Yeah, to hell with those good reviews! 
It’s pretty good. The lyricism does get laid on with a trowel, something that I’ve noticed in Iowa Writer’s Project graduates. Some of it is quite beautiful though, and the crime story at its core is compelling.
The movie is good too, though it differs slightly from the book. It stars current Hunger Games star Jennifer Lawrence, just as she was starting to get noticed.
Tore thru Joe Landale’s All The Earth, Thrown to the Sky last night & this morning. I was expecting something on the supernatural side (given my previous experiences w/ Lansdale) , but the desolation of the Dust Bowl and the adventures Jack, Jane & Tony go thru were harrowing enough as is. The absorbing plot and sympathetic characters kept me hooked all the way thru. This should be “Suggested/Recommended Reading” for US History students, as it brings the Depression to life as well as The Grapes of Wrath while IMHO being much more accessible to the intended YA audience.
I’m also swept up by the audiobook version of third volume of the Bloody Jack series: Under the Jolly Roger: Being an Account of the Further Nautical Adventures of Jacky Faber (Bloody Jack, #3) - Jacky’s back in her native element (on board a ship) and things (as usual) look a bit dire. This series is ridiculously entertaining IMHO, and (from what I can tell) reasonably historically accurate. Another strong YA recommendation.
Thanks for posting that - I’m a huge Lansdale fan, and I had no idea he had new books out.
Even more recent is this - looks good - I’m ordering both …
Reading To Marry an English Lord: Tales of Wealth and Marriage, Sex and Snobbery by Gail MacColl and Carol McD. Wallace, published in 1989 and updated in 2012, to capitalize on its use as an inspiration and source for Downton Abbey.
One more recent read/listen to add: The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick.
I listened to the audiobook version of this short novel, and (as with Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, it seems I missed out on the total experience by not seeing the illustrations. The enhancements to the audiobook (sound effects) were a bit distracting IMHO, but I can see the appeal for younger audiences.
I still found it an enchanting story, and was caught up in Hugo’s adventures. It seems I’ve been reading quite a few YA orphan stories lately, and I think Hugo would fit in well with their main characters, using his determination and skills to survive and thrive.
I enjoyed the intertwining with at least one historical personage, and find myself wanting to learn more about Georges Méliès, as well as to see both some of his films and the recent Scorsese movie based on this story.
Recommended as at least a library read/listen; I’ll probably revisit the story again, and possibly look for a copy of my own.
Malthus glad to help out! I’ve read good things about Edge of Dark Water & have added it to my Library ToRead list.
I just finished ‘Mistress of the Art of Death’ by Ariana Franklin. Highly recommended - great balance between the historical setting and the twists of the plot, a good sense of pace, very well written. Looking forward to reading the rest of the series over the course of the year.
I’m still on ‘A History of the Christian Church’ for my armchair reading; at rehearsals, I have ‘Payment in Blood’ by Elizabeth George to keep me going.
I have to say, it’s pretty sweet having a role that only requires 5 minutes of stage time (and no other responsibilities; no parts in the other shows in rep, no understudy duties) which essentially means that I’m paid to sit around and read while the rest of the show gets rehearsed.
I finished Shadow Chaser: Book Two of The Chronicles of Siala. I am still enjoying the series, but am disappointed to report that it is not a trilogy (or I doubt it is) but is instead a series. I don’t like open-ended series, unless each book can stand alone. It seems clear to me now that there is no way he will be wrapping this up in the next book and so that leaves the possibility that we’ll never see the end (like Robert Jordans.) I hope that I’m wrong, but clearly the next book will not be the end.
Just finished The World of Downton Abbey by Jessica Fellowes (either the wife or the daughter of the series creator, I guess). I highly recommend this book, which has a detailed discussion of English country house life of that era, and lots of photos and behind-the-scenes info on the TV series, too. Very interesting and engaging, with a good bibliography. A solid A.
Also finished American Dervish by Ayad Akhtar, the novel I mentioned upthread. It was meh. A C at best.
I finished The Professor and the Madman. It was a light read, not at all like the OED that it talks about the making of. I was not prepared for the most “interesting” thing the madman does. Ouch!
Finished Winter’s Bone. I can’t find much to say about it. It was a quick read. The writing style wasn’t obtrusive, as I had feared it would be. I felt that I knew how it would all turn out, and was just reading to get the details. At the end, I had gotten just one chapter of an interesting life.
