What I'm Reading - February 2012

[Sarah]

I read The Terror a couple of years ago and could not put it down. I remember talking to you about it, Gabrielle. I was recommending it all over the place. I wish I'd read it in the summer (I live in Arizona!).

Just finishing up Tony and Susan.

[Book Concierge]

The Lotus Eaters – Tatjana Soli
2**

I had such high hopes for this book. Basically it’s the story of a young woman combat photographer in Vietnam towards the end of the war, Helen Adams, and the two men she loves – Sam Darrow (a seasoned photographer who has a reputation), and Linh (the Vietnamese man who is Darrow’s and then Helen’s assistant).

I didn’t find anything about the relationships believable. I didn’t feel the passion or tenderness or compassion or love between any of them. The mark of good writing is that the author will show, not tell; Soli tells the reader over and over that these people love one another, but she doesn’t show us this. In fact, she shows us the opposite. Each of them seems closed off emotionally from anyone else; each follows his/her own agenda without regard to the feelings of anyone else; each of them behaves poorly (to say the least) in relation to the others. I thought they took foolish chances and I really didn’t care what happened to any of them; I just wanted it to be over with so I could get on with another book.

So why did I give it 2 stars? Soli includes a long bibliography of works she used to research Vietnam and Southeast Asia during the time period portrayed in the book. I don’t know if she ever actually visited the country, but if she has not, then kudos to her for managing to convey such a sense of the atmosphere of the place. I could smell the tropical jungle, feel the torpidity brought on by heat and fatigue, and hear the din of traffic and busy city streets. I give her 2 stars for creating this atmosphere, but I really don’t recommend the book.

[Rusty]

I'm so excited. Obtained George R.R. Martin's Dance with Dragons from the library today. It's been a long, long wait.

[Carol]

Book Concierge wrote: "The Lotus Eaters – Tatjana Soli
2**

I had such high hopes for this book. Basically it’s the story of a young woman combat photographer in Vietnam towards the end of the war, Helen Adams, and ..."


BC I felt the same way, there was a big hole in the book for me.

[Sarah]

Loved my time with GGRM last summer, Rusty. Enjoy.

[Mary Ellen]

I heard an interview with the author of the hot air balloon book... boy, that was sad, even sadder than most Arctic/Antarctic stories.

I started reading The Old Wine Shades, by Martha Grimes last night. My head is a little fuzzy in the early stage of a cold, and this is very, very light. When I regain my faculties, I'll return to Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era, by James McPherson, which I am reading with another GR group.

[Rusty]

Thanks Sarah! The Ice and Fire series has been one of my favorites. I read the previous four before it became so popular and kept waiting for a copy to come my way one way or another. I look forward to this read!

[Jennifer]

Finally finished all but one of the last batch of simul-books. (the one is an audio and I still have a few car trips to go before it's finished...) Chose the next group and started starting them yesterday:
The Brass Verdict (audio I'm finishing)
And Then There Were None
Truly, Madly
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
The Winter Garden Mystery
The Borgia Bride
The Ghost and the Dead Deb
Murder With Peacocks
Strictly Dishonorable and Other Lost American Play
The Affair: A Reacher Novel
The Kitchen Witch

All of them fit at least one challenge I'm in at the moment, and one is my first pen-pal read!

[John]

Jennifer -- I am a fan of the Haunted Bookshop series, too.

[TheGirlBytheSeaofCortez]

Kat wrote: "Those arctic stories are pretty compelling. This review is about an expedition that tried to reach the North Pole in a hot air balloon. Not such a great idea...

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/29/b..."

If it wouldn't be such a terrible idea, Kat, it would be kind of funny. Thank you for the link.

Sarah, I do remember you recommending The Terror to me. Thank you.

BC, I was not fond of The Lotus Eaters, either, and I, too, had high hopes for it.

I'm going to begin East of Eden.

[Carol]

East of Eden is a good book I think, G.

[Ruth]

I remember enjoying East of Eden a lot. But not so much the second time.

Didn't we do it as a CR book some time in the past?

[Dottie]

Ruth wrote: "I remember enjoying East of Eden a lot. But not so much the second time.

Didn't we do it as a CR book some time in the past?"

Seems like it was an official one at some time or other but I don't think I took part. Haven't checked the archived ones but will do so.

ETA: YES, mid-May to mid-June 2002 and you and Beej and Dean Denis mostly -- one post each from Pres and yself and several from Ernie. I've decided to add the two books I mentioned (Tortilla Curtain and Tortilla Flats) to my challenges for the year.

I've been taking this year easy, peasy and yet I feel like I'm stretching things at the same time. I started off with rereading two of my favorites food writer/personal writing by Laurie Colwin and finishing up two from the end of 2011 Clara and Mr. Tiffany and Suite Francaise. Then I started putting together a list for the BOTNS 12 books in 2012 -- a challenge -- I did the +11 challenge they did in 2011 and ended up going way beyond the number of books I needed to reach that little jump. But this challenge isn't about just upping the number read by 12 -- it's about reading 12 books you deicde to read for whatever goal you wish -- and any number of 12's you decide to do and I'm having some fun with the mix and match aspects of that challenge. I'm reading books by and about favorite authors, Proust books I own but haven't read yet, now I'm throwing in some feminst reading or vaguely feminst reading by French and Piercy, an idea that grew out of being approached to participate in an info gathering survey on feminist reading for someone who is writing a chapter to be included in a two volume set on various topics, twelve biograpy/non-fiction. All of these are overlapping so I am slacking off on total numbers read most likely but it's deliberate. And I'm having fun with all of it.

Just finished rereading Three Women and have begun The House in Good Taste which I have had on the radar to read for many years and never done it -- found a lovely copy and grabbed it up so have no excuse for not reading it!

Sorry: This ended up posted after I re-posted a different version so now I've edited to combine the babble of both -- the original post had disappeared somehow or other and I couldn't locate it but it popped up again just the same.

[Sarah]

Rusty, I discovered the GGRM books last May. I read the first three in anticipation of #5 coming out in July, and then when I was ready to start #4, realized that #3 had gotten so complicated that I did not feel prepared to go on. I went back and reread all three, then went on and finished all 5. That left me in his world for months on end, and it was very disorienting to come out of it. It took me several books later to fully leave Tyrion & Co. behind. A very different way to read him, but it was a great fit for my "reading need" at the time.

[Sarah]

Jennifer, And Then There Were None is one of my favorite ACs; I must have reread it over a dozen times since adolescence (the peak of my Christie fascination).

I've finished Tony and Susan, a bit baffled by the thing. I'm going to go and look at the discussion. I've just started Cold Dish, a new mystery by Craig Johnson. Jane, I think this might be a good one. Do you know it?

[Peggy]

Just finished The Terror, and aside from a little (ok a lot) of weirdness at the end, I definitely recommend it. I'm glad I didn't know that it was based on a real expedition before I read it, because fictionalizing historical figures isn't my favorite. But seriously - I can't believe actual humans willingly participated in polar expeditions. I'd always thought my "personal hell" would be as a house painter in Branson, Missouri, but I think I've found something that would be even worse.

[Ruth]

I'm in the midst of The Stranger's Child. I didn't mean to be reading it this soon, but I have no control over the Gods of the Library Reserve.

[Sherry, Doyenne]

The only thing I remember about Tony and Susan, Sarah, is that there is some sort of twist. I don't even know what the twist was, or who Tony is, or Susan. One of those if I read it again it would be brand-new books.

[Melissa]

Alas, February is behind us, so I'm closing this thread and opening one for March. See you there!