Book Nook Cafe discussion
2024- Book Prompt Challenge
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Michele's 2024 Book Challenge
Finished "Wandering Stars" by Tommy Orange, for two categories: book written by a Native American and book published in 2024.It was at worst a rehash of his first book, "There, There" and at best an even sharper description of generational trauma as experienced by Native Americans. I gave it 3 stars. It's hard to avoid the harm we have done to our people of color, quite without remorse or recompense.
There ThereWandering Stars
Tommy Orange
Michele wrote: "Finished "Wandering Stars" by Tommy Orange, for two categories: book written by a Native American and book published in 2024.
It was at worst a rehash of his first book, "There, There" and at best ..."
I have There, There on my TBR list.
I liked it a lot, which is why I read Wandering Stars.
Michele wrote: "I liked it a lot, which is why I read Wandering Stars."Thanks ! I hope I do, too !
Michele wrote: "Finished "Wandering Stars" by Tommy Orange, for two categories: book written by a Native American and book published in 2024.It was at worst a rehash of his first book, "There, There" and at best ..."
Good summation, Michele. Congrats on completing another prompt in our challenge.
The Push by Ashley Audrain was supposed to be a taut psychological thriller that would make many readers uncomfortable, something like "We Have to Talk About Kevin." I didn't connect with the characters and found the plot mundane and the psychology unconvincing. It reminded me of the V.C. Andrews books I read in junior high school, which hinted at scandalous things, but never actually delivered. 3 stars---probably more like 2.5.
I hadn't heard of The Push--Ashley Audrain. Sorry that it was disappointing. It's frustrating to have empty hints of revelation, only to not get much in return. Thanks for the comments, Michele.
The Push--Ashley AudrainMichele wrote: "The Push by Ashley Audrain was supposed to be a taut psychological thriller that would make many readers uncomfortable, something like "We Have to Talk About Kevin." I didn't connect with the chara..."
Sorry this was a disappointment. I hope your next read is a winner.
I've been listening to "Some People Need Killing" by Patricia Evangelista this month, and it took a month because it had to be done in small doses. Ms. Evangelista is a journalist, an award winner, whose job it became to investigate and report the extra-legal murders committed by her duly elected governments and the police. She has been doing this job for about 30 years, culminating in the election of President Rodrigo Duterte, who promised to kill drug users and dealers without legal procedures or apology. The people of the Philippines thought this was a fine idea, and many supported him for years. Then a critical mass of these mindless citizens finally began to realize that the policy was flawed and that they had been complicit in thousands of extra-legal murders of perfectly innocent people. So will things change? Ms. Evangelista does not go that far. In fact, she avoids drawing conclusions. When that many of your neighbors are perfectly ok with the police murdering the entire populace, you have to be extra careful. I gave it 4+ stars. She is a brave and competent woman, but it's not an inspiring book. BTW, America played a role and the author has not forgotten us!
Michele wrote: President Rodrigo Duterte, who promised to kill drug users and dealers without legal procedures or apology. The people of the Philippines thought this was a fine idea, ..."Some politician's here in the U.S. have also suggested the death penalty for drug dealers.
This sounds like an important book for people to read.
Some People Need Killing: A Memoir of Murder in My Country--Patricia Evangelista. I believe KeenReader mentioned he is reading this book, as well. It sounds like one i would need to take slowly. What an awful story but one with a lesson for many nations & their citizens.Thank you for sharing about this book, Michele.
Finished "Killing Commmandatore" by Haruki Murakami is the book I should have expected from him, but it missed the mark for me. Going over old ground, stultifying repetition-- the realism was too magic for me, or the magic was not good enough to hold my interest. The final straw was the quest to rescue the 13-year-old girl from the clutches of some unnamed underworld- or monster not specified. It reminded me of a later Harry Potter, after the magic was gone and the plots became tortured. 2 stars.
I forgot to say that I thought Killing Commandatore would fill the prompt for a mystery, it really had more to do with painting than anything, so I put it under prompt #20, which includes "the arts." This year I'm going to analyze my list that I submitted to the list of books I actually read. Just for fun.
