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1AnnieMod
Half of the yera is almost gone so time again to look back at the last 3 months.
What were your favorite books?
What are the new authors that you found and want to recommend?
What disappointed you in your reading this quarter?
And because I had been in a weird mood lately - had you watched any movies/TV shows that you would like to recommend? :)
What were your favorite books?
What are the new authors that you found and want to recommend?
What disappointed you in your reading this quarter?
And because I had been in a weird mood lately - had you watched any movies/TV shows that you would like to recommend? :)
2avidmom
My favorite books of the quarter were another Goodwin tome: No Ordinary Time. Since I've read two Goodwin tomes this year, I'd have to say Goodwin is my newly discovered author. On the lighter side, I really enjoyed Major Pettigrew's Last Stand. That one turned out to be a real charmer. Santa Evita, of course, makes the list as well.
Nothing really disappointed me. There were a few books I expected to be no more than a 3 star read so it didn't bother me when things turned out as expected.
If there was one movie I'd recommend it would be "Bernie" with Jack Black. "Bernie" is a definite must see for any Jack Black fans out there.
Nothing really disappointed me. There were a few books I expected to be no more than a 3 star read so it didn't bother me when things turned out as expected.
If there was one movie I'd recommend it would be "Bernie" with Jack Black. "Bernie" is a definite must see for any Jack Black fans out there.
3rebeccanyc
Another good reading quarter for me, although April and May were better than June has been. I'll finish one more book today, but it won't make it to this list.
These are listed in the order I read them, as I can never figure out a ranking!
Fiction
The Issa Valley by Czeslaw Milosz -- a poetic, partly autobiographical novel that is at once a coming-of-age story, a paean to nature, a study of character, a history of Lithuania, and a portrait of a rural, largely pre-industrial world that was soon to be utterly destroyed.
Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol -- Both wildly satirical and often laugh-out-loud funny, there is probably much more than a kernel of truth in the characters and the illustration of life in provincial Russia.
Astragal by Albertine Sarrazin -- A partly autobiographical tale of a 19-year-old woman who breaks her ankle while escaping from prison and survives with the help (and "help") of others: poetic, allusive, and powerful.
Transit by Anna Seghers -- Fascinating on multiple levels, this book paints a portrait of wintry Marseille and the refugees desperately seeking exit visas to escape Nazi-occupied Europe; it's also something of a thriller and a meditation on the meaning of identity.
The Sorrow of War by Bao Ninh -- A tragic and stunning novel about the American war that is at once an indictment of the horrors of war and a portrait of life in pre- and postwar Hanoi, but mostly a look at memory (how we remember, what we remember) and the meaning of the past.
Nonfiction
An Armenian Sketchbook by Vassily Grossman -- A moving account of a trip an aging Grossman took to Armenia; through what is at first glance a travelogue, Grossman comments on some of the foremost questions of the 20th century and indeed of all time, including the impact of history, the continuity of humanity, and how we treat our fellow human beings.
Surrender on Demand by Varian Fry -- Fry found hidden resources within his own character to enable him to rescue many of Europe's artists, writers, musicians, and intellectuals from the Nazis, encountering danger, bureaucracy, and the unwillingness of his own government to be much help.
The Riddle of the Labyrinth by Margalit Fox -- A fascinating tale of how Linear B (an unknown script in an unknown language) was deciphered and of the three people who were key to the story.
Runners-Up
The Necklace and Other Tales by Guy de Maupassant -- My first introduction to Maupassant, and he is a master of briefly but brilliantly depicting people and places and giving deep insight into their psychology.
To Say Nothing of the Dog; or How We Found the Bishop's Bird Stump at Last by Connie Willis -- I found this more entertaining and a better book than the other Willis I read, although it's Victorian setting was less compelling than the plague-filled one of Doomsday Book; what makes the book a page turner are Willis's wonderful characters (both two-footed and four-footed), her lively and often funny writing style, the meditations on the little things that change the course of history, and her pacing.
Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog by Kitty Burns Florey -- A thoroughly delightful look at diagramming sentences and other more or less related topics.
Disappointments*
Pieces of Light: How the New Science of Memory Illuminates the Stories We Tell about Our Pasts by Charles Fernyhough -- I didn't learn much more in this book than what I heard in a public radio interview with the author and I found Fernyhough's compulsion to talk about himself irritating.
Alien Hearts by Guy de Maupassant -- I loved Maupassant's stories that I read earlier, but as I said in my review, "never has a short novel seemed so long."
Slammerkin by Emma Donoghue -- I read this novel compulsively, as Donoghue is a great writer and creates complex characters and explores interesting issues but, as with Room, I found it a tad melodramatic and manipulative.
*Disappointments are books that I had higher hopes for, books that I wanted to like better than I did, not just books that didn't particularly click with me.
Finally, in response to your question about other forms of story-telling, I've been (yes, very late I know) watching the old Downton Abbey series -- a soap opera, no doubt, but very entertaining.
These are listed in the order I read them, as I can never figure out a ranking!
Fiction
The Issa Valley by Czeslaw Milosz -- a poetic, partly autobiographical novel that is at once a coming-of-age story, a paean to nature, a study of character, a history of Lithuania, and a portrait of a rural, largely pre-industrial world that was soon to be utterly destroyed.
Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol -- Both wildly satirical and often laugh-out-loud funny, there is probably much more than a kernel of truth in the characters and the illustration of life in provincial Russia.
Astragal by Albertine Sarrazin -- A partly autobiographical tale of a 19-year-old woman who breaks her ankle while escaping from prison and survives with the help (and "help") of others: poetic, allusive, and powerful.
Transit by Anna Seghers -- Fascinating on multiple levels, this book paints a portrait of wintry Marseille and the refugees desperately seeking exit visas to escape Nazi-occupied Europe; it's also something of a thriller and a meditation on the meaning of identity.
The Sorrow of War by Bao Ninh -- A tragic and stunning novel about the American war that is at once an indictment of the horrors of war and a portrait of life in pre- and postwar Hanoi, but mostly a look at memory (how we remember, what we remember) and the meaning of the past.
Nonfiction
An Armenian Sketchbook by Vassily Grossman -- A moving account of a trip an aging Grossman took to Armenia; through what is at first glance a travelogue, Grossman comments on some of the foremost questions of the 20th century and indeed of all time, including the impact of history, the continuity of humanity, and how we treat our fellow human beings.
Surrender on Demand by Varian Fry -- Fry found hidden resources within his own character to enable him to rescue many of Europe's artists, writers, musicians, and intellectuals from the Nazis, encountering danger, bureaucracy, and the unwillingness of his own government to be much help.
The Riddle of the Labyrinth by Margalit Fox -- A fascinating tale of how Linear B (an unknown script in an unknown language) was deciphered and of the three people who were key to the story.
Runners-Up
The Necklace and Other Tales by Guy de Maupassant -- My first introduction to Maupassant, and he is a master of briefly but brilliantly depicting people and places and giving deep insight into their psychology.
To Say Nothing of the Dog; or How We Found the Bishop's Bird Stump at Last by Connie Willis -- I found this more entertaining and a better book than the other Willis I read, although it's Victorian setting was less compelling than the plague-filled one of Doomsday Book; what makes the book a page turner are Willis's wonderful characters (both two-footed and four-footed), her lively and often funny writing style, the meditations on the little things that change the course of history, and her pacing.
Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog by Kitty Burns Florey -- A thoroughly delightful look at diagramming sentences and other more or less related topics.
Disappointments*
Pieces of Light: How the New Science of Memory Illuminates the Stories We Tell about Our Pasts by Charles Fernyhough -- I didn't learn much more in this book than what I heard in a public radio interview with the author and I found Fernyhough's compulsion to talk about himself irritating.
