Spring Reading

[formergothardite]

What is everyone reading this spring? I'm reading The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. It is a vampire book that also has historical info about Vlad the impaler. It is pretty interesting so far. 

[CTRLZero]

40 minutes ago, formergothardite said:

What is everyone reading this spring? I'm reading The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. It is a vampire book that also has historical info about Vlad the impaler. It is pretty interesting so far. 

I read this book when it first came out.  My memory for details is horrible, but I do remember that it kept my interest.  Let me know if you like it by the end, and I may put it on my list to re-read.  The nice thing about having a terrible memory is that it's all new again, lol!

This morning I went on a guided tour of the downtown Nashville library.  If you are able to find a tour of a larger library, I highly recommend it.  In addition to the usual statistical overview and layout, we saw:  the archives where they conserve historical articles; a stage where professionals give puppet shows (and the craftsmanship of the puppets are just wow); a civil rights research and education room, and so much more.  Incredible.

Oh, and what am I currently reading?  I picked up Martin Doyle's "The Source: How Rivers Made America and America Remade Its Rivers."  The opening chapter mentions George Washington and his surveying efforts, so now I already know more about Washington than Trump.   ☺️

I have Becky Chambers' sequel to the Small Angry Planet novel on hold. 

[clueliss]

The Lying Game - Ruth Ware.  

[AliceInFundyland]

The Historian was excellent! I’ve read a couple of Kostova’s other books but none quite lived up to that one.

[formergothardite]

On 4/15/2019 at 11:49 AM, clueliss said:

The Lying Game - Ruth Ware.  

I have not read this one but I loved The Woman in Cabin 10 and In a Dark, Dark Wood by her. 

I really did enjoy the Historian. 

[Ticklish]

I'm reading The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle for the second time for my book club. I really liked it the first time through since it was just so completely different from anything I'd read and still felt familiar at the same time. I need to take notes this time through for discussion! I'd love to hear if any of you read it and what your thoughts were. 

[CTRLZero]

Thanks to @Howl for recommending "The Emerald Mile: The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon" by Kevin Fedarko.

The title sets the goal of the dory crew, but the conditions under which they (illegally) launched were breathtaking.  It was one of the wettest time periods in that area's recorded history, and conditions at an upstream dam were dire.   There is always difficulty calculating the amount of water to release during a river's flood stage, but the engineers were faced with damage to the spillways.

There is a lot of action, history, science, geology and character sketches packed into this book.  I was particularly interested in cavitation (I've heard that term only in reference to submarines), and the dory fleet (there is one I've visited often in Pacific City, Oregon).  And the river tour culture was also fascinating to me.

I'm going to recommend my daughter buy this book for the geology class she teaches.  She likes to have adventure books that also discuss the geology of an area, and this fits the bill. 

Edited May 11, 2019 by CTRLZero
Another quick thought.

[CTRLZero]

On 5/7/2019 at 7:14 PM, Ticklish said:

I'm reading The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle for the second time for my book club. I really liked it the first time through since it was just so completely different from anything I'd read and still felt familiar at the same time. I need to take notes this time through for discussion! I'd love to hear if any of you read it and what your thoughts were. 

Based on your recommendation, I bought this book for my Kindle to read on a long plane trip yesterday.  Between naps, I made it about half-way through and look forward to finishing it, hopefully this weekend.

So far, my only criticism is that it needs a little editing to make the reading a bit smoother, but that is really minor.  The idea of the characters waking up in a new body and experiencing a temporary role is really fascinating.  I think this is a book that would benefit from a second reading to make sure I'm following the complicated threads correctly.

I love these sorts of novels with alternative universe sorts of plots.  This is really different from other books I've read in this genre.  Looking forward to seeing how it all resolves.  Thanks again for the recommendation!

[Ticklish]

@CTRLZero I agree! It could use some editing, but I can so overlook that for how caught up I got in the world and the story. I'm anxious to know what you think when you finish it! I don't want to say anything now so I don't spoil it or give you expectations. 

[CTRLZero]

On 4/10/2019 at 6:37 PM, formergothardite said:

I'm reading The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. It is a vampire book that also has historical info about Vlad the impaler.

I checked this out from the library last week and had to push myself to finish since I need to return it due to traveling soon.  What a great novel!  Fortunately, this came with a map, which I referenced often.  I wish some of the geographic names had not been disguised, because I wanted to know where the characters were every minute! 

The way it alternated between rather in-depth research and brief bouts of intense action really helped pull me through the book.  I loved the strong friendships and emotional ties, the glimpses into communist society, superstitions and folklore, academia, etc. 

And the epilogue was so eerie.  Loved it!