What I'm Reading DECEMBER 2013

[Beth]

I've spent a marvelous couple of days lying on the couch reading. I finished HILD and once I got used to Griffith's language, I loved it. It's rich and gorgeous. Now I'm reading MISS PEREGRINE'S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN. It's pretty good--a much easier read than Hild--but it feels a little flat. It's a quick read, though. And I want to know what happens next. Besides, it takes place in Wales and I'm obsessed with Wales.

[Cateline]

I just finished Booked To Die by John Dunning. Interesting twist on a detective story. Well done. Here is my review. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Sue]

Cateline wrote: "I just finished Booked To Die by John Dunning. Interesting twist on a detective story. Well done. Here is my review. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."

I've enjoyed that series.

[Cateline]

Sue wrote: "Cateline wrote: "I just finished Booked To Die by John Dunning. Interesting twist on a detective story. Well done. Here is my review. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."

I've enjoyed that series.
..."

I think I will as well, I'm already wondering what happens with Rita. :)

[Sherry, Doyenne]

We had our Denver convention in 1997. Here is a picture of our group with John Dunning at Jane N's house. John D is the third from the left.

https://www.goodreads.com/photo/group...

[Cateline]

Thanks for posting the pics! Really nice.

[Kat]

Ann wrote: "Marge,
My aunt gave me FELICIA'S JOURNEY a long time ago. While I think Trevor is a wonderful writer, his stories have often left me with a feeling of hopelessness. I never read this book because I..."

Although Trevor can be very dark, I felt that in both FELICIA'S JOURNEY and THE STORY OF LUCY GAULT the final impact was a hopeful one. Think of Felicia meditating on her pro bono dental work and the mystery of good. And Lucy Gault, in spite of the life she has lived (no spoilers!), is glad she didn't die when she might have, because she values what she did have--life itself.

[Sue]

Cateline wrote: "Sue wrote: "Cateline wrote: "I just finished Booked To Die by John Dunning. Interesting twist on a detective story. Well done. Here is my review. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."

I've enj..."

I think I'd like to re-read these at some point. It's been many years since I read them.

[Cateline]

I'm actually 50% through the second one. The Bookman's Wake right now. :)

[Gina]

Kat wrote: "Ann wrote: "Marge,
My aunt gave me FELICIA'S JOURNEY a long time ago. While I think Trevor is a wonderful writer, his stories have often left me with a feeling of hopelessness. I never read this bo..."

SPOILER: In The Story of Lucy Gault, I felt this was almost tragedy for tragedy's sake. Lucy wouldn't marry waiting for her father to return, yet once he returned, she couldn't connect with him. I became frustrated with all the unfulfilled longing.

[Paakhi]

I just finished reading The Edge of Desire n now startec reading Young Austerlitz

[Sara]

Just finished Longbourn, which I loved, am now reading a library copy of I'll Cry Tomorrow (well told memoir of alcoholism, straightforward) and listening to The Paris Architect, which is brilliant so far.

[Lyn]

I read The Debt to Pleasure today. Yawn. Such an interesting title for such a not terribly interesting book.

[Ruth]

Lyn wrote: "I read The Debt to Pleasure today. Yawn. Such an interesting title for such a not terribly interesting book."

I loved it.

[Cateline]

Last night I finished Pines by Blake Crouch. It is an interesting combination of Twilight Zone, the TV series Lost and, according to the author, Twin Peaks. At least the author was heavily influenced by the show Twin Peaks, he claims. Here is the rest of my review. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Lyn]

Well, cold fog outside is encouraging days of reading for hours. Today read the light satirical Calling Invisible Women, enjoyed mildly.

[Carol]

Since Washington Square is coming up, I thought I would readThe Master , because it is loosely based on James life.

[Cateline]

Just finished the second in the Wayward Pines series by Blake Crouch. Combination of dystopian and X-Files. Full review, here... https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Kat]

Carol wrote: "Since Washington Square is coming up, I thought I would readThe Master , because it is loosely based on James life."

I enjoyed THE MASTER, and also Author, Author, by David Lodge, which is also about James's life.

[Sheila]

I am just starting Susan Hill's Strange Meeting, set in WW1. I suspect lots of books set in this period to be topical for 2014. It is the third of Hill's books I will have read.

[Ann D]

Sheila,
I love Susan Hill's Simon Serailler mysteries. Let me know if you like STRANGE MEETING.

