WHAT ARE YOU READING? - Part 3

New month, the old thread is getting long so time to move to a new one.

Spring is almost here in the Northern hemisphere (and autumn down under). Does the change of seasons influence your reading?

Pull up a chair and come tell us what you are reading :)

no they dont for me. givne that we have 6 month of summer, there really isn't all that much difference reading wise

Just finished The One Hundred Years of Lenni and MargotThis is a very good debut for tis author and hope to read more from her soon. I was esp impressed with the different voices of the main characters: lenni as a 17 year old, and the changes through the years for Margo. Despite being about death, there is much wit, dry humor and love during thei r lives. I was also pleasantly surprised by the lack of twee, until the end. I think the book should have stopped several pages before. Still this is a book I wont forget. Rating 4*

I started a new job on Wednesday, so my anxiety is through the roof which makes concentrating on reading a bit hard. But, I am trying to read One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The first sentence is just so .... *sigh* perfectly strange and wonderful. And for nonfiction, I started The Teacher Who Couldn't Read by John Corcoran yesterday.

As far as the change of seasons go, when the weather gets sunny (we've had a lot of gloomy weather here in SoCal for the last couple of weeks), I tend to like lighter and more fun reads.

>4 avidmom: what kind of job?

>4 avidmom: one of my favorite begining; loved the book

I finally finished My Vietnam, Your Vietnam and have started Grass Soup. Excellent so far.

I'm not sure the books I read change with the seasons, I just read a whole lot less in the warmer months. Too busy outside with the garden, etc.

I went to the library on March 1 and came back with a giant stack of books to read. Will I actually read them? Who knows! I've started with Marina Tsvetaeva's Earthly Signs: Moscow Diaries 1917-1922. For those unfamiliar, Tsvetaeva was a Russian poet, and although I've read her poetry, I'm haven't read any of her prose. I'm also listening to Alex Michaelides's The Fury while I walk in the evenings: so far, dull.

>4 avidmom: wish you well with the new job. Marquez will wait till your ready. I do like that boat early on with the flowers.

>8 rasdhar: I’ve been raiding my own library. Yesterday I got four from The Women’s Prize nonfiction longlist. I won’t have time to read them, but i wanted a chance to page through and read some introductions. (The four are: All that She Carried (I didn’t like the tone in the introduction), The Dictionary People (fantastic introduction), Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 million years of human evolution (intro is all about the male-subject bias in medical studies.), and How to Say Babylon (which I’m listening to, but wanted to get a sense of how it reads without the author’s voice))

As for what I’m actually reading - Chaucer continues. I’m on fragment 7. How to Say Babylon continues on audio. And Friday I started Flags in the Dust by William Faulkner. It has a lovely opening section where the language controls the pace, slow but forward moving, giving thick vivid impressions.

I have finished Lovely War on audio - a pleasant lighter read. Nice little production with multiple narrators and a pianist. Starting The Mountains Sing tomorrow.

>10 WelshBookworm: I loved The Mountains Sing when I read it.

ETA: I also read her second novel, Dust Child, which while not quite as good dealt with the children of American GIs who got left behind.

I started reading the greatest stories of Edith Wharton, last fall, but put it aside due to many books I needed to ready over the holidays. So this morning insomnia made me look for a diversion, happened upon it, and started reading though the morning. My goodness these are good . Includes his fathers son, the reckoning,the fullness of life, the descent of man. my favorite of all is a venitian nights entertainment Very fun reading.

>12 cindydavid4: sounds wonderful

>5 dianeham: I am the very new and very wet behind the ears Literacy Coordinator for our local library. I am still in a bit of shock that they hired me; I almost turned it down! LOL

>6 cindydavid4: It's that first sentence that is just so ... perfect!

>9 dchaikin: Thank you! I am going to need all the luck and prayers I can get!

>14 avidmom: What a fantastic job and what a good fit for it they found. Just remember that they are lucky to have you.

>14 avidmom: congrats. The selection committee did a wonderful job.

>14 avidmom: That's wonderful! What will the job entail?

I'm reading The Berry Pickers which I'm really enjoying. It's a new novel about what happens to a Mi'kmaq family in Maine after their youngest daughter goes missing.

For nonfiction I'm reading Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 million years of Evolution and I'm listening to The Confidence Code on audio. This last was recommended to me by a colleague. I generally don't enjoy this sort of leadership/self-help book, but the woman who recommended it really want to talk about it, so I'm giving it a try.

>15 RidgewayGirl: >16 kjuliff: >17 labfs39: Thank you everybody! :) I appreciate it.

>17 labfs39: My main job is to match learners with tutors (right now the learners outnumber the tutors by a lot), recruit tutors, and hold workshops to train the tutors. There is probably going to be some community outreach and grant writing involved as well. It's going to be a challenge, for sure. There is a lot to learn.

>14 avidmom: That’s great! Congratulations!

>19 avidmom: We used to have that at our library when I first started working there. Forgot all about it. Not sure if the library ran the program or just provided the space.

>19 avidmom: That's very interesting. Monroe County Library System in Indiana used to have a program like that, and I was a volunteer tutor. Mostly I did classes, but some individuals as well. Their program was called VITAL (Volunteers in Tutoring Adult Learners). Then I moved to Washington, and the King County Library System there farmed out their literacy program to Eastside Literacy. I volunteered with them too. I loved both programs. You'll be doing important work!

I'm reading Wandering Stars, Tommy Orange's new novel and enjoying it a lot.

wrong touchstone for wandering stars; takes me to an anthology of Jewish sci fi fan

>9 dchaikin: I saw your post about the Women's Prize on the Lists thread. Everything looks very tempting. I think taking a quick peek at the introductions and paging through like you're doing is a very good way of narrowing down what you'd like to read.

A couple of days ago I finished The Teammates: A Portrait of a Friendship by David Halberstam. This one's really for baseball fans only. As the title lets on, The Teammates is a book about the friendship between Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr, Johnny Pesky and Dom DiMaggio, four members of the famed Boston Red Sox teams of the late 1930s through the end of the 1940s. All in all this is a well-written and affection portrait the the four players and their friendship over the decades. It's also a fun look back at a bygone era in baseball. You can find my longer review on my Club Read thread.

I've now started The Prophets by Robert Jones, Jr., a novel that was shortlisted for the National Book Award in 2021.

I needed a handbag-sized book so I started Amongst Our Weapons by Ben Aaronovitch. I needed to do a quick online search on the previous book in the series to remind myself of what had happened.

I finished The Berry Pickers and I think I'm finally going to read A Fine Balance next. I started the first few pages and it grabbed me right away.

>28 japaul22: Yeah, I picked up the novel thinking I would have to make an effort to read it, but it pulls you right in.

Plugging along my two ongoing series, took my time finishing Eternal Life - really savoured those last bits and then took a short break to let it sink in. Am now reading The Way Back by Gavriel Savit - a bit of a change for me, but I'm really drawn by the magic realism and folklore elements.

I just started a book that came out today- American Mother by Colum McCann with Diane Foley.

>31 dianeham: I’ve read some good reviews about this book. Looking forward to your take.

>32 kjuliff: me too. Thanks.

>4 avidmom: Congratulations on the new job! It sounds like a challenge, but also fun.

I'm still(!) plugging away at The Warburgs: The Twentieth-Century Odyssey of a Remarkable Jewish Family and These Three Remain.

