Lousy weather, great reading.
8/4 - Tropical Storm Isaias - 12 hour power outage; several limbs from maple tree down in driveway fortunately not to large for us to drag aside.
8/5 - Internet/phone out - about 36 hours
8/7 - PO to mail primary ballot
8/13 - library curbside pickup; JC Farm; Lyman Orchards
Fiction:
Echo on the Bay by Masatsugu Ono: translated from the Japanese by Angus Turvill
At Least We Can Apologize by Ki-ho Lee; translated from the Korean by Christopher Joseph Dykas
Garden by the Sea by Mercè Rodoreda; translated from the Catalan by Martha Tennent and Maruxa Relaño
The House with a Sunken Courtyard by Won-Il Kim; translated from the Korean by Ji-Moon Suh )
Stingray by Kim Joo-Young; translated from the Korean by Inrae You Vinciguerra and Louis Vinciguerra
Tokyo Ueno Station by Miri Yū; translated from the Japanese by Morgan Giles
Girls Lost by Jessica Schiefauer; translated from the Swedish by Saskia Vogel
Lake Like a Mirror by Ho Sok Fong; translated from the Chinese by Natascha Bruce
A Hundred Million Years and a Day by Jean-Baptiste Andrea: translated from the French by Sam Taylor (review copy, LibraryThing giveaway)
Book of the Little Axe by Lauren Francis-Sharma (review copy, Goodreads giveaway)
Fiction/Poetry:
The Love Story of the Century by Märta Tikkanen; translated from the Swedish Stina Katchadourian
A Grave is Given Supper by Mike Soto
Nonfiction:
Why We Swim by Bonnie Tsui
Showing posts with label Swedish Lit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Swedish Lit. Show all posts
Sunday, August 16, 2020
Sunday, January 28, 2018
February (first week) 2018 Reads
I seemed to favor non-fiction this week.
The "Deal Me In" card this week is the Ace of Hearts and the story is Drone by Miles Klee (in Watchlist : 32 stories by persons of interest).
Not particularly good. It may be intended as a drug induced hallucination. Whatever.
from the library...
Miss Grief and Other Stories by Constance Fenimore Woolson
I really liked these stories. Will read more by her on Gutenberg
After the Fire by Henning Mankell; translated from the Swedish by Laurie Thompson
There is some mystery in this novel (who set the fire) but it's more about coming to terms with aging.
Istanbul: a Tale of Three Cities by Bettany Hughes
A comprehensive history of the city and its place in world history.
The Bettencourt Affair: The World's Richest Woman and the Scandal That Rocked Paris by Tom Sancton
The author says this isn't going to be gossipy--but how can it not be? A good read.
The Secret Life of the American Musical: How Broadway Shows Are Built by Jack Viertel
Another good read.
The "Deal Me In" card this week is the Ace of Hearts and the story is Drone by Miles Klee (in Watchlist : 32 stories by persons of interest).
Not particularly good. It may be intended as a drug induced hallucination. Whatever.
from the library...
Miss Grief and Other Stories by Constance Fenimore Woolson
I really liked these stories. Will read more by her on Gutenberg
After the Fire by Henning Mankell; translated from the Swedish by Laurie Thompson
There is some mystery in this novel (who set the fire) but it's more about coming to terms with aging.
Istanbul: a Tale of Three Cities by Bettany Hughes
A comprehensive history of the city and its place in world history.
The Bettencourt Affair: The World's Richest Woman and the Scandal That Rocked Paris by Tom Sancton
The author says this isn't going to be gossipy--but how can it not be? A good read.
The Secret Life of the American Musical: How Broadway Shows Are Built by Jack Viertel
Another good read.
Saturday, May 27, 2017
May (fourth week) 2017 Reads
| “Deal Me In 2017!” |
Identities in Motion -- My Mythomanias by Julia Schoch; translated from the German by Katy Derbyshire
How do we remember when the landscapes of childhood are gone? Schoch grew up in a town modernized in the Communist era and the made obsolete by the 1989 revolution.
"They say the only things that count in life are the things we remember. That seems to be all the more important when there is no longer any evidence of the past.
I no longer have any evidence of my past."
From Literature Across Frontiers (LAF) "a European Platform for Literary Exchange, Translation and Policy Debate."
Card is a stock image from dreamstime
It seems to go with the deterioration of the town (both the original and the new) and the hammer suggests the politics involved.
other essays online...and slow reading
Dorthe Nors on the best Contemporary Scandinavian Literature
The Danish author discusses Scandinavian Lit in general and specific authors: Naja Marie Aidt, Yahya Hassan, Karolina Ramqvist, Lena Andersson, and Sjón.
All Writing is a Kind of Realism: In Conversation with Rodrigo Fresán, author of The Invented Part
A conversation between Fresán and Will Vanderhyden, translator of The Invented Part. I am slowly reading this novel as part of Chad Post's Two Month Review project.Chad has put together comments, podcasts, a Goodreads group, and more to help guide us through a difficult book. So far, we have read only the first 45 pages (which I loved).
