Constant Reader discussion
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Constant Reader
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What I'm Reading - May - June 2021
spoko wrote: "Gina wrote: “The men are damaged because of the nature of the work they do—men’s men, macho, dirty.”Having worked in the oilfield myself (in Wyoming, Colorado, and Nebraska, not Texas), and havin..."
Spoko, thanks for this reminder. It's very wrong to characterise all men based on the type of job they do. I live in Texas and sometimes get upset at the attitudes toward women. But I know I shouldn't generalise it.
I recently read The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee, which is very good. She dispels the myth that every time a Person of Color gets a good job that it displaces a white person. The "zero sum game" is an underlying theory that drives white supremacy in our culture. If you are interested in counter arguments to that theory, this is the book to read.
Ten-year-old Rae is home alone in Aussie author Emily Spurr's moving debut novel, A Million Things. Kids are canny creatures, and Rae is one I am sure will be remembered.
4★ Link to my review of A Million Things
This children's book (yes, children's book) introduces kids to drag queen RuPaul! It's a new one in the Little People, BIG DREAMS series by Mª Isabel Sánchez Vegara, who has produced countless inspirational biographies that even grown-ups can learn from.
4★ Link to my review of RuPaul with several illustrations to entertain you.
An Irish Country Village – Patrick Taylor – 4****
Book two in the popular Irish Country Doctor series, relating the trials and tribulations of young Dr. Barry Laverty as he begins his practice as a country GP in the mid-1960s in Ballybucklebo, a fictitious community in Northern Ireland full of eccentric and memorable residents. Taylor has a gift for making his character so alive they fairly jump off the page. I also love the descriptions he gives of the landscape; makes me feels that I’ve actually been to Northern Ireland. Will definitely keep reading this series.
My full review HERE
A Stab In the Dark – Lawrence Block – 3***
Matthew Scudder series, number four. Block writes a tight, fast-moving, noir police procedural. Scudder is something of a mystery himself. Oh, we know why he left the force and we’re privy to his demons, but he plays his cards close to the vest. Watching him ferret out the truth is engaging and fascinating.
My full review HERE
I just finished The House on Vesper Sands, a wonderfully atmospheric, spooky Gothic mystery. It's the second novel from Irish writer, Paraic O'Donnell . I definitely will look for more by him. - solid 4 ****
Thanks for mentioning that, Donna. I was just notified that my interlibrary loan request for The House on Vesper Sands came in. I'm looking forward to diving in!
Just finished Such a Fun Age, a book sent to me from winning a giveaway. A bit of a different take on race issues through the lens of a 25-year-old figuring out what she wants in life, though the best part is the depiction of an eccentric 3-year-old in her care.Rereading No Time to Spare: Thinking About What Matters for a local book club. Loving this nonfiction side of LeGuinn.
Edward Rutherford’s PARIS, narrated by Jean Gilpin. I’ve read all his books except CHINA. His plots are intriguing, complex and multi-generational. The history is always interesting. His books are long and a major commitment of time. And yet.... I still enjoy them, even if I sometimes procrastinate in actually reading them.
Glad to hear that, Mary. I have a couple on kindle and haven’t yet gotten around to them..
Popular Aussie author Rachael Johns has written about a mother who is surprised to find herself pushed into Flying the Nest without her kids! Her fans will enjoy this one.
3.5★ Link to my review of Flying the Nest
Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them is just what it says it is. Francine Prose is a highly regarded literary authority who knows her stuff, but isn't stuffy. She also knows how to poke fun at herself.
5★ Link to my review of Reading Like a Writer
Lynn wrote: "Thanks for mentioning that, Donna. I was just notified that my interlibrary loan request for The House on Vesper Sands came in. I'm looking forward to diving in!"You’re welcome, Lynn. I hope you enjoy it!
I am rereading The Colour Purple chosen by my in person book group for this month. Beautiful voice of Celia still makes this a classic. And it occurs to me I may not have read anything else by Alice Walker. Any recommendations?
