Yells 2021: Let's try this again

For the last few years, I have moved from posting to mostly lurking. RL got in the way and I found that my reading pace dropped dramatically. I wasn't going to start a thread this year, as I expected more of the same, but somewhere along the way, I hit my stride. So thanks to all you enablers who posted tantalising reviews of some superb books. I lurked, I took more book bullets than I dodged and somehow, somewhere, I found my reading mojo.

January Review
Leave the World Behind by Alam
In the Heat of the Night by Ball
Strangers on a Train by Highsmith
Parable of the Sower by Butler
Parable of the Talents by Butler
The Library Book by Orlean
Sourdough by Sloan
Men in the Sun and Other Palestinian Stories by Kanafani
One by One by Ware
Qualityland by Kling
Troubling Love by Ferrante
Vanity Fair by Thackeray

Favourite: Vanity Fair - such fun!

Notable mentions: I discovered Octavia Butler this month! The Parables series was good but I was blown away by Kindred (read in February). Leave the World Behind was an interesting dystopia but Moon of the Crusted Snow by Rice was much better. Sourdough was a Santathing pick and enjoyably quirky.

Disappointments: None really. It was pretty good reading month.

February Review
Jonny Appleseed by Whitehead
Max Havelaar by Multatuli
Butter Honey Pig Bread by Ekwuyasi
Kindred by Butler
Journey to the Alcarria by Cela
At Swim-Two-Birds by O'Brien
The Hunting Party by Foley
The Desolations of Devil's Acre by Riggs
A Spark of Light by Picoult
Moon of the Crusted Snow by Rice
A Suitable Boy by Seth
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by McCullers
My Bookstore by Rice
Bossypants by Fey
The Borrowers by Norton

Favourite: The one that has stuck with me is Kindred. I don't generally read a lot of sci fi (trying to rectify that), so I have always overlooked Butler. If fact, I only picked up one of her books because of the Monthly Read thread. I also read the Parable series and bought a few others.

Notable mentions: I started reading the Canada Reads nominees this month: Jonny Appleseed and Butter Honey Pig Bread were both fantastic. A Suitable Boy was read over 6-months and while it was a wonderful read, I was happy to be finished with it. If you love dystopian novels, give Moon of Crusted Snow a read.

Disappointments: Not really sure why I rated The Hunting Party a 1-star but do remember being really bored with it. I love a good thriller/mystery, but this one had a few too many tropes in it.

I really need to give out more 4 1/2 and 5 stars. Hmmmm

March Review
Klara and the Sun by Ishiguro
Garlic and Sapphires by Reichl
Hench by Walschots
Unsheltered by Kingsolver
Transcendent Kingdom by Gyasi
Summerwater by Moss
A Town Called Solace by Lawson
Serpentine by Kellerman
Nomadland by Bruder
The Consequences of Fear by Winspear
From ABBA to Zoom by Mansour
Faithless in Death by Robb
Where the Crawdads Sing by Owens

Favourite: My favourite was Canada Reads title (and one I never would have picked up on my own) Hench. I really hate superhero movies and such. I got dragged to the first X-Men movie and fell asleep so you can imagine how much I was looking forward to reading this book. Then I realised that it's actually an anti-superhero novel written from the point-of-view of a henchwoman - my interest was piqued. Oh my word, what a ride this one was! I've read some amazing books this year, but this is the one that I keep thinking about (which is why I am changing my rating and giving it a rare 5-star).

Notable mentions: Klara and the Sun (wasn't too impressed at the beginning but it really grows on you), Unsheltered, A Town Called Solace (gotta plug my Canlit) and Transcendent Kingdom. I discovered Moss this month - Summerwater was a lovely book to spend an afternoon with.

Disappointments: Very underwhelmed by Where the Crawdads Sing and The Consequences of Fear (and I usually love Maisie)

April Review
Five Little Indians by Good
Thinking Inside the Box by Raphel
Hideous Kinky by Freud
First Person Singular by Murakami
Veronika Decides to Die by Coelho
The Pull of the Stars by Donoghue
Some Days Wernicke
The Starless Sea by Morgenstern
Annie John by Kincaid
They Shoot Horses, Don't They? by McCoy
The 42nd Parallel by dos Passos (USA Trilogy)
1919 by dos Passos (USA Trilogy)
In a Sunburned Country by Bryson

Favourite read: I just bumped up my rating on Five Little Indians. Excellent fictional book about residential schools and rather timely in light of the horrors recently discovered here in Canada.

Notable mentions: My reading seems to be greatly influenced by world events as I also read The Pull of the Stars. This one takes place in the maternity ward during the influenza outbreak. I love how Donoghue's books are all quite different from each other. I also started the USA Trilogy and really enjoyed the different ways dos Passos chose to tell his story.

Disappointments: Some Days was a free children's book (can't resist free) and I found it rather strange. But I'm obviously not the target market, so maybe kids would like this better. I think I would have liked Hideous Kinky if I didn't hate the mother so much. Beautiful descriptions of Morocco, but I couldn't get past how cavalier mom was about taking care of her kids.

May Review
The Broken Girls by St James
White Fragility by DiAngelo
American Rust by Meyer
A Severed Head by Murdoch
The Big Money by dos Passos (USA trilogy)
Heartbreak Tango by Puig
Whereabouts by Lahiri
The Saga of Gosta Berling by Lagerlof
The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick by Handke
Blood Meridian by McCarthy
There There by Orange
How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House by Jones
Unsettled Ground by Fuller
No One is Talking About This by Lockwood
Thousand Cranes by Kawabata
Play It As It Lays by Didion

Favourite read: I have been working my way through the Women's Prize short list and gotta say, the list this year is wonderful. I honestly don't care who wins, but No One is Talking About This was my favourite. At first I was rather irritated by the writing structure; I have a love/hate relationship with social media so writing disguised as tweets seemed weird. But I soon realised that this structure is absolutely essential to the story and it wouldn't have had the same impact if written in a more traditional way. By the end, I was blown away by everything.

Notable mentions: Unsettled Ground & How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House are also really good shortlisted books. I've also been trying to read more books by Indigenous authors and discovered There There - highly recommended!

Disappointments: No real disappointments this month - yay!

June Review
At Night All Blood is Black by Diop
Platero and I by Jimenez
The History of Tom Jones by Fielding
England Made Me by Greene
Whatever by Houellebecq
Intimacy by Kureishi
Cakes and Ale by Maugham
Timbit Nation by Stackhouse
Rilla of Ingleside by Montgomery
Rainbow Valley by Montgomery
The Answer is... Reflections on My Life by Trebek
Interior Chinatown by Yu

Favourite read: At Night All Blood is Black by Diop was fantastic. I love the way he builds up his sentences by repeating things while slowly adding new thoughts. Horrific storyline with beautiful prose.

Notable mentions: Who knew I liked Fielding? I loved reading about the adventures of poor Tom Jones. Also enjoyed Interior Chinatown. A cleverly written tongue-in-cheek look at stereotypes.

Disappointments: Timbit Nation - I hate dissing Canadian books but this travel across Canada was boring and the author was annoying.

At some point through the year, I also listened to the audiobook versions of all the Harry Potter books, the Hunger Games trilogy and I am just finishing up the Games of Thrones series. I find listening to audiobooks, especially listening to ones that I have read already, is a great way to pass the time while I am cleaning, working or whatever. I'm finding that I need background noise in my old age and stuff that doesn't require a great deal of concentration fits the bill.

July Review
Consent by Lyon
Piranesi by Clarke
Men Explain Things to Me by Solnit
Migrations by McConaghy
The Glass Hotel by Mandel
The Vanishing Half by Bennett
This is How You Lose the Time War by Gladstone
At the Water's Edge by Gruen
Swann’s Way by Proust
Dictionary of Lost Words by Williams
An Island by Jennings

Favourite read: I think Piranesi and This is How You Lose the Time War are tied for faves this month. Both were just so different from the other stuff I read and I loved spending afternoons with them. Piranesi wins for inventiveness and This is How You Lose the Time War wins for world-building.

Notable mentions: I didn't expect to like The Vanishing Half as much as I did. There seemed to be something familiar about it when I started so I was expecting a rehash of the same sort of story told time and time again. I was pleasantly surprised in the end. I finished An Island just in the nick of time and so it ekes in here.

