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I finished The Lieutenant by Kate Grenville and have started Sarah Thornhill by the same author. I gave The Secret River five stars, and The Lieutenant four. Sarah Thornhill seems very promising, possibly a five star read. It isn't necessary to have read all the books although they form a loose trilogy. Dawn, I think this last one in particular would appeal to you.
I'm so darned grateful to have found three books in a row. And because we're having another thunderstorm, there's no reason for me not to indulge myself.
Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
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Quote:
Originally Posted by netwit
I finished The Lieutenant by Kate Grenville and have started Sarah Thornhill by the same author. I gave The Secret River five stars, and The Lieutenant four. Sarah Thornhill seems very promising, possibly a five star read. It isn't necessary to have read all the books although they form a loose trilogy. Dawn, I think this last one in particular would appeal to you.
I'm so darned grateful to have found three books in a row. And because we're having another thunderstorm, there's no reason for me not to indulge myself.
I am almost finished with Since She Went Away by David Bell. I picked it up in Target the other day while getting ready for a trip. If I had not been stuck on a plane with this as my only reading option, I never would have finished it. Such herky-jerky story telling. One minute the main character spends an entire chapter drinking a glass of wine and chatting with a friend about background that was completely non-essential to the story and the next minute there is a burst of action that comes from nowhere. So many threads that were supposed to confuse the reader and instead just bored the reader. And the worst of it was that twice the author mixed up the names of two main female characters!
Don't even get me started about the Mom's annoyingly casual attitude to her 15 year old son having sex in her house with a girl he was dating for three weeks (who, by the way, was the current victim of neglect and abuse by her non-custodial father who had recently murdered her mother). Way to look out for your son and his girlfriend's emotional health, Mom.
Awful. I should have handed it to the flight attendant when she came around for the trash.
I am almost finished with Since She Went Away by David Bell. I picked it up in Target the other day while getting ready for a trip. If I had not been stuck on a plane with this as my only reading option, I never would have finished it. Such herky-jerky story telling. One minute the main character spends an entire chapter drinking a glass of wine and chatting with a friend about background that was completely non-essential to the story and the next minute there is a burst of action that comes from nowhere. So many threads that were supposed to confuse the reader and instead just bored the reader. And the worst of it was that twice the author mixed up the names of two main female characters!
Don't even get me started about the Mom's annoyingly casual attitude to her 15 year old son having sex in her house with a girl he was dating for three weeks (who, by the way, was the current victim of neglect and abuse by her non-custodial father who had recently murdered her mother). Way to look out for your son and his girlfriend's emotional health, Mom.
Awful. I should have handed it to the flight attendant when she came around for the trash.
Sounds awful.
I'm 60% through Sarah Thornhill. It's going to hurt when this book comes to an end.
I am almost finished with Since She Went Away by David Bell. I picked it up in Target the other day while getting ready for a trip. If I had not been stuck on a plane with this as my only reading option, I never would have finished it. Such herky-jerky story telling. One minute the main character spends an entire chapter drinking a glass of wine and chatting with a friend about background that was completely non-essential to the story and the next minute there is a burst of action that comes from nowhere. So many threads that were supposed to confuse the reader and instead just bored the reader. And the worst of it was that twice the author mixed up the names of two main female characters!
Don't even get me started about the Mom's annoyingly casual attitude to her 15 year old son having sex in her house with a girl he was dating for three weeks (who, by the way, was the current victim of neglect and abuse by her non-custodial father who had recently murdered her mother). Way to look out for your son and his girlfriend's emotional health, Mom.
Awful. I should have handed it to the flight attendant when she came around for the trash.
I just finished that book, and I completely agree. I thought I was going crazy when the author mixed up the names!
FYI, the end does not get any better. I actually figured the whole thing out about halfway through the book, so the twist was not a twist for me.
It was also absurd that the police officer who was there to protect the family also tolerated, if not encouraged, sex between the minor children.
I don't know if you have read his other book, Somebody I used to Know, but it was just as strange, and I felt the ending was ridiculous! I didn't realize they were written by the same person until I had started the second book or I wouldn't have picked it up.
Last edited by raindrop101; 08-04-2016 at 05:53 PM..
A recent trip to the library was very productive. I found a couple of books - I'll read 50 pages or so of one, then switch to the other one, as I tend to do.
