All About Books discussion
General Archive
>
What have you just read? Opinions, recommendations, reviews Part 2
My Halloween read:The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing. Thought-provoking!Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
But in the running for best book I've read this year is A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry.
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Read Ray Bradbury's Machineries Of Joy - reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3027934766and
Tom Baker's Doctor Who: Scratchman - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3027934766.
I listened to the audiobook of The Best of Edgar Allan Poe - good choice for Halloween :)My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
My review of The Summer Seaside Kitchen by Jenny Colgan
3 stars
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
A Place of Execution is an award-winning (and NOT grisly, in spite of the title) Val McDermid mystery. Young teen girl disappears - always traumatic, gruesome or not.
Link to my review
My review of The Last Thing She Ever Did by Gregg Olsen
3 stars,
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
Phrynne wrote: "My review of The Marco Effect by Jussi Adler-Olsen 
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."
I felt the same way Phrynne.
I have finished a 1937 adventure/suspense story of the type that John Buchan (The Thirty-Nine Steps) and Anthony Hope (The Prisoner Of Zenda) made famous - She Painted Her Face by Dornford Yates. I thought it was great but it will not appeal to those who like character-driven books; this one is all melodramatic plot!
LauraT wrote: "Finished yesterday The Third Policeman; strange strange book"Does Flann O'Brien write "non strange" books? LOL. I read At Swim-Two-Birds a few years ago. It was good and very, very, very strange.
Petra wrote: "LauraT wrote: "Finished yesterday The Third Policeman; strange strange book"Does Flann O'Brien write "non strange" books? LOL. I read At Swim-Two-Birds a few years ago. ..."
LOL! I agree that strange but good describes the books I have read by him.
Read and really enjoyed Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography
My 4 ⭐ review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
My review of The Weekend by Charlotte Wood
3 and a half stars
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Liane Moriarty’s first novel, Three Wishes, Is an enjoyable introduction to the author of the world-famous Big Little Lies (which I loved). 
4★ Link to my review of “Three Wishes”
Mod
Does Flann O'Brien write "non strange" books? LOL. I read At Swim-Two-Birds a f..."
It was my first book by him; but i don't know if i want to go on...
I finished the psychological thriller The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides on Oct 21⭐⭐⭐⭐
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
LauraT wrote: "Leslie wrote: "Petra wrote: "LauraT wrote: "Finished yesterday The Third Policeman; strange strange book"Does Flann O'Brien write "non strange" books? LOL. I read [book:At Swim-Two-B..."
I read At Swim Two Birds a couple of years ago and came to the conclusion that to understand it, I either needed to be Irish or drunk or both.
Kirsten #EndGunViolence wrote: "LauraT wrote: "Leslie wrote: "Petra wrote: "LauraT wrote: "Finished yesterday The Third Policeman; strange strange book"Does Flann O'Brien write "non strange" books? LOL. I read [boo..."
I read that one too. I usually love quirky books but that one left me cold and I gave it one star:(
Kirsten #EndGunViolence wrote: "I read At Swim Two Birds a couple of years ago and came to the conclusion that to understand it, I either needed to be Irish or drunk or both. ..."LOL! That would have helped......
LauraT wrote: "It was my first book by him; but i don't know if i want to go on... ..."He writes well. I was intrigued enough to think about reading another. But I have yet to actually read a second book by him.
I finished East of Eden yesterday - I listened to the audiobook and had planned that it would last me for several more days but I got to the point where I had to sit down and listen to it last evening until it was done! I have given it 4.5* but haven't written a review yet. I haven't read any Steinbeck in years (decades!), not since I was in school and The Grapes of Wrath & Of Mice and Men were required reading. I must not have liked him much back then because I didn't go on to read more of his books (which I did with many authors I first read in school). Now I wonder why! I'll have to revisit those two and see what I think of them now.
Mod
It has happened the same with me, even not at school, in Italy he is not an author we study. But my father loved him and probably he made me read him too early... I've re-discovered him later on - as an almost "old Lady", and loved him as much as my father did!
Laura and Leslie, I have found as I get older, books from my school days have become favourites again. The Catcher in the Rye, A Patch of Blue, A Kestrel for a Knave. Others like all D.H. Lawrence works have remained firmed favourites since my school/university days.
