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#Post#: 267833--------------------------------------------------
Re: What are you reading?
By: constant_craving Date: August 10, 2024, 2:57 pm
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[quote author=Aardtacha link=topic=68.msg267803#msg267803
date=1723298493]
[quote author=constant_craving link=topic=68.msg267765#msg267765
date=1723251388]
Recently finished Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
and I haven't enjoyed a book that much in a long time. I highly
recommend it. If you've already read it and can recommend books
with a similar feel, please do.
[/quote]
I quite liked it as well. Have you tried Lessons in Chemistry
by Bonnie Garmus? It is not exactly like the miniseries that is
based on it, but I found it good.
[/quote]
Yes! Never saw the show, but read the book earlier this year. It
was very good.
#Post#: 267836--------------------------------------------------
Re: What are you reading?
By: Sahmtoo Date: August 10, 2024, 3:28 pm
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[quote author=MidwestmikkiJ link=topic=68.msg261958#msg261958
date=1720929109]
[quote author=muskrat link=topic=68.msg261940#msg261940
date=1720920275]
fyi: NYT 100 Best Books of 21st Century
i only skimmed, and seems I've only read five on the list. i'll
have to take a closer to see what good ones i've missed.
HTML https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/books/best-books-21st-century.html?unlocked_article_code=1.7E0.x6mL.mt6QjvLEwhJF&smid=url-share
[/quote]
I’ve read 4. I thought there’d be more.
[/quote]
I have read 2-- I have 2 more in the house, but I haven't read
them. I'm not too surprised, I read a lot of sci fi and those
don't tend to make it on these lists.
#Post#: 275078--------------------------------------------------
Re: What are you reading?
By: NoLongerAubergine Date: September 23, 2024, 4:48 pm
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Just finished The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning.
Libby App only had the audio version, not my usual preference,
but I went for it. Boy did that work out well. The content
wasn't particularly new or revelatory, but I often read things
like this more as motivation than information anyway. Bonus: the
narrator was lovely - gentle and soothing. Was sorry when the 3
hours were up for that reason alone. I guess I need more
soothing in my life.
#Post#: 275086--------------------------------------------------
Re: What are you reading?
By: Aardtacha Date: September 23, 2024, 6:22 pm
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Read Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune last week. I quite
enjoyed it and was glad that there's enough of a loose-ish end
that another book with these characters could conceivably be
written. While not quite as strong as The House on the Cerulean
Sea, it was still delightful. I find it odd that I enjoyed
those two so much but just cannot get past the first chapter of
Wolfsong.
#Post#: 275093--------------------------------------------------
Re: What are you reading?
By: MidwestmikkiJ Date: September 23, 2024, 9:02 pm
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I read The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store - James McBride last
week.
I found it tough to get into but once it picked up I enjoyed it.
And learned a few things.
#Post#: 278130--------------------------------------------------
Re: What are you reading?
By: MidwestmikkiJ Date: October 10, 2024, 12:04 pm
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My book club just read Isabel Allende's A Long Petal of the Sea
It was liked or loved by all but one member. The one who hated
it admitted she'd never heard of the Spanish Civil War and was
upset by the descriptions of the violence both in Spain and
later in Chile.
The discussion centered as much around the worldwide effects of
marxist/socialist though as the plot of the book. One of our
better discussions in my opinion.
I loved the book and will likely read another of Allende's books
to see if my enjoyment carries through a different story.
#Post#: 278135--------------------------------------------------
Re: What are you reading?
By: northbayteky Date: October 10, 2024, 12:50 pm
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I recently read Clive Cussler Ghost Storm not written by Clive
Cussler. Cussler died in 2020 and I was sad because I was
thinking another installment from the Oregon Files. would be
coming out soon. Back then. He wrote a lot of series books. He
had the NUMA Files and another set in the 19th Century. I tried
reading one of the latter, but it didn't hold my interest like
the Oregon Files. I suppose it will be the last. Maybe I'll look
up the actual author and check out more of his works. I'm all
burnt out on Nicholas Sparks and nothing on my shelf I haven't
read is motivating me to start.
