What books did you get from the library, bookstore or online ~ 2022

[Alias Reader]

Use this thread to tell us about your book haul !

What interesting books did you pick up from the library, online or book store?

Did you get some good recommendations from one of these sources?

We'd like to hear all about it!

[John]

Ordered three books at the tail end of 2021 that have yet to arrive:

Loneliness and Time: The Story of British Travel Writing

Ten Pollitt Place

The Late George Apley

[madrano]

I haven't read the John P. Marquand novel, i've heard about the classic. The GR blurb mentions the time span covered in the book, which i didn't realize was so long.

Ten Pollitt Place sounds neat.

Enjoy all three, John.

[Alias Reader]

John wrote: "Ordered three books at the tail end of 2021 that have yet to arrive:

Loneliness and Time: The Story of British Travel Writing."

I see the British Travel Writing book contains photos. That's always a big plus for me. I'll be interested to see your review.

[Alias Reader]

I just got a notice from the library that Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir is available for me to download.

This is a genre that I normally don't read. Wish me luck !

synopsis
Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.

Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone.

Or does he?

An irresistible interstellar adventure as only Andy Weir could deliver, Project Hail Mary is a tale of discovery, speculation, and survival to rival The Martian—while taking us to places it never dreamed of going.

[John]

madrano wrote: "I haven't read the John P. Marquand novel, i've heard about the classic. The GR blurb mentions the time span covered in the book, which i didn't realize was so long.

Ten Pollitt Pl..."

That book was selected as it's a Pulitzer winner for the challenge. Pollitt Place would be one under purchased based on blurb/reviews.

[John]

Alias Reader wrote: "John wrote: "Ordered three books at the tail end of 2021 that have yet to arrive:

Loneliness and Time: The Story of British Travel Writing."

I see the British Travel Writing book co..."

I'll try to mention the photos specifically - good luck going outside your comfort zone on trying the Weir book!

[madrano]

This Challenge is going to keep us on our toes, isn't it? I've barely looked at it but think you made neat choices for the category, John.

[madrano]

Alias, you really are going out of your reading comfort zone. At least we've seen this one on a couple of "Year's Best" for 2021, which is a plus. I look forward to your comments on it.

[JoAnn/QuAppelle]

My sister often picks up my reserves for me---we use the same library and live just 1/2 mile apart. Today she brought me Michael Connelly's latest (The Dark Hours) and The Postmistress of Paris. I can always depend on Connelly for a good read! Looking forward to both.

[John]

I broke down and ordered a copy of the Penguin annotated Hamlet today as one of the challenge items later this year.

[Alias Reader]

JoAnn/QuAppelle wrote: "My sister often picks up my reserves for me---we use the same library and live just 1/2 mile apart. Today she brought me Michael Connelly's latest (The Dark Hours) and The Postmistress of Paris. I ..."

I just came across the The Postmistress of Paris title the other day. Hope it's a good one for you, JoAnn.

[Alias Reader]

John wrote: "I broke down and ordered a copy of the Penguin annotated Hamlet today as one of the challenge items later this year."

That is a challenge. I haven't tackled Shakespeare since high school.

If I did, annotated is the way to go.

[John]

We never read any Shakespeare in high school, only play of his I've read was Richard III at Queens College.

[Alias Reader]

John wrote: "We never read any Shakespeare in high school, only play of his I've read was Richard III at Queens College."

I can't say as a kid I was a fan.

[madrano]

We read Julius Caesar our sophomore year, probably because a production for it was in town. My senior year, it was Hamlet. Sadly, no live performance.

I enjoy reading plays, so have read several of others on my own. And near the beginning of my online book group life, two of us read & discussed King John together. Other than annotated reading, this was the best strictly-reading experience.

Have fun with that one, John.

[madrano]

I now have read three books this year. The first, which i mentioned here, at POST 163
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

was The Grammarians--Cathleen Schine. It was about twins who grow up loving words.