Disappointments: At the Water's Edge by Gruen I suppose. I loved Water for Elephants, but I've been disappointed by her stuff since.

That's a great list of good books you've finished, Danielle! Very well done.

Wow! I'm so glad you hung out a shingle on CR. I think we are going to have some overlap in reading tastes, and I look forward to following along.

>2 Yells: I read Kindred years ago, and liked it, although not as much as Beloved. Then I too read the Parable books this year and liked them even more. Do you have plans to read any other books by Octavia Butler?

>3 Yells: Wasn't Moon of the Crusted Snow good? The imagery and mood has stayed with me in a way that few books do these days.

I read A Suitable Boy a number of years ago and remember enjoying it, but got bogged down at some point and tagged it "bookmark stuck."

Have you ever seen the animated film The Secret Life of Arrietty directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi? It was based on The Borrowers, and I thought it was fantastic.

>4 Yells: Klara and the Sun is on my wish list, and I look forward to reading it more every time I see a review of it.

I need to get back to Maisie. I left off at In this Grave Hour.

>5 Yells: I haven't read any of Murakami's short stories, but have enjoyed several of his novels. Are you a fan?

What did you think of The Pull of the Stars? I may read it next after Wolf Hall.

I've read a few of Bryson's travel books. A Walk in the Woods remains my favorite, but In a Sunburned Country is second.

>7 Yells: Ah, Montgomery... I miss the days when my daughter and I used to listen to these on audiobook as we commuted to and from her school. We visited PEI at the height of her passion for Anne. Although I had read most of Montgomery's books as a child, it was sharing them with my daughter that I treasure most. Megan Follows, yay or nay?

So many good books here. What will you read next?

>10 kidzdoc: I can only thank (curse?) everyone around this group for offering up such amazing suggestions. If you see any familiar titles, the idea probably came from your thread.

>11 labfs39: After reading the Parable series, I immediately bought more of her stuff. Her book covers always made me think that she was a hard core sci-fi author so I never really gave them any thought. I actually discovered her because of the Monthly Read thread. I guess the moral of the story is to never judge a book by its cover :)

I love dystopian fiction and I've been trying to read more indigenous authors so Moon of the Crusted Snow really fit the bill.

I have not seen The Secret Life of Arrietty but will have to check it out. I'm realising that there are a lot of kids/YA books that I missed out on in my youth so I try to slip a few in here and there, hence the reread of the Anne stories. I can't picture anyone but Megan Follows as Anne! I remember my sister painstakingly recording the series on VHS back in the day. She spent a lot of time trying to avoid commercials and time everything just so. One day we were watching the big kiss scene and I tried to pause it but instead hit record. I'm not sure I've ever been forgiven for that.

I really seem to like odd literature (and this list is full of oddities). Ballard, Houellebecq, Kotzwinkle and definitely Murakami. Murakami's short fiction is just as good as his tomes IMO.

I did enjoy The Pull of the Stars. I think the only one of Donoghue's that I didn't care for was The Wonder. I haven't read Akin yet so might give that a go soon.

Loves me some Katz! I've read almost all Bryson's travel stuff (plus some of his others) and find him quite enjoyable. I love listening to him narrate his own audiobooks, especially when he is reading about something that obviously irritated him. I think there is a good reason why he generally travels alone.

Next I'm working on Swann's Way by Proust and Dictionary of Lost Words by Williams.

>13 Yells: I think there is a good reason why he generally travels alone. Lol. True! I heard Bryson speak years ago, and he was (not unexpectedly) very funny. I hadn't thought of listening to him on audiobook, perhaps because I haven't listened to any since I stopped listening with my daughter in the car, but I can imagine how good he would be.

On my word - you certainly got back into a reading stride! Wow - I can't imagine myself ever hitting that many books a month. Excellent effort!

>16 AlisonY: Covid shutdowns and a total lack of social life have done wonders for my reading pace! Things are opening up again in Canada so we’ll see what happens to this pace in late summer.

Booker Prize longlist nominees

The longlist is revealed! Always exciting to see what makes the cut. I was rather surprised to see that I have already read three from the list - that never happens. And I just finished a fourth.

An Island by Jennings.



This short little book really packs a lot in. Samuel is the lone caretaker of a lighthouse on a small island. He's been there for many years and his only contact with the outside world is a supply delivery every two weeks. One day his quiet little world is rocked when a half-dead body is washed up on his beach. The novel takes place over four days, but woven in are glimpses of Samuel's past. As he nurses the interloper back to life, we learn about the circumstances that led Samuel to this lonely little island.

One thing that I found really interesting is the look at all the different forms violence can take. Samuel grows up poor in a country led by a violent dictator and so violence becomes a normal part of his upbringing. Even later on when he finally settles on the island, he is still fighting the demons in his head. I read an interview with the author where she talks about growing up in South Africa and how that affects her writing.

Klara and the Sun by Ishiguro.



This one had a slow start, but once it got going, I found it to be a pretty amazing book. Klara is a cutting-edge robot designed to be a companion for humans. She comes across as very human-like, but Ishiguro is careful to also give her robotic flaws so we never stop seeing her as AI. She is bought and becomes the companion of a young girl named Josie who is suffering from some sort of illness. Since Klara is solar-powered, she is programmed to know that sun=life. Unfortunately, she has no ability to know what life actually is, or how her life is different from a human life, but she does know that the sun will help Josie, so she spends her time trying to figure out where the sun goes. I loved Never Let Go and found this one asked a lot of the same questions - what makes a human a human?

A Town Called Solace by Lawson.



I was really excited to see that Lawson had a new book coming out (her first in nearly a decade) and even more excited to see it on this list. Go Canlit! It's about a family living in Northern Ontario in the 70s. The older daughter Rose has run away and now the family is trying to pick up the pieces while they wait for news. Her sister Clara seems to be the most affected by Rose's disappearance as she spends day sitting vigil in the window hoping for a sign. Her one distraction is her promise to the elderly neighbour to watch her cat while Mrs Orchard is in the hospital. The story is told through three different voices; Clara, Mrs Orchard and Liam Kane, a strange man who has moved into Mrs Orchard's home. It's a lovely novel about family and about moving on. I will say that I didn't find it as strong as her other works including Crow Lake.

No One is Talking About This by Lockwood.



I read this months ago and I am still thinking about it. Absolutely blown away by this book. At first it really irritated me. I don't have a lot to do with social media and have never used Twitter, so when I realised that the novel was written as if each thought was a tweet, I almost stopped right away. But, the Pearl Rule prevailed (and I paid money for this one so I wasn't going to let it go without a fight), and I am SO glad I did. I won't say a lot about the story, as that would give too much away, but it had to be written in the style it was. Anything else wouldn't have had the same power behind it. It's also nominated for the Women's Prize so I really hope that it takes at least one.

Up next is Light Perpetual by Spufford as I own a copy of that. Hopefully there are some other gems waiting for me to discover.

Welcome, and nice to see your thread. I like your taste in books - of the ones I've read we seem to agree on the ratings! I enjoyed Pull of the Stars and didn't care much for At the Water's Edge. Also underwhelmed by Where the Crawdads Sing. I envy how much you read in a month! I manage 4 if I'm lucky. I will definitely pay attention to where you give 5 stars. I would like to read more Canadian authors, since my grandfather came from Canada. At the moment, I'm on a Daniel Boone kick since my mother's ancestors accompanied him and his sons to Kentucky and Missouri.
Laurel

>19 WelshBookworm: Pull up a chair and help yourself to some tea. Ironically enough, my grandfather was from Wales so we are practically family :)

To be honest, I've surprised myself with the amount of reading I've gotten done this year. Covid lockdowns, working from home and having no kids definitely helps.

I usually follow two of the bigger Canadian literary awards, the Giller Prize and the Governors General Award.
It looks like the Giller longlist will be announced in early September. so I'll be all over that soon. One thing I was going to post this week is a summary of the books I read in March for the Canada Reads debate. Butter Honey Pig Bread and Hench were my favourites this year.

It's always nice to read when you have a personal connection to a topic, isn't it? Hope you are enjoying your American trek!

I'm actually just south of you in Minnesota. My ancestors are 10 generations removed from Wales! But yes, indeed, the global Welsh community is like a big family. I just got back from a weeklong Welsh Heritage course in Scranton PA where I taught the folk dancing class. I used to have a dance group here in Minnesota (until we all got too old - ha ha) but I still teach Welsh language students. That's been going since 1994! Where are you in Canada?