I am also slow reading The Magician of Vienna by Sergio Pitol because that is the way I read Pitol. See: Pitol readings and More Pitol readings
Just because my card this week was for an essay doesn't mean I neglected short stories. In fact, I read some gems...
I read some of the O. Henry Prize Stories for 2017 that are available online:
Something for a Young Woman by Genevieve Plunkett
The Buddhist by Alan Rossi
Protection by Paola Peroni
Night Garden by Shruti Swamy
Paddle to Canada by Heather Monley
Mercedes Benz by Martha Cooley
A Small Sacrifice for an Enormous Happiness by Jai Chakrabarti
Two other stories I read online...
An Affair Before the Earthquake by Samrat Upadhyay
Samrat Upadhyay is a Nepalese writer who writes in English. He teaches at Indiana University. This is from his collection of short stories, Mad Country.
The Great Disaster by Alanna Schubach; with an introduction by Halimah Marcus
Young survivors of a community disaster play a Zombie game.
some novels from my shelves...
ME by Tomoyuki Hoshino, Kenzaburō Ōe (Afterword), Charles De Wolf (Translation)
This started out as if it were going to be about telephone scams, but it turned into something else--a dystopian world of almost interchangeable ME's. Just when it seems to be headed in one direction, it makes a turn and is off somewhere else. A great read.
Advance review copy via LibraryThing
The Outlaw by Jón Gnarr; Lytton Smith (Translation)
The third volume of Gnarr's childhood memoirs covers his teenage years. Misunderstood and misunderstanding, Gnarr ends up in a remote boarding school in the Westfjords district of Iceland (a Google search shows that the school is now a hotel). After leaving school he returns home to face so many problems--drugs, alcohol, medical treatments, family--that one wonders how he ever go it together.
From my subscription to Deep Vellum Books
'Round Midnight by Laura McBride
It's always gratifying to see a second novel live up to the promise of the debut novel. This one does that without repeating the characters and plot of the first
(We Are Called to Rise). This one is also set in Las Vegas and, like the first, brings together a set of diverse characters and deals with immigrants and family problems. But the main characters are fresh and this one spans a long time period (about 1960-2010) as Vegas booms and busts. The four main characters are strong women in difficult circumstances. An absorbing read.
Advance review copy.
Saturday, February 11, 2017
February (second week) 2017 Reads
This week, among other things, I read about printing in Venice, journeying through the Bardo, sailing with Conrad, and a new fictional look at a California institution. There was a little poetry, some short stories, and much less online surfing than usual. For the Deal Me In 2017 short story challenge, I drew...The King of Clubs.
Why is it that when we have a storm predicted we feel the need to go to the library and stock up on reading material? A dozen shelves of "owned-but-unread" books aren't enough to tide us over for a couple of days? Nope, Wednesday was a massive safari to three libraries...and a used bookshop in one of them.
from my "owned-but-unread" shelf...
The Freedom in American Songs: Stories by Kathleen Winter
An enjoyable collection from a Canadian author. Part 1 is set in Newfoundland, the rest are scattered around Canada and the rest of the world. My copy from a blog win at The Quivering Pen.
Contents: Part 1. The Marianne stories. A plume of white smoke -- The Christmas room -- Every waking moment -- Part 2. The freedom in American songs -- Of the fountain -- You seem a little bit sad -- The Zamboni mechanic's blood -- Anhinga -- Madame Poirer's dog -- Flyaway -- Knives -- His brown face through the flowers -- Handsome devil -- Darlings' kingdom. (My favorites are highlighted.)
The Arbitrary Sign by Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé
Twenty-six short poems from a Singaporean. It has a sort of subtitle "The Most Misunderstood Alphabet Book in the World," so I won't say I understood it. It's difficult to say I've "finished" it, because if I like a poetry collection I keep going back to it and never really finish it. I've been reading this little book for over two years.
Bardo or Not Bardo by Antoine Volodine, J. T. Mahany (Translator)
Nine somewhat related stories of souls wandering in the Bardo--the Tibetan Buddhist after-life sphere. These souls are confused, some not even aware that they are dead, and the living who are speaking to guide them are not always in control. It is both touching and, at times humorous.
Bound in Venice: The Serene Republic and the Dawn of the Book by Alessandro Marzo Magno; Gregory Conti (Translator}
Venice as the center for the early book publishing business, where the Serene Republic was the first in a number of printing and distribution innovations. This is a bit dry at times, but mostly it is an interesting study.
From the library
Monterey Bay by Lindsay Hatton
Not sure what to say about this one. It's a highly fictionalized account of Monterey California, some of its well known characters (marine biologist Ed Ricketts & John Steinbeck), and the eventual founding of the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I enjoyed it as a novel, but is takes a lot of liberties with historical detail. But, then again, Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday aren't exactly true stories either.
