What Are We Reading, Page 8

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What Are We Reading, Page 8

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1vwinsloe
Oct 22, 2018, 9:31 am

I am reading We Have Always Lived in the Castle because it is that time of year.

2vwinsloe
Modifié : Oct 22, 2018, 9:33 am

double post

3sweetiegherkin
Oct 22, 2018, 10:09 pm

>1 vwinsloe: Ooh, I read that earlier in the year. There is supposed to be a film version coming out, but I have yet to see an actual release date.

4vwinsloe
Oct 23, 2018, 8:33 am

>3 sweetiegherkin:. I didn't know about a movie version. Thanks for the heads up!

5CurrerBell
Oct 23, 2018, 4:16 pm

>3 sweetiegherkin: According to IMDb, it was released at the LA Film Festival on September 22. A film festival release generally (AFAIK) precedes getting the film picked up by a distributor ... assuming it does get picked up.

6sweetiegherkin
Oct 24, 2018, 11:05 am

>5 CurrerBell: Ooo okay. I had given up on checking for the release date so I didn't see the film festival date. Hopefully it does get picked up, fingers crossed.

7krazy4katz
Oct 28, 2018, 8:50 pm

Just finished reading The Good Girls Revolt: How the Women of Newsweek Sued Their Bosses and Changed the Workplace by Lynn Povich. Extremely interesting lesson in feminism and politics in the 70s but, oddly enough, not as well written as I would have liked.

8Sakerfalcon
Oct 29, 2018, 5:47 am

I'm reading Lives like loaded guns, a biography of Emily Dickinson and her family.

9overlycriticalelisa
Modifié : Oct 29, 2018, 11:38 am

just finished a reread of the haunting of hill house which remains one of my all-time favorites. moving on to the gilda stories, which i'm kind of looking forward to even though vampire books aren't my thing.

10vwinsloe
Oct 29, 2018, 2:39 pm

>9 overlycriticalelisa:. We commented a bit on some vampire books on the previous page. Will be interested in hearing what you have to say about The Gilda Stories which looks interesting.

11overlycriticalelisa
Oct 30, 2018, 12:53 am

>10 vwinsloe:
i always read the posts on this page but don't remember reading about vampire books. probably i skimmed them or immediately forgot them because i really don't like vampire books. ha. and here we are. i'll try to remember to update! (i'll say that in the 25th anniversary edition that i'm reading, gomez has written a foreword where she says that her fury-response to an incident of catcalling on the street sparked her to write the novel in the first place. so i was immediately intrigued.)

12vwinsloe
Modifié : Oct 30, 2018, 3:11 pm

>11 overlycriticalelisa:. It was just a few comments regarding Fledgling and Sunshine and Anne Rice's vampire series. But you're right- I'm intrigued by that comment by Jewelle Gomez as well!

I finished an uneven historical romance entitled The Fever Tree. It was on my radar because I love reading about southern Africa, and hadn't read much with a backdrop of the diamond mining there. As I say, it was uneven, starting out Jane Austen-esque and then transitioning to the disgusting circumstances of the diamond miners and a small pox epidemic. It almost gave me whiplash, but I think that was what the author intended as the unlikeable protagonist lost her innocence and privilege in more ways than one.

Edited to add that I picked this book up off of a free library case at work. It had a serial number on the title page and was registered with bookcrossing.com I had never heard of this project before, which tracks books much like the wheresgeorge.com currency tracking project. Bookcrossing has apparently been around since 2001, and with all the time I spend perusing freebies, I am surprised that I hadn't come across it before.

I just started Children of Blood and Bone which is a YA fantasy loosely based in Africa. It was highly recommended by a friend and although I am only 50 pages in, I think that it was a good recommendation.

13CurrerBell
Oct 30, 2018, 4:20 pm

>12 vwinsloe: I just bought Children of Blood and Bone with a B&N coupon that had to be used on a YA. There were some other YAs I saw, but this one intrigued me because of the unusual (for fantasy) Afrocentric story. I haven't started on it yet, though.

14sweetiegherkin
Oct 31, 2018, 10:31 pm

Not reading anything female written at the moment, although I am reading What Matters in Jane Austen? which is literary criticism about a female author's works, so perhaps that counts.

15vwinsloe
Modifié : Nov 6, 2018, 9:21 am

>13 CurrerBell:. I finished Children of Blood and Bone. It was very good, and I highly recommend it with the caveat that it doesn't transcend the YA label. It covers the same thematic ground as The Broken Earth trilogy, but with less subtlety and depth.

16overlycriticalelisa
Modifié : Nov 8, 2018, 3:18 pm

>12 vwinsloe:
well, the gilda stories was okay. i'm sure it was radical when it was published (1991) and the vampire stuff was...mild enough not to bother me at all. it was more of a way to have a set of linked short stories with the same main character over a 200 year period of time. also, i guess it was a statement about the vitality and power of black women at the time. but the vamipre stuff wasn't bothersome or the main thing. the book was meh for me, but we read it for a group and other people liked it alright.

17vwinsloe
Nov 8, 2018, 3:24 pm

>16 overlycriticalelisa:. Thanks. I hadn't realized that it was that old (27 years!)

18Citizenjoyce
Nov 9, 2018, 4:25 am

Due to your recommendation, Sakerfalcon, I just read Red Clocks and absolutely loved it. It's set in what could be the present time with just a little variation: the human life amendment has been passed so human rights are granted from the time of fertilization. This means that not only is abortion illegal with mandated prison terms for both the pregnant woman and the person providing the abortion, but IVF is also outlawed because the gamete can't give its permission for the transfer. Add to that a new law stating that adoption is illegal except by a two parent family because every child deserves to be raised by two parents. The book follows an infertile woman, a pregnant teenager, a mother who hates her life, and a nature-based woman (a witch) who provides health care. I doubt many of us has ever known a woman like the witch but I think most of us can relate to the rest of the women. I like that the infertile woman wonders more than once why she is so obsessed with having a baby and that all the women greatly value time they spend alone.
I read another excellent book about infertility and adoption mixed in with the plight of undocumented aliens, Lucky Boy by Shanthi Sekaran. Again the characterization is great with believable characters who sometimes make really stupid decisions. Both of these books got 5 stars from me.
A nonfiction book I enjoyed very much was Janesville: An American Story by Amy Goldstein about the loss of car manufacturing jobs in this Wisconsin town and all the long term effects. She really does a good job of showing how General Motors let these people down and at the same time shows the rise of Scott Walker and super, labor busting conservatives. It was quite pleasant to have just finished it before Walker finally went down.

19overlycriticalelisa
Nov 11, 2018, 11:16 pm

>17 vwinsloe:
yeah, and she takes the reader through a handful of different time periods, starting in 1850 and ending in 2050. one of them is 2020 so it was kind of fun to see some things she predicted in 1991, like videophone calls, in 2020. btw she predicted the world in a pretty dire situation in 2050, which, according to the un climate report, might be right on target.

20vwinsloe
Nov 12, 2018, 7:36 am

>19 overlycriticalelisa:. It's always interesting to see what predictions are right on and which miss the mark. I'm still waiting for my flying car.

21Sakerfalcon
Nov 13, 2018, 4:48 am

>18 Citizenjoyce: I'm glad you enjoyed Red clocks. I thought it was really good too, believable enough to be frightening.

22overlycriticalelisa
Nov 13, 2018, 7:42 pm

23Citizenjoyce
Nov 14, 2018, 2:13 am

>21 Sakerfalcon: Absolutely, I could see how it could happen here and now.

24vwinsloe
Nov 14, 2018, 9:23 am

>18 Citizenjoyce:, >21 Sakerfalcon:. Okay. I'm moving Red Clocks up to the top of my TBR pile and will get to it this week.

25Citizenjoyce
Nov 14, 2018, 1:40 pm

>24 vwinsloe: I bet you’ll like it.

26vwinsloe
Nov 14, 2018, 3:27 pm

>25 Citizenjoyce:. I will let you know! I'm looking forward to it.

28vwinsloe
Nov 16, 2018, 3:10 pm

>27 Citizenjoyce: Followed by this appalling revelation: "America is Blaming Pregnant Women for Their Own Deaths."

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/16/opinion/sunday/maternal-mortality-rates.html

29vwinsloe
Nov 17, 2018, 8:52 am

>18 Citizenjoyce:, >21 Sakerfalcon: I finished I finished Red Clocks in a few big bites. I found it to be very affecting without being emotionally manipulative. I read the overarching theme as essentially being about choice or choices. No matter how restricted our choices may be, by government, by family, by internalized culture or society, we still make them. We persevere. And most importantly, we keep making choices as long as we are alive. The sentence that described this to me was "By walking, she tells her students, is how you make the road."

Thank you both for recommending this book. It will stick with me for a long time.

30Citizenjoyce
Nov 17, 2018, 10:11 pm

>29 vwinsloe: I'm glad you liked it. It sounded the alarm without being pessimistic. Your article, on the other hand, is nothing but pessimistic because it's real.

31Citizenjoyce
Modifié : Nov 18, 2018, 12:41 am

With the idea that you can't start too young, I just read a little Portuguese children's picture book, Don't Cross The Line, which is a cheerful way to show children that people acting together can overcome tyranny. There's a guard with a machine gun on the first left-hand page. He stops all characters from moving on. He has orders to allow no one to occupy a right-hand page because the "general reserves the right to keep the page blank, so he can join the story whenever he feels like it." The characters don't riot or fight. They joyfully dance, float, creep and haunt as they get more and more crowded on the left-hand page asking why they can't advance and giving reasons they need to. And it turns out the guard is just as human as the rest of them. For the little political activists in your family.

32Sakerfalcon
Nov 19, 2018, 6:01 am

>29 vwinsloe: The lack of emotional manipulation is something I appreciated too. Glad you liked it as well as I did. It's definitely one of the better books in the recent crop of feminist dystopian fiction.

