Challenge: 50 Books discussion
Finish Line 2016
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Susan and the Pups 2016 Reading Challenge
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No. 50 -- The Painter From Shanghai by Jennifer Cody Epstein ****Very interesting and informative novel based on the life of Pan Juliang, a Chinese artist who was sold to a brothel as a child, and followed her artistic inclinations to become an artist in Paris. I read this for my Art Book Club and I am sure it will be a favorite.
Read October 31, 2016
Pages read = 12,422 pages + 416 pages = 12,838 pages
Listening time= 95 hours and 39 minutes
No. 51 -- Junction, Utah by Rebecca Lawton ** Second reading. Not any better. I had hoped it would be about how different people who love the out of doors feel differently about how the environment should be treated. It could have gone in many directions,but went nowhere.
Read November 11, 2016
Pages read = 12,838 pages+ 324 pages = 13,162 pages
Listening time= 95 hours and 39 minutes
No. 52 -- The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah *** I have a personal moratorium against WWII fiction; I have personally overdone it, and would rather focus on other things right now. I read this for my book club. This book was about the French underground, something that my reading has heretofore touched on very briefly. I found this book pretty interesting -- two types of women who find themselves involved. Pretty good, but for someone who has read in depth about WWII over fifty years or so, a little light.
Read November 14, 2016
Pages read = 13,162 pages + 614 pages = 13,776 pages
Listening time= 95 hours and 39 minutes
No. 53 -- Ragged Company by Richard Wagamese *****It took me a long time to read this book because I had to put it aside to concentrate on other books for the class I teach. I am sorry that I had to do that, because it disrupted the flow of the book somewhat, and this was a very good book. It tells the story of four street people who have become friends, and follows them through a remarkable reversal of fortune. At that point in the story I almost gave up on the book, because it seemed such an improbably deus ex machina. However, this event is handled well and is the instigation to self-discovery and healing for the characters.
Read November 20, 2016
Pages read = 13,776 pages + 376 pages = 14,152 pages
Listening time= 95 hours and 39 minutes
No. 54 -- The Manticore by Robertson Davies ****This sequel to Fifth Business is a bit harder to comprehend and assimilate than its predecessor.
Read November 25, 2016
Pages read = 14,152 pages + 288 pages = 14,440 pages
Listening time= 95 hours and 39 minutes
No. 55 -- World of Wonders by Robertson Davies ***A reread of the Deptford Trilogy by Robertson Davies to recreate a love affair with the books I had back in the 1980's. Oh, dear, oh, dear, I can't go home again, at least not to Deptford. No magic this time. I must have been smarter 30 years ago, although I would swear not. I got the Cornish trilogy and the Salterton trilogy, one of which I also read in the '80's, and they are sitting lumpishly on the counter waiting. Oh, dear, oh, dear.
Read December 19,2016
Pages read = 14,440 pages + 352 pages = 14,792 pages
Listening time= 95 hours and 39 minutes
No. 56 -- Born with a Tooth by Joseph Boyden *****I LOVED these short stories, but my timing is so bad. Too late for me to add it to my Canadian lit class. Most of the stories were very good, but the last few were excellent.
Read December 24, 2016
Pages read = 14,792 pages + 245 pages = 15,037 pages
Listening time= 95 hours and 39 minutes
No. 57 -- The Summer Book by Tove Jansson *****FINLAND A profound, delightful, occasionally disturbing, story of a grandmother and granddaughter who regularly spend the summer months on an island off the coast of Finland. Divided into short chapters which could just as well be short stories, we see the relationship of the two, who both have their prickly, stubborn side, as they rub together through the summer. The grandmother alternatively guides, encourages new experiences, and urges the child to explore her own thoughts and feelings, and just as often resents the child's inflexibility and intrusion into her own thoughts. Both the woman and child are complex characters. Many of the incidents can be taken literally or as metaphors, with irony, poignancy and humor. My favorite chapter is Of Angleworms and Others, where,after the child is disturbed by an incident with a worm, takes up her grandmother's suggestion that a scientific study of the angleworm should be written, resulting in a hilarious explanation of the life cycle of worms and "other pitiful animals," that can easily be taken to a more philosophical level.
Read December 26,2016
Pages read = 15,037 pages + 172 pages = 15,209 pages
Listening time= 95 hours and 39 minutes
No. 58 -- The Fish Can Sing by Halldór Laxness *ICELAND -- Halldor Laxness is considered a national treasure of Iceland. All his books get very high ratings. Well=known authors praise the books on their covers (Alice Munro on this one). The blurb on the back sounds wonderful. And -meh. It is too low key; I know the quaint characters introduced and dispatched are meant to be quaint and quixotic, but -- yawn. Took me forever to get through this short book, and I only finished it because I sped read through the second half. About half way through I thought it was getting to the story described on the cover, but . . . .
Read December 29, 2016
Pages read = 15,209 pages + 246 pages = 15,455 pages
Listening time= 95 hours and 39 minutes
Susan wrote: "I made it to my goal of 65 books in 2015 -- just. It was a very strange year because in the Fall I started teaching a contemporary literature discussion group at the Institute of Adult Learning at ..."I have 3 yorkies and they read with me as long as I have their favorite blanket but they also like to watch true crime television and the news too.
My girl dog used to read with me all the time. But now that I just have the two boy dogs, I am beginning to realize it is all about the blankie and very little to do with the reading. Philistines!
I did not make it to my goal in 2016. Going to go back in 2017 to 50 books. Too much stress at home to do a lot of reading.
Challenge: 50 Books
Books mentioned in this topic
The Fish Can Sing (other topics)The Summer Book (other topics)
Born With A Tooth (other topics)
World of Wonders (other topics)
The Manticore (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Halldór Laxness (other topics)Tove Jansson (other topics)
Joseph Boyden (other topics)
Robertson Davies (other topics)
Robertson Davies (other topics)
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Second read through for class. I enjoyed it again. Will see what class thinks.
My class really scared me today. At 12:59 there were only two people there. Slowly they tricked in and we had a very good discussion on the book, and on Native Americans in general. There were differing opinions from definitely enjoying it, to not liking it (Faye said she thought the last book was bad, but this made her appreciate how good the last book was). Others accepted it as a type of book that was good for YA, particularly those who had difficulty reading. I think everyone though it was a thought provoking experience.
Read October 28, 2016
Pages read = 12.192 pages + 230 pages = 12,422 pages
Listening time= 95 hours and 39 minutes