What are you reading the week of August 5, 2017?

I finished up Last Hope Island, Lynne Olson's group portrait of European ex-patriots in London during the Second World War. Olson is wonderful storyteller, and with this theme she has much to draw from. There is really nothing truly new here, but unless you are a voracious consumer of WWII history, you are likely to stumble on new and worthwhile tales of heroism and incompetence. It's a book well worth reading. I can't praise it enough, even though it has now added several new books to my "must read" pile.

I also made time to read the new English translation of Andrea Camilleri's A Nest of Vipers. I am going to be so sad when the translator runs out of source material. Catarella, Fazio, Mimi, and Inspector Montalbano are some of my favorite characters in crime fiction. I'll gladly stay awake into the wee hours of the morning to finish one of these books.

Still reading The Witchwood Crown, Too Like the Lightning, Deep Black, and the Dracula book.

As I mentioned in last week's thread, I'm going to be reading a friend's unpublished memoir this week and giving her my thoughts on it. Next up after that will be a Travis McGee novel, A Purple Place for Dying.

Now reading Weight of Ink thanks to a fellow LT reader, and Lock in for a book group. Enjoying both so far

I'm reading The Pleasure of My Company by Steve Martin. So far it's a pleasure.

Reading Blind Justice, the first in a mystery series featuring 18th century British judge Sir John Fielding by Bruce Alexander, highly recommended by a friend. Great fun so far!

Reading and enjoying Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, a new author for me.

>7 framboise: I couldn't get touchstones for my previous post either. Perhaps there's something wrong with the system today?

>8 NarratorLady: You were right, must've been a glitch yesterday.

I also downloaded Version Control, which I will probably bring on vacation in a couple of weeks. I normally (never) have time to read on vacation but like to have something just in case. I think this is the first trip I may download the Lonely Planet rather than bring the book because of luggage constraints, and the book is just so heavy.

I finished Einstein: A Biography which presents his life by subject first and chronology second which means it is sometimes confusing as to what happened when. I particularly appreciated the several chapters that attempted to follow his thought processes. The book also does not sugar coat his difficulties in dealing with women and those close to him.

Only to Ch. 3 of Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor, an English writer of the last century who I (and many others) overlooked. But she was much admired and hailed by fellow contemporaneous authors. And now by me!

I'm trying to finish Click: When We Knew We Were Feminists edited by Courtney E. Martin and J. Courtney Sullivan. In the meantime, the to-be-read pile is calling my name.

I have started on A Spool Of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler, not far in, all up 465 pages long!! so far a little mystery regarding a wayward son.

After 100+ pages and no sign 9f a plot, I gave up on Nostromo by Joseph Conrad. Very disappointed!

I read the interesting Intensive Care: The Story of a Nurse by Echo Heron.

Next up to read is a French novel, Rencontre sous x by Didier van Cauwelaert.

I continue listening to A Gentleman In Moscow by Amor Towles.

I just started, this past week, a full-time job, my first in nearly 20 years. Staying at home with children, a slew of part-time jobs, and an attempt to work from home have filled the past two decades. Now it's back to full days, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., which tired me out so much last week that I was asleep every evening by 7:30 p.m., and slept all day Saturday (no joke, I slept for 19 out of 24 hours). I have read NOTHING in the past week. I don't even remember what book I was reading. Hopefully this week will prove less exhausting, and I will be able to find time to read.

Good Luck.

Still reading The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair by Joel Dicker and War and Turpentine by Stefan Hertmans. I'm trying to finish both books before I go on holiday at the end of next week, but am unlikely to succeed with either.

Had another stab at Catch-22 yesterday but fizzled out after three chapters. Am still only 90-odd pages into the book.

>15 ahef1963: Good luck adjusting to your new schedule.

>15 ahef1963: Hee, that happens to me every year at the end of the summer. Going back to school, that first week or so I crash on the couch at about 7:30 or 8pm. Once I get going Im fine, but Im not able to read then either! It does get better.

>15 ahef1963: I work part time but because of a lot of our staff was off for vacation- I worked 11 days out of 12 days. Boy, I was beat. I give credit to everyone who works full time especially with a family at home to take care of. Plus my reading time went downhill.

When Breath Becomes Air – Paul Kalanithi
Digital audiobook narrated by Sunil Malhotra and Cassandra Campbell
4****

Paul Kalanithi was in his mid-thirties, about to finish his training as a neurosurgeon when he was diagnosed with an aggressive lung cancer. This is his memoir.

Kalanithi certainly writes eloquently about his experiences, both as a physician, dealing with some heart-breaking cases, and as a patient facing his own devastating diagnosis. The forward by Abraham Verghesse gives some additional insight, and an afterward by Paul’s wife finishes the story of how this came to be published. I was interested and moved by his story.