I finished the audio book I've been working on, Eversion by Alastair Reynolds last Saturday. It's a science fiction story about a ship and its crew that go through what seem to be various eras searching for a way into an 'edifice' that the voyage's financier is paying them to find and explore. The premise is good, with a nice twist toward the end. I enjoyed the narrator's ability to switch voices for the different characters, including the Russian and Spanish accents. My next audio book is Paris in the Present Tense by Mark Helprin. I just started it today, and I'm trying to get used to an American narrator. I usually lean toward British narrators.

Also still plodding through my work-related book, Intelligence-Driven Incident Response: Outwitting the Adversary.

>13 dchaikin: I ended up liking all of them, and decided I need to read more, so I got new york stories of edith wharton since I loved old new york so much

A lot going on so not much reading getting done. Just pages from one book, or another...

>36 avaland: Understandable, I think

I have started Tinkers by Paul Harding. It's one I've owned since 2011, but never got around to reading for some reason. After reading This Other Eden, I was eager to read something else by Harding. Another small book, but good so far.

>36 avaland: take care Lois

>37 labfs39: oh! Enjoy Tinkers. It came out of nowhere.

I’ve decided not to read American Mother. What I was most interested in reading was her conversation with her son’s killer. That conversation was the first thing in the book. Then it goes into the story of his life. I just don’t want to read that. I was more interested in her than him. But I found the conversation with the terrorist not very enlightening and I don’t really see why she wanted to talk to him. Her son was held hostage at two different times and I don’t want to read about that.

>39 dianeham: Your touchstone goes to a book on Indian Mythology. Prob a better read from what you post

>40 kjuliff: thanks. Fixed.

>39 dianeham: >40 kjuliff: well, what book on Indian mythology? It could be a lot better!

>42 dchaikin: I don’t remember, and now it’s fixed. I remember it was about First Nation’s mythology but it had. “Indian” in the description or maybe part of the title. I’ll try touchstoning it again. American. Mother - here it is. I expect to see it on your tbr list Dan!

Mother Earth, Father Sky: Native American Myth by Tom Lowenstein & Piers Vitebsky

Lots of pictures. Look cool!

I thought you meant Hindu mythology.

>45 dianeham: No it was Native American - but it had the word “Indian” in the description on LT which I only briefly saw, because I realised it was the wrong book and didn’t read the rest of the description.

I had assumed India too. But changing the continent didn’t seem to dim my inner enthusiasm.

>47 dchaikin: Have you been to India?

>48 kjuliff: no. Not even close. The closest I’ve been might Penang, Malaysia, or the Doha airport

>49 dchaikin: it’s a truly amazing country. I’ve spent a few months there. Mostly in the north.

sooooo jealous! have wanted to go these since reading the just so stories So I travel vicariousl thro books about it

I grew up in Afghanistan and Iran - visited India a couple times, and became a total Kipling addict. Wonderful stuff. Have you read any Rumer Godden books? She (and her sister) have written some amazing stories, about there and elsewhere.

I'm currently doing a (nearly) complete rereading of Nathan Lowell's Golden Age of the Solar Clipper books. I wanted to read the Traders series because I wanted something light and rich...and I hadn't realized how continuous it is. Traders connects to Seekers, with Smugglers going on in the background, and the last of the Seekers stories ends with the two branches combining...so now I need to read the SC Marva Collins series that is the next section of the same story. I skipped Shamans this time through, because it's somewhat darker than the others and I wasn't up for that. I do love Lowell - rich, complex stories that don't focus on how nasty people can be to each other - they focus on what people can do to support one another. Partially by showing the nasty side and how to counteract it, partly by showing how people miss the aim...but mostly by showing people going about their day and their work (which happens to be running a giant space freighter, and traveling between space stations and trading goods and cargoes). Exactly what I needed to get me through this nasty cold that has me thoroughly laid up.

BTW, for those who read audio by preference - these books started as podcasts, and are all available as audiobooks. I suspect they're very good, but as I can't focus that way, I've never tried them. Words in a row for me, please.

>52 jjmcgaffey: I have heard or Rumen Godden but never read her. what kind of books does she write and where would I start?

Hi guyssss, im new to this group lol
im reading "the siren" by kiera cass

I’m having a lot of trouble reading My Heavenly Favorite . It’s the darkest book I’ve ever read and I’ve had to put it away for a while. I’m now reading The Dinner, another book from the Netherlands. It’s a grayer shade of dark in comparison.

The job search is getting me down so instead of going on a snack rampage I went to the library.

I only left with two books - Nothing To See Here and All The Dead Shall Weep - but the visit had its desired effect. Few things reliably make me feel better than looking at books.

I also started A Half-Built Garden for bookclub which makes a total five books I'm actively reading.

>53 cindydavid4: The one of hers I've read multiple times (though not recently, probably due for a reread) is The Diddakoi - that's set in England and about a half-Romany child who is abandoned and adopted and her problems fitting in (and making people accept her as she is). Very very rich.
I realized when I went looking that...um, that's the _only_ one of hers I've read. Well, except for Mouse House which is a children's story and rather fluffy. I _want_ to read This House of Brede and Coromandel Sea Change and The River (the last two are set in India - two of her seven novels set there), and her sister Jon's Two Under the Indian Sun, a memoir of the two of them growing up, in India (obviously). I have a lot of her books, and I have her filed in my brain under Good Author, but I've actually read very little of her work. Need to fix that.

>52 jjmcgaffey: I’ve recently finished Godden’s In this House of Brede and want to read more of her novels. Brede is just a fine novel, so beautifully written, quiet, but very deep. I’d like to read one of the India novels, and wondered if you have a favorite?

I’m currently reading Collected Essays of James Baldwin, the LOA edition. Reading “The Fire Next Time” at the moment. And in fiction, My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk, which I’m much impressed with so far. Two very different books, but by very fine writers.

>58 dianelouise100: Try Black Narcissus? It is not exactly one of the Indian novels but it is set in India -- and if you liked the style of Brede, this one should work as well.

>34 janoorani24: Thank you! It is a fun challenge.

>59 dianelouise100: The Fire Next Time is a special classic. I might have that same volume, but i stopped part way through, intending, of course, to come back to it.

I've just read about 30% of Crime and Punishment. What a massive art

>63 Imouto: intense?

>64 dchaikin: It's getting interesting. The detailed descriptions of a person's mind are simply stunning.
The story itself is not so complicated as I expected, but like other Russian novels, I confused its characters' names for tens of times. I would've stopped reading if I hadn't read this in E-book, which I can search words.
Honestly the first few chapters are boring for me. I kept reading as a review said the reviewer became unable to read anything for months after he read its first quarter. I didn't become such condition, but I've found its interest now.

>65 Imouto: The detailed descriptions of a person's mind are simply stunning.

That's what I remember most as well. I've read it a couple of times, but not for ages. In which language and/or translation are you reading?

>66 labfs39: Japanese translation by Masao Yonekawa. Did you read it in English?

I've read Crime and Punishment twice (in English) and was entirely absorbed both times.

>67 Imouto: Yes, a translation by Constance Garnett. I'm interested in translations. In English there have been at least 14 translations of Crime and Punishment! I saw an interesting article called "Stylistic Choices in the Japanese Translation of Crime and Punishment." I can't read the whole article, but this is the abstract:

Crime and Punishment (1866) was the first work by Dostoevsky to be translated into Japanese. The first Japanese translation was made in 1892 by Uchida Roan, from English, but the first translation directly from Russian, by Nakamura Hakuyō, was not made until 1914. Dostoevsky originally wrote the work as a first-person narrative and then changed to third-person. He frequently uses third-person pronouns to refer to the protagonist, Raskolnikov, and consistently uses the past tense to support a retrospective point of view. In this chapter Cockerill analyzes the use of the third-person pronoun “kare” and the use of “-ta” endings as past tense markers (both of which emerged in the Japanese language due to translation) in the six versions of Tsumi to Batsu Crime and Punishment.

