What are you Reading (Part 2)?

[clueliss]

Currently reading Call the Midwife on audiobook.  

[Kailash]

@church_of_dog I am also eagerly awaiting the next Inspector Gamache novel!! I would move to Three Pines in a heartbeat. 

[onekidanddone]

Now reading Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult. 

[CTRLZero]

Over the past couple of weeks, I've read the Dorothy Sayers' series of the meeting and subsequent adventures of Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane:    Strong Poison, Have His Carcase, Gaudy Night, and Busman's Honeymoon.

I've read these novels many times over my lifetime, and each time I wish I knew Latin and French, but they are still engrossing reads.

The symbolism at the end of Gaudy Night was explained to me once, so I do thrill to "Placetne, magistra?" "Placet." 

[Palimpsest]

@CTRLZero, was it explained that after years of Harriet turning him down flat this time Peter Wimsey expects her to say yes.  The clue is in the suffix "ne" - "Placetne, magistra?"  And she does.  ::Swoons::

My French is quite good but my Latin is rather atrocious and Sayers can be annoyingly pretentious with languages.  I think she goes right over the top in Busman's Honeymoon where they chat lovingly in Ancient Greek, IIRC.  I have no idea what they are saying and just skipped those bits. 

Gaudy Night is one of my favorite Sayers, as are the others you mentioned, but have you read Nine Tailors?  No Harriet, but it is set in the Fens and teaches you more about bell ringing than you ever wanted to know.  I also like Murder Must Advertise.  Again no Harriet, but devastatingly funny and based on Sayers's early years working in the advertising industry.

What am I reading ... I'm taking a break from Born into the Children of God: My life in a religious sex cult and my struggle for survival on the outside by Natacha Tomey.  It is a very hard read. 

So I'm rereading Mary Stewart's the Ivy Tree.  Perhaps I'll reread Gaudy Night next.

 

 

 

[CTRLZero]

17 minutes ago, Palimpsest said:

was it explained that after years of Harriet turning him down flat this time Peter Wimsey expects her to say yes.  The clue is in the suffix "ne" - "Placetne, magistra?"  And she does.  ::Swoons::

The explanation I received (and it was probably simplified for my level of understanding) was the tradition upon conferring a degree, there is a plucking of the sleeve ritual, meaning something like, you are accepted.   The last sentence of the novel includes the phrase, "and no hand plucked his velvet sleeve," to reinforce the ritual in the minds of us mere mortals.  You are right that she is a bit pretentious with the multiple language passages, but it does illustrate how learned Lord Peter and his circle are compared to the average reader.

The Nine Tailors is one of my favorites, and I have been known to bore people with my slight knowledge of bell ringing when the opportunity presents.  I think I've had this same conversation with @PennySycamore...   I'll have to read Murder Must Advertise keeping Sayers' advertising background in mind.  Thank you!

[Destiny]

I'm finishing my reread of Harry Potter, and I just finished a reread of the whole set of Percy Jackson books. Next up, I have Riordan's Apollo and Magnus Chase series. Lest everyone think I only read kid's books and garbage romance novels (which is actually pretty true), I also have this one on my to do list: Red Clocks by Leni Zumas along with Michelle Obama's book.

I just started a trial of Kindle Unlimited and would welcome any links to must-reads in there.

Edited December 6, 2018 by Destiny
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[Carm_88]

I'm reading Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury and Time's Convert by Deborah Harkness!

[CTRLZero]

9 hours ago, Destiny said:

I just started a trial of Kindle Unlimited and would welcome any links to must-reads in there.

I have Kindle Unlimited and it can be an unwieldy beast because there is so much offered.  In order to avoid the junk (and occasionally I do encounter sloppy authors), I sometimes just go to Google and type in "best of Kindle Unlimited."  That will get you started on finding quality works.

I like Kindle Unlimited, because I read authors and series that I wouldn't consider otherwise.  Sometimes the offerings are pretty raw (typos, etc.), but sometimes they get edited along the way and later turn out to be pretty decent.  And bonus--tons of garbage romance for your reading pleasure!  I recently went through a phase where I searched for haunted house novels--lots of those, too!  Have fun!

 

[Kailash]

I finished Lincoln in the Bardo and started The Immortalists. I really enjoyed Lincoln in the Bardo- it was a neat mix of fiction and non fiction. I am loving The Immortalists. I’m about 3/4ths through and I’ve had a hard time putting it down.  

