What are you reading the week of July 22, 2017?

I remain too busy with work this summer to get much reading done, so I'm still working on Lynne Olson's Last Hope Island: Britain, Occupied Europe, and the Brotherhood That Helped Turn the Tide of War.

Didn't get much chance for reading this week, so I'm still just at the beginning stages of The Road to Wigan Pier by George Orwell.

Still reading The Witchwood Crown and Raining Fire.

I'm enjoying the 6th book in the Bosch series, Angels Flight. It's the perfect beach book!

2> rocketjk See last week's thread.

I gave up Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha at the halfway point. I'm reliably informed that the book gets much darker in the second half, but after 140 pages of toilet humour and little lad jokes, I'd just lost patience.

Finished The Zimmermann Telegram, which was excellent.

I'm still reading Summer of Night by Dan Simmons and I think that the next time I go camping I will be thinking about this book!

I'm also still reading Othello by William Shakespeare a little bit at a time.

Today I also started reading Still Life with Bread Crumbs by Anna Quindlen. I needed a Q author for my alphabet challenge. My friends love her so we'll see...

Received a review copy of Deep Black: A Tom Locke Novel by Sean McFate and Bret Witter which I have added to my reading rotation.

Finished the existential novel, The Woman In The Dunes.

Next up to read is Fortunes of War: The Balkan Trilogy by Olivia Manning.

Over the weekend I finished Isaac Asimov's The Greeks; A Great Adventure, which was very enjoyable, and am now reading his The Roman Republic. Going through a bit of an Asimov kick this summer.

Hello there. My name is Aindrea and I just joined this group. Along with my current reads this week, I would like to add a brief introduction if that is alright. I am 33 with 3 kids and married. My oldest daughter, my son, and myself all love to read. I have been in love with books since I was very young. I live in Alaska and was born and raised here. My favorite genres include non fiction, science fiction/fantasy, and historical fiction. I do delve in other genres, but these are three that I am mainly attracted to.

I just finished the anthology "Welcome to the Monkey House," by Kurt Vonnegut. And am now 60 pages in "Into the Wild," by Jon Krakauer. I am so far thoroughly enjoying this book and finding my self falling in love with Christopher Candless(aka "Alex Supertramp"). Perhaps it is because I am from Alaska, and the fact I share a birthday with infamous Jack London that draws me to him and this story. I am also listening to, "Wilderness and other stories," by Dean Koontz, which I am also enjoying.

I hope all of you are having a great week and look forward to engaging in what you all are reading right now.

>10 peacemonger84: Welcome to the group, and thanks for the introduction.

>10 peacemonger84: Hi, and welcome, Aindrea! Hope you enjoy LT! I recently joined this group but mainly hang out with the ROOT group - Reading Our Own Tomes 2017 - where we aim to read the mountains of books gathering dust on our own shelves.

I finished Spring Flowers, Spring Frost by Ismail Kadare - an almost Kafka-esque tale set in post-communism Albania, about an artist struggling to come to terms with the freedoms of the new regime.

Starting Diary of A Nobody by George Grossmith, illustrated by his brother Weedon.

>10 peacemonger84: Welcome! I love Kurt Vonnegut although I have not read Welcome to the Monkey House. I also read and loved Into the Wild.

I traveled to Alaska for the first time 2 summers ago and it is absolutely beautiful. I definitely want to go back. Can you see the northern lights from where you are?

In the middle of The Best of Adam Sharp which is moderately interesting but not as funny or as good as Graeme Simsion's Rose books, in my opinion.

>10 peacemonger84:

Glad you (formally) and kids (informally) are members of Bookaholics Unanonymous, aka LT. We hope you haven't brought us a cure. Alaskan winters seem conducive to the disease. How nice for you!

Half way through the 490pp+ Mao's Last Dancer, into Part II where Li Cunxin is spending his early adolescence in Madame Mao's Beijing Dance Academy where students learn more Maoist propaganda than ballet. Li writes poignantly about his separation from his 6 brothers and beloved niang -- mother -- at age 11 but with the realization that this opportunity could change not just his, but all his family's lives forever.

>10 peacemonger84: Hi and welcome. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

Finished Raining Fire by Rajan Khanna. Overall, I enjoyed the trilogy this book is the final episode of. I've added In Calabria by Peter S. Beagle to my reading rotation.

>10 peacemonger84: Welcome to the group and LT!

10> Welcome, Aindrea. I read The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey only last month for the local Book Group and thought it wonderful.

