Paging All Bookworms! discussion

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Read any good books lately? We want to know about them.
How about real stinkers? We want to know about those too!


Enter your reading list and/or reviews here. Did you like it? Hate it? Feel lukewarm?

Share your thoughts with us.

Happy reading!

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Don Quixote – Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra – 4****
I’d read snippets from this work over the years but never experienced the whole thing. I’m sorry I waited so long to do so. It is a marvelous piece of fiction and is widely acknowledged as the first modern-day novel.
My full review HERE

Muhsin Al-Ramli, Scattered Crumbs [2000, tr 2003] 126 pages

Scattered Crumbs is an earlier novel by the author of The President's Garden, on my list for next month; not his first but the earliest which has been translated into English, as far as I know. The narrator is an Iraqi exile in Spain (like the author), who tells the story of his aunt's husband Ijayel and his six sons and one daughter (the book says once "his seven sons", but I think that must be a translation error for seven children); the story is told in fragments, not all in order, from an early episode of Ijayel's childhood to the aftermath of the deaths of two of his sons, Abdul-Wahid and Qasim.

Possible spoilers (although the major events are all mentioned early in the book, we don't get the details until the end)

The family are peasants in a small village. Ijayel is a patriot who idealizes "The Leader" -- Saddam Hussein, who is never referred to by name; Abdul-Wahid, who plays little role in the book while alive, is killed fighting in the war with Iran, as is the daughter Warda's first husband Fauzi; while Qasim is eventually executed as a deserter. The other sons who are mentioned are Ahmed, a judge; Saadi, a gay man who is very unsympathetically treated and becomes a sycophant of the regime; Abood, who is insane; and Mahmoud, whom everyone forgets. The book is basically about the family's attitudes to "The Leader" and how they change as the war goes on.

Jade Dragon Mountain – Elsa Hart – 4****
This historical mystery is set in the town of Dayan, on the Chinese / Tibetan border, in 1708. I loved the history in this book. I had been previously unaware of the role of the Jesuits. I felt that I was a real sense of the time and place from Hart’s descriptions and plot. Li Du is a marvelous detective, and also a skilled politician. I was completely engaged and interested from beginning to end and did NOT guess the perpetrator(s) before they were revealed.
My full review HERE

Ismail Kadare, Broken April [1978, tr 1990] 218 pages

Perhaps Kadare's most famous or at least most controversial novel, this deals with the blood-feud tradition of the Kanun in the High Plateau of Albania. Although set in the reign of King Zog (i.e. between 1922 and 1939) the feeling is far more mediaeval than in Kadare's novels of the Middle Ages. There are two interconnected stories, that of Gjorg of the Berishas, a 26 year-old mountaineer who kills a man, rather unwillingly, to avenge the death of a brother in a centuries old feud which began with the killing of a stranger who was a guest of the Berishas, and that of Bessarion and Diana, a couple from Tirana (the modern, Westernized capital of Albania) who are on a honeymoon on the Plateau. Gjorg has a thirty-day truce, which he spends wandering around the Plateau, searching for the carriage of Diana whom he saw by chance on the road. The story is powerful and a page-turner even though the reader knows from the start that Gjorg will be killed in turn a month after the original killing. (It was made into a Brazilian film, with the English title Behind the Sun; I have no desire to see it because it is obvious from the trailers that it treats it in Hollywood style giving Gjorg a romantic interest before the killing which of course becomes the main focus of the film.)

The Corn Husk Experiment by Andrea Cale
4 ★

This book is like 5 different stories that all come together in the end. I found all 5 characters and their stories extremely interesting and, in some cases, sad. Each character is represented in their own chapters, yet they all coincide. Some of them come together before the big game at the end of the book and I enjoyed how they did. It was a natural merge in stories that worked well. The big game at the end is the highlight of the book. The author does an amazing job of relaying the excitement of the game and its’ fans. I had a hard time putting the book down because I had to know who won. There is also a nice twist at the end that I did not see coming. I also like how the author followed up with each character 3 years after the big game. It gave closure.