Next i read Call Us What We Carry--Amanda Gorman. While it explores the US Covid confinement years and political/personal issues and history, she revels in words and re-configuring them to give alternate contexts. I liked this very much.

Last night (early morning today, actually), i finished The Maid--Nita Prose. While not exactly about words, Molly Gray, cleaner at Manhattan's exquisite Regency Hotel, is socially awkward and dedicated to telling the truth. This means sometimes she must consider her words and how to present them to others.

I enjoyed all three books. Now i am pondering if there is a reason these first books are about words and their uses. Actually, i just find it amusing.

Next up is the book Dem reviewed, The Ravine: A Family, a Photograph, a Holocaust Massacre Revealed, Wendy Lower's investigation into a WWII photo appearing to be the execution of a family near Kyiv, Ukraine. I suppose in this book an alternative to words will be explored, photos. Hmmm.

[Alias Reader]

madrano wrote:Last night (early morning today, actually), i finished The Maid--Nita Prose. While not exactly about words, Molly Gray, cleaner at Manhattan's exquisite Regency Hotel, is socially awkward and dedicated to telling the truth. This means sometimes she must consider her words and how to present them to others.

deb, this sounds interesting.

I usually enjoy books with characters who are shy, nerdy or neurodivergent. For example, The Elegance of the Hedgehog

Would you say this is that type of book or is it a cozy mystery type book. I can't tell from the reviews. Thanks !

[madrano]

There are no graphic descriptions of the murder, which is my qualifier for cozies. The hotel is its own small community, which is another angle of cozies that i appreciate. So, i would call it one.

I would suggest that socially awkward doesn't quite cover the Maid's character but i don't like labeling and am sure i would misidentify if i tried. The author chose not to name it, nor will i.

That written, one of the things i like about such characters (as well as planetary aliens new to earth), is their interpretation of life. The opening couple paragraphs to this book relates Molly's pleasure in her work, her trolley and her approach to her work. It's a joy for those of us who know how easily housekeeping staff is ignored and/or underappreciated.

[Alias Reader]

Thanks for the further explanation, deb. Maybe I'll read a sample from Amazon to see if it's my type of book.

[madrano]

I will add, Alias, that in the beginning there is some repetition. I'm not sure if this was to make us more familiar with the way Molly thought or if it was supposed to resemble what many mysteries do in recapping what has happened. If the latter, it was too early in the book for such repetition. And it didn't really continue beyond the first two chapters.

[Alias Reader]

madrano wrote: "I will add, Alias, that in the beginning there is some repetition. I'm not sure if this was to make us more familiar with the way Molly thought or if it was supposed to resemble what many mysteries..."

This blurb for the book interested me as I really enjoyed Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

“A heroine as loveable and quirky as Eleanor Oliphant, caught up in a crime worthy of Agatha Christie. Loved it!”—Clare Pooley, New York Times bestselling author of The Authenticity Project


The The Authenticity Project by the author of the blurb, looks interesting. I've put it on my TBR list.

---- Synopsis
A New York Times bestseller

A WASHINGTON POST “FEEL-GOOD BOOK guaranteed to lift your spirits”

“A warm, charming tale about the rewards of revealing oneself, warts and all.”
—People

The story of a solitary green notebook that brings together six strangers and leads to unexpected friendship, and even love

Clare Pooley's next book, Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting, is forthcoming

Julian Jessop, an eccentric, lonely artist and septuagenarian believes that most people aren't really honest with each other. But what if they were? And so he writes—in a plain, green journal—the truth about his own life and leaves it in his local café. It's run by the incredibly tidy and efficient Monica, who furtively adds her own entry and leaves the book in the wine bar across the street. Before long, the others who find the green notebook add the truths about their own deepest selves—and soon find each other In Real Life at Monica's Café.

The Authenticity Project's cast of characters—including Hazard, the charming addict who makes a vow to get sober; Alice, the fabulous mommy Instagrammer whose real life is a lot less perfect than it looks online; and their other new friends—is by turns quirky and funny, heartbreakingly sad and painfully true-to-life. It's a story about being brave and putting your real self forward—and finding out that it's not as scary as it seems. In fact, it looks a lot like happiness.

