Book Nook Cafe discussion

Share with us what you read in April 2016!


Please provide:

~ A GoodReads link
~ A few sentences telling us how you felt about the book.
~ How would you rate the book

Here are my April reads.


The Summer Before the War BY Helen Simonson
Fiction
Rate 2+/5
I was so looking forward to this author's new book. I loved her debut novel Major Pettigrew's Last Stand. Unfortunately, I found this one way too long and filled with too many characters that were never really fleshed out. The plot plodded along for 90% of the book.

I Had to Survive: How a Plane Crash in the Andes Inspired My Calling to Save Lives BY Roberto Canessa
Non-fiction
Rate 3/5
Audio book
In 1972 a plane crashed in the Andes. The author is one of the few who survived. The book tells of their famous fight for survival. The last part of the book is about the doctors work as a pediatric cardiologist.

The Hiding Place BY Corrie ten Boom
Non-fiction
Rate 4/5
Audio book
Corrie ten Boom was a Dutch citizen. During World War II she along with her family helped Jews by hiding them in their home. Corrie and her family also worked with the Dutch underground to help the Jews escape from the Nazis. The Ten Booms were caught and sent to a prison camp. Her strong Christian faith helped her to survive. The book is a classic and I found it very inspirational.

The Robber Bridegroom BY Eudora Welty
Fiction
Rate 2/5
I read this because I had tickets to the NYC Roundabout production of this play. I didn't care for the book. However, I loved the play.

The Rose Tattoo BY Tennessee Williams
Fiction
Rate: 3/5
I recently saw the 1955 film version with film star Anna Magnani. She was the first Italian actress to receive an Academy Award. So I thought I would read the play.

Those are some good reads, Alias.
Sorry to hear that Helen Simonson's new book didn't pan out so well.

My reads for April were:
Black Moonlight by Amy Patricia Meade - I really enjoyed this book. It reminded me of the Miss Fisher series on TV; a light, funny murder mystery.

The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks - (audio) an interesting story of King David. The names throughout are the Hebrew version, so it took me awhile to sort everyone out. The narration was well done. David's story is an interesting one. I want to read a non-fiction book of his life now. He lived in interesting times.

The Third Reich by Roberto Bolaño - I really enjoyed Bolano's 2666 and was really looking forward to this book but it was a bit of a disappointment. It felt unpolished. It's no mystery why Bolano didn't publish this before his death. I don't think he was finished with it. The writing is great but the story didn't quite work (for me).

Lawn Gone!: Low-Maintenance, Sustainable, Attractive Alternatives for Your Yard by Pam Penick - we were in need of a new lawn and I wanted to look at some alternatives. This book helped a lot.

Joyce's Dublin: A Walking Guide to Ulysses by Jack McCarthy - a really fun guide to read. It would be perfect to bring to Dublin if one ever wanted to trace the routes of the people in Ulysses; it even has bus routes on how to get to the different areas. I loved the little bits of information on the changes that have happened in these areas since Joyce's days.

Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl - I enjoyed this play: the story of Orpheus & Eurydice, told from the perspective of Eurydice. I'd love to see the play on stage one day.

The Riverview Lands: Western Canada's First Botanical Garden by Val Adolph - I live close to this establishment and it was fun to read the history of it.

Stay with Me by Sandra Rodriguez Barron - meh. The story "blurb" had so much promise but the characters were flat and the situations & conversations were blah. Didn't pull me in at all.

A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson - (audio) my first Kate Atkinson book and not my last. I really enjoyed how she told Teddy's story. The narration was really well done, too. I enjoyed listening to it.

Petra wrote: "Those are some good reads, Alias.
Sorry to hear that Helen Simonson's new book didn't pan out so well. ."

Quite a few on Amazon liked The Summer Before the War. Though if you look at the 3 stars most had the same complaints as I did.

I read the prequel to God in Ruins, Life After Life The writing was excellent. Though with back and forth it was a bit hard to follow at times. I think an audio version would be really hard to follow. I would read more by her. I understand from a friend that is reading God in Ruins that the book is linear and not like Life after Life.