Would Like To Meet – Rachel Winters – 3***
As a reader, I’ve been there, done that, and seen the movie multiple times. It’s a cute rom-com of a novel, but totally predictable. Now … who will be cast in the movie?
My full review HERE

Peter Handke, Die linkshändige Frau [1976] 101 pages [in German]

This is the book of Handke's I have seen mentioned most often in various lists, etc., probably because he made it into a movie. It is the story of a thirty-year-old woman, Marianne, who decides to break up with her husband Bruno and live alone with her eight-year-old son Stefan. It's better than most of his books, but that isn't really saying very much. It's less experimental, on the other hand, so the style doesn't really stand out. All the characters talk all the time about how they are alone and deal with their loneliness, even Bruno and his girl friend Franziska. Having never been married or had a family, I can't really feel all that sypathetic over someone being alone for two months, with a kid, her ex trying to get back together and two other guys trying to go out with her. Everyone spends a lot of time at the supermarket, at least I learned a lot of German vocabulary for grocery shopping.

Muhsin Al-Ramli, Dates on my Fingers [2009, tr 2014] 194 pages

Saleem, an Iraqi living in Madrid, by chance meets his father Noah, who owns a club there. The story of the two is told in flashbacks and memories, set against the backdrop of the repression of the Saddam Hussein regime, and we learn about the surprising reason the father is in Spain. There are also three love stories, Saleem's love for his cousin Aliya, who drowned in a swimming accident in the past, and his love for Fatima in the present of the novel, and his father's love for Rosa, a German woman. A very well-written novel which balances the upbeat personal and unpleasant political themes so that neither overshadows the other.

Fragile Remedy by Maria Ingranda Mora
3 ★

When the fatal lung rot breaks out in Gathos City, GEMs are created (Genetically Engineered Medi-tissue). Nate is one who was smuggled out of Gathos City and now lives in the slums of the Withers. He’s a tinker who hangs with a rag tag bunch. As GEMs get older though their health deteriorates and they need medicine called Remedy that is controlled by Gathos City. As chem addicts in the Withers start to cause issues Nate’s supply of Remedy dries up. Now he’s in a fight for his life.

I have never read anything quite like this before. The whole concept is new to me and unique. I really enjoyed the story line. Nate and his group of friends are so different from one another, but they work so well together. There are secrets that they all keep, but it’s for everyone’s safety. The characters are great too. Loyal and caring. The author does a great job with world building and paints a pretty vivid picture of the Withers for the reader.
My only negative thought on the book is that it dragged in some spots. Nate is very worried that others will find out that he’s a GEM and turn him in for money and he dwells on it. He’s also worried about his friends getting into trouble for having him around. Nate’s unconventional relationship with his Remedy dealer is a bit disturbing and I think Nate should have addressed it sooner.
All and all I enjoyed the book and I look forward to her next one.
(Advanced readers copy courtesy of NetGalley)

A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice & Fire #3) - George R.R. Martin
5 ★

The third book in George R. R. Martin's A Song of Fire & Ice series, A Storm of Swords picks right up where A Clash of Kings leaves you. Joffrey sits upon the Iron Throne, Stannis and his sorceress are defeated and rebuilding, Robb sits in Riverrun searching for a way to take back the North, Daenerys is steadily making her way across a continent in an attempt to reclaim her throne and the brothers at the Wall are dealing with Others & wildlings.

I am thoroughly enjoying this series. When I first started reading I thought I would have to take a break in between books and read something lighter, but I am pleasantly surprised that the girth of these books does not make them overwhelming. I highly recommend this series for anyone who is looking for a new book in the fantasy genre!

The Wife of the Gods – Kewi Quartey – 4****
First in a series featuring Detective Inspector Darko Dawson of Accra, Ghana. Oh, I am going to like this series! Darko is a principled man, but he has his demons, and he seeks solace in smoking marijuana. He’s also sometimes prone to resorting to his own brand of vigilante justice. But there’s no denying that he’s a talented – and tenacious – detective. There are plenty of suspects and motives and a compelling subplot to keep the reader off balance and guessing.
My full review HERE

Toni Morrison, Jazz [1992] 265 pages

Jazz is the second volume of a "trilogy" between Beloved (which I read last year) and Paradise (which I haven't read yet). The three books form a history of Black women's experience from slavery to the present. Jazz is structured like Beloved; it begins in 1925 in Harlem, with the story of Violet, her husband Joe Trace, and his eighteen-year-old girl friend Dorcas whom he has just killed, and other chapters then take us back to the parents and grandparents of each of the main characters, that is to the end of slavery and the post-Reconstruction South (the period the main story of the earlier novel is set in). Other similarities between the two books are the theme of how the effects of slavery continue through the following generations, and the oral storytelling style. We never actually find out who the obviously unreliable narrator of Jazz is; various critics have suggested "jazz" or the book itself. Both books are very complex and ambiguous, and different critics interpret them very differently.

