Books on the Nightstand discussion
What are you currently reading? - November 2010
I finished
Fatal Error, the penultimate book in the Repairman Jack series.
The overall plot of the series advances as Dawn's baby is born, more is revealed about The Lady, and Rasalom makes a key discovery.
But the most satisfying parts of the book are the side detours where Jack enters full-out vigilante mode.
The title causes a bit of concern when you're reading the book on a Kindle and the top of the screen says "Fatal Error".
Fatal Error, the penultimate book in the Repairman Jack series.The overall plot of the series advances as Dawn's baby is born, more is revealed about The Lady, and Rasalom makes a key discovery.
But the most satisfying parts of the book are the side detours where Jack enters full-out vigilante mode.
The title causes a bit of concern when you're reading the book on a Kindle and the top of the screen says "Fatal Error".
I second Jana's plug for The Elements. This was a BOTNS blog recommendation. The book is gorgeous: two pages dedicated to each element with abundant beautiful pictures of it in various states (this gets trickier obviously once you get past Fermium at atomic number 100 as they decay so fast.) There is a chart laying out the electron shell configurations and other geeky stuff. Plus there a great article about each element. Did you know boron is the principle ingredient in Silly Putty?
Ann wrote: "Jay wrote: "I just started The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Societyafter finishing The Last Run: A Queen & Country Novelwhich is another installment in Greg R..."He writes monthly if you like that sort of thing, but I know what you mean. I really like his prose stuff.
I finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Societywhich I liked but didn't love. I read it for my book club and I will be curious to see what my fellow participants think of it. I thought the writing and description was fun but I'm still not sure I liked the entire book being done in letters. I just don't think it flowed very well for me as a narrative.I've been reading a lot of fiction so my next one is Bad Sports. He has a bit of a different take on sports than most.
I just finished Exile, the second book in Denise Mina's crime trilogy. Someone dubbed the new Scottish crime fiction Tartan Noir, which may be my all-time favorite name for a literary movement, and she certainly fits in that group. Thick Glasgow atmosphere and lugubrious characters. But still lovable and complex characters and beautiful writing. Plus, I love that her protagonist is a young woman recovering from depression and incest. So unique. Love her. I started The Left Hand of Darkness which is my book club's pick of the month. One of the downfalls of Goodreads--someone busted me for not starting it yet. The perils of social media! I'm hoping I'll somehow finish by this coming Wednesday.
I finished
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert yesterday.
I had attempted this book a couple year ago, but was confounded by a bad translation. Then I heard about Lydia Davis's new, highly touted translation through the New York Times book review podcast. It's everything they say. Beautifully done.
This novel is so psychologically realistic, the result of such careful observation of human behavior, that it's amazing it came out in the mid-nineteenth century. Not only that, but it's an early feminist novel!
Emma Roualt is a farm girl who has been given a good convent education by her father. She longs for the finer things in life. Music, art, romance, the company of cultured people. She ends up marrying Charles Bovary, a barely competent physician, and a dull man in the bargain. With him she relocates to a small town where everybody knows everybody, has a child, and of course, becomes very unhappy.
Her unhappiness comes not only from her dissatisfaction with her dull, unambitious husband and the life they share, but also from her awareness of the lack of freedom experienced by women in her society. Her sadness allows to to place her hopes for a better life successively, in two adulterous affairs. Rodolphe, the gentleman farmer, has ignoble intentions toward her from the start. Leon, the young law clerk, is too immature to know what he wants.
Serving as sort of a Greek chorus is Homais, the apothecary, who is the Bovarys' next door neighbor. He's a pompous twit who has a number of comic monologues.
In order to finance the tissue of lies she's concocted to carry on her affairs, Emma makes an association with a dry goods merchant who plays with her like a fish on a line, loaning her sums of money and coaxing her to sign promissory notes which eventually come due.
The ending of the book is very dark, but realistic.
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert yesterday.I had attempted this book a couple year ago, but was confounded by a bad translation. Then I heard about Lydia Davis's new, highly touted translation through the New York Times book review podcast. It's everything they say. Beautifully done.