[onekidanddone]

Started Philomena last night.

[SassyPantswithASideofClass]

On ‎11‎/‎12‎/‎2018 at 6:54 PM, clueliss said:

Currently reading Call the Midwife on audiobook.  

Oooh have you watched the series yet?? Its so good! You can find it on Netflix!

[clueliss]

Yes, I've watched the series (thank you PBS)

Read The Witch Elm by Tana French.  A wonderful read (although personally, I found the ending a bit rambling).  

Spoiler

And while I am SEVERELY critical of unreliable narrators - this one is a better example since the narrator questions himself at times.  

In the middle of audibles original Christmas Eve 1914 (it was free).  It's short and I may be able to make it through this one - however, I will say there are moments that border on aggravating me due to Misophonia.  (honestly, I never ever ever need the sound of clattering dinnerware of any sort)

[quiversR4hunting]

On ‎11‎/‎12‎/‎2018 at 11:09 AM, church_of_dog said:

After Tara Westover's Educated, which was fantastic

OMG. I am only a 1/3 of the way and holy shit.

The words I used to describe it to my book club ladies: unfathomable, disbelief and stunned. And for the record, I have read a lot about FLDS, the LeBaron family, Angela's Ashes, & The Glass Castle and this one is so much more "extra" (as one might say).

[AliceInFundyland]

I was “looking forward” to Educated. But I had to stop. And I read all the memoirs of assorted people we all read about too. That just didn’t work for me.

Meanwhile, I keep finding memoirs of children who grew up in the Nazi Youth programs. This is a kick I need to get off.

Also, Sundown Towns. Another epic, fascinating, depressing sociological examination of something I didn’t know about. Racial exclusion was written into town and county codes nationwide. Not after the Civil War, later. Google the term. Long range implications of this are compelling.

I enjoyed Elevation. That was Stephen Kings Halloween novella. He can be much better in short form. I have noticed a recent uptick in his inclusion of stronger female characters too. Character development is one of his strengths. And, well, he can be a bit dated. And I frequently wonder about his female relationships. I appreciate an effort to try and improve himself and his writing. At his level - he can coast.

I’ve been trying a Kindle unlimited too. There’s a lot of dreck there. @CTRLZero “best of” is a good idea

[church_of_dog]

1 hour ago, AliceInFundyland said:

I was “looking forward” to Educated. But I had to stop. And I read all the memoirs of assorted people we all read about too. That just didn’t work for me.

As library staff, I have a lot of people ask me how upsetting Educated is.  I compared it to The Glass Castle but I thought it wasn't quite as upsetting as that one.  Maybe that was just me though.  I also pointed out to a few patrons, without spoilering anything, that she is writing about herself, in the first person, in a bestselling book, and therefore we know even before reading it that she survived the stories in the book, at least at that basic level.  Obviously a book can still be disturbing even given that, but I was trying to give my patrons some information they could combine with the level of their own triggerishness (hey, I invented a word!) so they could decide how they might react to it.

(personally I seem to be able to read about all sorts of horrific human behaviors, but will not read sad books about the death of pets...  I don't know fully where that triggerishness () came from but I'm choosing to respect it.)

 

1 hour ago, AliceInFundyland said:

I enjoyed Elevation. That was Stephen Kings Halloween novella. He can be much better in short form. I have noticed a recent uptick in his inclusion of stronger female characters too. Character development is one of his strengths. And, well, he can be a bit dated. And I frequently wonder about his female relationships. I appreciate an effort to try and improve himself and his writing. At his level - he can coast.

Oddly enough, I didn't love Elevation even though I do enjoy most of SK's works.  It just didn't have that identifiable SK flavor to it.  Or was that because I listened to it instead of reading it?  I've listened to the audio version of one other of his, and it did have his signature style, but this didn't.  I just felt like there was no real substance to the story.  Again, maybe just me.

Edited December 14, 2018 by church_of_dog

[MarblesMom]

Almost finished with The Last Letter from Your Lover by JoJo Moyes.

Seemed like a slow mud run for most of it - finally into some interesting bits.

[clueliss]

Missoula by Jon Krakauer  

[danvillebelle]

I've been on a big Catholic kick lately, and I'm about to dive headfirst into St. Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica for the first time ever.  Pray for me.  