I just started Pallas and the Centaur - historical fiction and the second In Linda Proud’s excellent Botticelli trilogy.
Jacqueline Woodson’s ANOTHER BROOKLYN, narrated by Robin Miles. I love the way JW writes - rhythm, imagery, word choice, pacing, all of it. This novella had moments of pain, joy, discovery, awkwardness, confidence, poignancy, and always the beauty of life, of being human and growing up. RM’s narration is pitch perfect. The title made me wonder…is this Brooklyn different from that in A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN, another coming-of-age story? It’s been so long since I read that one I really have no clear memory of it so I have added it to my TBR list…I really am curious to compare it with this one.
Mary wrote: "Jacqueline Woodson’s ANOTHER BROOKLYN, narrated by Robin Miles. I love the way JW writes - rhythm, imagery, word choice, pacing, all of it. This novella had moments of pain, joy, discovery, awkward..."Mary, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1930s Depression) is entirely different from Another Brooklyn, but I loved them both. I bet you'd enjoy A Tree again if you re-read it!
I reviewed both books, if you're interested. I always include some quotes but no spoilers. :)
Link to my review of Another Brooklyn
Link to my review of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
My Year Of Living Vulnerably sounds like a memoir by talented, tormented Aussie journalist, author, and broadcaster Rick Morton, but it dives into culture, politics, philosophy, and science, especially PTSD and the brain. Fascinating stuff and a great read!
5★ Link to my My Year of Living Vulnerably
I loved Aussie author Tabitha Bird's imaginative debut novel, and I've just enjoyed her latest, The Emporium of Imagination. I'm pleased she weaves her magic in her hometown of Boonah, Qld, but I want this Emporium to open near me, please!
4★ Link to my Emporium of Imagination review
Louise Penny’s A FATAL GRACE, narrated by Ralph Cosham. Several of you have written about your enjoyment of Louise Penny’s mysteries. I decided to give her books a try and have now listened to the first 2. Im hooked. I found this blog post review and it captures my thoughts exactly so rather than reinvent the wheel…https://maryslibrary.typepad.com/my_w...
Tim O’Brien’s GOING AFTER CACCIATO. Quite a tale! I’ve been reading Vietnam literature - fiction and non-fiction - for the last year or so, now that I have enough time and distance from those days to want to sort out propaganda from reality, hyperbole from facts, and emotion from understanding what happened. I’ve now read 2 of O’Brien’s books and found them inventive and thoughtful with characters I care about. I read the interview at the end of the Kindle edition I read and this quote resonated with me: “Through the magic of a story, as we watch characters make their choices and live their lives, we sometimes have the sensation of actually participating in events. Our heartbeats quicken. We shed a tear. We chuckle. We feel. It is one thing to understand that the American war in Vietnam was morally ambiguous and morally complicated. It is another thing to feel personally ensnared in those ambiguities and complications.”
Mary: I read The Things They Carried also by Tim O'Brien. There were stories of childhood, but mostly of the war, the deaths, the humor, and how the soldiers lived and died there. I thought it was excellent.
Ive read both of these by OBrien as well as In the Lake in the Woods. All good. I met him briefly when I lived in the US, lovely man. He was interviewed about his war experiences on Ken Burns' excellent documentary on the Vietnam War
Love O’Brien book. Read it twice decades ago. Due for a 3rd go, perhaps. The Sassoon epigram says it all: “Soldiers are Dreamers.”Still have my old Dell pb, signed by O’Brien in ‘85, Hemingway Conference in Key West, on War Lit. . Academics gave lectures, he told a story, of course, which later became basis of “On the Rainy River,” in The Things They Carried. Still one of best short stories I’ve ever read.
Not war, and not Vietnam, but a different sort of look at what might have happened.I loved An Imaginary Life by acclaimed Aussie author David Malouf. What a strange and fascinating life he's dreamed up for the exiled Roman poet Ovid, banished forever to a remote village with primitive customs (and no common language).