10> welcome aboard!! You'll get lots of great ideas for new reads-enjoy!!

Adding an ARC of In the Footsteps of Dracula edited by Stephen Jones into my reading rotation. Almost 700 pages of almost illegible print. Yay!

>10 peacemonger84: peacemonger84
Welcome!

I finished Burial Rites by Hannah Kent. I liked so many things about this book but grew weary of the way the story was told -- too much of it by the main character telling the story of her life to other characters. I'm always put off by that type of storytelling. I felt that I didn't really get to know the people in her past. I wanted them to reveal themselves to me, which would have revealed more about the main character, whom I liked very much. I did appreciate the setting and all that I learned about Icelandic history and culture. I should also note that I read this book too slowly, in small bits and pieces -- so perhaps I would have appreciated it more if I hadn't been in this reading slump (which I do not blame on the book, by the way).

I also finished On the Beach at Night Alone -- selected poems by Walt Whitman.

Next up: The Hue and Cry at Our House: A Year Remembered by Benjamin Taylor.

I am reading Gifts of the Crow by John Marzluff and Tony Angell. I really like the book-but I am a real serious animal lover.
I enjoy especially birds. They are so interesting to watch. And they are quite smart. I am also reading a book on my Fire call The Throughbred Conspiracy by Robert Monahan.

<10 peacemonger84 Welcome! I finished Consent to Kill by Vince Flynn, a satisfying read. Now onto The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. A book long on my list of must reads. High hopes here.

Finished In Calabria by Peter S. Beagle. Enjoyed it. Added A Murder Is Announced by Agatha Christie into my rotation.

Peacemonger84 Welcome!!

Happy Never After – Kathy Hogan Trochek
Digital audio book narrated by Hillary Huber.
3***

From the book jacket: In this fourth installment of the Callahan Garrity series, the South’s favorite cleaning lady/sleuth immerses herself in the world of sixties girl groups and nineties rap groups to hunt the killer of a suave, self-serving record producer.

My reactions:
I like this mystery series. It’s a little edgier than a traditional cozy, because Callahan is a former Atlanta Police Officer, but it has many of the classic elements of a cozy: an “amateur” sleuth, a regular cast of characters surrounding the main character’s life/business (in this case, her mother and the other maids of her house-cleaning business), and murder that happens (mostly) off the page. We also have a love interest that is getting complicated. Callahan, however is NOT an amateur – she’s a licensed private investigator, and can carry a gun (and shot it). She’s also intelligent, determined and usually gets herself out of a jam rather than wait around for help.

I really enjoyed the premise in this installment, especially as I was a teenager in the era of the sixties girl groups. There were plenty of references to that era that kept me entertained and enough plot twists and red herrings to keep me interested. And … I did NOT guess the perpetrator until the reveal.

Hilary Huber does a fine job of narrating the audio version. She has good pacing, clear diction, and the skill to give the many characters distinct voices, making it easy for the listener to distinguish who is speaking. I particularly love how she voices the elderly Easterbrooks: Baby and Sister.

Yesterday I finished The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend which was okay, but it certainly didn't live up to my expectations.

Now I'm reading A Darker Shade of Magic - I'm not very far in, but so far am not thrilled with it. Also reading a review copy of Bodies on the Potomac as well as trying my hand at Hermann Hesse with Siddhartha; I've not read him before. And, as always, I'm slowly getting through The Emperor of all Maladies: A Biography of Cancer.

I'm reading The Late Show. I'm little over halfway done. I like police procedural stories from time to time. Connelly is great in this genre.

I have wanted to read Catch-22 for years and this week finally got round to it; but I'm now five chapters in and am finding it hard work. The narrative seems wilfully obscure and the determination to be wacky at all costs is a little wearing. A pity, as I seem to recall enjoying the film of the book some years ago. I'm tempted to put Catch-22 to one side while I read something else (to abandon it, in other words).

War and Turpentine by Stefan Hertmans, on the other hand is a slow but satisfying read about the author's grand-father, growing up in Belgium at the turn of the last century: and only a few years away from war.

My wife and I finished our latest read-aloud, A Bear Called Paddington by the late Michael Bond. Delightful.

>29 cappybear: I would humbly suggest that you hang in there with Catch-22. Things get more real (and at the same time more surreal) as the book goes along. It is a product of its day, I guess, in terms of the brand of humor, but I think you will find it well worthwhile when all is said and done. Well, that's one fan's suggestion, anyway. Bear in mind, though, that my wife and I named our dog Yossarian.

