Leslie's Reading the Rainbow in 2015

[Shirley]

I was planning to read it, but don't feel very inspired now, I must say!

[Erica]

I think it's quite a polarizing book. I on the other hand really enjoyed it and gave it 4* haha.

[Leslie]

Erica wrote: "I think it's quite a polarizing book. I on the other hand really enjoyed it and gave it 4* haha."

I could tell when I was reading it that it was a book that others would probably love. I am a person who likes plot-driven books over character studies.

[Leslie]

Alabaster Challenge: A-to-Z

The Deep Blue Good-by,    (done 1/19)

3★ This was my first book by MacDonald -- I figured it made sense to start at the beginning with the first Travis McGee. This series has been recommended to me by various people but I really had only one preconceived notion -- that McGee was a private eye. So I was a bit surprised by how hard-boiled the book was & that McGee isn't really an investigator by profession.

If you forget about the drinking and the sex for a moment, McGee is the precursor of the TV show "Leverage" -- he takes back what was stolen in the first place. A descendant of Robin Hood, so to speak, who operates on the shady side of the law but is still the 'good guy'... I enjoyed this aspect of the plot enough that it made me forgive the dated 1960s attitudes.

This isn't really a mystery -- there is no "whodunit" aspect. I guess that it is a thriller (or suspense? I get these two subgenres confused). I don't know if that is typical or not. Guess I will find out!

Honorary part of the Maroon challenge -- this isn't a ROOT but Maroon is where my "read the Travis McGee series" challenge is located.

[Overbooked ✎]

Love your reviews Leslie!

It looks like I made a smart move putting The Luminaries aside when it failed to grab me after a couple of chapters. It's still a very big deal here, being NZ and all, but I had a gut feeling it wasn't for me and seeing literally hundreds of people in the queue for a library copy, I returned it early for someone who would appreciate it

[Leslie]

Thanks Kiwi! The nice thing about library books is you can always check it out again if you change your mind :)

[Leslie]

Green Challenge: Plays (#2)

Much Ado About Nothing,    (done 1/21)

3½★ What can I say? I just like comedies more than tragedies... This play had many of the same flaws that Antony and Cleopatra did but I liked the basic plot more. I was probably helped by the fact that I have seen this performed so the constable Dogberry was understandable (I don't think he is based solely on the written words).

Oh, and I didn't read this pretty edition (read it as part of my Project Gutenberg "Complete Works" on my Kindle)...

[Leslie]

Yellow Challenge: Guardian's list (#2)
Purple Challenge: Bingo (3A or possibly 4D)
Tan Challenge: Historical fiction

Regeneration,    (done 1/21)

4★ or maybe even 4½ This historical-fiction novel centers around the poet Siegfried Sassoon and his psychiatrist Dr. Rivers during his stay at the mental hospital Craiglockhart during 1917.

The central theme is conflict between duty and survival which Rivers recognizes as the basis for most of the cases of "war neurosis", shell shock or as we now call it PTSD. Where do we draw the line between a soldier's duty and a completely reasonable desire to survive? The heart-wrenching part was the fact that many of the men (especially officers) didn't want (at least in the conscious part of their brain) to be posted in a "safe" position because they felt it was shameful to desert their men. The stress of being responsible for others without having any power to control conditions must have been enormous...

[[deleted user]]

Regeneration sounds fascinating, Leslie. I'm really developing a liking for historical fiction

[Leslie]

Heather wrote: "Regeneration sounds fascinating, Leslie. I'm really developing a liking for historical fiction"

Well worth reading Heather! I like historical fiction (when done well) and it is one of my categories this year so you will be hearing about some others too!

[[deleted user]]

Leslie wrote: "Heather wrote: "Regeneration sounds fascinating, Leslie. I'm really developing a liking for historical fiction"

Well worth reading Heather! I like historical fiction (when done well) and it is one..."

I've got Queens' Play lined up for this year. I found The Game of Kings pretty challenging to read but interesting so I'm going to push on through the series slowly. I'm reading Wolf Hall at the moment and really enjoying it

[Laurel]

Dorothy Dunnett is my all-time favorite author. Well worth the challenge!