5★ Link to my review of An Imaginary Life
PattyMacDotComma wrote: "Not war, and not Vietnam, but a different sort of look at what might have happened.I loved An Imaginary Life by acclaimed Aussie author David Malouf. What a strange and ..."
Our book club read this one. Really liked it. I’ve read lots of novels set in antiquity, and this is one of the better ones.
Tom wrote: "PattyMacDotComma wrote: "Not war, and not Vietnam, but a different sort of look at what might have happened.I loved An Imaginary Life by acclaimed Aussie author [author:David Malouf|4...
Our book club read this one. Really liked it. I’ve read lots of novels set in antiquity, and this is one of the better ones."
I haven't read a lot from antiquity, but I appreciate a writer like Malouf who can create the atmosphere of the times without making a dry historical hash of it. His writing is beautiful!
Getting Tyson is exactly what the good guys are trying so hard to do with such little luck in this UK thriller by P.K. Davies. Big Dave Tyson has zero redeeming features!
3★ Link to my review of Getting Tyson
The Bookshop Of the Broken Hearted – Robert Hillman – 3.5***
In 1968 in rural Australia, Tom Hope runs his farm, milks his cows, tends his sheep and tries to find a new purpose in his life after his wife, Trudy, left him and took her son, Peter, with her. Then he meets Hannah Babel, a survivor of Auschwitz and some 15 years his senior, who hires him to build bookcases for her new bookshop. I really liked how Hillman drew these broken-hearted people, how he revealed their pain and their efforts to heal and move forward. Yet, I wasn’t sure I understood Hannah all that well.
My full review HERE
Mark Twain’s LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI, published 1883. I listened to a Recorded Books edition narrated by Norman Dietz. I enjoyed this book, although Twain’s description of learning to become a riverboat pilot was sometimes a bit tedious. His account of the early history of the river was very interesting. I loved his rant on burial practices and the cost of funerals as well as his discussion of the romanticism of the antebellum southern states. I particularly appreciated the glimpse of the upper River cities and towns in the late 19th century, from Quincy IL to Minneapolis and St. Paul, an area I know quite well. He does indeed tell a good tale, whether factual or imagined, and his wry sense of humor provoked many smiles and an occasional chuckle.
Mary wrote: "Mark Twain’s LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI, published 1883. I listened to a Recorded Books edition narrated by Norman Dietz. I enjoyed this book, although Twain’s description of learning to become a rive..."I read a lot of Mark Twain in my youth and always enjoyed the humour and descriptions. I'd probably enjoy an audio, read by the right kind of voice, but I'm not sure what that is!
I didn't know Daphne du Maurier wrote this kind of entertaining, historical romance. Frenchman's Creek is a light, atmospheric bodice-ripper in which no bodices are seen to be ripped. Pirates, lords and ladies, Cornwall!
4★ Link to my review of Frenchman's Creek
I remember reading that in my early teens and loving it.
Tom wrote: "Love O’Brien book. Read it twice decades ago. Due for a 3rd go, perhaps. The Sassoon epigram says it all: “Soldiers are Dreamers.”Still have my old Dell pb, signed by O’Brien in ‘85, Hemingway Co..."
If you are fans of O'Brien's, you might consider his quirky and autobiographical Dad's Maybe Book.
It's all about bringing up two boys after you fathered them at a late age and fear you will not "be there" to see all their milestones. A tender, sorta sad account of wanting to teach them things while there's still time.
Slow start, though. But that's true of many books.
Finding Dorothy – Elizabeth Letts – 3.5***
Letts mines history to go “behind the scenes” on the making of the 1938 movie that launched Judy Garland’s star - The Wizard of Oz - and, more importantly, the story of how L Frank Baum came to write the series that captured the imaginations of millions of readers. I was engaged and interested from the beginning and felt that I learned much about both the making of the movie and about the people Maud and Frank Baum were.