33vwinsloe
Nov 19, 2018, 8:54 am

>32 Sakerfalcon:. One of my best books of the year, too!

34Citizenjoyce
Nov 22, 2018, 1:39 am

Is anyone watching My Brilliant Friend on HBO? Alas, it's in Italian with subtitles, but I love seeing it brought to life. I can finally keep everyone straight seeing them in their families.

35vwinsloe
Nov 26, 2018, 9:47 am

>34 Citizenjoyce:. Unfortunately, I don't subscribe to HBO. I might like My Brilliant Friend on film better than I did in print, because I found it very slow reading.

I've started listening to The Perfect Horse and am learning a lot that I didn't know.

I am reading The Enchanted which has taken me by surprise. It had been languishing on my TBR pile, and I picked it up thinking it was fantasy. I'm not quite sure what it is (and I'm about halfway in!) but the writing is as beautiful as the subject matter is dark.

36SChant
Déc 2, 2018, 3:15 am

Reading Art and Feminism edited by Helena Reckitt - an in-depth look at feminist art of the late 20th century.

37overlycriticalelisa
Déc 2, 2018, 7:14 pm

reading sugar land by tammy lynne stoner. excited for this one!

38SChant
Déc 5, 2018, 7:10 am

Finished Art and Feminism edited by Helena Reckitt. Couldn't quite get on with this book. The introduction was too "art historian" for my level of knowledge and many of the works were performance pieces represented by still photos with descriptions which made them sound juvenile and pretentious. Images of some of the static pieces and more obviously political work did resonate with me, but again the descriptions often seemed to refer to a closed-in art world aesthetic. Maybe that's what being an artist is all about, and I will never get it.
Anyway, back to more comprehensible (to me, anyway) science and technology with Rise of the Rocket Girls by Nathalia Holt which tells the stories of the women involved in the US space programme from the 1940s to today.

39vwinsloe
Déc 5, 2018, 1:41 pm

>38 SChant:. Have you read The Blazing World? From what you have written, it seems as though that novel could have been written in reaction to Art and Feminism. You might enjoy it in contrast.

40vwinsloe
Déc 5, 2018, 2:37 pm

I just finished Quiet Until the Thaw. This novel was not on my radar screen until I saw Alexandra Fuller speak at my local library a couple of months ago. Her talk was a fascinating reflection on white supremacy, having been raised by them in Zimbabwe. She covered much of the same ground in her memoirs, but it was exciting to hear her speak and to talk about the common patterns of oppression that bridge time and place. She talked a bit about this novel, her first, and how much time she spent with Native Americans before and during the writing. So although I bought the book with an open mind, it really didn't sit well with me that she should take on such a project. Obviously, any book about Native Americans on reservation is going to have to deal with the social problems that resulted from colonialism and near genocide. But no matter how sympathetic, I think that such a candid portrait can, and more importantly should, only be painted by a Native American. I find it interesting that Fuller did not attempt to write a novel about black Zimbabweans. Did she know on some level that this would not be a good idea?

41SChant
Déc 6, 2018, 3:34 am

>39 vwinsloe: Sounds interesting - will give it a try. Thx for the rec.

42SChant
Déc 7, 2018, 5:46 am

Breezed through The Rise of the Rocket Girls - the enlightening and uplifting story of the female computers and engineers of JPL who did so much for space exploration. Loved it!
Now starting Women in the Viking Age by Judith Jesch.

43SChant
Déc 12, 2018, 7:10 am

About to start Sara Paretsky's latest V I Warshawski book Shell Game. I'm not a big fan of crime fiction but Paretsky's mix of hard-boiled detective with a soft centre, and political and social commentary are irresistible.

44vwinsloe
Modifié : Déc 13, 2018, 9:23 am

I just finished Anything is Possible and was very impressed. I didn't know that it was related to My Name is Lucy Barton which was a book that I liked very much. The structure of Anything is Possible is linked short stories that share characters and places with My Name is Lucy Barton. I got a thrill of recognition when recognizing a name and enjoyed figuring out how the pieces of the puzzle fit together. The theme of this book seemed to be "shame" and its causes, including sexual "deviance," poverty and wealth. Many, if not most of these stories, have a hopeful note that shame can be overcome, or at least coped with. Highly recommended.

I'm still listening to The Perfect Horse which is not as interesting nor as well-written as I had hoped.

And I've started Vn, probably to finish the year.

45Citizenjoyce
Déc 18, 2018, 12:46 am

I haven't quite finished Dietland yet, but unless this is one of those unfortunate books that the author doesn't know how to end (like Us Against You) Sarai Walker is my absolutely, fabulously favorite author this month. There's one other book listed under her name, but I don't know if it's Dietland in a different language. I have to admit I didn't watch the series, which hallelujah is being blasted out again on AMC over 12/28 and 12/29. I had no interest in watching a series about dieting. Silly me. This book is a riotously feminist book about, well, she doesn't want to call it terrorism, but it's sure about women finally taking a stance against misogyny. If she writes anything else I'll sure read it.

46SChant
Déc 20, 2018, 4:21 am

>39 vwinsloe: Thanks for recommending The Blazing World, I'm only 40 pages in but enjoying it immensely. The protagonist has a lovely sardonic attitude without veering into cynicism or angst and points out the anti-women biases in her world with a light touch. The style reminds me a bit of A.S. Byatt's Possession.

47vwinsloe
Déc 20, 2018, 9:03 am

>46 SChant:. You're welcome. I think that your read will be all the more interesting for being informed by a book on Art and Feminism. I was completely ignorant about the subject and still enjoyed the novel.

I just started Dreamers of the Day which is the only Mary Doria Russell novel that I have left to read. She has a new book about the labor movement coming out next year.

48Citizenjoyce
Modifié : Déc 27, 2018, 1:53 am

I finished Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South and was shocked at how wonderful and timely it was: union problems, questioning religion, women making decisions about the direction of their lives. I have to say, in spite of the love of Jane Austen, this is the kind of woman character I want to read about, one who makes her own decisions and steps out of societal constraints to follow her own inclinations. I guess 40 years from the early to mid 19th century showed some great progress.

49Citizenjoyce
Déc 27, 2018, 8:29 pm

I think many of the books I’ll be reading in the near future will be coming from here https://www.tor.com/2018/12/27/100-sf-f-books-you-should-consider-reading-in-the...
There are few new books, many I’ve already read, and almost all by women.

50vwinsloe
Modifié : Déc 28, 2018, 7:58 am

>49 Citizenjoyce:. Oooo, thanks for posting that link. I'm sure that I will find more than a few suggestions there for 2019.

I'm finishing up 2018 with Six Wakes. The characters are all clones (well, and one AI computer) on a spaceship in outer space. The last incarnation of all the clones have all been murdered, setting up a locked-room mystery plot. I am intrigued by the consideration of ethical questions and dilemmas that arise where everyone has the opportunity to replicate themselves endlessly through cloning.

51Citizenjoyce
Modifié : Déc 29, 2018, 3:39 am

I just finished The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish. If you look up the definition of extrovert and optimist in the dictionary, Tiffany Haddish must be there. It seemed like her early childhood was fine though they were somewhat short of money because her father deserted the family when she was 3. Then her mother had a terrible car accident which left her brain damaged. She is later diagnosed with schizophrenia, but it seems that she has a TBI that has altered her personality leaving her violent, especially toward Tiffany. Eventually, the children are taken from her mother and put into foster care. They end up with their grandmother but only as foster children so she can get paid for caring for them. When Tiffany turned 18 and the foster money stopped, grandma kicked her out. Then there's bullying; terrible, jealous and user boyfriends; an even more terrible husband; and comedians and promoters who insist she has to put out if she wants a comedy job. This could be a very depressing book, but Haddish is irrepressibly funny. She makes much of her life, except the abuse, sound hilarious. Comedians usually have dark inner lives, and Haddish probably does, but she is such an extrovert and so determined to make her life fun that she just plows through and brings joy to everyone who sees her. She reminds me of Richard Pryor by exposing the deepest, most hurtful parts of her life and using them in her comedy. Her star is rising. I hope it continues to do so. Oh, two things that are especially wonderful about the book. She is the first woman I have read who describes her abortion in a joyful way. It's about time someone did this. None of that "Oh, it was the hardest decision of my life, but I'm glad I did it." Nope, she was happy because she was free. She knew she wasn't ready to be a mother and, as she has done in all areas of her life, she solved the problem. The second delicious morsel is that she says she didn't put out to get ahead, (though she has had lots and lots of sex, it wasn't as a bargaining chip) and the women who did, aren't in comedy anymore. Nice to know, and nice to tell those coming up behind her.

53vwinsloe
Modifié : Déc 31, 2018, 12:32 pm

>52 Citizenjoyce:. Thank you for posting those. I am a recovering "completist," so it always helps to have lists of books about which there is some consensus. I have really, really got to stop reflexively picking up books by authors whose previous works I have liked. I find that even with the best of them, more often than not I am disappointed.

54Citizenjoyce
Modifié : Jan 10, 2019, 4:17 pm

I recently finished and enjoyed Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik. Usually I don’t want to know too much about a book before I start it, I like to be completely surprised. I’d read that the book was a fairy tale retold, Rumplestiltskin, and this is one of my favorite genres. I was pleasantly surprised by the Judaic underpinning of the story. Is there much Judaism in most fairy tales? I can’t think of any. So that aspect completely drew me in. I’m also enthralled when clever women discover their own power and when characters can change the way they view life and other people. Alas, I found the story dragged in parts. I can’t say I like long or short stories better, I like them to be as long as they need to be. I thought Spinning Silver had a little padding, but other than that was delighted by it.