Interesting.

Edited to fix link

>65 Imouto: he can sustain a moment of internal dread for pages and pages, and it’s still engaging

Cool that you’re reading a Japanese translation. I read in English, my only language. And…i’m not sure which translator! (I read it before LibraryThing and didn’t keep track of editions or translators. Might have been Constance Garnett)

Last week I requested a bunch of library books on Edith Wharton. I was surprised to see my hold request list at 20! Fourteen were waiting for me yesterday and I checked twelve out. Planning to page through them, I picked up The Brave Escape of Edith Wharton by Connie Woolridge, and spent the afternoon reading it through (only 4 hours). So, eleven to go? Anyway, it was a nice efficient biography that explained a lot of stuff I was only loosely aware of. And I didn’t know she hated James Joyces and Virginia Woolf’s stream on consciousness, considering it novel elements that weren’t actually put together as a novel (and she thought Ulysses was vulgar with too much low-level humor)

Im eager to get brave escape, on your rec. In the meantime Im reading off my shelves ladies lunchand olga dies dreamingLoving the first one, have dozens of examples of beautiful sentences Ive underlined. The latter is making me made in the same way that lessons in chemistry did. The treatment of women....argh. I am liking it nonetheless, its a fast read with fun characters and great dialogue

>3 cindydavid4: I also just finished The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot and also was impressed with the author's ability to present the stories of the characters engaged the reader in their lives. I also hope to read to read more books by this author.

cool!

So up early this morning and browsing Kindle; noticed a synopsis for tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow Id seen it at the bookstore but didnt game so passed on it. Justs read a sample. Ok Im sold!. got a $10 off coupon at the indie, so Ill be there when it opens

>58 dianelouise100: I don't remember much about it now, but I do know that I really enjoyed Kingfishers Catch Fire, inspired by Rumer Godden's own time in Kashmir.

I've finally finished the wonderful Armadale, my first Wilkie Collins - it had been a very long time since I read such a long book (700+ pages). My mind keeps going back to the vivid world and characters created by Collins.

I've got a bad cold and fancied something light - though it's always difficult, I find, to find something that's light but that doesn't insult the reader's intelligence. I think I happened upon the right book, Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. The tone is light but the subject is anything but. Meanwhile, on the non-fiction front I've started Philippe Sands' The Ratline, a follow-up to East West Street which I enjoyed so much last year. It's an account of the life of Otto van Wachter, Nazi Governor of Galicia.

>75 rachbxl: my favorite Wilkie Collins is queen of hearts Love rereading it too

I finally finished the work-related book I've been plowing through since last summer - Intelligence-Driven Incident Response: Outwitting the Adversary by Roberts and Brown. I give it four stars, because it's an excellent introduction to cyber threat intelligence and the practicalities of using analytic methods to assist in incident response to cyber attacks against organizations.

After a couple of memoirs of the Cultural Revolution, I have started the experimental novel, A Dictionary of Maqiao. It's also set during that period, but is structured like a dictionary. So far it is a blend of fiction, memoir, dictionary of the Maqiao dialect, and thought piece on the function and meaning of language.

>78 labfs39: This sounds so interesting. What an unusual device.

I remember a novel some decades back called Dictionary of the Khazars, which was composed of three mini-encyclopedias, each from the perspective of one of the three major religions. The book was published in "male" and "female" editions, which reportedly differed only in one specific paragraph. Never read the book, but it got a lot of buzz in (let me check...) 1988.

>79 rasdhar: The dictionary format is quite interesting, but so far it is still hanging together. In the front of the book is an alphabetical index of entries, so if you want to look something up, you can find it easily. The entries were reordered to flow together more chronologically. The differences between the dialect and Mandarin make for some interesting speculations and observations. I'm enjoying it. He writes well.

>80 KeithChaffee: I have one of the two versions of Dictionary of the Khazars that I picked up during the buzzfest when it came out. Haven't read it yet though.

I've finished The Mountains Sing on audio, and started Books Can Be Deceiving which isn't exactly what I want to read, but I felt it should be a mystery for the March genre challenge, and something light is certainly called for after the horrors of the Vietnamese War... I didn't want to start Behind Closed Doors just yet (not light) and everything else I tried either wasn't available through Libby, or had a waiting list.... It's short, and it's okay so far - may turn out to be just the thing before I pick up another heavy duty book.

I’ve finished the very entertaining but also thought-provoking Lessons in Chemistry and moved on to Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Afterlives. I’m a hundred pages in (so about a third), and it’s excellent.

About 200 pages into Ulysses, my book for Ireland in reading around the world project, a book I've intended to try for years. Actually effectively reading 3 books simultaneously (!), as making good use of Patrick Hastings' The Guide to James Joyce's Ulysses and Terence Killeen's Ulysses Unbound which are providing both help in understanding and insight into the background. Absolutely fascinating. Loving the novel in itself - the rhythms, the liveliness, the characters. Once you get past the mental barrier, it's one heck of a book (so far!).

>84 rachbxl: I started Afterlives, but was quickly distracted and haven't gotten back to it. Good to know it was probably just my mood at the moment, and that it's a good read.

>84 rachbxl: Oh, Gurnah's work.... I should reread them... or at least go to the shelf and fondle them....

>86 labfs39: Lisa, I started it 3 weeks ago but found the first 30 pages or so really hard going and told myself I wasn't in the right frame of mind. I picked it up again yesterday because it's a library book and it's due back next week - I thought I'd check whether I should try to finish it or just take it back and borrow it again some other time. Before I knew it I was up to page 100, and I treated myself to another 30 pages before starting work this morning. I can't wait to get back to it - you know that wonderful feeling when a literary world seems almost more real than your real life?

>87 avaland: That made me laugh! (I knew any mention of Gurnah would have you commenting before too long ;-) )

>88 rachbxl: That's reassuring. When I leave my China rabbit hole, I'll give it another go.

>85 Willoyd: I was never able to get into it, but I love Molly's Soliloque at the very end.

I finished The Prophets by Robert Jones, Jr. This beautiful, painful, heartbreaking novel about the spiritual and physical lives of the members of an enslaved community on a Mississippi cotton plantation in the 1830s was shortlisted for the National Book Award in 2021. The story revolves around the love between Samuel and Isaiah, enslaved men who have grown together from boyhood and who have long worked together, mostly isolated from the rest of the community, in the plantation's barn, taking care of the animals and doing the many attendant chores and growing physically strong in the process. Mostly, the other enslaved folks consider Samuel and Isiah's relationship to be benign, referring to them as Those Two and either leaving them be or considering them friends. In a flashback to their ancestors' lives in Africa, we see that such relationships were not considered in the least remarkable. But the two men, and particularly Samuel, have stubborn streaks, and quietly refuse to follow the plantation owner's directive to help him breed more slaves. The narrative revolves around this tension, but within the context of the entire enslaved community, as the inner lives of many of the people here are brought vividly alive.

My somewhat longer review can be found on my Club Read thread.

