What are you reading the week of April 27, 2019?

I finished up Midnight in Chernobyl. It's a good book, with reservations. I feel as though I'm going to have to read another book on the subject to fact check this one, however.

I've started Madame Fourcade's Secret War, Lynne Olson's new biography of the woman who ran one of the largest espionage rings in occupied France during the Second World War. Olson's books are always good reads, so I'm looking forward to this.

I'm about 75% of the way through The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. I feel like there's some underlying commentary about society here, but we'll see how it all turns out.

The Beautiful Poetry of Donald Trump
Rob Sears
3/5 stars
This came across the desk at the library and was so intriguing I just had to read it. Rob Sears took President Trump's tweets and transcripts arranging each sentence and made them into poetry. Every sentence was spoken by Trump which the author backs up with notes on where each sentence came from.

The Annotated Little Women
Louisa May Alcott
3/5 stars
I found this classic story of Little Women which was made into an annotated version. I wish I could I say I loved this version but I had a hard time with it. There were copious annotations in the book and most were very tedious which took me away from the storyline. I was looking forward to a re-read but I must have never read this version because this was so different from what I remembered. Perhaps I had read a children’s version when I was younger.

Enjoying this OverDrive audiobook ~

Cold Truth by Mariah Stewart

(Truth series, book #1/police detective Cassie Burke/FBI agent Rick Cisco/true-crime writer Regan Landry/return of a long-missing serial killer)

I finished Another Brooklyn, an excellent story of four childhood friends growing up to young adulthood in a poor Black neighborhood told in snipers of memory. Haunting.

I'm going through a stack of my "between books" at the moment, and after that will read A Soldier's Wife by Irish author Marion Reynolds.

Now reading Fascism: A Warning by Madeleine Albright, secretary of state under Clinton. Disturbing parallels with our current president.

Still reading Shogun. The Naked God, and The Raven Ring. Though I try, I just can't seem to make much progress in any of them.

Started on Vanish In An Instant by Margaret Millar she is a Canadian crime writer from way back, back cover quote "She has few peers, and no superior in the art of bamboozlement ".

This week I read
a) The Dry by Jane Harper - Australian crime fiction, and some of the best crime writing I've found in a while.
b) Old Filth by Jane Gardam - lovely, humorous, and occasionally dark character study of a retired judge.
c) The Ice Twins by S.K. Tremayne - he? she? does eerie very well, but plot and reality seemed to be unknown to the author. It was not a good book, nor did it satisfy in any way.

Am now reading the second-to-last No. I Detective Agency series by my beloved Alexander McCall-Smith: The Woman Who walked in Sunshine, which I will follow with the last book, Precious and Grace. I am unsure whether or not this is the end of the series.

Just finished Taran Wanderer and will shortly be starting the fifth and last Chronicles of Prydain book, The High King. I'll be sorry to see this lovely series end.

A Broth Of Betrayal – Connie Archer
2.5**

Book two in the Soup Lover’s Mystery series. There’s a lot going on this summer in Snowflake, Vermont. A developer is running afoul of local residents with his plans to build a big car wash in a prominent location. Construction workers uncover a skeleton that may require examination by an archeologist or historian. There’s to be a Revolutionary War battle re-enactment. The village’s car mechanic is found murdered in his office. The mayor has gone missing. And then another murder takes place.

At least Lucky tries to leave the murder investigations to the police, but she is all over trying to find Elizabeth, who is the Mayor (and a close family friend). And, of course, instead of working with on of the teams of volunteers who are searching for clues, she has to go off on her own without telling anyone where she is or when to expect her.

The main problem I have with this story line is that despite ALL the stuff that’s going on, it feels as if the action is dragging. And what’s with the insistence on using Naval time-telling? Yes, I know that Lucky’s grandfather was in the Navy but do both Jack and Lucky have to keep time this way? Over and over there’s a reference to “four bells” and then a translation to “2 o’clock.” I just found this irritating.

I’m really enjoying Stewart O’Nan’s latest, Henry, Himself. It’s a prequel, for the most part, to both Wish You Were Here and Emily, Alone, and now I want to read both of them again.

>10 ahef1963: I loved Old Filth. The other two books in the trilogy, The Man in the Wooden Hat and Last Friends, are both really good, too!

>10 ahef1963: I agree with Copperske the the Trilogy is great reading, Jane Gardam is one of my favorite writers.