55CurrerBell
Jan 10, 2019, 5:38 pm

>54 Citizenjoyce: Thanks! I just got that not too long ago. I'll have to try to get to it soon.

56vwinsloe
Jan 11, 2019, 10:01 am

I read Little Fires Everywhere and liked it more than I expected. The book covered most aspects of pregnancy and maternity (birth, surrogacy, adoption, abortion, miscarriage) without seeming contrived or judgmental.

I also read a few stories from A Manual for Cleaning Women, and, so far, I appreciate the writing style. Reminds me of Charles Bukowski in more ways than one. I'll probably be reading these stories off and on.

I'm almost done with Karen Memory, and I am enjoying the hell out of it. Loads of steampunk fun!

>54 Citizenjoyce:. I put Spinning Silver on my wish list with some reservations. I read Uprooted and thought that it was just okay, although everyone else I know who read it absolutely loved it.

57krazy4katz
Jan 11, 2019, 5:29 pm

I am reading I am Malala and loving it! The history of the area is fascinating as well as her family background, the role played by 9/11 in Pakistan's political situation, as well as her own very unique story.

58Citizenjoyce
Jan 26, 2019, 12:08 am

I just finished 2 4-star reads. Zero Sum Game by SL Huang could be an action novel with a kick-ass female hero (ala Lisbeth Salander but amoral). Then, surprise, some telepathy is thrown in and I started to notice that Cas Russell is rather exceptionally good at math and faster than anyone I could think of. Why, by gum, this is science fiction. It drew me into this world and has me very sad that Null Set won't be out until July. Though I just ordered the short story A Neurological Study on the Effects of Canine Appeal on Psychopathy, or, RIO ADOPTS A PUPPY.
My second 4-star read was Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens that centers around a little girl who is starkly alone in her run-down house in the marshes of North Carolina after her mother walks out, her siblings leave to save themselves and her father just disappears. Like the real girl in Educated, Kya learns to rely on herself, to figure out how to solve problems, and to pursue the things in the world that interest her. One does wonder if a child, even a bright child, could raise herself from the age of 7, but all of this does sound possible. Normally I hate books about the south with its constraint on individuality, but that doesn't happen in its fullest until the end of the book when you just can't stop reading. Kya's view of the natural world and her equating the actions of insects and animals with those of humans makes sense. I couldn't stop hoping that Kya could find some happiness in life.
An speaking of Educated, I've watched some interviews of Tara Westover on Youtube, this little girl who educated herself so that she could understand the world outside her reclusive existence in an Idaho mountainside raised by religious fundamentalist - conspiracy theory devotees. We all know about toxic masculinity, of which her father is a glaring example - devising theories of life that he forces his family to share. Alas her mother seems to suffer from toxic femininity in which she supports her husband in spite of seeing his errors with her own eyes. Then there's the psychopathic brother. At the center of this is a girl with a golden brain who, in spite of oppression and physical abuse opens her life through education.

59krazy4katz
Jan 26, 2019, 12:35 am

I also read Educated. Amazing triumph over enormous barriers. I felt her trauma so acutely but was so excited when she finally was able to direct her own life. What was sad was how hard she tried to keep her family in her life. At least she had the support of a couple of her siblings.

60vwinsloe
Jan 30, 2019, 12:47 pm

Let's see. I read The Mare and liked it much more than I anticipated. It is about an 11 year old Dominican girl from the city who takes part in a "Fresh Air" program that allows her to stay in a home in a rural area for a couple of weeks during the summer. I really was afraid that this one was going to turn me off with ugly stereotypes or "whitey saves the day" tropes which it did not. I read most of it with the uneasy feeling that this plot could not "end well." But that didn't happen either. Interestingly, once you stripped away all of the gritty reality and the adult themes, it was almost an after school special or Disney movie.

Then I read Circe and was even more pleasantly surprised. I have never had the warm fuzzies for classical mythology so I didn't read her first acclaimed book, Song of Achilles. I knew that Circe was supposed to be good (2nd on last year's most favorite book list on the LT) but it was really a page turner. Whodathunk?

61CurrerBell
Jan 30, 2019, 1:56 pm

>60 vwinsloe: I've got Circe on my TBR. I'll have to get to it in May for the Reading Through Time group's "Mythology" subject.

I just finished the Broken Earth trilogy and I'll give it 3½***. I think it's been over-hyped by its fan base. There were wa-a-a-ay too many characters, losing focus on the major ones; and the "magic" just got too confusing. Still, I've got Jemisin's story anthology How Long 'til Black Future Month? on TBR and I'll definitely be getting around to it.

62SChant
Jan 31, 2019, 4:21 am

Reading Discovering Dorothea by Karolyn Schindler, about a pioneering self-taught paleontologist working with the Natural History Museum in the early 20th Century. Personal information is sketchy but her professional life is fascinating.

63vwinsloe
Jan 31, 2019, 3:16 pm

>61 CurrerBell:,. In connection with Circe check out Madeline Miller's photo essay on her blog. The novel was obviously influenced by these fantastic works of art. http://madelinemiller.com/circe/circe-photo-essay/

It sounds like you did not enjoy Broken Earth as much as I did. I know that I have fallen victim to overly high expectations on more than one occasion. In this case, I read it a little earlier on, and was just amazed to read something so original, both in terms of the world building and characters, and also the whole tone.

64Citizenjoyce
Modifié : Jan 31, 2019, 3:54 pm

>60 vwinsloe: I’ve recommended my library purchase The Mare. We’ll see if that happens.
>61 CurrerBell: The Broken Earth Trilogy did have lots of characters. Sometimes that stops me from enjoying or even reading a book, but in this case I kind of just rolled along with it picking up who people were eventually. There are people in my RL. Book club who write down lists of characters and their descriptions so they can stay on top of the story. Since I don’t plan to write a thesis on anything I read, I’m a lot more casual about it.

65CurrerBell
Jan 31, 2019, 5:17 pm

>64 Citizenjoyce: list of characters and their descriptions . . . In general, I'm with you – but I really would like, one of these lifetimes, to get around to a complete collection of family trees for Egypt, Maine. The only of Carolyn Chute's novels that I've yet to read are The School on Heart's Content Road and Snow Man (and I don't think the latter is an Egypt novel, but I could be wrong). I'm from the Philadelphia area, but I have an interest in all things Maine; and, having just finished Merry Men (which is longer than her first two novels and gives a much greater depth to the assembly of characters in her Egypt-verse), I'm planning on finishing the remaining two novels and then doing a complete reread of the Egypt novels. I really particularly liked Merry Men.

66Citizenjoyce
Jan 31, 2019, 5:41 pm

>65 CurrerBell: I do like it when the author lists the characters and their relationships, I just don’t want to do it myself.

67Yells
Jan 31, 2019, 9:33 pm

>60 vwinsloe: I haven't read Circe yet but Song of Achilles is fantastic.

68Citizenjoyce
Fév 1, 2019, 12:57 am

>60 vwinsloe:, >67 Yells: Circe is also wonderful. I love myths retold.

69vwinsloe
Fév 1, 2019, 9:08 am

>67 Yells:. I am on the lookout now for Song of Achilles!

70Citizenjoyce
Fév 1, 2019, 12:45 pm

>69 vwinsloe: you’ll be happy you read it.

71vwinsloe
Fév 1, 2019, 3:12 pm

>70 Citizenjoyce: I put it on my wishlist on thriftbooks.com It is still a little more than I like to spend so I will be on the lookout at library book sales. Thanks!

72Citizenjoyce
Fév 11, 2019, 11:28 pm

I finished a Washington Post Best Science Fiction of 2018 book, Mem by Bethany C. Morrow. It's a strange read. The premise is that a scientist has devised a way to remove bad memories from people and then to continue to allow those memories to exist as a kind of person. Elsie is a unique mem in that she is able to live as a whole person with the ability to interact with the world and to make memories of her own. Even after 18 years, though, she still remains the property of the woman from whom she was extracted. The problem is what makes a person a person as exemplified both by the owned property Elsie and by the people who have had memories extracted and how that makes them live their lives. I, unfortunately, read a review before reading the book that compared it to a book I love, so that colored how I was able to react to the book from the beginning. If a book is like another book I love discovering that, it detracts from the enjoyment to have the fact pointed out to me.
Just today I finished a mystery, Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo. It could have been such a great book. The main character is a strong woman chief of police. She's ex-Amish (this is set in a small Amish town in Ohio), perceptive, intuitive, physically strong but troubled by a problem from her past. She is loved by her crew but not trusted by much of the town who don't hesitate to mention her perceived deficiencies as she hunts down a serial killer. i don't much like mysteries, but I do like police procedurals, and this was perfect except that this particular serial killer rapes and tortures young women for a long time before he kills them, and Castillo describes that torture in detail. Why would a woman do that? It's bad enough to write about violence against women, but to then describe the joy of torturing them - how does a woman allow herself to do that?
Confessions of the Fox is not written by a woman. The main character is Macheath from The Beggars Opera and the song Mac the Knife. This is not exactly the Macheath people are used to. The book is written by a transsexual (F-M) man about an intersex man who identifies as male researching a manuscript about an intersex man who identifies as male. That last person is Macheath otherwise known as Jack Sheppard. There’s more erotica than I’m comfortable with, but there are also lots of interesting 18th century historical facts particularly about economics and the beginning of the London police force.
I'm reading some mighty strange books as I work through the Best of 2018 lists.

73vwinsloe
Modifié : Fév 12, 2019, 3:01 pm

>72 Citizenjoyce:. Mem does sound intriguing though, so I am putting it on my wishlist.

I've had a couple of less than ideal reads lately. I expected to like History of Wolves, and I did to a certain extent. The writing style was lovely, and it was a good story with interesting plot lines. I couldn't put a name to my disappointment until I read this New York Times review. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/04/books/review-history-of-wolves-emily-fridlund... It was a shame really.