(Possible spoilers from here on)

There are no characters repeated between the two books -- unless, as one critic suggests, the character called "Wild" is actually "Beloved". At the end of the first novel, Beloved is last seen in 1873 wandering naked and pregnant in the woods. In the second novel, Golden Gray meets Wild in 1873 wandering naked and pregnant in the woods, not really very far away. In reading Jazz I noticed the similarities in the descriptions of the two characters, but it never occurred to me they might be the same woman, probably because I didn't notice the coincidence of the year. Like so many things in both novels, this is suggested but left ambiguous. The character of Golden Gray is also enigmatic; he appears in one scene and then that part of the plot is dropped. Later, Joe finds his clothes -- recently repaired -- in a cave while looking for Wild. Is Golden living in the cave as a hermit? Or with Wild? Or did he just return North to continue passing as white? We never find out.

One striking thing about the novel is that none of the major characters were raised by their own parents. True Belle, a slave, is forced to leave her husband and her two daughters in the care of her sister to accompany her owner to Baltimore; later after Emancipation she returns to take care of her grandchildren after her daughter Rose Dear commits suicide. One of the grandchildren is Violet. Joe's parents "disappeared without a trace"; he misinterprets the statement to mean that he is the "trace" they went without, hence he calls himself Joe Trace. He is raised by Henry LeStory, who is the unknown father of Golden Gray. It is suggested that he is actually the baby of Wild. Dorcas is raised by her aunt Alice after her parents are murdered by whites in the East Saint Louis race riots. Joe, who is most at home hunting in the woods, is forced out of his home town when it is burned down by whites to force out the Black population and take their land; he later marries Violet and flees to Harlem, where the main story begins.

As with all Morrison's novels, this book has many layers and requires a thoughtful reading.

Patsy – Nicole Y. Dennis-Benn – 4****
This novel follows Patsy, a young Jamaican mother of a 5-year-old girl, Tru, as she makes her way to America and tries to find a better life for herself. This story is in turns heartbreaking and inspiring. I applaud Patsy’s determination, courage, inventiveness and work ethic, but have difficulty forgiving her for decisions I just cannot fathom. I loved these characters, even though I didn’t always like them. Despite all the hardship, all the bad decisions and failures to communicate, ultimately there is some triumph and some sense of hope.
My full review HERE

Dennis Banks and Richard Erdoes, Ojibwa Warrior: Dennis Banks and the Rise of the American Indian Movement [2004] 362 pages

The autobiography of Dennis Banks, the founder and long-time central leader of the American Indian Movement (AIM). Beginning with his childhood in a traditional family on the reservation, his experience of the forced boarding school which tried to destroy his traditions and convert him to Christianity and caused him to forget his language, his service in the air force in Japan, and his ultimate rediscovery of his spiritual heritage, he goes on to describe the founding of AIM and many of the important battles they were involved in such as the Custer courthouse, the BIA takeover, and the Wounded Knee Occupation. Along the way he describes his personal life and loves. This is a very strong and inspirational book about the continuing struggle of Native Americans against the US government, the state of South Dakota, and local racists, as well as corrupt tribal governments supported by the government.

This is the third book I have read that covers the basic events in the history of AIM. Peter Matthiesson's In the Spirit of Crazy Horse is a much more detailed and documented account from a sympathetic but outside perspective, focusing on the case of Leonard Peltier. Russell Means' autobiography, Where White Men Fear to Tread, is more similar to Banks' book, but has a more aggressive tone. Unlike Means, Banks does not emphasize differences among the leadership or make negative comments on other leaders, and generally comes off as much more politically astute. Where Means often brags about violence, Banks is a master of defensive formulations, always showing how violence was forced on them by the racists and the government against their own intentions. All three are worth reading, but this is the one I would recommend to begin with.

The Merciless (The Merciless #1) by Danielle Vega
5 ★

Sofia Flores is in a new school and has some new friends. She soon realizes though that Riley, Grace, and Alexis aren’t the people she thought they were. They believe another girl, Brooklyn, is possessed and plan on performing an exorcism on her. When the exorcism goes wrong and secrets are revealed Sofia realized she’s gotten herself into something she can’t walk away from.

This is quite the interesting book with good characters and an intriguing storyline. There are many scenes that completely shocked me and made me gasp at the violence. The exorcism is truly torturous and violent. The cruelty displayed by the girls is appalling. Aside from all that I found myself unable to put the book down because I had to know how it ended. The ending was a bit unexpected and has me very interested in continuing the series.

