What are you reading the week of November 25, 2017?

I'm a little more than halfway through The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character by Samual Noah Kramer. This is my third book by Kramer on ancient Sumer, and it is by far the best. But they are starting to get a little repetitive. Disentangling history from mythology is tricky. Gilgamesh may have been a real king in Uruk (Erech) during prehistory. There is archeological evidence for some of the individuals mentioned as his contemporaries in the Kings list. But perhaps he's just a Sumerian Paul Bunyan, or John Henry or Mighty Casey. And there is room for him to be both. The Sumerians are enigmatic and fascinating. I can't get enough of them right now.

One other thing. I'm going to be traveling to visit family the weekend of December 16, 2017. That's three weeks from today. Is there anyone willing to volunteer to start this thread that weekend? I won't have access to the internet except via my phone. Thanks.

Just started Glass Houses by Louise Penny to keep up with the latest in the series.

Finished the The Country Girls and now halfway through the second in the Trilogy of that name, The Lonely Girl (confusingly called The Girl With Green Eyes in some editions) - all very evocative of rural Ireland and Dublin in the late fifties/early sixties. Caithleen is a likeable heroine with just the right amount of rebellious spirit, albeit tempered by a strict Catholic upbringing.

Finished The Hundred Year Old Man... on audiobook and enjoyed it much more than I anticipated.

I'm one hour into David Copperfield, narrated by Nicholas Boulton, and relishing the relaxed atmosphere evoked by his rich voice - I foresee much lingering in the driveway, reluctant to switch him off...

The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy
Rachel Joyce
4/5 stars
This is the heart warming sequel to The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and in it the author focuses on the character, Queenie. Queenie is at the end of her life in a nursing home. When she finds out her former co-worker, Harold Fry is taking a pilgrimage to see her, she reminisces and writes about their friendship and her awkward relationship with his son, David. Harold's trip has also charmed the other nursing home residents and changed life for them too as they look forward to his visit.
I read Joyce's first book in the series, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and enjoyed it but you can read either book on its own and in any order, IMO.

Still reading Tower of Glass, Fortress in the Eye of Time, and Deathless. Suffering from the year end blahs so I'm not reading as much or as fast.

The Wine Lover's Daughter by Anne Fadiman, one of my favorite essayists. So far it's absolutely delightful.

Finished The Law of Similars, Little Fires Everywhere, the latest Wimpy kid and will finish Stengel at some point today. I'm going to start The Bear and The Nightingale, How to Find Love in a Bookshop and The Sleepwalker today too

Happy new thread, everyone, and thanks to Fred for starting us off.

My book blog has a gift guide running all month long...that is, from 24 November to 24 December...called Booksgiving. Out of ideas for your bookish buds? I'm recommending each of these titles for the various groups and sub-groups.

I finished Starworld, and with it Harry Harrison's enjoyable science fiction trilogy, "To the Stars."

I also completed a couple of "between books" (anthologies, collections and other books of short entries I read one story/chapter at a time instead of straight through):

The Arbor House Treasury of Great Western Stories edited by Bill Pronzini and Martin Harry Greenberg and From the Land of Sheba: Tales of the Jews of Yemen collected and edited by S. D. Goitein. There's a bit more on all three of these on my 50-Book Challenge thread.

Today I will begin Velva Jean Learns to Drive by Jennifer Niven.

I finished Death of a Perfect Mother last night. Wow; what a great mystery. I'm still thinking about it. I've never read anything by Robert Barnard and I hope his others are up to this because this was a really fun book. He pokes some fun at everyone and the ending caught me off guard. If you like mysteries - I highly recommend this one!

Finished Theft by Finding & started Dragon Springs Road by Janie Chang, which drew me in from the start.

Finished The Lonely Girl - not as good as the The Country Girls for me - the main character's ongoing angst/inferiority complex made me impatient to be finished.

Started and finished The Children Act - I like McEwan's well-rounded storytelling technique, his well-researched content (in this case highly thought-provoking Family Law cases) and perceptive social comment. Not my favourite of his novels but a worthy addition to his body of work.

Started A Clockwork Orange - the unusual language doesn't bother me but the violence does, so I'm reading very quickly and not dwelling on detail...

I finished listening to the somewhat disappointing short story collection, Uncommon Type: Some Stories by Tom Hanks.

Now listening to Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

I am not far into and so far can't get back to it quick enough.