[Leslie]

Heather wrote: "Leslie wrote: "Heather wrote: "Regeneration sounds fascinating, Leslie. I'm really developing a liking for historical fiction"

Well worth reading Heather! I like historical fiction (when done well..."

Heather, I think that you will find the rest of the series easier to read (with the possible exception of the last book).

Laurel, she's a favorite of mine too!

[Leslie]

Updated my bingo square in message #13. I am wondering what to choose as my free square -- maybe a book of poetry as that isn't represented anywhere else in the square...

[Pink]

Oh I hadn't thought of including a book for the free square, just thought it was free anyway!

[Leslie]

Pink Challenge: Kindle Catch up
Alabaster Challenge: A-to-Z
Purple Challenge: Bingo (2D)

A Bobwhite Killing,    (done 1/24)

4★ Fun, well-written, cozy mystery centering around a group of bird watchers. While not as avid a birder as those in the book, I did enjoy all the bird sightings (and the generous birding in MN links at the end were nice too!). I'll be reading more from this series! Hopefully it won't matter that I started with #3...

[LauraT]

Leslie wrote: "Heather wrote: "Leslie wrote: "Heather wrote: "Regeneration sounds fascinating, Leslie. I'm really developing a liking for historical fiction"

Well worth reading Heather! I like historical fiction..."
I do agree. Probably you get used to the style

[Leslie]

Silver Challenge: Nonfiction
Purple Challenge: Bingo (3E)

Life on the Mississippi, (Kindle) & (audiobook)

4* (3½ for the book itself) Grover Gardner did an excellent narration for this Twain book. I thought that this was going to be a memoir, and it is -- to some extent. However, it is also a collection of stories Twain came across while traveling on the river as well. I am counting this as nonfiction, but it is hard to tell how 'truthful' some of the stories are! Did Twain invent them? Or perhaps he is just recording tales that someone else invented... or perhaps they are true stories. Whether they are true or are fiction, they are mostly engaging and often funny. My biggest complaint is that he jumps from one thing to the next too quickly at times.

[Leslie]

Pink Challenge: Kindle Catch up
Purple Challenge: Bingo (2C)
Alabaster Challenge: A-to-Z

Indiscretions of Archie, (Kindle) &     (audiobook)

3½★ Fun, fast read but not up to the standards of either the Jeeves or Blandings books. Mark Nelson did a good narration in the free Librivox recording & I liked the fact he did different voices. Unfortunately, his voice for the main character Archie was the one I liked least -- the English accent wasn't quite right.

And that makes it BINGO in row 2!

[Leslie]

Purple Challenge: Bingo (3D)
Yellow Challenge: Guardian's list
Brick Challenge: Books in translation (German to English)

Austerlitz,   (done 1/30)

Really just 2½★ for me.

I rounded up in my rating to 3 because Sebald gave me plenty to think about. However, I found the style of very long sentences and paragraphs that went on for 5 or 10 pages tiring. I also missed the use of quotation marks to distinguish what was narrative being told by Austerlitz to the unnamed narrator & what was being told to Austerlitz by a third person & what was the unnamed narrator's thoughts.

Surprisingly, the change in voice in the middle of sentences worked well, once I got used to it. For example (my underlining):

"In the first few weeks after his return from Bohemia, Austerlitz continued his tale as we walked on, he had learnt by heart the names and dates of birth and death of those buried here, he had taken home pebbles and ivy leaves and on one occasion a stone rose, and the stone hand broken off one of the angels, but however much my walks in Tower Hamlets might soothe me during the day, said Austerlitz, at night I was plagued by the most frightful anxiety attacks which sometimes lasted for hours on end."

The sentence starts out from the unnamed narrator's perspective and switches midstream to Austerlitz's perspective, yet it is perfectly clear.

[Leslie]

Brick Challenge: Books in translation (Swiss German into English)

Heidi,   (done 1/30)

4½★ for this audiobook edition, 5 stars for the book itself. Marnie MacAdam slightly spoiled the story with her voice for the terrible and terrifying Frau Rottenmeier, which I didn't like. I am sure that I am biased by my memories of this childhood favorite, but I enjoyed revisiting this tale immensely.