>18 Yells: The Ishiguro was already on my list, but you've piqued my interest in No One is Talking about This. Like Laurel says, if you've raved about a book, I'll probably enjoy it too.

Wow, you already have a great head start on the Booker Prize longlist, Danielle! I'm glad that you enjoyed those four books.

That reminds me: I haven't set up threads for the longlisted books in the Booker Prize group yet. I'll do so today, or tomorrow at the latest.

>21 WelshBookworm: I'm in Ontario, about an hour southwest of Toronto, so oddly enough, I'm south of you! I'm more in line with the north part of Iowa I think. I've travelled in Illinois and Wisconsin, but haven't been it far enough west to explore Minnesota yet. We were thinking of a road trip to Winnipeg (Human Rights Museum) in the distant future and thought we would probably take the long way there through Chicago (Giordanos and Powells!) and then up through Wisconsin and Minnesota. I might see your great state one day.

I'm rather ashamed to say that despite coming from Welsh and Northern Irish stock, I haven't been to either country (although I've made it to England and Scotland) nor do I know much about either side. But, since my father was born in Belfast and has never made it make there, I guess I come by it honestly :)

>22 labfs39: Ah! The pressure! Just kidding :) I have a weird love/hate relationship with social media and this book hit on all the issues I have with some people's obsession over it. The first part made me laugh/cringe while the second part hit me like a sledgehammer. I'd love to hear other people's opinions about it.

>23 kidzdoc: Usually when a longlist is posted, I'm lucky if I've read one. I should buy a lottery ticket...

I'll check out the Booker Thread at some point this week and post some comments there. Thanks for organising it all!

>24 Yells: Yes, you would be south of me then! That is the area my family comes from: The Bay of Quinte is where the Bradshaws settled, and many are still in the Belleville / Kingston area.

August Review
The Night Watchman by Erdrich
Light Perpetual by Spufford
The Promise by Galgut
The Guest List by Foley
The Other Mrs by Kubica
Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Collins
The Sweetness of Water by Harris
Antic Hay by Huxley
The Library of Lost and Found by Patrick
Bloodless by Preston
Second Place by Cusk

Favourite read: I continued my Booker journey and really enjoyed The Promise and The Sweetness of Water.

Notable mentions: The Night Watchman

Disappointments: I read a few disappointing mysteries but the one I really didn't enjoy was Light Perpetual.

Light Perpetual by Spufford



Booker Prize longlist nominee

I finished this one a few days ago and decided to hold off reviewing it to let my thoughts marinate a bit. I think it's safe to say that I was disappointed for a few different reasons. Spufford got the idea for the story from a plaque commemorating an incident that happened in 1944 when a bomb was dropped on a London area Woolworth store and 168 people were killed. He wondered what would happen to those lost lives if the bomb never happened and this book was a result. It starts off strongly - I absolutely loved the first section where he intersperses the trajectory of the bomb with the shoppers blissfully going about their business. He writes in such minute detail and it really sets the scene. I was hooked and couldn't wait to continue.

Spufford decided to choose a group of kids (entirely fictitious) and he re-imagined their lives with no bombing. The rest of the novel is split into different voices and we get a peek into each life every 15 years or so as they age. This sounded like a cool premise for a novel so I was rather excited to see where he went with it. As I read on, the problems started.

First of all, the whole reason for the book is to write an alternative ending to the bombing, but there was nothing in their lives that even remotely links to that bombing. It's a collection of stories about various people who grow up in the shadow of WWII. If he skipped the part about the bomb, it would have been the same story. Heck, it could have been a story about five kids who went to elementary school together and it would have been the same story. I actually stopped reading at one point and went off to look up reviews just to see if I had missed some major detail. Oddly enough, I found that most professional reviews gave the novel glowing praise while most individual reviews brought up the same issues I had with it.

Without that focal point, the novel is just a look at the various lives of five children. If he wrote about five children surviving the bomb and how it affected them throughout their lives, it would have made a lot more sense. As it was, my irritation with the lack of connection overshadowed everything else and I found most of the novel to be a slog.

Now maybe someone else can read this one and tell me what I missed!

>29 Yells: Hm, I was looking forward to this one. I'd still read it though.

Your notes make me wonder if this was not the whole point - showing that without the bomb, there would not have been anything interesting really.

>30 AnnieMod: Never thought about it from that angle. That could work…. Maybe that is what I was missing.

I think I was expecting the butterfly effect. Here are all the things that will now happen that shouldn’t or all the things that will never happen kind of thing. It would have been a completely different book of course, but the connection to the bombing would have made sense. If nothing changes, then why read the book? I dunno. This one has me a little perplexed (not hard).

>31 Yells: Well, you may have answered your own question - noone really tells the stories where nothing happens - the books tell about the things that do happen and every time when someone pulls off a story about characters that could have died, they end up doing interesting things - because people like the buterflies. Life does not work that way though and just because you get killed by a bomb does not mean that you would have become the best novelist in the world had you lived (or something) or that your life would have been in anyway interesting. The banality of war and life and all that.

As I said - I am thinking solely based on what I had read about the book so far and your notes :) My library should be getting this one to me in a few weeks so we will see if I think the same after I read it.

>29 Yells: I'll give this one a pass.

>32 AnnieMod: True enough! I am curious to see what you make of it. Darryl started threads for each title over on the Booker Prize thread so hopefully others chime in as well.

>33 labfs39: Oh dear! Don't let me sway you. Most of the professional reviewers raved about it so what do I know. I really do feel like I am missing something with this book and if the author's aim is what Annie pointed out above, then I was really overthinking things.

>34 Yells: there was nothing in their lives that even remotely links to that bombing

I think this would annoy me as well. Why write about something as dramatic as a bombing and then not use that as a plot point moving forward? Doesn't make sense.

Without that focal point, the novel is just a look at the various lives of five children

I am interested in reading about how people/children deal with trauma (the reason I was interested in the book), less so in family dramas about ordinary people leading ordinary lives. I get enough of that by looking out my window. In part I read to learn: about other cultures and time periods, or philosophical and moral questions about life. While the premise of the book seems to fit the bill, the execution does not.

As an aside, did you see the Up series of documentary films? It's a longitudinal study that follows the lives of 14 British children every seven years for over fifty years. I watched the first few, and they were fascinating. The structure of Light Perpetual reminds me of this.

The Promise by Galgut



Booker Prize longlist nominee

Another booker nominee and one that I really enjoyed. This one is set in South Africa during apartheid and it focuses on a white family living on a farm in Pretoria. At the funeral of her mother, Amor overhears her father promise their maid Salome the deed to the property where she lives, despite current laws that prohibit this. The promise then sets the backbone for the rest of novel.

It's a fascinating look at not only apartheid and class distinctions and also a family in decline as they navigate through the years. I haven't read anything else by Galgut but will definitely seek out some of his other stuff.

>35 labfs39: I will have to check out the Up series - thanks for the heads up!

>36 Yells: Great to hear this is another solid book from Galgut. I've read 3 others by him - one was a miss but two of them I really enjoyed. His writing is quite dark and moody but I like it.

>37 Yells: I love the Up series! The kids were just a year younger than I am, so fascinating to see how they've navigated life. Ordinary, yet extraordinary at the same time.

The Guest List by Foley



I struggled with rating this one. I originally gave it a higher rating because she writes well enough, but it's just too much like The Hunting Party with all the usual tropes - annoyingly moody rich people plus wanna-be-rich friends stuck in a remote area for (insert event). Mix in a little 'secrets from the past that won't stay buried' and you get a Foley novel. An entertaining way to spend an afternoon, but interchangeable with a hundred other thrillers on the market today.

I am a third of the way through another Booker nominee, The Sweetness of Water and it's fantastic so far.

I'm glad that you enjoyed The Promise, Danielle. It's one of the Booker Prize longlisted novels that I'm most eager to read, since I have enjoyed several of Damon Galgut's earlier books. I'll try to get to it this month, or in early September at the latest.

The Other Mrs



In an effort to find something that my scattered brain can focus on this week, I decided to give this audiobook a try. Never read this author before, but Netflix picked it up so I figured it would have some merit. Well, I was wrong. Awful writing (when it's being read, you really notice when words or phrases are used over and over again), an unbelievable storyline and really stupid, annoying characters. Oh, and 'twists' that you seeing coming a mile away.

