Constant Reader discussion
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Constant Reader
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What I'm Reading - Jan & Feb 2019
Katy wrote: "Right now, I am reading Susan Orlean's THE LIBRARY BOOK. The New Yorker ran a short excerpt recently which piqued my interest. While her main subject is the investigation of the arson started fire ..."I've been interested in this too, Katy.
Aussie Author Kerry Greenwood takes us to Melbourne to introduce the naughty, clever, stunning Miss Phryne Fisher in Cocaine Blues, the first of a long and popular cosy mystery series. TV viewers know her from Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries.
4.5★ Link to my review
Patty, we got a kick out of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. We watch some Australian TV shows on the streaming service Acorn and really enjoy them.
We enjoyed the Phryne mysteries, too. We began watching them after I read Cocaine Blues. Just loved the period detail and her wardrobe!
Other Voices, Other Rooms – Truman Capote – 3.5***
Capote’s debut novel is a semiautobiographical coming-of-age story. It’s a classic Southern Gothic novel, full of ghosts, haints, superstitions, secrets and closed off rooms. Joel is isolated not only by the remote location, but by the lack of connection with these people. He is confused and cautious, and his loneliness and despair are palpable. Capote’s writing is wonderfully atmospheric. Still, at times, much like Joel, I felt lost in unfamiliar surroundings.
LINK to my review
I gave up! Clarice Lispector The Hour of the Star Shame after being recomended via her short stories. I tried it in paperback and in audio but really couldn't follow it at all. Unintelligible and completely beyond me :(
Ann D wrote: "Patty, we got a kick out of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. We watch some Australian TV shows on the streaming service Acorn and really enjoy them."Donna wrote: "We enjoyed the Phryne mysteries, too. We began watching them after I read Cocaine Blues. Just loved the period detail and her wardrobe!"
Ann D wrote: "The wardrobe is pretty fantastic!"
The wardrobe is wonderfully well described in the book, so I can imagine what fun the costume department had trying to design them. :)
If you liked "Where's Wally" and the tiny details in the Richard Scarry children's books, or those great little cartoon tourist maps with all the landmarks, I bet you'd enjoy Egypt Magnified: With a 3x Magnifying Glass. History made fun. Just delightful!
5★ Link to my review with pictures(I apologise that sometimes pictures don't show in the app.)
Aussie author Peggy Frew has a new novel out soon, Islands, and the cover says it all. Individually or grouped, we're islands (as is one of the settings, Phillip Island).
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Ursula K. Le Guin’s THE DISPOSSESSED. I enjoyed reading this classic science fiction tale from 1974. It’s interesting to see a utopia portrayed as flawed. It’s fascinating to see cultural ideas from the 60’s and 70’s - for example communes, feminist beliefs and principles - integrated into this story and now viewed from a perspective 40 to 50 years later. The structure was confusing at first with chapters alternating between present and past. The philosophical musings seemed a little heavy-handed from time to time. All in all, I found it a satisfying read and worth my time.
Mary wrote: "Ursula K. Le Guin’s THE DISPOSSESSED. I enjoyed reading this classic science fiction tale from 1974. It’s interesting to see a utopia portrayed as flawed. It’s fascinating to see cultural ideas fro..."I read this years ago, Mary, and it really broadened my horizons. I don't think I've ever read anything quite like it.
Does My Head Look Big in This? is a Young Adult book that I'd be happy to recommend even for some pre-teens. Aussie author Randa Abdel-Fattah writes about an Aussie Muslim teenager wanting to wear a hijab to school in spite of her parents' worries. YIKES! 
3.5~4★ Link to my review with some pictures
Just finished If Beale Street Could Talk - Baldwin's beautiful, raw portrayal of his truth about urban Black life in the 70s and institutional racism. Will be interested in seeing how the film compares.Currently reading A Question of Honor: The Kosciuszko Squadron: Forgotten Heroes of World War II
I'm working on reading Steeped in Evil by Laura Childs. I don't really read the Tea Shop Mysteries books in order, but I do enjoy them... plus, they're a short read for me so I can finish them in a 24-hour period. I'm taking a break from reading The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.
Mary The Dispossessed is on my TBR list I recently read Third Hand of Darkness with my in person book group Well worth a read too
Finished Tana French's 4th novel, Broken Harbor. Didn't much like the plot, characters, or the voice of the main character/narrator, so it says a lot about French's writing (beautiful, lyrical, absorbing) that I still enjoyed it a lot and will keep reading more from her. Just starting Once Upon a River.
Donna wrote: "Just finished If Beale Street Could Talk - Baldwin's beautiful, raw portrayal of his truth about urban Black life in the 70s and institutional racism. Will be interested in seeing how ..."Did it bother you at all that the so-called narrator was such a passive character? It did me.
