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Fiction- What are you reading? Part 2
message 1751:
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Chrissie
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Jan 28, 2019 10:40PM
Last night I began another book by Wallace Stegner, this time A Shooting Star. I have become a fan of this author.
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I’m almost finished w The Shipping News by Annie Proulx. Being a Pulitzer Prize Winner, I had really hopes for this one but it’s just OK for me. I have 2 other books by her that I plan to read this year.
Pam, The Shipping News was nothing special for me either. Ditto to it being just OK. Since I was not blown away by it I have also been hesitant to even try Barkskins.
Chrissie - Barkskins is the one other book I’ve read by Poulx. I liked it quite a bit but it is long! I listened to the audiobook, which is unusual for me. I found it to be really interesting!
Leslie wrote: "Paulette wrote: "Hi Everyone,I seem to be on a roll reading my books at the moment, getting through a new book every other day..... trying to read the books that are waiting on my shelf first befo..."
Thanks Leslie, hope your reading challenge is going well :)
I'm now reading The Flight Attendant as an audio book and I'm really enjoying it. I started it yesterday and am just over half way through. I wouldn't say its "fast-paced" but I'm really enjoying the level of detail in the book and the stories the "flight attendant" is sharing of her job and the challenges, stories she shares are really interesting.I will finish this one today, looking forward to getting back to it later today so Im sure I will finish it. I think its a good light read.
Pam wrote: "Chrissie - Barkskins is the one other book I’ve read by Poulx. I liked it quite a bit but it is long! I listened to the audiobook, which is unusual for me. I found it to be really interesting!"I enjoyed Barkskins in audio format as well. I found that long as it was, it could have been longer to get the details I would have enjoyed. Some of the generations flew by. I would have liked more of each character in those generations.
Rowena wrote: "I'm reading Excellent Women by Barbara Pym, I quite like it so far"I really liked the books by Barbara Pym I have read - if you like this, I would recommend Quartet in Autumn.
Pam wrote: "Chrissie - Barkskins is the one other book I’ve read by Poulx. I liked it quite a bit but it is long! I listened to the audiobook, which is unusual for me. I found it to be really interesting!"Interesting, but does it pull you in? I like long books but they have to keep my attention all the way through.
Petra wrote: "Pam wrote: "Chrissie - Barkskins is the one other book I’ve read by Poulx. I liked it quite a bit but it is long! I listened to the audiobook, which is unusual for me. I found it to be really inter..."All the different generations--does the book hold together? I am thinking that some I will enjoy and others I won't. I'll want to get through all of them. I am worried about not getting adequate depth, just as you point out!
Rowena wrote: "I'm reading Excellent Women by Barbara Pym, I quite like it so far"I kind of chuckled a bit, because that book I did not like at all. But Leslie did.
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Chrissie- I thought Barkskins held together, with the 300 years of generations. It felt rushed towards the end, though. I read it 2 years ago so it’s not so fresh in my mind. And, I listened to the audiobook, which means I probably missed some details I would’ve picked up in the reading. I really enjoy multi-generational stories and especially liked the environmental aspect and the different locales in this book. I think some readers may have been bored by all of the “tree talk”, possibly. So, you take your chances with this one - hit or miss!
Laura- World Cup Wishes sounds good! I’m going to look for it! I’m looking for translations from different languages this year so this fits in perfectly for that challenge.
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I've already recomended it to my husband and some friends! Let me know what you think of it!
Laura- I may trouble finding it! Neither of the 2 library systems I use have it and it’s not available on Hoopla. I’ll have to try ILL. Thanks for the recommendation!
