FREE/BARGAIN — Fiction (everything else)

[sufue]

I haven't read any of the M*A*S*H books since I was a kid and probably wouldn't have noticed. But from I what I remember, I can see that that might be the case. I am capable of suspending annoyance somewhat when books/movies are accurate reflections of their time, which I suspect is true for M*A*S*H. (At least according to my mother, who was her high school's valedictorian in that time frame, but never managed to become the doctor she wanted to be...) But it can be jarring and disconcerting.

Of course, it can be disconcerting the other way too - when a historical fiction book gives agency to women or other minorities in a time when that was really unlikely to happen. But at least it's a nicer kind of disbelief to have to have .

[issybird]

Originally Posted by sufue

I am capable of suspending annoyance somewhat when books/movies are accurate reflections of their time, which I suspect is true for M*A*S*H.

I figure the film M*A*S*H is an accurate representation of its own time, i.e., 1970, and not 1950. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen it, and I certainly can’t remember 1950 as I wasn’t around, but the clothing, the hair and the politics seem contemporary not historical. And I do get that second wave feminism was still in its earlier stages, but I also think that setting the film (based on the book, obviously) twenty years earlier gave Altman latitude both ways and reflected attitudes that were perhaps not all that excusable by 1970 and certainly aren’t now.

But then, I don’t like it when Ricky spanks Lucy, either! Some things were always wrong even if we only realize them in retrospect.

Getting off my soapbox….

[ZodWallop]

Forbidden City by Vanessa Hua is $1.99 at Amazon US.

On the eve of China’s Cultural Revolution and her sixteenth birthday, Mei dreams of becoming a model revolutionary. When the Communist Party recruits girls for a mysterious duty in the capital, she seizes the opportunity to escape her impoverished village. It is only when Mei arrives at the Chairman’s opulent residence—a forbidden city unto itself—that she learns that the girls’ job is to dance with the Party elites. Ambitious and whip-smart, Mei beelines toward the Chairman.

Mei gradually separates herself from the other recruits to become the Chairman’s confidante—and paramour. While he fends off political rivals, Mei faces down schemers from the dance troupe who will stop at nothing to take her place and the Chairman’s imperious wife, who has secret plans of her own.

When the Chairman finally gives Mei a political mission, she seizes it with fervor, but the brutality of this latest stage of the revolution makes her begin to doubt all the certainties she has held so dear.

Forbidden City is an epic yet intimate portrayal of one of the world’s most powerful and least understood leaders during this extraordinarily turbulent period in modern Chinese history. Mei’s harrowing journey toward truth and disillusionment raises questions about power, manipulation, and belief, as seen through the eyes of a passionate teenage girl.

[Critteranne]

Twenty-One Stories by Graham Greene is $1.99 today.

Note: This includes the story "The Basement Room" -- the basis for the classic movie The Fallen Idol (directed by Carol Reed and starring Ralph Richardson)!

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Critteranne

Twenty-One Stories by Graham Greene is $1.99 today.

Note: This includes the story "The Basement Room" -- the basis for the classic movie The Fallen Idol (directed by Carol Reed and starring Ralph Richardson)!

Oh man, I LOVED The Fallen Idol! That was one of those movies I had seen decades ago and had to go to one of those 'help me identify this movie' boards. When I watched it again, it really held up. Baines!

Here's the Amazon US link: Twenty-One Stories by Graham Greene

[Loosheesh]

The Collected Poems (of Sylvia Plath) - $1.99 at Amazon US

(wasn't sure if this thread was the right place to post this one ...)

[GlennD]

Watership Down by Richard Adams is $1.99 at Amazon US. Regular price is $13.99 and I don't remember it ever going on sale (ereaderIQ shows it was briefly at $4.99 in 2017) so if this interests you, I'd jump on it.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by GlennD

Watership Down by Richard Adams is $1.99 at Amazon US. Regular price is $13.99 and I don't remember it ever going on sale (ereaderIQ shows it was briefly at $4.99 in 2017) so if this interests you, I'd jump on it.

Snagged it, though I've already read the book, seen the movie and the Netflix miniseries.

[GlennD]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Snagged it, though I've already read the book, seen the movie and the Netflix miniseries.

Was the netflix series worth watching? This is the first I'd heard of it.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by GlennD

Was the netflix series worth watching? This is the first I'd heard of it.

I enjoyed it. I went in with low expectations, because I hadn't heard good things about it. Here's a Wikipedia page about it: Watership Down (2018 TV series)

[Aleron Ives]

Hm... One of the reviews from a few years ago says the Kindle version is abridged. Can anyone confirm if this is still the case? The book is also on sale on the Kobo store, but neither store mentions the book being abridged.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

Hm... One of the reviews from a few years ago says the Kindle version is abridged. Can anyone confirm if this is still the case? The book is also on sale on the Kobo store, but neither store mentions the book being abridged.

I do not believe this is edited. Remember, reviews on Amazon for different editions are often cobbled together.

[Tarana]

The Affairs of Ashford Castle - Cynthia Harrod Eagles $.99 Amazon, Kobo
Book 2 of 2 book series. Historical Fiction. Think Downton Abbey for style.

[ZodWallop]

Cannery Row by John Steinbeck is $2.99 at Amazon US. (For a >200 page book, this should likely be the regular price.)

I went through a kick years ago reading almost everything Steinbeck, including more obscure stuff like The Winter of Our Discontent, To A God Unknown and The Wayward Bus. But somehow I never read Cannery Row (or The Pearl, come to think of it).

Published in 1945, Cannery Row focuses on the acceptance of life as it is: both the exuberance of community and the loneliness of the individual. Drawing on his memories of the real inhabitants of Monterey, California, including longtime friend Ed Ricketts, Steinbeck interweaves the stories of Doc, Dora, Mack and his boys, Lee Chong, and the other characters in this world where only the fittest survive, to create a novel that is at once one of his most humorous and poignant works. In her introduction, Susan Shillinglaw shows how the novel expresses, both in style and theme, much that is essentially Steinbeck: “Scientific detachment, empathy toward the lonely and depressed . . . and, at the darkest level . . . the terror of isolation and nothingness.”

[elaysee]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Cannery Row by John Steinbeck is $2.99 at Amazon US. (For a >200 page book, this should likely be the regular price.)

Cannery Row is included in The Short Novels of John Steinbeck, which was highlighted here when it was on sale a couple of years ago, so check your collection before you one-click.