This novel is so psychologically realistic, the result of such careful observation of human behavior, that it's amazing it came out in the mid-nineteenth century. Not only that, but it's an early feminist novel!
Emma Roualt is a farm girl who has been given a good convent education by her father. She longs for the finer things in life. Music, art, romance, the company of cultured people. She ends up marrying Charles Bovary, a barely competent physician, and a dull man in the bargain. With him she relocates to a small town where everybody knows everybody, has a child, and of course, becomes very unhappy.
Her unhappiness comes not only from her dissatisfaction with her dull, unambitious husband and the life they share, but also from her awareness of the lack of freedom experienced by women in her society. Her sadness allows to to place her hopes for a better life successively, in two adulterous affairs. Rodolphe, the gentleman farmer, has ignoble intentions toward her from the start. Leon, the young law clerk, is too immature to know what he wants.
Serving as sort of a Greek chorus is Homais, the apothecary, who is the Bovarys' next door neighbor. He's a pompous twit who has a number of comic monologues.
In order to finance the tissue of lies she's concocted to carry on her affairs, Emma makes an association with a dry goods merchant who plays with her like a fish on a line, loaning her sums of money and coaxing her to sign promissory notes which eventually come due.
The ending of the book is very dark, but realistic.
Eric wrote: "I finished Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert yesterday.
I had attempted this book a couple year ago, but was confounded by a bad translation. Then I heard about Lydia Davis's new, highly touted translation through the New York Times book review podcast. It's everything they say. Beautifully done."
I read Madame Bovary, as translated by Eleanor Marx Aveling, the summer before last when I was participating in the Beowulf on the Beach Challenge. I recall wishing my French were better because I suspected I was losing quite a bit in the translation. I got the ideas behind the writing but was losing the significance of the details. That said, I connected with Emma right away. Interestingly, my DH attempted to read it and just couldn't understand Emma at all. I read it more as a cautionary tale than as a feminist novel and was affected more by the fiscal irresponsibility than I was at the adultery!
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert yesterday.I had attempted this book a couple year ago, but was confounded by a bad translation. Then I heard about Lydia Davis's new, highly touted translation through the New York Times book review podcast. It's everything they say. Beautifully done."
I read Madame Bovary, as translated by Eleanor Marx Aveling, the summer before last when I was participating in the Beowulf on the Beach Challenge. I recall wishing my French were better because I suspected I was losing quite a bit in the translation. I got the ideas behind the writing but was losing the significance of the details. That said, I connected with Emma right away. Interestingly, my DH attempted to read it and just couldn't understand Emma at all. I read it more as a cautionary tale than as a feminist novel and was affected more by the fiscal irresponsibility than I was at the adultery!
You're right. It's really the fiscal irresponsibility that does her in rather than the adultery.
Eric wrote: "You're right. It's really the fiscal irresponsibility that does her in rather than the adultery."
I can't watch "I Love Lucy" re-runs anymore. Even though I know it's a sit-com and everything turns out all right, every episode there's that moment when Lucy makes a decision that makes me cringe. I want to say," Oh, no, Lucy, don't do that! Ricky specifically told you not to head down to the club and now here you are...!" I felt like that during Madame Bovary too, except it wasn't funny and it didn't turn out all right. More is the pity; but I guess that's the point: As you said, "it's realistic."
I can't watch "I Love Lucy" re-runs anymore. Even though I know it's a sit-com and everything turns out all right, every episode there's that moment when Lucy makes a decision that makes me cringe. I want to say," Oh, no, Lucy, don't do that! Ricky specifically told you not to head down to the club and now here you are...!" I felt like that during Madame Bovary too, except it wasn't funny and it didn't turn out all right. More is the pity; but I guess that's the point: As you said, "it's realistic."
The only thing that seems unrealistic to me is the ending, where everything goes sour for Emma's family and the undeserving Homais gets the Legion of Honor. Everything that can go wrong, does, almost as if it's Divine Punishment down to the nth generation for Emma's wrongs. But in the real world everything doesn't always turn to complete crap. I get the sense that Flaubert is writing from the point of view that there is no God and the universe is senseless. So it confused me when everything wrapped up in that orderly, neat, though wholly negative fashion. It was almost the flipside of one of those cop-out happy endings. A cop-out sad ending? Maybe.
