Constant Reader discussion

I'm reading two books right now. The first is Patrick Smith's Cockpit Confidential: Everything You Need to Know about Air Travel: Questions, Answers, & Reflections. This book is just great and tells you things about airplanes, airlines, and air travel that you may have wondered about ... and some things that you probably never thought about. A little bit worrying ... but mainly comforting in what it reveals. As a pilot for a major airline, Patrick Smith really knows what he's writing about.

I'm also reading the latest book in the Gabriel Allon series by Daniel Silva. This is The English Spy. Highly enjoyable if you are reading the series about the senior Israeli intelligence officer. Don't read it unless you start of the beginning of the series. This is the 15th book in the series. The first one in the series was The Kill Artist.

I'm reading The Satanic Verses, which I first read over 20 years ago, and had largely forgotten. I've been wanting to reread it since January, partly out of a desire to return to Rushdie's earlier (and, I think, better) writing, and partly out of a vague desire to do something out of solidarity, even if it's largely useless.

I had forgotten how playful and lovely the language is when Rushdie is on his game. But there is also a sort of terrible layer of unintentional irony throughout. Passages like this one read depressing in a way they probably weren't written to be:

Here's a great lie, thinks the Grandee of Jahilia drifting into sleep: the pen is mightier than the sword.

I am about to begin The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante; I'm currently in the middle of The Beginner's Goodbye by Anne Tyler. I'm also reading aloud The Pox Party by M.T. Anderson to my son.

A Mind to Murder by P D James – 4****
This is an engaging, interesting and complex murder mystery. I love Dalgliesh and his quiet, deliberate manner. James crafts a plot that seems straightforward, but which includes numerous red herrings to keep the reader off balance. Well done!
Full Review HERE

I'm reading (for the second time since I suggested it for my face to face bookclub) The Diver's Clothes Lie Empty by Vendela Vida. One of my bookclub friends shared a short essay by Vida from a recent Sunday New York Times. I'll share the link. It's interesting for all kinds of reasons...one is that on Goodreads we often complain that something in a novel doesn't seem believable or plausible. I've done it myself. What she has to say about that is fascinating. Here's the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/boo...

Jane wrote: "I'm reading (for the second time since I suggested it for my face to face bookclub) The Diver's Clothes Lie Empty by Vendela Vida. One of my bookclub friends shared a short essay by Vida from a rec..."

Thanks for the link. I suppose it boils down to the readers ability, or desire, to suspend disbelief. I've always thought it more fun to do so.

Quanjun wrote: "Planning to read his other works, and hoping that they would be easier to read."

Maybe you would like Haroun and the Sea of Stories? I think it's quite a bit more straightforward, and it's definitely a lot shorter.

There are multiple possible reasons for the fatwa (which was a global sentence of death for Rushdie and anyone involved in the publication or translation of his book, not merely a ban), but the two big contenders are the decidedly negative portrait of the ayatollah in the book (he swallows his people whole after sending thousands to their deaths to restore his power) and the many, many passages that are considered blasphemous by right-wing conservative religion.

There's a pretty good summary of these latter elements here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sat....

I don't know if the ayatollah actually read it or not, but it does seem somewhat unlikely. I'm not sure it would have mattered much one way or another.

Quanjun, several years ago I read Rushdie's Shalimar the Clown because I wanted to at least try reading one of his works. I made it through and enjoyed it but I knew I was missing out on a lot of symbolism and cultural references that, if they'd resonated with me, certainly would have enhanced my understanding and appreciation. I decided I didn't want to spend time becoming more familiar with the Indian culture and sub-cultures, such as that of Kashmir, and so I would t read any more of his works. After all, life is too short to read everything and setting priorities is necessary for me.

Just finished Ivan Doig's last book, Last Bus to Wisdom, which was amusing, light entertainment.

Just finished my reread of The Lover, absolutely wonderful. My old review here. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I finished listening to the audiobook of Fahrenheit 451 read by Tim Robbins. This was a wonderful production by Audible. It's amazing how relevant the book is today. Unfortunately so.

Sherry wrote: "I finished listening to the audiobook of Fahrenheit 451 read by Tim Robbins. This was a wonderful production by Audible. It's amazing how relevant the book is today. Unfortunately so."

Completely agree, Sherry!

Mary Anne wrote: "Sherry wrote: "I finished listening to the audiobook of Fahrenheit 451 read by Tim Robbins. This was a wonderful production by Audible. It's amazing how relevant the book is today. ..."