Obviously I am not the target market for this book. I really need to accept that I don't like modern thrillers anymore. Why do I keep doing this to myself? Argh....

>41 kidzdoc: Now that was a book I did enjoy :) Galgut wasn't on my radar before but he certainly is now. Glad to know that his other stuff is good too.

Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes



A reread (or I guess, a re-listen). A few things now make sense, but I can't say I totally understand the reason behind the Hunger Games.

The Sweetness of Water



Booker Prize longlist nominee

I can't believe this is a first novel! Harris is definitely an author to watch. This is a wonderful novel of a small town struggling in the aftermath of end of the Civil War. We see things from several different angles: Prentiss and Landry are freed slaves who aren't sure what to do with their newfound freedom. George and Isabel, a married couple who have drifted apart over the years and are trying to find themselves and each other again. Caleb and August, lifelong friends with a big secret who are struggling with the changing landscape of their small town. And of course, various towns people confronted with their deep seated racist views. I think the ending was a little too pat, but other than that, I really liked this one.

Antic Hay



A strange novel about a group of friends navigating London after WWI. It's a rather silly novel without an actual plot. It did make me laugh, especially the pneumatic cushion.

The Library of Lost and Found



A fluffy book about a woman who finds herself after spending years taking care of others. It was a little sacchariney at times, but overall a fun book to pick away at.

Quite a varied selection lately!

Nice review of The Sweetness of Water; I'll definitely read it next month.

>48 labfs39: My mind is all over the place these and my reading choices definitely show that!

>49 kidzdoc: I think you’ll like this one. I was really impressed with the story.

September Review
The Power of Habit by Duhigg
The Evening and the Morning by Follett
The Sun is a Compass by Van Hemert
Pillars of the Earth by Follet
The China Room by Sahota
Golden in Death by Robb
The Water Dancer by Coates
The Unknown Soldier by Linna
Swimming Back to Trout River by Feng
Manhattan Transfer by dos Possos
We, Jane by Wall
Promise at Dawn by Gary
Notes From the Underground by Dostoevsky
American Dirt by Cummins
Old Bones by Preston
Broken, In the Best Possible Way by Lawson
City of Girls by Gilbert

The Power of Habit by Duhigg



Reminded me of Freakonomics. I'm not sure this will help me break some bad habits, but at least I now have a list of reasons why I can't stop :)

The Evening and the Morning by Follett



I read Pillars of the Earth years ago and loved it. I never continued on with the series so I figured this would be a good series of audiobooks to listen to next.

The Sun is a Compass by Van Hemert



Caroline, an ornithologist, and her husband embark on a 4,000 journey by foot & boat through the arctic. It's a lovely book about perseverance and hope.

Pillars of the Earth by Follet



A reread while I continue my adventures into Follet's medieval England.

The China Room by Sahota



Booker Prize longlist nominee

A beautiful yet rather creepy read set in rural Punjab in the 1920's and 1999. Part of the story looks at three young women who are married to three brothers but kept in seclusion so they never see who they actually married. Their only contact with their husbands are nightly visits in the dark China Room. The other half of the story is told through a descendant who travels back home and takes up temporary residence at the abandoned farm while he tries to get his life back together. As he slowly learns about his grandmother's life on the farm, he start to come to terms with his own life.

Golden in Death by Robb



Guilty pleasure. Considering how many are in the series, I find that they don't really get stale.

The Water Dancer by Coates



An odd book about slavery. Beautifully written and very imaginative, but in the end I was a little disappointed. I normally don't mind magical realism but I didn't like how she used it here. I liked Whitehead's reimagining better in The Underground Railroad

The Unknown Soldier by Linna



A very realistic novel about the horrors of WWII as seen through the eyes of a troupe of Finnish machine gunners.

Swimming Back to Trout River by Feng



Giller Prize longlist nominee

Yay! It's Giller Prize time again. For those not in the know, the Giller Prize is one of the highest literary honours in Canada. This novel looks at a family struggling in the aftermath of China's Cultural Revolution. Mom and dad both end up in the US but promise their young daughter that they will be reunited by her 12th birthday. She enjoys living in her rural Chinese village with her grandparents and doesn't really want to move. This is a debut novel for Feng and I really liked it.

Manhattan Transfer by dos Possos



I should have read this one first - to me it seemed like the rough draft for his USA trilogy.

We, Jane by Wall



Giller Prize longlist nominee

I wasn't really sure about this one when I started reading but once it got going, I loved it. Marthe is living in Montreal and coasting through life without much of a plan. One day she meets a fellow ex pat Newfoundlander and they strike up an unlikely friendship. 'Jane' (we never learn her real name) tells her a story about a small group of women, other 'Janes' who perform abortions in a tiny NFLD communities and soon Marthe finds herself drawn there. It's a story about the intricacies of friendship and the importance of belonging.

>61 Yells: I was curious as to why Swimming Back to Trout River was set in the US not Canada, so I read a little about the author. She was born in Shanghai, lived in San Francisco, earned her BA in Earth & Planetary Sciences (!) at Harvard, then MA and PhD in East Asian Languages & Culture. She is currently a professor at the University of Toronto. She's written a scholarly work and articles, but this is her first novel. Interesting.

>60 Yells: That is a great book. There are several movie versions, the most recent of which (the only one I've seen) is supposedly the most faithful to the book itself. My wife and I streamed it a few months back and found it to be very faithful to the novel.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Unknown_Soldier_(2017_film)

After publishing The Unknown Soldier, Väinö Linna, went back several generations in the main character, Kaskela's, family and wrote an epic trilogy, Under the North Star, that starts with with Kaskela's grandfather forging a farm out of the wilderness and takes the reader through almost a century of Finnish history, including their horrific civil war. I was told by a bookseller in Helsinki that this trilogy is considered by Finns to offer a realistic picture of Finnish history and national character. It's now hard to find in English translation, as the only publishers who offered the books in English have gone out of business (I'm pretty sure). Anyway, worth seeking out if you enjoyed The Unknown Soldier.

>64 labfs39: I find it really sad that a lot of books by Canadian authors aren't set here. There seems to be a lingering assumption in the publishing world that US settings sell better. I'm not sure I buy that any more but it prevails. In this case, Feng lived all over so it makes sense that she set her story in familiar places.

>65 rocketjk: I will admit, I read the book without knowing anything about Linna so I appreciate your comments. I will look for that movie as well. This might start me down a rabbit hole!

>64 labfs39: I was curious as to why Swimming Back to Trout River was set in the US not Canada

Yes, I was wondering about that too. Thanks for finding the explanation. The setting certainly makes me less interested in reading it.

>66 Yells: I find it really sad that a lot of books by Canadian authors aren't set here. Me too. I am sometimes surprised to learn that an author is Canadian because their books are set in the US. It's not as though authors have to write about their native land, but I do think it adds to my enjoyment when I learn about other places.

I almost purchased a Joseph Boyden book today, The Orenda, but I wasn't sure I was up for a potentially gruesome end. I read and enjoyed his Three Day Road. Now I see you gave Orenda four stars, and I wish that I had picked it up for later consumption.

I don't see any of Jacques Poulin's books in your catalog. Have you read any of his works? He's one of my favorite Canadian authors. I loved, loved, loved Translation is a Love Affair, and Mister Blue was a close second.

I'll almost certainly read China Room next month. It was one of the Booker Prize longlisted novels that I was most looking forward to reading, as I enjoyed his earlier novel The Year of the Runaways, which was shortlisted for the 2015 Booker Prize.

Swimming Back to Trout River sounds interesting, so I'll be on the lookout for it.

It's a shame that the Giller Prize doesn't seem to resonate with me, and possibly other readers, to the same degree that the Booker Prize and the National Book Awards in the US do. In my case I think it's due to prize overload at the time, as my focus is mainly on the Booker Prize during the summer and early autumn, and the National Book Awards starting in late summer, and it's all I can do to keep up with the longlists and shortlists for those prizes.

I completely agree with Lisa about Jacques Poulin, except that I liked Mister Blue (4½ stars) slightly more than Translation Is a Love Affair (4 stars). Both novels were published by Archipelago Books in the US, which I received as part of my annual subscription.