Michele wrote: "I forgot to say that I thought Killing Commandatore would fill the prompt for a mystery, it really had more to do with painting than anything, so I put it under prompt #20, which includes "the arts..."I'm pleased to know i'm not the only one who does that, Michele. Twice this year i've changed the prompt for the book, as it fit better fit a different one. (I'm trying not to duplicate any titles...we'll see.)
It's disappointing to learn the book didn't live up to what i consider high standards.
Michele wrote: "I forgot to say that I thought Killing Commandatore would fill the prompt for a mystery, it really had more to do with painting than anything, so I put it under prompt #20, which includes "the arts..."Nice job on another prompt, Michele. Sorry to hear you didn't enjoy the book.
I've been having some medical issues, nothing serious yet, but damned time-consuming anyway, so I'm a little behing.New books:
Central Park West by James Comey: 4 stars. Better than average story involving corrupt and dead politician, FBI & NYPD, and district attorneys, thus providing both Law and Order.
Interesting Facts About Space by Emily Austiin 4 stars. Humorous book about a troubled lesbian girl who is struggling to live some kind of life. She's got issues. I thought the plot was good, and the psychology sound. I learned a thing, and it had a verrrry abrupt but mostly satisfying ending. Quick, light reading but food for thought.
Ali: A Life by Jonathan Eig. 4+ stars
Well-rounded and acclaimed bio of a man who never really grew up, but was somehow so talented that the world came to love him in spite of his monumental flaws. Ultimately, nobody could save Ali from his own faulty logic and ungovernable behavior. There are hints that Ali knew what he was doing. Even when it hurt him, he was a man and would make his own choices. If he could not longer float like a butterfly or sting like a bee, he would practice taking punches from sparring partners so he could rope-a-dope during most of the rounds, then fight hard, landing lots of jabs for the last two minutes of the last rounds to influence the judges and make them think he won the fight. Eig says rope-a-dope worked only once. He also says Ali, after he came back from his suspension for refusing to go to Vietnam, had already lost much of what he had that made him a special boxer. Ali felt invulnerable and won over his first lesser opponents without learning the fundamentals. After Frazier, he had lost even more, and now he decided to practice taking more hits than any other man. At the same time, he vowed never to fight until he was punch-drunk. He lost that battle for sure.
I couldn't help but compare Ali to Elvis Presley, another supremely talented and charismatic young man of little status, and almost no education. High energy, worshipped by his Mama, unable to govern himself and trusting the wrong man to take care of his future. So many similarities. Both were narcissists, though not the malignant kind.
RE:Central Park West by James Comey
Ali: A Life by Jonathan Eig
Interesting Facts about Space by Emily R. Austin
Michele, most importantly I hope your medical issues are on their way to being helped or solved.
Thank you for sharing the books you read. Very eclectic !
I provided the GR links as that helps the GR search engine find posts. Heaven knows the GR search feature isn't the best so it needs all the help it can get. LOL
I enjoyed reading your comments. I don't know much about Ali so I found your insights interesting regarding the comparison to Elvis. Thanks!
Michele wrote: "I've been having some medical issues, nothing serious yet, but damned time-consuming anyway, so I'm a little be...."Michele, i hope you can quickly overcome the health issues you are experiencing. I know they can put a crimp in reading, so the sooner over, the better.
Your comparisons of Ali & Elvis contain thoughts i hadn't considered. Thank you for starting my mind along those lines. What a cool variety of topics your selections covered!
Take care!
Thanks to you both for the well wishes. It was chaos at our house for a couple of weeks, culminating in one procedure for my husband and one for me. We started with an ER visit for me on a Sunday afternoon. As we waited for test results Mike had (another) kidney stone. We’ve been having date days at the urologist ever since. Two post op appointments scheduled for next week, then we’ll see. Oh, and while waiting for me to wake up from anesthesia yesterday, Mike threw up in the waiting room. Sigh. I’ll let you know when I know!
Michele wrote: "Thanks to you both for the well wishes. It was chaos at our house for a couple of weeks, culminating in one procedure for my husband and one for me. We started with an ER visit for me on a Sunday a...":( Sorry you and your DH are dealing with this.
