Hey!! Let's get some action going! What are we reading?

[Luffy]

My review of The Dutch House, by Ann Patchett:-

Spoiler:

It was hard to come to grips with this book. And here I thought that it would be a slightly arty but conceptualized story. Maybe something that has a past and present chapter.

Instead I found myself involved in a centralized story about a Dutch house. Curiously enough, to me it sounded like a lab rat for our characters to joust.

I liked this book immensely. The vocab of the book was mellow but not dull. The family dynamics was natural, intriguing and didactic. I really need to reread it to get to the center of the book faster but apart from that I have no complaints.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Which was, as expected, most enjoyable.

Next up: Pillar of Fire by Judith Tarr. Another random choice from my unread books, part of a Storybundle I bought back in July 2016.

Which I'm a third of the way through, and I'm going to have to abandon it.

It's just historical fiction, set in ancient Egypt, around the time of Akhenaten and Nefertiti.

But it doesn't grab my interest enough. And it isn't accurate enough (which is understandable, as the evidence is poor, but it gets some things wrong which are now know).

[EDIT: I skimmed the rest of the story. I shouldn't have bothered. It's actually a fairly plain retelling of the exodus, with the author's own take on the history of some of the characters.]

Next up: The Trials of Rumpole by John Mortimer. The second book of stories.

[j.p.s]

I just finished The Library Book by Susan Orlean, which I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend.

[mlewis78]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

I just finished The Library Book by Susan Orlean, which I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend.

I was reading that too and love it, but The Great Influenza by John M. Barry came in on my NYPL hold, so I am reading that now. I will get back to Susan Orlean afterwards.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

I just finished The Library Book by Susan Orlean, which I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend.

Originally Posted by mlewis78

I was reading that too and love it, but The Great Influenza by John M. Barry came in on my NYPL hold, so I am reading that now. I will get back to Susan Orlean afterwards.

For a different take, The Library Book was a DNF for me. My one-star review at Goodreads has had 43 likes. Takes all kinds!

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by issybird

For a different take, The Library Book was a DNF for me. My one-star review at Goodreads has had 43 likes. Takes all kinds!

That was on my list of "when I can get it from the library" books. Until I read your review! Thank you.

[mirage]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

I just finished The Library Book by Susan Orlean, which I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend.

I enjoyed it, too.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: The Trials of Rumpole by John Mortimer. The second book of stories.

Which was delightful, as expected.

Next up: another random choice: Fantasy Magazine #3. Part of a bundle of the magazine issue bought in June 2015.

(Random choice was actually a later issue, but in the case of series, I'm always going to drop back to the next unread one.)

[astrangerhere]

I am listening to the incomparable Jesse L. Martin read James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time.

I am reading the next Alan Hunter Gently novel on my Kobo - Gently Continental.

I am about to start Henry James' The Turn of the Screw for A Public Space's continued reading club. We read War and Peace during the pandemic and the experience was amazing, so I am looking forward to carrying on with this.

I cannot get the New Leaf book club selection (Percy Jackson) anywhere and I have bought too many books this month to justify shelling out for a book I don't really have any interest in. I'm a little allergic to YA and I have a lot of other things on my plate for July.

[issybird]

A few recent reads for me.

The last in Bernard Cornwell’s Sharpe series, Sharpe’s Devil, ended on a sour note. Sharpe must be in his dotage as he’s oblivious to clunky plot twists and Harper’s even worse off, an obese buffoon who serves only to interject “God save Ireland” and cross himself at intervals. Sharpe also falls into the trap of, “Yeah, a monster, but great guy on a personal level.” Better to have left it at Waterloo. That said, while I found the books in the series to be inconsistent, I did
get a lot of entertainment overall from it.

On the other hand, I tore through two excellent memoirs:

Growing Seasons by Samuel D. Haynes, an account of his depression boyhood in the Midwest and, even better, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson and her emotionally and financially impoverished upbringing in the Midlands. Both coincidentally dealt with the absence of the birth mother and a stepmother/adoptive mother who did not fill the void. Books would save them both.

[Bookpossum]

Originally Posted by issybird

A few recent reads for me.

The last in Bernard Cornwell’s Sharpe series, Sharpe’s Devil, ended on a sour note. Sharpe must be in his dotage as he’s oblivious to clunky plot twists and Harper’s even worse off, an obese buffoon who serves only to interject “God save Ireland” and cross himself at intervals. Sharpe also falls into the trap of, “Yeah, a monster, but great guy on a personal level.” Better to have left it at Waterloo. That said, while I found the books in the series to be inconsistent, I did
get a lot of entertainment overall from it.

On the other hand, I tore through two excellent memoirs:

Growing Seasons by Samuel D. Haynes, an account of his depression boyhood in the Midwest and, even better, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeannette Winterson and her emotionally and financially impoverished upbringing in the Midlands. Both coincidentally dealt with the absence of the birth mother and a stepmother/adoptive mother who did not fill the void. Books would save them both.

The Winterson was a five star read for me.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Bookpossum

The Winterson was a five star read for me.

Five-star for me also. I didn’t see your review until I added it myself; otherwise, I might have got to it sooner!

[DiapDealer]

I've been reading out of my typical zone a bit lately. I read Glendon Swarthout's They Came to Cordura, and Hombre by Elmore Leonard. And by "out of my typical zone", I mean things I would normally watch but probably not read.

I preferred Swarthout's book over Leonard's, but the reverse would be true for the respective movies.

[Luffy]

My review of The One (#Selection 3), by Kiera Cass:-

Spoiler:

The work of art I most enjoyed consuming used to be The Beatles's number 1s. That reality has been replaced by another one, namely The One. I really think so, I believe so. It was a wrench to delete the copy of this One without rereading it immediately.

Reread it I must. It's always unwelcome to see the memories of your favorite books fade away. But on a lighter side, it's great to see the remaining memories become rich like fine wine in the reader's mind.

Whenever people talk, as I've witnessed, of romance books, emphasis is rarely laid on the twists. But here it was an exception. At the same time, the author masked its used tropes to great effect, making the story seamless in its transition from the start. The One is the best romance I've ever read. It has gained my respect quietly. The best magic is not flash and thunder, but it's the germinating of growing, happy, and breathing reading experiences.

[ReadingManiac]

Reading Nightscape by Stephen R. George. Best 80p I ever spent.