Quote:
Originally Posted by Tarana
Abandoned my first book of the year, Where'd You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple. It's popular, so I guess it's just not my style. It was funny, but I liked the characters less and less the more I read, so I finally skipped to the end and was glad I didn't make myself read the rest. Read about 40% total. It was a book club reading selection, but this was one of the book clubs I abandoned because the books were just hit or miss for me.
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I recently finished
Where'd You Go Bernadette (for a local book club later this month) and I rather enjoyed it. I'd recommend it to anyone who wants an amusing, lighthearted, easy, and fun read.
Another book I've also recently finished (for yet another book club later this month) is
The City & The City by China Mieville.
It started off Ok and then got harder to read and did end up getting much better.
Quote:
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When a murdered woman is found in the city of Beszel, somewhere at the edge of Europe, it looks to be a routine case for Inspector Tyador Borlú of the Extreme Crime Squad. To investigate, Borlú must travel from the decaying Beszel to its equal, rival, and intimate neighbor, the vibrant city of Ul Qoma. But this is a border crossing like no other, a journey as psychic as it is physical, a seeing of the unseen. With Ul Qoman detective Qussim Dhatt, Borlú is enmeshed in a sordid underworld of nationalists intent on destroying their neighboring city, and unificationists who dream of dissolving the two into one. As the detectives uncover the dead woman’s secrets, they begin to suspect a truth that could cost them more than their lives. What stands against them are murderous powers in Beszel and in Ul Qoma: and, most terrifying of all, that which lies between these two cities.
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The setup of the two cities works very well along with the mystery. The mystery would not have happened if it was not for the unique way the two cities are setup and the solution to the mystery also works because of the two cities.