As to kidney stones, I've never had them, though I understand that some say the pain is crazy bad.
Michele, it almost seems a breech of marriage protocol when both partners are simultaneously ill!I hope you are able to continue to comfort one another as the days pass.
I have a win and a loss this week. I have officially thrown in the towel on the DeToqueville book. Reading what he actually wrote instead of Richard Hofstadter's pompous interpretation of it was fun for a while, but I thought the book very disorganized and repetitive. So I put it aside.Instead I listened to Wide, Wide Sea by Hampton Sides. It's about Captain James Cook and concentrates mainly on his three huge explorations of the Pacific Ocean and its landmasses. Cook was a superb seaman, a reliable scientist, a world-class surveyor and map-maker, and a considerate and stable captain. His adventures are fascinating, and his demise is unfortunate. I gave it 4 stars.
I've long wondered whether or not to read Alexis de Tocqueville's book Democracy in America but haven't succumbed. I doubt i will and not just due to your review. While the bits i've read have been kinda neat, overall they did nothing for me. So, i truly appreciate your observation, Michele.I am totally unfamiliar with Richard Hofstadter's work. Was the book where you read his "pompous interpretation", Anti-Intellectualism in American Life? This note was funny.
Thanks for sharing about The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook--Hampton Sides. I'd like to learn more about Cook. For the most part we learn a bit about his travels and the severe ending. Maybe educators wanted us to stay home & read, thus the info on how he died. lol
Thanks for sharing, despite your mixed experiences.
Michele wrote: "I have a win and a loss this week. I have officially thrown in the towel on the DeToqueville book. Reading what he actually wrote instead of Richard Hofstadter's pompous interpretation of it was fu..."Alexis de Tocqueville - Democracy in America
I've had this on my TBR forever. I had to purchase a copy for a college class. Then the class was cancelled and I never got around to reading it.
What didn't you like about it?
To Alias Reader: Jeremy Jennings did a great job with original sources in explaining what DeToqueville was thinking about America as he experienced it and later in his books, but he was repetitive and disorganized. Detoqueville's observations were made on very little basis. He spent much of his time hobnobbing with the elites, very little with Joe the Plumber, though he didn't miss the impact of slavery and the genocide of Native populations and saw right through Andrew Jackson. Some of his pronouncements were ridiculously biased, as when he correctly identified slavery as the ruin of America, but thought differently when it involved French colonial territories. He had a very superficial view about the tyranny of the majority, which he called a big problem here, but didn't even notice it in France. He reported that there was virtually no federal government and no taxes back then, and that Americans wanted to improve everything and equated progress and innovation with making money. I don't think he was wrong, but I think he overemphasized that these flaws were always worse here than in Europe. Also, we had no leisure class except slave holders. He didn't talk about the facts regarding our population--eg, people who came here were often younger sons of nobility, religious dissenters or just people looking to make their fortunes.Detoqueville sold to the French gov't his all-expenses paid trip to America by promising to study prisons and to bring back ideas from the US. Our prisons at the time were successful and French prisons were not. He concluded that we were better because we were all so religious and we isolated our prisoners from everyone and made them study scripture. We had very few recidivists. He also thought American girls were amazingly free to fraternize with men at home and in the streets before marriage, but not after. There was no opportunity for becoming acquainted with married women here. But then when he went back home, the narrative slowed down a whole lot and didn't interest me at all. A book with no intermediary might be better! My "study" of Detoqueville was interfered with by star historian and prima donna Richard Hofstadter, whose thesis was that American character was shaped by the existence of a frontier where citizens could move on for a new start. That didn't even come up in the book I just read.
You are kind to let me ramble about my opinions. I am free with them, but remember to consider the source!! Not an expert.
Michele wrote: "To Alias Reader: Jeremy Jennings did a great job with original sources in explaining what DeToqueville was thinking about America as he experienced it and later in his books, but he was repetitive ..."Thank for that explanation, Michele. You did not ramble at all. It was very helpful to me.
If I do decide to read it or read part of it, I think I will read the
Democracy in America: A New Abridgment for Students
by John D. Wilsey and Alexis de Tocqueville.
