What are you reading the week of April 14, 2018?

I'm about two thirds of the way through Space Odyssey: Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke and the Making of a Masterpiece by Michael Benson. It's been a very enjoyable read with lots of insight into what it took to get some of the effects on screen. It really was a stunning achievement that holds up to this day.

>1 fredbacon: Arthur C. Clarke came to speak at my junior high school in New Jersey soon after the movie was released. I don't remember many specifics of what he had to say. I do remember how tremendous it was to be in the same room with him, even if that room was a junior high gymnasium. Also, I remember that when he was taking questions at the end, somebody asked him how he liked the way the movie of his book had come out. He responded, "Well, I wrote the screenplay, so I was pretty sure I'd like the movie." That's a paraphrase, obviously. We're talking 1968 or so.

I finished up the English cozy mystery Murder in Bloom by Lesley Cookman. Also, Teach Your Dog to Shoplift: a Tommy Wayne Kramer Collection by Tom Hine. This is a collection of satiric newspaper columns published in the Ukiah Daily Journal mostly concerning the ways in which liberals and other nefarious do-gooders have ruined Ukiah, which is the small-city county seat of Mendocino County, California, where my used bookstore is. My more in-depth comments on both books can be found on my 50-Book Challenge thread.

As to what I'm reading now . . . do you ever decide to pick up a book that deals with a world you know essentially nothing about hopes that the book will be enlightening and entertaining rather than confusing? That's what did a few days ago when I grabbed Agnes de Mille's memoir, Speak to Me, Dance with Me off the shelf of the Music section of my store. de Mille was the niece of movie impresario Cecil B. de Mille but she earned her own renown, and then some, as a dancer and, especially, a choreographer. Happily for the cause of reading her memoir, she was also a very good writer. The book so far (I'm about a quarter of the way through the book's 333 pages) is a description of de Mille's experiences during her performance tour of (mostly) England in 1933 and 1934. de Mille makes extensive use of the letters she wrote to her mother in New York during this time. There's lots about the world of dance, and also about the world of arts in general in England at that time, as de Mille, in addition to her personal fame, was well connected and used to moving in elite circles. I'll write more when I've finished the book, but for now I'm enjoying the reading and feeling once again reinforced in my habit of picking up books more or less at random and giving them a go.

I had a busy week so I'm not much farther along in Caliban's War by James S. A. Corey than I was last week. Hopefully I can make a little dent this weekend.

Still reading The Clockwork Boys.

Now reading Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda. Tale of three families - one in San Francisco and two more in India, and their connections.

Started A Ring of Endless Light last night. Yes, mollygrace, so far I'm enjoying it. Although...what both Vicky Austin and, a few years later, Polly O'Keif see in Zachary Grey is beyond me. He gives me the creeps! Then again, I'm no longer a teenage girl. I might have viewed him differently had I read these books in my own teens. Glad to meet Adam Eddington again. His work with dolphins recalls the dolphin in The Arm of the Starfish. I really enjoy how L'Engle weaves characters between series - Adam here, Cannon Tallis in The Arm of the Starfish, The Young Unicorns and Dragons in the Waters and so forth. It gives you a sense of a large and unified world.

Keep adding books, not only to my To Read list, both here and unofficially, but also to my To Reread list. Like rocketjk, I often pick up books on a whim, even if they have little or nothing to do with my comfort zone. It's kind of curious: On the one hand, I almost always read for fun, or at least enjoyment, while on the other I seldom fail to enjoy a book. Consequently, it's rare for me to abandon a book altogether.

A couple of threads back someone mentioned Ready Player One. I came across it quite some time ago, added it to my BARD wish list and promptly forgot it. Several months later I came across it again and, on trying to add it to my wish list, discovered it was already there. So, I read it. Though I'm a good ten or fifteen years older than the apparent target audience, so that many of the pop culture references and the attitudes irritated me, still, it was surprisingly enjoyable. Can't imagine a movie made of it though. Picked it up on a whim (though it's not that far outside my usual groove at that) and enjoyed it.

Added the de Mille book to my TBR. That is a bit off my beaten path, though I do have several memoirs and biographies of musicians and songwriters on the list, while England between the wars is also of interest. There quite often are threads, if you look for them.

I'm binge-watching The Office (U.S. version) and haven't been reading much this week.

I am making my slow way through The Plague by Albert Camus, which I've had on my shelf for years, just waiting for me to make time for it. I'm also sort of reading Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond, but because I use my phone as a reading device so rarely, I keep forgetting that it's on there.