Ourika by Claire de Duras; John Fowles (Translator and Foreword); Joan DeJean and Margaret Waller (Introduction)
Originally published in France in 1823, this short novel tells the story of a black woman raised by an aristocratic woman in Paris during the late 1700s.
When Ourika is about fifteen years old, she realizes that there is no place for her in the society she has grown up in. She falls into a deep melancholy.
The introduction gives an interesting account on how the book came to be written, the attitudes toward race on France at the time, and the book's remarkable reception.
Everything I Don’t Remember by Jonas Hassen Khemiri; Rachel Willson-Broyles (Translator)
Memory is strange. In this novel people seem to be remembering their friend Samuel, who died in a car accident. But are their memories true? Samuel claimed he had a terrible memory, but did he understand just how selective memory is? The narrator is a writer interviewing Samuel's friends and family. How does he chose which memories to share? I really enjoyed this book.
Project Gutenberg find...
The Mirror of the Sea: Memories and Impressions by Joseph Conrad
Musings on the sea, seamen, and ships. Writing worth reading.
Online
No Direction; drama by Miguel Alcantud, Santiago Molero; Sarah Maitland, translator
"...the mysterious call-and-response of a nameless man and the woman who appears to be holding him captive." Mysterious? It's downright puzzling...and re-reading makes it even more of a puzzle.
A Link to the music mentioned in the play Coque Malla - No puedo vivir sin ti (I cannot live without you).
This week's card:
Since the story is translated from the Spanish, I looked something related to Spain. I found this card designed by Salvador Dali in 1972.
Because the play has a repetitive element, I wanted a reversible face card. I love that this isn't exactly a reverse image.
It's perfect! Surrealism is the right fit for this micro-play.
The Diver by Chris Beakey
A former athlete, suffering from illness, contemplates giving it one more try. Author Chris Beakey (novel Fatal Option to be released 2/21/17) has this and other of his stories freely available on his blog A Heartbeat Away.
Why is it that when we have a storm predicted we feel the need to go to the library and stock up on reading material? A dozen shelves of "owned-but-unread" books aren't enough to tide us over for a couple of days? Nope, Wednesday was a massive safari to three libraries...and a used bookshop in one of them.
from my "owned-but-unread" shelf...
The Freedom in American Songs: Stories by Kathleen Winter
An enjoyable collection from a Canadian author. Part 1 is set in Newfoundland, the rest are scattered around Canada and the rest of the world. My copy from a blog win at The Quivering Pen.
Contents: Part 1. The Marianne stories. A plume of white smoke -- The Christmas room -- Every waking moment -- Part 2. The freedom in American songs -- Of the fountain -- You seem a little bit sad -- The Zamboni mechanic's blood -- Anhinga -- Madame Poirer's dog -- Flyaway -- Knives -- His brown face through the flowers -- Handsome devil -- Darlings' kingdom. (My favorites are highlighted.)
The Arbitrary Sign by Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé
Twenty-six short poems from a Singaporean. It has a sort of subtitle "The Most Misunderstood Alphabet Book in the World," so I won't say I understood it. It's difficult to say I've "finished" it, because if I like a poetry collection I keep going back to it and never really finish it. I've been reading this little book for over two years.
Bardo or Not Bardo by Antoine Volodine, J. T. Mahany (Translator)
Nine somewhat related stories of souls wandering in the Bardo--the Tibetan Buddhist after-life sphere. These souls are confused, some not even aware that they are dead, and the living who are speaking to guide them are not always in control. It is both touching and, at times humorous.
Bound in Venice: The Serene Republic and the Dawn of the Book by Alessandro Marzo Magno; Gregory Conti (Translator}
Venice as the center for the early book publishing business, where the Serene Republic was the first in a number of printing and distribution innovations. This is a bit dry at times, but mostly it is an interesting study.
From the library
Monterey Bay by Lindsay Hatton
Not sure what to say about this one. It's a highly fictionalized account of Monterey California, some of its well known characters (marine biologist Ed Ricketts & John Steinbeck), and the eventual founding of the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I enjoyed it as a novel, but is takes a lot of liberties with historical detail. But, then again, Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday aren't exactly true stories either.
Originally published in France in 1823, this short novel tells the story of a black woman raised by an aristocratic woman in Paris during the late 1700s.
When Ourika is about fifteen years old, she realizes that there is no place for her in the society she has grown up in. She falls into a deep melancholy.
The introduction gives an interesting account on how the book came to be written, the attitudes toward race on France at the time, and the book's remarkable reception.
Everything I Don’t Remember by Jonas Hassen Khemiri; Rachel Willson-Broyles (Translator)
Memory is strange. In this novel people seem to be remembering their friend Samuel, who died in a car accident. But are their memories true? Samuel claimed he had a terrible memory, but did he understand just how selective memory is? The narrator is a writer interviewing Samuel's friends and family. How does he chose which memories to share? I really enjoyed this book.