>68 labfs39: Boyden is a great author - I have read a few of his and despite rating them all 4-stars, Orenda is the one that stands out the most. It is gruesome and heartbreaking, but there is a slender thread of hope throughout. He is a master at setting up the scene and drawing you right in as an active observer.

I own a copy of Volkswagen Blues by Poulin but haven't read any others. There are definitely big holes in my CanLit education!

>69 kidzdoc: I'm rather fickle about prize lists. Some years, like this one, I am all over different lists and try to read at least half of the nominees. Other years I'm lucky to read a few off the short list. I love that there are so many interesting literary awards, but prize overload is definitely an issue at times. The big ones here are the Giller, the Governor General's Awards and the Writers Trust (I don't usually follow this one but googled it and it's now the Atwood Gibson Writers Trust - who knew?!?)

Another Poulin fan. I need to find my copy of Volkswagen Blues and see what all the fuss is about.

Promise at Dawn by Gary



A memoir of a rather unconventional childhood. Romain grows up in 1920/30s France with his devoted and overbearing mom by his side. She has big dreams for her only son and spends her days doing whatever she can to earn money so he can realise these dreams. I laughed and cried and cringed as I read about their exploits. I need to seek out the movie version.

Notes From the Underground by Dostoevsky



A short novel of a grumpy man who questions everything. For some reason, I always thought this was non-fiction and about Dostoevsky himself.

American Dirt by Cummins



I wanted to like this one more than I did. Cummins was trying to write a serious book but her characters were a little too over-the-top to be taken seriously. Mom just happens to find money any time she needs it? Son never complains about anything except a blister & seems to know everything about everything? A big bad gangster set on revenge but wouldn't you know, he has a soft side for bookstore clerks. The book had a weird soap opera feeling to it.

Old Bones by Preston



A straightforward thriller by an author team who I seem to have a soft spot for. A solid start to a new series.

Broken in the Best Possible Way by Lawson



After a stressful week, I wanted a guaranteed chuckle. I laughed myself silly while reading her first two memoirs, so I figured this would be a good choice. Unfortunately I think this is a case of an editor demanding a new book and an author going through the motions to have something to hand in. I did chuckle over the chapter of people's embarrassing moments so there is that.

>76 Yells: I mentioned on Thorold's thread just now about David Sedaris' humour waning on me the more I read him, and I wonder could this be a similar case of comedic writing just not feeling as funny the more books you read from the person?

>76 Yells: I couldn't get through even one of her books. What seemed funny at first, just wore on me after a while. Here's my review of Furiously Happy:
Not sure I should even offer a review, since I decided not to finish this book. Made it 126 pages. It was hilariously funny for about 30 pages, and after that it just seemed sad. Her zany, random train of thought - at times brilliant and at other times just silly - reminded me of Robin Williams. Is it the mental illness that drives this kind of manic humor? Or is it the other way around? This was a book club read that I didn't get in time to read for the meeting. Now it has a hold waiting for it and I can't renew, so back to the library it goes. I could re-request it, but I don't think I want to. Sooooooo many other books waiting to be read. This would be a great book to dabble in now and then for 30 minutes. But to sit and read cover to cover requires too much energy. It's like trying to keep up with a dog that is constantly saying "Squirrel!"

Astra by Bowers



Giller Prize Longlist Nominee

Continuing my journey down Giller Lane with this enjoyable book about Astra, a woman born and raised in a commune, trying to navigate the complexities of the outside world after she leaves. The novel is a series of snapshots of pivotal events in her life as she deals with growing up, motherhood and finding herself. I'm sad that this one didn't make the short list.

Glorious Frazzled Beings by Lalonde



Giller Prize Short List Nominee

A collection of short stories that did make the short list. I liked each story on its own, but as a collection, I didn't like how disjointed it was. Some stories had a magical, surreal quality while others were really straight forward and blunt. It felt like Lalonde was applying for a job and I was reading her portfolio that included everything she ever wrote from high school to present day. I wanted some kind of connection, however remote but it just wasn't there. One thing I did enjoy were the stories about animals - she plays around a lot with animal symbolism in a clever way.

The Listeners by Tannahill



Giller Prize Short List Nominee

This one made the short list and I can't for the life of me understand why it was even nominated. I really must be missing something because I didn't enjoy this book at all. It's about a woman who suddenly hears a low hum that no one else seems to hear. Eventually she discovers a handful of people who also hear it and they found a support group of sorts, but not before her life completes unravels and she loses everything near and dear to her. I found the characters to be really flat, especially her husband, and the story line was just too bizarre for my tastes (and I like bizarre!)

>77 AlisonY: >78 WelshBookworm: I connected with Lawson's rather blunt talk about mental illness & her struggles with anxiety and I giggled at her exploits in the world of costumed taxidermy. Her first book made me laugh a lot (mostly because some of her quirks are rather bizarre - see, I like bizarre!). Mid-way through the second book, it started getting old. I'm not sure how much of a gap there actually was between the two books, but because I read them close together, I just chalked it up to reading too much of the same thing. It's now been a few years so I hoped that her next memoir would contain something new, but again it's all the same recycled material. It felt like she was just writing stuff down as therapy, and if that is the case, kudos for her for finding something that works and pays the bills, but my life is too short to read the same stuff over and over again. I've got prize lists to finish :)

>80 Yells: It's about a woman who suddenly hears a low hum that no one else seems to hear.

Your review made me do a doubletake, because in grad school, this was me. Every day when I went into the main library, I would hear this annoying hum. Almost painful, like having bees in your head. Finally, one day I went to the front desk and told them I thought there was something wrong with their security gates, the ones that detect books that haven't been checked out. When a technician came, he said that there was someone in Kokomo that could hear the gates there too. Evidently I was hearing a frequency that most people don't. Fortunately, he adjusted the gates, and I was able to pass without issue. Unlike your protagonist, it was nothing sinister, and I didn't need to form a support group, for it would have been a small group. :-)

The Octopus has Three Hearts by Rose



Giller Prize Long List Nominee

Now this is a wonderfully written collection of short stories. Each one was unique on its own, but they all worked so well together. Rose writes about people damaged in different ways and explores how they deal with the ramifications of that damage. I'm surprised that this one didn't make the short list.

>82 labfs39: The human body is a weird and wonderful thing! I'm glad that someone took you seriously and the issue was resolved. I can't imagine having to listen to that every day while trying to do research. And I'm glad that you didn't suffer the same fate as this poor woman. In the space of a couple months, she loses her husband, her daughter, her friends, her job and her sanity (but she learns to harness the hum into a weird tantric-like group orgasm so at least she has that going for her)

>82 labfs39: "When a technician came, he said that there was someone in Kokomo that could hear the gates there too."

By any chance do you recall a comedian named Steven Wright? He had a very laconic delivery and most of his jokes were just very wry and short but twisted observations. You just reminded me of this one:

"I had a wall switch in my kitchen that didn't seem to be connected to anything. I got in the nervous habit of flipping it on and off while I was on the phone. Finally I got a post card from a woman in Germany telling me to cut it out."

>84 Yells: Ha! All I got was a headache.

>85 rocketjk: No, I hadn't heard of Steven Wright, but that's funny. Butterfly effect gone sideways.

>85 rocketjk:
Ah, I loved Steven Wright, and I remember that joke. I hadn't thought of him in years.

Finally visiting here. Love your energy and your Booker list and Giller reviews. I’m also reading the Booker list, but at a much lazier pace. I’m on book 3 - which is Light Perpetual, which made your review and the follow up discussion very interesting to me. I’ve struggled a bit (but have really enjoyed the T + 35 chapter, which i’m nearing finishing). I do suspect there connections to the bomb, that these five kids love haunted by it without understanding (charred ribs…or the abusive nazi boyfriend). But I’m not sure that’s really there. These are just various hard lives and they live in the shadow of everything that created and perpetuated wwii, as do we all. I’m kind of enjoying thinking about. His essays on extended precise sensual (as in senses) passages are a bit tiring and maybe i my attention drifts a bit there.

Also I enjoyed The Sweetness of Water and your review.

Also, I’m really curious how you took to Blood Meridian. And I’m really interested in your Dos Passos comments. I haven’t read Dos Passos.