Alias, I don't know how much Life After Life jumps around in time, so this next comment isn't comparing it to this book. At first, I found that A God In Ruins jumped around a lot. I had to get used to it. There was the present, then we jumped into the past or into the future. It wasn't hard to follow once I realized that that was happening but the first couple of times it jumped in time, I got mixed up and had to relisten to a section.
It turned out to be a good read, for sure. I hope to read Life After Life soon.

I was one of the few that wasn't enthralled with Mr Pedigrew's Last Stand, so wouldn't rush to read the new book. I might one day, who knows.

Interesting lists, both of you. :)
Petra, I couldn't finish 2666. I actually read up to about page 500, and was in such a depressed, foul mood that my husband was quite relieved when I put the book away. I can't imagine going back to it. But one should never say....er, never. :)
Congratulations on finishing!

My list for April mainly consists of mysteries/detective novels. A few exceptions though.

Prime Suspect by Lynda LaPlante
There are actually only three in this series, this, the first is an excellent introduction of Detective Inspector Jane Tennison. she was played by Helen Mirren in the excellent BBC series about 20(ish) years ago. I believe there is a new version in the works.
Jane is breaking into a "man's world", facing so much prejudice and opposition to her entry into the detective squad. Especially as the head of same.
What a twisty story, a serial killer whose identity is actually known to the police, but they are (so far) unable to prove it forensically. The last line of the book is an absolute stunner!

A Darker Domain by Val McDermid

I'm a little disappointed in this detective story. It was great until almost the end, when the key to the entire mystery was TOLD in a letter left by a dead man. Gak. I hate it when an author tells instead of shows us the solution. I'll read another of hers, hoping for the best. Husband has read another, and liked it, so I have hope.
As an aside to McDermid, we saw a Brit version of A Place of Execution, and it was marvelous. Hoping the book is the same.

A Face in the Crowd by Lynda LaPlante

Second in the Prime Suspect series it certainly delivers! an even better entry than #1.

Bridge of Spies: A True Story of the Cold War by Giles Whittell

An excellent, if slightly repetitive telling of the Gary Powers U2 Spy story........the crash, what led up to it, and aftermath. Also the story of the Russian spy that was exchanged for him.

Mind's Eye by Hakan Nesser

First in the Inspector Van Vetteren series. Great, introspective, and intuitive detective. Unlike many first in a series, the characters are slowly unraveled alongside the crime they are investigating. All show, no tell. :)

Virgins by Diana Gabaldon

Prequel to the entire Outlander series, I feel quite sure that only readers/fans of the series would appreciate the ins and outs of the characters actions.

Abandon by Blake Crouch

Crouch is the author of Pines, actually The Wayward Pines series. Although there are other authors of subsequent books in that series, he originated the story.
Anyhow! :) Abandon is the story of a gold mining town in the Rocky Mountains that has been.....abandoned 100 years ago for unknown reasons. The story is told in alternating time lines, the few days before the abandonment, and the present time. In the present, there is a group of people that are descending on the town for various reasons.
It's an exciting and tension filled story told in a terse style that really drags the reader along.

Borkmann's Point by Hakan Nesser

Second in the Van Vetteren series, we learn more about the various detectives and more in VV's intuitive detecting. Great story line, fascinating reasoning behind the serial killer. Interesting characterizations.

I think that's all.....my lists don't seem quite complete. /sigh/ Oh well. :)

Cateline wrote: "Petra, I couldn't finish 2666. I actually read up to about page 500"

I read 2666 as well, and was rather disappointed when I completed it. To produce such a sprawling, convoluted work, and then to end it so abruptly, made it feel unfinished (I actually thought it was unfinished, until I read up on it). Interestingly, a few years later I read The Black Minutes which, in terms of story, had the sort of resolution that 2666 seemed to be leading up to (at least in parts 2-4).

So, anyways, back to April.

Thérèse Raquin by Émile Zola. Man meets married woman. Man kills woman's husband. Man marries newly-widowed woman. Despair ensues. A strong start, but given how unlikeable the murder victim was, I expected a more sophisticated ending. Instead, we get a sort of watered-down Crime and Punishment. Three stars.

