Thanks, I’d appreciate it. I started Endurance because I’m generally fascinated with that period of exploration, but the survival aspect is gripping, so I’d definitely like to read more along those lines.
Thanks for the info, I think I will give that vampire series a try.
I read Among Others last year, and enjoyed it, so Farthing seems intriguing. I get the best book recommendations from you!
I really enjoyed The Last Policeman, but was disappointed in the ending; it felt as if Winters hastily re-wrote about the last third when he decided to make it a series. The follow-up - Countdown City comes out in July - I plan on checking it out…
Have gotten way behind on my reading updates - here’s a few quickies:
A Hologram for the King by Dave Eggers. Depressing and a bit odd; struggling entrepreneur as Vladimir in “Waiting for Godot: The Arabian Version”. I prefer likable protagonists who actually DO things… and while I found the situation intriguing and the writing was clever at times, the actual plot and characters left me flat. I don’t think I’ll be revisiting Eggers anytime soon - apparently he’s not my kind of author.
Life Below Stairs: True Lives of Edwardian Servants - think I picked this up after reading several novels set in Edwardian/Victorian times & wanted to get a look at the servant experience. It’s a bit lightweight (less than 200 pages) and the reading level seemed pitched at maybe high school level. It was well-researched, but was much more general than its subtitle suggested, more an overview of servant life with occasional remembrances and tidbits thrown in than an in-depth memoir or detailed accounts. It probably didn’t help that I read it in two separate sittings, as my checkout of the Kindle book from the e-library expired & I had to wait about 2 weeks before I could check it out again.
Death in The Sahara, Michael Asher
Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer (mountaineering and survival)
In the Land of White Death, Valerian Albanov
In the Heart of the Sea, Nathaniel Philbrick
Skeletons on the Zahara: A True Story of Survival, Dean King
The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon, David Grann (exploration and survival)
The White Cascade, Gary Krist
The Darkest Jungle, Todd Balf
Jungle, Yossi Ghinsberg
The White Nile, Alan Moorehead (THE definitive book about the exploration of the Nile River)
I sat up late into the night reading both of these (different nights). I highly recommend them as well.
Fun trivia: The tragedy of the whaleship Essex, as the subtitle to Philbrick’s book calls it, is what Moby Dick was based on.
The story of Scott’s expedition is also a doozy. Oh, and there’s
Ada Blackjack: A True Story of Survival in the Arctic, Jennifer Niven
We Die Alone: A WWII Epic of Escape and Endurance, David Howarth; this is the story of a man who was forced to flee Norway in advance of the Nazi occupation.
And now I’m reading *The Marx Bros. Scrapbook *by Richard Anobile & Groucho Marx, and
*Fletch’s Fortune *by Gregory MacDonald.
I haven’t read Among Others yet, but I really liked her novel Tooth & Claw, which is a Victorian-era romantic novel that features dragons instead of people. Dragons wearing hats and riding in carriages, etc. It’s wonderfully weird.
I finished *Farthing *last night. I liked it, but it has problems and I’m not going to enthusiastically recommend it. It focuses on a handful of characters in England in the late 1940’s, and there’s only a shallow exploration of the altered timeline that has left Hitler’s Reich ruling the Continent. It’s depressing to watch the UK being consumed by hatred and sliding into fascism.
The narrative was absorbing and I like Walton’s writing, despite awkward transitions between first person and third person points of view. The murder mystery was weak and the political conspiracy even weaker, but I liked the story and the characters well enough.
I agree about the ending, but I’ll read the next book, too.
I know several people in this thread would love the book I’m reading now – The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker.
Looks good to me!
Thanks. I recommend Len Deighton’s SS-GB and Robert Harris’s Fatherland for two excellent mysteries set against the backdrop of a Nazi victory in WWII. The first largely takes place in London in the Forties; the second, in Berlin in the Sixties.
As expected, we were so much on the go in Japan that I did not have much time for reading. However, I did finish The Prague Cemetery, by Umberto Eco. Very good. In the 19th century, a professional forger with a split personality is hired by various governments to produce documents demonizing alternately Garibaldi, Freemasons and the Jews. I’ve read that this is considered Eco’s best novel since The Name of the Rose. That’s hard to say, as I’ve read all of his novel’s except The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana, and I don’t think The Prague Cemetery, while good, comes close to The Name of the Rose. But then, The Name of the Rose is a hard act to follow.
Now it’s back to Michael Connelly with The Drop.
Finally finished Nate Silver’s The Signal and the Noise. Man, he’s good. This book, if people would read it, will make the world a better place. I don’t think that’s overstating it.
Now I’m taking it easy reading a book I heard a lot in summer camp as a kid, but never the whole thing - Rascal by Sterling North. It’s a sweet trip down memory lane for me.
I finished Trout Fishing in America and loved it. It’s a fun little Beat Generation novel. The copy from the library also has The Pill vs. the Springhill Mine Disaster and In Watermelon Sugar. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to read those or not, but I definitely will now.
checks due date
Okay I’ll have time.
Thanks. I’ve read Into Thin Air, In the Heart of the Sea, and The Lost City of Z and liked them all. I’ll add the others to my list. The White Nile will probably jump close to the top.
I’ve read most of Brautigan’s books. His collected short stories, Revenge of the Lawn, is a particular favourite, and Sombrero Fallout is one of his better novels (IMO). I’m quite the fan of his poetry, too. You can probably find a lot of it with Google…
It’s an outstanding read. The sequel to it is Blue Nile, which isn’t as riveting, but still an excellent read. Moorehead was a much-respected history writer.
On the subject of true arctic survival books, I came across Frozen in Time: An Epic Story of Survival and a Modern Quest for Lost Heroes of World War II listed as a Best Book of April.
Just finished My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor, a neuroanatomist who suffered a stroke at age 37. While it’s great to have a survivor’s own words about recovering from a stroke, and inspirational that she basically recovered everything, though it took 8 years, sometimes the book is just a bit too…too.
She’s nothing but grateful for everything. Every person, every experience. She never at any point said - you know what? Having a stroke fucking sucks! Not being able to read? Talk? Having to re-learn how to get dressed and brush your teeth? It’s unbelievably frustrating! Nope. It all just taught her to live in the moment. Jeez, even Mary Tyler Moore got mad sometimes.
Still enjoying Ron Chernow’s Washington: A Life (I’m about halfway done and thus have reached the arrival of much-needed French ships and troops during the Revolution), and have also started Beverly Cleary’s Ramona Quimby, Age 8, for one of my book clubs, and Robert Heinlein’s Space Cadet, an old favorite that I’m reading aloud with one of my sons.