The Authenticity Project is just the tonic for our times that readers are clamoring for—and one they will take to their hearts and read with unabashed pleasure.

[John]

Hedgehog and Oliphant are among my favorites.

[Alias Reader]

John wrote: "Hedgehog and Oliphant are among my favorites."

I'm always on the hunt for similar books. I think you posted before I was able to amend my post, John. Perhaps the The Authenticity Project would appeal to you.

[John]

I have purchased a copy of the annotated Hamlet. Unfortunately, the first 130 pages are commentary, which doesn't interest me at all. Annotations average half of each page of the play itself, so there's not nearly as much actual reading as it might seem.

[Alias Reader]

John, I usually have good success with the Norton Critical editions.

I really enjoyed their edition of Grapes of Wrath. I don't know if it's still in print. It was enlightening in many ways but also because they included reviews that were printed at the time. Some were quite negative. It was interesting to read the reviews for a novel that would one day become a classic.

Here is there catalog
https://wwnorton.com/catalog/college/...#!

Hamlet by William Shakespeare

I like it for the footnotes. Though this edition also contains
“A perfect volume to initiate majors into the discipline and delight of carefully examining presumptions, priorities, language, and structures of both primary and secondary texts.”
―Stephen R. Honeygosky, University of Pittsburgh

This Norton Critical Edition includes:

• The Second Quarto text, edited by Robert S. Miola and accompanied by his footnotes, headnotes, and introductory materials.

• Eighteen illustrations from 1604 to 2008, three of them new to the Second Edition.

• The Actors’ Gallery, presenting actors―from Sarah Bernhardt and Ellen Terry to Kenneth Branagh and David Tennant, two of them new to the Second Edition―reflecting on their roles in major productions of Hamlet.

• Seventeen critical interpretations, representing a wide range of historical and scholarly commentary.

• Afterlives, featuring fifteen reflections on Hamlet―from David Garrick and Mark Twain to Margaret Atwood and Jawad al-Assadi.

• A Bibliography of print and online resources.

[madrano]

This Clare Pooley novel sounds delightful. Thanks for the write-up, Alias. *Adding it to my TBR*

[madrano]

I like annotated versions, such as Norton's, but they can become overwhelming. I often decide i'd rather just read on my own, unless something really confounds me, at which point, i turn to the notes. Upon completion, i find i want to know more & there it is! Loverly.

[Jaye]

Alias Reader wrote: "madrano wrote:Last night (early morning today, actually), i finished The Maid--Nita Prose. While not exactly about words, Molly Gray, cleaner at Manhattan's exquisite Regency Hotel, is socially awk..."

You may enjoy the Edward series beginning with 600 Hours of Edward
By Craig Lancaster

[John]

600 Hours was okay, if not a bit sad, but no interest in the sequel for me.

[Alias Reader]

Jaye wrote: "You may enjoy the Edward series beginning with 600 Hours of Edward
By Craig Lancaste"

It sounds interesting. My library doesn't carry it. But I will keep an eye out for it in used book stores. Thanks !

[Jaye]

Alias Reader wrote: "Jaye wrote: "You may enjoy the Edward series beginning with 600 Hours of Edward
By Craig Lancaste"

It sounds interesting. My library doesn't carry it. But I will keep an eye out for it in used boo..."

My library doesn't have it either but they ordered the series for me by intralibrary loan. My library is teeny. Good thing we have the loan program.

[madrano]

Thanks for the title, Jaye. My library doesn't have it but we have a good interlibrary loan. Except that Covid has stopped that for now, darn!

[madrano]

Part of my prep for the first cataract surgery was to get an audiobook i could listen to when my eye was taped for a couple of days. I went with Pray for Silence, a mystery with a former Amish member as Police Captain in a small town. Previously, several years ago, i read a prequel, A Hidden Secret, which i thought was a good and tempting introduction to the series. Now i believe Linda Castillo's work just isn't for me. The descriptions of sex tapes was rather graphic, with one of the murders being particularly graphic.