I'm halfway through Daughters of Palatine Hill and and finding it a bit disappointing after previously reading I Am Livia by the same author. Such an interesting setting (Ancient Rome) but the writing is falling short of the first novel for me.

I have just finished the very powerful novel Coal Black Horse by Robert Olmstead.

I just bought a brand spanking new iPhone7 and was bemused to discover that, if I'm listening to a book from my Audible library on my iPad and then select the same book on my iPhone, the system allows me to pick up on the phone where I left off on the pad. Talk about Clark's Law!

I’m reading “Anvil Chorus” by Shane Stevens

April 1975 In Paris a
man is found dead, hanged with a piano wire ,name is Dieter Bock an ex ss captain.
But the inspector Dreyfus don’t believe he committed suicide , and besides was he the real Dieter Bock or no,and if not, where is the real Dieter Bock?. The investigation cover the entire continent, from the mossad to european secret intelligences. I bought because I was in a nostalgic mood, and I remembered when I red “Dossier Odessa” by Frerik Forsyte in my teen age years , and from the blurb this one seemed to me similar.

Loving a reread of Montana 1948 by Larry Watson

>2 rocketjk: I'm a little envious. I never had the opportunity to hear or meet ACC in person. I've just seen him on television...and read nearly everything he every published. His books were a staple of my youth. I still recall the Christmas that I received several of his books as being one of my favorite days. Even sitting here now, 45 years later, I can still feel the excitement of reading those books for the first time. Reach for Tomorrow, Expedition to Earth and Childhood's End. Truly, the golden age of science fiction is 12. I've finish the book on the making of the film. It's a wonderful read, but I do have some reservations about it. The author seems a little too credulous. He seems a little too eager to believe some minor production people when they take claim for some major ideas in the film. I'm not talking about the major roles of the special effects guys, the designers, and the brilliant makeup effects from the Dawn of Man sequence. In fact the collaboration between the head of makeup and the gifted performer who played Moonwatcher is one of the most magical parts of the film and the book.

Finished Clockwork Boys by T. Kingfisher and started Glass Houses by Louise Penny.

Just finished listening to the excellent, 8f disturb8ng, Future Home of The Living God by Louise Erdrich.

Next for listening is The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan.

>13 fredbacon: Yes, it was a great day and is still a wonderful memory, obviously. I wouldn't say that I got to meet Clarke, as I was just one of the kids in the gymnasium bleachers that day, but I did get to see and hear him in person.

Continuing Happiness Is a Choice You Make by John Leland which started as a year-long series in the NY Times.

I finished Amy Bloom's White Houses which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Next up: Travelling in a Strange Land by David Park

Just finished:

Little Dorrit - Charles Dickens
Not his best... not even close.
Best for me are "Bleak House" and "Our Mutual Friend"

Revival - Stephen King
OK
Haven't read him in years... had a craving for one I'd never heard of and that hadn't been made into a movie.

Now on the nightstand:
A few pages in to Grant - Ron Chernow
and a Louis L'Amour

>7 ahef1963: I thought Evicted was very eye-opening.

>12 aussieh: I loved that one, too.

>15 hemlokgang: Both of those are on my wishlist.

Following this group is going to be dangerous for me as I am trying to reduce my collection of unread books.

I always have several books going and am reading:

The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng
On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder
and I'm listening to Bring Up the Bodies as I travel in my car

Old Heart – Peter Ferry
3.5***

From the book jacket: Tom Johnson has turned 85 and has suffered a few “events,” though he knows his mind is still sharp. His adult children want to move him out of the homestead lake house and into a retirement home. But Tom resists in a most clever way. He slips away from his remaining family and sets out to find the only woman he ever loved, a woman he met in the Netherlands where he was stationed during World War II.

My reactions
If it hadn’t been for an F2F book club I probably would never have come across this little gem of a novel. I loved these characters (or loved to hate … in a couple of cases). In a short work the author addresses issues of aging, marriage (good and bad), lost opportunities, holding on to one’s dreams, taking chances, being responsible, and the meaning of love.

We were fortunate to have the author present for our discussion and a number of interesting points were brought up that had me rethinking some of my reactions. Our multi-generational group had some decidedly different points of view depending on our own ages. (Those characters I loved to hate at first now seem to have a few redeeming qualities.)

Birds Of a Feather – Jacqueline Winspear
Digital audio performed by Kim Hicks
3***

The second book in the Maisie Dobbs series has Maisie’s private investigation agency established with an office, and a full-time assistant, Billy Beale. She’s proven herself to Inspector Stratton of Scotland Yard as well. But when Maisie is asked to track down a missing heiress she begins to find clues that point to a connection between her case and Stratton’s murder investigation.

