What are you reading the week of July 8, 2017?

I had a wicked busy week, so not much time for reading. I'm still working on Mesopotamia: The Invention of the City, by Gwendolyn Leick.

Still reading The Fireman and Range of Ghosts.

I finished Rose Tremain's Trespass and now I'm reading Hannah Kent's Burial Rites.

I'm reading Summer of Night by Dan Simmons and it's the perfect thing for summer.
I'm also rereading Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery which is the perfect thing for any season.

Wrapped up The Rosie Project, an excellent lever to lift me out of a reading slump. Now I have to figure out what to read next to stay out of a reading slump.

Almost finished with the elegant and instructive The Last Painting of Sara de Vos. Everything you want to know about forging 17th C. Flemish masterpieces. Don't want this one to end, so taking small bites at a time of this meaty novel.

Will have to thumb through my LT catalog for "to reads."

I'm in the middle of the first book of the Fates series. So far it's been pretty hard to get through since it keeps switching between different characters and using third person, which I don't really like. However,, it has a unique plot and is interesting enough that I don't want to put it down yet.

I'm just halfway through Back to Delphi by Greek novelist Ioanna Karystiani. It is a wonderfully written novel but hard to read because it is about two unhappy people, a mother and son, and all the different ways and reasons they are unhappy.

Finished the thought provoking Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America.

Next up for listening is The Second Mrs. Hockaday by Susan Rivers.

Eragon - Christopher Paolini
Book on CD read by Gerard Doyle
3***

From the book jacket: When Eragon finds a polished blue stone in the forest, he thinks it is the lucky discovery of a poor farm boy; perhaps it will buy his family meat for the winter. But when the stone brings a dragon hatchling, Eragon soon realizes he has stumbled upon a legacy nearly as old as the Empire itself. Overnight his simple life is shattered, and he is thrust into a perilous new world of destiny, magic, and power. With only an ancient sword and the advice of an old storyteller for guidance, Eragon and the fledgling dragon must navigate the dangerous terrain and dark enemies of an Empire ruled by a king whose evil knows no bounds.

My reactions
This is # 1 in The Inheritance Cycle series. I am clearly not the target audience for this fantasy novel. I found the continued “danger – fight – use of magic - flight” sequence repetitive.

However, kudos to Paolini for creating this complex world, with many characters and beings, mythology, history, diverse landscape, and complex social structure. I liked the central relationship between Eragon and his dragon, Saphira. I also liked the relationships Eragon forged with both Brom and Murtagh – two men who genuinely help the youngster on his quest.

The final battle scene is exciting and innovative in some aspects, though I found the use of magic a little bit of a “cheat” to get the characters out of the impossible situation Paolini had put them in. That’s a small quibble, though – I DO recognize that this is a fantasy novel. The open-ended finale is an obvious attempt to get readers to buy/read the next installment. Totally understandable in this kind of series, but it irritates me nonetheless.

I definitely see the appeal for the intended audience, even if it’s not really my cup of tea. I’ll have to ask my nephew if he read it.

Gerard Doyle does a fine job narrating the audio book, although I thought the voice he used for Saphira was unnecessarily “growly” (can’t think of a better adjective). He especially does a fine job of narrating the battle scenes, adding a sense of apprehension, danger and excitement all at once.

Finished The Fireman by Joe Hill. Liked it better than I thought I would. Next up is The Witchwood Crown by Tad Williams.

I just finished Dragon Teeth by Michael Crichton and now I'm reading All the Possibilities by Nora Roberts.

Also added Fatal Headwind by Leena Lehtolainen into my reading rotation.

>3 mollygrace: I read Burial Rights several years ago when reading a year of Iceland with the World's Literature group on Goodreads. I really enjoyed it, and thought that, for a first book by an author, it caught the feeling of the place and time very well.

>13 whymaggiemay: I love a book that takes me to a faraway place and time. I'm not far into the book, but I already trust the author's knowledge and storytelling ability.

I am reading Khaled Hosseini's And The Mountains Echoed, and am loving it. Hosseini is such a good story-teller, and I get lost in his tales.

Am still working my slow way through The Emperor of all Maladies: A Biography of Cancer. My goal is to finish it this year, and reading it a chapter or two a day will get me to that goal. It's not dull by any means, it's fascinating, but I don't have a scientific mind and can't stick with the book for more than a little each day.

Saint George And the Dragon – Margaret Hodges
Illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman
5*****

This is a retelling from Edmund Spenser’s Faerie Queene, which recounts the legend of Saint George who slew the dragon which was terrorizing the country. It’s a wonderful tale of courage, dedication, and perseverance. George is pure of heart, generous of spirit, and brave beyond measure. A lovely fable.

Trina Schart Hyman was awarded the Caldecott Medal for excellence in illustration. Her paintings are rich and vibrant, and full of small details that support the storytelling. After I finished reading the story, I started again at the beginning just to pore over the pictures.

Finally, I have only a few pages to go in Alexander Hamilton. Don't know why it was a struggle, I love history. Anyway I didn't give up. Glad I stuck with it. Whew!

Currently reading The Leopard by Giuseppe Di Lampedusa and The Zimmermann Telegram by Barbara W. Tuchman and am enjoying them both.

I finished Sudden Sea: The Great Hurricane of 1938. Non-fiction that reads like a thriller and highly recommended!

And now I'm reading the latest Ruth Galloway mystery, The Chalk Pit.

Just finished Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. Loved it. Going to start re-reading Between Them by Richard Ford which I only finished a week ago, but also loved.

Finished the Silver Linings Playbook, and regretted it. I now have to reread my entire Darren Shan collection just to get over it.