[Leslie]

Updated my bingo square again (message #13) & have chosen my free square to be a book of poetry (easy to achieve since reading one a month is one of my personal challenges!).

[Leslie]

Powder Blue Challenge: Discworld

Men at Arms,   (done 2/1)

4½★ I have only read 2 other Discworld books so I hesitated to rate this as a 5 because maybe I will like some of the other books in the series even more!

Pratchett writes a story that moves right along yet manages to slip in things for you to mull over along the way, such as the true purpose of police or the nature of power. I love the footnotes, which I noticed in the first of his books I read, Hogfather. Carrot, the simple yet not stupid 6-foot-tall adopted son of dwarves, is rapidly becoming one of my favorite characters.

[Pink]

I haven't tried any Discworld books, I'm unsure whether I'd like them and wouldn't know where to start - I hear the beginning isn't always best with these. Glad to see you've been enjoying them :)

[Leslie]

Pink wrote: "I haven't tried any Discworld books, I'm unsure whether I'd like them and wouldn't know where to start - I hear the beginning isn't always best with these. Glad to see you've been enjoying them :)"

I read my first one as a result of a recommendation swap, so thanks to Heather I didn't have that dilemma :)

One place to start is with Guards! Guards! which is the start of the "Watch" sub-series (and this one is the second in that sub-series).

[Leslie]

January status update:

#1 SCARLET: Read the USA mysteries -- 1/13
       RUBY: Foreign mysteries -- 0 (currently reading my first of the year)
#2 MAROON: mysteries off my shelves -- 1/24
#3 BRICK: books in translation -- 3
#4 PINK: Kindle catch up -- 4/15
#5 ORANGE: short stories -- 1/12
#6 TAN: historical fiction -- 1/9 (plus 2 misc.)
#7 YELLOW: Guardian list -- 3/25
#8 GREEN: Plays -- 2/24
#9 INDIGO: Charles de Lint -- 0/5
     NAVY: Vorkosigan series -- 0/12 (?)
#10 POWDER BLUE: Discworld -- 1/5
#11 PURPLE: Bingo -- 14/25
#12 VIOLET: poetry -- 1/12
#13 SILVER: nonfiction -- 1/3
#14 ALABASTER: A-to-Z -- 9/26
#15 BLACK: Hoarder -- 1/10

[Pink]

Thanks for the tip with Discworld, I'll take a look.

[[deleted user]]

Guards! Guards! is a good choice. I would personally pick book:Wyrd Sisters|34504] as the witches is my favourite sub-series

Leslie, did I recommend you Hogfather? That is Christmas themed but could be read all year round.

Sorry to intrude on your thread but I love Discworld!

[Leslie]

Heather wrote: "Guards! Guards! is a good choice. I would personally pick Wyrd Sisters as the witches is my favourite sub-series

Leslie, did I recommend you Hogfather? That is Christmas t..."

Yup, in a December swap back in Perks :)

Good to know about the witches sub-series - I will check them out!

[Leslie]

Ruby Challenge: Foreign Mysteries
Brick Challenge: Books in translation (Italian/Sicilian -> English)

The Voice of the Violin,   (done 2/2) {reread}

4★ Not only a good 'whodunit' but I love all the food references :)

[Leslie]

Brick Challenge: Books in translation
Pink Challenge: Kindle Catch up
Yellow Challenge: Guardian's list

Bel-Ami,     (done 2/5)

3½★ I loved the writing in this but the story was ultimately depressing. The nineteenth century French realism always seems to be about unattractive people -- were there no nice people in Paris during the 1800s?

[Leslie]

Cat & lots of books but where is the comfy chair?

[LauraT]

What I lovely place! Yes, only a comfy chair is missing!!!

[Bionic Jean]

It's just round to the right with you ensconced in it, Leslie ;)

[Leslie]

Jean wrote: "It's just round to the right with you ensconced in it, Leslie ;)"

Oh, that must be it!

