Has anyone read?

Greetings all!

Curious about a book or author but not sure whether they're a good fit for your reading tastes? Feel free to post a question here for input from your fellow Club Readers.

I'll start... with a question I asked last week in the 2024 CR forum because it might not have been seen by the people who might have an answer.

Here goes: I have started looking for books set in the Doubs département of France (département #25) and saw that Heinrich von Kleist spent time there, imprisoned in the Fort de Joux, just like Toussaint-Louverture and Mirabeau. I was wondering whether any of you well-read people knew whether he wrote a book set wholly or mainly in the area? And whether it would be worth reading?

well, i wouldn't know. He was imprisoned in 1807 and most his writing comes after that. I found this on Wikipedia, but not sure it has anything to do with his imprisonment experience.

Of Kleist's other dramas, Die Hermannsschlacht (1809) is a dramatic work of anti-Napoleonic propaganda, written as Austria and France went to war. It has been described by Carl Schmitt as the "greatest partisan work of all time". In it he gives vent to his hatred of his country's oppressors.

>2 Dilara86: >3 dchaikin: He’s supposed to have written Die Marquise von O whilst in captivity, but that’s set in Italy. Still well worth reading, though. Die Hermannsschlacht is set in Germany in Roman times.

>4 thorold: I have a book that claims to contain all his stories (Kleist sämtliche Erzählungen), so I checked.
“Michael Kohlhaas” — Germany in Luther’s time
“Die Marquise von O” — Italy
“Das Erdbeben in Chili” — Chile
“Die Verlobung in San Domingo” — San Domingo
“Das Bettelweib von Locarno” — Locarno
“Der Findling” — Rome and Ragusa
“Die heilige Cäcilie” — Aachen during the iconoclasm
“Der Zweikampf” — Germany at the time of the Crusades

Thank you - this is exactly the information I was after! I wishlisted The Marquise of O back in November, so I'll definitely be reading it at some point, but not for my "Doubs challenge". So many titles of his sound appealing...

Has any one read Another Man in the Street by Caryl Phillips? I really enjoyed Caryl Phillips’ earlier novels but this new one sounds a bit depressing.

>7 kjuliff: Amazon says that it was just published in the US today. There's a good chance that I'll read it at some point.

>8 kidzdoc: Yes I had Another Man in the Street in my wishlist on Audible as I’d read that it would be published in January this year. Plus I have a “follow” on Caryl Phillips so I assume one of these lead led Audible to notify me. He’s an interesting writer so I’m going to get ir.

Has anyone read Scattered All Over the Earth
by Yoko Tawada. I have the ebook on hold but it’s taking a long time to get it. Seems popular.

>10 dianeham: Not read it, Diane, but the Amazon reviews look decidedly mixed.

>11 AlisonY: yes, they do. I was especially cautious when I read it was plotless. I started it and decided it wasn’t for me.

Girl With the Louding Voice - my library loan just showed up and I have until February 4th to listen to it (it's 12 hours long). This is going to be a challenge because I'm already listening to an audio book that I'm really enjoying and I still have 6 hours left to go. In addition, I'm reading a paper book that I'm loving. I just don't have much time for reading, and Girl With the Louding voice doesn't entice me at all. It's for my book club, and I already skip half the books we read, so I'd like to make an attempt. But I just looked at the tags on this and the "child bride" and "human trafficking" are really turning me off. In addition, I really dislike the title. Ugh!

To those who have read it -- how grim it it? Do you have any encouragement for me?

Lisa did recently: https://www.librarything.com/topic/367141#8727762

>15 ELiz_M: Well. That's super NOT encouraging

>14 Nickelini: Although grim things happen, nothing is explicit. I did like the book, but I do wonder how the nonstandard English would come across on audio. It could either make it easier, or... not. The protagonist is strong and triumphs against some pretty horrific odds, if that helps. I would definitely listen to a sample of the audio, as that may make up your mind for you.

>17 labfs39: thank you. I listened to the first 15 min on my lunch break today. I’m going to give it a go, if I can find time. The narrator has a strong Nigerian accent and I think it works well. I found myself relaxing into her voice. I’m not sure I’d want to read the same text

I'm thinking of listening to The Plague by Albert Camus on audio.

If you have read it, do you think it would work well as an audio listen?

>19 AlisonY: I can see that it would work, as it is sort of like an interior monologue.

The first time I read this was in French, for a translation class, and this would have been a brilliant way to get acquainted with it, had that opportunity only been around, or if it was, if I'd only thought of it.

I've read it in English twice since then, and think I would prefer this, given the opportunity to go back over things easily.

>20 SassyLassy: Thanks. Three reads sounds like a recommendation in terms of it's readability!

>19 AlisonY: I’ve read The Plague several times over a stretch of 35 years. I last read it in audio for the first time during the COVID lockdown. Possibly because I’m familiar with the work, I didn’t really notice anything different in the audio version. Which is a good thing. I highly recommend The Plague in either format.

>22 kjuliff: Super - thanks Kate.