Good choice. I wish I had thought of it.
Michele wrote: "To Alias Reader: Jeremy Jennings did a great job with original sources in explaining what DeToqueville was thinking about America as he experienced it and later in his books, but he was repetitive ..."Thank you for these thoughts about the book, Michele. The complaint i've heard mentioned most often was the one about those with whom he spent time. I would imagine that the wealthy lived a life closer to what he knew in France. That he could see the devastation of slavery doesn't surprise me much but the genocide of tribes is new.
His own hypocrisy is intriguing. How could he not see this? Blinders for his own government? ANYway, i appreciate your thoughts and opinions. Thanks for posting them here.
I finished two easy books the last few days in between Olympics and baseball games. We are reduced to sedentary activities by health issues (temporary), heat and vigorous storms. Both of these books fit the category I made for myself called "I'll Be There for You; Books about friends." I rated each of the books at 3 stars."The Last List of Mabel Beaumont" by Laura Pearson was about a timid woman, married for donkey's to a man who died suddenly. While cleaning out his clothing, she discovers a scrap of his writing, which seemed to suggest he was making a sort of bucket list, perhaps for his widow to attend to after his demise. Mabel makes something special from a few scribbled letters, and creates a new life for herself. Very British. Not bad, but not great. Good book when you're tired of reading non-fiction.
"The Cartographers", by Peng Shepherd could fit into a magical realism or fantasy category, but is also a murder mystery. A group of friends studying cartography at the U of Wisconsin decide to complete a huge, innovative project together the summer after they were awarded their PhDs., hoping to jump start their various careers. The kids rent a huge house in a rural area and begin. Chaos ensues. I was attracted to the author's main idea, that maps contain "phantom settlements," which are intentional errors, usually small and seldom discovered. It seemed to me analogous to the kinds of "back doors" computer software coders leave in their programs so they can return and fool with them. But back doors in maps can have magical properties sometimes. I usually avoid fantasy or magical books just because the author gets to change the rules whenever she wants, and often does so just before the story is resolved. There was some of that here, but enough clues had been left to light the solution in neon, therefore making the ending very unsurprising. The author has won awards for earlier works, though, and might be worth another shot.
RE:The Last List of Mabel Beaumont by Laura Pearson
The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd
Michele wrote: "I finished two easy books the last few days in between Olympics and baseball games. We are reduced to sedentary activities by health issues (temporary), heat and vigorous storms. Both of these book..."
Thanks for sharing, Michele.
I do hope your health issues clear up quickly.
Well done on the prompts !
Michele wrote: "I finished two easy books the last few days in between Olympics and baseball games. We are reduced to sedentary activities by health issues (temporary), heat and vigorous storms. Both of these book..."Sorry to hear about your "confinement", so to say. However, you made the best of things, Michele.
I'm drawn to the first novel, as i can see the possibilities of this. Your note that it is a good book when tired of reading NF struck a nerve here. I may do the same with this title. Thanks for the info.
I'm intrigued by the map making/searching idea but the magical parts turn me off. I wonder if there are books along that line without the magic/fantasy? I'll have to research that.
You made good use of your time, if you ask me, Michele. I'm glad you shared your opinions on these with us. Thanks.
Yesterday, I read The Book of Aron: a Novel by Jim Shepard. It was devastating and hard to read, telling a story about life in the Warsaw Ghetto during WWII. The hero is a 12-year-old boy who is not particularly valued in his family, even by the mother who adores him but who fears for his future success. A lazy boy and a poor student, Aron takes upon himself the burden of helping his family scrape by in the ghetto, where they have been forcibly resettled. He becomes a smuggler, part of a gang of children, who engage in almost every type of crime in cooperation with Jewish and Polish policemen. Aron is successful at stealing, and several policeman and a Gestapo officer combine to threaten his life so that he will give up his criminal child gang, which he does. The survivors of his gang also vow to kill him. Aron realizes he will not survive long. He allows himself to be taken in by Dr. Janusz Koerczak, who is a person in real life. He was a pediatrician, an educator, an author, a radio personality, and a man who advocated for children's rights. The Doctor's last days are imagined by Jim Shepard. It's a terrible story with no real ending, but I couldn't put it down. 4 stars. And now it's on to Huckleberry Finn-- a quick re-read before I start "James," which tells the story from the perspective of Jim, the slave who befriends Huck.