The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway



On the surface, this is a novel about a group of friends travelling around Europe post WWI, drinking and dancing. Under the surface, is a fascinating look one's struggle to deal with a rapidly changing world and the aftermath of a devastating event.

Disappearance by Dabydeen



A conversation between a young Guyanese engineer and his English landlady while he is staying in a small English village overseeing a project; I really enjoyed the interplay between the two. I also liked Dabydeen's examination of racism. It's easy to see racism as a black/white issue but he explores the shades of grey in between.

Back from a busy week off. My parents moved so the beginning of the week was a blur of moving, purging stuff and cleaning. I had hoped that the rest of the week would be more relaxing and I could get some reading done, but the universe had other plans. Back in the spring, we had a contractor in to look at enclosing our porch. They called Monday to ask if it would be okay to start right away - we definitely weren't expecting that but we were really excited to finally have the project finished. Very impressed with the result! And then, instead of the quiet thanksgiving dinner we planned on Saturday, the out-laws decided to visit for the weekend so it turned into a slightly bigger family visit. it wasn't the week that I had planned, but a wonderful week nonetheless.

Now back to reality... I did manage to read a few books and I am halfway through two more.

>85 rocketjk: I love Steven Wright! I saw him live in 2006 and loved his deadpan delivery. I think we all have THAT switch don't we? The one that doesn't seem to do anything.. I wonder how many people I'm ticking off every time I forget and flick it :)

>88 dchaikin: Thanks for stopping by and for the lovely compliments!

I am really conflicted about Light Perpetual. If I skipped the first chapter and just read it as a book about damaged people moving through life, I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more. I don't know why I was so bothered by my perceived lack of link to the bombing, but it really irked me. I will admit, COVID fatigue has kicked in big time so I find that I am irritated by a lot of things that I didn't care about before. Maybe I'll give it a re-read in a few years and see if I still feel the same way.

Ah, Blood Meridian. I wrote this on another thread: Yikes, that IS a violent book. Is it brilliantly written? Yes. Was I in the mood to read about that much violence right now? No. I probably should have held off reading this one until well after COVID. I need happy thoughts these days. I think McCarthy is a brilliant writer, but his books are oh so dark. I've read The Road and All the Pretty Horses as well. I need another year off before I read another one! If you like this type of book but need some humour to add balance, try The Sisters Brothers by deWitt.

Dos Passos is also a brilliant writer. Manhattan Transfer was good but it read like a shorter version of the USA Trilogy and I didn't like it as much. If you have the time to devote to the trilogy, I would highly recommend it. I would suggest that you take your time with it because there is a lot to digest and savour. I read it too fast and got a little bored by the end.

>93 Yells: still working through Light Perpetual. I’m hoping to finish this week. Thanks on Blood Meridian and also on Dos Passos. I find Blood Meridian a fascinating awful linguistic thing. There is a lot of disgusting stuff to experience to get through, but yet I think it has a draw and leaves an impression on where the language takes it. Not sure there anything else quite like it at that quality. I loved All the Pretty Horses.

>93 Yells: I think Dos Passos is best in whichever you read first. I loved Manhattan Transfer, thought it was a brilliant work of story-telling and was bored by the USA trilogy. ;)

>95 ELiz_M: interesting! Manhattan Transfer is shorter…

>95 ELiz_M: Interesting indeed! I can see this being a fascinating thesis topic: how is one's reading experience affected by the order they read an author's works or even the order they read books within a particular genre.

Burnt Sugar by Doshi



Short listed for last year's Booker Prize. Tara was born to an affluent family but felt trapped by her wealth and by her new husband and daughter Antara. While mom travels around trying to satisfy her wanderlust, dad leaves to start a new family and never looks back. Antara is left being raised by others and bearing the brunt of her mother's anger and frustration. It's now years later and Antara is married with a newborn daughter of her own. Her mom is starting to forget things and it becomes increasingly apparent that she can't be left on her own.

I am also dealing with ageing parents so this one hit home. Thankfully I had a wonderful childhood and I don't have kids of my own, but I get the struggle of balancing various responsibilities and the guilt of feeling like you sometimes don't have enough of yourself to spread around. This is an incredible debut novel.

Bewilderment by Powers



Booker Prize shortlist nominee

I will start by saying that I tried to read The Overstory but didn't get too far. I am not a climate change denier by any means (this planet is rapidly going to hell in a hand basket and change was needed yesterday) but I don't particularly like things that are too preachy and this one felt preachy (it probably isn't, but I had just finished watching Avatar so I was feeling particularly punchy). When I saw that this was the same author, I will admit, I wasn't feeling all that eager to start. BUT... I started this one weeks ago and have savoured every bit of it. It's not even a long book, but I have taken my time slowly reading through and letting the mental images take over.

It's a story about a young boy, Robin, and his father dealing with the loss of mom. Robin is a rather unique nine-year old who has been assessed by many experts who can't decide whether he is autistic or has ADHD or whatever. He is an extremely sensitive child who feels everything deeply and has trouble coping with an irrational world. Dad is an astrobiologist and while he isn't against medication for his son, he decides to explore alternative therapies first.

The novel is a modern retelling of Flowers for Algernon and it certainly takes you on a roller coaster ride of emotions. I was a little surprised, and quite frankly let down, by the ending. It felt a little out of place, but the rest of the book is lovely.

>98 Yells: great review. I enjoyed Burnt Sugar too. Bitter yet kind of playfully so.

>99 Yells: also, this review is very encouraging. I hope to get to this. It will be my first by Powers.

>89 Yells: This one's been on my wish list forever. I really must buy it one of these days.

Nice review of Bewilderment; I'll get to it no later than next week.

The Son of the House by Onyemelukwe-Onuobia



Giller Prize Short List Nominee

A solid debut novel by Nigerian-Canadian author Onyemelukwe-Onuobia. Two women from different classes are kidnapped and held hostage. With nothing else to do while they wait, they open up to each other about their pasts and the circumstances that brought them together. As they open up to each other, they slowly realise that their lives are intertwined in unexpected ways.

I really enjoyed the novel, but there were some issues with it. The transition between past and present was clunky and parts were a little unbelievable. Overall though, this was a pretty good first novel and I look forward to seeing what she writes in the future.

This is Going to Hurt by Kay



Normally this kind of memoir is right up my alley. What's not to love about a medical resident spilling the beans about some of the more memorable patients he encounters? Maybe I am completely out of touch with what counts as humour these days, but this was downright offensive at times (especially considering I listened to the audio version read by the author and he couldn't keep the sneer out of his voice). Kind of glad that he hung up his stethoscope and found a new career.

The Outsiders by Hinton



Realising that I never read this YA classic (or even seen the movie), I found a library copy and rectified that gapping hole in my reading history. I had no idea that Hinton was only 15 when she started writing this! I was quite surprised at the depth of the novel. Maybe the kids are all right after all :)

Life for Sale by Mishima



An oddly quirky novel in the vein of The 100 Year Old Man and A Man Called Ove. Hanio just wants to die. After botching a suicide attempt, he decides to put an ad in the paper advertising his life for sale. What follows is a series of events that leaves him wondering if life might just be worth living after all. I'm not sure I want to seek out more of his stuff, but this was a fun read for a rainy afternoon.

Em: A Novel by Thuy



Giller Prize Long List Nominee

I love Thuy's works (and Fischman's translations of them) and I am so disappointed that this one didn't make the short list. Her books are short, but her language is so lyrical and poetic. Em is about the Vietnam War, specifically Operation Babylift, where thousands of biracial orphans were evacuated from Saigon. It's another book of intertwined characters who unknowingly affect each others lives. if you haven't read any of her stuff, I would highly recommend checking her out. I think Ru is my favourite so far.

>100 dchaikin: >102 kidzdoc: - I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed Bewilderment. Hope you both enjoy it as well.

>101 AlisonY: Hemingway is an author who I have been meaning to read but just never found the time for. I read The Old Man and the Sea a few times, once in school and hated it, and then again later on and loved it, but that's it. I think I will probably read A Farewell to Arms next.

Three more Bookers and four more Gillers - I'm slowly getting there! I'm enjoying Great Circle but I keep putting it aside for other stuff. I really need to become a woman of leisure.

>109 Yells: sounds like a good plan - a woman of leisure.

Fun reviews up there. Glad you’re enjoying Great Circle.

