Friday, February 7, 2014

Reading, lately

December + January in books.

The Tiger's Wife - A young doctor in a war torn country investigates her grandfather's mysterious death through the stories he told while alive. Almost like a fairytale with stories taking place on two planes. I really enjoyed this one.

All That Is - A picture of post WWII life in America, heavy on the male experience. I found the main character pretty tiring and the females seemed very one dimensional (maybe because they were only seen from the male point of view?) but the writing is strong and it was oddly compelling, given my lack of connection to the male lead. I guess I would give it a hesitant recommendation. Other people seemed to loooove this book, so I might be way off base here.

Telegraph Avenue - Hijinks, hot air balloons (okay, fine, just one zeppelin) and the death of the local record store, set in Oakland. Not my favorite Chabon novel (Mysteries of Pittsburgh wins). It was funny, as expected, but it felt like it was over the top in a way that didn't work for me and I just couldn't quite fall into it.

The Burgess Boys - A family torn apart by tragedy reunites over a troubled teenager, set in a tiny town in Maine and NYC. I enjoyed Amy and Isabelle and Olive Kitteridge and this didn't grab me the same way. It felt a little - bloodless at times? Not sure if that's a product of the characters and my deep unfamiliarity with the east coast mindset or just where I was mentally when I read it, but it just didn't sing for me.

The Newlyweds - A Bangladeshi woman meets an American man on the internet, they marry and she moves to the US. Culture clashes ensue, along with some self awakening. This is a very easy, light read. I'm a sucker for culture clash stories, so I enjoyed it. The focus is mainly on the female character and the American husband just sort of exists. Fair enough, I guess.

Unseen - Another in the Will Trent series of thrillers. Solid, if you're into that kind of thing.

Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood - Re-reading the first two in Atwood's dystopian trilogy, since I'd just read the third one. I can never read a single book in a series like this without wanting to re-read the others.  This just reminded me of how much I love the series as a whole and also that I will always, always skip over song lyrics in a novel, even if I love the author to death. I hate reading song lyrics.

The Complete Miss Marple Collection - Agatha Christie was my very first introduction to mysteries and I have read everything she has ever written. I gave up my Agatha Christie mysteries when we moved because they were taking up an entire bookshelf and I hadn't re-read them in a while. For Christmas, D surprised me with the complete Miss Marple collection for my Kindle and I binge read them (and then felt slightly sad that I'd given up my others, so I might save up to replace a few more).

W is for Wasted and V is for Vengeance - Sue Grafton writes the only mystery series that has stayed good the whole way through. I love, love, love her voice (I appreciate humor in a mystery) and the plots are pretty consistently good so I treated myself to these as a purchase over the holidays. Also considering purchasing the entire series for my Kindle at some point, because I enjoy re-reading these.

Just One Evil Act - The latest Inspector Lynley novel. It goes a little off the rails and I'm sad to think this series is going downhill, but that seems to be the case. I'll probably keep reading them anyways, because apparently that's what I do.



21 comments:

  1. I loved The Tiger's Wife. I haven't read much Agatha Christie, but I have had one sitting on my nightstand for a while now, reminding me that I should. Maybe it's almost time... Love these lists!

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    1. I hope it's a good one! I'm a big fan of Tommy and Tuppence, and of course Miss Marple. I came to Poirot late but now I think he's almost my favorite.

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  2. I Love LOVE LOVE Agatha Christie, so glad you included her work :)

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  3. Ha! I hate reading song lyrics, too. I've never seen anyone else admit to that before.

    The Tiger's Wife sounds promising. Thanks for recommending.

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    1. I always feel mildly guilty about it, but man, I do not like them. No matter how clever they are.

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  4. I don't like reading song lyrics either. Also, just finished Amy and Isabelle. I didn't care for it at the start, but it really grew on me. Thanks for the recommendations - some of these may end up on my list.

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    1. I think Amy and Isabelle was that way for me too - it's sort of a quiet book, I think I recall? But I ended up really enjoying it. This one didn't grow on me the same way, but that could just have been me.

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  5. Telegraph Avenue has some lovely moments. But it felt like the author decided to abandon his carefully developed female characters all of a sudden. Too bad. Almost like another author should write a follow up book to continue with those women in Tel. Ave.!

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    1. Yes, it just fell a little short for me! I always enjoy Chabon, but this just wasn't my favorite.

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  6. How do you complete 12 books in 2 months, plus work full-time and all the other things you do? any tips on how you get all that reading time in?

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    1. That's the hidden benefit of having a long bus commute! I have about an hour each way, so I'm getting at least two hours a day of reading (+ I always read before bed and I'm a relatively quick reader). I have some days where I end up spending a good chunk of my commute answering emails on my phone, but I try really hard to keep my phone put away entirely and focus on just reading. It helps make the longish commute something I actually benefit from. If I were driving there's no way I would get this much reading in.

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  7. I adore these lists! Helps me orchestrate my never ending list of books I want to read!

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  8. I liked Olive Kitteridge, so thought I would like the Burgess Boys, but didn't even finish it.
    You are right on about All That Is, heavy on the male experience, seemed to me the guy was really impressed with how long he could last in bed with the ladies.

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  9. I'm so glad I read this. I had the Burgess Boys on my list, but just could never make the leap to commit to reading it. Looks like I was good to go with my gut. I am 2/3 of the way through The Interestings. So far, so good.

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  10. Have you read any Tana French? (crime novels set in modern-day Dublin). They're better written than a lot of contemporary crime novels and her writing and plots get better as the series of books progresses. might be your cup of tea based on the books above.

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    1. I love, love, love Tana French! And apparently she has a novel out that I haven't read yet! I might break down and buy it instead of waiting for it to come in from the library.

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  11. I admit to quite enjoying the latest Lynley, after not being able to finish the one before it. (I'm a huge Lynley fan, can't even watch the TV series due to the physical discrepancies; my husband is tired of me constantly grumbling, "but Tommy should be blond and Barbara chunky!")
    I'm confined to bed at the moment, and just binge-read the three most recent Colleen McCullough Carmine Delmonico books on my tablet. I love the characters in that series, and the setting, and the 60's timespace. Before that, The Goldfinch, which I didn't want to end...

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    1. I love Barbara, so I think I had issues with this book in particular! I know she's headstrong and loyal but I thought this was a bit too wrenching and I wasn't convinced of the plot line (don't want to go into any detail here in case others haven't read it yet!). It was also SO LONG. Which is normally something I appreciate in books, but this felt long winded to me rather than just long.

      But I'm also a huge Lynley fan and I'll definitely keep reading! (And hoping the next one is better than the last two)

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  12. Hi, Rachel! This reminded me to say THANK YOU for recommending When Will There Be Good News in your last book recap. I have since finished six other Kate Atkinson books. I just went to download Tiger's Wife and...Kindle tells me I've already read it. Love/hate when that happens.
    I liked The Newlyweds, too, but it left me feeling vaguely unsettled. Margaret Atwood is a Must Read Any New Material author for me but I agree on the song lyrics, woof.
    I wish I had something new to recommend in kind...I did recently enjoy Why We Broke up, a collaboration between author Daniel Handler and illustrator Maira Kalman. It's officially a YA book, but, I found it charming. Good if you feel like a break from all those murdery adults. ;)

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    1. Yay! So glad you enjoyed Kate Atkinson's books!

      That Kindle thing happens to me all the time! Part of the problem is that when I read on the Kindle (pretty much 100% of the time now) I don't see the cover of the book, so I'm terrible at remembering titles and authors.

      Love Maira Kalman - will have to see if I can get that book!

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