What are you reading the week of December 29, 2018?

I've given up the pretense of trying to sleep this evening. I'm almost finished with We Stormed the Reichstag, the short memoir of a Red Army soldier and war correspondent who was in Berlin at the end of the Second World War. While books about the grand strategy and operations are good, it's the simpler tales of individual soldiers that I truly enjoy. The typical military history book is never going to tell you that the lilacs were starting to bloom and their scent filled the air when Berlin fell.

I'm almost halfway through Freedom by Jonathan Franzen. At around 600 pages long, it's an investment, time-wise. It's also fairly grueling. Although it's quite well written, all of the main characters are unpleasant, so it's hard to get through. For some perverse reason, though, I'm committed to finishing.

I wrote earlier about reading Never Caught, and about my frustration with the writing. However I was interested in the story so I kept reading - and found if I read it like a novel, it made more sense. I'd check with the footnote section on some items that seemed unbelieable to find that there was evidence. Just finished it - learned much about Ona Judge, as well as the background of slavery, laws, and albulitionists in the time after the Revolution. Also learned much about George and Martha Washington, and some of their interesting ways of getting around certain state laws.

I still say this could have been written as a novel, with someone of the calibur of Barbara Hambly at the writing helm. But glad I got through it - Im now looking at the bibliography with an idea of what to read next

I'm closing in on the ending of Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas by Maya Angelou which will bring me to my 2018 goal number. I'm happy it will be with such an entertaining book.

Still reading all four of the books I was reading yesterday.

I finally wrote my ecstatic warble about Circe by Madeline Miller.

Re-reading Enchantress of Numbers: a Novel of Ada Lovelace by Jennifer Chiaverini
I bought a paperback edition of the novel.

Previous read: A Bound Heart by Laura Frantz
Novel set in early 1750s Scotland, Virginia, and Jamaica--the author was inspired by her family history for the book.

Among books I'm reading: Art lab for kids--express yourself! : 52 creative adventures to find your voice through drawing, painting, mixed media, and sculpture. The book presents a series of "Labs," or projects, in a variety of artistic endeavors: drawing, painting, printmaking, mixed media, and paper-based. Each project includes a materials list, a description or prompt, and step-by-step instructions. From its introduction, the book seems written with adults in mind, e.g. parents or educators, who would assemble an artistic space and offer the projects as lessons -- but the way the projects themselves are presented, I think that older children could also explore them independently. This is a book I'd very-much like to add to the shelves at my school library. (https://www.librarything.com/work/22669800/)

Finished last Christmas in Paris by Hazel
Gaynor. Historical novel, WW1 era, written in letters. :)

Now reading classic Agatha Christie - the body in the library

Trying to finish up All Aunt Hagar's Children: Stories
by Edward P Jones before the end of the year!

Finished Erika Johansen's The Queen of the Tearling and added her The Invasion of the Tearling into my reading rotation. Definitely a guilty pleasure type of read. Liked it much more than I should have.

I really must get through A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing by Eimear McBride because darnit, it might be the best Joyce-style thing to come out of Ireland since the Great Man Himself. Her command of language is so uncanny it feels like her prose operates on a peculiar logic of its own that most writers couldn't even imagine. It's all fleshy bodies and shameful emotions and poor, dirty Ireland. I think I've read books set underwater that didn't make me feel this uncomfortably damp. It's an absolutely stunning performance, at least in the first third. But it's a tough read and my life's a bit too chaotic to get through something that heavy right now. But nothing happens in my town from January to March, so I'm giving it another go.

I picked up Red Flower of China again, which is a memoir of a Chinese woman who was swept up into the Red Guards and did a whole bunch of stuff she lived to regret later. Jeez.

As for short stories, I read the first two in Edie Meidav's Kingdom of the Young and found them pleasantly offbeat, so let's see what happens there.

Amazon Kindle seems to be giving away the store in its daily deals these days and I'm so glad I've still got something left on that gift certificate that my sister gave me for my birthday a while back. Hoping for a good year.