Then I read Wake of Vultures and that disappointed me, too. It was much more YA than I expected, and although it had nice representations of a bi-sexual, gender non-conforming, half African American/half Native American protagonist and a gay character, it also had as many different types of monsters and mythological creatures as I'd ever seen in one book. None of this was very deep, very exciting or emotionally stirring. Perhaps it just suffered in comparison to my recent read of Karen Memory which was tons of fun.

Oh well.

74Citizenjoyce
Modifié : Fév 12, 2019, 3:31 pm

>73 vwinsloe: from the review “Those thunderheads massing on the horizon let loose only a weak drizzle.”. That so perfectly describes what I’ve thought of some books.
I love alternate histories and westerns, so I’ll have to check out Karen Memory.

75vwinsloe
Fév 13, 2019, 9:01 am

>74 Citizenjoyce:. I found Karen Memory to be very tongue in cheek and refreshingly adult. And it's steampunk! So I recommend it if you are looking for something light and fun, but not childish.

76Sakerfalcon
Fév 13, 2019, 4:25 pm

>74 Citizenjoyce: If you haven't tried Silver on the road then I think you'd like it. It fits into the Alternate Western genre, doesn't erase the native peoples as some others have, and features an interesting young heroine. I'm currently reading the third book in the trilogy, Red waters rising and loving it.

77Citizenjoyce
Fév 13, 2019, 6:10 pm

>76 Sakerfalcon: shoot my library doesn’t have it in idiot. I’d have to read it with my eyes. Hmm

78Citizenjoyce
Modifié : Fév 17, 2019, 2:07 pm

I just finished Pat Barker’s new book The Silence of the Girls, a retelling of Greek mythology from the perspective of Briseis, Achilles’ “prize of war.” Most of the men of the Iliad don’t come off very well. Agamemnon was as ass. Odysseus is portrayed as short, dark, thin and muscular. That makes sense, but certainly doesn’t fit with any movie version. He’s unnecessarily murderous. Achilles the beautiful, the great, the superhero warrior is shown as pretty ordinary in his treatment of women except as it related to his mother. Weaponized rape, some women killed themselves to escape. So these great warriors are shown killing every male, even the unborn ones when they sack a city, then they rape the women for a while then they take them with them to be of service whenever they like. Briseis refers to their community as rape camps. Some of the men are “good” to their women especially if they produce sons. Some of the higher ups use a woman exclusively for a while then give them to their followers to use at will. Agamemnon was good at that. What these women had to look forward to from the time they’re taken at age 9 or up was a lifetime of servitude and rape with no recourse. Not a pleasant book, but it is Pat Baker so it was very well written.
In the car I’m listening to Charlaine Harris’s first of a new series, An Easy Death - an alternate history in which the US falls apart in the 1930’s and now technology, education, government is not exactly primitive, but like the west of the 1800’s. There are some nice surprises along with the bad ones, some ethnic groups come off mighty well. This story is from the perspective of Gunny (Elizabeth) Rose who is a hired gunner escorting parties of people around what used to be the US. This is Harris entertaining me and getting my mind off rape camps.
In the house I’m listening to The Poppy War, one of the Washington Post’s best science fiction/fantasy books of 2018. It’s about a war orphan exploited by her foster parents in an alternate ancient China and her rise through military school. Again, a nice enjoyable book.
ETA I just read a part of a review that said The Poppy War is based on the Sino Japanese war, so not so ancient after all. That’s all I want to know until I finish the book. There are indications that this is not going to be a nice book.

79Citizenjoyce
Modifié : Fév 19, 2019, 4:02 pm

I’m about 3/4 of the way through The Poppy War. There’s so much military strategy which interests me not at all.
ETA and then we go right into the Rape of Nanking. Wow!

80vwinsloe
Fév 20, 2019, 11:06 am

>79 Citizenjoyce:. Well, thanks for the heads up on that. The Poppy War is on my wish list, but I don't like the sound of it.

>78 Citizenjoyce:. The Silence of the Girls sounds intriguing. I think that I read something by Pat Barker previously, but I can't remember what. I may be confusing her with someone else.

I've never ready anything by Charlaine Harris despite my penchant for vampire lore. This new series sounds interesting.

I finally read something by Ali Smith, although it was not There But for the which has been sitting in my TBR pile forever. I read Autumn and I was glad that I did, although not being British, I was unfamiliar with Pauline Boty and Christine Wheeler, who Smith seemed to be contrasting to make a point that I probably missed. She writes beautifully though, and I will read more of her work.

Right now I am in the middle of Radiance. Catherynne M. Valente's creative use of language is such fun to read, even if it is sometimes a bit too self-indulgent. I'm interested to see whether the language overwhelms the emotional impact in this one, as it sometimes does.

81Citizenjoyce
Fév 20, 2019, 8:32 pm

>80 vwinsloe: Pat Barker is a wonder. 75 years old and still writing award winners. I knew her first from her WWI novels, then I read her earlier novels about women confronting violence and poverty even though these books were earlier works. Now she's back to writing about women confronting poverty and violence. She does a mighty fine job with both male and female characters.
I finished The Poppy War and will not be reading the sequels even though it's very well written and asks some important questions mainly is it worth giving up your humanity to save your country? We know what the Japanese did to China, and China never seemed to be good at supporting individuals over the state, so this is important. But boy is it rough.
I loved Charlaine Harris's vampires, but so far she's not using them in the new series.
I listened to a book of Ali Smith's, How to be both, and I wasn't clever enough to enjoy it. I always think I'll try something else.
Radiance looks good, I do love alternate histories.

82Sakerfalcon
Fév 21, 2019, 9:43 am

>80 vwinsloe: Radiance is on my TBR pile. I look forward to seeing what you thing of it in the end.

83vwinsloe
Modifié : Fév 26, 2019, 3:10 pm

>82 Sakerfalcon:. I finished Radiance a couple of days ago. It took me 200 pages or so to "get into" it, primarily because it is written as a compilation of reports, scripts, and columns in varying styles. So necessarily, as the scene jumps from document to document, it jars the reader out of the plot and the character development, which both suffer as a result. It is a mystery-- or really several of them, which I thought were all satisfactorily resolved. Most of the book I admired on an intellectual level, rather than enjoyed on an entertainment level.

But some of the longer passages were not only amazing in their creativity, but beautifully written and poignant. Some of the more hallucinatory passages were almost "new weird" in their descriptive content and reminiscent of her novel entitled, Palimpsest. I only gave it 3 1/2 stars (a little better than "okay"), but I am happy that I read it, and will read more of her work.

84Sakerfalcon
Mar 1, 2019, 4:23 am

>83 vwinsloe: Thank you for reporting back! I've enjoyed what I've read by Valente and must make time to get into this one.

I finished reading Educated last night, which was an excellent read. It's sad to read of the author's struggles with her family and her inner demons in order to achieve the freedom she needs to thrive and be true to herself, a struggle which I sense will never really end. It's easy to think "Why would people make such bad decisions, and repeat the same mistakes over and over?" as you read, but the point is that those with power in the family are firmly convinced that God is in control and that anything which happens is his will, giving rise to a reckless fatalism. She is honest about times when her memories of events differ from those of others, but I believe that she is doing her best to tell the truth as she knows it - something that some reviewers seem to doubt.

I've just begun The street by Ann Petry, set in 1940s Harlem. I'm not expecting a happy read but I think it will be powerful.

85vwinsloe
Mar 1, 2019, 12:24 pm

>84 Sakerfalcon:. I really felt educated by Educated myself. Aside from the religious aspect, it really made me think about patriarchal families, and what happens when the patriarch is mentally ill. Clearly, Tara Westover's father had some form of depression or bipolar illness, and yet his word is final in the family. I know that it can be, and often is, even worse, but I find the fact that intelligent people can submit to someone whose brain is clearly not functioning properly absolutely baffles me.

I just started The Last Girl and am struck how the atrocities of war are all the same, throughout history and culture. It's like they all read the same playbook. None the less horrifying to be sure but the banality is depressing. I am listening to this book and was thrilled to hear Amal Clooney read her Forward.

86Citizenjoyce
Modifié : Mar 1, 2019, 2:02 pm

>85 vwinsloe: I remember reading an article about the Quiverful movement in which one of the women of the movement talks about the importance of supporting the male head of the family. She says its easy to support him when you agree with his decisions, but it’s a true test of faith to support him when you think he’s wrong. So it is more important to let your leader guide you in the wrong direction than it is to value your own mind and try to do the right thing. No wonder they value homeschooling. It takes a lot of work to turn a thinking human being into a voluntary slave.
I’ve just finished The Library Book by Susan Orlean which centers on the fire at the Central Libray of Los Angeles and ends up being a discourse on the history of and purpose of public libraries. That sounds pretty dull, but it’s fascinating. She goes into the architecture of the Goodhue building, politics (of course), sexism (a competent woman director of libraries was fired on the stated purpose that the head of the library committee decided that a man really should be in charge). The involvement with the homeless, immigrant and educationally underserved communities is a big part of their work. Libraries are one of our few remaining free public spaces. I was surprised that she said it’s possible that the future of reading books is with Overdrive, but libraries will continue to be the future of community support. (Almost all my reading now consists of audiobooks from Overdrive, but my book club meets at the library).

87SChant
Mar 15, 2019, 4:52 am

Reading The Future is Female by Lisa Yaszek - stories by female SF writers from 1928 to the early '60s, i.e. the era when women weren't supposed to be writing in the genre. Some women I know of, but many are new to me.

88vwinsloe
Mar 23, 2019, 4:23 pm

It's been a while since I've checked in here. I've been reading a series of equestrian themed books because I've decided to donate my collection to a local trails association for their annual sale. I donated the non-fiction last year, and now I'm donating the fiction. I read something called horse: a novel and I liked it more than expected. The author is a poet, and it shows in her writing. It was a coming of age book about a girl's relationship with her father, and her father's horse. I liked it more than expected.

