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I finished reading I Am Forbidden by Anouk Markovits.
What an excellent read. It's about the Satmar (Hasidic) Jewish sect. Jewish history is something that I am extremely interested in. I started reading about it as a preteen. This is a novel, an historical novel. So a few of the minor characters actually existed. The story itself begins in Satu Mare, Transylvania in 1905 when the sect came into being and ends in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY which is the world headquarters for the Satmars. I've been to Williamsburg. I got lost while attempting to find a particular yarn shop near my grandparents' house in Brooklyn.
The best thing I like about the book is the storyline.
The second thing I like about the book is the exceptional character development by the author. I ended up really caring about so many of the people in the book.
The third thing I like about the book is that it has been flawlessly edited.
Oh, just one more thing. The author uses my favorite Yiddish word "bashert" quite often. It's a great word and concept.
Oh my Ketabcha that one sounds amazing. Just looked at the library website and they have multiple copies. My TBR to be read list is growing exponentially.
Just went and picked up The Signature of All Things thanks to all the praise here. I am not sure if I will be able to get into it at the moment but I most definitely will read it at some point. I thought maybe I should have read Stern Men by the same author as it looked a little skinnier.
Oh my Ketabcha that one sounds amazing. Just looked at the library website and they have multiple copies. My TBR to be read list is growing exponentially.
Just went and picked up The Signature of All Things thanks to all the praise here. I am not sure if I will be able to get into it at the moment but I most definitely will read it at some point. I thought maybe I should have read Stern Men by the same author as it looked a little skinnier.
Mayvenne, The Signature of All Things takes a lot of concentration. I suggest clearing out time to read it because it really is hard to put down and it is also long. Almost from the start I realized I would have to pay a lot of attention to what I was reading. I love that book soooooo much. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
I Am Forbidden does not require as much concentration. It's really about two families for the most part and the non-relatives who enter the story are also very interesting. It is a fast read compared to "Signature." It's another one that I couldn't put down.
I finished Olive Kitteridge and loved it as much the second time as I did the first. Picked up The Hundred Foot Journey by Richard Morais. It's short, so even though it didn't grab me right away, I'll keep reading. Stern Men is waiting for me at the library.
I finished Olive Kitteridge and loved it as much the second time as I did the first. Picked up The Hundred Foot Journey by Richard Morais. It's short, so even though it didn't grab me right away, I'll keep reading. Stern Men is waiting for me at the library.
Have you seen the mini-series of OK? It was pretty good, but not great IMHO. Loved Bill Murray but I love him in anything.
Have you seen the mini-series of OK? It was pretty good, but not great IMHO. Loved Bill Murray but I love him in anything.
No, we don't have HBO when I tried to get it on the computer I had to sign up for something I didn't want to sign up for. It will eventually be available on Netflix or Amazon Prime and I'll see it then.
I'm giving up on The Hundred Foot Journey after 18 pages. The author is American and the story takes place in India with Indian characters. When the characters speak to each other, they do so in some sort of Pidgin English that I find weird and distracting. I haven't been to India, but my guess is that people speak to each other in their native language and I don't recall another book where presumably native speech was translated as broken English. Also, I was already thinking that the story read sort of like a screenplay and as it turns out, he said in an interview that he wrote it hoping it would be turned into a movie by his friend Ismail Merchant. Meh. If you're going to write a book, write a book and if you're going to write a screenplay, write a screenplay.
The book got really great reviews, but it's not for me. I may watch the movie though.
No, we don't have HBO when I tried to get it on the computer I had to sign up for something I didn't want to sign up for. It will eventually be available on Netflix or Amazon Prime and I'll see it then.
I was able to borrow the Olive Kitteridge mini-series from my library already. Got it pretty quickly too, only a couple holds ahead of me.
I'm giving up on The Hundred Foot Journey after 18 pages. The author is American and the story takes place in India with Indian characters. When the characters speak to each other, they do so in some sort of Pidgin English that I find weird and distracting. I haven't been to India, but my guess is that people speak to each other in their native language and I don't recall another book where presumably native speech was translated as broken English. Also, I was already thinking that the story read sort of like a screenplay and as it turns out, he said in an interview that he wrote it hoping it would be turned into a movie by his friend Ismail Merchant. Meh. If you're going to write a book, write a book and if you're going to write a screenplay, write a screenplay.
The book got really great reviews, but it's not for me. I may watch the movie though.
I read this for a book club- and while it was a relatively easy read, I didn't think it was anything memorable. It was a nice story, but nothing very special in my opinion.
It's the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series (though I've got them all in one volume.)
I had this book on my list for a very long time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by netwit
I still have quite a ways to go with my current book though and it's not because I'm not finding it interesting. I am being distracted since my own family stories intersect with with the family story I am reading (A Mennonite Family in Tsarist Russia), and I spent half the night (until 5 am!) on the internet googling names. I appear to have tracked down my unusual name to 1560 based on others with my name who did the research. Amazing the things you can find out. And that my family appears to have been one of the few branches that immigrated to Canada versus the US. Annnnd...you know it's time to go to bed when you subscribe to one of those sites that allows you to access old newspaper archives online.
How exciting
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ketabcha
I finished reading I Am Forbidden by Anouk Markovits.
What an excellent read. It's about the Satmar (Hasidic) Jewish sect. Jewish history is something that I am extremely interested in. I started reading about it as a preteen. This is a novel, an historical novel. So a few of the minor characters actually existed. The story itself begins in Satu Mare, Transylvania in 1905 when the sect came into being and ends in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY which is the world headquarters for the Satmars. I've been to Williamsburg. I got lost while attempting to find a particular yarn shop near my grandparents' house in Brooklyn.
The best thing I like about the book is the storyline.
The second thing I like about the book is the exceptional character development by the author. I ended up really caring about so many of the people in the book.
The third thing I like about the book is that it has been flawlessly edited.
Oh, just one more thing. The author uses my favorite Yiddish word "bashert" quite often. It's a great word and concept.
Thank you. That one sounds very good to me. My grandparents were in Brooklyn also.
Mike is my bashert
Quote:
Originally Posted by TracySam
It was not bad. It seemed like it was more appropriate for pre-teens and teens, but I still liked it. The good thing is that even if you don't really like it, you can finish it in like two nights.
Thanks…I will keep it as an easier read in between some heavy reads.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mayvenne
On another exciting note, I see that THE TRUTH ACCORDING TO US, is a new book to be released this summer by the author of the beeeeloved Guernsey Literary Society!!
I added it to my list…thanks
I am halfway through Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and I am really enjoying it although I did cringe while reading about the foot binding. The only time I ever read about that was while reading The Good Earth many moons ago.
I came across a couple of books some might like:
Here is an old one that I have never read…
My Man Jeeves (Jeeves #1) by P.G. Wodehouse
and
The Circus in Winter by Cathy Day
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