Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion
IX. Currently Reading?
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What are you currently reading (or just finished)?
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sonya
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Jan 17, 2018 12:12PM

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Life has been cutting in to my reading time but I'm currently reading Gold Shadow and Room 119: The Whitby Trader.

The War That Killed Achilles: The True Story of Homer's Iliad and the Trojan War by Caroline Alexander.
My review
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Caroline Alexander is the first woman to translate Homer's Iliad

My review on goodreads
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
and on my website at www.tamaraaghajaffar.com where I have over 100 other book reviews.



It's just I didn't want it to end, but no problem, I will re-read it!! :D

Hope you're enjoying that one as much as I did.


It has graphic descriptions of marital rape and domestic violence. So it may not be for everyone. I thought it was good because it is a cautionary tale about a people driven to the limit of endurance. I gave it three stars. I preferred his Beauty Is a Wound.
My review on goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
and on my website at www.tamaraaghajaffar.com

My review on goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
and on my website at www.tamaraaghajaffar.com

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... It seems very promising so far


I started reading Falling A Daughter A Father and a journey back by Elisha Cooper


book 4 in Susan Cooper's 'The Dark is Rising' series, The Grey King - review - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1398214675.
John Gordon's Skinners - reviewed: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2286677865.
Daphne DuMaurier's The King's General - review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2286690965.

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I've started Doctor Zhivago.

My review on goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I'm also reading How to Worship a King by Zach Neese that our church's worship team is studying. We're only doing a chapter a week and discussing it after rehearsal each Wednesday night, so that one will also take a while.
I've been reading a poem each day as part of my reading goals for this year, and I started off with a book of Robert Frost's poems. I figure I'll read one American poet (I live in the US) and one from a different country/culture, alternating throughout the year as I finish each book.
I've sort of ditched Crime & Punishment for now while the rest of the studying is so intense, but I'll get back to it in a few months or so.
I'm also still reading Building Great Sentences by Brooks Landon, and that fills my "writing and editing book" slot for the moment. It's excellent, but a bit dry and has also been put to the side more often than not in favor of the books which are on a schedule due to classes.
Pleasure reading is getting bumped for now (other than the brief daily poem) due to a busy copyediting schedule. That's a good reason to put it on hold, and I know things will settle out soon and I'll have a pleasure book on hand before I know it.

the first historical, set in Cromwell's Commonwealth by S G MacLean - The Seeker - review - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2286720286.
and Val McDermid's - Fever of the Bone - review - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2293439001.

But in the evening I relax with my favorite books, reading them over and over. I cycle through the Foreigner Series and the Vorkosigan Saga about once a year. Same with the Anne McCaffrey Dragon books, Talents series, Crystal Singer series, and sometimes the Doona and Ship Who Sang series. I also run through the Jack Ryan books by Tom Clancy and the books by Ilona Andrews. I've recently added the books by J Kathleen Cheney to my comfort reads!


My review
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
and on my website at www.tamaraaghajaffar.com

To discover just who is filching British diamonds from an African mine, James Bond is sent undercover along a smuggling pipeline…
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...


Currently reading Gone with the Wind"
Hi Kimelene,
Once you finish Gone With The Wind circle back to me. That book is often quoted in articles and writing conferences and I have a funny story I'd love to share with you...and wondering if you will understand!
Have fun!


Now starting

Glad to hear you enjoyed the Lunar Chronicles.


My review on goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
and on my website at www.tamaraaghajaffar.com





Nice review, Pam. I've not caught up on all the King books I still haven't read, but now I know which one to bump to the bottom of the pile for the moment. I don't like when I have to keep reminding myself of which character is which, and why they're important.

It was educational and interesting, but parts of it were pretty gruesome. I gave it 3 stars. My review on goodreads
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
and on my website at www.tamaraaghajaffar.com


Nice review..."
Thanks Lynda - glad it was useful!


A kind friend lent me this novel when he discovered I was interested in learning about what life was like in Italy during the Second World War, as part of the research for the third book in the Janie Juke mystery series. The perfect thing about this storyline is that it is set in the very year and region that I had been focused on – Rome, 1943.
This was the year when Italians changed their allegiance and the English went from being their enemies to being their friends. In truth, I am sure that for average Italian the English were never considered the enemy – but with Mussolini choosing to be pally with Hitler, well, it didn’t bode well. Then, after a ‘vote of no confidence’ in July 1943 Mussolini was arrested and in October that year Italy declared war on Germany.
Early One Morning captures all of the difficulties of life at that time. It has a powerful start, with the protagonist, Chiara, saving the life of a young Jewish boy – Daniele – when his family is rounded up by German troops. As the story unfolds we learn how that single moment has devastating results for Daniele and Chiara for years to come. We meet Chiara again in the 1970s to discover how she copes when she receives an expected phone call. A phone call that brings back memories she had hoped to forget.
The tale is beautifully told, well written, and full of detail that helps the reader to see, smell and taste what life was like in Italy in the forties and again in the seventies. It was during the seventies that I made many of my own trips to Rome, with family and with friends. My memories of pizza al taglio is perfectly described here:
‘Customers were coming out of the baker’s, clutching pieces of something hot, wrapped in waxed paper, biting into it before they even got out of the door, so irresistibly delicious was it.’
And here, a description of one of Rome’s famous squares:
‘…Piazza Navona, with the three fountains, the water bouncing off the great white statues now and sparkling in the bright midday sunshine.’
All in all, the book was a joy to read and took me back there to that place and that time, without me ever having to leave my house!

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