>107 Yells: Em sounds particularly interesting to me right now, because I just finished reading, and loved, The Mountains Sing by Nguyen Phan Que Mai. Have you read it?

>111 labfs39: I just bought a copy of that one ironically enough. I’ll read yours if you read mine :)

>112 Yells: LOL. It won't be published here in the US until the end of the month, but I've got my eye on it.

>104 Yells: Shame the Adam Kay book didn't work for you. I enjoyed it - I thought he nailed the NHS on just how utterly shambolic the system is, especially for junior doctors. I'm also aware of the other side of junior doctors - a young doctor I know told us about a habit many have of putting derogatory acronyms in medical notes as a jape with their peers (one was something like PUK - Pretty Ugly Kid). So perhaps I went into this one with my eyes already open and not expecting an impenetrable veneer of professionalism. I think we'd be horrified as patients if we knew half of what doctors say or think about us.

The Sorrows of Young Werther by von Goethe



My first Goethe novel. A sad little tale of unrequited love. A lot more accessible than I thought it would be.

The Light of Day by Swift



An odd tale of murder and revenge. Swift is a master at weaving together a narrative of past and present.

A Column of Fire by Follett



I finally finished listening to the excellent audio version of this series. I read Pillars of the Earth many years ago and loved the book. I bought the prequel and sequels throughout the years but never found the time to read it through until now. I will miss my literary companions :)

Thursbitch by Garner



Here John Turner was cast away in a heavy snow storm in the night in or about the year 1755. The print of a woman's shoe was found by his side in the snow where he lay dead

A mysterious tombstone from 300 years ago was the inspiration for this short novel. It's a rather surreal book where the lines of past and present get blurred. I wasn't sure what to make of it at first, but after reading about the inspiration for the novel, I have a greater appreciation for the reimagined story Garner tells. Oh, and Thursbitch is the name of the valley in case anyone is curious (I know I was) :)

>114 AlisonY: I probably would have enjoyed it better if I read it, but the sneer in his voice while narrating was a little much. But, as a Canadian, we have our own version of the NHS, so I understand some of the trials and tribulations that he encountered. I've heard that our doctors and nurses have their own shorthand like PUK - that always makes me giggle.

>115 Yells: cool : )

The Third Man by Greene



Not nearly as polished as his other works, but a fun little spy thriller for a rainy afternoon.

Fire & Blood by Martin



Meh. I loved Games of Thrones but I guess I'm just not that interested in what happened before.

Zorba the Greek by Kazantzakis



What does one say about Zorba? A larger than life figure with some very.... erm.... interesting views on women, religion and life in general. But there is an innocence there as well. I think I would be exhausted by someone like him in real life, but on paper, with some distance, I was more than a little charmed.

Enjoyed these last several.

>122 Yells: not really the same, but Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time prequel had none of the life of the rest of the series.

>123 Yells: sounds fun.

>124 dchaikin: I haven't tried Jordan yet, but he's been on my radar for a bit. I am trying to expand my sci-fi/fantasy reading. I'll be wary of the prequel if I ever get to him :)

On the Black Hill by Chatwin



A sorrowful tale about twin brothers growing up in rural Wales. The story begins with them as 80-year-old bachelors, still working the farm where they were born, and continues on to tell the story of their lives.

The Monk by Lewis



The Monk is touted as the first English language horror story, so I thought it appropriate to read in October. I can only imagine how scandalous this would have been for the time! A monk betraying his vows for the sake of a young woman, willing to make a deal with the devil to have her? A pregnant nun trying to escape to be with her lover? This book is jam packed with sex, violence and even a little black magic for spice.

The Crying of Lot 49 by Pynchon



I really can't say that I fully understood the point of this book, but I did enjoy Pynchon's fun with language, especially his character names. I'm a little more optimistic about reading some of his longer works.

>126 Yells: ooh, Chatwin. An author I need to revisit

>128 Yells: you didn’t pick up it’s about the Kennedy assassination? (I certainly didn’t and even knowing that struggle to see it.). You didn’t ask, but I recommend V., and maybe stop there. I liked his early short stories in Slow Learner. I needed a guidebook for Gravity’s Rainbow (it does reward if you put in the super ton on required effort.)

>129 dchaikin: Kennedy Assassination? Nope, of all the things I tried to find in there, that definitely wasn't one of them. I went in blind and came out just as blind. :)

An Obedient Father by Sharma



I finished this one late last night and initially gave it a 3 1/2 rating, but I think I will bump that a bit. I'm still thinking about this book.

I picked it up not knowing anything about it but I was intrigued by the title. This is not an easy book to read. Like Lolita, there are a lot of disturbing scenes, in this case, incest and rape. But there is also this fascinating power struggle between father and daughter. The novel occurs years after the rapes happened and father and daughter are forced to live together due to circumstance. Ram is a corrupt official, who is trying to keep all his secrets hidden, but one day everything bubbles to the surface when Anita finds him getting a little too close to her daughter and she finally confronts him.

What Strange Paradise by El Akkad



Giller Prize Shortlist Nominee

A powerful novel about the refugee crisis. Bodies keep washing up on the shores of an unnamed island. A makeshift refugee holding centre is overflowing with desperate people fleeing all kinds of horrors. Tensions on the island are high as the inhabitants try to deal with this escalating situation.

Amir, a young Syrian boy, defies the odds by surviving a shipwreck and escaping the soldiers patrolling the beaches. He is found by Vanna, a young inhabitant of the island, and she offers him temporary shelter. The novel is told in alternating chapters so we learn about the circumstances that lead Amir to the island, and about his subsequent fight to survive.

I liked American War better but this is a solid read.

Fall of Giants by Follett



Follett's chunksters have become my comfort reading these days. I listen to the excellent audiobooks while I putter around doing other things. This is the first of his Century trilogy and another enjoyable read. This one covers WWI and the Russian Revolution.

>133 Yells: I enjoyed this series, and John Lee’s narration added to the enjoyment. My only quibble was that by the third book he tried to squeeze in every major event with all of the related people being involved in some way to all of them. I still enjoyed it.

A Passage North by Arudpragasam



Booker Prize Short List Nominee

I've been dipping into this one for weeks and I'm sad to finish. It's one of those books that you want to read fast because you are in love with it, but also want to read slow and saviour each sentence. One day Krishan receives both a call informing him that his grandmother's caregiver has died and an email from an old lover. As he travels north to attend the cremation, both events stir up all sorts of pivotal memories in his life in India and war torn Sri Lanka. This novel definitely deserved a spot of the Booker list.

>135 Yells: I’m almost done with A Passage North.

Fight Night by Toews



Giller Prize Shortlist Nominee

Huh, a Toews book that I really, really enjoyed. At first, I was a little irritated by Swiv and her non-stop babble (I don't generally like stream-of-conscienceless novels), but the observations she makes of her unconventional life were so funny and sad and I quickly got lost in the story. It's a story of three generations living under one roof, trying to make sense of the world. Grandma is a hilariously feisty old lady, mom is a heavily pregnant, free spirited woman with some interesting views on child rearing and Swiv is a teen, struggling to find her place in this odd family. Very well done.

The Glimpses of the Moon by Wharton



I was all prepared to hate these two moochers and their marriage of convenience, but dang it, they made me fall in love with them by the end. I've read a few Wharton books and I think this is actually my favourite. It's a much more straightforward & simple story, but there's just something heart-warming about these two accidently falling in love with each other.

Cheese by Elsschot



An odd book about a man selling cheese.

Winter of the World by Follett



Part two of the trilogy. Still an enjoyable audiobook to listen to in the background.

Rabbits by Miles



I have an exam coming up, so my reading time has been reduced, but I did manage to squeeze this one in. It's Ready Player One meets Stranger Things with perhaps a little Inception thrown in. I'm a sucker for this type of book so I geeked out for a few evenings. Very enjoyable escape.

The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Cronin



I wanted a lighter read so of course I pick up a book set in the terminal ward of a hospital. Despite knowing that things aren't going to end well, the book was surprisingly optimistic. Lenni is 17 and living out her final days in an English hospital. One day she meets Margot, an 83-year-old free spirit, who is trying out the new art room. They realise that collectively they have lived 100 years and they decide to document life in a series of 100 paintings.

The book is rather clunkily written, but I enjoyed the message and had a fun time reminiscing with these two kindred spirits.