Fatal Secrets (FBI Trilogy #2) by Allison Brennan
4 ★

ICE and FBI operations collide during an ICE stakeout and ICE senior agent Sonia Knight is furious. She now has to team up with FBI agent Dean Hooper who is investigating the same individual for money-laundering.

Although this was a good story, the topic was a rough one. Human trafficking is never an easy topic to discuss. The author does a nice job detailing the abductions and torture the girls endure without going over the top. What Sonia went through as a child is truly gut-wrenching and I can see how it made her a great ICE agent. Dean Hooper is a great FBI agent who is good with numbers. He also interacts with Sonia well. They made a good team. I wasn’t too confident about the romance part of the book though. The feelings between Sonia and Dean happen fast and furious. It didn’t come across as genuine to me.
There are a few surprises throughout the book, but most revelations are expected. The ending was good, but expected as well. This wasn’t one of my favorite books of hers, but I did enjoy it.

A Feast For Crows - A Song of Ice & Fire #4 by George R.R. Martin
5*****

I really enjoyed this book. I was ready to be disappointed going in - there are a lot of negative reviews based on this book only being about half of the characters, but I found those reviews misleading. While it was a bummer to not read about Dany, Jon Snow, Tyrion and Bran for the last couple of weeks, I enjoyed the amount of detail I was able to read regarding the other characters. POSSIBLE SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT.



(view spoiler)[
Cersei has her own chapters and man, is she awful. It's interesting to get to see her story coming out from her own perspective now rather than everyone else's at Kings Landing. She's one of those characters you love to hate. Like, I know she is going to fail and it's going to be a great fiery ball of disaster, but I just love watching her dig that hole even bigger. Arya is a BAMF. I love getting to read her stories, and while I feel like she's straying from where she should be, she's still learning and getting shit done. BUT SHE WAKES UP BLIND IN THE END. Now what, I have to wait forever to find out what the hell happens to her? Sansa is frustrating as hell, but she's starting to figure out that she isn't this demure little lady, and I hope that starts to bring out the wolf in her. Jaime surprised me by not being a total dickhead, he seems to be questioning a lot of things and I hope we see a continuation of him not buying his sisters BS anymore. Brienne wants so badly to fulfill a promise. Whether that promise be to Cat or to Jaime or just to herself. She meets some interesting people along the way and seems to always find herself in the hands of awful men. As for the added characters, I like seeing the people of Dorne and the Iron Isles. I don't think you can tell a complete story about this kingdom by leaving these guys out, especially with the details you learn about the Princess of Dorne in the end. (hide spoiler)]

Dear Mrs Bird – A J Pearce – 3***
This had more substance than I originally thought based on the book jacket. Emmy’s heart is in the right place, even if the advice she doles out (under Mrs Bird’s name) isn’t always the best. I wasn’t too interested in the personal drama of young adulthood (“been there, done that, don’t need to read about it again). Still, it’s a fast, entertaining read and I can see why it would be marketed for book clubs.
My full review HERE

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
3 ★

This story takes place in the 1920s and tells the story of a short time in the life of wealthy Jay Gatsby through the eyes of Nick Carraway, a neighbor who stumbles into Jay Gatsby’s life. Gatsby is terribly in love with Daisy Buchanan who is unfortunately married to Tom Buchanan, a horrific husband in my opinion. The story is a decent one with a not so surprising ending, but I did have an issue with it keeping my attention. I’m a big fan of dialogue and this story lacks that most of the time. It’s a lot of Nick explaining things as they happen and he sees them. It does get better toward the end as the story takes a tragic turn. Also, since this book was written in 1925 I found the language somewhat hard to follow at times.