, said the shotgun to the head. by Saul Williams. A book of poetry that somehow ended up in my possession. Really, I can't remember how I obtained it, but I encountered it while cleaning and decided to give it a go. Consists of ten sections, the first two pretty good, but the remainder degenerating into rather trite anti-establishment cliches. Two stars.

Everyday Drinking by Kingsley Amis. I encountered so many entertaining quotes from this, that I decided to read the entire thing. It's three books collected together, and really only one of the the first two should be read (book 1 if you want your humor in drink recipe format, book 2 if you prefer magazine column format). Either of the first two books deserves five stars, but together let's say four; deduct a star for the pointless third book and we're left with three besotted yet witty stars.

The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa. I forget when I started reading this, but finally I can consider it finished. This is a series of numbered entries that serve as a sort of journal or internal monologue. I realized at some point that instead of reading straight through, it is better to pick a starting point at random and just read as much as you can stand. It's the usual young-male-malcontent sort of thing: lots of self-absorption, contrariness, and (often conflicting) grandiose declarations of principle. Three angst-ridden, self-deprecating stars.

Complexity: A Guided Tour by Melanie Mitchell. A layman's guide to the study of complexity. I've read a few books on the subject, and this was a bit too "layman" for me. It also did little to dispel my impression that the study of complexity is an interdisciplinary mess, with no real unifying principles. Still, some good discussion of cellular automata and the like. Three stars.

The English Faust Book: A Critical Edition, Based On The Text Of 1592 by P.F., Gent. The first reading in a long-deferred Faust reading-project of mine (centered on Lives of Faust: The Faust Theme in Literature and Music: A Reader). This is the English translation of the 16th-century German Faust Book, the initial telling of the legend (in print, anyways). Told as a morality tale, this is not all that charitable to Faustus, and there is no real examination of his motives. The introduction by John Henry Jones is fantastic, exploring the differences with the German version and tying this work to the historical Faustus and to Marlowe's later play. Sold to Mephistopholes for five stars.

Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe. The first of the two major Fausts (Goethe being the other, of course). This is the classic Faust narrative, straight from the Faustbook: Faustus sells his soul to live the good life (and to gain knowledge, but that part doesn't work out so well), and is torn apart by demons at the end. While continually offered a chance at redemption, Faustus dismisses such offers as not possible and, if they were, a stain on his word of honour. Five stars for the play, four for the Norton Critical Edition of it -- I really expected a lot more, after what they've done with Shakespeare.

Faustus and the Censor: The English Faust-Book and Marlowe's Doctor Faustus. Have we heard enough about Faust yet? This excellent critical book marks the end of the first stage of Faust, before Goethe decided to make of him a Romantic hero. Epson declares that Marlowe's play was censored by religious authorities, and tries to reconstruct what was suppressed. His theory is that Faustus, by means of a metaphysical loophole, escapes damnation at the end of Marlowe's play -- which would be unacceptable to the Calvinist authorities. Compelling, if not entirely convincing. Five unequivocal stars.

Wow, Cateline ! You had a very nice reading month.

Mkfs, what an eclectic mix of reads you had.

My reading for April was hampered by our vacation travel (because a large portion of my reading time every month happens during my daily commute to-from work). Not a bad reason to have a slow month, I suppose! My husband and I spent 10 days in the Netherlands and Belgium, visiting our son who is studying abroad.

My reads for April:

NONFICTION:

Death Be Not Proud by John Gunther: A memoir written in the mid-1940s by a father whose 17-year-old son fought (and ultimately lost) a battle with brain cancer. It was a well- written and poignant story, but it reminded me of another memoir that I read years ago that I thought was a bit better overall: Eric by Doris Herold Lund. 3/5 stars

FICTION:

Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal: I'm not really sure how to describe this book except to say that I really enjoyed it. It's sort of like a collection of short stories that are woven into a novel. It starts with the story of Eva Torvald, who is orphaned as a young infant. Each chapter is then told from a different person's perspective as Eva grows into adulthood. It's also about food, and the Midwest, and how those things are intertwined. 4/5 stars