[Lee]

Leslie wrote: "

Cat & lots of books but where is the comfy chair?"

I LOVE THIS!!!! Thanks Leslie!!!

[Gill]

Leslie wrote: "Brick Challenge: Books in translation
Pink Challenge: Kindle Catch up
Yellow Challenge: Guardian's list

Bel-Ami,     (done 2/5)

3½★ I loved the writi..."

If there were, I don't think Zola found them, Leslie!

[Leslie]

Pink Challenge: Kindle Catch up

Deadly Valentine, (done 2/7)

2½★ While some of the plot was predictable, even obvious in places, the ending did manage to surprise me. There was also more details about the sex between Tess and Jack than I wanted to read (in fact, I didn't read it - just skimmed through 'til it was over). However, I can't really complain about that as it was clear in the blurb that this would be the case...

[Leslie]

Green Challenge: Plays

Caesar and Cleopatra, (done 2/9)   (1945 film)

3★ Interesting take on Cleopatra. My favorite parts, though, were in the stage directions and commentary. For example, in setting the scene of the first act (my underlining of bits I liked):

"A great radiance of silver fire, the dawn of a moonlit night, is rising in the east. The stars and the cloudless sky are our own contemporaries, nineteen and a half centuries younger than we know them; but you would not guess that from their appearance. Below them are two notable drawbacks of civilization: a palace, and soldiers."

and a bit later:

"Belzanor is a typical veteran, tough and wilful; prompt, capable and crafty where brute force will serve; helpless and boyish when it will not: an effective sergeant, an incompetent general, a deplorable dictator. Would, if influentially connected, be employed in the two last capacities by a modern European State on the strength of his success in the first. Is rather to be pitied just now in view of the fact that Julius Caesar is invading his country."

[Leslie]

Yellow Challenge: Guardian's list
Tan Challenge: Historical fiction

Wide Sargasso Sea,   (done 2/9)

3½★ Right now, having just finished this, I am giving it 3½ stars. But I need to mull over some thoughts so my rating might change.

My immediate reaction was that I liked the writing, and some of the descriptions were beautiful. I found the story of Antoinette's childhood sad and felt very sorry also for her mother (view spoiler)[after the fire in which the parrot died and Pierre was fatally injured (hide spoiler)].

I don't understand why Rochester (view spoiler)[started calling her Bertha (other than the fact that was her name in Jane Eyre (hide spoiler)]. His character in this I found less believable than that of the women.

I also found the references to the "Emancipation Act" a bit confusing as that reminded me of Lincoln's "Emancipation Proclamation" (which I don't think had effect in Jamaica or anywhere in the West Indes) rather than Britain's 1833 "Slavery Abolition Act" (which did emancipate the slaves in the British West Indes in 1834). However, I did find the descriptions of the various racial tensions fascinating.

[Leslie]

Violet Challenge: Poetry

New and Selected Poems,   (done 2/12)

4½★ Too bad this was a library book, as these are poems to read again and again. I think Oliver might join Derek Walcott as my new favorite poets.

[Leslie]

Alabaster Challenge: A-to-Z

How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny, (#9 in the Three Pines series)

4★ Wow! So exciting I read it in one sitting -- but most of the interest comes from the long story arc that has been building since the first book of the series, not the nominal murder investigation about which the book is written. This is definitely not a good stand-alone mystery.

While I was enthralled by the developments between Gamache, Beauvoir and the slimy Chief Superintendent Francouer, the mystery of who murdered Constance Ouellette was a bit obvious. This is the first of Penny's books in which the solution to the murder was so plain to see and I was somewhat disappointed by that.

[Leslie]

Pink Challenge: Kindle Catch up
Tan Challenge: Historical Fiction

Yellow Crocus,   (done 2/12)

3★ I liked the beginning and ending of this historical fiction set in pre-Civil War Virginia and Ohio more than the middle. Lisbeth as a teenager seemed unbelievably naive. This level of blindness is like the Germans during WW2 saying they didn't know what was happening to the Jews. I guess it stems from a similar psychological need to not see the cruelty that you feel you have little ability to ameliorate.