[onekidanddone]

Finished Philomena and it sucked. I expected to read a book like the movie, the story of a woman quest to find her son she was forced to sign away.  Instead It was mostly about her son has his rise to fame in the RNC and how that conflicted with his being gay. It seemed like most of it was made up with the author filling in basically made up conversations and situations.

I wanted a story about the stolen babies of Ireland in the 50s, and I got a really badly written gay smarmy romance.

Ah well on to the next book U.S.A. Noir

[clueliss]

Rocket Girls which focuses on women computers at the Jet Propulsion Lab.  So in addition to the women you get stories about JPL and bits about NASA.  

[onekidanddone]

Finishing up USA Noir and about to start I’ll Never Get Out of Here Alive by Steve Earle. 

[Carm_88]

I just finished the Crazy Rich Asian trilogy by Kevin Kwan, which are very lighthearted and funny. A whole lot of crazy. My next two reads are going to be The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton and Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty. 

[AliceInFundyland]

@church_of_dog It was very short. I’ve been on a thought process about the female character thing. He favors what he knows, which is the white male perspective. I have a very high tolerance threshold for horror, misery and creepiness. I read and watch all sorts of stuff. Gerald’s Game is on a short list of things that immediately revulsed me.

Anyhow, in his last few books I like the female characters. The woman in the Mr.Mercedes trilogy who returns again in the next book is great. The book he co-wrote with his son where all the females fall asleep is good too.

And in Elevation I appreciated that he took a shot with lesbian characters. That was different for him.  

[church_of_dog]

1 hour ago, AliceInFundyland said:

@church_of_dog It was very short. I’ve been on a thought process about the female character thing. He favors what he knows, which is the white male perspective. I have a very high tolerance threshold for horror, misery and creepiness. I read and watch all sorts of stuff. Gerald’s Game is on a short list of things that immediately revulsed me.

Anyhow, in his last few books I like the female characters. The woman in the Mr.Mercedes trilogy who returns again in the next book is great. The book he co-wrote with his son where all the females fall asleep is good too.

And in Elevation I appreciated that he took a shot with lesbian characters. That was different for him.  

Yes, I did like his inclusion of the lesbian characters, and while they didn't feel as fully fleshed out as his usual writing provides, I can certainly see that it's because he's writing outside his pre-existing familiarity zone, and I do like that he's doing that.

I like about half of King's stuff, but my active dislike of Gerald's Game and Misery is very different from my more uninterested dislike of the Dark Tower series.  I don't think I'm much put off by horror or creepiness either, but it's true that I prefer the "monster within us" style (a la the Mr. Mercedes trilogy, which I really liked) over the Pennywise/boogie monster-under-the-bed type of horror.

Speaking of the Mr. Mercedes books, there's actually more than one female character that I liked -- the co-worker at the computer help company, the woman with Autism (which I thought he did very well, just the right amount of explanation/elaboration), and maybe even a third female character?  Anyway, yes, well done. 

And I will look into the one SK did with his son, thanks, I haven't read that yet!  

 

As for my recent reading, I read (listened to) the ones I last listed as "up next" --  Lisa Scottoline's After Anna, Stephen King's Elevation as just discussed, and Lydia Kiesling's The Golden State -- which wasn't as bad as I was prepared for, though probably many would disagree.

Then I went into self-help mode and listened to Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin, Quiet by Susan Cain, and The Organized Mind by Daniel J. Levitin.  Even though these types of books often drag through sections, I actually really enjoyed, and received valuable insights from, all three.  Plus, I was putting in extra time on the treadmill while attempting (and succeeding! Yay me!) to meet an annual weight loss goal, and those books helped pass those miles more easily.

During this time I also read The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals that Protect Us from Violence by Gavin de Becker.  I wished I could sit down with the author and ask some further questions, but again I got a lot out of the book.  Good advice as well as interesting insight into the minds of others.

Then, at last, I reached the top of the wait list for Kingdom of the Blind by Louise Penny, and really enjoyed that as I knew I would.

After that I listened to The Handmaid's Tale which I had somehow made it this far without reading.  All those FJ references to OfJimBob and Ofjill and I just had to read it for myself!  Just finished that today, and promptly started Lisa Scottoline's Look Again.

Up next is Gretchen Rubin's The Four Tendencies.  I'm on waiting lists for both The Library Book by Susan Orlean and Becoming by Michelle Obama.  If one of them isn't ready by the time I finish The Four Tendencies, I'll have to find something else. 

Edited January 6, 2019 by church_of_dog