What I'm Reading FEBRUARY 2015

[Portia]

I'm reading The Bone Clocks and finding that each section is not only better than I expected but also better than the one that precedes it.

[Ann D]

An excellent book, Portia. Glad you are enjoying it too.

[Bernadette]

Frank wrote: "I'm starting The Paying Guest by Sarah Waters and I am venturing into it without any preconceived ideas. Well without "many" preconceived ideas. I regret reading the reviews on Amazon"

Interesting. I’m midway through The Paying Guests and enjoying it so far but I’ve just come across a turning point in the story and I’m curious to see how it develops. I've read some of the reviews but for me they never take away the joy of actually reading a book.

[Anita]

This month is going (+ has been) full of ARCs from Netgalley (I'm much farther behind than I should be). eek.

[Joan]

I normally refrain from posting negative reviews. However, given the hype for The Monogram Murders I feel impelled to add my two cents. Agatha Christie must be spinning in her grave at the idea of her detective Hercule Poirot being dropped into this travesty of her work. Granted it is difficult for a writer to emulate an icon like Christie, but this attempt is terrible. Lengthy boring discourses between uninteresting poorly developed characters, a cumbersome and unconvincing plot, altogether a most boring read. While Christie was certainly no master of literary elegance, her books were tight, her characters while sometimes stereotyped, were colorful and most of all, her books were NEVER boring.

[Kat]

Haven't read THE MONOGRAM MURDERS and don't plan to, but I certainly agree with your characterization of Christie's strengths.

[Lyn]

Feel better, Tonya.

I just read Euphoria, a good read.

[Geoff]

Gave up on Groff's Arcadia forty pages in.

About 2/3 through Panzram, a very different book indeed. Carl Panzram was a serial killer (though that term doesn't really suggest the varities of mayhem he committed), and the core of the book is the very lucid (and completely unrepentent) letters he wrote from prison near the end of his life.

[Barbara]

Wow, Ann, that definitely is a great reading week!

[Ann D]

Yeah, I've been stuck inside with a horrible cold, so the reading was a wonderful distraction.

[Maryfox]

Reading the Preston/Child Pendergast series. Now on book 4

[Cateline]

Portia wrote: "I'm reading The Bone Clocks and finding that each section is not only better than I expected but also better than the one that precedes it."

I'm edging closer and closer to buying this book. :)

I'm reading House of Cards by Michael Dobbs. I've had it on the shelf for several years, unread. Of course I've seen both the BBC and American film versions.
What really surprised me was the author's expressive and flowing prose. I'm only in about 50-ish pages, but his images are wonderful.

[Barbara]

Valerie, be sure and list the titles rather than just the book covers. On mobile devices, the covers are just seen as black rectangles. Also, we'd love to hear a line or two about your thoughts on the books as well.

[Jane]

Lyn wrote: "Feel better, Tonya.

I just read Euphoria, a good read."

Lyn, I loved this book. Such a surprise. I didn't know what I was in for. Great writing and such an interesting take on the work that people like Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson did. The characters are based on these two initially, but definitely veer off. It's fiction, clearly fiction, and I love the blend of...this is what it's like for an anthropologist like Mead...and this is how I imagine the lives of these characters in this particular par of the world.

[Ann D]

I put Euphoria on hold at the library. Thanks for the recommendation.

[Bernadette]

I've just finished The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters. It is a compelling story, and Sarah Waters just captures the 1920s atmosphere marvellously. You can see and almost smell the house on Champion Hill. The way people speak, react and dress feels absolutely right. This book is all about the fragility of human relationships, not only in Frances and Lilian’s fascinating relationship but also the one between Frances and her mother.

[Barbara]

Thanks, Bernadette. I've put The Paying Guests on my TBR list. I find this period of transition in England fascinating.

[Larry]

I started Tom Rachman's The Rise & Fall of Great Powers and have read about 100 pages. Nothing really has happened other than one great scene after another. I'm not sure where this book is going, but the ride is incredibly enjoyable as the scenes shift over and over from 1988 to 1999 to 2011. Even if I get to the end of the book and nothing is resolved it will be okay ... that's how much fun the book is.

[Sue]

Larry wrote: "I started Tom Rachman's The Rise & Fall of Great Powers and have read about 100 pages. Nothing really has happened other than one great scene after another. I'm not sure where this ..."

I enjoyed it too, Larry. Very different which is fun all by itself.

[Geoff]

Loving the first 50 pages of Robbe-Grillet's Jealousy.

[Nicole]

Geoff wrote: "Loving the first 50 pages of Robbe-Grillet's Jealousy."

I bought this for a euro at the library's summer book sale, but for now it's just collecting dust. It's good to have some motivation to actually read it. Someday. Soon.

[Geoff]

It's tricky--for the first 10 pages or so, I couldn't get my mind wrapped around it. Once you catch the narrative premise, it's very engaging.

[Lyn]

I put The Paying Guests on my TBR list.

I somehow found a Harlan Cohen book I hadn't read before at the library of the hotel I visited last weekend, and quickly devoured Caught. I am starting to be able to analyze what Coben does to make his mysteries such page-turners.

[Alias Reader]

Sophie's World--Jostein Gaarder

I'm reading this now and enjoying it. It's sort of a non-fiction book on the history of philosophy wrapped inside a fictional story. Unique.

[Book Concierge]

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett – 3.5***
A research scientist is sent by her Minnesota pharmaceutical company to Brazil to find out what has happened to the company-funded project. There are some passages that are beautifully written, and evocative of place, but there are also sections of dialogue that are stilted and abrupt. I could never quite make sense of Dr Marina Singh – was she a strong, accomplished woman, or a passive automaton doing what she’s told whether it makes sense or not. Patchett brings up several issues that book groups will enjoy discussing. Hope Davis does a fine job performing the audio version.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...