Coincidently I am listening to Ray Bradbury's The Illustrated Man read by Scott Brick. Amazing to think he wrote them in 40s and early 50s.

Mr Ives’ Christmas by Oscar Hijuelos – 4****
This Pulitzer finalist (1996) is a lovely, contemplative novel – a character study and philosophical exploration of one man’s search for spiritual peace. Hijuelos paints a picture of a gentle man, with a quiet strength born of his circumstances, and of the influences of both the Church and his adoptive father. It is through them that he learns to love and to endure. I’ll be thinking about this gem for a long time, and I’m certain I’ll re-read it.
Full Review HERE

Daniel Silva's The Heist, which I believe is the most recent if the Gabriel Allon spy craft novels. This one was so-so. The last 75 to 100 pages were the best part. The rest felt like prelude, stage-setting and cut-and-paste summaries of previous plots and character descriptions.

I finished The Heart Goes Last, Margaret Atwood's latest, this week. Although it's readable and reasonably entertaining, it really kind of jumps the rails and becomes a little silly and campy about halfway through and keeps going in that vein to the end, so I can't really recommend it at all.

Yesterday I inhaled Earl Emerson's latest Thomas Black mystery, Two Miles of Darkness in one sitting. It was also not a great novel by any means, but quite readable and like visiting old friends, as I had read all of the former Thomas Black novels.

Next up: Kitchens of the Great Midwest for an in-person book club.

(The last excellent and absorbing book I read was An Unnecessary Woman, which I took extensive notes on for our upcoming discussion. I encourage others to read that one for the discussion.)

Mary wrote: "Daniel Silva's The Heist, which I believe is the most recent if the Gabriel Allon spy craft novels. This one was so-so. The last 75 to 100 pages were the best part. The rest felt like prelude, stag..."

Mary, the most recent is actually The English Spy. It's really good if you like the series and have read all the earlier books.

Larry, I did read The English Spy. It was very good.

I'm reading Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. It's been on my mental "to read" list for a long time. I enjoy browsing book lists and other peoples' book boards on Pinterest and will often pin books I love, or that look interesting. To date, out of all my books pinned onto my reading board, this one has been "re-pinned" the most. I take that to mean that I must read it!

Sorry, Larry. I read The English Girl., not The English Spy, which I've now added to my TBR.

Sunny, I hope you love the Zora Neale Hurston book. I, too, had had it on my list for several years and finally read it a couple years ago. I thought it was great! I loved her use of language and thought she did a brilliant job of capturing conversational rhythms. Also the story and the characters....

Sunny wrote: "I'm reading Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. It's been on my mental "to read" list for a long time. I enjoy browsing book lists and other peoples' book boards on Pinterest and wi..."

I hope you enjoy it like I did. It's a beautifully written tragedy.

Gina, when I read Their Eyes Were Watching God, I thought of it as sad but ultimately a love story. Tragedy, to me, is a word I associate with hopelessness and I didn't react that way to the story.

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey – 4****
Updating a traditional Russian folk tale, Ivey gives us the story of an older, childless couple, and the little girl they find and “adopt” in the snowy woods of Alaska, circa 1920. I really liked how Ivey explored the relationship between Mable and Jack, and how it evolved throughout the book. I also liked that Ivey kept me guessing about Faina. Ultimately, the message of this charming novel is to encourage us to “choose joy over sorrow.”
Full Review HERE

Quanjun wrote: "I've just finished A Woman in Berlin: Eight Weeks in the Conquered City: A Diary (will join group discussion when it rolls around). It's very good. I so admire her character, it's hone... It's very hard to decide what to read next after that but I'm reading A Drink Before the War, a detective mystery, because it's the lightest reading I have out from the library. "

Dennis Lehane's book, A Drink Before the War, is a book that I enjoyed, but it's a very interesting book in that it is just typical of its genre, with no indication that eventually Lehane would go on to write mysteries that are of substantial literary merit. I hope that you enjoy it ... it is exciting.

Their Eyes Were Watching God was the first audiobook that hooked me. It was read by Ruby Dee who did a truly masterful job.

Mary wrote: "Gina, when I read Their Eyes Were Watching God, I thought of it as sad but ultimately a love story. Tragedy, to me, is a word I associate with hopelessness and I didn't react that way to the story."