Finished Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy - criticised for obscenity and blasphemy when published in 1895, there are some very modern ideas in this book whose lover-protagonists wrangle with marriage, poverty, social class, organised religion and access to further education as well as their feelings for each other - but it's soooo relentlessly miserable I need something light hearted to recover.

A bit of romance beckons with Daphne Du Maurier's Frenchman's Creek.

Reading E.M. Delafield's The Provincial Lady in Wartime.

In addition to Frenchman's Creek and occasional dips into Culloden by John Prebble, I finished a long audiobook - Underworld, by Don DeLillo. I'd intended to alternate between paperback and audio but the narrator, Richard Poe brought the book to life with his reading. At 800+ pages the novel itself defies short description but, for this non-American reader, captures the essence of cultural change in that country during the latter half of the twentieth century in a complex tale revolving around the redemption of the main character - unusually, the arc of the story working backwards through time to the scene of his fatal transgression. I was riveted from start to finish.

Hamlet – William Shakespeare
BBC Audiobook performed by Michael Sheen (Hamlet), Kenneth Cranham (Claudius), Juliet Stevenson (Gertrude) and Ellie Beaven (Ophelia), and a full cast
4****

I’ll dispense with the summary for this classic tragedy by William Shakespeare, but as I’ve said before, I really dislike reading plays. I much prefer to see them performed live by talented actors, the medium for which they are written. The next best thing to a live performance, however, must be an audio such as this one, with talented actors taking on the roles and really bringing the play to life for the listener.

There are hundreds of editions of this work, and I recommend that readers get one that is annotated. The text copy I had as an accompaniment to the audio was published by the Oxford University Press, and included several scholarly articles, appendices and footnotes to help the modern-day reader understand Shakespeare’s Elizabethan terms and use of language, as well as historical references. One appendix even includes the music to accompany the songs!

Band of Brothers – Stephen E Ambrose
Book on CD read by Collin Smith
4****

The subtitle is all the synopsis anyone needs: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest.

Ambrose chose one unit and followed the men of that unit through their years of training, and combat during World War II. He profiles the officers and enlisted men alike, showing their reactions to training, to the regimented lifestyle the military requires, to combat, and to each other. In this way, the reader experiences the boredom of routine drill, the excitement and anxiety of waiting to go on the next mission, the adrenaline rush and terror of combat, the anger and compassion on seeing your comrades wounded or killed.

Ambrose conducted hours of interviews with the survivors, and was given access to letters, journals and military documents. The personal stories lend great authenticity to the narrative. The text edition includes photos of the soldiers, and maps of Europe, as well as of specific battle sites.

Collin Smith does a fine job narrating the audio book. He has great pacing and really brought the work to life. However … after listening to the first disc I realized the copy I got from the library was an abridged audio, so I read the text for the remainder of the book.

One final footnote: In the last year of his life, Ambrose was accused of plagiarizing several passages in his book The Wild Blue. He responded that all his works are footnoted, and his sources documented. He said that his main concern was with telling the story, and he regretted that he didn’t always use quotation marks. Forbes magazine did additional research and found suspect passages in at least six of Ambrose’s books. However, THIS book, was NOT cited.

I finished The Twilight of American Culture which I found thought provoking, depressing, with a glimmer of hope.

Just started Consent to Kill by Vince Flynn. Need something to get me away from the early history of the U.S. It's a thriller about the war on terror. So far its OK.

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August
Claire North
4/5 stars
Lead character, Harry August is born a kalachakra which is a person who lives multiple but not infinite lives. When he dies, his life is reset and he is reborn to live his life again. Harry does not have a boring life and has encountered a similar kalachakra, Vincent Rankis who is bent on making a quantum mirror which could have devastating results for the Earth. Harry spends each of his lives tracking Vincent down in hopes of preventing a possible catastrophe that could be caused by Rankis with the only means possible of destroying him. Not a perfect book but very intriguing and a fast read.

>26 BookConcierge: I haven't read the book, but I found the HBO series to be quite good. In addition, if you've an interest in reading more on the subject, at least two of the members of that company came out with individual memoirs, as well.

>30 rocketjk:
Thanks ... I'll look into those memoirs. Saw some of the HBO mini series, but not all of it.

ALSO ... I corrected my original post so that the Touchstone goes to the BOOK (vs the TV miniseries)

So You Want to be President?– Judith St George
Illustrated by David Small
4****

This picture book for young children tells some of the interesting tidbits about the American Presidents, from George Washington to Bill Clinton. The message is that almost anyone can be president – fat, thin, tall, short, born in a log cabin or a mansion, college graduate or struggled to learn to read, army general or tailor. There is an updated edition, that includes George W Bush, but even that one states all that all the presidents have been white men, and that no woman has even run for the office. (Although there is acknowledgement of Geraldine Ferraro’s historic run for Vice President.)

David Small’s illustrations earned the Caldecott medal. His near caricatures are fun and engaging, and he includes small details to delight both children and the adults who may be reading aloud. I loved Teddy Roosevelt playing with a train set on the floor, or Richard Nixon bowling, or the Presidential “band” with Bill Clinton on the sax, Chester Arthur on the banjo, and Thomas Jefferson on the violin.

I think I would probably rate this only three stars if it weren’t for the illustrations. Small’s drawings earned that extra star from me.

Rereading My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand et al.

>30 rocketjk: Band of Brothers mini-series was very well done.

Finished The Leopard, and what a fine novel it is.

Began to read The Canterbury Book of Days by Paul Crampton.

Found some Ellery Queen stories. Quite remarkable trips to the past!

Today finished I Am Not Your Negro by James Baldwin/Raoul Peck (practically a transcript of the film) which was as heart breaking as the film.

And then there was Domenico Starnone's Ties which was less impressive than I had been led to believe. I think I will stick to Elena Ferrante.

The new thread is up over here.