Alien Hearts by Guy de Maupassant -- I loved Maupassant's stories that I read earlier, but as I said in my review, "never has a short novel seemed so long."
Slammerkin by Emma Donoghue -- I read this novel compulsively, as Donoghue is a great writer and creates complex characters and explores interesting issues but, as with Room, I found it a tad melodramatic and manipulative.
*Disappointments are books that I had higher hopes for, books that I wanted to like better than I did, not just books that didn't particularly click with me.
Finally, in response to your question about other forms of story-telling, I've been (yes, very late I know) watching the old Downton Abbey series -- a soap opera, no doubt, but very entertaining.
4Nickelini
I had a very solid quarter of reading--lots of 4 star books. Looking back on it though, nothing really stands out as a "Wow!!!" book or, conversely, a terrible book.
Classics I really enjoyed:
Wuthering Heights (a reread using the Norton Critical Edition)
House of Mirth, Edith Wharton
Tender is the Night, F Scott Fitzgerald
Macbeth, Shakespeare
Other books I remember enjoying:
The Witch of Exmoor, Margaret Drabble
First Fruits, Penelope Evans (an almost unknown novel here at LT that I think many readers would like)
This Common Secret, Susan Wicklund (a memoir of an abortion doctor)
Two light books that would make good vacation reads (I'll mention these since many people are getting ready for holidays):
Where'd You Go, Bernadette, Maria Semple
The Flight of Gemma Hardy, Margot Livesey
I guess my biggest disappointment was The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, which was interesting but I found at times racist and way too focused on the author's experience (which just isn't appropriate in this case).
Classics I really enjoyed:
Wuthering Heights (a reread using the Norton Critical Edition)
House of Mirth, Edith Wharton
Tender is the Night, F Scott Fitzgerald
Macbeth, Shakespeare
Other books I remember enjoying:
The Witch of Exmoor, Margaret Drabble
First Fruits, Penelope Evans (an almost unknown novel here at LT that I think many readers would like)
This Common Secret, Susan Wicklund (a memoir of an abortion doctor)
Two light books that would make good vacation reads (I'll mention these since many people are getting ready for holidays):
Where'd You Go, Bernadette, Maria Semple
The Flight of Gemma Hardy, Margot Livesey
I guess my biggest disappointment was The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, which was interesting but I found at times racist and way too focused on the author's experience (which just isn't appropriate in this case).
5bragan
My best reads for the quarter, based on my having rated them at least 4.5 stars:
Un Lun Dun by China Mieville
The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich
Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon
Economix: How Our Economy Works (and Doesn't Work) in Words and Pictures by Michael Goodwin
The lowest-rated reads of the quarter (2.5 stars or less):
Lost Encyclopedia by Tara Bennett & Paul Terry
The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larson
Reached by Ally Condie
As for TV shows, mostly I've been obsessing embarrassingly about Once Upon a Time and waiting impatiently for the return of Breaking Bad.
Un Lun Dun by China Mieville
The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich
Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon
Economix: How Our Economy Works (and Doesn't Work) in Words and Pictures by Michael Goodwin
The lowest-rated reads of the quarter (2.5 stars or less):
Lost Encyclopedia by Tara Bennett & Paul Terry
The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larson
Reached by Ally Condie
As for TV shows, mostly I've been obsessing embarrassingly about Once Upon a Time and waiting impatiently for the return of Breaking Bad.
6stretch
Great books from last quarter:
The Death of Bees by Lisa O'Donnell - A coming-of-age in a dysfunctional family, rather dark really.
Seeking Palestine by Penny Johnson - A series of wonderful essays/stories of Palestinian authors reflecting on exile, home, and struggling with their collective identity.
Rough-Hewn Land: A Geologic Journey from California to the Rocky Mountains by Keith Heyer Meldahl - a geologic tour of the west coast, very informative.