Yesterday I finished going through one of my "between book" stacks. Here are the chapters/articles/stories I read from each:

* “Romanticism and It’s Fate, Part 3 – Attempted Synthesis: From Goethe and Hegel to Jung” from The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas That Have Shaped Our World View by Richard Tarnas

* “The Greatest Album Ever Made” from Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung by Lester Bangs

* Excerpt from Times and Places by Emily Hahn from The Norton Book of Women's Lives edited by Phyllis Rose

*“France under Laval” from The Secret History of the War, Volume 1 by Waverley Root

* “At Loose in the Big Apple” from Uncommon Type: Some Stories by Tom Hanks

* "The Ringing of the Chains" - Part Three, Chapter 4 of the novel The Apostle by Sholem Asch

* “The Trial of Arthur Miller” by John Steinbeck from Esquire Magazine - 40th Anniversary Celebration edited by Don Erickson

I've now begun the novel A Soldier's Wife by Marion Reynolds. I bought this book in the fabulous Vibes & Scribes bookstore in Cork City a little less than a year ago, basically on a whim. It seems to be self-published, it is on the high end of such endeavors, certainly. The book cover tells us that this A Soldier's Wife is "A winner of the 2013 Irish Writers' Centre Novel Fair." This seems to be an award from novels in progress, as Reynolds, in her acknowledgements, says, "I might never have finished the novel had not the Irish writers' Centre chosen my novel as a winner of tat the Novel fair 2013, so my thanks to them." At any rate, this is a first novel and does exhibit the first novel's frequent lack of polish. On the other hand, Reynolds story is based on research into her grandparents' lives, and we are in interesting times, as we begin in 1902 with a young Irish woman meeting and marrying a sargeant in the Connaught Rangers, an Irish line infantry regiment of the British Army, and as of page 60 we are packed off to India for a 7-year tour. Despite my first-novel reservations, the writing is certainly good enough for the book to be enjoyable in the reading, and those first 60 pages went pretty quickly. This seems to have been offered on LT as an Early Reviewer book a few years back. Just skimming the LT reviews from that time, it seems the book was met with basically luke warm reviews: no one really hated it or really loved it, but most readers enjoyed it to a great or lesser extent. I'm looking forward to finding out for myself and hoping for the best.

The Hate U Give – Angie Thomas
Book on CD performed by Bahni Turpin
4****

Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter is the narrator of this contemporary novel that deals with some major social issues facing America. Starr and her friend Khalil are driving home from a party when they are stopped by a policeman, presumably for a broken taillight. Things go badly and Starr is left reeling from the trauma of the event, as well as her guilt and fear.

I love the way that Thomas writes these characters. Starr is, in many respects, a typical teenager. She has a boyfriend (who she’s kept hidden from her parents), she works part time in her father’s store, she fights with her brothers, and hangs out with her girlfriends. But she also struggles with leading a dual life: Starr from the hood, whose father is an ex-con and former gang member, vs Starr the good pupil at a predominantly white private school.

Thomas gives Starr a relatively stable home environment: a family-owned house (including a fenced yard and vegetable garden), neighbors who look out for one another, and, most importantly, two parents who love one another, work hard, set a good example and try to give their children the education they’ll need to succeed. She also gives Starr a couple of very good friends, both at her high school and in the neighborhood.

The realities of living in an urban neighborhood that is stressed by unemployment, gangs, poverty, drug use and broken families are all present, however. Her parents give her “the talk” when she’s about twelve – No, not the birds and the bees talk (though they do that as well), but the “here’s how to behave when the police stop you” talk. Something that most parents never even consider a necessity. Starr is keenly aware of the differences in her own situation as opposed to that of her neighborhood acquaintances; and of the even larger differences between her home and that of her fellow students at her privileged high school.

I thought Thomas did a good job showing Starr’s emotional swings; she’s scared, angry, anxious, and numb. But she also experiences love, joy and humor. There are no easy answers here, and in fact the novel raises more questions than it gives solutions. But these are issues than need examining, and this is a great way to start the conversation.

Bahni Turpin does a superb job narrating the audio. She really shows the range of Starr’s emotions as the events unfold. I also liked the way she interpreted Maverick and Lisa (Starr’s parents), as well as her boyfriend, Chris. It’s an emotionally charged story, but Turpin never over-acted the story. Brava.

It's Mueller time!

Yesterday evening, the Mueller Report was at the top of my
must-read-immediately list. I decided to download the 99 cent
Kindle offering (released report/no commentary). The obstruction
section was my starting point. The text-to-speech feature allows
me to go back and forth between the eBook and Alexa's narration.

https://www.librarything.com/work/23150734/book/168278054

Finished listening to Where The Crawdads Sing, and thought it was excellent.

Next up for listening is The American Agent by Delia Owens, the new installment in the Maisie Dobbs series.