Ten Days to D-Day: Citizens and Soldiers on the Even of the Invasion, by David Stafford
This is not a book about D-Day but of the final days before, from the point of view of numerous individuals who would be involved in the Allied invasion of Europe in 1944 on both sides of the battle. The political commanders, such as Churchill, whose decisions had been made and was now left to wait, and Hitler, who nervously awaited what he knew was coming, though without any details. The military commanders, such as Eisenhower, who had put the pieces in place and now had to make the call as to when to launch, and De Gaulle, who the Allies kept in the dark to the very last minute. The books also tells the stories of Allied soldiers, who knew the invasion was coming but didn't know when or where, and who watched as their communications and movements were increasingly limited and finally halted entirely as D-Day approached, of intelligence operatives and members of the French resistance and German soldiers manning the Atlantic Wall. Recommended.
The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle, by Lillian Faderman
This is essentially the story of gays in America in the context of their battles against the power structures that oppressed and marginalized them - the government, the military, the police, colleges and schools, private businesses, and society at large. I was somewhat familiar with the major events, such as Stonewall. That doesn't occur until sometime after page 170 in this exhaustive work. On one hand, the book is a sad testament of lives that were either unhappily lived in the closet or badly battered if not destroyed when an individual dared come out. But as with all civil rights movements, it is populated with a number of admirable individuals courageously risking much for others, many of whom they would never even meet. It is also a reminder that America, like every society, is always a work in progress, and that our best days are now rather than in the past, and that even better ones await in the future. Highly recommended.
I'm going camping for four days next week with no children. It's a big group of adults and the men are doing all the major cooking. Therefore my plans are to read and nap a lot. I bought The Girl on the Train and The Assistants, and I will bring a couple of loves--probably Anne of Green Gables and some science-fantasy fluff. I've been wanting to reread the Xanth series, so I will see if my library carries the first book.
I just read Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis.
What an incredible book! It's about a guy who rises from a poor kid raised in Ohio with roots in Appalachia to a Yale educated lawyer. It's not a typical "if I pulled myself up by my bootstraps anyone can." In telling the story of his family, the author makes the reader understand poverty in depth, and why some can get out of it while some remain trapped in it.
I'm going camping for four days next week with no children. It's a big group of adults and the men are doing all the major cooking. Therefore my plans are to read and nap a lot. I bought The Girl on the Train and The Assistants, and I will bring a couple of loves--probably Anne of Green Gables and some science-fantasy fluff. I've been wanting to reread the Xanth series, so I will see if my library carries the first book.
Have fun.
Quote:
Originally Posted by IheartWA
I just read Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis.
What an incredible book! It's about a guy who rises from a poor kid raised in Ohio with roots in Appalachia to a Yale educated lawyer. It's not a typical "if I pulled myself up by my bootstraps anyone can." In telling the story of his family, the author makes the reader understand poverty in depth, and why some can get out of it while some remain trapped in it.
That one sounds good. Thanks for that
I finished reading a variety of books. I read A Boy Called It about a heartbreaking story of abuse of a young boy at home. It was a strange case as he and his brothers had a good and loving family life early on. Then his mother turned on him but no one else. I guess I will have to read the next books to find out why.
I finally, after checking this out from my library several times, read Before The War Began about some Australian Teens who come back from a camping trip to find everyone is gone. It is their fight to find out what happened and how to survive when their country has been taken over. It was good but not great for me.
I loved On My Own At 107 Life Without Bessie. What a sweet tribute to Sadie’s sister after being together for 102 years. I loved their first book, Having Our Say, about these feisty sisters.
Has anyone read Burning Bright by Ron Rash? I read it and liked although I have to admit I didn’t “get” all of the stories. It is a collection of short stories set in the south. I actually know and have been to many of the towns. It is a sad look at some of the realities about some of the poor people here.
Next I read Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town. This is the true story of some very courageous young women who came forward after being raped by football players and others on their college campus. It tells what they went through, how they felt, and what a nightmare it was to deal with the police and take it to a criminal level. Rape on college campuses is a fairly common problem and usually it is done by young men that these girls know. More people need to be made aware and support the girls that this happens to. Sadly too many of these men get away with it because they “know” they can. Anyway it was very insightful as to what rapists are really like and who they are. This book should be read by more people as there are way too many misconceptions about rape.
Now I am going back and forth between two books. The first is a light one, If You Ask Me by Betty White. She is just a fun lady and has a great outlook.
Also I am reading The Long Home by William Gay. Someone here recommended him. Some of you would call his writing beautiful and lyrical. It is but is is also slow moving and I really want to get to it so I can figure out what is going on, lol. It starts out in 1933 and ten skips to 1944 in the somewhere in the south.
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