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What have you just read? Opinions, recommendations, reviews Part 2
I have completedEvery Tongue Got to Confess by Zora Neale Hurston.I am glad the book exists, but I cannot say I enjoyed it.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Most Beautiful Village in the World by Japanese author Yutaka Kobayashi is a children's picture book about Afghanistan and everyday life and war. Yes, war. It reaches little kids' books, too. :(
4★ Link to my review with pictures
I have finished Il prete giusto by Nuto Revelli 3* because though it was interesting, it was too short for my tastes. I wanted a more detailed biography.No English edition. This book is about Raimondo Viale, a Catholic priest that during WWII has been excommunicated by the Church because in his sermons he went against Fascism and because he helped several Jews and partisans during those years. From the Church he has been excommunicated, from Israel he received the honorific of Righteous Among the Nations.
Only Italian review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I have finished La bell'Alda : Leggenda by Edoardo Calandra 4,5*No English edition. It is a legend about a young and pious girl that in order to avoid to be captured by a ill-intentioned, decides to jump down from a high tower situated on a cliff. She prays the archangel Saint Michael before jumping down. A small cloud appears under her feet and she is saved. Sadly she starts boasting about her piousness and saintlyness, and she wants to show again to the people how she has been saved. Well, the second time no cloud appears and she dies.
I loved to read this legend. It is so well written. I had the feeling that an old relative was telling me an old legend with pious and bad people. I was fully captured by the story. In my edition there are also lovely illustrations.
I visited that place one week ago (in fact I bought the book there) so I loved even more to read about those places.
Only Italian review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Just finished Joyce Carol Oates' Expensive People and reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2536952581.
Just finished Tanya Huff's Blood Price and reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2539524209.
I just finished Snuff by Terry Prachett and The Poppey Wars by Kuang. Everyone knows what an excellent author Pratchett was. It's to bad he won't be around to author more book s. Kuang is a
Kuang is a different story. I'm not sure how I feel about The Poppy Wars. At first it seemed like other stories I've read. Then it changed and the author was expresting some interesting philosophy but the story had to have an ending that supported the story and was unexpected. She did. I found the book interesting and we'll written, but I'm not sure If i would read another by her.
My review of Safe With Me by K L SlaterJust okay as far as I was concerned
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
My review of Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
. This book is special.https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
my review of Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, WitchWho knew the apocalypse could be so funny!
I have ended up liking Love and Ruin by Paula McLain a lot, having initially considered dumping it. Hemingway's books and books about him and his wives continue to draw me.My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Finished The Lost Chapters: Finding Recovery and Renewal One Book at a Timehttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Finished Somebody I Used to Know: A Memoir...a memoir of a woman diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's. My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
A couple of classics and a new release for my September reading pleasure:
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes ★★★★☆ Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen ★★★★★ Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America by Timothy Snyder ★★★★☆ Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Finished reading The Story of a New Name by Elena FerranteMy review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I enjoyed this book very much An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness by Kay Redfield Jamison
. Here is my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I have finished Animal's People and at the end I liked it: 3,5*Though it's fiction, the connections with the Bhopal disaster are very clear.
My English review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I do recommend The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks.My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I just read The Timeless Land by Eleanor Dark, which is now a classic of well-researched Australian historical fiction about the First Fleet, the soldiers, the convicts, and the local Indigenous people. 
4.5★ Link to my review
PattyMacDotComma wrote: "I just read The Timeless Land by Eleanor Dark, which is now a classic of well-researched Australian historical fiction about the First Fleet, the soldiers, the convic..."Are we told which of the characters are fictional and which are not? The book has been on my TBR list for ages. Do you think I would like it? I want both accurate information, which the book clearly does provide, but also characters that come alive. They must feel real and not be paper cutouts!
Chrissie wrote: "PattyMacDotComma wrote: "I just read The Timeless Land by Eleanor Dark, which is now a classic of well-researched Australian historical fiction about the First Fleet,..."The version I have has lengthy introductions by other people, and there must be a lot of student notes out there to check who's who. I would have enjoyed it more myself if I hadn't already been so familiar with the story. Offhand, I'd say Phillip and most of the soldiers, the doctor, and the major Aboriginal characters are real, but she puts thoughts in their heads and gives them realistic dialogue. The invented characters are well-rounded.
I have completed a collection of short stories by W. Somerset Maugham--Rain and Other South Sea Stories. They are NOT all set in South East Asia! My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
My review of The Deeds of the Disturber by Elizabeth Peters
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
PattyMacDotComma wrote: "Chrissie wrote: "PattyMacDotComma wrote: "I just read The Timeless Land by Eleanor Dark, which is now a classic of well-researched Australian historical fiction about..."Thanks, I have noted what you have said in my private notes. So have you read the second in the series? THAT tells me if you REALLY like it a lot.
Chrissie wrote: "I have completed a collection of short stories by W. Somerset Maugham--Rain and Other South Sea Stories. They are NOT all set in South East Asia! My review: https://..."
I am sorry you didn't like them more.
Maugham is probably my favourite short-story writer and Rain is one of my favourite collections.
Esther wrote: "Chrissie wrote: "I have completed a collection of short stories by W. Somerset Maugham--Rain and Other South Sea Stories. They are NOT all set in South East Asia! My..."
Wait a minute. I did like the book--I gave it three stars. Some of the stories were OK, some very good and some good. I go on reading Maugham BECAUSE I think his books are worth reading. If I do not love one of his pieces it is more that they do not fit ME rather than that they are poorly written. NONE of his books are poorly written,
Everybody seems to think you need to give a book five stars before they recognize it as being good. This is a touchy point with me.
Finished a classic swashbuckling adventurous tale and rated it 4 stars: The Prisoner of Zenda
by Anthony Hope.Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Finished Damnation Island: Poor, Sick, Mad, & Criminal in 19th-Century New Yorkhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
My review of The Phantom of the Opera. I found it disappointing.https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Chrissie wrote: "PattyMacDotComma wrote: "Chrissie wrote: "PattyMacDotComma wrote: "I just read The Timeless Land by Eleanor Dark, which is now a classic of well-researched Australian..."I’m not planning to read any others, Chrissie, although she’s an excellent writer. I’m no expert, but this is going over old ground for me. I think it would be really interesting for anyone new to Australian history and the English settlement/invasion.
2028 by Aussie author Ken Saunders throws the FUNNIEST, most clever spanner (monkey wrench) in the works of modern politics that anyone could imagine! We MUST make it happen!! I’m off to change my name.
5★ Link to my enthusiastic review!
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