Swing Time by English author Zadie Smith was longlisted for the 2017 Man Booker Prize.
My review of Swing TimeI actually preferred the winner that year, Lincoln in the Bardo.
(If you're interested, My review of Lincoln in the Bardo )
Kat wrote: "Donna wrote: "Just finished If Beale Street Could Talk - Baldwin's beautiful, raw portrayal of his truth about urban Black life in the 70s and institutional racism. Will be interested ..."No, not really. I guess by "so-called narrator" you must mean that Baldwin is the real narrator trying to channel this 19-year-old girl and that carries with it the predictable difficulties. But I thought of Tish as protected and in some ways naive; dependent as a function of her youth and inexperience and vulnerable as a function of her pregnancy. There were several scenes where she showed some backbone I thought; I could see strength emerging in her protection of Fonny - both physical and emotional. But certainly Sharon and Ernestine were stronger and more independent female characters.
Bond. James Bond. Need I say more? Good prequel to the famous Ian Fleming spy series. At the request of the Fleming estate, Horowitz wrote Forever and a Day to introduce us to 007 and the woman who explains why she orders martinis "shaken, not stirred."
A solid 4★. Link to my review
The Hamilton Affair – Elizabeth Cobbs – 4****
Cobbs is an historian, who also occasionally writes a work of historical fiction. The story unfolds in alternating perspectives: Alexander and Eliza each get a turn at relating events. In this way we get some insight into each character’s background, guiding principles, joys, sorrows and desires. While Cobbs’ sympathies were clearly with Hamilton, she did not shy away from pointing out his faults. I really appreciated how she developed Eliza’s strong character. I was interested and engaged from beginning to end.
LINK to my review
Short and sweet! Sweet price, that is. Author Gregg Hurwitz is giving readers Buy a Bullet FREE on Amazon! It's a self-contained story plus extracts from Book 1 of his popular Orphan X thriller series. 
4.5★ Link to my review
Earlier I was rereading some Kawabata Yasunari and I know we have several Haruki Murakami fans on the board. I came across this list of English language articles on Japanese woman writers which I am sharing . I only knew one of this list Fumiko Enchihttps://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/...
I will read anything by Helen Garner! Fiction, non-fiction, novels, stories. Honour and Other People's Children is a reissue of a pair of novellas, and true to form, I loved the first. 4.5★Not the second, sadly. 3★
Link to my review
I knew some, but not all, of the Super Scientists: 40 inspiring icons featured in this attractively designed book of historical facts for kids (and ignorant people like me).
Link to my review with illustrations
Why does Australia treat refugees on Manus almost as badly as POWs were treated on WW2's infamous Burma Railway? Inexcusable!No Friend But the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison by Iranian Kurd refugee Behrouz Boochani is already winning awards.
5★ Link to my review
Donna Tartt’s THE GOLDFINCH, wonderfully narrated by David Pittu. This book is way too long. That being said, I’m glad I read (listened to it). I hung on through the slow-moving and sometimes tedious parts because I was so richly rewarded by the exciting, edge-of-your seat parts and frequently by the finely crafted writing. As for its length, I’ve enjoyed thinking about how I would have edited it. No details on those musings because they might spoil the reading experience for others of you.
Mary, I recently finished The Goldfinch and I felt the same way- beautiful writing and a. Impelling story, but too darn long.
Mary I also agree about the good narration
Sir Robert Carey is as dashing and daring as ever in A Surfeit of Guns, the third in P.F. Chisholm's fun series about the English and Scots battling and thieving in the border country in Elizabethan England. Love it!
4.5★ Link to my review
Winter Solstice – Rosamunde Pilcher – 3***
Five very different people, ranging in age from teen-aged to mid-sixties, converge on a Scottish cottage just before Christmas. The novel changes perspective with each chapter so the reader gets to know the characters slowly, learning what is important to each as they go about their lives. It’s a charmingly told story, and I grew to love these characters. It reminds me of Maeve Binchy’s books. This is the first book by Pilcher that I’ve read; it won’t be the last.
LINK to my review
I recently finished
by E.B. White. Loved it!I also finished A J Finn's
. 3 stars. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4....
EB White is one of my literary gods. And here you’ve found one I haven’t read. Thank you.
Ruth wrote: "EB White is one of my literary gods. And here you’ve found one I haven’t read. Thank you."You're welcome. It's a short one but it's all him. I. listened to it on audio; narrated by his step-son Roger Angell whose mother, Katherine White, was an editor at The New Yorker. That's where she met EB White. I know her very well from her two books on gardening in Maine, both of which I love. One is actually a compilation of letters of a 20 year correspondence with a beloved North Carolina gardener. (I'm an avid gardener, can you tell?). Both books give glimpses into her home life with EB White. He seemed like such a dear man. If you have any interest in these books (you'd have to be interested in gardening) I'd be happy to give you the references.