Eric wrote: "The only thing that seems unrealistic to me is the ending, where everything goes sour for Emma's family and the undeserving Homais gets the Legion of Honor. Everything that can go wrong, does, almo..."
Perhaps I am a cynic, but the ending was totally realistic and credible to me. Whole families do suffer from the mistakes of one person and the underserving do get rewarded. That said, I hadn't read any sort of Nihilistic philosophy in Madame Bovary. Rather, I saw another iteration of the rather Medieval idea that every man and woman had a place in God's universe and woe to the person who didn't remember his/her place!
Perhaps I am a cynic, but the ending was totally realistic and credible to me. Whole families do suffer from the mistakes of one person and the underserving do get rewarded. That said, I hadn't read any sort of Nihilistic philosophy in Madame Bovary. Rather, I saw another iteration of the rather Medieval idea that every man and woman had a place in God's universe and woe to the person who didn't remember his/her place!
But it seems almost didactic in that view. Teaching the lesson that the undeserving get rewarded, and the deserving...wait a minute. Why were Emma and Charles any more deserving than Homais?
Finished Middlemarch by George Eliot for one of my book groups and just started The Broken Teaglass: A Novel which was on my TBR pile and my library hold came through yesterday which was very convenient.
Mod
- I felt let down compared to previous books by Karon. Now I'm reading The Frontiersmen
.
Eric wrote: "But it seems almost didactic in that view. Teaching the lesson that the undeserving get rewarded, and the deserving...wait a minute. Why were Emma and Charles any more deserving than Homais?"
I read Madame Bovary as a cautionary tale centering around the foibles of Madame Bovary, not of Homais. I accepted MB as a didactic tale that related how the mistakes of the individual have repercussions beyond the person making the the mistake in the first place. Part of the resultant injustice is that Homais was undeservedly rewarded and that the relatively innocent suffered. To give equal weight to all the characters would have resulted in a never ending novel about the human condition... or Balzac :-)
I read Madame Bovary as a cautionary tale centering around the foibles of Madame Bovary, not of Homais. I accepted MB as a didactic tale that related how the mistakes of the individual have repercussions beyond the person making the the mistake in the first place. Part of the resultant injustice is that Homais was undeservedly rewarded and that the relatively innocent suffered. To give equal weight to all the characters would have resulted in a never ending novel about the human condition... or Balzac :-)
I have just started
Minus Time by Catherine Bush as my "every day" book. On my night table is
The Silent Passage, Menopause by Gail Sheehy for occasional reading. In the bathroom is
Table Talk: Sweet And Sour, Salt and Bitter by A.A. Gill, which I picked up in London this summer. Gill is the restaurant critic for the Sunday Times, and though his diatribes can be amusing, only in small doses.
I read Madame Bovary a couple years ago. There was a free podcast available through itunes that was very interesting. Stanford University has a book club program for graduates, employees, etc. in their university community. They did a session on Madame Bovary which was facilitated by one of their lit professors. Ran about 90 minutes. I enjoyed hearing other readers' reactions to the book and the characters. I recommend the podcast.
Readnponder wrote: "...a free podcast available through itunes...Stanford University has a book club program..."Is this called "The Stanford Book Salon" in iTunes U?
Vanessa wrote: "I just finished Exile, the second book in Denise Mina's crime trilogy. Someone dubbed the new Scottish crime fiction Tartan Noir, which may be my all-time favorite name for a literary ..."I loved the Left Hand of Darkness. I thought it was very original. I admint, however, that its certainly not for everyone. I just finished her A Wizard of Earthsea and I liked that one as well.
Currently I am still working on The Moonstone as well as Inkspell and also The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon. I think I will slow down a bit if I ever get these finished
I've already laughed till I cried and it's only the beginning of Travels in Siberia. I've already looked for all other books available about Siberia on my nook. Frazier's sense of humor reminds me of Weiner's The Geography of Bliss, which made me laugh out loud in public places.