RE: The Book of Aron by Jim ShepardMichele wrote: "Yesterday, I read The Book of Aron: a Novel by Jim Shepard. It was devastating and hard to read, telling a story about life in the Warsaw Ghetto during WWII. The hero is a 12-year-old boy who is no..."
That sounds like a very intense poignant read, Michele.
Michele wrote: "Yesterday, I read The Book of Aron: a Novel by Jim Shepard. It was devastating and hard to read, telling a story about life in the Warsaw Ghetto during WWII. The hero is a 12-year-old boy who is no..."I've not heard of this but the story sounds absorbing. I'm grateful to you for telling us about it, Michele.
Enjoy Huck!
I'm still plowing thru Huckleberry Finn, which I find I don't like as much as I used to. But also did some light reading. I find I'm picking up books I want to read and then fitting them into the categories.This week I read Five Days that Shocked the World by Nicholas Best. It reports on the experiences of some folks who were in Europe between April 28 and May 2. Both Hitler and Mussolini died during this time; the concentration camps were liberated, the Dutch were fed via airlift, the Russians entered Berlin. Bob Dole lay in a hospital in Italy, expecting to die. Leni Riefenstahl traveled all over Germany trying to find a person who would take her in. 4 stars
All in the Family by Fred Trump III. I read this not because I thought it would improve on his sister Mary's book (Too Much and Never Enough), but to learn how two siblings differed in their reactions to trauma and having their inheritance stolen by their trustees. I knew they were not very close, and discovered that Fred couldn't live without his Trump family and participation in the travesty that was the presidency of his Uncle Donald, while Mary couldn't live anywhere near them and has no desire to interact with any of her cousins or with her Uncle Donald or his sister Elizabeth, who are still living. Fred III settled his lawsuit, Mary still carries on with her allegations of theft by the older Trump siblings of the inheritance her grandfather had tried to give her. I enjoyed the juxtaposition, but Mary's book was superior.
Well done of the prompts, Michele.
Michele wrote: "I'm still plowing thru Huckleberry Finn, which I find I don't like as much as I used to. But also did some light reading. I find I'm picking up books I want to read and then fitting them into the c..."Sorry to read about the Finn slog, Michele. I must admit that there are times i find Twain's writing a bother, too. Usually i'm right there with him, then Brick Wall, enough! I hope you will continue, though.
Your other selections sound heavy to me. The Trump family, especially, as i try to avoid all of those books. Still, i like reading what others here who have "done the reading" feel/think about what they write. AND, it's not often that one can read two books about the same thing, as in the Trump family case, to observe the different impacts aspects hold for each. Thanks for sharing about this.
I finally finished James by Percival Everett, which is the author's imaginings about what happened while Huck and the slave Jim became separated as they navigated the Mississippi River. It was provocative in some areas, making the reader confront slavery to an extent that was not required in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Mark Twain is still king of satire and social commentary, and he has very little to say that is positive. Everett is the superior author and novelist, and helps clean up the gaps in Huck's story, and Jim's. It's not quite as impactful as I hoped it might be, but it was interesting without being surprising. I gave it 3.75 stars and stuck it in the magical realism category as well as another one.
Re:
James by Percival EverettMichele wrote: "I finally finished James by Percival Everett, which is the author's imaginings about what happened while Huck and the slave Jim became separated as they navigated the Mississippi River. It was prov..."
Well done on the prompt, Michele !
Great job, Michele. I appreciate your take on this book. While it didn't call to me, the comments by those at Book Nook Cafe have given me pause. Thanks for sharing your perspective.
At War with Ourselves by HR McMaster. This book surprised me. I thought McMaster was one of the best and the brightest, having been hailed as one of the "adults in the room" when he was chosen as Trump's national security advisor in the first days of his administration. Instead, he turns out to be a man who never understood who Trump is and the damage that has been done. My review goes into more detail about the obvious errors of judgement he made from day one, and how his presence was not really helpful in containing the damage. 3 stars. Don't believe the media. They know less than you do.