Welcome, Andrea!

Just finished the marvelous Fortunes of War: The Balkan Trilogy.

Next up is a bit of non-fiction, Tales of a Female Nomad: Living At Large In The World by Rita Goldman Gelman.

I am reading and loving The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone.

Finished my comfort rereading of A Murder Is Announced by Agatha Christie and added Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer into my reading rotation.

A Murder Is Announced is a good read IMO.

Mmm... Must reread A Bear Called Paddington.

Hello, Aindrea, welcome to LT. This is a great group.

Ho appena finito di leggere "Il tramonto della politica" di Emanuele Severino e sono indeciso. Devo chiudere la lettura interrotta di Markus Gabriel "Perché il mondo non esiste" e quindi eviterò di farmi tentare da tutto il resto. Ho molto da leggere su Lynch e Twin Peaks...

I'm busy with The Flame and the Arrow by Emigh Cannaday :D I really love this book and it's only book one of a series, can't wait to read the rest! :D

I'm reading Where All the Light Tends To Go by David Joy and Grit Lit: A Rough South Reader ed. Brian Carpenter.
I'm also new to this group. Live in the South with my hubby and parrot.

39> Welcome, krisa!

I'm reading The Clockwork Dynasty by Daniel H. Wilson and loving it!

Mr. Adam
by Pat Frank
3/5 stars
In this science fiction satire written in 1946, we find Mr. Adam as the only man left in the world with the ability to sire children after a atomic plant explosion. He is whisked away to Washington to assist in impregnating women but the politicians leave him disgusted and he does the only thing he can think of to prevent him from being the only fertile man around. I think this story has held up pretty well and while not a perfect novel, I found it pretty entertaining.

I am reading The First Four Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder and Stars of Fortune by Nora Roberts

Working on Rxtraordinary Adventures; Our Short History; and Lincoln in the Bardo

The new thread is up over here.

Welcome Krisa!

The Snowy Day – Ezra Jack Keats
5*****

A young boy in the city wakes to a world covered in snow. He grabs his snowsuit and heads outside, where he is continually delighted by what he sees and feels.

Ezra Jack Keats noticed a lack of children’s books that depicted the kids of his Brooklyn neighborhood, and so began the “Peter” series, featuring this delightful little boy. When the book was first published in 1962, there weren’t many (or any?) children’s picture books depicting African American families. But this is a universal story. All children delight in that first snowfall, in making different tracks in the snow, poking at a tree with a stick, making a snowman, “saving” a snowball, making snow angels, etc.

I was completely caught up in Peter’s adventures. How even a change in the way he walks to produce different footprint patterns intrigues him and captures his imagination. I get the sense of wonder and the desire to be “bigger” so he can get into a snowball fight like the older kids. I also love the tender scene with his mother when she helps him off with his wet clothes and gets him into a warm bath (complete with sailboat and rubber duckie).

The illustrations earned Keats a Caldecott Medal. They are bright and cheerful, and Peter’s red snowsuit stands out in each frame.

I started to read The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair by Joel Dicker for the local reading group. It's rather enjoyable after my giving up on Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha and grinding to a halt with Catch-22. I was beginning to think I had reader's block, if there is such a thing.

Still reading War and Turpentine by Stefan Hertmans.

They Were Strong and Good – Robert Lawson
2**

Lawson tells the story of his parents and grandparents, and how they came to help shape the history of America. He accompanies the stories with detailed pen and ink drawings, for which he won the Caldecott medal. Some of these illustrations are delightful – I liked the contrast between “modern” city and the farm land that was just two generations pervious, and laughed at the illustration of the aftermath when a parrot nearly devoured a Panama hat. I also appreciate Lawson’s acknowledgment of oral story telling traditions, and of children listening and learning their own family histories from their elders. I certainly spent many an enjoyable evening listening to my grandparents, aunts and uncles regaling us with stories of our family’s past.

So why the low rating? I realize this is a product of its time (originally published in 1940), and that Lawson was proud of his ancestors and their accomplishments. But I am disturbed by the racism within. The depictions of “happy slaves” and “thieving Indians” just leave a really bad taste in my mouth. And now that I know this is the “revised” edition (see WIKIPEDIA entry for some of the original language), I’m even more unhappy. Perhaps it offers an opportunity for parents to have difficult discussions with their children about those episodes in America’s history, and the changing attitudes over the years. But I just don’t like it.

Started Hum If You Don't Know The Words and The Wilding Sisters. Still working on Ginny Moon and finished Our Short History