I like this series. Maisie is a resourceful, intelligent, assertive young woman, who listens carefully and seeks advice from her mentors. She’s also astute in noticing problems, and compassionate in helping others confront their demons. Billy is a wonderful sidekick and I like that Winspear includes some after-effects of his service in WWI (i.e. “The Great War”). This gives Maisie some additional chance to use her training in psychology. I also appreciate the growing relationship between Maisie and Stratton. I’ll keep reading this series.

Kim Hicks does a fine job of voicing the audio book. She has good pacing and is skilled at using the various dialects and accents required for this series.

>20 streamsong: I enjoyed A Gift of Rain. Well written and moving, though I preferred The Garden of the Evening Mists. The name of that book, alone, would have made me want to read it.

Finished A Ring of Endless Light late last night. Rather difficult towards the end, but indeed a lovely book. Started Troubling a Star, though I fell asleep just a couple chapters in. I'm sorry to be drawing to the end. I do need to reread A Swiftly Tilting Planet and finish Many Waters. But I'm not at all sure I want to read L'Engle's adult novels. We'll have to see.

I finished The Sixth Extinction which was a very readable account of the history of man's understanding of paleontology and previous extinctions followed by the various threats precipitating the present glut of extinctions.

>23 whymaggiemay: I also loved The Garden of the Evening Mists which I read several years ago. I immediately picked up a copy of A Gift of Rain where it languished on my shelves.

>24 Catreona: I have a copy of A Wrinkle in Time sitting on my 'read me soon' pile since I want to reread it before seeing the movie.

>25 snash: I've been meaning to read that one since several people have given it great reviews.

The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Adversity
Nadine Burke Harris
4/5 stars
Harris discusses the long term effects that physical and mental adversity have on all children, the ways to treat it and her advocacy in promoting it and encouraging all physicians to screen for it in all of their young patients by using the ACE test (My Adverse Childhood Experience). I was surprised to read that childhood adversity actually changes a person’s DNA possibly leading to “disease and early death”. Harris does a great job explaining the process without too much technical jargon.

Finished the lovely and thought provoking Troubling a Star and started rereading A Swiftly Tilting Planet, or rather listening to it read by the author. I also have A Wrinkle in Time and A Wind in the Door read by the author, recordings I particularly enjoy.

I've just finished reading A Quiet Belief in Angels by R.J. Ellory.

The book was extremely well written, original, and unsettling to an indescribable degree. I read it in one sitting, and will need to sleep with the lights on tonight. As powerful as I thought the book was, I will not be reading more books by Ellory. I feel so panicked and jittery after reading this novel that I feel literally ill, and have imagined hosts of horrible things happening to me. This is why I don't watch horror films or ghost movies, and now I need to add R.J. Ellory's books to the list of things that are simply too much for my already nervous dispositon.

Happily wading through Dirty Little Secrets by A.J.J. Graves and also Sudetenland by George T Chronis.

I finally started Madeline Miller's Circe and stayed up way too late reading it- love it! I'm flying through it.

I'm also reading Ironweed by William Kennedy in small doses. I find it is a lovely book to read before I go to sleep. Kennedy's prose has an almost dreamy quality.

I'm also reading Last Hours by Minette Walters. It's well written but I've been thrown by the modern thinking of some of the protagonists. They would fit in quite well in the world of 2018 but I wonder if, in 1348, there were such forward thinking folks? Having just finished a non fiction book on the plague, it would feel more like 1348 if they went out on a pogrom or burned a bunch of people at the stake. I wish Walters had stayed with psychological suspense.

I'm through Book 4 of the Jowett translation of Plato's Republic . Feel free to check back in with me in a decade or so...

>31 enaid: I thought Ironweed was such a lovely book. Sweet and sad and beautifully told.

After the trauma that was R.J. Ellory, have moved on to comfortable crime fiction: The Hidden Child by Camilla Lackberg. Am also working my way through The Plague by Albert Camus: it is not something that I can read in large doses. Also, bit by bit am still reading Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond.

>33 ahef1963: You're absolutely right about Ironweed. I expected a novel about depressing ne'er do wells in upstate NY but instead, I've got this beautifully written novel that seems to comfort me. An unexpected delight.

I finished The Last Hours night. I'm sorry to say that, as much as I love books about the plague, this one was deeply unsatisfying. I'm sad about it because Minette Walters is one of my favorites and now I think she is a bit undependable.

Circe is a very compelling read, so far. Marvelous, really.

Great!

Finally got around to buying A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. Have to wait till I finish several other books. But I must admit I want to start it now.

The new thread is up over here.