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Trim 2021 – The Official Unofficial Challenge Thread
Sue has let me know that she would like to go with number 11! Which I think means that there is a buddy read for time after time. That would be so fun!
My #11 is The Hired Man by Aminatta Forna. I still haven't touched my #12 yet... this month has not been kind to my pleasure reading.
My #11 is The Library Book which I think was slated to be a Buddy Read!
My #11 is another double header including a 2020 that did not get read then: The Death of Mrs. Westaway and The Little Paris Bookshop. Both fit Popsugar prompts which makes me happy.I still have July's #12 double header to even crack open let alone read. I seem to have less time to eead than usual.
My #11 is A Closed and Common Orbit. I really enjoyed The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet for Poll Ballot last year so I'm looking forward to it.
Heather Reads Books wrote: "My #11 is The Hired Man by Aminatta Forna. I still haven't touched my #12 yet... this month has not been kind to my pleasure reading."Heather, it looks like we have a buddy read for that. I have The Hired Man as well. I read her novel Happiness and loved it, so I am looking forward to it.
Last year Thirteen Moons came up on my list and I never managed to read it. I finally did and here is my review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
11. The Horseman’s Graves / Jacqueline Baker
My #11 is Small Country which will work perfectly for the cultural tag and maybe even Fly the Skies as well.
My # 11 is Dancing in the Lowcountry ... doesn't fit cultural and I have two big books to get read for my F2F book clubs, so it may be on the back burner. But maybe it'll have one or two Pursue it words!
My #11 is Animal's People, which is a great fit for this month's tag.Thanks for letting me pick the number this month!
My #11 is The Hired Man by Aminatta Forna - one of my favorite authors and it might work for Cultural, too.
My #11 is Lovecraft Country and I am really itching to read this one, but I don't think I will be able to fit it in for August. :(
Joy D wrote: "My #11 is The Hired Man by Aminatta Forna - one of my favorite authors and it might work for Cultural, too."Joy, Heather Reads and I are also reading it. Do you have a plan for when you will be reading it?
My number 11 is "Dracula, the Un-Dead" which I accidentally read earlier in the year so I'll use August to try to finish off either The Fireman or NOS4R2 which were June and Feb respectively but are very long and landed right when I had loads of marking to do.
Booknblues wrote: "Joy, Heather Reads and I are also reading it. Do you have a plan for when you will be reading it? ..."Not really. I've been reading multiple books at a time, so I can start anytime you and Heather are ready.
Joy D wrote: "Booknblues wrote: "Joy, Heather Reads and I are also reading it. Do you have a plan for when you will be reading it? ..."Not really. I've been reading multiple books at a time, so I can start anyt..."
Joy, I am pretty open right now, but waiting on the Booker list to finalize my August plan.
Jen wrote: "My number 11 is "Dracula, the Un-Dead" which I accidentally read earlier in the year so I'll use August to try to finish off either The Fireman or NOS4R2 which were June and Feb respectively but ar..."I love love love NOS4A2, and it looks longer than it reads. I feel like I burned through that one.
Booknblues wrote: "Heather, it looks like we have a buddy read for that. I have The Hired Man as well. I read her novel Happiness and loved it, so I am looking forward to it."I am also looking forward to it. I confess I have never done a buddy read before! What does it entail? Just trying to read it at the same time so we can comment on it together?
I did just put it on my hold list at the library, so I should be able to pick it up sometime this week.
Heather Reads Books wrote: "Booknblues wrote: "Heather, it looks like we have a buddy read for that. I have The Hired Man as well. I read her novel Happiness and loved it, so I am looking forward to it."I am also looking fo..."
We can set up a thread for a buddy read and if we can set it up to read at the same time we can talk about our reading and ask questions about it.
I think the end of the first week of august(5-8) would work for me. I don't know how everyone else is with that. Let me know.
