I’m reading a fabulous memoir, beautifully written: Are You Somebody? The Accidental Memoir of a Dublin Woman by Nuala O’Faolain.
One of the best books I’ve read recently. Not very long, and written with wit and originality, it’s an eye-opening narrative of just how bleak life was, until quite recently, for even relatively privileged Irish women. Highly recommended.
Funny you should mention this book. I read it several years ago after H found it left on a plane during a business trip. He knew nothing about it, but thought it looked like something I would enjoy. He was right! I probably never would have “discovered” it on my own, though.
I loved Philbrick’s Mayflower. It exposed a history that I knew and never knew. Bless him. Interested in the last one recommended “Accidental Memoir.” I love this discussion.
I’ve read several Bohjalian novels, and was looking forward to The Night Strangers, but the minute I perused it and saw that it was written in second person, I put it down. I hate narrative written in 2nd person. It’s just annoying and tiresome. Is that why you were disappointed, wbow, or was it the whole ghost story aspect?
Just read the 1986 novel “Perfume” by Patrick Süskind. Discovered it in a circuitous fashion by getting turned onto the films of Tom Tykwer, who directed a 2006 film of “Perfume.” Saw the film and was so intrigued that I had to read the book.
The book is jaw-droppingly good. Strange, but profound and insightful while also managing to be entertaining and even somewhat amusing. Wow.
I also liked ‘Perfume’ in an odd, half-repelled sort of way. (Smile.) Felt the same about the movie, which I also thought was very good, if odd and half repelling. (Smile again.)
“The Magic Room” by Jeffrey Zaslow. Nonfiction book about a bridal shop in the midwest.
“The Watchman’s Rattle…Thinking our Way out of Extinction” Rebecca D. Costa. She looks at the continued escalation of complexity in all areas of our life and the subsequent gridlock in many of the systems which support our growth and existence as a society. A readable non-fiction which I found to present an interesting…an possible…way out of some of our most pressing problems
Poetsheart- I don’t mind a ghost story. I found the plot of Night Strangers to be particularly preposterous, disturbing and at times ridiculous. And not as well written as his previous novels.
The Opposite of Art by Athol Dickson. I was very pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. It just resonated with me somehow.
I finished the Hunger Games trilogy that I got for Christmas… I thought it was quite good, but the ending felt really abrupt and left a lot of story lines unanswered.
^I didn’t know the entire trilogy was out! I read the 1st book, found out it was the beginning of a trilogy, and was waiting for the rest. But the ending doesn’t satisfy, huh? That’s too bad.
mommusic… it was somewhat disappointing. I would still recommend reading the 2nd and 3rd book if you enjoyed the first one. It was good, it just didn’t answer all the questions and tie everything together. Like the editor said she was out of pages, or something.
Since I got my nook I have been reading Sir Walter Scott novels-Guy Mannering Vols 1&2, The Legend of Montrose and Rob Roy Vols 1&2 all downloaded from The Gutenberg Project. The charcaters speaking in the Highland dialect is somewhat difficult(think Beowulf and The Canterbury Tales) but the novels are wonderful and the writing marvelous. Who but Scott could pen, “and the tears of joy which he shed had certainly their source in the noble fountain of emotion, the tankard.”
Just started Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. I never particularly like to see a movie based on a novel that I liked, since it it is typically a let down (except recently The Help & The Lincoln Lawyer). Typically the book is much more meaningful to me, and the movie frustrates. After seeing the previews for the Tom Hanks movie, I wanted to read this one in advance. I don’t know how I missed it back in 2005 when it first was published. I am 100 pages in and Wow! I am very emotional from it and I recommend it. I am surprised to see that it got some pretty awful reviews when it came out. So far, I find it very compelling.
Also, I read his wife, Nicole Krauss’ The History of Love several years back which was published in 2005 the same year as Extremely Loud. I remember researching the writer, as I was moved by her novel, and reading about Jonathan Safran Foer at that time. Not sure why I didn’t follow her novel with his. Glad I have discovered it now. Despite what some reviewers wrote about it, I am finding it a very touching read. I will most likely see the movie.
I am also catching up on my reading and just finished “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay” by Michael Chabon, a Pulitzer Prize winner several years past. Very unique and very readable, beautiful written. It is a bit long, but easy to get into. I recommend.
I recently finished, and thoroughly enjoyed, Chad Harbach’s The Art of Fielding–set at a small and relatively undistinguished midwestern LAC, focused on the school’s baseball team, the team’s star shortstop, and the school’s president. Although I think the book has been over-hyped in many reviews as the latest great American novel, I found it to be very entertaining. Looks longer than it is, because it’s actually a pretty fast read. Helps if you like baseball, though.
I am finishing up “Fenway 1912” by Glenn Stout. Just in time for the 100th Anniversary of Fenway Park in Boston, it covers the building of the ballpark and the Boston Red Sox season that included winning the World Series over John McGraw’s New York Giants in October of 1912. Some chapters are excellent while a few others seem like nobody proofread them.
I read *Perfume *when it first came out and we were living in Germany. It’s weird and grotesque and absolutely beautifully written. One of those books that still haunts me years later. When the translation came out I skimmed it enough to think they’d done a pretty good job.
I liked the conclusion to The Hunger Games. I thought the middle book was the weakest.
On a different note (fantasy) just finished up Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn trilogy. Everyone in our house found it completely addictive. Very interesting system of magic. And what seems like a simple system of good guys and bad guys quickly gets much more complicated.
“Unbroken” by Laura Hillenbrand. It’s a non-fiction book about an olympic runner turned WW2 soldier, castaway, and POW. I was riveted.