Project Gutenberg find...
The Mirror of the Sea: Memories and Impressions by Joseph Conrad
Musings on the sea, seamen, and ships. Writing worth reading.
Online
"...the mysterious call-and-response of a nameless man and the woman who appears to be holding him captive." Mysterious? It's downright puzzling...and re-reading makes it even more of a puzzle.
A Link to the music mentioned in the play Coque Malla - No puedo vivir sin ti (I cannot live without you).
This week's card:
Since the story is translated from the Spanish, I looked something related to Spain. I found this card designed by Salvador Dali in 1972.
Because the play has a repetitive element, I wanted a reversible face card. I love that this isn't exactly a reverse image.
It's perfect! Surrealism is the right fit for this micro-play.
The Diver by Chris Beakey
A former athlete, suffering from illness, contemplates giving it one more try. Author Chris Beakey (novel Fatal Option to be released 2/21/17) has this and other of his stories freely available on his blog A Heartbeat Away.
Sunday, January 31, 2016
January (second half) 2016 Reads
Reading from my tbr stacks, plus a couple from the public library. In addition to these, I'm about halfway through The Good Soldier Švejk by Jaroslav Hašek which I am reading because of an essay in The Art of Flight by Sergio Pitol. I am about a third of the way through the Pitol--he keeps leading me to other things to read. More about this next month when I hope to have finished both books.
Meanwhile, I read some good ones this month...
The 6:41 to Paris; Blondel, Jean-Philippe; Alison Anderson (Translation)
Former lovers meet (sort of) twenty-seven years after their break-up. For most of the nearly two and a half hour journey from Troyes to Paris they pretend not to recognize each other. What is he thinking? What is she thinking? It's a delight finding the answers.
My copy
Cover design by Liana Finck (see an Interview with Liana Finck on Words Without Borders).
Bret Easton Ellis and the Other Dogs; Wolff, Lina; Frank Perry (Translation, from the Swedish)
Somewhat disjointed and meandering with stories within the story; amazingly, it all comes together in the end. Set in Barcelona.
My personal copy.
Cover design by Hannah Naughton
Where All Light Tends to Go; Joy, David
Gritty, violent and dark--and very well written. North Carolina backwoods coming of age.
Advance Review copy
Book design by Nicole LaRoche
My Name is Lucy Barton; Strout, Elizabeth
Excellent. Read it in one sitting.
Library book.
Still Life and Other Stories; Shono, Junzo; Wayne P. Lammers (Translation)
Short vignettes of family life.
Finished copy from publisher through a 2014 blog win (January in Japan).
The Tsar of Love and Techno; Marra, Anthony
Closely linked stories. Set in USSR/Post USSR; Leningrad, Chechnya, Siberia.
Advance Review Copy
Jacket design: Christopher Brand
Jacket Photography: Bobby Doherty
Lonesome You; Wansuh, Park; Elizabeth Haejin Yoon (Translation) From the Dalkey Library of Korean Literature (#9)
Another fine collection of short stories. I especially liked the ones about family life and in-law relations. My copy.
Selected Stories; Askildsen, Kjell; Sean Kinsella (Translation)
Still more great short stories, this time from Norway. I wish a certain recently lionized Norwegian writer had taken some brevity lessons from Askildsen! My copy.
Cover portrait by Finn Ståle Felberg
Anna and the Swallow Man; Savit, Gavriel
This is labeled as juvenile fiction (middle grades? YA?) but it is an engrossing read for any age. Survival in Poland during World War 2.
Advance review copy.
Jacket art and interior illustrations by Laura Carlin
Also: I enjoyed the author interview on Shelf Awareness
The Fine Color of Rust; O'Reilly, Paddy
A single mom copes with kids, friends, and community problems in a small Australian town. She's a bit bitter, very sarcastic, and has anger management problems. All with a caustic sense of humor. She'll survive. Library book.
Cover design: Laywan Kwan
Cover Photo: Ty Milford
Casada: A History of an Italian Village and Its People; Comis, Anna; Isabel Comis Degenaars (Introduction and translation)
This was a bit of a surprise. The author and the translator are cousins, one lives in Casada, the other in New Jersey. The book is self published and is very well done. There are plenty of photographs & maps. I enjoyed it more than I had anticipated considering that it is about a village I've never visited (though I did drive through the region about 30 years ago). The book gave me a good feel for the place. My copy, free finished copy from author/publisher through Goodreads giveaway.
The Dogs of Littlefield; Berne, Suzanne
The town is listed as "one of the best places to live" but it is full of unhappiness. And someone is poisoning the dogs. Library book.