Anne wrote: "Ruth wrote: "EB White is one of my literary gods. And here you’ve found one I haven’t read. Thank you."You're welcome. It's a short one but it's all him. I. listened to it on audio; narrated by h..."
Thanks, Anne. I read Onward and Upward many years ago and enjoyed it. I used to love to garden, too, but alas, I’m now old and the ground has gotten too far away.
Ruth,Wonderful that you read Onward and Upward. EB put that collection of newspaper columns together in tribute to Katherine after she died. Too bad about your garden but I do understand. One needs much strength to keep up a garden, or a lot of help.
How the García Girls Lost Their Accents – Julia Álvarez – 4****
The García family flees the Dominican Republic for the United States amid political unrest. This is a wonderfully entertaining look at the immigrant experience and the strong family ties that see these sisters (and their parents) through a tumultuous adolescence and young adulthood. The use of multiple narrators and non-linear time line, however, made for an uneven reading experience. But I looked on it as indicative of the immigrant experience: looking back fondly on the home left behind, while facing the future bravely and with enthusiasm.
LINK to my review
Just finished The Winter Soldier by Daniel Mason. Excellent WWI fiction about a young Polish man living in an aristocratic family in Vienna who has a passion for medicine. Although just in the midst of medical school, he enlists as a medic when the war breaks out and is assigned to a remote make-shift infirmary on the Eastern front, manned by a few orderlies and a single nursing nun. A suspenseful story line that is wonderful in it's historical detail yet timeless in all of the human emotions it portrays. 5*****
Donna wrote: "Just finished The Winter Soldier by Daniel Mason. Excellent WWI fiction about a young Polish man living in an aristocratic family in Vienna who has a passion for medi..."Thank you for the nice summary/review. Sounds right up my alley.
Anne wrote: "Donna wrote: "Just finished The Winter Soldier by Daniel Mason. Excellent WWI fiction about a young Polish man living in an aristocratic family in Vienna who has a pa..."I've been wanting to read The Winter Soldier too. I loved The Piano Tuner and lots of people I respect are giving it good reviews. Glad to hear that you felt the same, Donna.
Sybille Bedford’s A LEGACY. I commented on this book here when I first started reading it and now I’ve finished it. I don’t remember how this book made it to my TBR list but I’m glad it did. I truly enjoyed this classic, originally published in the mid-1950’s. It read as if I were watching a wonderful BBC or PBS period drama. Great costumes. Wonderful repasts. Amazing interiors. It’s also funny at times and extremely well written, including the dialogue. It was a little hard to keep track of the characters and following the plot was challenging at times.
Mary, I’m pretty sure someone here recommended this book: I’ve had it on my TBR list for a couple of years. Thanks for the nudge!
Sydney's famous Mardi Gras begins on Valentine's Day, so I thought I'd reintroduce this wonderful memoir by Chris Edwards, a man who started life as a determinedly reluctant little girl. Balls: It Takes Some to Get Some is both fascinating and funny!
5★ Link to my review
I'm reading World Without End right now but had to interrupt it to read Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver, one of my favorite authors. I thought it was a great book with a ramshackle house being a character in the story. It is a story of forced utopia and exclusion. My only dislike was the lengthy discourse on creation vs. evolution. And it provides history on Mary Treat, a scientist who corresponded with Darwin. I rated it 4****.
Gina wrote: "I'm reading World Without End right now but had to interrupt it to read Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver, one of my favorite authors. I thought it was a great book wi..."I've seen mixed reviews of Unsheltered by readers who found it a bit too "instructive", or what I would call "preachy".
It's sad to think this is needed.Something Happened in Our Town: A Child's Story about Racial Injustice by Marianne Celano and others is a new children's picture book to read WITH them about cops shooting blacks, slave history, and intolerance of foreigners.
My review with illustrations
For Everything a Season – Philip Gulley – 4****
Subtitle: Simple Musings on Living Well. This is a collection of essays written by Philip Gulley, a Quaker minister. He waxes poetic on gardening, birth stories, the advantages of front porches and stone patios, and a child’s joy in exploring the woods, among other topics. There is a nostalgia to his descriptions that just brings a smile to my face (and to my heart). Gulley can get a little preachy at times, but that’s to be expected, given his ministry. There’s still plenty of room for humor. It was the perfect comfort read at this time of my life.
LINK to my review
Graham Greene’s THE QUIET AMERICAN. Excellent! Even though it was written in 1955 and is set in Vietnam when the French were fighting the war and we Americans were just beginning our involvement, its political, moral, and religious themes still resonate today.
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Constant Reader
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Mary and Kat, this sounds like a good nomination for the Classics list next time.