I’m now reading a YA novel, Everybody Sees the Ants, by A.S. King. It’s about a boy who is bullied at school. In his dreams, he rescues his grandfather, a POW, over and over again.
It’s pretty interesting and enjoyable. However, I’m reading from the perspective of a parent, and feeling a bit eyerolly about how everything is the kid’s parents’ fault for not being attentive enough. There was also a scene where the kid is in the guidance office with all his teachers and his parents, and he says something rather telling which no one responds to. ORLY? I still think it may turn out a decent read in the end.
I’m reading Allison Weir’s Henry VIII: The King and His Court. It’s less a biography and more a portrait of Tudor England: what made up the court, where they stayed, who worked in the court and why, and how much they all spent. It’s good, but not what I was really looking for - I was more hoping for a biography rather than a study of Henry’s surroundings. I think it’ll get more in depth into character as it goes on; I’m only about 1/4 of the way through. I think that it’ll ultimately help me better understand Henry VIII and his various decisions, but I can’t help being a little disappointed reading through a lot of detail that right now I find pretty superfluous. Here’s hoping it gets better.
I’m struggling through the beginning of Cloud Atlas. Not being a reader of historical fiction, the period language and references feel like an obstacle course. I made it into the second chapter, but am still slogging. My least favorite part of any book is the beginning, figuring out who and what is going on. This book feels like a whole bunch of frustrating beginnings. I’m almost to 50 pages, I know it’s supposed to get better, but I may need convincing.
Finished Skinwalker: A Jane Yellowrock Novel a competent urban fantasy, fast paced and an easy read without the usual harlequin romance aspects that I always complain about.
I will read the rest in the series.
For what it’s worth, I thought the outside story, the one that begins and ends the book, was the weakest. I admire Mitchell’s writing, but this still felt like six unrelated short stories, and I don’t read a lot of short stories because I don’t like getting invested in the characters and setting for so little payoff.
I did like Cloud Atlas, but I liked The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet better - maybe because I’m a fan of historical fiction.
Finished Everybody Sees the Ants. I thought it had potential, but in the end, I was unimpressed.
Starting on The Best Time Travel Stories of the 20th Century, edited by Harry Turtledove & Martin H. Greenberg.
I finished ‘Payment in Blood’ by Elizabeth George. Meh. Neither the mystery nor the characterization were at all engaging for me. I finished it only because I had nothing else to read along with me.
I started but abandoned ‘Marcus Aurelius - The Dialogues’ by Alan Stedall. The idea is quite interesting - Marcus Aurelius, his adopted brother Lucius, Galen (the physician), Harnouphis (the Egyptian high priest of Isis) and Bassaeus Rufus (Praetorian Prefect) are together at supper in Aquileia in 168 AD. (As a matter of historical fact, they were all in Aquileia at the same time.) The conceit is that this is a ‘transcription’ of their after dinner conversation, rather in the manner of Plato’s ‘Symposium’. It is a wonderful idea, and in the hands of a good writer, it could have been a great book or a great play. Sadly, Stedall is not a good writer, and this is a piece of facile crap.
Still on ‘History of the Christian Church’…
I’m about 30 pages from the end of ‘The Lives of a Cell’ by Lewis Thomas, which I’m thoroughly enjoying. There is something quite charming about good scientific writing that is 35 years old, and like Carl Sagan, Thomas is quite articulate about music as well as science.
I’m also about to start ‘Haunted Ground’ by Erin Hart for my light paperback to carry around with me.
This is the very definition of de gustibus non est disputandum. I thought The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet was a great historical fiction, but I though Cloud Atlas a work of genius - a whole different order of good.
To my mind, the point was not only the short stories themselves, but the intricate tracery of connections between the various short stories - not only in terms of direct causation, but thematically.
But then, I also loved Italo Calvino’s If on a winter’s night a traveller, which I strongly suspect you would find infinitely frustrating.
I looked that up, and you’re probably right. 
You’d probably like The Autobiography of Henry VIII: With Notes by His Fool, Will Somers, if you haven’t already read it. It’s fiction, but huge- almost 1000 pages, and very, very good, IMHO.
Right now I am reading another book by that same author, Elizabeth George again, Helen of Troy. It’s pretty good, especially since I knew almost nothing about her to begin with. I’m also reading Bethenny Frankel’s* A Place of Yes*- kind of a self-help book on getting what you want, I guess.