Finished The Raven Ring by Patricia C. Wrede. Enjoyed it.

Next into the mix is The Death of the Necromancer by Martha Wells.

Finished Grass by Sheri Tepper

Now reading Girl of Glass Megan O'Russell and
A share in death Deborah Crombie

Enjoying this OverDrive audiobook ~

Intervention by Terri Blackstock

(Intervention trilogy, Book 1/drug addiction/murder of an intervention specialist/missing teen/Christian lit)

Finished: ARC copy of Kingsbane by Claire Legrand
The novel is #2 in the "Empirium Trilogy" releasing later this month. I got an ARC copy through a drawing in the publisher's publicity promo for the book.

Finally finished the nonfiction The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia by Michael Booth. The book grew on me and really presents a lot of interesting information from the perspective of a British man living in Denmark. Recommended for people interested in this part of the world.

I finished Stewart O’Nan’s latest, Henry, Himself and loved it.

I think I’m going to read Lissa Evans’ Old Baggage now.

>17 Molly3028: I envy you. As far as I know, there's no way for me to read The Mueller Report.

Finished The High King late last night, and am sorry to come to the end of this lovely series. This evening I returned to Walls: A History of Civilization in Blood and Brick.

I finished Elizabeth Hay's book about her parents, All Things Consoled: A Daughter's Memoir. Hay never fails me -- her book is honest and touching and beautifully written.
Now I'm reading Bowlaway by Elizabeth McCracken.

>25 Catreona:

You can read it at the National Public Radio site ~
https://www.npr.org/2019/04/18/708850903/read-the-full-mueller-report-with-redac...

I am reading and loving Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. I highly recommend this book. I hope Delia has more fiction books in the future.

I'm reading Hounded by Kevin Hearne which I picked up from the library. I was in picking up a DVD I had requested and saw this series. I still have books in my TBR pile, but sometimes I just can't help myself when something catches my attention, whether it is a re-read that is nagging me or just poking around at the library which I really enjoy doing.

#28 hi Maureen- crawdads was fabulous!!

I finished Ceremony. It was the story of an Indian/white man dealing with his past and his experiences in the Philippines during WWII. He used ancient Indian stories and medicine men to regain peace with the world. Perhaps I'm dense, but I sometimes lost track of what was happening where he was when and how he got there.

Bowlaway: A Novel
by Elizabeth McCracken
3/5 stars 5/3/2019
Bowlaway is the story of the unusual Bertha Truit, her family and friends in Salford, Massachusetts. When we first meet Bertha, she is in a cemetery and presumed dead but her life isn’t over and she eventually sets up her life in Salford surrounded by her husband Dr. Leviticus Sprague. She opens up a bowling alley where candle pin bowling is the game and life revolves around the alley with characters coming and going, growing old and dying. I had some difficulty with keeping track of all the characters coming in and out of the story line but overall I enjoyed this book.

Pachinko– Min Jin Lee
Audible audio performed by Allison Hiroto
4****

This is an epic work of historical fiction that follows four generations of one Korean family living in Japan, beginning in 1910 and ending in 1989.

I was quickly drawn into the story and eagerly followed Sunja as she allied herself with Isak, the kind, tubercular minister who takes her from her homeland to Japan and raises her son as his own. I loved how the women created a business selling sweets to supplement the family’s earnings, and how they made practical decisions, that ensured their survival.

The men, however, were frequently frustratingly entrenched in their historic cultural roles of protector and/or head-of-household. I got the distinct feeling that Hansu went along with the secret not out of altruistic motives, but to save his own skin. He wanted to have his cake and eat it, too. Of course, secrets can’t remain secret forever and when they come out one can expect traumatic and dramatic results.

I did get a bit bored with the repetition, especially the co-dependent relationship between Solomon and Hana. I wanted to slap them both silly. It’s a very long book, and perhaps Lee was too ambitious in following the generations so far. Still, I was engaged and invested in these characters’ stories, and the setting and timeframe gave me some insight into a culture about which I know little.

Allison Hiroto goes a very good job narrating the audiobook. She has a lot of characters to deal with but was able to give them sufficiently unique voices so as I was not confused. I do wish the text version had a family tree, however.

The new thread is up over here.

Cdyankeefan I Just finished and loved it! What have you read lately that's good?

Hi Maureen - my sister the serial killer, queenie, the Marsh kings daughter are all good...and of course anything by Chris bohjalian

cdyankeefan, thanks for the recommendations!! Love Chris Bohjalian!! Hope he has a new one soon.

I finished While I Was Gone which I enjoyed but wasn't blown away by. It was basically a story of mistakes and the need for forgiveness of others and oneself.