For me the novel is character creation. Style is nice, plot is nice, structure is okay, social significance is okay, symbolism worms its way in, timeliness is okay too, but unless the characters convince and live the book‘s got no chance
so far, for dated science fiction, it‘s not terrible…
Maybe barbacoa tacos can motivate me through the tedium of “Under the Volcano”…
This is a long read at nearly 1000 pages. I‘m still working on it but it‘s a great biography about an extraordinary man who hasn‘t been fully appreciated by history. I learned a lot about the Civil War and have added several of the cited works to my TBR list.
Worth a read! Dave is always entertaining and fans of Scream, Nirvana, Foo Fighters, and everyone else will enjoy this. He‘s a relatable, likable guy with lots of stories to tell.
This is much more engaging and compelling than The Corrections, which I wasn‘t as enthusiastic about as the critics apparently were. I hesitated to begin another of his novels but find myself enjoying the story of all the crossroads encountered by the family of Russ Hildebrandt, associate pastor of First Reformed Church in a Chicago suburb in the early seventies.
pickGreat book! Detailed and well written so that it almost reads like a novel as it chronicles the story behind OxyContin and how the prominent Sackler family helped create the opioid epidemic through their avarice and selfishness.
I enjoy magical realism when it‘s done well and couldn‘t pass up a good US-Mexican border story!
Today is World AIDS Day 2020. (Dec. 1)
Just a coincidence I‘m reading this book that deals largely with the devastating impact of AIDS on a group of friends in Chicago in the early 80‘s at the onset of the pandemic. So far, it‘s a great book that I‘d highly recommend.
“Augusto Monterroso is perhaps most famous for his short story 'The Dinosaur' The complete story is 'Cuando despertó, el dinosaurio todavía estaba allí. (When s/he woke up, the dinosaur was still there)' .“
https://www.themodernnovel.org/americas/latin-america/guatemala/monterroso/
pickA rare autobiography where I like the person less after reading the book. I wasn‘t crazy about the writing style in general. It lacked substance and depth. I was disappointed in her cavalier attitude about her fathers passing and his portrayal overall. Also her ‘contratemps‘ with friends. Her love for her husband appeared genuine but he seemed to have been dumped in a nursing home toward the end, his and the books. Good food notes.
pickThoroughly enjoyed The Alice Network! I love WWII and espionage already and this spanned both World Wars and involved a network of heroic female spies as well as a fast paced plot that brings it all together.
pickAn entertaining and educational presentation of John Maynard Keynes and his economic school of thought that is profoundly relevant in today's troubled and pessimistic times.
pick
An odd but clever, short novel about a socially awkward Japanese woman who is a reliable, enthusiastic worker in a convenience store where she uses the store manual as a guide for life and copies fashion, speech, and emotion from coworkers. Some reviewers felt bad for her at the end after she tried out a false construct of ‘normalcy‘. I appreciated that she was content with, rather than resigned to, who she is and how she lives her life.
#7books7days
#Day8 7 books that left a lasting impression
7 books that left a lasting impression
#7books7days
#Day7
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#Day6 7 books that left a lasting impression
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#Day3 7 books that left a lasting impression
#7days7books: 7 books that have left a lasting impression
#7days7books: 7 books that have left a lasting impression
THE story had held us, round the fire, sufficiently breathless, but except the obvious remark that it was gruesome, as, on Christmas Eve in an old house, a strange tale should essentially be, I remember no comment uttered till somebody happened to say that it was the only case he had met in which such a visitation had fallen on a child.
pickEnjoyed spending time with old friends Connelly and Det. Harry Bosch although Bosch was more likeable before he quit drinking. Since then he‘s increasingly self-righteous and antagonistic. Luckily he teams up with his half brother attorney Mickey Haller, “The Lincoln Lawyer”, and Det. Renee Ballard, also somewhat of an odd duck and outcast within the LAPD. The plot is multifaceted and fast paced and probably Connelly‘s best work in recent years.
pickA good read. Similar to Defending Jacob but told from the point of view of each of the main characters chronologically. One picks up where the previous narrator left off. They do not alternate. It flowed much better than that sounds. I enjoy these Swedish thrillers!