Next up for me will be George Orwell's classic memoir of the Spanish Civil War, Homage to Catalonia. I'll be reading this one as part of the "Memorial for rosalita" project in the ROOTs (Reading Our Own Tomes) group for which we are all reading books off of rosalita's TBR list (books tagged "TBR" in her LT library). Most here will know I'm sure that rosalita (real name Julia) was a much beloved LT member who passed away unexpectedly early this year. You can find the thread here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/357293

>90 cindydavid4:
Not surprised - it's taken me years to feel up to giving it a go. Will see how get along. You've given me something to aim at though!!

>91 rocketjk: I just came from your thread - what a wonderful review of The Prophets. Definitely adding it to my list.

>93 rasdhar: Thanks for the kind words. I found The Prophets to be quite moving.

So far this year I have been planning reads for each month and putting those books on a separate shelf. This makes choosing a book to read much easier and quicker when I'm just about to talk out the door and need a new book for my bus trip. Today's choice was Hel's Eight.

I'm still reading 2666 and have several different shorter books on the go as well -- The Bitter Glass, Winter in the Blood, and Bluebeard's First Wife.

Traveling this week, but managed to finish Flags in the Dust, Faulkner’s 3rd novel, originally rejected for publication because the publisher said it was “diffuse and non-integral with neither very much plot development nor character development.... The story really doesn't get anywhere and has a thousand loose ends." They’re absolutely correct, but I enjoyed it. This morning i started Twilight Sleep by Edith Wharton.

So starting to lag on olga dies dreaming and tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow Need something that wakes me up, and I think orbital and The Glimpses of the Moon hit the spot rather well. Been reading the later on Kindle and think this is the most enjoyable novel Ive read of Wharton. Dont have Orbital but given the praises here, I need to read it also need Wellness; does it say something that four out out of five books listed above are about marriage? mmmmm

>95 rhian_of_oz: I’ve not gone quite that far, but at the start of the year I put various books I fancy reading quite soon together on a shelf, and that shelf’s my first stop when I need a new book. I’m really enjoying my reading at the moment and I’m sure it’s in part because of that.

I just finished the fantastic A Fine Balance. Thanks for all the prompting that finally got me to read it.

Now I'm going to really dig in to Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 million Years of Evolution and The Hunter, Tana French's new mystery.

>84 rachbxl: I’m also really happy to see you took to Afterlives. It’s a terrific novel, but does demand a state of mind - although I couldn’t put my finger on what that state of mind is. Anyway i loved it from the audio opening.

Although I continue to enjoy A Dictionary of Maqiao, the next Murderbot book came in, Network Effect, and I couldn't resist jumping in. I'm loving it. May be my favorite so far.

>101 dchaikin: I agree with the about the state of mind. I had to put it aside yesterday because I wasn’t quite there, a part of my mind was on something else, but a few hours later I was able to be swept away by it again.

my review of tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow here https://www.librarything.com/topic/356174#8471768

>96 ELiz_M:

I'm curious what you think of Winter in the Blood as I had high expectations of that book that weren't quenched but there aren't many readers of it so it's hard to compare and contrast opinions with other readers.

>103 rachbxl: I found Afterlives to become a difficult book after a promising beginning. I felt removed from the time and place. It seemed to be emotionless though I didn’t understand why.

>106 kjuliff: I did as well. there were so many dirctions the book went that I was just lost and really didnt get it

I finished reading Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia which I really enjoyed, and am now reading a non-fiction collection by Marina Tsvetaeva, titled Earthly Signs: Moscow Diaries, 1917–1922.

>99 rachbxl: I find I'm also enjoying putting together a new list of books each month and then pulling them from my overloaded TBR shelves. Fun all round!

And because having five books on the go wasn't enough, I started The Devil and the Dark Water yesterday.

I’m reading Crooked Plow by Itamar Vieira Junior which is on the Booker International long list. I started reading the ebook sample and it was so good I couldn’t stop. It’s Brazilian.

I zipped through Network Effect, which I read as the fifth Murderbot book. Loved it! Now I'm back to A Dictionary of Maqiao, which is slow going but good.

Currently it's called The Stolen Heir. Love it!

I’m reading Wharton’s House of Mirth - entertaining and amusing.

still on glimpses of the moon (a much lighter Wharton thats quite funny.

Also someone hereabouts was talking about the work being done with the thousands of documents written by Douglas Adamsfrom childhood to just before his death:books, essays , scripts, letters from mourning fans and some photos. The collection is titled 42 The Wildly Improbable Ideas of Douglas Adams edited by John Davies. The hand written pages look like faxed pages and so very difficult to read and cant be resized by kindle. Suspect the hard back would be better to get But there was much there to like for fans. I think my fav section was about his love for the Beatles; tried three different times to see them in concert, and then one day Paul Mc
cartney comes for a visit. They became great friends, Think Ill watch the Hitchikers Guide movie today.

one of my fav quotes: talking about the idea of ebooks: "im not sure we neet to model virtual page turning in an electronic book any more than you needed to put reins and stirrups into a car"

so much Wharton. ❤️

Started reading The Prodigal Tongue: Dispatches from the Future of English by Canadian journalist Mark Abley. Seems like a well-informed account of the varieties of English spoken outside the Anglo-American sphere, particularly in Asia. Interesting so far.

>116 icepatton: Ooh, that does sound interesting!

>116 icepatton: Seconded, it does sound interesting indeed.

I'm currently reading Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikau Kawaguchi. Unfortunately, I'm not really enjoying it, but, hey, at least it's short.

I liked the first part and then it just went down hill from there. Its really popular, so Im in the minority

>120 cindydavid4: Its popularity baffles me, frankly.

>119 bragan: Yeah, I was a bit disappointed in it as well. Certainly didn't seek out the sequel.

>119 bragan: Something tells me I wouldn't enjoy it, either.

There's actually a couple books I'm reading on my latest Japan kick: one about the Japanese bath scene by late journalist Eric Talmadge, another by transactional lawyer Colin PA Jones about his observations of Japanese law and society. Both good reads so far. Really wish I had known about them sooner.

Flipping audiobooks. I finished How to Say Babylon, from the Women’s Nonfiction Prize longlist. Not perfect, but quite beautiful, made more so by the author’s voice. She reads it like a poem. Now i’ve started Kairos, from the International Booker Prize longlist.

I finished Homage to Catalonia, George Orwell's memoir of his time in Spain fighting with the anti-Fascist forces in the Spanish Civil War. Orwell presents a vivid picture, sprinkled with wry humor, of his months in the trenches in the mountains of Catalonia. There are also two detailed chapters on the fighting between the forces of the various anti-Franco militias and the central government forces in the streets of Barcelona in 1937. My longer review is posted on my Club Read thread.

I've now started Robert Owen a short biography of a famed English social reform in the mid- to late-19th Century, written by Joseph McCabe and published in 1920.

I finished reading The Fire Next Time, written over a half century ago, and a timely message for today. Baldwin is such a fine writer and I hope to finish the LOA edition of his collected nonfiction. I also finished My Name is Red, which I enjoyed a great deal in the beginning, but came to find rather tedious. I don’t think I’ll be reading more Pamuk.

Currently I’m reading Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019, ed. by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain. The book examines community-making in 5-year stages, each short essay written by a different author. I’m still in the 1600’s and finding the essays well written, passionate, and totally absorbing. Much new information here. For fiction, I’m reading Pale Horse, Pale Rider, a collection of three very short novels by Katherine Anne Porter. Enjoying this one a lot, too.

>119 bragan: Before the Coffee Gets Cold wasn't for me either, though I was pretty sure of that before starting it so it was more an exercise in reading widely.