The Stolen Child by Lisa Carey.

>13 floremolla: A Clockwork Orange is my absolute favorite book since I read it in high school. Such a work of genius. The movie, too, is amazing.

I'm reading Snowblind by Ragnar Jonasson, a good Nordic noir so far, and Untwine by Edwidge Danticat, which my wife liked a lot.

I reviewed The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion at my blog: https://tinyurl.com/y9pgj84m

It's an anarchist/genderqueer/lesbian urban fantasy. I loved it.

Finished Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente. Not a book I was in the mood for so I didn't really enjoy it. Next into the rotation is Winter of the Gods by Jordanna Max Brodsky.

>17 jnwelch: Ooh, a Nordic crime writer I've never read. Have added that book to my Amazon wishlist.

Finished reading Me Before You by Jojo Moyes and wept copiously.

Currently reading The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula LeGuin. A few years ago I decided that eventually I would read all the Hugo award winning novels in an attempt to bolster my (at the time) almost non-existent knowledge of science fiction. This book, while fascinating, is slow-moving, and I'm having to push my way through it.

I'm still reading 'Salems Lot by Stephen King. It's kind of spooky, especially since I grew up a small town girl.

Reading Dubliners by James Joyce, I like the way it captures the poetry of mundane ordinary existence.

Rabbit Cake
Annie Hartnett
4/5 stars
Elvis, a young girl and her sister Lizzie live an unusual life with weird but wonderful parents. However, one night when her father drinks too much, he is unaware that his wife, who walks in her sleep, got up and left the house only to drown while trying to swim in the lake. The house is thrown in chaos as they deal with her death. To make matters worse, Lizzie starts to sleep walk. But there are some bright spots with Elvis, who starts volunteering at the zoo and Lizzie, who is trying to make a world record by making the most rabbit cakes ever made. Enjoyable and heart warming.

Finished Katie Roiphe's Uncommon Arrangements: Seven Portraits of Married Life in London Literary Circles 1910-1939. I thought it was thoughtful and fascinating. I recommend it!

Finished Obama: An Intimate Portrait by Pete Souza, a marvelous collection of heartwarming and historic photos. Oh how I miss that man as the leader of our country!!!

I'm re-reading Roland Bainton's Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther in conjunction with the 500th anniversary of the start of the Protestant Reformation.

Finished Tower of Glass by Robert Silverberg. Meh. Added The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson into my reading rotation.

>25 hemlokgang: I'm looking forward to Souza's book. I'm waiting for my library copy.

I finished Americanah and although it was very well written, it seemed to just go on and on. I think Half Of a Yellow Sun was a much better read.

I also finished Roz Chast's Going into Town: A Love Letter to New York which was very sweet and made me nostalgic.

So now I've started another Bosch book - The Narrows.

I'm reading Provenance by Ann Leckie, the author of the Ancillary series, and Untwine by Edwidge Danticat.

>5 JulieLill:
Totally agree, Julie, that you can read these two books in either order. I think I liked MISS QUEENIE better than HAROLD FRY (but that's based on memory ...)

Victim Six – Gregg Olsen
3.5***

A serial killer is terrorizing towns around Puget Sound. Kitsap County Sherriff’s Detective Kendall Stark begins the investigation and identifies the common threads linking these murders. Serenity Hutchins is a hungry young reporter intent on making her name on this story, but where is she getting her inside information?

I really liked Kendall as a lead character. I’m glad that Olsen included some of her back story and home life, to give the reader a more rounded character. She is a really strong female lead character – smart, resilient, resourceful, intelligent and compassionate.

I was less enthralled with Serenity. Though I think I understand some of her thought process, given her upbringing, I just can’t reconcile her behavior with that of a committed journalist. I’m struggling with how to describe my dissatisfaction with her as a character, because I don’t want to include any spoilers.

Still, I could barely put it down. This is a tightly-written, fast-paced psychological thriller. It’s not for the faint of heart; it’s about a sexual sadist serial killer, and there are some very graphic scenes.

The Xibalba Murders – Lyn Hamilton
3***

Number one in the Lara McClintoch Archeological Mystery series, takes our heroine from her home in Toronto to the Yucatan peninsula. Lara’s marriage has ended and she’s lost her business, so when a former teacher and mentor calls and asks her to come to Merida, Mexico to help him with an important new discovery, she jumps at the chance. But Dr Hernan Castillo is killed before she can meet with him and now she’s a suspect in his murder. She doesn’t know whom to trust, but is certain if she can find out what Castillo had discovered she’ll solve the murder.