#Post#: 281282--------------------------------------------------
Re: What are you reading?
By: Mr-Bay Date: October 28, 2024, 11:33 am
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Been reading the Foreigner series by C.J. Cherryh. It's a
long-running sci-fi series with the basic premise that a human
ship got lost far from Earth and had to settle on a planet with
an existing alien population, and how it changes both cultures.
Fantastic world-building and really well-thought out politics
and sociology - definitely not for everyone but if you like slow
but deep sci-fi it's great.
#Post#: 282279--------------------------------------------------
Re: What are you reading?
By: Chicagogirl22 Date: November 1, 2024, 9:08 am
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I just finished In Memoriam by Alice Winn.
As I was reading it I was thinking "I bet this would make a
great movie or limited series" and I was not the only person
with this thought because the film rights are already sold. Ha!
It's a sweeping WWI novel which is not usually my style but it
takes an interesting spin with gay male narrators. Lots of race
and class issues that remain to this day. Highly recommend.
#Post#: 312147--------------------------------------------------
Re: What are you reading?
By: kkt Date: March 19, 2025, 8:39 pm
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I just finished the Songs of Penelope trilogy by Claire North.
It's a new take on Homer's Iliad and especially Odyssey. Each
book is narrated by one of the major goddesses, which allows
them to be the all-knowing narrator plus adding their private
feelings and funny quips at the expense of other gods and major
mortal characters. She weaves events in Homer together with
other scenes and dialog that might have happened in between
scenes in Homer that didn't happen to get sung about by the
poets.
Book 1 is Ithaca and concerns Penelope's governance of Ithaca
after the Trojan War ended but before Odysseus returns, Ithaca
is relatively poor by nature compared to the great other cities
Mycenae and Sparta and Corinth and Athens, and especially weak
because every man able to wield a weapon between 15 and 50
during the war was shipped off to fight in Troy, and not a one
of them has returned. This book is narrated by Hera, Queen of
the Gods and goddess of wives and families, with many a swipe
against "my STEP-daughter" Athena and "my husband" who won't
stay away from the mortal maidens.
Book 2 is The House of Odysseus. Ithaca is still wondering why
most other cities have had their men return from the war years
ago but Odysseus is still overdue. The suitors want Penelope to
presume Odysseus dead and remarry so that one of them can become
king. Many of the citizens of Ithaca think a king would be
better at raising an army than Penelope and resisting domination
by the other great powers of Greece. Clytemnestra shows up
asking for asylum from her children Orestes and Electra, and
Penelope feels an obligation to Clytemnestra because they are
cousins, but she also needs their powerful city of Mycenae to be
independent of the other great power Sparta ruled by Orestes and
Electra's uncle Menelaus. Orestes is going mad and if he is
discovered to be unfit to rule Menelaus would be delighted to
step in. Penelope plays a difficult game playing Ithaca's
powerful families against each other and rival powers against
each other to maintain her independence. She also has to raise
her son Telemachus who has had no father figure since he was old
enough to remember. This book is narrated by Aphrodite and also
tells more background about the beginning of the war - Sparta
was the most militarized city of ancient Greece, how could Paris
have abducted their Queen Helen and carried her off to Troy? Or
was she cooperating?
Book 3 is The Last Song of Penelope. Odysseus is finally back!
Yet once he is back for a few days things are going so badly and
the careful balancing act Penelope has been walking so badly
upset that Penelope almost wishes he wasn't. The civil war that
she's spent the last 20 years trying to prevent is happening and
not going so well. This one is narrated by Athena, who supports
Odysseus and Penelope and Telemachus, and also has her own
agenda.
There are many new ideas in these books, it's not just a prose
retelling of Homer. Claire North is concentrating on the women,
and telling the story of Ithaca is perfect because there are
almost no men. The women must do the traditional men's jobs
from business negotiations with Ithaca's trading partners to
farming and care of livestock to the defense of their island.
Having just finished it I'm torn between rereading the trilogy
immediately and seeing out Claire North's other works in other
genres (and other pennames).
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