You Should Have Known by Jean Hanff Korelitz: A marriage therapist writes a book about how women should learn to trust their intuition when it tells them that a guy isn't going to be Prince Charming -- and then she is stunned when her own husband disappears after a horrific crime. Good pacing and a psychological examination of a marriage that kept me reading right to the end. 4/5 stars

The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen: The first book in a mystery series featuring Carl Mørck, a homicide detective in Copenhagen, Denmark. If you like Scandinavian thrillers, you'll like this one. I figured out the plot fairly quickly, but I enjoyed the character of Carl. I'll give the next book a try. 3.5/5 stars

Fall of Giants by Ken Follett: T he first in the "Century Trilogy" by Follet. The entire 920 pages takes place during WWI and introduces several families who will be featured in the next two books. I assume. It was a bit too formulaic mini-series-ish for my taste. I'm not sure I'll continue with the series. 3/5 stars

A Hundred Summers by Beatriz Williams: Picked this up because the mention on the cover of the 1938 hurricane that devastated New England caught my eye. I live right in the region that received the worst impact, and I know people who actually lost family members in that storm. This book was 98% cheesy romance and 2% about the hurricane. I wasn't impressed. 2/5 stars, but only because I managed to finish it.

Amy wrote: "My husband and I spent 10 days in the Netherlands and Belgium, visiting our son who is studying abroad. .."

Lucky you ! I would love to visit the Netherlands one day. I just was thinking of that area as the Corrie ten Boom book I read this month took place in Holland.

Thanks for sharing your reads. I think you had a terrific reading month.

Alias Reader wrote: "Lucky you ! I would love to visit the Netherlands one day. I just was thinki..."

Oh, Alias--it was wonderful. I loved it. Amsterdam is such a cool, interesting, gorgeous city. Although I actually fell in love with Maastricht, which is on the southern tip of the Netherlands on the banks of the Maas River. It's one of the oldest cities in the country and was a Roman settlement--there are still Roman walls throughout the city. I told my husband I could move there tomorrow!

Amy wrote: Although I actually fell in love with Maastricht, which is on the southern tip of the Netherlands on the banks of the Maas River. It's one of the oldest cities in the country and was a Roman settlement--there are still Roman walls throughout the city. I told my husband I could move there tomorrow! ..."

I can see why. I had to google Maastricht. Google images of it are simply gorgeous !

Not to mention that Maastricht is the site of one of the world's most beautiful bookstores -- a Dominican church originally constructed in 1294 that was converted into a bookstore called Boekhandel Dominicanen Maastricht. It's simply stunning...

Amy, that trip sounds amazing!

I read Death be not Proud in school (I want to say 7th grade or so?) and remember being engrossed - but it was probably the first story like it I'd ever heard of at the time. I'll have to check out your other recommendation sometime.

Amy wrote: "Not to mention that Maastricht is the site of one of the world's most beautiful bookstores -- a Dominican church originally constructed in 1294 that was converted into a bookstore called Boekhandel..."

Wow! That sounds amazing.

Emma wrote: "Amy, that trip sounds amazing!

I read Death be not Proud in school (I want to say 7th grade or so?) and remember being engrossed - but it was probably the first story like it I'd ever heard of at ..."

I read it a few years ago. I gave it a 3/5 rating.

Mkfs...I've had that Pessoa book sitting here for a while, and from your comments, I'm relieved to know that any guilt I had over not yet getting around to it was wasted!

I also sporadically find the recurring Faust theme curious, and am inclined to look for your initial spur, Lives of Faust, to read. I've read the Marlowe, and have had Goethe's sitting here for a long time. (I got the impression most people only read Part 2, and have wondered why -- not having gotten around even to the intro; I'm one of those people who will no doubt do both parts.) ...And, while not retelling the actual Faust story, do any of your books discuss Thomas Mann's Dr. Faustus? I think I enjoyed the music aspect of the book more than the story. But I think I might have had more appreciation for it had it been less than decades since I read the Marlowe, and had I already read Goethe's work.

