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Read, Reading Now and Reading Next (2015)
Finished
4-1/2 *'sListening to
Next up
Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo – 4**** This is a gut-wrenching tale of brotherhood, loyalty, duty, love, courage and forgiveness set during World War I. I loved the close bond between the brothers, and applauded their mother’s moral courage in the face of adversity. I was familiar with the horrors of trench warfare and the brutal realities of a long siege, but I still cringed with fear and anxiety as I read about these young men (hardly older than boys) and what they faced. My heart about broke for Tommo and Charlie; I certainly didn’t see that end coming.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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Reading
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In a Strange City by Laura Lippman – 3*** January in Baltimore can only mean one thing – the annual visit to Edgar Allan Poe’s final resting place by the Poe Toaster. This is a well-crafted mystery with a little literary history thrown in. But the key to any mystery is the strength of the plot. Lippman gives us a number of interesting suspects, several inter-related plot twists, and an opposing police detective to keep things interesting. What I really like about the series, though is Tess Monaghan. I’ll definitely keep reading this series.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee – 5***** and a ❤ This is a singularly powerful novel that has touched generations of readers in the 50-something years since it was first published. It is a novel of personal integrity and courage, and shines a light on a particular time and place in America’s history. The characters, even the minor ones, are richly drawn; Lee peoples this small town with a wide range of personalities, strength, weaknesses and ethics. My favorite book of all time. Sissy Spacek capably narrates the audio version.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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★★★;
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★★★½Reading:
and listening to
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- 4 *'sListening to:
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Up next: Oh lordy -
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Emma: A Modern Retelling by Alexander McCall Smith – 3*** This is book 3 in the Austen Project series, wherein authors take on Jane Austen’s classic novels, reimagining the scenarios in contemporary times. In this outing, Mini Coopers replaces carriages, and cappuccinos take the place of tea, but the characters, relationships and basic scenarios remain the same. I enjoyed this light romantic comedy, but it is not as good as the original. The audio version is capably performed by Susan Lyons. She has good pacing and sufficient skill as a voice artist to differentiate the various characters.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys – 2** Rhys tries to explain the reasons behind the madness which afflicts Bertha/Antoinette, Rochester’s wife in Jane Eyre. I wanted to like this. I had heard much about the novel over the years and more than one friend whose opinion I trust raved about it. But it just didn’t do much for me.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Read:
♥♥♥♥Reading:
Next:
Finished
,
and
. All great reads.Listening to
and reading
. I am really loving the hit man series - a very pleasant surprise. This second book is even better than the first. Up next:
The Coroner’s Lunch by Colin Cotterill – 3*** An engaging mystery featuring Dr Siri Paiboun, the 72-year-old chief coroner of Laos. He struggles to arrive at the truth despite a barely equipped morgue, and the efforts of the Party officials to deliberately derail his investigations. I’ll read more of this series.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson – 3*** Ursula Todd is born on a snowy night in February 1910 …over and over again. Sometimes she remembers how things turned out in a previous life, other times she seems totally unaware that she has been here before. I was fascinated by how Atkinson would explore a small change – taking this path rather than that lane, for example – and the effects of that decision. However, I did find the constant rebirths somewhat repetitive. Finella Woolgar does a fine job performing the audio version.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Read
Ethan Frome by Edith WhartonReading now
Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. JeromeReading next
The Wicked Will Rise by Danielle Paige
Anne of Windy Poplars by L M Montgomery – 3*** I love Anne Shirley – who wouldn’t, she’s so optimistic, kind and straightforward. However, book four in this series is written in two distinctly different styles – epistolary and third-person narrative; and I felt that switching between these two styles detracted from the book. I think I may have reached my limit with this series, but I can’t bring myself to rate it lower than 3 stars, however, because I like Anne so much, and I did enjoy her efforts at matchmaking.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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; ★★★:
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~ ★★★★★
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~ ★★★Listened to:
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~ ★★★★Reading: nothing...waiting for library transfer
Listening to:
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~ ★★★★★ ~ ★★★★★ ~ ★★★Listened to:
~ ★★★ [..."Love Wolves of Mercy Falls
Ezinwanyi~the Impish Angel wrote: "Love Wolves of Mercy Falls "Which book was your favorite? Do you like the Shatter Me series? I kind of think the writing is similar in some ways.