I guess there's a reason i don't read these sorts. It's not that i can't handle it, but there doesn't seem to be much reward for my efforts. If you couldn't see this result coming, you weren't paying attention.

The interesting part, however, is the i began by listening to the book. I was turned off by reader Kathleen McInerney. Her voice was fine, though not great, yet her characterizations failed me completely. She had voices for each character and, frankly, i wish she hadn't done so. Just read the book, don't interpret/act.

However, i was intrigued enough by the story that i dumped the audio & read an eBook version. Possibly my beginning with the book was the issue but i think not. I just didn't find this engaging. Clearly, i'm alone as it's a well read series, probably due to the Amish connection. Pass.

[John]

Graphic sex and violence in audio is rather unpleasant. I tend to skip to the next chapter at that point.

[madrano]

John, i will keep that in mind if i try the genre in audio again. It must be challenging for a reader, too. Again, i felt McInerney wasn't successful but it may have been a difficult book to read aloud.

And this brings me to another issue with audio books. This was my first time to listen to a book without also doing something else, such as driving or cleaning house. Due to my eye issue, i was just sitting there. It frustrated me to hear some of the details and i suspect this is because i quickly read past fairly predictable prose--weather, drinking, etc. In this case, each description had me wishing i could scan. Were i exercising or whatever as i listened, i'm sure this wouldn't have been a problem. But what else could i do but criticize? LOL!

[John]

Indeed, it's tough to just passively listen, unless one is too tired to deal with a print book. For that, a familiar series, such as my current No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency read works best, having built up so much on my mind that makes it closer to watching a video, perhaps? Audio does work okay "doing nothing" on a plane flight for me.

[madrano]

Interesting, John. Listening on a flight isn't something i would have considered but i might give that a go. That way my eyes wouldn't be tired upon arrival.

[madrano]

I’m trying to work through my enormous “To Be Read” list. Thus, I began The Faithful Gardener: A Wise Tale About That Which Can Never Die. Written by psychoanalyst Clarissa Pinkola Estés, this slender book is partly about storytelling, as she learned it, and about the ability to renew oneself. It's also about Estes’s foster Uncle Zovar, a survivor of many horrors during World War II, who entered little Clarissa’s life upon arrival in the northern United States as an immigrant, joining his family.

Feeling plant life on Earth belonged to everyone, Zovar’s first confrontation with the Nazis was over a forest he nurtured. Upon entry into the US, he continued to work the land with careful plans for years. Then, the US government seized it for a toll road. He was outraged. Imagine this to a WWII victim, "Their land was occupied against their wills; their farms, their crops, their livelihoods, and, more so, their spirits and what mattered to these spirits, were seized in an instant...by men...in uniforms...who insisted...who said they were only acting on orders...who claimed their right over others...."

And yet he not only rallied himself but the earth. Once the toll road was completed, the cut a swath along the side of the highway, then control-burned it. He knew that the scorched land would fill soon with seeds, spores and other bits of life which, in turn, would supply that side of the road with a small forest. And it did.

There are thoughts about storytelling, particularly the Magyar and Mexicano traditions, with which Estes is familiar. I'm not a storyteller but i liked reading about what is entailed, things i never considered as i listened.

This isn't the sort of book i usually read but it was on my TBR. When i completed it, i looked to see if i had made a note about who suggested it. Yes, i had.

Sherry Thurner was a part of the old AOL group and moved with us to GR. When she retired she stated it was her intent to pursue the art, having taught English in the school system. Once she sent me a postcard she created by collage, which was a lovely gift.

Naturally, we bonded over books and travel, as well. She visited a museum in Washington state that i recommended because she was fascinated by one of the exhibits i mentioned. ( https://thebolddoll.com/vintage/theat... ) And we shared titles, including this Estes book.