I had started this book soon after hearing the recommendation on the most current podcast and I'm loving it already. Let it be known that I'm a history teacher but the book is incredibly well-written with tons of primary source material to back up with author's thinking. I think even someone who is not a history enthusiast would enjoy the book.
I just finished Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum.This book is an amazing story of a German woman in Nazi Germany. I just finished the book yesterday and I already miss it. Last night I had several dreams stemming from the plot of this book.That is some good writing! I began The Love Goddess' Cooking School by Melissa Senate yesterday. I will also read The Postmistress by Sarah Blake this month.
Flora wrote: I loved the Left Hand of Darkness. I thought it was very original. I admint, however, that its certainly not for everyone.Well, I put the pedal to the metal this weekend and blitzed through this book in nearly one sitting so I'll be ready for book club on Wednesday. I only have about 30 pages yet. I do like it but I'm not sure how much. It's going to be one of those books that has to percolate for a while.
I have a stack of library books including 2 mysteries, 2 non-fictions and a graphic novel (Michael's influence) and I'm not sure what I'm going to read next. Exciting.
I'm rereading THE COLOR OF LIGHTNING by Paulette Jiles for a book group tonight, and it's just as compelling the second time around. Wonderful history, sense of place, and complex ethical/moral dilemma.
Amy wrote: "I just finished Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum.This book is an amazing story of a German woman in Nazi Germany. I just finished the book yesterday and I already miss it. Last night I had several d..."
I enjoyed Those Who Save Us as well. I need to see if Jenna Blum has written anything else -- thanks for the reminder.
Me, I've started
in the hopes that I will finish it before my book group's discussion in mid-January.....
I enjoyed Those Who Save Us as well. I need to see if Jenna Blum has written anything else -- thanks for the reminder.
Me, I've started
in the hopes that I will finish it before my book group's discussion in mid-January.....
Amy wrote: "I just finished Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum.This book is an amazing story of a German woman in Nazi Germany. I just finished the book yesterday and I already miss it. Last night I had several d..."I was quite impressed with Those Who Save Us. It was a hard book to read but Jenna Blum told the story in such a way that I couldn't put the book down. It was such a powerful tale. I highly recommend that book and I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it as much as I did.
Joanne wrote: "Readnponder wrote: "...a free podcast available through itunes...Stanford University has a book club program..."Is this called "The Stanford Book Salon" in iTunes U?"
Yes, that's the one. I especially liked hearing how the men viewed the book compared to the how the women saw it.
Nicole wrote: "Amy wrote: "I just finished Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum.This book is an amazing story of a German woman in Nazi Germany. I just finished the book yesterday and I already miss it. Last night I h..."Thanks for the comments on "Those Who Save Us." It is in my stack of to-be-reads. I think I will move it up in the queue for December. Meanwhile, the library just informed me that "Crooked Letter Crooked Letter," which I reserved, has come in. Will have to read that first.
Finished
and loved it!Now on to
.So psyched! :)
Yesterday I finished Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins.
Boy, this went into a dark place. And it was dark to begin with. I can't say I was as entertained by this volume as by the first, but I applaud Collins for taking us on an uneasy journey and not copping out with a happy-clappy finale.
Katniss is, as ever, one of the most exasperating, infuriating, and heroic characters in all of YA fiction. I wish I could read more of her adventures.
Boy, this went into a dark place. And it was dark to begin with. I can't say I was as entertained by this volume as by the first, but I applaud Collins for taking us on an uneasy journey and not copping out with a happy-clappy finale.
Katniss is, as ever, one of the most exasperating, infuriating, and heroic characters in all of YA fiction. I wish I could read more of her adventures.
On Sunday I finished The Finkler Question, by Howard Jacobson, The Man Booker Prize Winner of 2010.
Through this tale of three friends, Jacobson explores the elusive qualities of Jewishness in contemporary Britain.