It’s a good book… perhaps even a great book. I’m glad he and his wife shared this story with the world, but perhaps my expectations were too high, given all the accolades and the number of people telling me I MUST read this book. It just didn’t rise to the 5-star level for me.

The audiobook is narrated primarily by Sunil Malhotra (for the forward and the memoir written by Kalanithi himself), and Cassandra Campbell (reading Lily’s afterward). Very well done audio.

>15 ahef1963:

I think it's time you retired!

Ask yourself, "When I'm on my death bed will I regret that I didn't work full time hard enough, or will I regret that I didn't have time to read The Luminaries?"

Let your answer be your guide what to do with your life.

15: ahef1963
I hope you feel better. stamina is a hard thing to reestablish.

>15 ahef1963: After a week or so, each day will get better! It is a big adjustment, though, for both body and mind - good luck!

I finished Ann Patchett's Commonwealth which was wonderful and unexpected. A family saga, yes, but much more than that.

Now I've started The Tsar of Love and Techno. So far, I'm not loving it like I did A Constellation of Vital Phenomena but I'm only 70 pages in.

Enjoying Physics of the Impossible by Michio Kaku.

Reading Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett for summer entertainment and Tell Me How it Ends by Valeria Luiselli to better understand the topic of children immigrating to the USA from Latin America.

>22 Limelite: That's funny--I regret the time I tried reading The Luminaries, which I will never get back.

Still reading Pachinko which is great.

Added Before I Go by Leena Lehtolainen to my rotation. Can't seem to settle on a book to concentrate on.

The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler
3/5 stars
Simon Watson, a librarian and his sister Enola have seen plenty of tragedy. Having lost both parents, one by drowning, they now live separate lives. After he loses his job, Simon receives an unusual book in the mail about a traveling circus that includes a story about a mermaid who drowned. Who sent him this book and why? Does this have anything to do with his mother's tragedy?

Best wishes ahef!

Just finished listening to the absolutely marvelous A Gentleman In Moscow. Next up for listening is The Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende.

I am really loving A Spool Of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler, however i do have a problem, I have just discovered the DVD series of The Game Of Thrones, I am a late discoverer I know!! just finishing Series three and I am really hooked!! so with reading and viewing my afternoons and evenings are full on!!

>27 framboise:

LOL!! War and Peace?

Just finished reading Rencontre sous x. Interesting plot premise.

Next up to read is When Nietzsche Wept by Irving Yalom.

>31 aussieh: Oh, I envy you your first viewing! Enjoy! I read the books long before the show started, still think they are classics, but am pissed that the author isn't finishing the series. So the show is doing it for him. That being said, you might want to read them at some point.

Still on The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George. Amazing!

I finished reading The Ghost Map. It is ostensibly about a cholera outbreak in the 1850's in London but in telling the story it tells the story of London, various persons, public health, epidemiology, bacteria etc. The ending kind of wanders off in speculation but otherwise excellent.

#35travis 1259- loved that!! Have you read her new one the little French bistro? Quite good

>15 ahef1963: good luck with the full time job!
>22 Limelite: lol, now if we could just find a way to pay the mortgage while reading... :))

I had a little holiday that didn't involve much reading but I've finished Rebellion by Joseph Roth and Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse - both short and thought provoking in their different ways.

I've started another short novel, Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan. And I'm still listening to Don Quixote on audio - three hours to go...

>1 fredbacon: Thanks for telling me about Last Hope Island. It looks like a good companion to my current reading of The Victors: Eisenhower and His Boys which, though interesting, is not Stephen Ambrose's best work IMHO, primarily because I've read so many of his WW II books and some of this is repetitious of those (though, in his defense, he tells you that at the beginning of the book and, often, he finds new ways to give you the same information).

I just finished Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders. I thought it was wonderful. Best novel I have read in a long time. Starting Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon.

>15 ahef1963: You have all my sympathy! The first month always seems like a blur of finding one's way and having a schedule to keep to.

I'm about halfway through William Finnegan's Barbarian Days a Surfing Life. It's wonderful; Finnegan is a terrific writer. I feel like I'm on the best possible adventure with a really interesting guide. It won the Pulitzer and rightfully so.

I've been exploring poetry and reading The Gift: Poems by Hafiz, a poem here and there.

Rereading Kate Atkinson's One Good Turn, for fun. I'm a few pages into Blitzed: Drugs In the Third Reich; it's certainly holding my interest but I'm not sure I'm in the mood for Nazis, just now.

Just finished the fantastic novel, When Nietzsche Wept.
Next to read is Compass by Mathias Énard.

Also finished The Japanese Lover. Next up to listen to is The Women In The Castle by Jessica Shattuck.

#37 No but I intend to, and to also reread The Little Paris Bookshop. Fun!

#45 Travis1259-yes they were!!