Every chapter began with some explanation of the relevance of the day to the Mayan calendar and Maya gods. Lara dreamed about Mayan deities and used those dreams to guide her actions. I am a fan of magical realism, but Hamilton’s efforts seemed heavy-handed. I also thought Lara behaved in a reckless manner on more than one occasion. I identified the culprit long before she did, but then the book would have been very short if she’d caught on when I did!

All in all, it was a somewhat entertaining mystery … a bit more hard-hitting than most cozies, though Lara IS an amateur sleuth. I did enjoy learning a bit more about Mayan lore.

>25 hemlokgang: Me too!

Victoria and Albert: A Royal Love Affair by Daisy Goodwin and Sara Sheridan
This is the official PBS "Masterpiece" companion book for "Victoria" season 2. The show starts Jan. 14th here in the US!

Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography
Laura Ingalls Wilder Edited by Pamela Smith Hill
2.5/5 stars
This is the annotated version of Laura Wilder's autobiography. I was excited to read it and I love it when there is extra material to flesh out a book but this book just dragged for me. The annotations were excessive, pulled you away from the story and were sometimes much longer than the actual written selection. I do think this book is historically valuable and if you are Wilder fanatic or scholar, you will probably love it but for the average reader you might just want to skip it.

I finished Kafka's The Castle. Hierarchy, class distinctions, and bureaucracy were all themes of the book. There may have been others but they escaped me. Long convoluted and difficult to read.

The new thread is up over here.

>36 snash: I love The Castle, but I have a weakness for weird, convoluted books. It's my favorite of his novels.

>38 jnwelch: I noted that numerous people did like The Castle. I like some weird and convoluted books, too, but not this one for whatever reason.

>39 snash: Too bad; it happens. I'm not a big fan of The Great Gatsby, for example, and there are an awful lot of people (including our daughter) who love it. Have you tried his bizarre Amerika? It's a more fun read, IMO. And The Trial, of course, is a classic.

>40 jnwelch: Yes I have read The Trial and liked it. Have not read Amerika

The Lost City of the Monkey God – Douglas Preston
Digital audiobook narrated by Bill Mumy
4****

Subtitle: A True Story

From the book jacket: A five-hundred-year-old legend. An ancient curse. A stunning medical mystery. And a pioneering journey into the unknown heart of the world’s densest jungle.

My reactions: Wow. Preston is perhaps best known as the co-author with Lincoln Child of the mystery series starring FBI agent Aloysius Pendergast. But he has also written nonfiction, and worked as a writer and editor for the American Museum of Natural History.

I was mesmerized by this adventure story, as Preston recounts the expedition’s efforts to find these ruins in the dense jungle, plagued by weather, poisonous snakes, and biting insects. And I was equally interested in the history (rumors of a lost city of immense wealth date back to the days of the Conquistadors) to the alleged curse that anyone who dares enter the city will fall ill and die.

But this was more than just an adventure of grown men playing at Indiana Jones. Preston also give equal time to political discourse and environmental impact. And the medical mystery of aftereffects of their time in the jungle was equally fascinating, and horrifying.

Bill Mumy does a fantastic job narrating the audio book. He set a great pace and I felt the sense of awe and wonder at the expedition members’ discovery of the ruins, as well as their anxiety and worry over symptoms that puzzled medical professionals.

Chocolate, Chocolate – Frances Park and Ginger Park
3***

Subtitle: The True Story of Two Sisters, Tons of Treats, and the Little Shop That Could

When their father died of a stroke while on vacation, the Park sisters were left adrift. They were in their twenties, and still living at home in suburban Virginia with their mother when they decided to use the inheritance their father had left them to open a boutique specializing in high-end chocolates. This is the story of that “little shop that could,” and of the bond between two sisters.

It’s a charming memoir, but I found it repetitious. While I admit to self-medicating with chocolate, reading about that in chapter after chapter is less satisfying. Co-authored by the two sisters, it is also written in an oddly first-person-plural style combined with third-person references. So they’ll write something along the lines of “We were excited…” Followed by “Francie gave the customer…” I honestly don’t know how else they might have written it, as co-authors, but for me, it just didn’t flow.

Still, they have an interesting story to tell, and I really likeved their relationship with their mother and with their customers.