I've just finished Hidden Valley Road, which was good, and now I'm started Felix Holt, the Radical by George Eliot. I've put it off for some time because it's the last Eliot novel I had left and I love her so much.

My reading has slowed down from the fast pace I maintained in January and February. Today, I finished a 64-page essay, 'On Being an American' by H. L. Mencken from a collection of his writings published in 1922. His cynical view of the American character would be right at home in some of the commentary I read over 100 years later. I also finished Intelligence-Driven Incident Response earlier this week. I read it for work and think it's an excellent guide to using intelligence skills to assist organizations' response to cyber attacks.

I gave up on the audio version of Paris in the Present Tense. I couldn't bear listening to Bronson Pinchot's fake French accent. Mark Helprin is a favorite author though, so I may return to the print version of the book someday. I started listening to Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate instead and am enjoying it so far. The narrator is Emily Rankin and I like the way she does the different American accents. The book is based on the true story of a Tennessee adoption agency that stole poor children in the early half of the 20th century and sold them to wealthy families all over the country.

Also still working on The Warburgs and These Three Remain.

I've found myself reading A Dictator Calls, the latest by Albanian author Ismail Kadare. It's on the International Booker longlist, and is very short. My copy is a library loan.

thanks to dan, I decided to recheck outthe brave escape of Edith Warton I had less tired eyes today than I did last night. Of the three bios Ive read this year this is the best. Well written, hits all the right spots and does not like the other two feel the need to bore us with every place they saw and every place they went to and who they saw. I loved reading about her life and how she did indeed make her escape. Loved her friendship with Henry James, Fitzgerald, Walter Berry and her true love, Walter (last name)?and so many other authors, I had liked the few books and stories I read, but this book has made me a fan of Edith Warton as the incredible person she was and the works of art she created,

Loved the mentions of her books and how they came to be. I was interested in three stories: Copy,the line of least resistance and the book of the homeless

(one thing that amazes me about this time period was how peoplle at a drop of a hat can travel by ship back and forth sometimes several times a year. This esp in the case of the celestial moon wow!

Also surprised by her work during WWI to help refugees, children and others, and wrote articles in Schibners letting people know first hand what was happening there, hich may have helped America to get involved.

a few quotes I enjoyed:

Attached to a packet of papers "to my biographer, make the gist of me"

When her sister in law writes about the woes and privitations of old age, she writes: "the farthest I have penetrated this ill-famed Valley, the more full of interest and beauty too have I found. It is full of its own quiet radience, and in the light I discover many enchantments which the midday dazzel obscured"

>131 cindydavid4: what a lovely post. You know, her energy in her later years was very inspiring. It’s a beautiful quote. And I think it was Walter Berry who was her true soulmate. He read every one of her books before she published them.

he was one, but there was another who she wrote loveletters to that she had burned on his death

>133 cindydavid4: i think you might be conflating Berry and Fullerton. Walter Berry was always with her and she did burn his letters. But if there was a romantic aspect to their relationship, they kept it hidden. We know she had an affair with William Morton Fullerton because she did -not- get a hold of her letters to him. They’re preserved. The letters she wrote to Fullerton reveal her affair with him. (He was a strange guy and had several affairs, several extramarital, with both men and women. I believe he was engaged during his affair with Wharton.)

oh ok I was confusing the two. Berry was the one who broke off the engagement, and was surprised that they became friends. Yeah it was Morton she was having an 'affair' with . thanks for the clarification

Having finished the depressing and pointless Shuggie Bain I’m starting Brotherless Night by V. V. Ganeshanathan. As the Beatles sang, “It can’t get no worse”.

Be Smaller Than Flowers by quadriplegic painter and poet Tomihiro Hoshino. I think I will have a lot more to say about this book once I finish it. It's beautiful in a highly spiritual way.

Finished These Three Remain and began The Labyrinth of the Spirits by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.

review for glimpses of the moon is here https://www.librarything.com/topic/356174#n8483042

>1 AnnieMod:سلام. از شروع سال جدید برای کشور من ۶ روز میگزره و خوشحالم که تو اوقات فراغتم تونستم دوتا کتاب تموم کنم
بخش دی و زنی در کابین ۱۰

Review for spectator bird here https://www.librarything.com/topic/356174#n8483042

>140 Roz_tiu: I haven't read either of those books

Is there a translation to >140 Roz_tiu:?

I just finished A Dictator Calls by Albanian author Ismail Kadare. But, i don’t know what to make of it.

>144 dchaikin: Tell us more, now that you’ve piqued our interest.

I’m about halfway through Brotherless Night set just before and during the Sri Lankan civil war. It’s strangely mesmerizing.

>145 kjuliff: A Dictator Calls is on the 2024 International Booker longlist, for fiction translated to English and published in the UK. The “novel” is Kadare thinking through a phone call between Joseph Stalin and Boris Pasternak. Stalin called Pasternak and asked about the arrest of poet Osip Mandelstam, and apparently Pasternak dodged the question. Mandelstam later died in prison. It’s about power, fear, and art…i think. Anyway it reads more like an inconclusive essay than a novel

>147 dchaikin: I see. I had looked at a description of the book and had wondered how it would present. I can appreciate that it’s more of an essay but I like you, wonder what it’s meant to communicate.

>147 dchaikin: Hmm…I’ve been excited about the list and am about to start Simpatia by Venezuelan Rodrigo Blanco Calderon. Have you read any other on the list that you liked better?

>149 dianelouise100: that’s the first. Listening to Kairos. I don’t mind it, despite the creepiness factor. I think I’m enjoying it. Still early on.

to shape a dragons breath for my sci fi/fan club next month,
in morocco
orbital
the forgotten bookshop in paris for my next months Modern Fiction group,
no name for next months Author challenge,
pirkei avot:* social justice commentaryfor this months RG theme "when the world was new"

*the words of the fathers

we will see which ones win!

I finished the highly readable Hungry Ghosts and started Mao's Great Famine. Still working my way through A Dictionary of Maqiao. I'm so immersed in Chinese history that I skipped this month's book club selection, The Lone Winter, which I started, but which couldn't hold my attention in comparison.

dont you love it when a topic snaps your interest? so many books and other media to discover. Enjoy!

>153 cindydavid4: Yes, this is one rabbit hole that is turning out to be a warren!

and I think you are doing what I do - follow a non fiction with a fiction and vice versa, et al.....

I finished Robert Owen by Joseph McCabe a couple of days ago.

This is a short, clear biography of visionary English social reformer, Robert Owen, written by Joseph McCabe, who was himself, 70 years later, a prominent Rationalist writer and lecturer. (McCabe's wikepedia bio here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_McCabe)

Robert Owen was a British industrialist in the early 19th century who spent his life and a major bulk of his money attempting to improve the lot of the British working class in a multitude of ways, including promoting shorter work days (the standard at the time was 14 hours per day), raising the minimum age of factory employees from 7 years old to 10 or 12, creating schools for children and even day care at company and/or public expense and full equality for women. I've posted a longer review on my Club Read thread.

I'm now on to something lighter, This is Murder, Mr. Jones, the fourth book in a 5-book murder mystery series featuring wise-guy literature professor/amateur detective Jupiter Jones. The series was written in the early 1940s.

>156 rocketjk: Well, darn! The Jupiter Jones book sounded so good, I just ordered it from Abe Books. The book about Robert Owen also sounds very good, but I'll just add it to my wish list.