I also read Mercury which is about a wife obsessed with equestrian ambitions, and her husband who gives up his ophthalmology practice to move to the country to help take care of his father with Parkinson's disease. I like Margot Livesey and although this book had the same sort of plot structure as The Missing World, my favorite of hers, for some reason it just didn't work as well.

In the middle somewhere I read Outside the Gates which is a YA fantasy novella that was probably very original when written. It was a nice story, but people with supernatural powers are overdone this days. I would like to have the ability to communicate with animals though...

Now I'm back to the equestrian themed books with A Portion for Foxes. I'm sure that it will be a romance (ugh) but I've heard good things about the other dramatic tensions in the book such as the changes to traditional foxhunting country in Virginia as it becomes suburbanized- much like what is happening in my own neighborhood. It takes place in the early 60s and it appears that there may be some racial conflict going on as well- we shall see whether that ends up to be good or bad.

>86 Citizenjoyce: I've got The Library Book on my wish list and >87 SChant: The Future is Female is on there as well.

89Citizenjoyce
Modifié : Mar 28, 2019, 5:39 pm

>88 vwinsloe: that’s a lot of horse related books. I relate more to dogs, having had little relationship with horses in my life. Because of you, though, I do have The Mare on hold.

90vwinsloe
Modifié : Mar 29, 2019, 9:08 am

>89 Citizenjoyce:. I am donating all of the horse related books on Wednesday which will really clean out my bookcases.

I like dog books, too, so if you have any to recommend, send them along. I think that you will enjoy The Mare, but as of this morning, I am abandoning A Portion for Foxes, which was full of the worst stereotypes ever. Just ugh.

I am listening to Swing Time. I love Zadie Smith and the reader is excellent. I own the book in hardcover as well and may read it in tandem with listening.

91LyzzyBee
Avr 4, 2019, 2:57 am

I'm reading Girls to the Front which is a very carefully researched history of the Riot Grrrl music and feminist movement. Very good but quite dense.

92SChant
Avr 4, 2019, 5:38 am

Half-way through Lisa Yaszek's Sisters of Tomorrow , one of her excellent books recovering women's SF writing from the Pulp era up to the early 60s.

Also just started an intriguing book of short stories by Indonesian writer Intan Paramaditha called Apple and Knife. Some of the stories have a supernatural/fantasy twist and all so far are overtly feminist.

93SChant
Avr 19, 2019, 5:01 am

Wow - had this goup become defunct or am I on the wrong page?

Reading Bloody Brilliant Women by Cathy Newman - a popular history of "forgottern" women pioneering in traditionally male areas in 20th century Britain.

94vwinsloe
Avr 19, 2019, 8:36 am

>93 SChant:. I think we're still alive here, but seem to have lapsed into bursts of posts rather than a steady stream.

I've just finished Swing Time which I enjoyed more on audiobook than in print. Zadie Smith made lots of fascinating pairings in this book about mixed race childhood girlfriends. I'm still processing it.

I've started Vox which has the seemingly dumb premise (pun intended) about a dystopian USA where women and girls are restricted to using 100 words per day.

95krazy4katz
Avr 19, 2019, 3:16 pm

I just finished What Happened by Hillary Clinton. A very interesting and thoughtful book, although of course there is a lot of anger. The book is very long and I almost put it down several times. However she has lots of interesting things to say both personal and political. She discusses all the policies she wanted to put in place if she became president. It is a good primer for what we should look for in our next president (in my opinion).

96Citizenjoyce
Avr 19, 2019, 3:47 pm

>95 krazy4katz: To me the best part was that she was finally able to say what she meant without fear of offending people. It was an eye opener.

97krazy4katz
Modifié : Avr 19, 2019, 6:59 pm

>96 Citizenjoyce: Yes, exactly! So much of her message didn't get through in that election. If you didn't watch the Democratic Convention, you would have a difficult time knowing what she planned to do as president. And I knew people who repeated some of the untrue stories about her that she mentioned in her book.

Now I am planning to read The Hemingses of Monticello by Annette Gordon-Reed.

98Citizenjoyce
Avr 20, 2019, 2:47 pm

I’m so upset about politics right now it’s hard to post about anything else. White women are seen as the scourge of the world by all camps. I’m running out of hope.

99krazy4katz
Avr 21, 2019, 12:44 am

>98 Citizenjoyce: Courage! I have to believe we will come out of this! The next election is not very far away! I know it’s hard. I am angry every day, but lots of good people are out there. We just have to make sure they get the support they need. It won’t be Hillary, unfortunately, but someone will step up and benefit from her experience.

100Citizenjoyce
Avr 21, 2019, 2:29 pm

101vwinsloe
Modifié : Mai 2, 2019, 5:13 pm

I am finding it difficult to focus on reading books these days. The news seems to be like watching a train wreck in slow motion that it is difficult to turn away from.

I did finish Vox, which despite what I thought was a silly premise at first, was really chilling in the beginning. Her descriptions of the evangelical attitude toward women including the "reverence" for their important work in the home contradicted by underlying scorn toward them was right on target. Unfortunately, toward the end the book turned more into a thriller type novel with a hurried wrap up. Worth reading for the first half or three quarters though.

I also read The Immortalists which I liked quite a bit. It was an interesting examination of mortality salience and survivors guilt with the premise that a fortune teller had told 4 young siblings the exact dates of each of their deaths. I was emotionally affected by the story of the youngest siblings in the story, but overtime got distracted until the end where the author wove all of the threads of the story together. I wish that I had read this when I had better focus.

102Citizenjoyce
Modifié : Mai 2, 2019, 8:20 pm

>101 vwinsloe: I too liked The Immortalists. I especially liked the anal retentive character
I just finished, and loved, The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa which I hadn't realized was written by a woman until the copyright at the end. It's a different kind of novel about a man and his pet, very character driven. I read one of her manga novels last year, Library Wars: Love & War, Vol. 1 and, while I loved the premise, didn't much care for the execution. She was just a contributor to that one, maybe that's why it wasn't as good.
I got another surprise with Lethal White, not realizing it was a horsey book. It's a real true mystery. It amazes me that wonderful writers like J. K. Rowling and Stephen King waste their talents on mystery and horror, but I'm sure they don't find it a waste.
I read the first book in a series, First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones , it's way too much Sex In the City (mixed with ghosts) for me. Sarcasm and sex probably make it a big seller. There are 13 books in the series so far. I'm going to pass on them.
The Great Alonel by Kristin Hannah was too full of stereotypical characters for me to love it, though the setting, a little town in Alaska, was unique and interesting. The childbirth scene is out of any silly tv show you've ever seen.
In European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman by Theodora Goss the second in the fantasy Athena club series it takes 700 pages to describe every cup of coffee the women drink and every sausage they eat. How did her editor let her get away with this?
Unsheltered is not Barbara Kingsolver's best. Evolution, an old home in disrepair, a right-wing bigot, women scientists, evolution - it should have been great, but I didn't really care about anyone but the scientist. It could be my mind set right now instead of the writing, I don't know.
And finally Lisa See wrote a book as good as Snowflower and the Secret Fan. The Island of Sea Women is about Korean diving women. The description of their woman-centered culture is fascinating, and she got the friendship right.
And now I'm reading The Mueller Report, so the political funk continues.

103vwinsloe
Mai 4, 2019, 8:43 am

>102 Citizenjoyce: Thank you for posting your opinion of these books. I had been looking at The Travelling Cat Chronicles as a gift for my mother, but on your recommendation, maybe I will get it for myself. I have Unsheltered on my TBR pile right now, and I'm sure that I will get to it but now I am not in a rush. Lisa See's books are always a must read for me, and I have my eye out for The Island of Sea Women.

I've thought more about The Immortalists and the more I do, the better I like it. In hindsight, I think that the author may have been exploring the 5 stages of grief in her 4 central characters plus their mother although not in order and some demostrated more than one stage. The youngest brother who died first was probably representative of "denial," the magician sister definitely conjured up "bargaining" and "depression," the older brother, "anger" the older sister "bargaining" and, ultimately, acceptance." I think I am going back to give the book another half star!

104SChant
Mai 4, 2019, 8:51 am

Continuing my reading of women's history, especially in science & technology, I'm about to start Lettice Curtis: Her Autobiography, about a women who flew many types of planes as a member of ATA during WWII, and spent her post-war years deeply involved in the fledgling UK aircraft industry.

105Citizenjoyce
Mai 4, 2019, 2:52 pm

>103 vwinsloe: great analysis. Makes me want to re read the book.
>104 SChant: have you read Brotopia? I’m wavering about it.
I’m almost finished with Critical Care: A New Nurse Faces Death, Life, and Everything in Between by Theresa Brown, and an really loving it’s accurate depiction of the profession. I’m glad I’ve retired, I miss the joys of nursing but not the constant self doubt and abuse. I could really relate to her problems caring for the devout Christian man who abuses all his care givers.
I just recently finished Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. I’d never heard of her before. I assume she’s Mexican since the book is set in Mexico and she’s knowledgeable about the area. This is a different look at urban fantasy and vampires. For a great change, I was hoping it was the first of a series, but I see no follow up.

106SChant
Mai 5, 2019, 4:41 am

>105 Citizenjoyce: I've got Grace Hopper and the Invention of the Information Age on my TBR pile as well as a few more general Women in Sci & Tech things but not heard about Brotopia before - it's going onto my wishlist now!

107vwinsloe
Mai 7, 2019, 4:56 pm

>104 SChant: The Lettice Curtis autobiography is of interest. I got hooked on women aviators after reading Code Name Verity.