[Robert]

Reading two of Rex Stout's other detective, Tecumseh Fox. On Double for Death. Told in third person, which was jarring at first, but a good cast of characters and a compelling plot. I do miss Archie's voice, though.

[Sheila]

Ann, I seem to be quietly acquiring a taste for Susan Hill's work. I've not read any of the Simon Serailler yet, but will let you know about this one. Currently about 50 pages in and its smoudering along in her usual way building the scene and the tension towards what will come. I like this aspect of her work, how she gives you the detail of the characters in this case the young officer on home leave following a shrapnel injury to his leg, what he encounters at home where no one really kows what is going on and his return to the front and the changes he encounters there.

[Raúl G.]

I just finished The Lost World, it started quite well, but later on it starts losing momentum and accuracy, so I had to drag it to the end. Now I started reading Wool Omnibus after seeing so many good reviews and feeling like reading an otherworldly book. At the moment is going quite well.

[Book Concierge]

Finished the audio book version of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever - Barbara Robinson (Audio book performed by Elaine Stritch) 5*****
The six Herdman kids are a handful – and then some. They lie, steal, smoke cigars, hit little kids, cuss their teachers, and even set fire to a tool shed. When they take over the Sunday School Christmas Pageant everyone is sure it will be a disaster. But the Herdman’s take on the Christmas story leaves everyone moved by the wonder and joy of Christmas. Elaine Stritch does a great job narrating the audio.
Line to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Cateline]

Rhulk wrote: "I just finished The Lost World, it started quite well, but later on it starts losing momentum and accuracy, so I had to drag it to the end. Now I started reading [book:Wool Omnibus|134..."

I've read and enjoyed at least the first 5 books of Wool Omnibus. I think there is a lot more out there though.

[Cateline]

I just finished Dusk and Other Stories by James Salter. A collection of his short stories originally published 25 years ago and have been re-released.
My review. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Book Concierge]

Finished listening to the audio version of Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen
(Audio book performed by Donada Peters) - 4****

This is a wonderful parody of the late 18th-centry Gothic style, with haunted medieval buildings, unrequited love, misunderstandings, secret engagements, and parental disapproval. Our main character, Catherine Morland, has a rampant imagination fueled by over-the-top romantic suspense novels. It is the first novel Austen completed, though one of the last to be published. It clearly shows the writer she will become. The dialogue is witty and clever.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Ruth]

I'm 3/4 of the way through Burial Rites by Hannah Kent. It has some beautiful,writing, but is very slow-paced.

[Larry]

I finished John Grisham's Sycamore Row yesterday and thought it was great. Before I read it, I went back and read the prequel to it, A Time to Kill. That reminded me why I didn't like early Grisham novels. The first book had an interesting plot but cardboard-like characters who Grisham just pushed around. Grisham has worked really hard at becoming a better novelist over the years, and it shows. I don't like any of his early novels; I really like all of his more recent efforts. His plots are even better, but his characters are so much better drawn. I still think that his weakness lies in minor characters. But I would give SYCAMORE ROW five stars just based on the plot.

[Larry]

Cateline wrote: "I just finished Dusk and Other Stories by James Salter. A collection of his short stories originally published 25 years ago and have been re-released.
My review. https://www.goodr..."

Catline, if you get a chance, you may want to try Salter's memoir, Burning the Days: Recollection. I read it twice, and lent it to two friends, both of whom like it a lot. I know that some people have problems with it ... but Salter evokes strong reactions.

[Cateline]

Larry wrote: Catline, if you get a chance, you may want to try Salter's memoir, Burning the Days: Recollection. I read it twice, and lent it to two friends, both of whom like it a lot. I know that some people have problems with it ... but Salter evokes strong reactions.

Thanks, will do. Both my husband and I are Salter fans. :)

[Barbara]

Book Concierge wrote: "Finished the audio book version of
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
- Barbara Robinson (Audio book performed by Elaine Stritch) 5*****
The six ..."

Thanks, B.C. Just checked and my library owns this. I love Elaine Stritch so this should be fun.

[Joan]

I finished Best of the Best American Poetry: 25th Anniversary Edition and I thought the selections and the poets included were great choices. This book was on loan from the library (overdue in fact since I was determined to finish it) and I liked it so much I intend to buy it. I was surprised to see reviews that dissed it for including the "conventional" choices--well, guess what, often these happen to be the best.