>157 janoorani24: This is Murder, Mr. Jones is fun, though it is the 4th book in a series. To really enjoy the main character, I recommend reading the first book or two before this one. But it's no big deal. You'll still enjoy the This is Murder, Mr. Jones either way.

>158 rocketjk: The books seem to be hard to find. Amazon and Abe Books only have used editions. Neither of my local libraries have them. In addition to This is Murder, I also purchased Three Thirds of a Ghost and Keep Cool, Mr. Jones Those were the only available copies of his books that looked to be in decent shape and inexpensive. Now I'm slapping my head because I just realized they may be on the Internet Library. Oh well, more books is always good.

>159 janoorani24: There are seven copies of the first book, Harvard Has a Homicide, on biblio.com (my favorite online book source), but they are pricey, with the cheapest at $21.00 including shipping.

Amazon has a paperback copy for $18 including shipping:
https://www.amazon.com/Harvard-Has-a-Homicide/dp/B01C87Z8SQ/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0...

And, yes, Internet Archive has a copy if you're cool with the digital reading world:
https://archive.org/details/harvardhashomici0000timo

>160 rocketjk: Thank you for checking. My original search was just for This is Murder, and the other two were added from suggestions on Abe Books. I just purchased Harvard Has a Homicide from Biblio.com and have now also discovered another source for books. I wouldn't have minded reading a digital version, but Internet Library's versions are hard on my eyes, plus, I love holding old books.

I've skipped listing a bunch of books read this year in this thread... I think I'm reasonably up to date in my own thread if anyone's that interested.

Anyway, recently finished Women Artists in Midcentury America: A History in Ten Exhibitions, by Daniel Belasco, for a Library Journal review. Good stuff, if dense—I hesitate to say "dry," because it's not really, but it's not conversational either. What it is is extremely well researched, and the author makes a point of not only noting the problematic omissions of women of color in most of these shows—it was still a conservative time, just before the second wave of feminism hit the art world—but of pointing to Black, Asian, Latine, and Native artists working at the time whose inclusion would have strengthened the exhibits. But, as he points out often, these shows were a product of their day, and were more about centering women as viable members of the contemporary art scene than being truly inclusive. The word "ladies" still popped up catalog copy and reviews, so. It's an interesting time to spotlight, and I think he did a great job of capturing it through the survey of shows.

Right now I'm reading Rumer Godden's In This House of Brede. I'm loving it—I've got a soft spot for nun stories, and this one is a fine one. I haven't read any of her other work, but I think her writing and plotting are great, and would gladly continue with something else by her—any suggestions? She's got wonderful control over her writing—I'll just say that anyone who thinks second person plural is an interesting way to get at a group consciousness but finds that it gets tiring after a point should take a look at what she does here.

I'm reading it for book club next week and probably won't finish in time, because the type in my copy is teeny tiny and I have very tired eyes at the end of the day. But I've got a whole weekend stretching ahead of me, so who knows.

>162 lisapeet: Black Narcissus - another nun story although very different from Brede.

>162 lisapeet: I read In this House of Brede a few weeks ago and loved it. I agree with your comments about her writing.

I’ve just started Madness at the End of the Earth that was recommended by Meredith. I’m also interested in this book because one of my earliest memories is of listening to The Fire on the Snow the Australian verse play by Douglas Stewart about the Terra Nova Expedition to Antarctica by Robert Falcon Scott. It made a deep moral impression on me - sacrifice, bravery,and that sort of stuff.

Almost gave up for good with The Noise of Time. The next day I decided to keep reading it again. The mix of feeling like an internal monologue and, simultaneously, someone narrating in the third person is still confusing to me. Sometimes I'm not sure which character is being talked about. I decided to abstract from that and just follow and ponder about the story.

heh something similar happened to me My scifi/fan real life group is reading to shape a dragons breath. read a little at the beginning but it felt YA ish. a while later while waiting for my DH, I picked it up again, opened to a page, read it and was hooked so I went back to the beginning, looking foreward to the end/

It didn't take long for me to fly through the fun, 1943 mystery, This is Murder, Mr. Jones by Timothy Fuller. You'll find my review on my Club Read thread.

Next, I'll be indulging my love of old histories about relatively obscure subjects. I'm about to start reading The Curragh Incident by Sir James Fergusson. The book, published in 1964, is about an (from the flyleaf) "incident at the height of the Irish Home Rule crisis of early 1914 when 58 cavalry officers, stationed at the Curragh and in Dublin, chose dismissal from the army rather than the possibility of 'active operations in Ulster.'"

I opened my library copy of The Details by Ia Grenberg (only 137 spare pages). Getting Rachel Cusk vibes.

>169 dchaikin: A new twist on the woman-remembering things. This time from a fever. Usually they just get old. 😊

>170 kjuliff: that’s an accurate description. This one feels like a lot of info at once.

>171 dchaikin: I feel like I’ve read it already!

Roman Stories by Jhumpa Lahini just came off hold, so I’m interrupting Madhouse at the End of the Earth while I read the short stories.

so ive gotten hooked on Edith Wharton and discovered twilight sleep on my kindles suggestion list, Read the sample, and it was love at first sight.

"Out of print for several decades, here is Edith Wharton's superb satirical novel of the Jazz Age, a critically praised best-seller when it was first published in 1927. Sex, drugs, work, money, infatuation with the occult and spiritual healing -- these are the remarkably modern themes that animate Twilight Sleep. The extended family of Mrs. Manford is determined to escape the pain, boredom and emptiness of life through whatever form of "twilight sleep" they can devise or procure. And though the characters and their actions may seem more in keeping with today's society, this is still a classic Wharton tale of the upper crust and its undoing -- wittily, masterfully told."

my rating 5*

>174 cindydavid4: Yes, Wharton is so addictive. I have House of Mirth waiting for me as I’m trying to read a couple of books that have recently come off hold. I’ll have to put Twilight Sleepon my tbr.

>174 cindydavid4: i’m pacing through Twilight Sleep now. We’re discussing book 2 today.

I’m still on Roman Stories by Jhumpa Lahiri and am so impressed. She’s such an excellent story-teller. I had to stop after reading “Well-lit House, stunned by its beauty and sadness.; a story I’m not going to forger in a hurry.

If you look at my unfinished books >1 AnnieMod: you’ll see I have many waiting to be finished, and now my holds are becoming available - so annoying as they were initially weeks apart in suggested hold times.

But Roman Stories have to be savoured and will take time. Translated from Italian by the author these stories touch the heart. Of interest - she names the writers that have influenced her as - Alice Munro, Leo Tolstoy, Anton Chekhov, Richard Yates, Andre Dubus, and William Trevor. Such diversity.

>172 kjuliff: it evolves (The Details). For what it’s worth.

>178 dchaikin: I’ve noted it. Thanks Dan

>176 dchaikin: where are you discussing it? There is m ore than one book?

our indie was celebrating their 50th anniversary, and so of course had a sale (it was all great fun!) I picked up summer not realizing that the intro was actually an essay Wharton wrote in 1903 the vice of reading"Wharton makes the distinction between born readers and mechanical book club type readers who have an adverse influence on the market and the way books are written and published "Have you seen this? Some quotes were interesting but others really show how snobby the upper class culture were Still might be interesiting to discuss (or use for an Avid Reader...)

>180 cindydavid4: interesting comments. Are there “born readers”? I doubt it, though I don’t think it’s specifically an upper class thing to believe in it. Of course there’s a class of books that could be deemed “book club books”. There is also “airport fiction” and “beach books”. My stance that it’s good for people to read, whatever class of book they feel comfortable with.