Also, I'm not sure whether you do Early Reviewers on LibraryThing, but there is an audiobook on offer for May which is a biography of Fanny Bullock Workman entitled Queen of the Mountaineers that caught my eye.

>104 SChant: & >105 Citizenjoyce:, I have not read Brotopia but I note that it is a selection of the "Now Read This" the New York Times/ PBS Newshour online book club. There is some discussion and an interview with the author posted on the "Now Read This" Facebook page.

108Citizenjoyce
Mai 7, 2019, 10:29 pm

>107 vwinsloe: Thanks. I think I’ll request it again.

109Citizenjoyce
Mai 7, 2019, 10:43 pm

I forgot to mention that I read Patricia Highsmith: Selected Novels and Short Stories. It includes the novels Strangers On A Train and The Price of Salt, both of which I love, but I’ll tell you. I don’t think I would have wanted to hang around in any Patricia Highsmith circles. Sometimes I think I’m too jaded and cynical, but I’m a naive babe in arms compared to her, as evidenced by the characters in her stories.. The stories are great, but rather far from uplifting. I won’t look at the pigeons in my backyard the same way again.

110SChant
Mai 8, 2019, 6:33 am

>107 vwinsloe: I'm finding Lettice Curtis rather flat - lots of lists of planes she flew, and to where, but nothing to round out the experience and make it into a readable story. HoHum - there are a few more ATA books around that I will take a look at sometime.
The Fanny Bullock Workman book sounds interesting, but I can't get my brain together enough to do proper reviews so would feel a bit of a fraud asking for this. I'll keep a look out for it elsewhere, though. Thanks for the rec.

111Sakerfalcon
Mai 8, 2019, 7:44 am

As usual I'm reading several books by women.
The recent SF novel, A memory called Empire is a great read, complex, twisty and political with excellent worldbuilding and interesting characters.
Black wolves of Boston by Wen Spencer is an enjoyable urban fantasy, closer in style to Emma Bull than Charlaine Harris.
In non-fiction I'm really enjoying Mastering the art of Soviet cooking which is a personal history of 20th Century Russia through the theme of food (or lack thereof), based on the experiences and memories of the author and her family. It is excellent.
And I'm dipping into the essays in Bad feminist, which are every bit as challenging and engaging as I hoped.

112Citizenjoyce
Modifié : Mai 10, 2019, 3:34 am

I just read a couple of books that went together, and I didn't know that would be the case. Underground in Berlin: A Young Woman's Extraordinary Tale of Survival in the Heart of Nazi Germany by Marie Jalowicz Simon is a semi-fictional biography of the author's mother, a Jew who went to ground in Germany, living with various families, many of them Nazi sympathizers, in order to avoid being rounded up. Who Is Vera Kelly? by Rosalie Knecht is a novel about a new CIA agent stationed in Argentina in the 1960s. Both books show what it takes to survive on the run. You have to be practical, you have to be willing to use whoever comes along, you can't take sex too seriously. You have to be an opportunist. There are things to be learned here if you ever need to run for your life. An additional perk about Vera Kelly is that it shows the Russian imperialism that we're becoming so familiar with.

113Citizenjoyce
Mai 13, 2019, 7:29 pm

This is so exciting. I loved Remarkable Creatures, and I’m sure Kate Winslet will do a great job.
https://womenintheworld.com/2019/05/10/accused-in-her-time-of-producing-hoaxes-o...

114krazy4katz
Mai 13, 2019, 11:02 pm

I just finished The Hemingses of Monticello. Really interesting but very long. I had to take breaks rather than read it all at once. Still, it was a valuable insight into the slave society under a “kind” owner, Thomas Jefferson. Amazing to imagine how anyone could place their fellow human beings in such circumstances. Sometimes I wonder what I would have thought if I had been born then. Would I also be that heartless? It’s scary to think about.

115Citizenjoyce
Mai 14, 2019, 3:09 am

>114 krazy4katz: It's really an eye-opening book. I hope I would have been moral enough to reject slavery, but who knows. Sometimes I wonder how I would be if I'd been born under different circumstances - very poor, very rich, very religious, very loved, very hated. I know I'd be different. I hope I'd be moral, but I don't know.

116vwinsloe
Mai 17, 2019, 9:21 am

>113 Citizenjoyce:. I loved Remarkable Creatures, and it will be wonderful to see it brought to life in film.

I retired from my job back on May 3rd, and am finding less time for reading, but I am able to read for longer, more focused stints. I'm going back part time as a "post-retiree" in June and in the meantime am trying to polish off a couple of physically heavy books that were languishing on my TBR pile because I didn't want to carry them on my commute.

I read California which surpassed my low expectations, although I didn't love it. It depicts a realistic, slow apocalypse brought about by climate change and income inequality in which some people band together for survival. It was perhaps too realistic, and would have been better if the central characters were more sympathetic.

I am reading Life Mask now, and I am not sure that it was worth the wait. It is very Jane Austen-esque, and I am not a fan of Austen. I know that I am in the minority there! If anyone has read it, please let me know if I should carry on. I'm about 200 pages in and it goes on for another 400-500 pages.

117SChant
Juin 10, 2019, 5:47 am

I’m having a bit of a fad, at the moment, on reading the Trojan War told from the women’s perspective.

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker was poor. Of “the girls” only Briseis gets to break the silence, others get bit-parts, and her voice is very flat and passive. The book reverts quite quickly to re-telling the story of Achilles & Patroclus, and that is also very flat and affectless. I couldn't be bothered to finish it.

A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes is much better. The sections focussing on the Trojan women are very good, the interspersed chapters covering other women of the war are a bit hit-and-miss. The best of those are the paralleling of Iphegenia’s voice from near the start of the book with Polyxena’s later on. The worst are Penelope’s letters to her missing husband, telling him what he’s been doing – very clunky. I’ve got another 100 pages to go so my opinions may change.

Neither of them hold a candle to the 35-year old Cassandra: A Novel and Four Essays by Christa Wolf, which takes us into the mind of Cassandra, the doomed prophet of Troy.

Anyway, next up Circe by Madeline Miller.

118vwinsloe
Modifié : Juin 10, 2019, 10:22 am

>117 SChant:. I found Circe to be transporting. I hope that you do, too.

I finally finished Life Mask which was okay. I would certainly recommend it to anyone interested in the French Revolution from the English point of view.

After that I read The Mad Scientist's Daughter which was a sweet, poignant love story.

And most recently I finished The Female Persuasion which I found to be very relatable, but which, in the end, seemed to me to have a post-feminist message with a "not all men" theme. Perhaps that is too strong, but the novel seemed to weigh individual action against an organized movement, finding the latter to be compromised. For me, it fell rather flat against the backdrop of today's news.

119Citizenjoyce
Juin 10, 2019, 2:38 pm

>118 vwinsloe: I’ve recently become confused by the “not all men” excuse after becoming very upset about confrontations to white women due to the slur of white women making racist 911 calls about POC going about their daily business. Yes these women are ignorant and racist, but it get’s so exhausting defending myself as not one of them that I I’m tempted to give up on intersectionality. If this is how men feel, I can understand it. Then I read a book like Brotopia (which I’m half way through) and get exasperated at the blindness these men exhibit in their push for “meritocracy.”

120vwinsloe
Juin 10, 2019, 5:19 pm

>119 Citizenjoyce: I get it. I used to feel like I was being personally attacked and would get defensive. But I've stopped defending, and I just listen and learn. I know that I am not personally guilty of the worst things, but I have undoubtedly benefited from them. And I know that I haven't done enough. I wish that is how the "good guys" would feel. That they haven't done enough. That they haven't spoken up to their peers when a woman was being objectified or abused. If enough of us don't tolerate racist, sexist or homophobic behavior in public or in private, if we can speak up to those in our circle, I feel that it will make a difference eventually.

I want to do better. And I want them to do better.

121vwinsloe
Juil 6, 2019, 8:55 am

I saw this quote the other day and wanted to share it with you.

“One of the great epiphanies of my lifetime was realizing that I disliked so many female characters because they were created by men who didn't like women.”~Rainbow Rowell

122sweetiegherkin
Juil 7, 2019, 10:21 pm

>121 vwinsloe: wow, that hadn't occurred to me before

Currently my books are all by dudes, but I just recently finished The Price of Salt, Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, and Leah on the Offbeat, all of which I enjoyed. The Price of Salt has a lot of material ripe for discussion, while the other two were more of feel-good reads (not to say they were all nonsense and no substance, but they ran on the lighter side).

123vwinsloe
Modifié : Août 1, 2019, 9:35 am

It has been a while since I posted here and going back over the last month, it seems I've read several books by women. I have finished all of Anita Diamant's fictional oeuvre with the Last Days of Dogtown. I live within 20 minutes of the Dogtown area, and enjoyed her imagining of the colorful characters living there in its final days.

I had mixed feelings about News of the World and The Great Believers. While I liked both of these books, their endings left me somewhat disappointed. The Great Believers told a moving story about the AIDS era in Chicago, but the only character who seemed fully formed was killed off about 2/3 of the way through, and then the story moved on to a less developed character and her daughter, who was completely unknown to the reader, and the author unsuccessfully attempted to join the plot lines with a motherhood theme.

In a nutshell, the News of the World ultimately was about an old man who saved a little girl and acted as her father until he married her off to another man who the reader didn't know very well.

I did have two standout reads. The memoir Rough Magic which is written by the youngest person and first woman to win the Mongol Derby. The poetic quality of the author's prose reminded me a bit of H is for Hawk and her descriptions of place, time and thought were dreamlike. Perhaps she was trying to memorialize what she called the "Mongolia dreams" that remained with her long after the race's end and her return to England. An interesting sub-theme of the memoir seemed to be the contrasting attitudes of a racer from Texas, and her own very British self-critical awareness of culture and history.