This isn‘t bad but at a third of the way through I‘m hoping it gets better. A bit laborious to this point.
Anyone know if there‘s a way to enlarge the photos on Litsy posts on an iPhone? I‘d love to be able to swipe outward or double tap and read the tiny text in the photos people take of their current reads... #litsyhelp #litsywelcomewagon
pickA gripping tale of violence, treachery, fear and perseverance in N Korea that follows the life of an orphan who is conscripted for military service and more. An incredible book I likely wouldn‘t have read based on mainstream reviews and plot summaries but for the Great American Read nudging me out of my comfort zone and literary prejudices.
pickA tragically powerful and disturbing account of a school shooting told primarily through the eyes of four students located both inside and outside the school as it happens. It reads like a tense thriller but more painfully so.
pickRead this while spending a Saturday waiting at a high school academic decathlon. It was a quick read and surprisingly good. I knew that the main character, an elderly maintenance man, dies and meets five people in heaven but I didn‘t think that sounded particularly interesting. It was spiritual and introspective but not overtly religious or secular. The story of a rather average life held up rather well. Maybe there‘s hope for all of us.
pickRead this while spending a Saturday waiting at a high school academic decathlon. It was a quick read and surprisingly good. I knew that the main character, an elderly maintenance man, dies and meets five people in heaven but I didn‘t think that sounded particularly interesting. It was spiritual and introspective but not overtly religious or secular. The story of a rather average life held up rather well. Maybe there‘s hope for all of us.
pickFinally finished this behemoth! I truly enjoyed it although had I known that it was the 1300 page version, I just might have passed. This is not my usual genre but not my first Stephen King either. I can't judge whether this is his magnum opus or not but it is a masterful tale of a modern day armageddon involving survivors of an accidentally released man-made plague in an epic war of good and evil ostensibly for the future of the human race...
This is great so far and an enjoyable, informative read written in a relatable, non-scholarly voice. #NFNov #NonfictionNovember
I borrowed this from our public library and love the fact that someone was compelled to correct the spelling of Anahuac. Great read btw.
pick“In fact it was nine billionaires...possessed as much wealth as the bottom half of humanity (3.6 billion people)”
“Somehow in being efficient and being clever and being productive, people thought they had the license to just stop thinking about the human beings and the well-being of everybody else in the system”
“The young and the helped, mostly black and brown, repeatedly dance for their donors”
“Generosity is not a substitute for justice”.
pickI read this as a stepping stone to Montaigne. I hesitated to jump right into the essays of a 16th century French nobleman and Renaissance philosopher. This inspires me to read on and points to several translations, biographies, and monographs. It was also my introduction to Michael Perry, a talented and funny writer, who humorously evaluates his life through Montaigne‘s essays.
so-soA solid work on the conception of the ghetto from it‘s ancient origins through WWII to the present, particularly focused on how it relates to the plight and status of African Americans as seen through the work and writings of a handful of notable social scientists. My interest waned somewhat about halfway but I plodded through.
pickA thoroughly enjoyable review of hundreds of opening lines, or paragraphs, from novels of fiction. It was fun to read this over time for a short while each day. It‘s given me much to add to my TBR list!
so-soLess of a book than a critical essay at just under one hundred pages. I‘m a Hiaasen fan and even agree with his criticisms of Disney‘s greed and overly sanitized experiences as well as it‘s detrimental effect on the environment in general and the state of Florida in particular. However, I missed the biting humor and character development through which he usually makes his case. Give me Skink anytime.
pickIn browsing various online reading lists, I saw this on President Obama‘s and knowing it was one of the top 100 on the Great American Read, decided to check it out. I‘m glad I did.
Good Morning! Nice to see what Overdrive delivered from the library overnight.
There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs. -John Rogers
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