Enjoying this iBook ~

Becoming by Michelle Obama

I finished Kissing in Manhattan which puts my yearly total at 72, a record for me although I admit several were relatively short books. An apartment building in Manhattan linked the characters of the various stories of this book. The characters and plot were not quite believable and much of the sex too violent for my taste.

I finished listening to Becoming by Michelle Obama, which was utterly fantastic! I also finished listening to the fun Finger Lickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich.

I have started listening to Lethal White by Robert Galbraith.

I haven't had time for much hard cover reading as I have been road tripping for ten days, yet I look forward to picking up and reading Half A Lifelong Romance.

All Aunt Hagar’s Children
By Edward P. Jones
3.5/5 stars
Jones relates the stories and the eye opening experiences of African Americans through short stories taking place chiefly in Washington D.C. during the 20th Century. Tapestry, the last story is particularly well written about a young woman’ who makes tapestries, then marries and is taken from her country home to the big city to live with her new husband. Jones has won multiple awards for his writing and many have appeared in the New Yorker.

I crammed in one more book before the end of the year, Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts by Lucy Dillon. It was a cute quick read.
Happy 2019 everybody!

Happy New Year, everyone !!

Enjoying this OverDrive audiobook ~

12th of Never by James Patterson
(a Women's Murder Club series book/San Francisco/it commences with Lindsay giving birth to a baby girl)

I love Jack Reacher. I’m reading past tense by Lee Child

Reading Which Lie Did I Tell by William Goldman. Goldman wrote the original screenplay for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the screen plays for his novels, The Princess Bride and Marathon Man, among many others. Although somewhat rambling, Goldman gives a behind the scenes look at what makes a good screenplays and movies, dealing with actors and directors and why movies often are different than the books they are based on. Will be interesting to anyone who enjoys films.

Happy New Year, all!!

I should finish up my reread of Jane Eyre today or tomorrow. It’s been a joy.

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck

I finished Mary Gordon's The Liar's Wife: Four Novellas and began reading Ivan Doig's final book, Last Bus to Wisdom. I've had the Doig book for quite a while but kept putting off reading it because I didn't like saying goodbye to a favorite author. I'm enjoying the book, though -- and thinking about rereading many of my old favorites: English Creek, Dancing at the Rascal Fair, Heart Earth, Whistling Season . . . and, of course, This House of Sky.

Working on Kitchen Yarns by Ann Hood and E erything Here is Beautiful by Mina t. Lee

I finished Jonathan Franzen's novel, Freedom, late on New Year's Eve. I thought the book was very well written but nevertheless hard to get through. My short review constitutes the final post in my 2018 50-Book Challenge thread.

Next I'll be turning to my tradition of starting each calendar year with a Joseph Conrad novel. I've been reading (or in most cases rereading) them in chronological order for many years now, at least one per year. I only have a couple left to go. This year, I'll be reading The Arrow of Gold, the next to last Conrad novel published during his lifetime (there was one published posthumously). The Arrow of Gold is not considered one of Conrad's great classics, but it is intriguing for me in that it is the only Conrad novel (not counting the two he co-wrote with Ford Maddux Ford) that I haven't read yet. A new Conrad! Happy New Year to me!

First review of 2019: The Clock Strikes Twelve by Patricia Wentworth. Seventh in her Miss Silver series, this WWII story of family secrets and lies leading to murder was...okay.

Iron Lake by William Kent Krueger
4****

From the book jacket: Part Irish, part Anishinaabe Indian, Corcoran “Cork” O’Connor is the former sheriff of Aurora, Minnesota. Embittered by his “former” status, and the marital meltdown that has separated him from his children, Cork gets by on heavy doses of caffeine, nicotine, and guilt. Once a cop on Chicago’s South Side, there’s not much that can shock him. But when the town’s judge is found dead of a gunshot wound and a young Eagle Scout is reported missing, Cork takes on a mind-jolting case of conspiracy, corruption, and scandal.