[Leslie]

Orange Challenge: Short Stories
Pink Challenge: Kindle Catch up

In a German Pension, which finishes Selected Stories, (done 2/13)

4★ This collection is the third and last part of my Kindle edition of "Selected Stories" (the first 2 parts, "The Garden Party and Other Stories" & "Bliss and Other Stories", I read in 2013). I found this collection distinct from the other 2 in that the stories are almost chapters in a "slice of life" novel, describing the various characters & events that occur while the main character, an Englishwoman, is staying at this pension (sort of like a boarding house).

[Leslie]

Navy Challenge: Vorkosigan series

Borders of Infinity, (contained in omnibus Miles Errant) (done 2/13)

3★ This short novella was a bit more gritty than the previous books I have read in the Vorkosigan series. The idea of using a dome to contain prisoners of war, psychologically breaking down the prisoners' unity and civilizing forces was intriguing if somewhat horrifying.

[Leslie]

Violet Challenge: Poetry

Classic Love Poems by various,   (done 2/15)

4★ This Audible freebie had 15 poems, narrated by Richard Armitage. Most of the poems happened to be in my Kindle edition of "Bulchevy's Book of English Verse", so I could read along (and I did read some other poems not in the recording).

I particularly liked the Andrew Marvell poem "To His Coy Mistress" & Christopher Marlowe's "The Passionate Shephard to His Love". Although Shakespeare's 18th sonnet was good, it isn't my favorite of his love poetry.

[Leslie]

Maroon Challenge: Paperback Mystery Catch up
Purple Challenge: Bingo (5D)
Alabaster Challenge: A-to-Z

Nightmare in Pink,   (done 2/15)

3★ I am undecided whether I like this series. The style is more of a hard-boiled mystery (not my favorite sub-genre) and the 1960s feel to the books is strong (especially regarding sex). However, Travis McGee himself I find intriguing -- he is the missing link between Robin Hood and the TV show Leverage. This is just the second book & I own something like 15 more of them, so I won't be giving up on the series yet!

[Leslie]

Navy Challenge: Vorkosigan series

Brothers in Arms, (done 2/17, contained in the omnibus Miles Errant)

4★ This second part of the omnibus Miles Errant was back to the space opera adventure that I like so much. In certain ways, Miles reminds me of Lymond -- a natural leader who came to command young (he is only 24 in this and it has been 7 years since he became the commander of the Dendarai mercenaries). Of course Miles doesn't have Lymond's physical attributes and his self-depreciatory sense of humor is quite different from Lymond's inscrutability.

[Leslie]

Silver Challenge: Nonfiction
Black: Hoarder's Challenge

The Souls of Black Folk,   (done 2/21)

3★ for the book, 2½ for the audiobook edition

While interesting to see what has changed (and sadly note what has not), I found that these essays didn't impact me the way Zora Neale Hurston's book "Their Eyes Were Watching God" or Alice Walker's "The Color Purple" did. I guess I relate to the more intimate personal lives shown in novels than the same situation shown in aggregate form in nonfiction. The parts I liked best were the ones that dealt with individuals, such as 'Of the Coming of John'.

Mirron Willis's narration may have played a role in my feelings for the book, as his deep slow voice was soporific. I had to speed up the narration to 2x to get what felt like normal speed to me. Even then I had trouble staying focused and frequently ended up having to read along in the Kindle edition to force my attention to the text.

[Leslie]

Pink Challenge: Kindle Catch up

Indian Summer of a Forsyte and In Chancery,   (done 2/21)

4★ The middle section of "The Forsyte Saga". The novella "Indian Summer of a Forsyte" I liked slightly more than the novel "In Chancery" so I would give it 4½ stars.

These two cover about 20 years from the end of the first book in the Saga, "The Man of Property", with the slow dying out of the older generation and (eventually) the birth of a new generation of Forsytes to both Soames and Irene (NOT together though!!).

Galsworthy clearly understood the nature of obsession as he shows with Soames' feelings for Irene, even at the very end of "In Chancery"...