What I'm Reading OCTOBER 2014

[Larry]

I'm working my way through the Travis McGee novels by John MacDonald. I'm up to the eighth one in the series. This is One Fearful Yellow Eye, and it is set in Chicago, instead of Florida. They get better and better ... and they were good from the beginning. I do miss Florida and MacDonald's wry comments about the nature of the state and developers, etc.

[Sherry, Doyenne]

When I finish all the serieses I'm reading now, I'll have to start on that one.

[Cateline]

Finished Kirk Douglas's I Am Spartacus!: Making a Film, Breaking the Blacklist. I do like his form, I've read one other of his books, a novel. It's as forceful and vibrant, as he is. :). I do wonder a bit at some of his conclusions, and his actual effect on certain events. An interesting read though, I must say.

Have started Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of An Empire by Simon Baker.

[Larry]

Sherry, one of the arguments that went on in the past and probably has still not been settled is how much of a sexist Travis McGee was as a protagonist. I think his character has evolved significantly already through the first eight books that I've read ... to the extent that his attitudes toward women are less and less annoying. Here's a good posting in a blog on this matter:

http://www.bethquinnbarnard.com/about...

[Lyn]

I finished The Shadow of the Wind ahead of the discussion, yay! Since I recommended it, can someone tell me if I start the discussion off, if so the logistics of that (do I start a new thread?), and timing (got an email saying we're to "start reading" it October 15th, but when does the discussion start?) It's my first time that we're reading a book I put up, so don't know the process yet.

My in-person book club just talked about Gone Girl. Interesting discussion, and we're planning to see the movie.

[Sherry, Doyenne]

Lyn wrote: "I finished The Shadow of the Wind ahead of the discussion, yay! Since I recommended it, can someone tell me if I start the discussion off, if so the logistics of that (do I start a new..."

The reason it says "start reading" is that Goodreads doesn't have an option for "start discussing." It was the one thing I asked for on the Feedback forum that I didn't get. I hate to tell people when to start reading something. Yes, Lyn, you start the discussion on the 15th of October in the Reading List folder. Start a new thread with the book title and author in the title, and in the note you can put anything you want.

[Anne]

Just picked up How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas Foster. I think I'm going to like it.

[Lyn]

I got nearly halfway through The Bone Clocks today when I think a psychic being who called herself "I Just Don't Care Anymore" took over my body and said that life was short and I should move on.

Thanks for the info, Sherry.

[Robert]

The Travis McGee books are pretty darn bueno. Still reading the movie stuff for my research, but I dipped into Michael Kurland's Sherlock Holmes pastiche collections. Not perfect, but some good stuff. I keep wanting to read The Lives of the Poets by Michael Schmidt. I just finished rereading Mark Harris' two movie books: Pictures at a Revolution and Five Came Back. Pictures is more revelatory, but Five is worth reading to see how WWII affected Hollywood's greatest directors. Also rereading Michael Barrier's Hollywood Cartoons, which is the best history of American animation, I'm writing a piece on Winsor McCay, who did Little Nemo and Gertie the Dinosaur.

[John]

After three hours, I finally admitted I was forcing myself to listen to the new Poirot book: The Monogram Murders. Narration was great, but the "story" seemed drawn out, going on and on and on. So, I gave up.

On a cheerier note, I really liked the first Commisionnaire Adamsberg mystery (set in Paris): The Chalk Circle Man.

[Alias Reader]

Anne wrote: "Just picked up How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas Foster. I think I'm going to like it."

------------
Anne, you might also enjoy
How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading by Mortimer J. Adler

I think it's a terrific book.

[Cateline]

I've put aside the Roman book I mention above for the moment. My husband read Lexicon by Max Barry, and loved it. I had to switch! :). A friend on GR recommended it initially.

Well worth the switch, I'm almost halfway through, and loving it.

[Sue]

John wrote: "After three hours, I finally admitted I was forcing myself to listen to the new Poirot book: The Monogram Murders. Narration was great, but the "story" seemed drawn out, going on an..."

Good to know about Chalk Circle Man. (I've never particularly cared for Poirot and his little gray cells so I probably wouldn't have opted for the other book anyway).

[Larry]

Robert, in the first few Travis McGee books, McGee reminds me a lot of protagonists in several Heinlein books. It's his dialogue and interior monologues and just his overall sensibility.

[Ruth]

I have been reading "Ordinary Grace" by William Kent Krueger. The author, a Midwesterner living in St. Paul, MN, carves the characters into individuals with a definite Midwestern flair.

[Sherry, Doyenne]

Ruth wrote: "I have been reading "Ordinary Grace" by William Kent Krueger. The author, a Midwesterner living in St. Paul, MN, carves the characters into individuals with a definite Midwestern flair."

I have that as an audiobook, but haven't listened yet. I think it won some major award last year.

[Lynn]

If I recall correctly, that's the one book he's written that isn't part of the Cork O'Conner series. I enjoyed it when I read it a few years ago and it was interesting to see him take a break from the series characters.

[Marjorie]

Ruth wrote, " I have been reading "Ordinary Grace" by William Kent Krueger. The author, a Midwesterner living in St. Paul, MN, carves the characters into individuals with a definite Midwestern flair."