First we have Treslove, a directionless Gentile who tries on a Jewish identity, embarking on a relationship with a Jewish woman, Hephzibah, and immersing himself in Jewish lore, ritual, and language. Next we have two recent widowers, Finkler and Libor. Libor, a 90 year old Czech Jew, had a career as a Hollywood gossip columnist, and enjoyed friendships with the biggest stars of the Golden Age. But more importantly, he had the love of his wife Malkie. Her absence would certainly sap him of the will to go on living, were it not for the company of his two friends. Finally, we have Finkler, Treslove's old schoolmate, who has become a celebrity on the strength of his pop-philosophy books and TV appearances. Finkler's relationship with his deceased Gentile wife Tyler was prickly and problematic, but loving for all that.
The theme of the book is explored through Libor and Finkler's friendly verbal sparring over Israel. Libor starts out as a staunch defender of Israel, whereas Finkler becomes involved with an organization called the ASHamed Jews, who decry Israel's inhumane actions in Gaza. Meanwhile Treslove explores what it means to be Jewish in the context of day-to-day life. Anti-semitic incidents occur throughout the book, and the question of whether Israel's current actions are offering thee British public a free shot at reawakening a more active and violent anti-semitism. And whether, if the next Holocaust does come, the state of Israel is complicit in it.
The Jewish characters in the book seem doomed to the necessity of reacting to Israel in one way or another, and being defined by that reaction, rather than just living their lives.
This is a story that couldn't have been set in the U.S., where bigots have several other minorities who top their hate parade above and beyond the Jews. But in Britain, Jews are at or near the top of the haters' list, it seems.
Through this tale of three friends, Jacobson explores the elusive qualities of Jewishness in contemporary Britain.
First we have Treslove, a directionless Gentile who tries on a Jewish identity, embarking on a relationship with a Jewish woman, Hephzibah, and immersing himself in Jewish lore, ritual, and language. Next we have two recent widowers, Finkler and Libor. Libor, a 90 year old Czech Jew, had a career as a Hollywood gossip columnist, and enjoyed friendships with the biggest stars of the Golden Age. But more importantly, he had the love of his wife Malkie. Her absence would certainly sap him of the will to go on living, were it not for the company of his two friends. Finally, we have Finkler, Treslove's old schoolmate, who has become a celebrity on the strength of his pop-philosophy books and TV appearances. Finkler's relationship with his deceased Gentile wife Tyler was prickly and problematic, but loving for all that.
The theme of the book is explored through Libor and Finkler's friendly verbal sparring over Israel. Libor starts out as a staunch defender of Israel, whereas Finkler becomes involved with an organization called the ASHamed Jews, who decry Israel's inhumane actions in Gaza. Meanwhile Treslove explores what it means to be Jewish in the context of day-to-day life. Anti-semitic incidents occur throughout the book, and the question of whether Israel's current actions are offering thee British public a free shot at reawakening a more active and violent anti-semitism. And whether, if the next Holocaust does come, the state of Israel is complicit in it.
The Jewish characters in the book seem doomed to the necessity of reacting to Israel in one way or another, and being defined by that reaction, rather than just living their lives.
This is a story that couldn't have been set in the U.S., where bigots have several other minorities who top their hate parade above and beyond the Jews. But in Britain, Jews are at or near the top of the haters' list, it seems.
I read Arcadia Fallswhere a widow and her teenaged daughter go to a small arts school in rural NY. The school was founded by women artists who started an art colony and later became a school. The widow is writing her doctoral dissertation on one of the original artists and she finds the artist's diary, so part of the book involved the relationships of the artists starting in the 1920's. There is a mysterious death in the beginning (present time) and another mysterious death in the time of the diary along with confusion over an adopted daughter.
I finished The Left Hand of Darkness for book club and really liked it. It's one of those books that you like more as time passes and it percolates in your brain. I made the mistake of reading the ending at my desk during lunch and bawling. I was worried someone would come in my cubicle. I have a short stack I'm trying to quickly whittle down. Currently, I'm reading The Devil You Know--a book about an exorcist for hire written by one of the guys who writes the Hellblazer comic, Mike Carey. The schtick is that around the year 2000, the dead started coming back as ghosts in mass numbers. And there are also demons, zombies and loups garoux. Fun!