Libyrinths wrote: "Mkfs...I've had that Pessoa book sitting here for a while, and from your comments, I'm relieved to know that any guilt I had over not yet getting around to it was wasted!"

It is good to dip into, but not a straight-through read. It reads a bit like Nietzsche's more epigrammatic stuff. I'd say read the first ten sections to get a feel for it, then put it somewhere for occasional reading. It's a great one to disturb co-workers in the office, or houseguests in the bathroom.


I also sporadically find the recurring Faust theme curious, and am inclined to look for your initial spur, Lives of Faust, to read. I've read the Marlowe

I highly recommend it. Some very good critical material, plus complete copies of the English Faustbook, a puppet-play of Faust, and the (translated) libretto to the Faust operas by Berlioz and Gounod. In the vein of all things Faustian, I came across Faust: My Soul Be Damned for the World Volume 1 a week or so ago. It looks pretty redundant with much of my reading, so I haven't grabbed it, but it also seems pretty complete.

And, while not retelling the actual Faust story, do any of your books discuss Thomas Mann's Dr. Faustus?

That novel is actually going to cap my Faust reading-project. None of the critical material seems to discuss it, which I find surprising. To me, it represents the third stage of the Faust legend (put on the spot, I guess I'd say these are Corruption, Redemption, Appropriation), where the Faust story has become so accepted in the culture that it no longer needs to be directly told, just alluded to or spun-off/remixed (kinda like the story of Romeo & Juliet).

Anyways, Lives of Faust mentions it briefly, as do a couple of essays in the Norton Critical Edition of the Goethe -- but usually just the fact that it exists.

Mkfs said: It is good to dip into, but not a straight-through read.

Sounds like a candidate for one of my waiting-room books.

To me, it represents the third stage of the Faust legend (put on the spot, I guess I'd say these are Corruption, Redemption, Appropriation), where the Faust story has become so accepted in the culture that it no longer needs to be directly told, just alluded to or spun-off/remixed (kinda like the story of Romeo & Juliet).


In a sense the story is retold, but in a modern context. There is the trade-off -- soul for knowledge/ability -- and direct discussions with a man we know to be Satan. But as you say, it does perhaps seem remixed. As is frequent with Mann, a platform for philosophical probing/expression. The novel is dark, and I wonder if its impact (on the reader, not society) is similar today to what Marlowe's was for his time. I am surprised about the lack of critical commentary on it in the context of the Faust readings. Perhaps they (the critical writers you are reading) felt that Mann's novel didn't contribute an additional dimension to the tale. But I might consider that the modernist viewpoint IS a contribution, another step, or as you say, a third stage. One in which it is less a study of human morality, than a picture of, to use Arendt's term, the banality of evil. A comment on society (or a particular society) rather than the individual making the choice. It's been a while since I read the novel (not as long as since I read Marlowe), but I'll be really interested in your take on it once you've read it.

Thanks for the further info on the Lives of Faust book. Even containing the librettos! Wow!

I finished two audiobooks last month:

A Wrinkle in Time 3/5 - I thought I actually finished this in March, but Goodreads says otherwise. I enjoyed this overall and hope to read it again with my kids someday, though I would have preferred reading the paper form. I didn't particularly like the voice of Mrs. Who.

Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness 3/5 - Interesting memoir written more as a whodunit as the author brings us through the story of the onset of the illness that caused her mental breakdown and the eventual discovery of the root cause and treatment.

The big move happens this month - with any luck, this means more reading time this summer after the new place is set up. :)

Emma wrote: "I finished two audiobooks last month:

A Wrinkle in Time 3/5 -I thought I actually finished this in March, but Goodreads says otherwise. I enjoyed this overall and hope to read it again with my kids someday, though I would have preferred reading the paper form. I didn't particularly like the voice of Mrs. Who. ."

The reader can make or break a book for me.

Before listing the books i read in April (plenty of reading time on a cruise, i must say), i want to comment on the great selection of books listed above. It's a pleasure to learn of so many fascinating books with clever ideas.