Maybe tragedy was the wrong word. It was a wonderful love story. I looked up tragedy in the dictionary. It said, "an event causing great suffering, destruction, and distress, such as a serious accident, crime, or natural catastrophe." But you're right, she rises above her circumstances and is victorious in life.

Finished Kitchens of the Great Midwesttoday, and really liked it. Although the subject of food is a central theme, the title is a bit misleading, as it's really a story about interesting, diverse people that slides into the brain very easily, recommended.

Quanjun wrote: "Larry, I struggled with it and having got to page 100 I'm giving up! I expected it to be better, the characters especially, as I knew the woman was married to an abuser, I thought that would be a difficult character to write and the author must be quite good to attempt it. But there's nothing special or realistic about the main detectives, the man seems to only express "tough guy" emotions and we're reminded that the woman is really very hot every time she enters the scene..."

Quanjun, I think you really have exposed a real problem with these early Lehane books. I would suggest skipping over all these early Dennis Lehane books. Go straight to Mystic River and any book after that ... except for Shutter Island, which is just too experimental. The movie based on Mystic River is quite good also.

I'm in the middle of "God in Ruins" by Kate Atkinson. Enjoying it. I liked her "Life after life," too.

Larry wrote: Quanjun, I think you really have exposed a real problem with these early Lehane books. I would suggest skipping over all these early Dennis Lehane books. Go straight to Mystic River and any book after that ... except for Shutter Island, which is just too experimental. The movie based on Mystic River is quite good also.

I have to laugh, we saw the film Shutter Island, and immediately on the way home from the theatre, we stopped and bought the book. :). It remains the only book of his I've read, so far. More on the shelf though.....

I'm reading The Truth and Other Lies. Has a deliciously unreliable narrator.

Ana wrote: "I'm in the middle of "God in Ruins" by Kate Atkinson. Enjoying it. I liked her "Life after life," too."

Ana, I LOVED Life After Life and have God in Ruins waiting for me on my ever overflowing bookshelf. I have a weird quirk in that if I really enjoy an author, I am always a little hesitant to read more of their books (with a few exceptions). Particularly if the book contains the same characters (like God In Ruins branches off to Teddy's life). I think I'm afraid to be disappointed, my expectations buoyed by my initial love of whatever book I happened to read of theirs. Irrational, yes. But I left Life After Life with such a wonderful, deep, tasty feeling that I'm afraid to crack open God In Ruins for fear that those feelings won't follow. Alas, I am quite certain it will get read. Fingers crossed.

I recently read A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr, a short, elegiac novel in which an injured WWI vet uncovers a wall painting in a village church. Soothing without being sentimental--a nice break from the edgy and intense.

Cateline wrote: "I have to laugh, we saw the film Shutter Island, and immediately on the way home from the theatre, we stopped and bought the book. :). It remains the only book of his I've read, so far. More on the shelf though........"

Cateline, I love our differences in this group ... if we all agreed on our likes an dislikes, there wouldn't be any point in participating here.

And that is what makes the world go around. :)

I just finished The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin. It was a cute book about an isolated man whose life is upended by a toddler and a book seller representative. I was surprised that it received such high ratings and considered it "lit lite."

Also while on a cruise recently, I finished Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante. This 3rd book of the series went very deep into what makes a female human - the need for children, accomplishment and life. This series of The Neapolitan Novels have been wonderful. I have one more book and I have to wait at the library for the last. I think I may have to start over because I read them so fast - now I need to return to them to savor.

may I second the Elena Ferrante novels. each and every single one, including the short stories, are brilliant and divine.

Just finished Me Before You, a predictable yet engrossing love story between a young, formerly adventurous, successful and moneyed quadriplegic and his caregiver. All of the available heartstrings are tugged along the way, but a good point about the importance of independent control in a human being's life is well made.

Gina wrote: "I just finished The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin. It was a cute book about an isolated man whose life is upended by a toddler and a book seller repre..."

Totally agree! In fact, I saw it on my book list and had to think about what it was--so light it nearly floated away. Not that I don't read light stuff (I do, lots) but I couldn't believe the praise it got.

