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Constant Reader
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What I'm Reading July 2012
Susan_T. wrote: "This contains PLOT SPOILERSI've long meant to go back to A SEPARATE PEACE. When I read it in high school, I was confused by it. I wasn't sure what Knowles was saying about one of the central inci..."
I read it about a year ago for the first time and LOVED IT!!! You should definitely go back and read it.
Susan_T. wrote: "This contains PLOT SPOILERSI've long meant to go back to A SEPARATE PEACE. When I read it in high school, I was confused by it. I wasn't sure what Knowles was saying about one of the central inci..."
We've discussed numerous times not putting any spoilers on the monthly reading thread. Please start a separate thread if you want to discuss something with more depth. Please.
I finished the 3 books I was reading. I gave each of them 4 stars in my personal 5 star rating system.Wolf Hall was well written with very vivid characters. I liked it, but think that it would have been a stronger book if the author had compressed its 600 pages.
The Swerve: How the World Became Modern was heavier reading once I got into the philosophy, but it was very thought provoking. It deeply saddens me to think of all the ancient texts that have been irretrievably lost. We are very fortunate that Lucretius's book ON THE NATURE OF THINGS (the subject of this book) somehow survived.
The parts of the book that I especially enjoyed were those dealing with the physical writing and preservation of old books, life in monastaries (where the Benedictan monks all had to learn to read books, but were forbidden to discuss them), and life among the intrigues of the papal courts in the 15th century.
Finally, it took me awhile, but I finished Rules of Civility. This got off to a slow start for me, but once things starting happening and especially after the story veered off in unexpected directions, I really enjoyed the book. Recommended, but be patient at the beginning.
I think A Separate Peace would make a good selection for Classics Corner. It was one of those I missed along the way.
John wrote: "Thanks, Ann, Rules of Civility has been making its way towards to top of my TBR pile."Definitely a good one.
We've discussed numerous times not putting any spoilers on the monthly reading thread. Please start a separate thread if you want to discuss something with more depth. Please.Lo siento. My error. I have just returned to CR recently and didn't know about this rule or any previous discussions on the subject. When I do read
A Separate Peace, I will post on another thread. I like the idea of the book as a Classics Corner selection.
I just finished Into the Garden with Charles, a lovely memoir about love & gardening. The author, Clyde (Skip) Wachsberger, had despaired of meeting anyone he wanted to settle down with and instead poured all his energy into the garden of his home in Orient, New York (on the North Fork of Long Island). Through a happenstance perusal of a personals ad, Skip meets a fellow gardener & plant aficionado: the Charles of the title. Love blooms! And the garden gets even better. Wachsberger illustrated the book with his own watercolors (14 of them).
Susan_T. wrote: "We've discussed numerous times not putting any spoilers on the monthly reading thread. Please start a separate thread if you want to discuss something with more depth. Please.Lo siento. My error...."
It's not a rule, just a general agreement. I know I'm in the minority, but I would urge any longer reviews (BC, you listening? :-)?) to be set up as a separate thread. That's the way we used to do it before the monthly threads got started. I just get frustrated because with lengthy posts, the thread tends to get really long.
On the other hand, I like to know what the book is about and how the reader responded to it before I make up my mind about reading the book, so I enjoy those reviews. It's easy to skip posts if you don't want to read them. Also, I usually click on the date at the top to bring up the newest posts first. That way I don't need to scroll through everything.
I went back and read Susan's "Plot Spoiler" but I really didn't see how it gave anything away.
I agree with you, Sara, that books people want to discuss at length belong in a separate thread.
I click on the date, too, to see the new posts. Another book I liked recently was Making Piece, another memoir, kind of an Eat/Pray/Love but with pie and less sex. Beth Howard turns to pie baking (and sharing) to help herself overcome the grief of her husband's untimely death. Very likable book and humorous, too. You will absolutely want to bake a pie when you finish.
Ann wrote: "On the other hand, I like to know what the book is about and how the reader responded to it before I make up my mind about reading the book, so I enjoy those reviews. It's easy to skip posts if y..."
I know it's easy to skip posts, but I would rather not have to in these monthly threads. I'm interested in what CR's are reading, but I can explore the title on my own.
So, I would prefer that more in-depth reviews/discussions/spoilers go on a separate thread for the book. Then I have the option of exploring and/or joining in that thread.
I've finished reading Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith this morning. I try to read at least one classic per month so this month I've decided to read The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper.
Cateline wrote: "Mary Ellen wrote: "I'm reading The Man Who Smiled by Henning Mankell. The Nordic setting complements the summer weather here. Enjoying it more than I expected."I always enjoy Mankell. The Man ..."
Cateline, I thought I had watched all those PBS Wallanders... and I haven't recognized anything in the book yet. A sustained senior moment, perhaps...! But I am enjoying it.
