April is here, what are you reading ?
yoyobon_gw
2 years ago
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2 years agokathy_t
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April is here! What are you reading?
Comments (101)I picked up a book from "New Arrivals" shelf titled Palace Circle by Rebecca Dean (I confess because I liked the cover and the setting --pre WWI) and it is rather awful. One-dimensional characters and plots that seem inspired by daytime soaps. I stopped reading around half-way. On a happier note I discovered a new (to me) historical author: Jude Morgan. Very impressed with her writing and comand of the period. Just read Indiscretion and An Accomplished Woman which are both obviously Austen-inspired, and I'm starting on Passion, which seems like a "heavier" book, the main characters being the women in Byron, Shelley, & Keats' lives....See MoreApril : Brings showers of books ,what are you reading ?
Comments (97)Am still reading "Bleak House' (C.Dickens) ... still enjoying it. There's just one problem -- the legal tie-ups in the story evade my comprehension. I know Jarndyce v. Jarndyce is *supposed to be* convoluted -- but even the small legal snarls in the story are tough going. . . .E.g. -- the problem between George the gym-owner and his creditor baffles me. Why is his good friend somehow tied into it? Finished "Unbroken" - Laura Hillenbrand, wrote the great "Seabisquit." It's about Louis Zamperini, a very great runner. The first chapters were really exciting. But then WWII takes over -- he's sent to the So. Pacific... lands up living on a life raft for many months-- almost dies. Is rescued and spends years under horrifying circumstances in Japanese prisoner of war camps. This book didn't take off for me after the first quarter because I kept waiting for him to perform some BIG HEROIC feat to escape, save prisoners... SOMETHING. But it's mostly about holding up under terrible, awful conditions for a very long time. While that is "grabbing" to read for awhile, it palls after a point because it's too repetitious. Another thing I didn't like were the last few chapters -- the "Bible-thumping" turn in his life; no mention at all of his sweet, long-suffering parents who were soooo proud of him -- why are they dropped from the book all of a sudden(?)... Most bothersome of all -- how can I believe that after some five years of heavy drinking, terrible nightmares, raging tantrums (against Jap. prison leader who beat him to a pulp over and over), etc., etc. - did he overcome ALL OF THESE IN ONE NIGHT -- simply by going to a tent-shaking evangelist meeting, when all the help, encouragement, psychiatric care didn't do it? I just don't believe it -- AT ALL! For light, non-fiction: "Journey to the South: A Calabrian Homecoming" Annie Hawes I just loved her first book -- "Extra Virgin" -- she and her sister leave England to do work in northern Italy grafting roses ... only to wind up buying a hillside shack (but a roomy, sturdy one!) above the Mediteranean Sea -- for less than US $3,000. [Sigh!] That shack today is worth far, far more than what she paid for it (early-90s). Anyway, this "Journey..." book is no where near as lively and fascinating as that first adventure ... But it's still fun, and has lots of goofy, or charming -- or both! -- kinds of characters....See MoreWhat are you reading in April?
Comments (89)I know this is now MAY but during April I had a very mixed month of reading. I raided S-in-Law's boxes of books (being stored by us while they moved from London to Manchester. Now they are in their new house while much of the furniture is 'locked down' with us) Unfortunately many of his books are of the Hunter S Thompson variety which don't appeal to me at all. I had higher hopes of the English books and tried Pat Barker's Union Street. A big mistake, set in a northern poverty stricken community where the men are idle abusive drunks. The women suffer rape and back-street abortions and take part in 'cat-fights' . . . all so dismal and unpleasant I gave up. Yet reviewers gave it 5 stars and claimed they 'enjoyed' the gritty realism! A more noble attempt was to read another classic novel. This time it was Thomas Hardy's The Woodlanders. Way too much flowery writing and classical allusions, but the actual story when I was able to dig it out of all the verbiage was quite entertaining. The usual well bought up young woman, although 'promised' to an honest yeoman falls for the dodgy charms of the new doctor. A big mistake as he is having his wicked way with a village wench and the Lady of the Manor . . . I feel this would have made an interesting TV documentary on wood-workers of the nineteenth century as there was lots of details about the lives of the 'humble' artisans and their knowledge of tree-felling and everything to do with forestry and timber production. Or maybe a TV series on lusty swains and not-so-innocent village maidens . . ....See MoreApril 2024 - What are you reading?
Comments (61)Annpan, I'm also a fan of Death in Paradise and have seen the latest season here on a streaming service. I think it's Acorn TV. I get that and BritBox. So nice to watch in the dead of winter. Last night, I watched the movie The Monuments Men. It got bad reviews but I'm interested in the topic of European art during WW2 and the massive attempt to save as much as possible by the US Army. The movie was indeed bad but I can very much recommend a book, Florentine Art Under Fire, by Frederick Hartt. It's a heart-stopping page-turner written by a 'monuments man' soon after the war'. Hartt went on to write the standard history of Renaissance art. Florentine Art Under Fire was so good that after I read it, I bought a used copy for myself....See MoreRosefolly
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