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I would skip "Benediction". It's not part of the ongoing story, and I thought pretty disappointing.
Plainsng and Eventide are among the very few books I've loved for their story more than for their literary narrative.
I'm almost finished with it and was disappointed when I realized the characters from the other two books were barely mentioned in the third. But I'm still enjoying it and the new characters. The imagery in all of three of the books is lovely.
I just spent two weeks visiting my daughter and I read a few books while there but for the life of me can't remember what they were.
Back at home, I just finished Man at the Helm by Nina Stibbe. Funny and droll, and just the kind of narrative I like. Set in England in 1970 and written from the viewpoint of a privileged nine-year-old (with very adult prose) as her parents divorce and mother and children are shipped off to a village to live far away from the father and his new family. The kids are determined to find a new "man at the helm" for their mother and the descriptions of their everyday life in the village where no one trusts a divorced woman are amusing and charming. This is a "riches to rags" story that is completely entertaining!
And I just remembered that I did read The Red Notebook while I was gone and liked it.
I thought 'By the Pricking of My Thumbs by Agatha Christie' was just engaging enough to hold me through the end. I liked the couple Tommy and Tuppence[never could figure out why he called his wife Prudence-Tuppence?].There just wasn't enough suspense for me.
Then I tried 'The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell ' couldn't get into that one, and then quit on the profanity-filled~'A Land of Two Halves by Joe Bennett' which I had high hopes for since it's about New Zealand', but his writing reminded me of another travel writer with a trash-mouth- Bill Bryson, who I tried once to read, and never again.
Now I am happily reading a nice engaging thriller[which was a Kindle Freebie]~Tipping Point: Action-Adventure Thriller by Simon Rosser
TWO DEAD CLIMATOLOGISTS...
AN INTERNATIONAL CONSPIRACY...
A LOOMING ECOLOGICAL DISASTER...
When eminent climatologist Dr Dale Stanton - in the process of studying the Atlantic Ocean's Thermohaline Circulation - is found dead in his London apartment, environmental lawyer Robert Spire is given the task to administer a large legacy left to global warming organisations. The job should have been straightforward, until a second climatologist, Dr Jack Bannister drops dead on the other side of the Atlantic.
AN INTERNATIONAL CONSPIRACY
Spire's client - suspicious of her son's death - asks him to travel to San Francisco to investigate Dr Jack Bannister's death. Whilst there, he meets French Climatologist Professor Francois Trimaud who is working on a geoengineering project to seed the Arctic Ocean with an experimental substance - the aim, to prevent, or at least slow the Arctic's melting ice. Spire soon discovers that someone has other plans for the region and wants the climatologists dead at all costs.
A LOOMING ECOLOGICAL DISASTER I'm loving this one!
Just finished Aziz Ansari's "Modern Romance" (about how dating & the internet/phone texting intersect), pretty entertaining & a brisk 250 pgs.
Beginning that bestseller (had to wait 8 places on the 'hold' list at library for it), Marie Kondo's "The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up". We'll see...
Just finished Aziz Ansari's "Modern Romance" (about how dating & the internet/phone texting intersect), pretty entertaining & a brisk 250 pgs.
Beginning that bestseller (had to wait 8 places on the 'hold' list at library for it), Marie Kondo's "The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up". We'll see...
FWIW I had to wait months for that Life Changing Magic.... it's really very good but I find as with everything, I don't embrace 100 percent. But it's a very good book for motivation and I have acted upon it. Definitely worth a read (and it's a quick one)
David Lodge's "Changing Places" is horribly disappointing,and I'll probably quit. I absolutely loved his "Deaf Sentence" (Read it!!!), but "Changing Places" was written 40 years ago when his writing was very immature. I think I would have enjoyed it then, but it is now an embarrassingly dated style.
I have liked the books I've read by David Lodge. Haven't seen a new one in a while. I've read Deaf Sentence, and even though I know I enjoyed it, I don't remember it very well. I did like Therapy and Paradise News. There was also a play set during the weekend of the Diana's death, and it made the shock and sorrow her countrymen and women felt very real.
He does deal with similar themes in his books, I think.
I would skip "Benediction". It's not part of the ongoing story, and I thought pretty disappointing.
Plainsng and Eventide are among the very few books I've loved for their story more than for their literary narrative.
Benediction was one of the strongest books about Holt, I thought. The weakest, IMO, was Eventide. But I enjoyed all four of them: Plainsong, Eventide, Benediction and Our Souls at Night.
I am reading Home by Marilynne Robinson. I have been reading with interest, but having probs with the character Jack. He doesn't seem real to me. So I looked up a review, and it explained that this is a companion book to a previous book Gilead. Many of the characters are the same, but emphasized differently. As it happens, I have Gilead on hold and will pick it up tomorrow. So, I will read both books back to back, although out of the written order
I am trying to read more female writers, and not those who come from the upper class elites so much. Robinson is widely admired and read, and she lives in Iowa, was born in Idaho, and is a grad from U of WA. Actually, I am trying to read male non elites too.
At any rate, she writes well, but I'm not as into the book as I wish I were. On the other hand I had a hard time putting the book down last night.
I read Gilead, and I was quite moved as I finished the book. Why? I don't know. I am astonished this book won a Pulitzer! It talks about Christianity--a lot. That's OK with me, but I remain surprised that it is OK with anyone else. Robinson writes really, really well. Being immersed in her world is an absorbing experience, even though it seems nothing much happens.
I am now reading Lila. It is more interesting to me right off the bat than the two previous books with Gilead as their setting. I guess I'll have to read Housekeeping too, even though it does not involve Gilead, Iowa, or the Ames or Boughtons. I am a bit sore at myself for waiting this long to read Marilynne Robinson. She is an excellent writer. I hope she has a few more books inside her; I want to read them.
By the way I still have a problem with the character Jack Boughton, but I decided that was the object of the story. I am supposed to have problems with him.
FWIW I had to wait months for that Life Changing Magic.... it's really very good but I find as with everything, I don't embrace 100 percent. But it's a very good book for motivation and I have acted upon it. Definitely worth a read (and it's a quick one)
Agree.
I'm nearly halfway through, it's such a tiny little book that even 100 pgs. fly right by.
Knew I wouldn't follow it to the letter, I never do with these sorts of things.
It just serves as encouragement for whatever decluttering I can manage on occasion.
To a degree, it could be *any* (new to me) book on the topic.
Just reading it helps me rehearse/practice certain ways of thinking about stuff-which can lead to accomplishing another task or two.
I keep my expectations very low, assume reading it won't change anything for me-and if it does, then I can be pleasantly surprised.
There's no risk of it making my "too much stuff & too little space" problem worse, so...
Plus, I was curious to learn what all the hype & raves were about, why it's a bestseller in first place.
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