My full review HERE
Cormac McCarthy’s THE ROAD, narrated by Tom Stechschulte. This is the first of McCarthy’s books that I’ve read. I greatly appreciate his sparse, direct use of language. He has created a dangerous, barren, post apocalyptic world in which his two characters, a father and a young son, travel southward. It is a tale that will haunt me for some time. I’ve added his other books to my TBR list.
Mary wrote: "Cormac McCarthy’s THE ROAD, narrated by Tom Stechschulte. This is the first of McCarthy’s books that I’ve read. I greatly appreciate his sparse, direct use of language. He has created a dangerous, ..."That book is a wowser!
Mary wrote: "Cormac McCarthy’s THE ROAD, narrated by Tom Stechschulte. This is the first of McCarthy’s books that I’ve read. I greatly appreciate his sparse, direct use of language. He has created a dangerous, ..."It's the best McCarthy I've read.
John Lewis’s WALKING WITH THE WIND. This quote says it all: “Know your history. Study it. Share it. Shed a tear over it. Laugh about it. Live it. Act it out. Understand it. Because for better or for worse, our past is what brought us here, and it can help lead us to where we need to go.” If you’ve not read JL’s memoir of the civil rights movement it is well worth your time, even though it was published in 1998.
The Accidental Tourist – Anne Tyler – 3.5***
Tyler excels at writing character-driven works that give us a glimpse of their lives in all their messy complexity and banal ordinariness. I love the scenes she creates that reveal so much of family dynamics; the Thanksgiving dinner is priceless, as is Rose’s wedding, and Christmas at Muriel’s mother’s house.
My full review HERE
Mary wrote: "Cormac McCarthy’s THE ROAD, narrated by Tom Stechschulte. This is the first of McCarthy’s books that I’ve read. I greatly appreciate his sparse, direct use of language. He has created a dangerous, ..."I have read an admired several of McCarthy's books. They are raw and rough but oh, so good! I haven't read The Road only because I've seen the film and don't think I want to relive the story.
Aussie journalist, reporter, and writer Rick Morton bared his family's soul in his memoir One Hundred Years of Dirt. His childhood in far outback Queensland sounds like something from a couple of hundred years ago.
4.5~5★ Link to my review of One Hundred Years of Dirt
Malala Yousafzai isa another inspiring Little People BIG DREAMS book from Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara. The Taliban tried to assassinate Malala, but she recovered and went on to become the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.
4.5~5★ Link to my review of Malala Yousafzai with several illustrations
As a rule, I don't much read (or enjoy) best sellers. Ditto mysteries. So I was surprised to enjoy THE PLOT so much.Maybe it was the fact that it dealt with writing and the publishing industry, plagiarism and hunting down social media trolls. In any event, the pages flipped like a wall calendar in the wind.
An epistolary novel about bearing your soul and taking those second chances that come along later in life but still early enugh for you to do something with them. Anne Youngson's delightful first, and prize winning novel, Meet Me at the Museum,written in her 70s is a strong story, with strong characters, whose letter writing voices jump of the page and enthrall you to read on. Definitely recommended. My review
A road trip to track down an unknown father and perform at an international comedy festival. What could possibly go wrong? The Funny Thing About Norman Foreman by Julietta Henderson follows twelve-year-old Norman, his mother, and an old codger to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Don't trust me - many readers just loved this one!
3★ Link to my review of Norman Foreman
Sheila wrote: "An epistolary novel about bearing your soul and taking those second chances that come along later in life but still early enugh for you to do something with them. Anne Youngson's d..."Reading the free ebook sample to get a taste of it. I tend to like epistolary novels.
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Constant Reader
Books mentioned in this topic
The Funny Thing About Norman Foreman (other topics)Meet Me at the Museum (other topics)
Malala Yousafzai (other topics)
One Hundred Years of Dirt (other topics)
One Hundred Years of Dirt (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Anne Youngson (other topics)Julietta Henderson (other topics)
Anne Youngson (other topics)
Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara (other topics)
Rick Morton (other topics)
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I haven't read it yet, but I just saw that there is an interview with her in the current New York Times Magazine:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2...