Booknblues wrote: "I think the end of the first week of august(5-8) would work for me. I don't know how everyone else is with that. Let me know."That's right when I'm supposed to go on my first vacation since COVID started (still reviewing the Delta variant situation before I make a final call), so I might be somewhat busy. That said, I should be on quite a long flight on the 4th, so I'll have plenty of time to read!
Heather Reads Books wrote: "Booknblues wrote: "I think the end of the first week of august(5-8) would work for me. I don't know how everyone else is with that. Let me know."That's right when I'm supposed to go on my first v..."
Why don't we start a thread for it in footnotes and whoever starts first can add some questions and comments. Then we can add to it as we move into it?
I’ve been playing fast and loose with My numbers depending on what I have and what I’m I’m the mood for. Just finished The Henna Artist. Steering Bridge of Sighs
I am just now picking up my July book, so I have no idea when/if I will get to my August book. August is full of other challenge books (challenges that will end 8/31)
Well, I did not get to July... but will catch up no doubt in next couple of months. One of those from July fits August tag.
It looks like time after time had myself, Joanne, and Joy! But it also looks like Joy has another body read for number 11 as well. And Joanne may not get to it. I’m gonna just go ahead and open up the thread anyway. Who knows who else might want to join us. Ironically, heading to Grand Central as we speak. Our apartment is very close to there and we are meeting friends for dinner a block away. I may even start it next.
Hmmm...not sure how I would have gotten on a buddy read for Time After Time, since I do not own a copy. I might have swapped it out, but I don't remember changing my list other than the one I read early, which was The Time In Between, so perhaps that was it.
Time after time came I. SoI will start it after I finish Bridge of Sighs
Yay! I’m actually gonna start a thread for that and also for what the wind knows. Because even though not everyone is able to read time after time this month, it seems like there’s a lot of interest in it
I will try to join in Amy, but if I do it won't be until late in the month
I just reserved A Long Petal tonthe Sea
Joanne wrote: "Finished my July Book! Yipee"You are ahead of me! Congratulations!
Number 11 -The Hired ManAminatta Forna is a gifted writer and I plan to read more of her books. With her thoughtful, insightful writing, Forna create complex characters. In The Hired Man, one such character is Duro, a solitary man who begins helping an English woman, Laura, has purchased a neighboring house and is living there with her two children, Grace and Matthew. Laura's intention is to renovate it for resale as a vacation home for other English and Duro agrees to help her..
With these phrases we can form a picture of Laura:
‘I was just wondering, that’s all.’ Laura who speaks in English to strangers in a foreign land, but hates to be misunderstood.'
'I guessed that Laura was one of those people who preferred the music of a lie to the discordance of truth.'
'Laura never seemed to be able to see herself from the outside, to have an idea of what other people might think of her, or even that they might be thinking at all. She didn’t notice what happened next.'
There is a building underlying tension in the book and the reader feels that soon there will be a collision of past and present. Little by little Duro's story unfolds and we know that the civil war will be at the heart of it.
Forna who was born in Scotland but was raised in Sierra Leone and Great Britain, is familiar with civil war and the reconstruction of a country, capably writes about the quiet grievances that continue to exist long after a peace has been established.
#11 done!The Horseman's Graves / Jacqueline Baker
2.5 stars
This is set near the Sand Hills in Saskatchewan near the Alberta border. It starts in 1909, but quickly moves on to the next generation. I wouldn’t have known it from the story, but the majority of the farmers living nearby are German immigrants, (I think) via Russia.
All these things should have been more interesting to me with a German (via Russia) family background, and I grew up in Southern Sask and have been to the Sand Hills.
I feel like 2.5 might even be a bit generous. There was one storyline that was (somewhat) interesting, but mostly this was boring. I wasn’t all that interested, and I was confused by who some of the characters were and how they related to the story. Well, they were all in the same town/area, but otherwise… Drove me nuts the one character was simply called “the boy”. Seriously? He doesn’t have a name? Come on!
First of my two #11: The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George4,5 star review!
