What? I didn’t think that was out yet!
Page 1 of The Anniversary Man by R.J. Ellory. His A Quiet Belief in Angels was so, so good.
I lucked out and got an ARC thought Librarything’s Early Reviewers group.
The latest Louise Erdrich, Shadow Tag. An artist husband and his model wife, bad marriage, she starts keeping a pair of journals, one for him to sneakily read, then the real one. Dark, but I couldn’t not finish it. Not sure I’ve ever read anything by her before.
And now, because it’s summer and I’m on countdown to my vacation: The Chronicles of Narnia, which I loved as a child but haven’t read since. Damn, not a huge amount of subtlety in the theology of it, eh? All over my head as a kid, and not bothering me overmuch now: Really enjoying it. Finished The Magician’s Nephew last night, happily kneedeep in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrob today. [Loving the fact that I can get through three chapters on each 20-minute train ride into work.]
You’re reading out of order?! :eek:
Finished my audiobook, Thirteen Reasons Why, a YA novel by Jay Asher, about a high school student who receives a package from a classmate who committed suicide. In the package, several cassette tapes detailing (you guessed it) thirteen reasons why.
Despite the extremely hokey premise, I was really rooting for this book at the beginning. Who hasn’t wanted to know WHY? However, the narrator reading for the dead girl had a really bitter, sarcastic tone. Probably very appropriate for the character, but soon she was just unlikeable.
Interspersed with that, there was the male reader playing the listening boy, who just thought dead girl had been greater than sliced bread. If it was reverse psychology, it worked.
On top of that, when I added together all thirteen of her reasons, it only equaled maybe one reason. If you were a big whiny angsty teenage pussy.
I just posted this over at Goodreads in order to counteract all the gushing reviews. (The author’s not a member or I wouldn’t have!) Sorry for the duplication.
Just finished Metzger’s Dog, by Thomas Perry and I loved it. It’s a smart, funny caper book written in the 80s, with a fun bunch of crooks, a psychotic dog, a self-possessed cat, drug lords, university professors and the CIA – a perfect summer read.
Next up, Drood, by Dan Simmons.
I’m reading a one-volume edition that presents them in the order Lewis thought they should be read, which isn’t the order in which they were written.
Working for me so far – I’ll finish *TLTW&TW *on my way home and start The Horse and His Boy before I go to sleep tonight.
I love a good caper book. I may look at it. I hated Drood though, so maybe I’ll wait and see what you think. If you enjoy it, it may be an indication that we don’t share similar tastes.
Oh dear. Well, I won’t argue with you, but if you’re interested* in finding out why people disagree about the order, it’s discussed in the Wikipedia article: The Chronicles of Narnia - Wikipedia
*and if you’re not, I don’t blame you. I love the books and I’m glad you’re enjoying them! I re-read them every so often myself.
I completely missed the theology in these when I was a kid, too, even though I was a regular Sunday school attendee. I resisted pointing it out to my kids when I read these books to them.
That fourth Felix Castor novel, Thicker Than Water, was really good, my favorite of the series so far.
Not particularly, no – but thanks.
I have finished Lord of the Changing Winds - an acceptable fantasy, but not exceptional.
Kes is a human healer who is sought out by a Griffin mage. He awakens her to fire magic and she become a healer of Griffins. The Griffins have been driven from their dessert by a country who wants to expand their territory. There is some intrigue, some magic, some war and a hint of romance.
As I said, it wasn’t exceptional, but it was passable and I will likely read the rest of the trilogy.
I finished up The Descendants and while I thought it was good, I’m not necessarily seeing why there’s so much buzz and why it was necessary to adapt it to film. Although I am curious to see George Clooney as Matt King, and to see how Hawaii is depicted.
I’ve moved on to Dave Eggers’ Zeitoun, which, yes, I totally get the hype. While we’re several years removed from Katrina, the book really brings all the images and emotions back again. I have a love-hate thing with Eggers, so I’m very pleased that I’m enjoying this one.
Anniversary Man was excellent, though not as lyrically beautiful as A Quiet Belief in Angels. I still want to read all Ellory’s books, but only those two are released in the U.S. I can get them on Amazon, I think. Now reading White Shadow by Ace Atkins, about the 1955 murder of a mob boss in Ybor City.
I’ve been skimming former British Prime Minister John Major’s autobiography, cleverly titled… The Autobiography. It’s actually better than I would’ve thought. He has an interesting chapter on Margaret Thatcher’s fall from power, emphasizing his loyalty to her and (so he says) his great hesitancy in running for her job himself after she took herself out of contention. Not a word on his early-Eighties affair with a female MP - in fact, she’s not mentioned at all in the index.
I’m heading to the library and have put this on my list. Have you read the dog books by Jerry Carroll? Top Dog and Dog Eat Dog – they’re awesome.
Finished Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese. I liked 95% of it, but it veered off into melodrama toward the end. Still, for a picture of life in Addis Ababa in the 50’s and 60’s, it was enlightening and entertaining.
John Adams by David McCullough (again). I’m on a real history/biography kick lately.
I’d be glad to recommend some other McCullough books (he went to my high school, long before me), or other history books generally, if you like.
Has anybody used half.com’s new Buying Wizard tool yet? You enter a list of books you want, specify the minimum acceptable condition for each, and it tries to find a single seller who has them all, or else it groups them the best way possible to save money on price and shipping.
This is going to save me so much time. It was such a pain to search for a seller who has more than one book on my wish list.
Pretty cool. I’ll have a look at it.