Just finished The Last Summer by John Hough, Jr. A story of love and personal upheaval set in 1968, a time of change for the country and for a young man about to embark on his future. Spare writing infused with description, anticipatory plot development and just enough emotion has me already searching out his other books.
Only on Seinfeld: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9tP9fI2zbE
I’ve started The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud. I’ve only read a few pages but the narrator is uncannily like me – early forties, spinster, huge amount of anger inside, pleasant on the outside.
Glad you enjoyed it. Really remarkable that it’s his first novel, isn’t it?
Just finished Sabriel by Garth Nix and was astonished by how good it was. It came with great recommendations, but somehow I didn’t grasp what a page-turner it would be.
Currently reading The Feud: The Hatfields and McCoys: The True Story by Dean King. Impulse check-out at the library and so far, interesting and worth it. My husband and I watched the Hatfield / McCoy miniseries thing with Bill Paxton as Randall McCoy and Kevin Costner as Devil Anse Hatfield. So far, the miniseries seems fairly faithful to the ‘true story’ as King has it.
Also reading Kindred by Octavia Butler. Just started it but interesting so far.
My TBR pile for the summer contains enough books to last me the rest of the year. Is there a literary equivalent of ‘eyes too big for your stomach?’ If so, I’ve got it!
The Dazzle of Day, by Molly Gloss, was a disappointment. It’s a literary sci-fi novel about a colony of Quakers on an “interstellar ark” sort of spaceship, in search of a new planet to colonize. The author focuses tightly on the interpersonal relationships of the crew. I really do prefer stories that are about people rather than about technology or cool concepts… but the problem is, these people were boring and faintly unpleasant. I really wanted to like this book - what a waste of a very cool setup.
I read Arbella: England’s Lost Queen, by Sarah Gristwood. The title is a bit dramatic, but at one time the English-born Arbella Stuart, a cousin of Queen Elizabeth I, really did seem to be a better candidate for the throne than the foreign James of Scotland. (James and Arbella were both descendants of Henry VIII’s older sister Margaret.) Arbella’s story is pretty miserable: neither Elizabeth nor James I would allow her to marry and produce potential rivals to the throne. When she rebelled and secretly married anyway, she (unwisely? desperately?) chose William Seymour, who as a descendant of Henry VIII’s other sister was himself very close to the throne. This got Arbella thrown into the Tower of London where she seems to have literally wasted away at age 30.
I’m in the middle of Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life, which was mentioned in the last couple of threads. So far I really like it. As others have described, it’s about a woman who keeps dying and being reborn (in 1910) to live her life again, with slight alterations each time. I must say she’s pretty damned unlucky - it took several tries for her to get through childhood. This is eventually headed towards an attempt to kill Hitler, obligatory for anyone time traveling or reliving the events of WWII.
I’m reading it on the Kindle, which is unfortunate because this is one of those books where you want to flip back and forth a lot (“Wait, what year was that last chapter set in?”) which is difficult to do with an ebook.
The next two are as good or better, but for a rather annoying, whiny half-protagonist. (Two major viewpoint characters and all.)
Finished Point Counter Point, by Aldous Huxley. Very good. Recommended. There’s even a character based on Huxley himself who takes notes to write a book that sounds very similar to Point Counter Point.
This weekend, I shall begin a book I have long wanted to read but kept putting off: Truman, by my favorite historian, David McCullough.
Elephants Can Remember by Agatha Christie.
I’m indifferent to Poirot but I love Ariadne Oliver. The story of ECR is centered more on her than on Poirot, so this is a real treat.
Again I delve into the 1960’s and come up with Is Paris Burning? by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre, published in 1965. An absolutely fascinating book about Hitler’s orders that Paris must not be allowed to fall into the hands of the advancing Allies. It was a close thing and depended on the bravery of patriotic French (I hate saying that, but…), changes in Eisenhower’s tactical goals and the uncertainty and dithering of German generals.
As so many books about the war in Europe have shown me, the Germans probably came closer to if not winning the war then drastically changing the outcome than we are generally led to believe. This book was an eye-opener, and it ALMOST made me apologize for all the nasty things I have said over the years about the French. Almost.
Now, what other relics of my college years can I dredge up and re-read? Isn’t there a copy of Stranger in a Strange Land, around here? Or maybe Dune?
I tried to find my favorite line from that, about Quoyle longing to be socially adept. It spoke to me. Instead, there’s always:
“By January, it had always been winter.” Sounds like the climate here too!
Hope you like it as much as I did. McCullough went to the same prep school I did, many years before, and is far and away our most famous alum. I mentioned our connection when I met him at book signings, twice but several years apart, and he lit right up both times.
Took what seemed like forever, but I finally finished A Coffin for Dimitrios by Eric AMbler.
Now, back to heavy, serious literature… Parade’s End by Ford Madox Ford.
I just finished reading Blindsight by Peter Watts. I was totally blown away by it. Not only is it a decent “first contact” sci-fi story, it is also a stunning reflection on of the intricacies of consciousness and sentience.
And it even has a vampire, one of the coolest characters in the book…not a gothic romantic vampire but a cloned construct that has out-evolved humanity.
I guess the only caveat is that if you like human, relatable characters that you can identify with, this is not the book for you.
I finished A Corner of White, a YA novel that ended up enjoying a lot. Two teenagers, one from this world and one from a magical world, start corresponding via a mysterious crack that has opened up between the worlds. It had some problems, but overall I was really impressed by the magical world - it’s almost exactly like ours (it has regular technology, people are more or less like us), but it has some magic/supernatural elements as well.
I started The Rook, which I am liking so far. I got into it a lot more quickly than I expected. However, even though I’m only on about page 45, I have a nagging question. I know some others here read it recently, so here goes:
At the beginning when she goes to the bank to pick either the safety deposit box for fleeing and starting a new identity, or the safety deposit box for staying in her role with the organization … WHY DOESN’T SHE JUST GET THE CONTENTS OF BOTH BOXES AS LONG AS SHE IS THERE?
I really liked Blindsight, too. The inclusion of a “vampire” seemed a little gimmicky, but I liked the idea of the crucifix glitch.
Later I read one of his earlier novels, Starfish, which is even worse about having no relatable characters, and I didn’t like it as well. Very cool setting and technology, but not enough human story.
Yeah - I kinda wondered that too… apparently she’s too overwhelmed at the moment to think so deviously?
I finished Alan Dean Foster’s 1976 novelization Star Trek Log Eight, which was good sf fun, mostly as I remembered it from years ago. I’ve been watching the HBO series John Adams and have been checking the index of David McCullough’s book and then looking up particular parts of it (the infuriating Citizen Genet, Adams’s wastrel son Charles, the election of 1800, etc.). Might tackle Stephen King’s 11/22/63 next - I got it for Christmas and have just never gotten around to it, although I’d like to.
I finished Prisoner of Trebekistan: A Decade in Jeopardy!the other day. It’s the only book where I felt like the author was actually in the room having a conversation with me. That was mainly due to all the digressions. The Goodreads reviewers seem to be annoyed by that, but I liked it. All the mentions of Jane before Jane showed up were starting to get irritating, but she redeemed herself when she did finally appear in the story.
Thanks for the heads-up! Must make time to check out Lirael before vacation next weekend. 