American Housewife: Stories; Ellis, Helen
Book was fun, but seemed dated. I kept thinking of Erma Bombeck. If these stories are about contemporary women, I wonder if they have all turned into their grandmothers. Also, I skimmed in a couple of the longer pieces.... Library book.
The Land of Steady Habits; Thompson, Ted
So-so marriage, family, divorce among the Bridgeport, CT commuter crowd. My copy.
The Roots of the Olive Tree; Santo, Courtney Miller
Family saga, five generations of women with extra-ordinary long life spans. Set in the Northern end of the Sacramento Valley. My copy.
Meanwhile, I read some good ones this month...
The 6:41 to Paris; Blondel, Jean-Philippe; Alison Anderson (Translation)
Former lovers meet (sort of) twenty-seven years after their break-up. For most of the nearly two and a half hour journey from Troyes to Paris they pretend not to recognize each other. What is he thinking? What is she thinking? It's a delight finding the answers.
My copy
Cover design by Liana Finck (see an Interview with Liana Finck on Words Without Borders).
Bret Easton Ellis and the Other Dogs; Wolff, Lina; Frank Perry (Translation, from the Swedish)
Somewhat disjointed and meandering with stories within the story; amazingly, it all comes together in the end. Set in Barcelona.
My personal copy.
Cover design by Hannah Naughton
Where All Light Tends to Go; Joy, David
Gritty, violent and dark--and very well written. North Carolina backwoods coming of age.
Advance Review copy
Book design by Nicole LaRoche
My Name is Lucy Barton; Strout, Elizabeth
Excellent. Read it in one sitting.
Library book.
Still Life and Other Stories; Shono, Junzo; Wayne P. Lammers (Translation)
Short vignettes of family life.
Finished copy from publisher through a 2014 blog win (January in Japan).
The Tsar of Love and Techno; Marra, Anthony
Closely linked stories. Set in USSR/Post USSR; Leningrad, Chechnya, Siberia.
Advance Review Copy
Jacket design: Christopher Brand
Jacket Photography: Bobby Doherty
Lonesome You; Wansuh, Park; Elizabeth Haejin Yoon (Translation) From the Dalkey Library of Korean Literature (#9)
Another fine collection of short stories. I especially liked the ones about family life and in-law relations. My copy.
Selected Stories; Askildsen, Kjell; Sean Kinsella (Translation)
Still more great short stories, this time from Norway. I wish a certain recently lionized Norwegian writer had taken some brevity lessons from Askildsen! My copy.
Cover portrait by Finn Ståle Felberg
Anna and the Swallow Man; Savit, Gavriel
This is labeled as juvenile fiction (
Advance review copy.
Jacket art and interior illustrations by Laura Carlin
Also: I enjoyed the author interview on Shelf Awareness
These two are a step below the above, but interesting reads...
The Fine Color of Rust; O'Reilly, Paddy
A single mom copes with kids, friends, and community problems in a small Australian town. She's a bit bitter, very sarcastic, and has anger management problems. All with a caustic sense of humor. She'll survive. Library book.
Cover design: Laywan Kwan
Cover Photo: Ty Milford
Casada: A History of an Italian Village and Its People; Comis, Anna; Isabel Comis Degenaars (Introduction and translation)
This was a bit of a surprise. The author and the translator are cousins, one lives in Casada, the other in New Jersey. The book is self published and is very well done. There are plenty of photographs & maps. I enjoyed it more than I had anticipated considering that it is about a village I've never visited (though I did drive through the region about 30 years ago). The book gave me a good feel for the place. My copy, free finished copy from author/publisher through Goodreads giveaway.
The following were OK reads, but not quite as good as those above...
The Dogs of Littlefield; Berne, Suzanne
The town is listed as "one of the best places to live" but it is full of unhappiness. And someone is poisoning the dogs. Library book.
American Housewife: Stories; Ellis, Helen
Book was fun, but seemed dated. I kept thinking of Erma Bombeck. If these stories are about contemporary women, I wonder if they have all turned into their grandmothers. Also, I skimmed in a couple of the longer pieces.... Library book.
The Land of Steady Habits; Thompson, Ted
So-so marriage, family, divorce among the Bridgeport, CT commuter crowd. My copy.
The Roots of the Olive Tree; Santo, Courtney Miller
Family saga, five generations of women with extra-ordinary long life spans. Set in the Northern end of the Sacramento Valley. My copy.
Sunday, February 01, 2015
January 2015 Reads (week five)
This was another great reading week. Everything I read this week was from the library trip of January 24 when I checked out 8 books and a DVD. Last week I read one of the books (see post of Jan. 26). This week I watched the DVD, read 6 of the books, and started the last one of the batch (Years of Red Dust).
Today everything except the one in progress is going back to the library--but I'm not! Someone else (daughter) is returning the books and I have none on the holds shelf so I will spend the next week with my backlog. Then again, when she is browsing the shelves she often whips out her phone and calls to ask if I like her to bring home a certain interesting book she thinks I might like. There may be surprises.