I read this last year, but was a bit disappointed -- Good writing , but I got tired of the religious aspects, sermons of the boy's father, etc., and the story got to be rather boring. One little thing that annoyed me was who can remember, 40 years later, the exact TV program they were watching on any particular day?

Marge

[Ruth]

Marjorie wrote: "Ruth wrote, " I have been reading "Ordinary Grace" by William Kent Krueger. The author, a Midwesterner living in St. Paul, MN, carves the characters into individuals with a definite Midwestern flai..."

The minister, family and townspeople were so well developed that I felt I could fit right into the story. The personal struggles of Frankie and Jake, the friendship of Nathan and Gus, as well as Ruth's resistance to all things "God" conveyed different ways to cope with the tragedies they face.

[Ruth]

Lynn wrote: "If I recall correctly, that's the one book he's written that isn't part of the Cork O'Conner series. I enjoyed it when I read it a few years ago and it was interesting to see him take a break from..."

I agree with you Lynn.

[Ruth]

Sherry wrote: "Ruth wrote: "I have been reading "Ordinary Grace" by William Kent Krueger. The author, a Midwesterner living in St. Paul, MN, carves the characters into individuals with a definite Midwestern flai..."

Ordinary Grace was the winner of the 2014 Edgar Awards for best novel.

[Lyn]

I took a break from anything serious to read two Lawrence Block mysteries, A Dance At The Slaughterhouse and A Walk Among the Tombstones. They were readable and well constructed, but I just didn't cozy up to the Matthew Scudder detective character all that much and got bored with the endless cups of coffee and A.A. meetings. (I guess for me Harlan Coben needs to keep writing!).

Off to the library to pick up a couple of holds: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot and We Are Not Ourselves, with The Jump-Off Creek too as this month's read for an in-person book club.

[Cateline]

Finished and loved Lexicon by Max Barry. Innovative, well done thriller. Here is my full review. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Cateline]

I've picked up a Shirley Ann Grau book, The Condor Passes. Atmospheric, and interesting.

[Marjorie]

Lyn wrote, "Off to the library to pick up a couple of holds: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot and.." That book sounds interesting. Readers at Amazon seem to really like it or hate it. The book desc.cription says, in part, "Three young adults grapple with the usual thirty-something problems--boredom, authenticity,.." I found my thirties years to be some of the best years of my life.

I haven't yet read the Lawrence Block books you mentioned. My favorite of his was Eight Million Ways to Die. Very good writing. The ending brought tears to my eyes
.
Marj

[Sue]

Cateline wrote: "I've picked up a Shirley Ann Grau book, The Condor Passes. Atmospheric, and interesting."

I read her The Keepers of the House which I really liked.

[Sue]

I started Ulysses today. This should be an interesting experience.
I also just finished a NetGalley book, Thieving Forest, an historical novel set in 1805 Ohio about one teenage girls search through forest and swamp for her sisters who were taken by Indians. This was one of those compulsively readable books I run into once in a while. I just had to keep picking it up whenever I could. This is a time and place in history I'm really not very familiar with.

I'm also about to start The Shadow of the Wind.

[Portia]

Has everyone heard that Ralph Cosham passed away last week? Audio fans will know his name and Louise Penny, author of the Armand Gamache series, has said that he really understood the character.

[Book Concierge]

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne – 4****
This classic adventure tale was first published in 1870. Verne creates an imaginative and wondrous world. There are scenes that had me literally on the edge of my seat, but there were also long passages detailing the scientific classifications of underwater life that just about had me nodding off. Nemo is a marvelous villain – a seductive genius who can be charming, and yet with a deep-seated hatred of man and a skewed view of the world. I wish I knew more of his back story, of what made him what he is in this novel. James Frain did a fine job narrating the audiobook.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Book Concierge]

Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded by Simon Winchester – 3.5***
On August 27, 1883 the volcano Krakatoa exploded in a cataclysmic eruption that literally annihilated the island and killed over 36,000 people. This is a natural history of the island, the geological forces that led to its formation, destruction and rebirth, and the aftermath of that event. Winchester is a geologist as well as a writer, and so is the perfect person to pen this history. However, he seemed determined to include every bit of scientific research he uncovered. I’m sure I was influenced by having seen the PBS show about the volcano; I was expecting more action. Still it’s a fascinating story and I was mesmerized for most of it.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Lyn]

Finished Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. It's like reading the next generation's science fiction/paranoia, but liberally sprinkled with current and future societal issues to be grappled with in the Internet information age. Has anyone else read this one, and what do you think?

[Sherry, Doyenne]

I finished listening to The Secret Place by Tana French. There were parts of this book that I really liked, but then there were parts where I went "huh?" I might have enjoyed it better as a print book, because there was entirely too much teenage girl dialogue that I winced at coming from the male narrator. The female narrator was better at the girl voices, as might be expected. Tana French is always fascinating, though, but I think this could have been shorter.