Where’d You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple – 3***
I’m not a huge fan of satire and it took me a while to get into the spirit of this book. But once I surrendered to the craziness I found myself enjoying the ride. The book is structured as a series of journal entries, emails, letters, etc jumping from one character’s point of view to another. It’s great fun to read some of these missives, but at times the interruption in the story arc is just distracting and even boring. Kathleen Whilhoite does a fantastic job performing the audio. She is by turns dead-pan, enthusiastic, calm and serene, and totally hysterical.
Full Review HERE

James Patterson's Cross My Heart. Gripping thriller. Now I am compelled to find out about a sequel! Frightening villains.

I read the new dragon tattoo girl book by the author chosen to continue the series after Stieg Larsson died, The Girl in the Spider's Web. While it's satisfying to have Lisbeth back, the rest of the book plods along a bit more ploddingly than even the Larsson ones. (I didn't find the political plot terribly believable, and also mathematically (a part of the hacking plot), is it really so hard to find prime factors of a number? That part of the story, as a math teacher, did not seem accurate at all to me).

One funny thing: I remember in the first three books that they were always, always having coffee (wondered if it was a Swedish trait, as my Dad's ancestry is Swedish and he drank it day and night), but it didn't happen at all in this one.

He did set things up well to be able to continue the series beyond this book.

Just finished Ray Bradbury's The Illustrated Man which I enjoyed, some more than others, but amazingly as relevant today as when they were written. I was then considering what to read next when I started listening to Sunjeev Sahota's The Year of the Runaways read by Sartaj Garewal and I can't stop. It starts in Sheffield, a city I know really well, introducing several young men, from the Indian subcontinent, sharing a squat and working illegally via a gang master who brings a new addition to their accommodation, the mysteriousTochi, who is very quiet and refuses to give his surname. Chapter two tells Tochi's story, from Bihar in northern India. The narrator's voice is authentic, the writing flows, makes no apology for the odd Hindi words, and it makes me smell and feel India again. Looks like a great pick for a Christmas read.

James Patterson's Hope to Die. Like many sequels, it was not as good as what came before. The plot stretches credibility a bit too much and the violence is over the top, as if Patterdon were striving for horror story rather than thriller.

And lest you conclude from my recent posts that I've read nothing serious lately, I am actually about 2/3 through David McCullough's bio of Truman.

I finished Winston Groom's The Generals: Patton, MacArthur, Marshall, and the Winning of World War II yesterday. The book takes Patton, MacArthur, and Marshall from their childhoods all the way to their deaths. Many will be interested in the story that Groom tells of their service during World War 1 and especially World War 2. I found the story that Groom tells of their service in the army between the two world wars just as good. The book reveals a concern for others (both their own men and even the enemy) in all of these men, especially Patton and MacArthur, that I was not aware of. One example, in early April of 1945, Gen. Patton argued--who usually is portrayed as being bloodthirsty--complained to Asst. Sec. of War McCloy about the "wanton and unnecessary bombing of German civilian cities." Gen MacArthur was incredulous with how the U.S. Navy used up the lives of U.S. Marines during the island war in the Pacific Campaign.

I wish I could totally recommend the book, which I thoroughly enjoyed. But based on the important inaccuracies in his last book, The Aviators: Eddie Rickenbacker, Jimmy Doolittle, Charles Lindbergh, and the Epic Age of Flight, I can only recommend this one with reservations.

I finished The Time in Between by María Dueñas. It was a likable book: easy to read and understand. But it did lack some depth of characters. It is translated from the Spanish and I heard that it's been a bestseller in Spain.

I just finished Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante. I'm feeling so-so about it, but I'm waiting for my in person book club to discuss it in January to see if I revise my opinion. That happens sometimes.

I've started The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah.

Mary, you are not alone on your David McCullough odyssey: I am 1/2 way through 1776.

So, I've added Scribd to my iPad Mini. Scribd has been called Netflix for Books and is similar to Kindle Unlimited. In addition to books, Scribd has audiobooks, comics, and sheet music all included at the $8.99/month fee. I planned to try it for free for two weeks and decided after one day--based on the individual books that are included in its offerings--that it was worth it. I'm currently reading Greg Ip's The Little Book of Economics: How the Economy Works in the Real World with it ... after I finished reading the TPB Daredevil, Vol. 18: Cruel and Unusual. It works great on an iPad. Just like with Texture (the magazine subscription service), Amazon makes it about impossible to load Scribd onto a Kindle Fire. The reason is obvious to me ... Amazon seems to regard Scribd as a competitor Kindle Unlimited. :-)

If you're interested in Scribd, maybe their blog is worth looking at. http://blog.scribd.com/