All About Books discussion

Here is the New York Times Book Review section's list of the top 100 books of interest (fiction and nonfiction) published in 2014.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/07/boo...

I looked at it not expecting to have read anything on the list, as I tend to think of book written 10 years ago as new. So imagine my surprise to find I had actually read one and heard of several others. The one I have read is:

Everything I Never Told You

Have you read any of these?

I thought I'd be the same Leslie, but I have heard of 10 of them and have 3 on my shelf - All the Light We Cannot See, A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing and A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal.

The only one I have attempted to read was Boy, Snow, Bird which I borrowed from the library but really didn't like at all.

Pink,I am warning you..... All the Light We Cannot See has serious problems, even if sometimes the writing is pretty. I know lots of people love it, but it has a big dose of fantasy. I don't like fantasy mixed with Nazi atrocities. Alexandra Grabbe's review points out historical inaccuracies. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show.... She contacted me after she saw all the grief I got from my negative review. Her husband is a history professor, so he knows what he is talking about.True, she and I are in the minority, but actually quite a few have agreed with my review too.

Now I will go check the list. Thanks, Leslie.

I am at the moment tired of the oh so popular contemporary books. I think we are being hoodwinked into being told these books have to be good and we must like them too. If every body is saying wow, you fell like a total oddball if you dislike them. That is partially why I turned to classics last year.

Leslie, the only one I've read was The Book of Strange New Things (my Recommendation Swap). I thought it was quite good. I've heard of some others but haven't read anything else.

I have also read poetry by Derek Walcott before, but I'm doubtful it's the exact collection they're referring to; so I'm not counting that one.

I have read

All the Light We Cannot See - BAD
Euphoria - excellent
Lila - I have decided I do NOT want to read even though it has been on ly lists


Elephant Company: The Inspiring Story of an Unlikely Hero and the Animals Who Helped Him Save Lives in World War II I can only get this in an abridged version so no way will I read that, but I would have liked to.

@Greg - I think that this is a new collection by Walcott; sort of a "best of" book with the poems selected by Walcott himself. I just discovered him last year so I might look for that in the library.

I've not read any of those (none of them are really ones I've heard of either!) but would love to read Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World by Mark Miodownik after seeing his tv series on the subject (Materials: How They Work):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01hkyfr

I only read one 2014 published book last year, Germany: Memories of a Nation, but then I'm more a secondhand bookshop browser; there are only certain books that I buy new.

Thanks for the tip Chrissie, I bought A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing last year when it was shortlisted for the Bailey's women's prize for fiction. The other 2 were Christmas gifts, both from my son. Neither of which I would have chosen for myself, BUT I do like a surprise from my children, even if it doesn't always work out. I've had hits and misses in the past. I actually know NOTHING about All the Light We Cannot See and from the sound of it I'll have to go into it with an EXTREMELY open mind. Usually I don't like historical fiction, I like either fiction or history, not a mix of both, but we'll see.

Leslie wrote: "@Greg - I think that this is a new collection by Walcott; sort of a "best of" book with the poems selected by Walcott himself. I just discovered him last year so I might look for that in the library."

That makes sense Leslie. I sometimes find his longer poems difficult, but in general his poetry strikes me as both lovely and profound. Maybe I'll look for it too. :)

Pink, well a gift from your son is always nice. I am going to hope that you like it even if I didn't. LOTS of people love it.

Leslie wrote: "Here is the New York Times Book Review section's list of the top 100 books of interest (fiction and nonfiction) published in 2014.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/07/boo......"

I also read and loved Everything I Never Told You. I found it such a terrif debut book. I think members voted this as being number 1 on the Amazon list.

Chrissie wrote: "Pink,I am warning you..... All the Light We Cannot See has serious problems, even if sometimes the writing is pretty. I know lots of people love it, but it has a big dose of fantas..."

I'm glad to see I'm not the only person in the world who didn't love All the Light We Cannot See. All the reviews said it was about the interaction of the 2 main characters and they only interact for about 2 pages! So much of the rest is about the miseries of war. I had decided I just couldn't read any more about Nazis but read this anyway because people said it was "luminous" - not how I experienced it.

Robin wrote: "Chrissie wrote: "Pink,I am warning you..... All the Light We Cannot See has serious problems, even if sometimes the writing is pretty. I know lots of people love it, but it has a b..."

It was a huge disappointment for me. I was reading it alongside a person who was more enthralled, which made it very difficult for me to speak bluntly of my dislike. On the other hand this forced me to try VERY hard to like the book, and that is good. Still it failed me. I picked it up because I love St. Malo. I am not sure it even captured the charm of the city as it should of.

I haven't read a single one, though most of them sound potentially interesting to me.