Better to read “mediocre” books than not to read at all. And as to what one considers mediocre, surely it’s a matter of education, which may or not be formally acquired.

>180 cindydavid4: Twilight Sleep has three main sections that are called “books” in my Kindle edition. The discussion is on Litsy.

I haven’t read that essay. But i’m not surprised by the tone. All you need to be a “born” reader is to our own private super-educated governess when you grow up…

I'm going to try again to get through A Modest Proposal and Other Writings by Jonathan Swift, even as I gravitate to more contemporary, comprehensible stuff on the side. I just hope I don't treat this book like I have Crime and Punishment, which continues to lie on my shelf unfinished and all but forgotten (though I mean to finish it one of these days, damn it!).

>182 dchaikin: hee, no kidding.

someone hereabouts brought up this book natural causes: an epidemic of wellness, the certainty of dying, and killing ourselves to live longer looking at the reviews, its certainly a book that made me think of Twilight but I suspect it would be useful for any era; as humanity is always looking for the cure. Have you read it?

I started Study for Obedience

>186 dchaikin: I look forward to your comments.

I had a great month of reading in March with lots of different exciting books.
I Am Your Judge by Nele Neuhaus (4½ stars)
Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane (4½ stars)
Die Hornisse by Marc Raabe (4½ stars) 🎧
Zorn – Tod und Regen by Stephan Ludwig (4 stars)
Le bonnet rouge by Daniel de Roulet (4½ stars)
The Bone Readers by Jacob Ross (4½ stars)
Die Spur der Aale by Florian Wacker (4½ stars)
Diary of a Tuscan Bookshop by Alba Donati (4 stars)

My first April book will be Eine Formalie in Kiew by Dmitrij Kapitelman.

>185 cindydavid4: The title certainly appeals, although on reflection what it means to me may not be exactly what the author meant.

The Paris Daughter by Kristen Harmel. An engaging read so far and one that I find it is hard to put down.

I'm at about the 60% mark for Middlemarch. Still reading at a good pace considering it is my at-work book. I'm not sure if an April finish is realistic but it should definitely be finished in May. I do want to read yet another long book after I finish so while my TBR pile is dwindling in terms of inches of spaces cleared, the quantity of books left isn't really budging. It will be interesting to see at what point my mood shifts.

However, my at home enjoyment read, the manga series Captain Tsubasa, I am absolutely plowing through, although that is typical of me with soccer manga. That will be finished this week and then we'll see what I pick up afterward.

I am 60% finished with twilight sleep and just loving it. I knew Wharton was great at satirizing the upper class and their ways, but I didn't realize she could be so funny. example

"except that if anything did go wrong, it would upset all of her plans for a rest cure, for new exercises, for all sorts of promised ways of prolonging youth, activity, slenderness and would ablige her to find a new Messiah who would tell her she was psychic"

or

"again those fine wrinkles about the lids and lips, those vertical lines between the eyes. She would not permit it,no not for a moment. She commanded herself 'now pauline stop worrying, you know perfectly well theres no such thing as worrying. Its onlly dyspepsia or want of excersize and everythings really all right"

the more things change the more they stay the same....

>192 cindydavid4: Yes she can be quite amusing. Always an undercurrent especially when describing men.

Ugh. Next up on my list is Organizing Information: Principles of Data Base and Retrieval Systems by Dagobert Soergel. That's for non-fiction. I have two fiction books started, The Labyrinth of the Spirits by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, and Slay Ride by Dick Francis, and I'm about 3 hours from being done with an audio book, Before We Were Yours.

I’m reading, amongst others, Pieces of Mantel - essays and reviews. A lot of interesting stuff there and some memorable quotes- I have to note this to send to
I don’t know much about science but I know what I like - Martin Amis. I want to send it to Neil deGrasse Tyson to annoy him.

>192 cindydavid4: those are fun quotes. Pauline is quite a character.

I started A Psalm for the Wild Built before Easter with the hope that I would finish it by the end of March (I didn't) but I expect to be done with it today. The first book off my April list is The Book That Wouldn’t Burn.

so here I am reading twilight sleep about clueless, blind people, on my kindle while its charging on my lap wondering whats wrong with this picture

the more I am reading,the more I am shocked but not surprised that no one is seeing or listening to each other, and their lives rather wasted. Not done with this book yet, but I suspect it will be on the list of best reads for this year. And I thought I didn't care for Wharton all that much....... I dont think Ive highlited so much,

>198 cindydavid4: wow. Nice to hear. I’m enjoying it too. I started book 3, the last part, last night.

I am very confused by the end. Eager for your interpreation

I finished Rumer Godden's In This House of Brede—on Easter, appropriately enough, since there are several great set pieces in the book that take place on Easter, and just in time for my book club discussion last night. Loved the book, as did all of us there—I'll write more about it on my own thread—it's both smart and kind, and very well written.

Now I'm picking Jamel Brinkley's short story collection Witness back up after having it bumped out of my reading cycle by any number of work and review and library hold urgencies, and remembering why I thought it was so good the first time around.

I'm reading Diary of a Provincial Lady by E. M. Delafield which is fun. I suspect it's going to take me a little while to get through it, though.

>200 cindydavid4: i just finished and I’m not sure what happened either 🙂

>200 cindydavid4: but Wikipedia claims to understand. See the summary: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twilight_Sleep_(novel)

Thanks that made it clearer. the rest the article too was iteresting. Comment made about how no one seemed effected, they just left town to escape the pain, except poor Nona, probably my fav character in the book. Wonder if anywon thought of doing a sequel in her style?

The chunkiest book on my April list is My Own Heart's Blood so I thought if I have any chance of finishing it within the month I better start now.

It's been over a decade since I read the last one. Was this series always so soap opera-y?

I’ve added 3 books to fulfill the RTT quarterly theme of “Ancient/Biblical times” and am enjoying working on them together. The Birth of Classical Europe: A History from Troy to Augustine and The Masks of God: Occidental Mythology by Joseph Campbell were on my shelves. I’ve begun both and love how they complement each other. I’ll be reading them very slowly in hopes of retaining more, but think I can finish them before July. I’m also listening to The Iliad in Emily Wilson’s translation, which goes quickly; it’s a page-turner in the audio version!

And I’ve just been notified that my library hold on The Silver Bone by Andrei Kurkow is in. This was really the only book on the International Booker longlist that seemed interesting to me, though I do still plan to read Simpatia too and maybe others.

>207 dianelouise100: i borrowed The Silver Bone Monday, but not sure I’ll get to it.

>208 dchaikin: There’s a Silver Bone by Andrey Kurkov that’s longlisted for the International Booker this year. I’m not going to read it because it’s described as being magical realism and is about, I seem to remember I hope inaccurately, about the journey of a severed ear.

Review of to shape a dragons breath is here https://www.librarything.com/topic/359757#n8493741

I finished Kairos on audio. I enjoyed it a lot and I like thinking about it. (Yes, it has a creepy setup). Undecided on my next audio.

After finishing Bipolar Disorder: A Guide for You & Your Loved Ones yesterday I've now started my first book from this year's International Booker Prize longlist, The Details by Ia Genberg. I'm also enjoying Black AF History: The Un-whitewashed Story of America by Michael Harriot, which is wickedly funny, and Self-Care for Black Men: 100 Ways to Heal and Liberate by Jor-El Caraballo, which will likely be one of the most important and valuable books I read this year.

I’m reading The Trees by Percival Everett. There’s a character in there with a tattoo on her neck, “Break here in case of emergency”. The cop doesn’t get it. This book is a ball of laughs, with an emphasis on the balls.