Finally, I did a re-read of A Handmaid's Tale in advance of the sequel out next month.

124Citizenjoyce
Modifié : Août 1, 2019, 3:51 pm

>123 vwinsloe: I keep thinking about posting here and not doing it. Thanks for getting things going again. Rough Magic looks good.
Last month I read:
The Ash Family by Molly Dektar about a cult run by self serving men and brainwashed women. I could both see why the woman stayed regardless of her knowledge of the lack of sanctity of the leaders and kept hoping she would wise up and get out of there.
The third of the Wayferers trilogy, Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers is so choppy it reads like a collection of interrelated short stories rather than a novel, but each story is great. She is still unique at world building, and there’s an excellent bit about sex workers. This is kind of funny because I’m currently in a tiff on Facebook about my insufficient support of sex workers. I guess I prefer the fantasy to the reality.
I’m currently reading The Man Who Sold America: Trump and the Unraveling of the American Story by Joy-Ann Reid. It’s kind of a summary of what we all know plus an in depth look at race relations in the US and South Africa. I have to say, the more I read, the more hopeless I feel.
Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas about Japanese internment in WWII. This is just a wonderful book aside from the fact that it includes a scene taken directly from To Kill A Mockingbird.
And my favorite of the month, An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good by Helene Tursten. I’d never read her before, and since I am an elderly lady with some misanthropic feelings, I thought I give her a try. My, I do seem like Mary Poppins in comparison. I’ve just ordered DVDs of her tv series from the library, Irene Huss. I hope it’s not in Swedish.

125krazy4katz
Modifié : Août 1, 2019, 8:10 pm

Since I last posted, I have read Tea on the Great Wall, which was very interesting from a historical perspective, although after they left there wasn’t much excitement. I think they felt the same way.

I also read Becoming, which was really insightful. I love Michelle Obama’s perspective in her life as well as those around her. Definitely a good read.

Another fascinating book was The Moment of Lift by Melinda Gates. She doesn’t just throw money at problems. She goes to women’s homes in poor countries and sits down to talk with them. Then she comes up with solutions for problems like lack of birth control or job discrimination that involves people in the village. Really interesting book!

Finally I read Kindred. At first I found the characters rather wooden, but the more time she spent back in the 1800s, the more real and compelling the book became. Of course I am glad she came back to the 20th century so she could live a normal life but there is no sense of whether her experience will change her normal life.

126vwinsloe
Août 5, 2019, 7:56 am

>124 Citizenjoyce:. If I didn't come here, how would I know what to read? I put Joy-Ann Reid's book on my wishlist, along with An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good. Right now I am reading The Girls which I think you recommended eons ago but I am just getting to. I've decided that I need to find a way to regularly reach down into my TBR pile or a lot of things that I was enthusiastic about reading just don't get read.

Record of a Spaceborn Few was already on my list as I enjoyed the first two in the series.

>125 krazy4katz:. I loved Kindred, although I had a visceral reaction to it. For me, the book wasn't so much about the plot or the characters, but about the way Octavia Butler used the story to make the reader feel a tiny bit what it must be like to be a slave. Unspeakable.

127Citizenjoyce
Août 5, 2019, 7:43 pm

>126 vwinsloe: Octavia Butler can make you feel things no one else can.
I know what you mean about digging down in the TBR pile. I'll get all excited about a book and request it on Overdrive, then by the time it comes in I don't know why I wanted to read it.
I just read a fantasy book by a man, City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett that's rated 4.19 on LT, and I can't figure out why. It's good, but 4.19 good? I was thinking maybe I'm just not that fond of fantasy, but I started The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco and feel much more at home with it even though it's rated only 3.63. Is it because the first was about gods and the second is about witches? I don't know, but I'm glad to be back into a book where I can snuggle down.

128vwinsloe
Août 7, 2019, 7:41 am

>127 Citizenjoyce:, wasn't it you who decided that there should be a category to classify books where you are "Not the Intended Audience?" Sometimes I chalk up the unusual popularity of some books that I thought were just "meh" to that. Just not completely relatable to me, would be another way to phrase it.

I had a discussion with someone else about genres that some people just don't care for, and I think that it must be how our brains are wired, whether because of biology or environment or both. For example, I don't like magical realism. It started for me with Gabriel Garcia Marquez (what on earth was 100 Years of Solitude about actually?) Then, as I was reminded yesterday, Beloved. (RIP Toni Morrison) I have wondered whether magical realism is employed more in writings by people from cultures that have a different frame of reference from mine, and who write books for which I am Not the Intended Audience. Just a thought. I don't know how else to explain it.

129Citizenjoyce
Modifié : Août 7, 2019, 11:18 pm

>128 vwinsloe: I'm reluctant to give some books I don't like a low rating just for that reason. City of Stairs might be a good book even though it didn't work for me. I'm just not the intended audience. (I can't believe I came up with that, but I sure agree with it.) I finished The Bone Witch and, alas, didn't like it any better. Recently I heard of the term Mary Sue for fictional characters.

The Mary Sues of Literature ~ GoodReads https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/15767.The_Mary_Sues_of_Literaturehttps://www...
http://booksandchardonnay.com/notable-mary-sues-literature/
https://www.quora.com/Who-are-the-most-notable-Mary-Sue-characters-in-books-and-...

Tea, the main character, is certainly a Mary Sue, a type of character that I hate (think Bella Swan). But if you like stories with strong women characters, as I do, you're going to read quite a few Mary Sues. I think a big problem with this was was that I listened to the audiobook, and the narrator read every instance of Tea's feeling challenged or worried in a whining, subservient voice. This is a young woman who is going to save the world and she speaks like a scared 6-year-old. It just made me cringe. I guess that's one drawback of audiobooks.

Right now I'm re-reading Circe. I found the book very hard to get into the first time around. This time I'm basking in the writing style and loving it.

130SChant
Août 8, 2019, 7:09 am

Just started a collection of Nalo Hopkinson's short fiction Falling in Love with Hominids.

131vwinsloe
Août 8, 2019, 8:18 am

>129 Citizenjoyce: I've seen the term "Mary Sue" a few times and didn't catch what it meant from the context. It seems disparaging to me, and I don't think that I like it. What are men protagonists called that have those qualities? Oh yeah, heroes.

Circe kept me up late reading. I've been meaning to get Song of Achilles.

>130 SChant:. Intriguing title!

132SChant
Août 8, 2019, 9:53 am

>131 vwinsloe: From a poem by Cordwainer Smith, according to the introduction. :)

133Citizenjoyce
Modifié : Août 8, 2019, 3:50 pm

>131 vwinsloe: it is disparaging, and for characters like Bella Swan deservedly so, but I was amazed that so many favorite heroines fit the bill.
Male Mary Sues are Gary Stus https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/24562.The_Gary_Stus_of_Literature

134vwinsloe
Modifié : Août 10, 2019, 7:38 am

>132 SChant: I had no idea that he wrote poetry, although The Lady Who Sailed the Soul is one of the most poetic short stories that I have ever read.

>133 Citizenjoyce: Yeah, it still rubs me the wrong way. :>(

135Citizenjoyce
Modifié : Août 31, 2019, 6:14 pm

>123 vwinsloe: I finished Rough Magic. What a great read! Lara Prior-Palmer goes completely against Sheryl Sandberg‘s idea that women don’t advance in their careers because we think we need check off all the required boxes before we attempt a new job. Palmer just kind of jumped into the race out of the blue. She didn’t have the year’s worth of guidance and advice all the other riders had, she didn’t get her vaccinations, she didn’t learn the language and she didn’t even pack enough gear assuming that she could borrow what she needed along the way. That seems like a recipe for disaster. What she did have was a respect for horses and for herself with horses, also a pretty good ability to talk people into doing things for her. I’ve already recommended the book to others and I’m sure I’ll continue to do so. Thanks.

136krazy4katz
Modifié : Août 31, 2019, 9:55 pm

Finished The Angry Wife by Pearl S. Buck. I love almost everything she writes including this book. This story takes one back to the end of the Civil War in a family living in West Virginia. The head of the plantation/home fought for the South. His brother fought for the North. How they come to terms with life after war, the changes to their lifestyles and their relationships with former slaves is the major focus of the book. The plantation owner's wife is determined to live as though nothing has changed. Probably a realistic picture of that era. Beautifully written.

137Citizenjoyce
Sep 1, 2019, 4:02 am

>136 krazy4katz: I didn't realize she wrote about the US. If she does it as well as she writes about China, it must be good.

138vwinsloe
Modifié : Sep 1, 2019, 8:21 am

>135 Citizenjoyce:. I am so glad that you enjoyed it. The television coverage that the author mentioned can be seen on youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7nePo_stVo&t=252s

I didn't want to mention it previously because it contains spoilers. One of the things that struck me after reading the book and watching the youtube is that Lara Prior-Palmer was very much 19 years old, with all of her snarkiness and naiveté intact.

139krazy4katz
Sep 1, 2019, 9:56 am

>137 Citizenjoyce: Yes, she writes about Korea and Japan too. I haven’t read any of those.

140Citizenjoyce
Sep 1, 2019, 1:44 pm

>138 vwinsloe: thanks for the video. They were both so young! Unfortunately the video didn’t capture all the trouble Lara had with her horse, but I loved seeing the real people.

141vwinsloe
Sep 4, 2019, 9:08 am

I just finished Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis series packaged in a single volume entitled, "Lileth's Brood." I had read Dawn some time ago, and didn't acquire the rest of it until recently, so I reread that as well. She is so unsettling, but I think I am beginning to understand her a little better than I did when reading Fledgling. Now that I have read a little more about colonization from the point of view of the colonized, I am beginning to see the trade offs and the benefits of assimilation, although the losses still seem at least equally tragic and infuriating. I expect more anger--which is what I am finding now in the works of N.K. Jemison and Nnedi Okafor. But what good is anger, other than catharsis?