So, it is with sadness that i share the fact Sherry died in 2019. Here is a local write up about her life and death.
https://www.gazettextra.com/news/loca...

And this is her blog-- http://sherry-latebloomer.blogspot.com/

RIP Sherry Thurner, you are missed

[Alias Reader]

madrano wrote:
So, it is with sadness that i share the fact Sherry died in 2019. Here is a local write up about her life and death..."

:( Sorry to hear that, deb. I remember Sherry from the AOL board.

[Alias Reader]

madrano wrote: Then, the US government seized it for a toll road. He was outraged. Imagine this to a WWII victim,..."

:( We should be better than this.

[madrano]

There was a lack of sensitivity to the decision about that toll road. I think the US history of seizing land has far to many shameful actions. Yet so few of us knew about it, unless we lived in that place.

[Jaye]

madrano wrote: "There was a lack of sensitivity to the decision about that toll road. I think the US history of seizing land has far to many shameful actions. Yet so few of us knew about it, unless we lived in tha..."

The taking of land for building roads and the pain it causes goes deep. There is a city near me where whole neighborhoods and sections of the city were wiped out. One of those history related groups on facebook posts pictures of the area and not only talks about the buildings but also about specific family who lived there and businesses they lost.
Grief...all these years later.

[madrano]

Jaye, while i was vaguely aware of how neighborhoods where minorities thrived were confiscated, i didn't realize how prevalent it was. Indeed, one wonders how deep the plans went. When we visited St. Paul, MN., a couple of years ago we visited a museum which had an exhibit about one neighborhood which was cut in half, neither really surviving. As usual, it was for a highway. The neighborhood, Rondo, was active with its own services, products and employment. Reading Diesel Heart: An Autobiography, written by the father of the police chief, Melvin Carter Jr., i learned more about how important that neighborhood was to education for children in the area, too.

In San Antonio, the part of town where immigrating Mexicans flourished that was demolished. And on it goes, i imagine. This isn't to state it doesn't happen in primarily "white" communities, only that it seems to occur more often.

Given all we've learned about race riots after WWI, when minority communities thrived, it seems more deliberate than when i first heard about this. The Burning: Massacre, Destruction, and the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921--Tim Madigan illustrated this well.

[madrano]

Last night i began reading Michael Finkel's The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit and am already half finished. It's a fascinating story of a man who lived in the Maine woods for 26 years without a tent, money or most modern conveniences.

Thus far in the book Christopher Knight has claimed he had no real reason for doing this. One day, he just abandoned his car & headed to the woods. Because he had nothing, he took to thievery and ultimately that was how he was caught.

Finkel has one chapter on other hermits throughout history, as well as many today. I knew about the Japanese young people who stay home with their parents, never leaving their rooms. I'm a loner but i cannot imagine such isolation. Off to continue reading...

[Alias Reader]

madrano wrote: "Last night i began reading Michael Finkel's The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit and am already half finished. It's a fascinati..."

I read that back in 2018.

Deb, you are on some reading roll !

[madrano]

True. To be fair, however, each of these have been slender books. I'm building up, i hope, to some heftier works.

[madrano]

As i found this story compelling, i finished the Finkel book this afternoon. The author seemed to work at being balanced in telling the story, making a point to give voice to the victims of hermit Christopher Knight's cabin thievery as well as those who were more forgiving.

Mostly this is a story of one man and his profound discomfort with modern life, who found solace in the woods of Maine, at the age of 20. When finally caught at age 46, he understood his guilt even though he only took items to survive. At the end of the book, it appeared that Knight's post jail life is okay, content.

I have numerous more titles to explore, thanks to the book. These include No Surrender: My Thirty-Year War, a book by one of the soldiers (Hiroo Onoda) who believed WWII continued into the 1970s. Also Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire sounds good. Twice he entered 6-week period of solitude at Arches Nat'l Park in the '60s.

[John]

Thanks for the update!

[madrano]

Always happy to share, John.