The mail/UPS also brings surprises--4 ARC's were added to TBR this week and I didn't read anything from the TBR, tho' I did start a couple. No schedule set for February.
First off the two I read for challenges:
Relish : My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley.
Library book, read for Foodies Read 2015 challenge
Loved this! Brief review.
The Normandy diary of Marie-Louise Osmont. 1940-1944 by Marie-Louise Osmont ; introduction by John Keegan ; translated by George L. Newman.
Library book, read for French Bingo Challenge. My review.
Other reads:
Enon by Paul Harding.
Library book.
This is not exactly a sequel to Harding's Tinkers. It is the story of Charles Crosby, the grandson of George Washington Crosby of Tinkers. There are some references to characters featured in the earlier book, but Enon stands alone. The book opens with the death of Charles' young teenaged daughter. Charles goes into deep mourning which destroys his marriage, leads him to drug and alcohol dependence, and bizarre behavior. Not a happy story, but one that is well told.
A Pleasure and a Calling by Phil Hogan
Library book.
If you have recently purchased a home, you might want to think about having all the locks changed--especially if the agent handling the sale was William Heming. You see, Heming keeps copies of the keys to every house he ever sold...consider yourself warned. Heming narrates his own story and he's led an interesting life of being interested in other peoples lives. We wonder: will it all catch up with him? Real estate noir. Read it.
The 100-year-old Man who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson ; translated from the Swedish by Rod Bradbury.
Library book. This has two alternating story lines--what happens after he climbs out the window in his 100th birthday and the back story of his life before he entered a rest home. A fun romp with a bunch of strange characters that satirizes crime fiction (particularly police procedurals), Cold War politics and fiction, journalists, and lots of (perhaps too many) other things. I liked this but not as much as I liked his The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden.
The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami ; translated by Ted Goossen. I guess I'm just not a Murakami fan. A so-so story in a fancy package. (The red flap opens upward to revel a full flap which opens downward. Rather gimmicky.)
In addition to my reading I viewed
Poulet aux Prunes (Motion picture) produced by Hengameh Panahi ; written and directed by Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Paronnaud. Culver City, Calif. : Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, 2013.
DVD Borrowed from Library.
This is the movie based on Chicken with Plums by Marjane Satrapi which I read a couple of weeks ago (see January 2015 Reads (week two)
It is a thoroughly satisfying film adaption. The film is true to the original graphic memoir and, unusual for me, I liked the movie better than the book. My only quibble is that they the changed the musical instrument that was an essential element from an Iranian tar to a violin.
Today everything except the one in progress is going back to the library--but I'm not! Someone else (daughter) is returning the books and I have none on the holds shelf so I will spend the next week with my backlog. Then again, when she is browsing the shelves she often whips out her phone and calls to ask if I like her to bring home a certain interesting book she thinks I might like. There may be surprises.
The mail/UPS also brings surprises--4 ARC's were added to TBR this week and I didn't read anything from the TBR, tho' I did start a couple. No schedule set for February.
First off the two I read for challenges:
Relish : My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley.
Library book, read for Foodies Read 2015 challenge
Loved this! Brief review.
The Normandy diary of Marie-Louise Osmont. 1940-1944 by Marie-Louise Osmont ; introduction by John Keegan ; translated by George L. Newman.
Library book, read for French Bingo Challenge. My review.
Other reads:
Enon by Paul Harding.
This is not exactly a sequel to Harding's Tinkers. It is the story of Charles Crosby, the grandson of George Washington Crosby of Tinkers. There are some references to characters featured in the earlier book, but Enon stands alone. The book opens with the death of Charles' young teenaged daughter. Charles goes into deep mourning which destroys his marriage, leads him to drug and alcohol dependence, and bizarre behavior. Not a happy story, but one that is well told.
A Pleasure and a Calling by Phil Hogan
Library book.
If you have recently purchased a home, you might want to think about having all the locks changed--especially if the agent handling the sale was William Heming. You see, Heming keeps copies of the keys to every house he ever sold...consider yourself warned. Heming narrates his own story and he's led an interesting life of being interested in other peoples lives. We wonder: will it all catch up with him? Real estate noir. Read it.
Library book. This has two alternating story lines--what happens after he climbs out the window in his 100th birthday and the back story of his life before he entered a rest home. A fun romp with a bunch of strange characters that satirizes crime fiction (particularly police procedurals), Cold War politics and fiction, journalists, and lots of (perhaps too many) other things. I liked this but not as much as I liked his The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden.
The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami ; translated by Ted Goossen. I guess I'm just not a Murakami fan. A so-so story in a fancy package. (The red flap opens upward to revel a full flap which opens downward. Rather gimmicky.)
In addition to my reading I viewed
DVD Borrowed from Library.