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Finished #11 for August:The Hired Man by Aminatta Forna - 4 stars - My Review
Link to my PBT Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Duro is a handyman living in a small Croatian village. He is hired by Laura, an English woman whose family has purchased a vacation home in the area. The story is told in first person by Duro. It is about an outsider, Laura, coming to a place where she and her family are not familiar with the history, and expecting to have a "nice family holiday," not recognizing that the area is still recovering from trauma. The arrival of these outsiders is the catalyst for Duro to revisit his memories, which he has suppressed. It gradually changes into a tale of war and betrayal.
It is a character study of what happens to traumatized people after war, where people chose sides, pitting neighbor against neighbor, and resulting in lingering aftereffects. It may be a good idea to read up on the history of the Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian wars beforehand, if you are not already familiar with it, since the author does not provide many details.
It is a slowly developing story, where the reader gradually becomes aware of Duro’s past. This method is effective in spurring the reader’s curiosity. I very much enjoy Aminatta Forna’s writing style. She has previously explored similar themes in another part of the world (Sierra Leone).
Forna is one of my favorite authors. I can also recommend:
- The Memory of Love - 5 stars- My Review
- Happiness - 4 stars - My Review
- The Window Seat: Notes from a Life in Motion - 4 stars - My Review
- Ancestor Stones: A Novel - 4 stars - My Review
- The Devil that Danced on the Water: A Daughter's Quest - 4 stars - My Review
JULY call out - # 12
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit – Jeanette Winterson – 3***
Winterson’s semi-autobiographical debut novel has a protagonist who is also named Jeanette. It is a glimpse at one teenager’s path out of childhood and into adulthood. Oh, the angst of teen years! The confusion and questions that adults don’t seem to want to answer (heck, they don’t want you to even ask), the emotional roller coaster of attraction vs guilt. First published in 1985, I can see why it became so popular. But I’m long past this stage of life and I’ve read many books treating coming-of-age, including those featuring LGBTQ characters. I thought it was fine for its genre, but not particularly memorable to me.
My full review HERE
August #11Time After Time by Lisa Grunwald
3 stars
link to review: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
One of my two #12 
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos
2.5 stars rounded up to 3 stars
I'm giving this 2.5 stars but rounded up to 3. This is a short novel written in the form of a diary over a relatively finite period during the Flapper Era of a gold digger named Lorelei, fractured English, poor grammar, terrible but amusing spelling, every paragraph starting with 'so', and all. It's also the source material for one of Marilyn Monroes most famous roles in the eponymous movie. In fact, the entire book I heard Marilyn's voice in my ear - she was the perfect Lorelei! As for the book - Lorelei's adventurres and schemes are diverting, her misspellings often hilarious, but 2/3 through and I was actually just plain irritated and annoyed by her voice. Time to watch the movie and see Marilyn do Lorelei justice.
In my crazy week (T minus 5) I did set it up, but forgot to introduce that our Songbird Tessa (Book Concierge) will be announcing this months Trim Number for September. Likely when she gets on she will tell us what's next!
Great minds, Amy ... I was just headed over to postDrum roll please ...
The Trim Number for September is # 9
My #9 is The Ministry of Guidance Invites You to Not Stay: An American Family in Iran, which I believe is the oldest book on my TBR, so I'm looking forward to getting this one read!
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The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton
4 stars
Kate Morton's novel is about a very old mystery and connections to a house. The book is told from the point of view of many characters, one of which is a ghost. Elodie is in the present day and she is drawn to an artist's sketch of the estate. It reminds her of a fairy tale her mother told her growing up. This peaks her curiosity and she begins to investigate.
Lily is a ghost and her backstory is the most involved. She was present when an intruder entered the house and events unfolded years earlier. What happens spans generations and although it is told in a complicated manner the pieces of the story slowly come together. The large number of points of view is a bit distracting, and I personally preferred the modern day parts. Although the ending is predictable, it was still overall a good book.