[Gina]

I read one Christmas book this year, Wishin' and Hopin' by Wally Lamb. It was fairly cute. Right at the end, it was really funny and I laughed out loud.

I've also done my reading for Washington Square and Stoner.

[Cateline]

I'm about a third of the way through The Hangman's Daughter by Oliver Pötzsch.

[Larry]

Finished Christopher Evan's Aztec Century, an alternate history in which the Aztec Empire has conquered two-thirds of the world. Excellent plot, although some similarities to our own world are unbelievable. The main character is British princess who, let's just say, is a survivor. Winner of the British Science Fiction Award for best novel in 1993.

[Larry]

I've also been slowly reading the new book by Billy Collins, Aimless Love: New and Selected Poems. This book has 50 new poems ... I don't know if I've ever read a Billy Collins poem that I didn't like.

[Sue]

Larry wrote: "I've also been slowly reading the new book by Billy Collins, Aimless Love: New and Selected Poems. This book has 50 new poems ... I don't know if I've ever read a Billy Collins poe..."

I'm slowly making my way through this too, my first book by Collins. I'm struck by so many of his words and phrases. They make me stop and pause and re-read.

[Joan]

Billy Collins is amazing in the way he presents deep and surprising insights in poems that on the surface seem transparent.

[John]

Well, I've just now finished Stegner's All the Little Live Things, finding it really grim without enough of a payoff.

[Joan]

John, I haven't read that book in years, but the memory of it still haunts me and not in a good way...

[John]

I really liked the other book featuring the same protagonist, The Spectator Bird, but this one is, indeed, haunting, especially the horrifying final scene!

[Ruth]

I've read both, and I seem to remember liking Live Things much more than Spectator.

[Larry]

Joan wrote: "Billy Collins is amazing in the way he presents deep and surprising insights in poems that on the surface seem transparent."

Joan, that's a good way of putting it. I remember discussing Billy Collins with a friend with likes a lot of poetry--and knows a lot more about poetry than I do-- but doesn't particularly appreciate Collins' poetry. He said it was just too "simple and easy." I agree that it's simple; but to write poems like he does is not easy. If it were, others would be doing the same and selling thousands of books of poetry.

[Kat]

Larry wrote: "Joan wrote: "Billy Collins is amazing in the way he presents deep and surprising insights in poems that on the surface seem transparent."

Joan, that's a good way of putting it. I remember discussi..."

I think that brings up an interesting question: Is the best literature (whether poetry or prose) hard to understand? Must truly great literature have meaning hidden below, where it has to be dug for? That certainly seemed to be the view decades (if not centuries), and is still shared by many. I think I've been influenced by it, or maybe digging is just one of the pleasures I get from literature that I miss when I don't get it. Today I sometimes hear this view challenged--I'm thinking esp. of an interview I read with Richard Powers some years ago. I'm curious if other people have opinions on this?

[Sherry, Doyenne]

Kat wrote: "Larry wrote: "Joan wrote: "Billy Collins is amazing in the way he presents deep and surprising insights in poems that on the surface seem transparent."

Joan, that's a good way of putting it. I rem..."

I think there's room for both views. If a work is so dense that it's impenetrable, then who benefits? But if a work has no meaning beneath the surface, it probably won't last very long.

[Ann D]

For me, a great novel has to succeed as a story above all. The important books both have a compelling story and make you think in new ways. Those are the books that are so much fun to discuss on CR.

Is it any wonder that I have never made it through Ulysses?

[Cateline]

Kat wrote: Is the best literature (whether poetry or prose) hard to understand? Must truly great literature have meaning hidden below, where it has to be dug for? That certainly seemed to be the view decades (if not centuries), and is still shared by many. I think I've been influenced by it, or maybe digging is just one of the pleasures I get from literature that I miss when I don't get it. Today I sometimes hear this view challenged--I'm thinking esp. of an interview I read with Richard Powers some years ago. I'm curious if other people have opinions on this?

Literature is like life isn't it. We interact superficially with others in the beginning of a relationship;, on the surface, if you will. Then, slowly, the layers start to unfold and meanings come to the surface, exposed to our understanding.

Literature, like people, can be enjoyed on different levels, superficial or deep. But delving gives us more satisfaction in both as well.

So, I don't know about "hard" to understand, but I'd say more like allowing ourselves to delve deeper, opening up to the possibilities.

[Cateline]

Ann, I have to chuckle at your comment re Ulysses... :D Love it!