This is the movie based on Chicken with Plums by Marjane Satrapi which I read a couple of weeks ago (see January 2015 Reads (week two)
It is a thoroughly satisfying film adaption. The film is true to the original graphic memoir and, unusual for me, I liked the movie better than the book. My only quibble is that they the changed the musical instrument that was an essential element from an Iranian tar to a violin.
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
September 2014 Reads
Almost everything I read this month was in the four or five star ratings. I'll get the bummer out of the way first:
The Bone Clock by David Mitchell
Library book. This was a huge disappointment. It just didn't work. The old "willing suspension of disbelief" never kicked in. I liked Cloud Atlas and The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet so much but this one was a real let-down. I gave it two stars on Goodreads which is harsh but...
From the worst so the best. Five stars to three superior reads:
The Polish Boxer by Eduardo Halfon, Thomas Bunstead (Translator), Lisa Dillman (Translator), Daniel Hahn (Translator), Anne McLean (Translator)
Finished free copy from the publisher as an extra with LibraryThing givaway win of Monastery by the same author. Review posted on Goodreads and LibraryThing.
Traveler of the Century by Andrés Neuman, Nick Caistor (Translator), Lorenza García (Translator)
Library Book. See my post Reading Backwards, Sort Of
Land of Love and Drowning; Yanique, Tiphanie
Library book. Set in US Virgin Islands. Family saga from about 1916 through approximately the 1970s. I was totally charmed by this.
And four stars to five very good reads:
F: A Novel by Daniel Kehlmann, Carol Janeway (Translator)
Library book. Three brothers--Martin, a priest who is a non-believer; Ivan, a painter who can't paint; Eric, a businessman who is over-extended--and their emotionally distant father. Most of the action takes place on 8/8/2008.
The Hidden Child (Fjällbacka #5); Läckberg, Camilla; Marlaine Delargy (Translator)
Library book. This is the first book I've read by this author. I liked it, but not sure I want to read more in the series. Still, it's a good mystery.
Evergreen; Rasmussen, Rebecca
Library book. Set in Minnesota wilderness. Story of half siblings separated when one is left on orphanage steps. Told in four sections: 1938, 1952, 1961, 1972.
Hart's Grove; McFadden, Dennis
Finished copy from author from Goodreads First Reads program. Excellent interlinked short stories set in a small Pennsylvania town. Covers several decades beginning in 1950s. Review posted on Goodreads and LibraryThing.
Battle Royale; by Koushun Takami, Yuji Oniki (Translator)
Library book. What can I say? A survival game involving 42 fifteen-year olds. Not my usual taste but it drew me in and I liked it. First published back in 1999.
The Bone Clock by David Mitchell
Library book. This was a huge disappointment. It just didn't work. The old "willing suspension of disbelief" never kicked in. I liked Cloud Atlas and The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet so much but this one was a real let-down. I gave it two stars on Goodreads which is harsh but...
From the worst so the best. Five stars to three superior reads:
The Polish Boxer by Eduardo Halfon, Thomas Bunstead (Translator), Lisa Dillman (Translator), Daniel Hahn (Translator), Anne McLean (Translator)
Finished free copy from the publisher as an extra with LibraryThing givaway win of Monastery by the same author. Review posted on Goodreads and LibraryThing.
Traveler of the Century by Andrés Neuman, Nick Caistor (Translator), Lorenza García (Translator)
Library Book. See my post Reading Backwards, Sort Of
Land of Love and Drowning; Yanique, Tiphanie
Library book. Set in US Virgin Islands. Family saga from about 1916 through approximately the 1970s. I was totally charmed by this.
And four stars to five very good reads:
F: A Novel by Daniel Kehlmann, Carol Janeway (Translator)
Library book. Three brothers--Martin, a priest who is a non-believer; Ivan, a painter who can't paint; Eric, a businessman who is over-extended--and their emotionally distant father. Most of the action takes place on 8/8/2008.
The Hidden Child (Fjällbacka #5); Läckberg, Camilla; Marlaine Delargy (Translator)
Library book. This is the first book I've read by this author. I liked it, but not sure I want to read more in the series. Still, it's a good mystery.
Evergreen; Rasmussen, Rebecca
Library book. Set in Minnesota wilderness. Story of half siblings separated when one is left on orphanage steps. Told in four sections: 1938, 1952, 1961, 1972.
Hart's Grove; McFadden, Dennis
Finished copy from author from Goodreads First Reads program. Excellent interlinked short stories set in a small Pennsylvania town. Covers several decades beginning in 1950s. Review posted on Goodreads and LibraryThing.
Battle Royale; by Koushun Takami, Yuji Oniki (Translator)
Library book. What can I say? A survival game involving 42 fifteen-year olds. Not my usual taste but it drew me in and I liked it. First published back in 1999.
Thursday, July 03, 2014
June 2014 Reads
Another eclectic batch. No real duds here.