Sara wrote: "Ann wrote: "On the other hand, I like to know what the book is about and how the reader responded to it before I make up my mind about reading the book, so I enjoy those reviews. It's easy to ski..."
Here is something maybe people haven't considered. If you talk about a book here, instead of on its own thread, then I think it would be harder to find it in the archives. If a book has its own thread, it's obvious where a particular book's discussion is hiding.
Susan,I heard the author of Making Piece: a Memoir of Love, Loss and Pie interviewed on NPR. I'm glad to hear that her book is as good as it sounded.
Ann wrote: "I think A Separate Peace would make a good selection for Classics Corner. It was one of those I missed along the way."I agree.
Perhaps we should have a thread that is for reviews? I asked this question when I first joined the group, but perhaps it got lost in the mix. I got the impression that this thread is the one where people share what they are reading. I don't post reviews so that people will discuss the book, so I really don't want to start a separate thread for each book. I post reviews because when I read a thread such as this one, where people are commenting on what they've read, I like to know more than just a title. I like to know what the reader thought of the book.
Certainly members are free to skip my reviews entirely (I NEVER post spoilers).
By the way .. even short posts engender back-and-forth discussion.
Book Concierge wrote: "By the way .. even short posts engender back-and-forth discussion."I think what you are doing is fine, BC. If I want to start a whole discussion, I'll start a separate thread. Anyone can do that. I agree, though, that spoilers are for the discussion threads and not here.
Book Concierge wrote: "Perhaps we should have a thread that is for reviews? I asked this question when I first joined the group, but perhaps it got lost in the mix. I got the impression that this thread is the one whe..."Please don't misrepresent what I said: I never said that I felt that only titles should be posted or that there should be no back-and-forth discussion on this thread. And I certainly don't feel that no opinions should be voiced. I just don't need a synopsis of the book. But I'm not a moderator, so it doesn't really matter what my thoughts are--it was merely a request/suggestion.
Just finished the second book in the Easy Rawlins series. Walter Mosley is a master storyteller.
Book Concierge wrote: "Ann wrote: "I think A Separate Peace would make a good selection for Classics Corner. It was one of those I missed along the way."I agree."
So who will remember to nominate it?
By the way I am really enjoying the Stegner book. I like the book, the history and the descriptive nature of the book. I am finding I am beginning to care about what happens to the characters, even the stinkeroo ones.
The Big Rock Candy Mountain
I'm in love with a funny and charming British novel, ONE DAY by David Nicholls. A twist on SAME TIME NEXT YEAR, except the boy and girl are new college grads, unmarried, and their lives are chronicled through scenes and letters exactly a year apart. So real, appealing, and did I say funny? This book has pulled me out of a Dog Days rut, and I highly recommend it. (It's also a fairly new film with the delightful Anne Hathaway, but I haven't tried that out yet. Got middling reviews, I think.)
Ruth: I heard the "Garden of Beasts" author on the Diane Rehm show recently...he was an excellent interviewee and the stories he told were fascinating. You've reminded me to add it to my list.
Dale wrote: "Ruth: I heard the "Garden of Beasts" author on the Diane Rehm show recently...he was an excellent interviewee and the stories he told were fascinating. You've reminded me to add it to my list."Hope you enjoy it, Dale. Leif is in the midst of it right now.
I'm another person who disagrees with Sara's viewpoint in that I very much enjoy hearing a little about the book and the reader's reaction to that book right when it's mentioned. It's one of my favorite things about the "What I'm Reading" thread, and I'd miss it if anyone stopped doing that.
Lyn wrote: "I'm another person who disagrees with Sara's viewpoint in that I very much enjoy hearing a little about the book and the reader's reaction to that book right when it's mentioned. It's one of my fa..."except that's not what I said. At all. *sigh* Peace out.
Sara wrote: "Lyn wrote: "I'm another person who disagrees with Sara's viewpoint in that I very much enjoy hearing a little about the book and the reader's reaction to that book right when it's mentioned. It's ..."I think Sara's point was that she didn't want spoilers on this thread. It's possible for a description and reaction not to involve spoilers.
The Spanish Bow - Andromeda Romano-Lax
4****
The novel follows the fictitious cellist Feliu Delargo from his birth in a Catalan village in 1892 to the concert halls of Spain, France and Germany in the early 20th century and finally to the train depot in a small French port city in October 1940.
Romano-Lax has included a number of historical figures from the worlds of art, culture and politics – Kurt Weill, Pablo Picasso, and Adolf Hitler to name just three. The author was inspired by the life of Pablo Casals, but the book is NOT a fictionalized biography of Casals. The novel explores issues of personal responsibility and what history demands of the individual, in particular those individuals in the public eye; should they use their art and celebrity to advance a particular cause, to warn the populace, or to numb the masses. This is a large topic to tackle and the book covers a significant time frame where wars, disease and economic depressions taxed even the strongest and wealthiest. Romano-Lax manages this very well.