Fernando Pessoa was an intriguing character but i wasn't aware of The Book of Disquiet mentioned by Mkfs. What drew me to the poet was learning he wrote under many different names, for whom he had biographic material and different styles of writing. How intriguing is that? I've hoped for a bio about him but have yet to hear of one.

ANYway, glad to know the title. From what i read here on GR, Disquiet is about only one of the people he created. I originally wondered if it would cover more of them, but guess not. Again, thanks.

Amy, Kitchens of the Great Midwest sounds interesting. Perhaps having grown up and kept kitchens in homes in the plains states, this calls to me more than others. Regardless, it's one of several i've added to my TBR from this month.

Alias, i didn't know what to think of Welty's The Robber Bridegroom either. Maybe there's hope for me if i can manage to see the play you did.

Thanks again to everyone who contributed to this thread.

The books i read in April are as follows:

Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee. I liked the book, although i can see why it was disconcerting to those who adored Atticus Finch. Still, i felt she touched upon a deep vein of truth about timing and the Civil Rights movement. However, her writing is so evocative of the south that i am hoping more than ever that she wrote & stored more fiction. Few capture the small notions of the south the way Lee did.

The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Funny that Faust was mentioned upthread. Was this some unpublished Goethe-reading month? This slim novel was a pleasure to read, akin to watching a trainwreck in slow motion. I didn't know whether to shake Werther senseless or hug him for his love of nature.

A Book-Lover's Holidays in the Open by Theodore Roosevelt. There wasn't nearly as much about books as i'd hoped in this book. However, TR covers an enormous amount of territory--southwest & southern USA, southern South America and Africa, plus tastes of a few more sites. The man could write about creatures so nicely, then, in the next paragraph he's slaying them! And his thoughts on how women who do not have children are failures was a Major Disappointment. Of course, he had similar things to say about men who didn't fight in wars.

Books by Larry McMurtry. Again, i was hoping for more about titles and authors, rather than stories about the ups and downs of book selling and collecting. However, it was short, so i kept reading and liked what i read.

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger. My 14 year old nephew read this novel last year and told me how much he liked it. I finally made the time to read it and can see why he liked it. Partly set in my old stomping grounds of North Dakota, the story is well told and the scenery nicely described.

Mrs. Kennedy and Me: An Intimate Memoir by Clint Hill. I began reading this at my mother-in-law's house in early March, checked it out from my library in late March and finally finished it as an audio book on the ship. I felt it was well-told, particularly about the life of an agent assigned to any first family. Hill was the agent we see climbing aboard the Dallas limo November 22. He was hoping to protect the President, as well as Mrs. K, his assigned subject. To this day he feels if he'd been faster...spread wider, he could have saved JFK's life. Sad he felt that way but the memoir, published after her death, was touching.

Deb, thanks for sharing your cruise reads with us. I can just see you on the deck in a lounge chair reading. Color me envious !

I read Peace Like a River a number of years ago. It was a much talked about book when we were on the aol message boards. I recall enjoying it.

I'm glad you enjoyed Go Set a Watchman. It's on my very long TBR list.

I know with a title like A Book-Lover's Holidays in the Open I would have grabbed that book. TR was a man of his times for sure. I see there is a free Kindle edition.

I read an e-version of the TR book. It wasn't as good as i thought it would be. He was good at observing critters but not nearly as descriptive as i expected about the land itself. I'm sure, just as happens today, had he not been a former President, this book wouldn't have been published.

Re. the deck chairs. Erase the image you have. We were disappointed by the fact that this ship (Norwegian) did not, in fact, have any chairs, per se. Their deck seating was of the full-length chaise lounge sort, both too low and uncomfortable for us. Major Disappointment.

madrano wrote: Re. the deck chairs. Erase the image you have. We were disappointed by the fact that this ship (Norwegian) did not, in fact, have any chairs, per se. Their deck seating was of the full-length chaise lounge sort, both too low and uncomfortable for us. Major Disappointment.."

:( That is disappointing.

Isn't that the truth? They are scheduled to renovate the ship next year, so i left a recommendation to get some deck chairs. Here's hoping.