All from my favorite libraries unless otherwise noted.
Fiction
Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932: A Novel; Prose, Francine
Paris between the wars has generated a lot of literature recently. This one is very good. I never read anything by Francine Prose before and now she shows up twice on my June list (here and in the preface to Piano Stories below).
The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden; Jonasson, Jonas; Rachel Willson-Broyles (Translator)
This was so much fun. Remember The Mouse that Roared?
Harlequin's Millions; Bohumil Hrabal; Stacey Knecht (translator)
I carried on with this thanks to encouragement from Tony Messenger and ended up liking it.
Autobiography of a Corpse; Krzhizhanovsky, Sigizmund; Joanne Turnbull (Translation); Nikolai Formozov (Translation)
Piano Stories; Hernández, Felisberto; Francine Prose (preface); by Italo Calvino (introduction); Luis Harss (translator)
See my post of June 26, 2014
Summer House with Swimming Pool; Koch, Herman; Sam Garrett (translator)
This was creepy, I didn't like it as much a Koch's The Dinner and Arnon Grunberg's Tirza was better.
The following three were electronic review copies provided by Penguin Books First to Read program. I liked all three, in the order listed. I posted brief reviews on Goodreads.
The Invention of Exile: A Novel; Manko, Vanessa
Conversion; Howe, Katherine
The Major's Daughter; Francis, J.P.
Audio
Selected Shorts: Even More Laughs; Space, Symphony (various authors & readers)
A nice relief from the (mostly) heavy June list. How can you go wrong with readers that include Alec Baldwin and Stephen Colbert? I must admit that I did not listen to Christine Baranski reading Thomas Meehan’s Yma Dream. I saw this on TV when Anne Bancroft originally did it (with Lee J. Cobb as the silent, dead-pan therapist) and I just couldn't bear to intrude on my memory of it.
Non-fiction
Bright Bazaar: Embracing Color for Make-You-Smile Style; Taylor, Will
Copy courtesy of publisher - Posted brief review on Goodreads
Hotel Florida: Truth, Love, and Death in the Spanish Civil War; Vaill, Amanda
Correspondents, loyalists, insurgents, spies, adventurers, tourists, and even a few genuine patriots; war stories and love stories; true stories and damned lies--it's hard to tell which is which. Excellent!
A Drifting Life; Tatsumi, Yoshihir; Adrian Tomine (Design); Taro Nettleton(translator)
See my post of June 22, 2014.
All from my favorite libraries unless otherwise noted.
Fiction
Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932: A Novel; Prose, Francine
Paris between the wars has generated a lot of literature recently. This one is very good. I never read anything by Francine Prose before and now she shows up twice on my June list (here and in the preface to Piano Stories below).
The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden; Jonasson, Jonas; Rachel Willson-Broyles (Translator)
This was so much fun. Remember The Mouse that Roared?
Harlequin's Millions; Bohumil Hrabal; Stacey Knecht (translator)
I carried on with this thanks to encouragement from Tony Messenger and ended up liking it.
Autobiography of a Corpse; Krzhizhanovsky, Sigizmund; Joanne Turnbull (Translation); Nikolai Formozov (Translation)
Piano Stories; Hernández, Felisberto; Francine Prose (preface); by Italo Calvino (introduction); Luis Harss (translator)
See my post of June 26, 2014
Summer House with Swimming Pool; Koch, Herman; Sam Garrett (translator)
This was creepy, I didn't like it as much a Koch's The Dinner and Arnon Grunberg's Tirza was better.
The following three were electronic review copies provided by Penguin Books First to Read program. I liked all three, in the order listed. I posted brief reviews on Goodreads.
The Invention of Exile: A Novel; Manko, Vanessa
Conversion; Howe, Katherine
The Major's Daughter; Francis, J.P.
Audio
Selected Shorts: Even More Laughs; Space, Symphony (various authors & readers)
A nice relief from the (mostly) heavy June list. How can you go wrong with readers that include Alec Baldwin and Stephen Colbert? I must admit that I did not listen to Christine Baranski reading Thomas Meehan’s Yma Dream. I saw this on TV when Anne Bancroft originally did it (with Lee J. Cobb as the silent, dead-pan therapist) and I just couldn't bear to intrude on my memory of it.
Non-fiction
Bright Bazaar: Embracing Color for Make-You-Smile Style; Taylor, Will
Copy courtesy of publisher - Posted brief review on Goodreads
Hotel Florida: Truth, Love, and Death in the Spanish Civil War; Vaill, Amanda
Correspondents, loyalists, insurgents, spies, adventurers, tourists, and even a few genuine patriots; war stories and love stories; true stories and damned lies--it's hard to tell which is which. Excellent!
A Drifting Life; Tatsumi, Yoshihir; Adrian Tomine (Design); Taro Nettleton(translator)
See my post of June 22, 2014.
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