[Ethan]

Sherry wrote: "I finished listening to The Secret Place by Tana French. There were parts of this book that I really liked, but then there were parts where I went "huh?" I might have enjoyed it bet..."

I had the same feelings about this book. I've enjoyed the first three novels by French, but this one did seem to go on a bit too long. There is no doubt that she creates interesting characters, but I felt the mystery element in this one was not as strong as her previous efforts.

[Mary]

Just finished An Uncommon Man by Richard Norton Smith. I am happy to have read a biography of Herbert Hoover. There were those who discouraged me from taking the time to do so, but then I never would have known about his philanthropy, his passionate fights to feed the children of the world after WW I and WWII, his skill as an administrator, and his almost irrational dislike of FDR and everything associated with him and his political career. He lived a long and incredibly productive life with all his human failings and with more compassion and intelligence than I had ever given him credit for.

[Anne]

I had to put the Tana French book aside--even in print, all the teenage dialog grated on my nerves. I'm sure I'll pick it back up to see where the story goes, but I can do without teenage drama sometimes...

Currently reading Man in the Window, The by Jon Cohen. The writing is seamless.

[Cateline]

Sue wrote: "Cateline wrote: "I've picked up a Shirley Ann Grau book, The Condor Passes. Atmospheric, and interesting."

I read her The Keepers of the House which I really liked. ..."

I read Keepers many years ago, should reread. :)

I'm about a third of the way through In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O'Brian. Twisty, unreliable narrator. My first by this author.

[Connie]

I just finished the weighty, but rewarding Nicholas and Alexandra by Robert K. Massie. I think I might have started to read it when I was younger...but I lacked an iota of context. Although the book was originally written in 1967 it has stood the test of time. It provides historical context, references and opinions, along with insights of the personal lives and dilemmas of the imperial family, the last within Russia.

I had tried reading Massie's more recent Peter the Great: His Life and World last year but I just couldn't get through that tome. Perhaps another time or most likely will try his Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman. However I need a short light read for now.

What are people's opinon's regarding Carl Hiaasen's book Nature Girl?

[Sherry, Doyenne]

Connie wrote: "I just finished the weighty, but rewarding Nicholas and Alexandra by Robert K. Massie. I think I might have started to read it when I was younger...but I lacked an iot..."

It's silly and funny and probably crude. I don't remember exactly, but I think most of Hiaasen's books are like that.

[Connie]

Thanks Sherry I'll give it a try. Silly and irreverent might be good! Thanks for the feedback.

[Lyn]

Finished The Jump-Off Creek today. I think one sign of a well-told story is that you want it to go on and on and keep hearing more about the main characters, and I wanted that with this one. This story of a woman homesteading alone with the courage and independence that would take was full of simple, seemingly realistic detail, and the story really resonated with me. It was refreshing to be left respecting and liking a female main character so much.

[Mary]

Just finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society. Thoroughly delightful and enchanting book. I liked the letter format of the novel. The ending felt a bit flat to me.

[Sherry, Doyenne]

Mary wrote: "Just finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society. Thoroughly delightful and enchanting book. I liked the letter format of the novel. The ending felt a bit flat to me."

I enjoyed that one on audiobook. I can't remember the ending though.

[Nicole]

Mary wrote: "Just finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society. Thoroughly delightful and enchanting book. I liked the letter format of the novel. The ending felt a bit flat to me."

I found this book bizarre and somewhat off-putting. Is it a light-hearted epistolary romance, or a harrowing account of the sufferings of channel islanders under German occupation? I feel like it tried to be both and ended up failing on both counts because there are things that shouldn't mix, like a grape jelly and smoked trout sandwich. Also, I can now never unread (view spoiler)[the section where all the surplus pets are slaughtered horribly (hide spoiler)].

[Portia]

Nicole wrote: "Mary wrote: "Just finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society. Thoroughly delightful and enchanting book. I liked the letter format of the novel. The ending felt a bit flat to me."

I fo..."

But isn't life both, Nicole? I've laughed during a time of grief and had my eyes sting with tears of loss when enjoying a happy memory of someone who has gone on ahead of me.

You are right, of course, about un-reading the section on the pets. I thought the residents were choosing to prevent their pets from future suffering, but perhaps I misunderstood. I'd rather not think about the good death option for my own and don't like reading or seeing it. I hate the scene in the dog pound in "Lady and The Tramp."

[Ruth]

Mary wrote: "Just finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society. Thoroughly delightful and enchanting book. I liked the letter format of the novel. The ending felt a bit flat to me."

I was not enchanted. You can see my review here. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Ann D]

Mary,
To each his own. I also really liked The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, as did the rest of the members of my in-person book club.

[Mary]

I felt it was a book about the resilience of the human spirit. I thought it captured ideas of loyalty, love, courage, and boldness which really only become evident in the context of their opposites. And she did it all with a sense of humor. And I think she settled for a prosaic ending, which was a disappointment.

[John]

I've gotten into There Must Be Some Mistake: A Novel quite easily, style reminds me a bit of why I've liked the Stegner I've read so much.

[Frank]

I'm just starting The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time after finishing Dear Committee Members

[John]

Frank: most readers loved that one, but I didn't.