If I have any complaint it is that Feliu seemed too distant from what was going on around him. He was a leaf blown on the winds of change for most of the book. Even when he took a stand in one area of his life, he still drifted along in other areas. In contrast, pianist Justo Al-Cerraz (and Delargo’s friend) is portrayed as a larger-than-life, charming and eccentric bon vivant. Justo tries to get Feliu to wake up to life and participate, but it is an uphill battle.
All told, the story pulled me in and kept me turning pages. The author includes just enough humorous scenes to relieve the tension and avoid sounding “preachy.” When I got to the end, I found myself wishing the book were longer.
Doing a re-read of A Yellow Raft in Blue Water By Michael Dorris. I read it eons ago when it first came out, and all I remembered was that I loved it. And I do again. That guy could write.
Lisa B. wrote: "Tina wrote: "This month I am revisiting a favorite, Life of Pi and I picked up some new books from the library. The Snow Child, Watergate: A Novel, and They Eat Puppies, Don't They?: A Novel." I l..."
I liked the first half of The Snow Child very much, but I did not care much for the second half of it.
I liked the first half of The Snow Child very much, but I did not care much for the second half of it.
Having finished or abandoned the books I wanted to get through this month, I'm reading for my in-person book clubs--I Am the Messenger and a reread of The Madonnas of Leningrad, which I liked very much the first time I read it.
Just finished City of Thieves. Not a book to read if you don't have a strong stomach for crude language and heavy depictions of brutality and suffering. Very funny and moving, though. I knew next to nothing about the siege of Leningrad, so it was really an education for me, too.
I'm currently reading 'Sign of the Times' by Susan Buchanan. Excellent so far! Definitely recommend it! x
After reading here that Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar is now available (thanks for the heads-up!), I bought it this week and am about 3/4 way through. Totally enjoying it. There's a review in today's New York Times Book Review that parodies Strayed's style, and you can glean from the write-up whether the book might seem like something you'd enjoy. I especially like Strayed's advice on writing, urging the advice seeker to "write like a motherf*****"" (my asterisks, not hers).
Anita and Ann, The City Of Thieves was one of the best books I had read this year.
Susan_T. wrote: "After reading here that Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar is now available (thanks for the heads-up!), I bought it this week and am about 3/4 way through. Totally enjoy..."Loved this book--listened to the audio, with Strayed doing the reading herself, and she did a great job. By the way, that advice for writers is available on a mug, which is sitting on my desk right now!
Half way through The Taker - this was my third attempt to read this. Fow some reason, the first two tries didn't take, and now I can't put it down! I always find this interesting - I know some folks who say they will power through a book even if they don't really like it. Then, some like me, who gives it 50-100 pages and if I don't like it, i move to something different. Some books I'm not sure I'll ever try again.
You either love it, or hate it it seems, but I'm among the former having just finished listening to A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian.
Jennifer wrote: "Guys, Maeve Binchy died! :-("OH ... I hadn't heard that. I've only read a couple of her books but I really liked them.
The Bone Yard - Jefferson Bass
3***
Dr Bill Brockton, forensic pathologist, responds to a personal call for help from a former student now working in Tallahassee. Her sister has died – reportedly a suicide – but Angie St Claire has her doubts. His quick trip to help Angie turns into a much longer assignment when a wandering hound digs up an old skull – or two.
I really like this series. Brockton is a serious scientist, and heads the Department of Anthropology at the Univ of Tennessee in Knoxville. This is the site of the (in)famous Body Farm, where donated cadavers are studied to provide detailed information that will help law enforcement in determining manner, cause and time of death. He is cautious, deliberate and thorough in examining the bones that come his way. The writing team that makes up “Jefferson Bass” knows forensics and does a good job of providing sufficient detail without making this a science textbook.
However … I thought the double story line didn’t quite work here. I would just get caught up in one investigation, only to have that dropped in favor of the other. I’d be immersed in case #2 and then have to go back to case #1. The result, in this book, is that one of the story lines really suffered; the woman’s murder deserved a more thorough investigation in the book (as it would in real life). This is the sixth book in the series, and I wonder whether they were out of ideas to fully flesh out the plot. Still, the plot moves quickly and has enough twists and turns to still provide a surprise at the reveal.
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Constant Reader
Books mentioned in this topic
Family Matters (other topics)The Man Who Smiled (other topics)
Hoot (other topics)
The Bone Yard (other topics)
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Olga Tokarczuk (other topics)Leonard Pitts Jr. (other topics)
Cheryl Strayed (other topics)
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (other topics)
I've long meant to go back to A SEPARATE PEACE. When I read it in high school, I was confused by it. I wasn't sure what Knowles was saying about one of the central incidents (the shaking of the tree limb). I remember being horrified by that action. As a more mature reader (30+ years later), I have wondered about what I then perceived as a lack of judgment (on the author's part). Would I see it differently today?