My reactions:
This is book one in a series that has become immensely popular and catapulted William Kent Krueger onto a list of the best mystery / thriller writers. The plot is satisfyingly complex, with many suspects, unclear motives, uncertain crimes (Accident? Suicide? Murder?), and more twists and turns than the most fiendish roller coaster.

Holding it together is Cork O’Connor. This is a complicated man; generally, a good guy with a strong moral compass and guiding sense of justice, he is not without flaws and makes his share of personal mistakes. Yet he is uniquely able to investigate both in town and on the reservation, giving him clues and information that is often withheld from “outsiders.”

I’ve had this series on my tbr for ages and regret that I waited so long to begin. I’ll be reading more of this series.

The Hypnotist’s Love Story– Liane Moriarty
Audible audio performed by Tamara Lovatt Smith
4****

Ellen O’Farrell works out of her home as a professional hypnotherapist. She likes her life, except for a failed romance. She’s moved on but would welcome another shot at a long-term relationship. Then she meets Patrick. They hit it off and things are going well when he spouts the dreaded “We need to talk.” Turns out Patrick has an ex-girlfriend who is stalking him.

What an interesting and fresh take on relationships and the psychology of love. What makes us attracted to one another? What holds us together? What happens when one partner moves on, but the other hangs on – desperately, crazily, dangerously?

The relationships between these three people – Patrick, Ellen and Saskia (the ex-girlfriend) – are complicated by misinterpretation, jumping to conclusions, and secrets kept from one another. They are all broken in some way, and all trying to come to grips with past and current relationships. And it will take a significant crisis to finally bring some sense of resolution, however tenuous.

Tamara Lovatt Smith does a fine job narrating the audiobook. However, Moriarty switches point of view between the two women. In the text it’s a little easier to tell when she switches. One character’s perspective is always written in first person, the other in third person narrative. However, there is much dialogue in which a character would naturally speak in first person. (e.g. “I went to the store.”) While this is easy to discern on the printed page, it’s less obvious when listening. Not the narrator’s fault at all, but it still adversely affected the audio experience. I would probably have rated this higher if I had read the text rather than listened.

The Constant Princess – Philippa Gregory
Book on CD performed by Jill Tanner
3***

Book six in her Plantagenet and Tudor series focuses on Catalina, Infanta of Spain, daughter of Queen Isabela and King Ferdinand, and known in English history as Katherine of Aragon, first wife of Henry VIII.

I admit that I knew little about Katherine, other than her end (thrust aside in Henry’s mad affair with Anne Boleyn). I never realized that she was the daughter of Isabela and Ferdinand, that she’d been trained as a warrior queen, and that she’d been betrothed to Henry’s older brother Arthur when she was but four years old. This was one fierce lady; intelligent, mentally and emotionally strong, an astute observer and able to plot and plan with the best of them.

Gregory gives the reader a strong female lead, and I was caught up in the story at the beginning, but I found that the story seemed to bog down in details. I got tired of the “waiting” and can only imagine how Katherine felt enduring those years of “limbo” while she waited for a marriage and an heir.

Jill Tanner does a fine job performing the audiobook. She sets a good pace and really brings Katherine to life. I get the sense of how young they all were at the outset. (Katherine and Arthur were married only five months when he died, leaving her a widow at age seventeen.) And Tanner gives the young Henry a boyish immaturity that really contrasts with Katherine’s steady and superior though process.

Angels At the Table – Debbie Macomber
Digital audiobook read by Kimberly Farr
2.5**

This is a romance set during the holidays, featuring a restaurant chef vs a food critic, with the help/interference of four angels. Angels Shirley, Goodness and Mercy have a new apprentice angel, Will. On New Year’s Eve they make a quick orientation trip to earth, and Will, in his excitement, causes Lucie Farrara and Aren Fairchild to meet. But they weren’t supposed to meet this early in their lives and Angel Gabriel is pretty upset with them for interfering. Fast forward a year later and the angels have to fix the situation.