I just finished Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein…now I’m trying to figure out what it is I just read. Quite a little novel.

>214 dchaikin: I’m looking forward to your review Dan. Study for Obedience is one of my all-time favorites.

I’m now reading Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad.

Armadale for monthly author challenge and witches abroad for Disc world witches theme

I'm on a roll of obscure histories/bios/mysteries. The latest, just finished, is The Curragh Incident the story of what on the service seems a rather obscure event (at least to a U.S. citizen) of a 1914 event within the English Army in Ireland wherein a bungling higher up in the Irish Command forced what to all intents and purposes was a loyalty oath on the Command's officers. The officers considered the ultimatum an insult and reacted with disdain. The whole affair became a scandal for the Liberal government in power at the time in London. In the end, though, I found that the history, written in the 1960s, or 50 years after the events described, provided an interested take on the politics and difficulties surrounding the concept of Irish Home Rule as the clouds of what would become World War I were darkening the skies of Europe. You can find my longer summary and review on my Club Read thread.

Next I'll be staying in "obscure" mode, this time with The Mountains Wait, the memoir of a Norwegian living in the north of that country just before and during the Nazi invasion, and then, briefly, during the Nazi occupation of his country and town. The author, Theodor Broch, escaped Norway, and this memoir was published in 1942.

>217 rocketjk: Have you read We Die Alone? Your description of The Mountains Wait brought it to mind. It's an amazing story.

>216 cindydavid4: I read this for last Collins challenge—it became my favorite of his novels!

I find myself reading The Silver Bone by Andrey Kurkov - it’s a library loan and on the International Booker longlist. It’s due Saturday so i’ll need to read it somewhat quickly…

>220 dchaikin: I started this a couple days ago, and am enjoying it—and finding it a quick read. Very quirky detective story, supposed to be the beginning of a new series. Not yet sure why it made the longlist, but guess I shouldn’t make judgments on that till the end.

>221 dianelouise100: I’m finding this year’s International Booker longlist less inspiring than past ones.

>222 kjuliff: I haven’t read enough to know. Don’t mind the three books i’ve read so far.

I couldn't decide on a new audiobook. But seems I found one I like, and it's free on audible. I just started A Brief History of Japan: Samurai, Shogun and Zen: The Extraordinary Story of the Land of the Rising Sun by Jonathan Clements.

>216 cindydavid4: Oh, wonderful. I love Discworld.

>218 labfs39: No, I haven't read We Die Alone, yet, anyway. I have seen it in bookstores and may pick it up or see if the NYPL has it one of these days.

Im reading the gone series by Micheal Grant on on the second book right now and I think it’s pretty good

>226 rocketjk: Its free now - on Audible. I’m about to read it.

>224 dchaikin: That looks interesting, Dan. I'll look forward to your review

>228 kjuliff: I hope you enjoy We Die Alone and I'll look forward to your comments.

>225 rasdhar: come over and join us. We are reading witches abroad next month

*Im early but wanted to start witches abroad, also enjoying the new tiffany aching guide to being a witch. beautifully designed and illustrated by Paul Kidby its worth its price for that alone Thee short sections describe what you need to know to be a witch includes such topics as cottages, equipment, witch magic, gods and other monsters, familiars, and life and death. Included in the margins are editorial from the Disc witches, which provide much amusement .

This book is written for young readers but if your a fan you probably wont care. It enjoyable to look at and browse though for any reader. i Love that Sir Terrys daugther is the author. Hed be so proud

Note: reviewers note difficulty on kindle, due to the size and fonts of the text and Ink writing that is sometimes impossible to read. No problem in the book and the margin bits make it fun.

Also you can get cheaper copies by going to bookfinder.com and Ebay, which is where I got

i was going to rate it a 4.5, but Kirbys work is just so stunning its gotta be a 5*

I finished The Silver Bone last night just in time for this morning’s announcement of the Booker Shortlist. It didn’t surprise me that this novel wasn’t on it, but I wound up liking it better that I had thought initially. It presents a very convincing representation of the violent chaos ruling Kyiv in 1919, as various factions try to gain political control, mainly in our story the Bolsheviks, who have just taken over with a very shaky grasp of power, and the Cossacks of the White Russians, a constant violent menace throughout the novel. The main character is an engineering student who is more or less requisitioned to the Red Army police force. Kurkow has already written the 2nd volume of what will become a series. This was a 4 star read for me, and I’ll probably continue with the next one when it comes out.

I’m hoping to continue with novels that did make the Shortlist—so far have access to Crooked Plow, The Details and Kairos.

I’m reading we Die Alone set in Norway about one man’s escape from the Nazi occupiers. It’s quite gripping and also very cold!

>235 kjuliff: I found that book impossible to put down.

>236 labfs39: Yes it is. It’s very good indeed. It was you who put me onto it, so thank you.

I’ve just started reading Crooked Plow by Brazilian writer Itamar Vieira Junior and already this one says to me that it’s worthy of being on the International Booker shortlist. Its opening pages promise a lot.
I’m also keeping up with my James Baldwin essays—one a day from his Notes of a Native Son collection. Every time I read one, I think how I’d love to read his take on the American, make that “world,”scene today.

>238 dianelouise100: I’m hoping Crooked Plow comes on audio, which it well might if it wins the International Booker

I'm going to start The Easy Life in Kamusari and Soil: The Story of a Black Mother's Garden, but I'm giving myself permission to bail on both because they both sound a little out of my comfort zone.

>240 japaul22: I liked the descriptions of logging practices, Japanese forestry, and Shinto rituals, although the plot is a little YA-ish. I have the sequel on my Kindle, but haven't read it yet.

ETA: I'm referring to Easy Life in Kamusari.

Reading Adam Robert's nonfiction titled It's the End of the World: But What Are We Really Afraid Of?

Michael is finishing up the 2nd volume of Dial H, by China Mieville's graphiic series

>236 labfs39: oh I can’t put it down!We Die Alone, it seems endless. Does Jan ever get out of Norway Lisa?

Having my heart slightly broken, but in a surprisingly pleasant way, by The Terrible Thing That Happened To Barnaby Brocket. At the beginning I thought it was just going to be a nice story. Now I'm like "this is clever, light enough, needed to be reminded, and done really well".
According to the cover it was a finalist for the Irish Book Awards (Children’s Book of the Year). I'm glad for it, as well that my eyes were pulled for it while I was browsing the shelves. Sometimes it just doesn't work, then there's other times you find a book that you're deeply glad you found.

Edit: just a littile bit past half the book but really enjoying it.

I finished my first book from this year's International Booker Prize shortlist yesterday afternoon, The Details by Ia Genberg, which was good. I'm now halfway through another shortlisted book, What I'd Rather Not Think About by Jente Posthuma, which is even better; I'll finish it no later than tomorrow.

so a book forced its way in between my Wilkie Collins and practically demanded that I read it. So I took the challente and started reading james last night. (touchstones not working; author is percival everette) stayed up way to long in the morning and having trouble putting it down. Love Mark Twain and loved the way the author put Jim front and center with Huck along for the ride. This is the first Ive read from this author and it will not be my last.

One caveat; there is a lot of italizied dialect; I get why hes using it, But ive always had trouble reading that. Not having as much trouble with this, but if you are the same way, be aware of making an extra effort. its certainly not going to take any star away for this.

ok back the the book, its calling me

>246 cindydavid4: james sounds so good. Enjoy