What I'm Reading - Nov & Dec 2019

[PattyMacDotComma]

I recently enjoyed Anthony Marra's short story The Lion's Den. An author son who has capitalised on his father's notoriety has moved back home. Awkward?
4★ Link to my 'Lion's Den' review

Still available on NetGalley.

[Lyn]

Rereading Tana French's Faithful Place for an in-person book club. French is so wonderful at creating characters, and I love Frank Mackey, the main character in this one. His voice is wonderfully dark, rough, and cynical, but he's at heart a really good guy.

[Mary]

Ann Patchett’s THE DUTCH HOUSE, narrated by Tom Hanks. I enjoyed the story very much. Tom Hanks’ narration was excellent although the way he announced new chapters really annoyed me - but that’s a mere nit and did not detract from my appreciation of his performance. I’ll save other comments until our group discussion. I have forgotten which month it is scheduled for but I look forward to reading what you all think of it.

[Joan]

Reading The Library Book and the story of Harry Peak got me thinking about The Innocence Project - an amazing non-profit that works to improve the US Justice system through science.
https://www.innocenceproject.org/about/

[Joan]

I’ve just started reading “Hamlet” for the first time.
I imagine many widowed Queens, like Gertrude, married the usurper to protect their children’s interest. How sad her son sees her asa shameless hussy.

[PattyMacDotComma]

Alice Hoffman has written some very popular novels, but Everything My Mother Taught Me is a short story that's included in the new Amazon Original Stories series. I was VERY happy with what the daughter learned!
4★ Link to my review

[Joan]

Hamlet
BAH!!
“You cannot call it love: for at your age
The heyday in the blood is tame...”

William Shakespeare must have been a youngster when he wrote that.

[Ruth]

Hahaha

[Joan]

King Lear ,
William Shakespeare had King Lear give his kingdom to his daughters.
I wonder why Wm.S. stipulated daughters.

While looking through Wikipedia for movies, I noticed film adaptions often have the Lear character give his kingdom/business to his sons.**(based on the Wikipedia synopsis)
I wonder why scriptwriters feel the need to change that.

***
“Ran”
“House of Strangers”
“Broken Lance”
“My Kingdom”
“King of Texas”
“The Lears”

[Carol]

David Copperfield

[PattyMacDotComma]

A must-have to keep around for visitors (after you read them yourself)!
Midwinter Mysteries: A Christmas Crime Anthology is a collection of short, entertaining mysteries with only the season in common. Dates range from 1665 to today. I always love Graham Brack's Prague police stories, and his is the first.
4★ Link to my review

[Barbara]

I've been rereading Lives of Girls and Women by Alice Munro, her only novel. She is my favorite novelist, no rivals, and I was so sad when I learned that she wouldn't be writing anymore. But, then I realized that I have everything she has written on my shelves, just waiting for rereads. This one is just as incredible as I remembered. In some ways, she's like Jane Austen, seeing common events and interaction but with insight simply and perfectly expressed.

[Joan]

Barbara, WELL Said! Time for me to reread it, too.

[Ruth]

I love Alice Munro, too.

[PattyMacDotComma]

Barbara wrote: "I've been rereading Lives of Girls and Women by Alice Munro, her only novel. She is my favorite novelist, no rivals, and I was so sad when I learned that she wouldn't be writing anymore. But, then ..."

Joan wrote: "Barbara, WELL Said! Time for me to reread it, too."

Ruth wrote: "I love Alice Munro, too."

There are 16 Alice Munro stories available online for free, if you're all interested. I don't know if they are in her collections or not, but you can check them out here:
https://nothingintherulebook.com/2016...

[PattyMacDotComma]

I'm finishing my reviewing year with an outstanding new book, coming out in January. American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins is the terrifying story of a woman trying to escape the deadly, insidious Mexican cartels.
5★ Link to my review

[Barbara]

Thank you, Patty! I'm pretty sure that all of those stories are included in her collections but it's still good for everyone to have online access to them. Also, I've read what she said about why she wrote short stories before but I've never read that quote from the Paris Review about getting older before. it was kind of heartbreaking. I've wondered before if she's fighting dementia.

[Book Concierge]

PattyMacDotComma wrote: "There Was Still Love is the most wonderful historical fiction about two Czech grandmothers, sisters, who survived WW2 and are raising grandchildren - a boy in Prague, a girl in Melb..."

This sounds lovely!

[Book Concierge]

Heart of a Samurai – Margi Preus – 4****
This young adult novel is marvelous work of historical fiction based on a real person. Manjiro leaves his village at age 14, only to be shipwrecked on a deserted island and then rescued by an American whaling ship. I really liked this book and how Preus explores prejudice and intolerance, as well as the gifts of curiosity, eagerness to learn and being open to new experiences.
My full review HERE

[Mary]

Jhumpa Lahiri’s INTERPRETER OF MALADIES, beautifully narrated by Matilda Novak. Lovely stories. I enjoyed them all. This audio edition was published in 2007, but Jhumpa Lahiri is an author I’ve discovered this year thanks to discussion and posts in this group.

[Mary]

Masha Gessen’s 2017 book THE FUTURE IS HISTORY: HOW TOTALITARIANISM RECLAIMED RUSSIA, capably narrated by the author. Interesting, fascinating, saddening. I have been captivated by Russia for nearly 60 years. My fascination started when I was a junior in high school and took a Russian history course.Then I started reading Russian literature and a little poetry. In the early 90’s I was fortunate enough to spend two 3-week periods in Russia, first as part of a professional exchange program and again as the guests of a couple in St. Petersburg with whom we’d developed a friendship. My love of Russia - its history, its people, its beauty - deepened. I have long held the opinion that many if not most of the people in Russia feel much more comfortable with a strong, authoritarian leader than most of us in the USA do. Therefore I have not been surprised that the surge of democratic urges immediately after the breakup of the USSR did not endure and that Putin is generally well-liked. I appreciated Gessen’s recounting and analysis of events and attitudes in Russia since perestroika under Gorbachev and Yeltsin and since the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. I particularly liked the generational approach she used to structure her book, telling the stories of 3 generations within 4 families in the context of Russian history and current events.

[Ruth]

Someone by Alice McDermott. I haven't read any of her books in quite some time. I'm really enjoying this.

[Mary Anne]

I reread The Door by Magda Szabo in advance of my in person book club. Wowza! I gave it 5* the last time. If I could, I would give in 10 stars the second time around.

[Ruth]

Mary Anne wrote: "I reread The Door by Magda Szabo in advance of my in person book club. Wowza! I gave it 5* the last time. If I could, I would give in 10 stars the second time around."

The name Emerance rings a bell. I think I read this some time ago. Wish I remembered more about it.

[Joan]

King Lear
I know it wasn’t William Shakespeare’s intent but I cannot help thinking of Lear as a elderly man compelled to move in with his daughters as dementia begins.

[Carol]

David Copperfield. My first book for the new year.

[Book Concierge]

The Fact of a Body – Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich – 5*****
Wow. I was completely mesmerized by this memoir / true crime work. Marzano-Lesnevich puts me right into the narrative and I feel invested in both her story and that of convicted murderer, and pedophile, Ricky Langley.
My full review HERE

[Book Concierge]

Mary wrote: "Jhumpa Lahiri’s INTERPRETER OF MALADIES, beautifully narrated by Matilda Novak. Lovely stories. I enjoyed them all. This audio edition was published in 2007, but Jhumpa Lahiri is an author I’ve dis..."

I love Lahiri's writing!