This is a typical schmaltzy Christmas romance with more than a little humor thrown in. Some of the situations are downright ridiculous, and the angels, for all their good intentions, seem mostly inept. But it’s a fun read and everything turns out okay in the end. (Surely, you’re not surprised to read that.)

Kimberly Farr is a talented voice artist and she does a fine job reading the audiobook. She kept the action moving along and it was easy to follow. I was a little confused a few times about which angel was speaking, but it really didn’t matter all that much.

Currently reading The Year of Living Danishly, a memoir about a British couple who move to Denmark and try to incorporate the Danish lifestyle and secrets of happy living, my ER title The Binding, whose author Bridget Collins has been likened to Sarah Waters and Mercury: An Intimate Biography of Freddie Mercury.

First book begun in 2019 The San Francisco Earthquake, a Minute-by-Minute Account by Gordon Thomas. Learning so much from it that I didn't know and, of course, it's frightening me because I live on the opposite end of the state and we're overdue for a big shaker of our own.

Happy New Year!

I surpassed my year's goal of 80 books; I read 83. I am pleased.

This year's reading is going to be dedicated to reading some of the huge books on my shelves that look too daunting to begin. Victor Hugo, Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Charles Dickens, the complete works of H.P. Lovecraft, etc. I'm also going to read more non-fiction, even if I have to do it a chapter a day - I find reading non-fiction a challenge.

Am beginning the year with The Stand by Stephen King. It's over 1400 pages, and I'm one fourteenth of the way through. I'm enjoying very much.

Enjoying this library audiobook ~

Beauchamp Hall: a Novel by Danielle Steel

(after three major disappointments, Winnie decides to visit the village in England where a Downton-Abbey type show is filmed)

I finished Last Bus to Wisdom and now I'm reading Patrick deWitt's Undermajordomo Minor.

Just finished Which Lie Did I Tell; More Adventures in the Screen Trade by William Goldman. Goldman was the screen writer for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. I found his insider's look at screen writing and film making fascinating. Will start Why Religion A Personal Story by Elaine Pagels tonight.

Happy New Year to all.

>28 BookConcierge: Have read this series in its entirety and really enjoyed it. I hope you do, too.

The Cat Who Saw Red – Lillian Jackson Braun
Book on CD read by George Guidall
3***

This is book four in a delightful cozy mystery series starring newspaper reporter Jim Qwilleran and his two Siamese - Koko and Yum Yum. As the novel opens, Qwill has started a new diet, which is complicated when he’s assigned to write a new gourmet column for the paper. He starts by attending a gourmet club meeting at Maus Haus, the home of an attorney, where he meets an old flame.

This is an entertaining series with a very likeable main character who is appropriately nosy, given his journalism background. His relationship with his cats is nicely portrayed without being overly saccharine. Of course, Koko, in particular, does seem to have a knack for helping Quill solve the cases – he can even type!

Braun includes a large cast of suspects, acquaintances, and passers by. Maus Haus is a sort of boarding house catering to the arts community, and it seems that everyone is in everyone else’s business. That certainly complicates Qwill’s efforts at finding the truth. Still, for all that, the action is somewhat slow. People go missing, and odd things happen, but no one is concerned but Qwill and the police are never involved.

George Guidall does a satisfactory job of reading the audiobook. I was not a big fan of the quality of his voice, however. I read about a third of it in text as that was faster.

Finished my first book of the new year: Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear. I enjoyed it much more than I was expecting to.

Adding an ARC of The Wall by John Lanchester to my reading rotation. There is still no touchstone for the book.

I finished my first book of 2019. Coat Upon a Stick was a story of a very angry old Jewish immigrant living amongst ghost from his past and other old Jewish men each of whom have found better ways of coping. Very well written. It reminded me some of stories by Isaac Singer.

I finished Undermajordomo Minor by Patrick deWitt. Now I'm reading The Plain Sense of Things by Pamela Carter Joern.

The new thread is up over here.