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General Archive > What have you just read? Opinions, recommendations, reviews Part 2

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message 1101: by Dale (new)

Dale Harcombe | 1937 comments two reviews up. Another Way to Fall by Amanda Brooke
and
Under the Southern Cross by Barbara Hannay
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...


message 1102: by PattyMacDotComma (new)

PattyMacDotComma I enjoyed Mick Herron’s third book in the Slough House series, Real Tigers. More fun and games (and rough and tumble) with the demoted spies, the Slow Horses.
Real Tigers (Slough House, #3) by Mick Herron 4★ My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...


message 1107: by Chrissie (new)

Chrissie I have finished another satisfying book by Kent Haruf. This one was Where You Once Belonged.

My review; https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...


message 1108: by Beth (new)

Beth | 410 comments Yesterday I finished Seven Surrenders, the second Terra Ignota book - review & relevant links:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

(my review of the previous book, Too Like the Lightning, is here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...)


message 1113: by Patrick (last edited Mar 09, 2018 06:11PM) (new)


message 1115: by PattyMacDotComma (new)

PattyMacDotComma Another favourite, acclaimed Aussie author Helen Garner. Anecdotes, diary entries, essays make up Everywhere I Look. These things are everywhere I look, too, but she says it so well that I had to include plenty of quotes didn't I? :)
Everywhere I Look by Helen Garner 5★ Link to my review/a>


message 1117: by Chrissie (new)

Chrissie I have completed Theatre by W. Somerset Maugham. I am not going to give up on this author but I have liked others of his better.

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...


message 1118: by Canadian Jen (new)

Canadian Jen Finished Sadness Is a White Bird. An emotionally conflicting one. My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...


message 1119: by Angela M (new)

Angela M I read The Great Believers. 3.5 rounded up to 4 stars. My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...


message 1120: by dely (new)

dely | 5214 comments I finished Oceano by Francesco Vidotto 2*

No English edition. The title is also the name of the main character. He is an over 90 years old man that goes to the author, Francesco Vidotto, asking him if he wants to write the story of his life. The author agrees so they start to meet and Oceano tells him the most important facts of his life. In the meantime they also become friends.

I thought it would have been interesting to read about the life of this old man who took also part in WWII and that had a hard life in a small village on the mountains of North Italy (Dolomites).
Sadly the author wasn't able to let us feel the hard life of Oceano, his love for his wife and his emotions. Things aren't described in a deep an enthralling way, they are only told. I wasn't emotionally involved in the story of Oceano.


Only Italian review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...


message 1121: by Chrissie (new)

Chrissie A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines is a classic worth reading. It is definitely my favorite by this author. It is short but powerful.

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

The audiobook is magnificently narrated.


message 1123: by Joseph (last edited Mar 11, 2018 08:30AM) (new)


message 1125: by Chrissie (new)

Chrissie Hannah wrote: "I've finished Gateway to Freedom: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad by Eric Foner.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."


I ditto your complaints and had in fact a few more, Even if it clearly is based on thorough research, a reader needs more to understand the people behind the Underground Railroad and those it helped.

The book is OK; we both gave it two stars.


message 1126: by PattyMacDotComma (new)

PattyMacDotComma Un-bloody-believable! SO good! Tara Westover’s personal story, Educated: A Memoir is terrific.
Educated A Memoir by Tara Westover 5★ My review has lots of (non-spoiler) quotes.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...


message 1127: by Chrissie (last edited Mar 12, 2018 03:32AM) (new)

Chrissie PattyMacDotComma wrote: "Un-bloody-believable! SO good! Tara Westover’s personal story, Educated: A Memoir is terrific.
Educated A Memoir by Tara Westover 5★ My review has lots of (n..."


You think so? Something is irritating me and I am trying to pinpoint what it is. I think it is that we are not getting an impartial view. We are seeing how she looks back on her youth, now when she is educated, . and being educated and all she should present the facts clearly, which she does not always do. Given her education she ought to have some distance. If she were to express how she fett as a child then her personal views would have worked better. I am just sort of working through my ideas.

Of course, I feel sorry for what has been put through. It is totally inexcusable to not see that one's children are given proper health care and education and nourishment. Parents are responsible for the care of their children.

When I come to rate the book, I am just rating the book, not the people.

I do not think the author presents all facts clearly. I do not think she is giving us a balanced presentation of the facts.....of course that is perhaps not possible in an autobiography. I have this silly tendency, when one is being accused and blamed for something, to try and see it from their side too. Has something happened to the father that has made him how he is?????

Maybe all this will straighten out for me as I continue. I hope so.


message 1131: by Dale (new)

Dale Harcombe | 1937 comments my reviews of The Memory Shop by Ella Griffin
4 stars
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
and
Shattered by Allison Brennan
4 and a half stars
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...


message 1132: by Angela M (new)


message 1133: by Dale (new)

Dale Harcombe | 1937 comments my review of The Gospel of Mary by Philip Freeman
3 and a half stars
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...


message 1136: by Aswathy (new)

Aswathy | 12 comments I had just finished reading The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk.


message 1137: by dely (new)

dely | 5214 comments I have finished reading Stories of God by Rainer Maria Rilke 3*

It wasn't as I thought reading the title. The stories have to do with God, but not as we are used to or as we could think.
It was a charming read.

My short English review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...


message 1138: by dely (last edited Mar 13, 2018 10:45AM) (new)

dely | 5214 comments Aswathy wrote: "I had just finished reading The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk."

Some years ago I have tried to read My Name is Red but had to give up. Not at all my kind of book :/

Btw, nice profile pic! Where has it been taken?


message 1140: by [deleted user] (new)

Great review, Nichole, I listened to the audiobook earlier this year and thought it was brilliant


message 1142: by Paul (new)

Paul Lockman | 72 comments A couple of days ago I finished The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne, loved it, will be a 2018 favourite I'm sure. My review


message 1143: by Paul (new)

Paul Lockman | 72 comments A couple of days ago I finished The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne, loved it, will be a 2018 favourite I'm sure. My review


message 1145: by Nichole (last edited Mar 13, 2018 05:40PM) (new)

Nichole | 554 comments Folks, that was the review. Good God, where is my mind? I am sorry. I will remove the above right now. Again, I am sorry.


message 1146: by Nichole (last edited Mar 13, 2018 06:11PM) (new)

Nichole | 554 comments My review of Stay with Me by Ayobami Adebayo. Heather and Diane, thanks for the positives.
Folks, what you read earlier was the review that I mistakenly posted here word for word. I apologize. Here it is again in its rightful place:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...


message 1148: by Kathleen (new)

Kathleen | 401 comments I have two to recommend--very different, but both practically read themselves.

What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky is a collection of very unique short stories that's full of surprises! My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

And if you haven't read The Importance of Being Earnest, you really should give it a try. So much fun! My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...


message 1150: by Alice (last edited Mar 14, 2018 12:47PM) (new)

Alice Poon (alice_poon) Finished The Sense of an Ending. It's a short, haunting read with depth, about the effects that the passage of time can have on a person's memory. 3.7 rounded up to 4 stars.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...


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