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Pam wrote: "Chrissie- I thought Barkskins held together, with the 300 years of generations. It felt rushed towards the end, though. I read it 2 years ago so it’s not so fresh in my mind. And, I listened to the audiobook, which means I probably missed some details I would’ve picked up in the reading. I really enjoy multi-generational stories and especially liked the environmental aspect and the different locales in this book. I think some readers may have been bored by all of the “tree talk”, possibly. So, you take your chances with this one - hit or miss!.."Chrissie, as Pam says, the trees are a character in the story. I liked the trees being an integral part of the story. Barkskins follows 2 families for 300 years and it does it fairly well. Some generations could have used a bit of fleshing out; the characters are interesting and life is short, so are some of these generations. The book could easily have been longer but where does an author draw the line on that? All in all, I felt the book held together but I also felt that some generations were rushed.
I remember that when I reached the end that I wanted more about these families. As with any saga, life continues after the last page and there were some people I would have liked to follow further for awhile.
Here's my review. It may help you decide: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Petra wrote: "Pam wrote: "Chrissie- I thought Barkskins held together, with the 300 years of generations. It felt rushed towards the end, though. I read it 2 years ago so it’s not so fresh in my mind. And, I lis..."Thank you Petra for clarifying some points and linking your review, which was excellent! I'm lazy and don't always write reviews .Then, I forget why I liked or didn't like the book and have fleeting memories. I agree that the trees felt like a character. Their demise felt devastating!
I needed some light reading so I picked up A Nose for Justice. The library had many books by Rita Mae Brown so I thought I’d give her books a try. This one is not holding my attention. :-(So I’ve switched to Death of a Charming Man
Pam wrote: "Chrissie- I thought Barkskins held together, with the 300 years of generations. It felt rushed towards the end, though. I read it 2 years ago so it’s not so fresh in my mind. And, I listened to the..."Thank you for telling me more bout Barkskins.
Chrissie wrote: "Rowena wrote: "I'm reading Excellent Women by Barbara Pym, I quite like it so far"I kind of chuckled a bit, because that book I did not like at all. But Leslie did."
LOL! It is hard for me to predict where you and I will intersect Chrissie!
I am listening to the audiobook of Asimov's The End of Eternity. I generally like Asimov's books and this one is no exception (though the main character Harlan is driving me nuts!).
Leslie wrote: "Chrissie wrote: "Rowena wrote: "I'm reading Excellent Women by Barbara Pym, I quite like it so far"I kind of chuckled a bit, because that book I did not like at all. But Leslie did."
LOL! It is ..."
I cannot figure myself out--which is why I keep trying all sorts of books. There are so many ingredients to a book!
Joan wrote: "I needed some light reading so I picked up A Nose for Justice. The library had many books by Rita Mae Brown so I thought I’d give her books a try. This one is not hold..."Let me know how you like the latter. I have the first book in the Hamish Macbeth series waiting for me on my Kindle.
I am in need of a light read, too, so I started Dark, Witch & Creamy, which seems to be quite fun. I have already read two books by H.Y. Hanna (the first two in the Oxford Tearoom Mysteries series) and I quite enjoyed them. They are cozy mysteries, for those who might be wondering.
I am reading Augustus
This is my third by him and it looks like it's going to be equally as fantastic as the other two. :)
Tracey - Augustus sounds really good! I had it on my TBR but bumped it up to my Try to Find and 2019 TBR shelves (since my To Be Read shelf is meaningless). I need a book “with a historical figure” for a challenge and wanted to choose one with the person’s name in the title. I’m hoping to read William’s “Stoner” this year, also. I keep hearing how good it is. Have you read it?
Hi Pam yes I've read and adore Stoner and also Butchers crossing by the same author which again is excellent. Pam I can honestly say I'm about 60 pages in and once again John Williams has me enthralled. All his books are very different but equally brilliant. I'm gushing a bit here sorry but please try one as soon as you can, I dont think you'll regret it.PS Augustus is written in epistiolary form.
I will try one of his books soon, Tracey! Thanks for the recommendations!
I am now reading A Place on Earth by Wendell Berry. I know right off the bat that I prefer the audiobook narration by Paul Michael much more than Bernadette Dunne's narration of A Shooting Star, which I am very happy to have finished.