B the BookAddict wrote: "Laura and Leslie, I have found as I get older, books from my school days have become favourites again. The Catcher in the Rye, A Patch of Blue, ..."I have been finding it interesting to see how my reaction to certain books changes with time & yet for other books, it hasn't. For me, Lawrence is one author I appreciate more now that I am older. Jane Austen, on the other hand, I have read at least once in each decade of my life and always love. And sadly, some that I loved when I was younger no longer seem so good (my recent reread of Herzog for example) -- and it is this last category that sometimes makes me reluctant to reread an old favorite.
This is a bit off topic, but I can't find anyplace to ask it. Does anyone know what happened to the Save option in the edit screen? All I see now is Post, and I have no idea to what I am posting, nor do I really WANT to post it! I just want to save my book information! Thanks for any insight anyone can give....
My review of The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer
5 stars
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Mod
B the BookAddict wrote: "Laura and Leslie, I have found as I get older, books from my school days have become favourites again. The Catcher in the Rye, A Patch of Blue, ..."
I do agree with both of you. And what's "strange" today is that I'm reading an essay by an Italian writer Alessandro Piperno, Il manifesto del libero lettore: Otto scrittori di cui non so fare a meno, where he talks about reading classics.
Generally speaking he says "la maggior parte di noi ha letto romanzi nella giovinezza, mentre sarebbe stato assai più utile aspettare la maturità.
Niente come una rilettura è capace di mostrarci cosa resti di un romanzo negli anni, e cosa svanisca quasi immediatamente." -Translated it sounds like this - more or less!!!
"Most of us has read those novels [classics] when still young, while it would have been more usefull to have waited to maturity.
Nothing like re-reading a book can show us what remains of a novel and what vanishes almost immediately".
Isn't it interesting ?
Caught up on reviews of latest books read:1. Bond of the Fire by Anthony Fon Eisen - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3039643488.
2. The Jargoon Pard by Andre Norton - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1954249194.
3. The Crystal Gryphon by Andre Norton - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1954248909.
4. Other Dimensions volume 1 by Clark Ashton Smith - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2998994738.
I read Kintu by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi. It is epic in scope, charting several generations of a clan in Uganda. It got to be a bit confusing because there are so many members in the clan that it was a challenge to figure out who was related to whom. I think it would have been helpful to have included a family tree.My 3-star review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Susan wrote: "This is a bit off topic, but I can't find anyplace to ask it. Does anyone know what happened to the Save option in the edit screen? All I see now is Post, and I have no idea to what I am posting, n..."YIKES! No idea, Susan! I'll try checking the Librarians' group.
Susan wrote: "This is a bit off topic, but I can't find anyplace to ask it. Does anyone know what happened to the Save option in the edit screen? All I see now is Post, and I have no idea to what I am posting, n..."Susan, this is the answer given on the Help page. I haven't tried writing a new review yet to see if the gray Saving button starts to show or not. I'm not going to be pleased if this has changed! I write reviews for children's books that include illustrations, and I need to "test" them before I post.
https://help.goodreads.com/s/article/...
I think Aussie author Heather Morris's popular The Tattooist of Auschwitz, based on a true Holocaust survivor story, has probably introduced a new generation of readers to the reality of Hitler's Nazis.
Link to my Tattooist review
Atlantic Winds by William Prendiville is a novella about teens growing up on a small Canadian island. Reviews range from TERRIFIC to meh. That means: try it - you may love it!
3.5★ Link to my review
Latest two:
Apeirogon: A Novel by Colum McCann - 4 stars - My Review
Halsey's Typhoon: The True Story of a Fighting Admiral, an Epic Storm, and an Untold Rescue by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin - 4 stars - My Review
Finished
近代中國史綱（下） (A Short History of Modern China, Vol. 2).My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Finished In the Shadow of Wolves. Another vivid WW2 story taken from the perspective of German children eeking out an existence. My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
My review of Noah's Wife by Lindsay Starck
3 and a half stars
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
All About Books
Books mentioned in this topic
Dark Mode (other topics)Critical Mass (other topics)
The Go-Between (other topics)
One, Two ... He Is Coming for You (other topics)
Death at Hungerford Stairs (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Ashley Kalagian Blunt (other topics)Daniel Suarez (other topics)
Willow Rose (other topics)
L.P. Hartley (other topics)
Luis Alberto Urrea (other topics)
More...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...