Books that fell flat:
The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper
The Tenth of December by George Saunders
The Death of Bees by Lisa O'Donnell - A coming-of-age in a dysfunctional family, rather dark really.
Seeking Palestine by Penny Johnson - A series of wonderful essays/stories of Palestinian authors reflecting on exile, home, and struggling with their collective identity.
Rough-Hewn Land: A Geologic Journey from California to the Rocky Mountains by Keith Heyer Meldahl - a geologic tour of the west coast, very informative.
Books that fell flat:
The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper
The Tenth of December by George Saunders
7NanaCC
Great reading for Q2:
The Butcher Boy 4.5/5
The Sirens Sang of Murder 4.5/5
Team of Rivals 5/5
Life After Life 5/5
At Swim, Two Boys 5/5
Brideshead Revisited 4.5/5
I also read several 4's, and 3.5's, and even a couple of 3's, but nothing I was sorry to have started.
The Butcher Boy 4.5/5
The Sirens Sang of Murder 4.5/5
Team of Rivals 5/5
Life After Life 5/5
At Swim, Two Boys 5/5
Brideshead Revisited 4.5/5
I also read several 4's, and 3.5's, and even a couple of 3's, but nothing I was sorry to have started.
8kidzdoc
My favorite books of Q2, in the order in which I read them:
Favorite reads of the first half of 2013 (4½ stars or higher, in the order in which I read them):
Fiction:
Nonfiction:
Most disappointing reads:
Pow! by Mo Yan
Skios by Michael Frayn
Enon by Paul Harding
I don't watch movies or television series. Sorry. :-)
Favorite reads of the first half of 2013 (4½ stars or higher, in the order in which I read them):
Fiction:
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe: The first great African novel and the most widely read one from the continent 55 years after its release, which is a tragedy about a Nigerian village leader whose downfall comes about after British colonialists and missionaries invade the region in the late 19th century and impart their European rules and Christian beliefs on the local communities.
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson: A clever and captivating novel about a British woman who is born in the early 20th century, dies at various points in her life during in the narrative, and is reborn multiple times throughout the book, as her fate is altered by personal choice and choices external to her.
The Redundancy of Courage by Timothy Mo: A fictionalized account of the war between Indonesia and Timor-Leste (East Timor) beginning in the mid 1970s, after Portugal renounced its claim to the former Portuguese Timor, told through the eyes of a Chinese merchant, freedom fighter and medic.
The Singapore Grip by J.G. Farrell: The last novel in Farrell's famed Empire Trilogy, which takes place in Singapore and Malaya at the onset of World War II and the Japanese war against an ill-prepared army led by bumbling British officers, and set against the lives of several wealthy European and American expatriates, which also serves as a detailed and damning condemnation of the deleterious effects of the British Empire on the residents of that island nation.
The Hired Man by Aminatta Forna: An excellent follow up to Forna's Commonwealth Writers' Prize winning novel The Memory of Love, which is set in a contemporary Croatian town in which an English family purchases a house that holds great meaning and bitter memories to several people who live there.
Nonfiction:
Bad Pharma: How Drug Companies Mislead Doctors and Harm Patients by Ben Goldacre: An eye opening and superb analysis of the largely negative effects that Big Pharma has on the cost of medical care, physician practice and patient safety in the US and UK, written by a British physician and frequent columnist for The Guardian.
The Philadelphia Chromosome: A Mutant Gene and the Quest to Cure Cancer at the Genetic Level by Jessica Wapner: An outstanding contribution to the history of medicine, which describes the discovery of the genetic cause for chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), and the painstaking research that led to the understanding of the mechanism by which the Philadelphia chromosome causes cancer, and the development of a targeted drug that has transformed CML from a universally fatal illness to one which can be successfully managed and controlled in the vast majority of patients.
Most disappointing reads:
Pow! by Mo Yan
Skios by Michael Frayn
Enon by Paul Harding
I don't watch movies or television series. Sorry. :-)