In any event, I am developing a new appreciation for Butler. Now I am reading something light as a palate cleanser, while I eagerly await my pre-ordered copy of The Testaments.

142Citizenjoyce
Sep 4, 2019, 4:53 pm

>141 vwinsloe: To my mind Butler is one of the most complicated authors. I always have conflicting emotions swirling when I read her. I have put my name on the waiting list for The Testaments. Please let it not be a sequel that has nothing going for it but the book it's based on.

143vwinsloe
Sep 5, 2019, 8:50 am

>142 Citizenjoyce: I've been trying like crazy to avoid spoilers, but a headline that I caught inadvertently said that the sequel addresses the complicity necessary to prop up a society like Gilead. If so, I think it will be really interesting. But we'll just have to wait and see. I am trying to temper my expectations but not being very successful.

144Citizenjoyce
Sep 5, 2019, 8:17 pm

There's a New York Times article about Margaret Atwood's sequel to The Handmaid's Tale, The Testaments. I hate knowing anything about a book I really want to read, so maybe this will give away a little too much for some, but doggone, what a woman!
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/05/books/handmaids-tale-sequel-testaments-margar...

145vwinsloe
Sep 6, 2019, 6:35 pm

>144 Citizenjoyce:. Thanks for posting, but I'm going to wait!

146Citizenjoyce
Sep 7, 2019, 4:53 am

>145 vwinsloe: I don't blame you.

147krazy4katz
Modifié : Sep 10, 2019, 10:26 pm

Just finished Healing: a Woman's Journey from Doctor to Nun, which was amazing. Dang Nghiem grew up in Vietnam during the Vietnam War, was horribly abused and eventually came to the United States. She became a physician, then after a while, decided to become a Buddhist nun, so she went to Plum Village in France to study with Thich Nhat Hanh. She has to heal from all the trauma she experienced and she describes how Zen Buddhism helps her do that.

Now I am reading her second book, Mindfulness as Medicine: A Story of Healing Body and Spirit, which is a continuation of her journey along with advice for people confronting their inner demons and healing themselves. I have read a number of books on mindfulness, but to read one from a person who has suffered so much and learns to heal herself and those around her is just wonderful. Her background as a physician also helps me (as a scientist) to understand some of the concepts she discusses.

148Citizenjoyce
Sep 12, 2019, 3:48 pm

>147 krazy4katz: Looks like heavy, and interesting reading.
I finished a book of short stories edited by Tracy Chevalier, Reader, I Married Him. Stories inspired by Jane Eyre. As with any compilation of short stories, some are good, some are bad, but this time the good ones outweigh the bad. My favorite was "The Hold" about a woman with multiple marriages. Wow, is all I have to say. There was “The Orphan Exchange” which centers around the time in the orphanage, wonderful. “The Mirror” is a creepy story from Rochester's perspective which is the very definition of gaslighting. One from the nurse's point of view, “Grace Poole Her Testimony”. “The Mash-Up” is a funny, crazy story about a marriage between people of different cultures, not really Jayne Eyrish, but still engaging. "Robinson Crusoe at the Waterpark" is about two gay men and their son. At first I didn't really see how it fit in this anthology, but it did. 'My Mother's Wedding" is another kind of creepy story about marriage and family. Lionel Shriver’s “The Self-Seeding Sycamore” is good on so many levels even though it has little to do with Bronte. Chevalier's own "The Dorset Gap" also is not much related to Bronte except in the opposites attract kind of way.
I also read Naughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman because I saw it recommended on a Facebook site. It was one of those books for whom I was not the intended reader being much too old to be beguiled by the desperate love story, but the racism primer is very good for someone who has never thought about racial privilege. In this book, the people of color, Crosses (daggers in a racially disparaging term) are in charge and Noughts, white people (blanks in their own racially disparaging term) are the oppressed class.
Right now I'm reading The Women of Copper Country, Mary Doria Russell's newest about mining and union organization, which I have long waited for. Alas, my copy of The Testaments just came in, so I'm not giving
Russell all the attention I should, wanting to hurry through and get to Atwood.

149Citizenjoyce
Sep 15, 2019, 2:55 am

I had a good day and a bad day today. The first thing was that the volunteer agency finished trapping the last of the feral cats I feed (well, they missed the one I call Coyote, but I don't think anything but old age is going to get him.) They come back Tuesday night all nicely neutered and spayed. I hope they won't hate me. Mama cat was trapped about 15 minutes after the traps went down, and she was mighty doggone angry. Enough so that it took 24 hours to get her last little white kittie.
The second good thing was that I saw the movie of The Goldfinch. It's very well done. I didn't think they'd get everything in, but they got more than I expected. Unfortunately, they weren't able to show the complexities of the personalities, but they did get most of the action in.
And the bad thing, even though I took big breaks and read, or rather listened, as slowly as possible, I finished The Testaments. It's over. There will be no more, and it just makes me sick that the writers of the tv series are going to screw it up.
I also, the other day, finished Mary Doria Russell's newest, The Women of Copper Country. Here's a woman who doesn't mind going full-on political. It's very effective about the American Joan of Arc, "Big Annie" Klobuchar Clemenc, president of the auxiliary of The Western Federation of Miners (WFM) and her fight against the Calumet and Hecla Mining Company. The manager of the local mine, James MacNaughton, is depicted as a 100% villain, no subtlety here, though these days we do see such people exist.
And now, I wish I could just reread The Testaments, but its a library book with many on the waiting list. Sigh.

150vwinsloe
Modifié : Sep 15, 2019, 9:02 am

I finished The Testaments and have been reading all of the reviews and interviews that I studiously avoided before reading the book. I liked the review in the NY Times that was linked in the article posted at >144 Citizenjoyce:, and agreed with it pretty completely. I liked this observation: "Agency and strength, Atwood seems to be suggesting, do not require a heroine with the visionary gifts of Joan of Arc, or the ninja skills of a Katniss Everdeen or Lisbeth Salander — there are other ways of defying tyranny, participating in the resistance or helping ensure the truth of the historical record." There are, of course, people like Amy Siskind, and many journalists, doing that today, in addition to those wearing red with white bonnets and showing up without saying a word.

I'm swapping my copy of The Testaments sometime later with a friend who has The Women of Copper Country. I've been a bit less enthusiastic about reading that one as I have found Mary Doria Russell's historical fiction to be hit or miss.

>149 Citizenjoyce:. Thanks for the heads up about The Goldfinch movie. I've been seeing some really, really bad reviews.

151Citizenjoyce
Sep 15, 2019, 12:13 pm

>150 vwinsloe: I think one of the reasons this was a fast read was that the characters were such normal people. Everything sounds possible, unlike the torture porn tv series. She indicates that torture exists, but just indicates it and doesn't dwell lovingly.

152vwinsloe
Modifié : Sep 15, 2019, 5:01 pm

>151 Citizenjoyce:. I haven't seen the TV series. That being said, I thought it was a quick read because there was not a lot of depth there. I don't mean that I didn't enjoy it, which I did immensely, but it was essentially a plot driven thriller.

153SChant
Modifié : Sep 16, 2019, 5:00 am

>152 vwinsloe: I agree on that. While I enjoyed the enhancement of Aunt Lydia's story and the subtlety of the forms of resistance to tyranny, the rest was a bit ho-hum for me. Compared to the The Handmaid's Tale I was not engaged by the other characters in the story.

154Citizenjoyce
Sep 16, 2019, 6:53 pm

I thought it had a great deal of depth regarding one character, the rest of it answered the question we've been wondering about for 30 years - what happened? I absolutely loved it.

155vwinsloe
Sep 17, 2019, 6:51 am

>154 Citizenjoyce:. You're right on that score, of course. And A Handmaid's Tale was more plot driven than character driven, as well. Although the world-building in that book was pretty much central, and all of the questions that it raised. The Testaments was a really good read, and it got a solid 4 stars from me.

That being said, I should explain what I mean by "depth." For me, a 5 star read is one that makes me think, long after I am done reading. It stimulates me intellectually or emotionally or both, on more than a superficial level. I can really enjoy the suspense of a page-turning thriller, but a car chase is not very satisfying after the final page is turned. One contrasting example that I can give is The Goldfinch.

156Citizenjoyce
Sep 17, 2019, 1:23 pm

>155 vwinsloe: I agree. I was very glad for the examination of the one character, especially in light of the ridiculous job done by the tv show, but the end of the book lead to a feeling of relief rather than any prolonged thought about issues raised, that was all in the first book. As for The Goldfinch, there is so much action in the book that a good movie could be made from it, but the power from the book comes from psychological exploration which is completely missing from the movie and which also is the reason (aside from the length) that so many people hate it. Another good thing about the movie is the power of the explosion scenes. I can close my eyes and see smoke surging through that door way.

157Citizenjoyce
Sep 18, 2019, 1:54 am

I just finished Once Upon a River: A Novel by Diane Setterfield, the author of The Thirteenth Tale. Once again Setterfield shows she can tell a tale, this one about telling tales, photography, drowned girls, abused children and women, loving and unloving parents, with a bit of magical realism. If you need a little depth and characterization after The Testaments, this is the place to go.

158vwinsloe
Sep 18, 2019, 8:14 am

>156 Citizenjoyce: I will see The Goldfinch movie at some point.

>157 Citizenjoyce: I'm putting Once Upon a River on my list. I had seen and wondered about it, but had not really heard anything much about it.

159vwinsloe
Sep 18, 2019, 11:01 am

I continued this thread over on Page 9 as the prompt to do so appeared a few posts ago.

I hope that by doing so, we don't lose any of this small but loyal group.
Ce sujet est poursuivi sur What Are We Reading, Page 9.

Devenir membre pour poster.