Tanya wrote: "Now I've started The Reapers Are the Angels (by Alden Bell; narrated by Tai Sammons.) Comparisons have been made between Flannery O'Connor and Alden Bell; but as I have not read any Flannery O'Connor (hangs head in shame) I don't know if this is true or not. I do know, however, that the writing is mesmerizing and beautifully wrought even though the subject matter is gory, like dancing with a corpse. The story as set up so far is about a fully human survivor in a zombie world. Shades of I AM LEGEND (by Richard Matheson ) come to mind; but it's much more than that, with its Southern Gothic writing style and the sense I'm listening to lit-fic rather than SFF or pulp. "
I finished THE REAPERS ARE THE ANGELS (by Alden Bell; narrated by Tai Sammons.) If this wasn't the end-of-the-year crunch for me when I was trying to finish up all my challenges, I would do something I have never done before: re-listen to it immediately. The basic linear narrative is that a fifteen-year-old girl from Tennessee treks through points South to deliver a charge (a retarded man) to his home in Texas. The world had changed in the past twenty-five years so that the landscape is populated by zombies; but far from this being some sort of cheap gimmick, the zombies serve as the counterpoints to the passages about civilization, humanity, lots of "deep thoughts." And the writing is gorgeous! I was re-winding so much to catch a phrase or passage because it was so eloquent and/or insightful that I finally decided to go get a print copy. The ending isn't what many people would like or expect; but it really couldn't be any other way and still be "true." I finished "Reapers" on Monday and I'm still processing it.
I finished THE REAPERS ARE THE ANGELS (by Alden Bell; narrated by Tai Sammons.) If this wasn't the end-of-the-year crunch for me when I was trying to finish up all my challenges, I would do something I have never done before: re-listen to it immediately. The basic linear narrative is that a fifteen-year-old girl from Tennessee treks through points South to deliver a charge (a retarded man) to his home in Texas. The world had changed in the past twenty-five years so that the landscape is populated by zombies; but far from this being some sort of cheap gimmick, the zombies serve as the counterpoints to the passages about civilization, humanity, lots of "deep thoughts." And the writing is gorgeous! I was re-winding so much to catch a phrase or passage because it was so eloquent and/or insightful that I finally decided to go get a print copy. The ending isn't what many people would like or expect; but it really couldn't be any other way and still be "true." I finished "Reapers" on Monday and I'm still processing it.
I read Last Call by Daniel Okrent, or rather listened to it, as it was this month's selection of my book club. I used the 2x speed on my iPhone and knocked out most of it on a drive to and from Columbus.
The book is a history of Prohibition in America. Why it happened, how it happened, who the major players were, who gained from it, who lost out, and why it didn't succeed. I expected it to be much drier than it turned out to be. It was chockfull of fun facts and interesting anecdotes.
I had just a few more stories to read in What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver, and I finally finished it. That's the great thing about short story collections. Finish a story, put a bookmark in it, and you can pick it up again after a long absence without starting over again.
Carver has become one of my favorites. The plainspoken characters. The stark but beautiful use of nature. The unexpected volatility and tenderness of his characters. The specter of sometimes sinister doings. The endings that sometimes provoke a guffaw, sometimes make you scratch your head.
I've been reading his work generally in the order written. The title story has Carver moving into new territory. Rather than the usual sparse dialog that marks his first stories, it has a group of four relatively articulate friends talking over drinks about what constitutes love. The reality of love is that it is often violent and tinged with madness. It often seems to disappear slice by infinitesimal slice until it's gone, leaving you wonder whether it was ever there. Yet its saving grace is that people always manage to love again.
Mod
I read Last Call by Daniel Okrent, or rather listened to it, as it was this month's selection of my book club. I used the 2x speed o..."
This one has been on my list since I first heard about it. I'm glad to hear that it's not going to be dry (like my martini?) and that it's available on audio. I will definitely look into that as soon as I'm done with Matterhorn (17 discs - too bad I don't travel to work any more.)