The Turn Of the Key – Ruth Ware – 3.5***
My niece loves Ware’s thrillers, so I thought I’d give the author a go. Written in an epistolary style, the book opens with the main character in prison and her desperate letter to a solicitor asking for help. Her letter continues outlining all that happened – how she stumbled upon the job opening and began the position. And how quickly things began going wrong. There are twists and turns and unexplained happenings. In no time at all, Rowan is a sleep-deprived mess. I will say this for Ware, she kept me turning pages and second-guessing, even if I didn’t quite empathize with Rowan. As a suspense thriller it was better than most. I can certainly see why my niece is such a fan.
My full review HERE

The Children’s Blizzard – David Laskin – 4****
On January 12, 1888 a massive cold front brought plummeting temperatures, gale-force winds, and blinding snow to the northern plains. The blizzard caught the people on the prairies totally unaware and unprepared. Children left for school on a bright, sunny, mild day and found themselves either trapped in their school houses or struggling to find their way home in the blinding snow and plummeting temperatures. Hundreds of them died. It’s a gripping tale and told masterfully.
My full review HERE

A Map of Days (Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children #4) by Ransom Riggs
5 ★

Jacob Portman is back in Florida with his peculiar friends. As he teaches them to act like normal human kids in a different era they stumble across his grandfather Abe’s secret bunker. Now Jacob and a few of his friends take up Abe’s job of finding uncontacted peculiars in America and bringing them to a safe loop. What Jacob doesn’t know is that the rules in American are very different than the ones he’s used to.

As always, the pictures in this book are fabulous. I loved the addition of color photos. The author does an excellent job working the pictures into the story.
The original characters that we all know and love are back with the addition of some very interesting ones. The new peculiars introduced in this book are very creative and surprising. I was a bit disappointed in Jacob’s attitude toward Ms. Peregrine, but I can understand why he’s so defiant. They are in his world now and he feels like he should be listened to more. When things start to go downhill during Jacob’s “mission” and they are saved by Ms. Peregrine I feel like Jacob should have shown her more respect. Jacob’s actions at the end are slightly predictable, but it lets the reader know what is coming and I’m very excited to start the next book.

As I got to the end of the month I was falling behind on all my goals, because I am reading some very long books not in English, so I decided to stop and read three shorter books to catch up. I'm also taking advantage of work from home to clean my house and I needed to get these out of the living room!

G.E.M Anscombe, From Parmenides to Wittgenstein [1981] 141 pages

Gertrude Elizabeth Margaret Anscombe (1919-2001) was undoubtedly the most important woman philosopher in the Anglo-American Analytic tradition as it existed in the twentieth century. She was a student and close associate of Ludwig Wittgenstein, and translated and commented on many of his writings (the first thing I read by her almost fifty years ago was her Introduction to Wittgenstein's Tractatus). She contributed articles to most of the analytic journals, either herself or later in collaboration with her husband, Peter Geatch. This book is the first volume of her collected papers, and is made up of analyses of arguments in the history of philosophy.

The book begins with an article on Parmenides, then has three each on Plato and Aristotle, one on Aquinas, two on Hume, one on Brentano, and ends with two on Wittgenstein. They were all written between 1953 and 1979. They approach the various arguments from an analytic standpoint and most are filled with symbolic logic; some are difficult to understand because they are replies to other philosophers' papers, which aren't included and which I haven't read. The most interesting was an interpretation of Plato's earlier theory of ideas as a form of set theory.

This would be of interest to anyone with an interest in the history of philosophy and a background in the analytic tradition; no one else should attempt it.


Ryunosuke Akutagawa, Rashomon and other stories [1952] 110 pages

These are classics of modern Japanese literature; the date of course is that of the translation, as the author committed suicide in 1927 at the age of 35. There are six stories in the collection; the first is "in a Grove", a murder story told through incompatible witness accounts, which was the basis for the famous film Rashomon by Akiro Kurosawa (not as I expected the story called "Rashomon"). The other five are "Rashomon" about a laid-off servant considering whether to become a thief; "Yam Gruel" about an unpopular low-grade official with a strong desire for that food; "The Martyr", about a Christian in early Japan, which was originally a hoax (presented as if it were taken from an old incunabulum), "Kesa and Morito" which was very similar to "In a Grove", and "The Dragon" about a priest with a big nose and the practical joke he tries to play on his colleagues with unexpected results.

All four stories are modernist in style and concerned with questions of what is reality and so on; they are all worth reading but I didn't consider them as particularly outstanding myself. The preface suggests that much of their importance was in the style of the writing, which of course doesn't really come across in translation.


W.K.C. Guthrie, Socrates [1969] 200 pages

This is a reprint of the second part of volume 3 of Guthrie's History of Greek Philosophy. It is a very balanced account of what we know or can reasonably surmise about the life and teachings of Socrates; in particular, it avoids the two extremes of taking Plato's Socrates literally for the historical Socrates and rejecting Plato's dialogues entirely as a source for his teachings. This book, like the History as a whole, is definitely the place to start in trying to make sense of Greek philosophy.