Finishing
- so good! This is becoming my new favorite PN series. Next up
and
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman – 2** Gaiman is a talented writer and I appreciate his skill in crafting the story, but this just wasn’t the book for me. I do applaud Gaiman’s superb narration of the audio version – I believed he was a 7-year-old boy, and a middle-aged man; he was convincing as 11-year-old Lettie Hempstock and as evil Ursula Monkton.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Reading
and
now and reading
next
The Tortilla Curtain by T Coraghessan Boyle – 3*** Two couples – illegal immigrants Candido and America Rincon, and LA liberals Delaney and Kyra Mossbacher – lives intersect over the course of nine months near Topanga Canyon. I found myself siding with opposing points of views at different times in the story. It is at once a satire, a comedy, and a tragedy. There is much to think about and it remains current and topical 20 years after it was first published. T C Boyle narrates the audio version himself and does a credible job.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks – 2.5** Two love stories converge on a snowy mountainside. I knew going in that this would be a romance, somewhat maudlin, and intended to produce tears. I basically got what I expected, though I didn’t shed any tears. Sparks does a good job of writing entertaining romance novels. And this is no exception. It was a fast, easy read. Ron McLarty and January LaVoy did a good job performing the audio version.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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Reading
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The Great Train Robbery by Michael Crichton – 4**** In 1855 a gang of thieves carried out an elaborate scheme to steal a shipment of gold from a moving train. This is Crichton’s fictionalized novel based on what is known of the truth, with a good deal of conjecture and embellishment. What a rollicking good story! I was entertained from beginning to end.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer – 4**** WOW. I was expecting a true crime story, but got an expansive history of the LDS church, and it’s history of violence. Fascinating, frightening and totally engrossing. Krakauer is a good journalist and his research shows, but where he excels is in writing a gripping narrative. Scott Brick does a fine job narrating the audio version.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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**** and now listening to
Not Becoming My Mother by Ruth Reichl – 5***** and a ❤What a wonderful tribute to a mother’s love and lasting gift to her child. Reichl narrates the audio book herself and she is magnificent. She conveys humor and compassion, frustration and pride, and above all a great love for her mother who helped make her what she is – and is NOT – today.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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and it wasn't as good as
.Listening to
and reading
. Next up
and
Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth – 4**** An epic story set in the mid 1700s when man had a “sacred hunger” for power and position, and entered the slave trade as a means to expand the British empire. There are two storylines and frankly, one of them bored me to tears. I would much rather have had more of the “paradise” society formed by the sailors and slaves who survived the journey, and less of the favored son’s attempts to woo a woman of the upper class. Some graphically brutal scenes where hard to read. Much food for thought.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton – 4**** First published in 1948, this novel has remained an international bestseller. It tells of a personal tragedy, but also of a national tragedy – apartheid. The writing is lyrical and evocative of time and place. A personal tragedy is the focus on the novel, but it is framed by the larger issues facing South Africa – the loss of tribal culture, poverty, flight to the already overcrowded city slums. Frederick Davidson does a good job narrating, but I did find his very slow pace hard to get used to.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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READING:
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Black Elk in Paris by Kate Horsley – 2.5** Horsley takes a snippet of history and crafts a novel featuring a mild-mannered physician, a wealthy family’s strong-willed youngest daughter, and a displaced Lakota man in 1888 Paris. I enjoyed some of the philosophical / spiritual discussions, but on the whole the novel didn’t work for me.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Read
, reading
Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard – 5***** Gripping, fascinating, and informative, Millard’s novel clearly shows that she is on a par with Erik Larsen and Laura Hillenbrand when it comes to writing history with the pace of a thriller. A few short months into his presidency, James A Garfield was shot at close range by a delusional office-seeker. The bullet didn’t kill Garfield, however, his physicians did, by repeatedly introducing infectious agents into the wounds. Paul Michael does a superb job narrating the audio version of this book. He has great pacing, and skill as a voice artist to differentiate the many male characters.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Being Mortal by Atul Gawunde – 5***** SUBTITLE: Medicine and What Matters in the End Just because physicians CAN do something, should they? At what cost – not to society or to our wallets, but at what cost to our humanity and dignity? Atul Gawunde, a surgeon in Boston Massachusetts, explores the ways in which medicine (and specifically American medicine and American society) helps and hinders the aged, the infirm, and the dying.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Nights of the Red Moon by Milton T Burton – 2.5** Caddo County (TX) Sheriff Bo Handel’s coffee-and-newspaper morning is interrupted by the discovery of the local minister’s wife’s body on the parsonage front yard – with three bullet holes in her back. Things get complicated quickly. I like the characters a lot, and I like Burton’s style of writing, but I think the plot got away from him. Still, I’d be willing to try another of his works.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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I'm listening to
and reading
The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo – 3*** Choo’s debut novel is an unusual mix of historical fiction (set in 1893 Malacca), Chinese folklore, magical realism and paranormal romance. I was totally immersed in the sights, sounds, smells of the culture and fascinated by the folklore and afterlife mythology. I thought Choo did a marvelous job setting the scene and bringing the colonial era to life. However, I found Li Lan a frustratingly puzzling character. Still, I appreciated much about Choo’s writing style and would definitely try another of her books.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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Cat & Bones RULE!!
Immortals after Dark is another good one
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The Challenge Factory
Books mentioned in this topic
The Clockwork Dagger (other topics)White Night (other topics)
Poison Promise (other topics)
Jane's Melody (other topics)
Gabriel's Rapture (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Danielle Paige (other topics)Jerome K. Jerome (other topics)
Edith Wharton (other topics)
Lisa Kleypas (other topics)
Kristen Ashley (other topics)
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What an extraordinary fantasy adventure! I love that Nix chose for the hero a young woman – Sabriel – who is smart, resourceful, courageous and determined, if inexperienced and sometimes rash. The plotting is wonderfully complex and full of danger. I don’t know if I’ll read any more in the series (this kind of fantasy is just not my genre of choice), but I’m glad I read this one. Tim Curry is nothing short of fantastic performing the audio version.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...