Michele, thank you for these observations. I was wondering how this man (& others) thought they could lead that particular President to sanity. Now i know, they appear to underestimate the power of those who pander to him. Where can i see your reviews? At War with Ourselves: My Tour of Duty in the Trump White House--H.R. McMaster
I don’t know how to share my reviews. I have asked Goidreads but didn’t get a useful answer. Maybe if you friend or follow my personal account somehow? I have a few people who regularly “like” my reviews and I’m assuming they are notified by GR I have received a couple of friend requests & I assume they are the same people who get my stuff. If one if them lijes this review, I’ll ask hiw they know when I’ve published one. Meantime, I’ll try to copy & paste.
Michele, if someone "friends" you on GoodReads, then your review will be at the top of the reviews on GR for that book. GR doesn't notify me. When someone here says they read a book and reviewed it, if they then use the GR Add book/author feature in their post here and I click on that and I am "friends" their review will be at the top of all the other reviews for that book on GR.
That is one reason why I encourage all to use the GR Add book/author function that appears on top of the box that you type in.
Personally, I don't post reviews on GoodReads or Amazon. I only post my reviews here at Book Nook Cafe. So you can always copy/paste your reviews here, Michele. That makes it easy for all here at Book Nook Cafe to see and reply to it.
Thanks for that info, Michele. I find Rachel’s reviews when I click on the title link she provides.I didn’t know about the rest. Heck, i only figured out Rachel’s recently. I am not good with this stuff!
Not much of a review for not much of a book. It was basic and sometimes overly detailed look at the courtship and a superficial accounting of the royal marriage.. I learned that Elizabeth was the first royal to arrange for media follow her family for a brief and carefully curated view inside (whereas The Crown gave the impression that Prince Phillip had brought a new idea to the family. In fact, it appears he just brought a new medium- TV), Elizabeth was considered a shrewd manager of the public face of their reign.
This book didn't get into her widowhood, so what was left out would probably have been of more interest to me than much that was included. Kind of a bust. Also, I may seek out a short account of George V and Mary, who seem very much more interesting in some ways. And I have no prior experience with them except as father to the feckless Edward VII. 3 stars. I listened on Audible and marked it as biography.
Who Could Ever Love You? a Family Memoir by Mary TrumpMary Trump is a clinical psychologist who has made it her life's mission to pay the Trump family back in kind for what they have done to her, and to protect the world from the noxious effects of Donald Trump. She has told her story in three books, and her older brother Fritz jumped into the fray with his own memoir recently. Mary is an excellent writer and a talented clinician. Her books are heartbreaking. Her life has been one of abuse and neglect at the hands of the people who should have loved and cherished such a bright, beautiful tomboy of a girl. Fearless, straightforward, caring, and gifted, Mary's life has been a marathon of dealing with the remnants of childhood trauma which never actually stopped. Trumps are still trying to ruin her life and steal her livelihood. She won't give up, though, and I am rooting for her every day. She is angry. She is determined. She is smarter than he is. She will get him. Also looking forward to Susanne Craig (of the NYTIMES) and co-author's book about how Trump stole his father's money - and his family's shares. Five stars for me.
I am noticing that I've virtually given up on my proposed book list and added a whole bunch of new books instead. I think I will keep reporting my books just to make a record for myself of the futility of planning more than a few months ahead (for me, anyway). And because I find it useful to jot a few words down for myself to refer to later. The failure is in the planning, I guess, and the success is in the flexibility to give up a bad job.
Michele wrote: "Who Could Ever Love You? a Family Memoir by Mary TrumpMary Trump is a clinical psychologist who has made it her life's mission to pay the Trump family back in kind for what they have done to her,..."
Who Could Ever Love You: A Family Memoir by Mary L. Trump
Thanks Al. So I guess you're demonstrating that by adding the book cover link to my GR post, I can help readers get with one click to a book page that contains, among other things, my review and places it up top. I appreciate the lesson, and I will try it next time. Hearts. Hugs. Michele
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I am hearing this novel calling to me. Thank you for introducing it to us, Michele.