Linda, why are you still fiddling around with discs when mp3's are available? Audible.com is so cheap and easy!
Clearing the deck, I finished
today.
Given the subject matter of monetary policy, which as I suspected, I find deadly dull no matter how good the writing is, I'm pleased with myself for having stuck it out and gotten through this.
But I did learn some things:
That the Great Depression was caused by several factors: the insistence on reparations from Germany after WWI, coupled with the U.S. not backing down on the issue of war debt. The fact that the U.S. and Europe tried to get back on the gold standard. The intransigence of France in the early thirties. The untimely death of Benjamin Strong, who seemed the only guy who understood what was going on and had the social skills to convince the other financial world leaders of what needed to be done.
today.Given the subject matter of monetary policy, which as I suspected, I find deadly dull no matter how good the writing is, I'm pleased with myself for having stuck it out and gotten through this.
But I did learn some things:
That the Great Depression was caused by several factors: the insistence on reparations from Germany after WWI, coupled with the U.S. not backing down on the issue of war debt. The fact that the U.S. and Europe tried to get back on the gold standard. The intransigence of France in the early thirties. The untimely death of Benjamin Strong, who seemed the only guy who understood what was going on and had the social skills to convince the other financial world leaders of what needed to be done.
Just finished Inkspell and really liked it. Am looking forward to finishing this trilogy.Almost half way thru The Moonstone but not liking this one as well as The Woman in White. It just seems to be going over the same information that has already been said.
I made it to page 2 ofThe Zookeeper's Wifewhich is the next selection for one of my book groups. I hope it is good because it is my selection, but I am now sidetracked byHomer and Langley which grabbed me on the first page.
I finished Bad Sportsand enjoyed it quite a bit. It definitely has a liberal bent to it. The basic premise of the novel is how some of the less scrupulous owners in the various professional sports leagues blackmail cities into funding mulit million dollar staduims for them and what the after effects of these things actually are. He also talks about how some of these men made their money. It is a tad scattered and unfocused at times and the writing can be a bit clunky but the topic is well researched and presented in an interesting way. This is definitely not your typical sports book.
My next book is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallowsust because I like to read them again before I see the movie.
I just finished The Book of Joe by Jonathan Tropper
, an amazing rollercoaster of laughter and tears. A 10/10 rating on this one! Thanks for the recommendation.Now I'm into Blindness by Jose Saramago
and it's amazing how one can follow conversations with no quotation marks, with each character's speech separated by commas! I recall Mark from Toronto calling in a recommendation for this book, then saying that he hadn't exactly told the truth, and we had to read the book to figure out what was wrong. I'll have to relisten to this podcast when I'm done.
Mod
My TBR stack is teetering with the weight of recommendations from you guys.
Reading
Swimming to Antarctica: Tales o...by Lynne Coxand
Extremely Loud and Incredibly C...by Jonathan Safran Foer
Just finished The Lovers. Almost all caught up on the Parker series, one more to go. However, I'm going to take a break before I get into that one.Just started Penny Dreadful. The 2nd book in the Poe Trilogy. I'm about 100 pages in and it's already a better book than Kiss Me, Judas (not that it was bad). The writing is amazing and there are so many quotable passages that it makes my head spin. I've read and re-read pages over and over again. Hopefully, it keeps it up through the next 200 pages.
I read Blindness last month on a trip to Seattle. It was really interesting but exhausting. The punctuation was so odd. I kind of felt blind reading it. I had really focus on the tone of the person speaking or thinking. But, as difficult as it was, I am so glad I read it.
Books on the Nightstand
Books mentioned in this topic
Erfyl (other topics)A Fraction of the Whole (other topics)
The Zookeeper's Wife (other topics)
Skippy Dies (other topics)
A Secret Kept (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Jostein Gaarder (other topics)John Connolly (other topics)
Edith Wharton (other topics)
David Mitchell (other topics)
A.S. Byatt (other topics)
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RE: Olive Kitterage. That was one of the best books I read last year. Mixed reviews at my book club, but I loved it.