Hi everyone, well I'm really pleased with the reading I did in January I read 16 books in January, I think this would have to be a record for me and it was a great month, some really great 4 stars and a couple of 5 star reads in there.Next..... Since it is 1st Feb I will be reading Little Fires Everywhere the Feb book club read I'm looking forward to it and hopefully I can keep the reading up to at least a double digit each month would be great... well that's the aim anyways.
Less lounging watching TV.... and more reading :)
Paulette wrote: "Hi everyone, well I'm really pleased with the reading I did in January I read 16 books in January, I think this would have to be a record for me and it was a great month, some really great 4 stars ..."Wow, that is great Paulette!
Tracey wrote: "I am reading Augustus This is my third by him and it looks like it's going to be equally as fantastic as the other two. :)"At Tracey's recommendation, I am now reading Augustus also and agree that it is very good! I love the epistolary style that it is written in! I might start Stoner after I finish.
I have begun Mrs. Bridge. The book description sounds rather boring, but the lines are really, really good.
I have started Persuasion. I'm not a fan of Jane Austen, but another group I'm member of is reading it, so I thought I'd give her another chance (this would be the fourth Austen book I read).
Marina (Sonnenbarke) wrote: "I have started Persuasion. I'm not a fan of Jane Austen, but another group I'm member of is reading it, so I thought I'd give her another chance (this would be the fourth ..."Me neither!
Marina (Sonnenbarke) wrote: "I have started Persuasion. I'm not a fan of Jane Austen, but another group I'm member of is reading it, so I thought I'd give her another chance (this would be the fourth ..."I hope you enjoy it. Persuasion is one of my favorite books, so much so that when I read Master and Commander I couldn’t help but imagine I was reading Captain Wentworth’s side of the story.
Pam and Tracey, William's Augustus does look good, although I only gave Stoner two stars.Butcher's Crossing I keep debating whether to read or not. I think it has gruesome sections.
A fine balance by Rohinton Mistry. This is a very heavy book and I’m not talking about it’s page count.
I started 2 more books even though I haven't finished the ones I'm reading!50% done with Strange Weather in Tokyo
by Hiromi Kawakami - Recommendation by Anne Bogel on her podcast What Should I Read Next? I like it! It's a contemporary story set in Japan with an unconventional friendship and lots of Japanese food and saki! I love the bizarre cover.Just barely started Stoner by John Williams. I hope I like it better than Chrissie did! I keep hearing GR friends recommend it so I'm going to give it a go.
Having finished Mrs. Bridge, I threw out all my plans and immediately began Mr. Bridge. This was written a decade after the first.
Chrissie - Those 2 books sound really good!
Pam wrote: "I’m almost finished w The Shipping News by Annie Proulx. Being a Pulitzer Prize Winner, I had really hopes for this one but it’s just OK for me. I have 2 other books by her that I plan to read this..."Interesting. This one is so dark I wasn't sure I would like it, but I did. I haven't yet read another by her, though. It was 4 stars for me.
Has anyone read The Good Soldier Švejk by Jaroslav Hašek?? I'm about 150 pages in and while Svejk's bumbling idiocy is somewhat amusing and endearing for awhile, I'm starting to dread 750 odd pages of it. Can anyone tell me if it changes or gets any better?
Pam wrote: "Chrissie - Those 2 books sound really good!"Nobody talks about the humor in the prose and I do NOT understand this! I am wondering if it is me that is weird. My husband though was chuckling too when he passed by and lent an ear.
Cleo wrote: "Has anyone read The Good Soldier Švejk by Jaroslav Hašek?? I'm about 150 pages in and while Svejk's bumbling idiocy is somewhat amusing and endearing for awhile, I'm st..."Not me, but I have considered it many times. I have worried that it might be one of those books you ought to read but don't really enjoy.
I've just started Hag-Seed: The Tempest Retold and also ZoliMy aim for this month is to read books I've not read by some of my favourite authors and these arw 2 of them. :)
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