Murakami T by Murakami



So disappointed in this one! I love Murakami. I figured this would be a series of essays about some of his favourite shirts and why they were so important to him. But I was hoping for something a lot more fleshed out than what was published. I wanted insight into his life and why he writes what he writes; instead I got short notes on random shirts he pulled out of a box and bought because it had a turtle on it. The second part of the book was a long interview about the book, but even it didn't have any substance.

>112 Yells: It's the first night of Hanukkah, and I was fortunate enough to be gifted some books from my wish list, one of which is Em. I'll start reading it tonight.

Burmese Days by Orwell



A fascinatingly painful read about British rule in Burma. The extreme racism was really difficult to stomach so it took a while to read this one through.

Flory, a low level merchant, lives the bachelor life in Kyauktada. He straddles the line as he enjoys all the comforts of a British life but also has a Burmese mistress and Indian friend on the side. He belongs to the local European club, which is under pressure to open membership up to others, and he thinks Dr Veraswami would be a good candidate for nomination. This, of course, causes a whole host of problems and Orwell takes us on a journey of the effects of colonialism.

Edge of Eternity by Follett



The last one in the trilogy and I gotta say, I'm glad it's over. I've enjoyed the journey, but man, Follett packs EVERYTHING in here. I might need a nap or two.

Red and the Black by Stendhal



I've never read Stendhal before so this was an interesting foray into 19th century France and the super rigid social structure. Julien Sorel is a low born son of a carpenter with both a contempt for the Parisian elite and a longing to join them. He is quite smart and he uses his knowledge to land himself a plum job tutoring the mayor's kids. Except he hates everything about it... apart from the mayor's wife. Every time he moves incrementally up the social ladder, his past comes back to haunt him.

>143 labfs39: If you enjoy Em, try her others. Thuy is one of my favourite authors. Her books are short but so powerful. I absolutely love her writing.

Congrats on finishing Follet’s … well, eternity. Orwell on Burma and Stendhal sound fun.

>147 Yells: I will definitely look for more of Thuy's books. She's a great find, thank you!

The Maidens by Michaelides



I found this one to be poorly written and highly predicable (I never guess the killer) with a really odd storyline. His other book wasn't bad, but this was awful.

Tainna by Dunning



This just won the Governor General's Award for Literature in Canada and deservedly so. This is a beautifully written collection of short stories about displacement and loss. Tainna means 'the unseen ones'. The characters are all born in Canada's northern territories, but travel south for various reasons, and face all kinds of reactions from curiosity to racism, mere tolerance to outright violence. Very well done.

My Brilliant Friend by Ferrante



I wasn't sure about this one for the first half. Elena and Lila's seemed rather toxic & one-sided and parts read like a soap opera. I have read far too many books about women fighting with each other over silly things and thought this would be more of the same, but as they got older, their friendship started changing and got more complicated. By the end, I was invested and I am now well into part two.

Ferrante seems to elevate this friendship to a different level. Someone else here posted that they assumed they knew who the 'brilliant friend' was until they got to the end and as I read, I had that thought in the back of my mind. On the surface, there seems that Lila is in control of the friendship, but in reality, the balance of power bounces back and forth throughout. I am curious to see where it goes as they continue to age.

The Hiding Place by Tudor



Not a bad thriller, although I can't say that it all made sense. Tudor is good at setting up the scene, so parts were quite spooky. I might give The Chalk Man a go.

>152 Yells: not comments here yet, but hoping you enjoyed Ferrante.

Gentlemen Prefers Blondes by Loos



It's a short and quick read; the diary entries of Lorelei Lee, a flapper who travels the world, bending men to her will. There is a surprising depth to the character, which I wasn't expecting. I don't remember that depth coming through in the movie.

>154 dchaikin: Well, I'm well into part two so I think it's growing on me. I'm a little curious to see if I am still interested after four books

>156 Yells: It managed to keep my interest for all 4 books. Not everyone felt the same.

>156 Yells: I’m really glad it worked. I adore these books. I had trouble getting into book 1 on audio and then some lever flicked and i was engaged and it carried me through all four books. (I do have a favorite and it’s not book 1, but I did carry the audio voice from book one into reading the other three books.)

The Story of a New Name by Ferrante



I half listened/half read this one. I gotta say, I'm not sure whether this is a story of a really toxic friendship or a fascinating look at the raw, human side of a relationship. I keep wondering how different their lives would be if they never met and influenced each other in such profound ways. I will start the third one tonight and hope to finish the series before Christmas.

Hooked: Food, Free Will, and How the Food Giants Exploit Our Addictions by Moss



Finished this interesting look at why I have the occasional (frequent) craving for a Quarter Pounder even though I know it will make me feel awful after eating.

Bird Box by Malerman



A dystopian novel about an unknown horror that causes instant insanity if you view it. As such, we never find out what 'it' is, we just know that it lives among the survivors and only a blindfold can save you. Interesting premises and perhaps a little terrifying at times, especially considering the horror that is COVID. I haven't seen the movie (and probably won't now that I have read the book).

History of Rock ’n’ Roll in Ten Songs by Marcus



Loved the songs that he chose, but I really didn't like his writing style. He tries to pack a lot of information in and I found that in addition to it being really dense at times, it was also really jumpy (a non-fiction stream-of-consciousness?)

>159 Yells: wait. Yes, toxic. But did you like? Are you still into it?

>163 dchaikin: I am enjoying it. I am almost finished the third novel and have the fourth one ready on audio. I should be on schedule to finish this week and will add my overall thoughts then. I will say that they get better as they go.

Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Ferrante



This is my favourite one so far. There was a lot more about the political environment in Italy at the time, as well as the struggle of women trying to find their place in the changing world.

A Dream of a Woman by Plett



Awful cover - looking at this, I would think it was a horror book. Would you believe it's actually a collection of short stories about the concept of gender fluidity? I don't think the publisher did the author any favours with this cover.

The stories themselves were wonderful. There is one main novella 'Hazel and Christopher', told in snippets between the other stories. Hazel and Christopher are childhood friends who meet up later after one has transitioned. The other stories are also about transitioning, but there aren't what you would expect. Plett has a way of looking at things from a fresh perspective so I found myself getting really absorbed into the stories. Well done.

Indians on Vacation by King



What an odd book! It starts off as a humorous story about a couple on vacation in Prague, but you quickly find out that their global wanderings have a purpose. Uncle Leroy disappeared a hundred years ago with the family medicine bundle and now Mimi and Bird are travelling the world looking for clues. I loved the interplay between the two, optimistic Mimi enjoying the small things in the everyday vs pessimistic Bird who reminds me a lot of Bill Bryson.

>164 Yells: (yay!)

The Story of the Lost Child by Ferrante.



I wanted to finish the series by Christmas - squeaked in there right in the nick of time. Comments to come after a looong sleep.

>157 AlisonY: I finished the first book, but really have no interest in continuing it. Interesting to hear what others get out of it though. I think it just wasn't for me.

Dune by Herbert



A reread - I bought a few of the sequels so I thought a reboot would be a good idea. Listened to an excellent audio version and enjoyed it even more than the first time round.

The Trees by Everett



After seeing multiple reviews stating 'best book of the year', 'defies explanation' and 'WTF did I just read', I was intrigued enough to buy a copy and dive in. I can honestly say it's one of the best books I've read this year, I have no clue how to effectively describe it and honestly, WTF did I read? I immediately passed it to my husband to read and he is now giggling beside me. A hilariously funny and brutally honest book about racism - how's that for a description?

Forgotten in Death by Robb



Not really sure why I continue with the series, but they do make for a nice escape and sometimes predictable is what I need.

Now that Christmas is over, and I have recovered from the mini flu I got after getting my booster last Monday, I am ready to finish this thread and start a new one. Hopefully everyone had a safe and relaxing holiday season!

I finished the Ferrante books and I must admit, I am not sure what I think of them. On the one hand, they had a strong soap opera feel to them. There was so much drama dragged out throughout and I found that exhausting to read. But on the other hand, there was this fascinating 'friendship' between two very different people. Ferrante doesn't sugar coat anything so this relationship is shown warts and all. And this part of the series was brilliantly written. So glad I read them but also glad that I am finished.

I read far more books this year than I thought I would. My reading stride took a serious hit three years ago but I think I got my mojo back. I am hopefully that 2022 brings better things including lots of great books for everyone.