," and for me at least not worth the effort. Fortunately, this was a library book. I hope Haddon will write for readers next time and drop the experimentation with styles.

[Cateline]

Cateline wrote: "Larry wrote: "Cateline wrote: "Started The Inverted World by Christopher
Priest. Interesting premise featuring a constantly moving city."

I absolutely adored Priest's [book:The Sepa..."

Managed a small review, here. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Muriel]

I'm reading two books at the same time, "Tony Blair, A Journey" and "Kwame Nkrumah, The Conakry Years."

[Jane]

Am reading Pure and plan to begin Avenger of Rome when finished.

[John]

Popping in to say that earlier today I finished Isabel Allende's memoir (with some history and travel narrative as well) My Invented Country: A Nostalgic Journey Through Chile, and while reading it I was struck that she seemed almost to have had Constant Readers specifically in mind while writing it!

[Book Concierge]

Finished reading Dear Family by Camilla Bittle –4****
Opening lines: In the desperate days of the Depression there was one constant that most people could count on – family. The novel tells the story of one family’s survival from 1935 to 1945. The situations and reactions of the characters are understandable and relatable. They struggle with moral decisions, guilt, grief, and deprivation, and support one another through tragedies. But they also celebrate small victories, and find strength in loving relationships.
Book Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Sue]

Finished reading Memories of a Catholic Girlhood which I found quite interesting and also a history lesson of a long ago time. Also completing Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree and getting into Mudbound, which looks every bit as good as I've heard.

[Lyn]

I just finished Dissident Gardens. I think I finally have finished trying with Lethem. A friend I respect (English prof as well) told me that he was a really good writer, so I've continued to try his novels, though I always end up feeling "So what?" about them. Somehow his writing seems to me to be consistently from a solely intellectual place, with big vocabulary words substituting for clear storytelling, and though I enjoy intelligence in writing, somehow his just makes me yawn, a lot.

[Kat]

Book Concierge wrote: "Finished reading Dear Family by Camilla Bittle –4****
Opening lines: In the desperate days of the Depression there was one constant that most people could count on – family. The n..."

This made me think of a very powerful novel set in the same era in which family could NOT be counted on. I highly recommend The Lost Mother by Mary McGarry Morris.

[Book Concierge]

Kat wrote: "Book Concierge wrote: "Finished reading Dear Family by Camilla Bittle –4****

This made me think of a very powerful novel set in the same era in which family could NOT be counted on. I highly recommend The Lost Mother by Mary McGarry Morris...."

Thanks, Kat ... on the TBR it goes.