“Life, Teresa knew by now, was a series of losses. It was other things too, better things, but the losses were as solid and depeREADABLE, BUT SO WHAT?
“Life, Teresa knew by now, was a series of losses. It was other things too, better things, but the losses were as solid and dependable as the earth itself.� (Kindle Locations 3498-3500)
Commonwealth, is a disappointing, slice of dysfunctional life (times about twelve), novel; easy enough to read, but not really worth the reading. It’s my least favorite of the five novels by Ann Patchett that I’ve read so far. I keep hoping for another Bel Canto.
Recommendation: Read only if brow-beaten into it by your book club. Better to read/re-read Bel Canto.
�As I was going to St. Ives, I met a man with seven wives. Each wife had seven sacks, each sack had seven cats.� (Kindle Location 4364).
“Marriage was a warm apple muffin.� (Kindle Location 3437)
I can’t believe I’m giving this novel three stars. Must be myOVER THE TOP, BUT ENTERTAINING.
“Marriage was a warm apple muffin.� (Kindle Location 3437)
I can’t believe I’m giving this novel three stars. Must be my weakness for all things Australian.
With a surfeit of campy, often aggravating, piffle, (e.g. see the quotes above and below); Liane Moriarty’s, The Husband’s Secret is still an addicting read. Moriarty has a very weird imagination, but she’s a terrific storyteller.
It was her Epilogue, that begins� “There are so many secrets about our lives we’ll never know.� (Kindle Location 4714) that finally pulled it all together for me and won that third star.
Recommendation: I’m almost ashamed to admit it, but I’m putting Liane’s Big Little Lies on my ‘to read� list; so, though reluctantly perhaps, I guess I have to say this one’s okay for a book club read.
“Marriage was a form of insanity; love hovering permanently on the edge of aggravation.� (Kindle Location 4575)
“Don’t be ridiculous, you goose, you know I’m bloody besotted with you.� (l. 151-152)
Early on in reading WhaENGAGING, ENTERTAINING, AND CLEVERLY TOLD.
“Don’t be ridiculous, you goose, you know I’m bloody besotted with you.� (l. 151-152)
Early on in reading What Alice Forgot, by Liane Moriarty, I grew a bit annoyed with what I thought was the writing style. Once I realized that I was reading it in the original Australian…the annoyance dissipated.
Overall, What Alice Forgot is an engaging, clever and entertaining story. And the writing style…told from three different points of view…is a plus.
Recommendation: An excellent Book Club read.
”Every photo was another memory Alice didn’t have.� (l. 2086-2087)
"The warmth of the memory of his sea-blue eyes had kept her from going crazy."—page 334
[But it didn't do much foCONTRIVED, CONFUSING, AND AMATEURISH.
"The warmth of the memory of his sea-blue eyes had kept her from going crazy."—page 334
[But it didn't do much for the reader's sanity.]
"The gun that Daniela Lauterbach had used to shoot him hadn't caused a fatal wound because of its low penetration power."—page 355
If contrived, confusing, and amateurish make for a good mystery novel, then SNOW WHITE MUST DIE, by Nele Neuhaus must be great. Else it's just another crappy read.
My vote goes to the latter.
"He felt as though on the slow, calm river of life he'd suddenly gone crashing over a waterfall and was now sailing on stormy waters in a whole new direction."—page 358 [Me, too.]
[And, finally, just for goodreader Nancy...]
"Nadia von Bredow gave Pia an astounded look with her grass-green eyes."—page 298
Overpriced (at any price), NOOKbook edition, 364 pages ...more
"How quickly civilization could dissolve into its more ugly elements."—page 112
Eighty to ninety percent of the 'novel' LIFE AFTER LIFE, MOSTLY BORING.
"How quickly civilization could dissolve into its more ugly elements."—page 112
Eighty to ninety percent of the 'novel' LIFE AFTER LIFE, by Kate Atkinson, is annoying, confusing, and mostly boring. Maybe ten to twenty percent (mostly in the second half)—the tales about Izzie, Pamela and Eva; the stories about life during the 'Blitz' in London and life in Germany just prior to and during WWII—made for some interesting and enjoyable reading.
Perhaps this 'novel' might have worked better as a collection of loosely connected, disjointed short stories. Just thinking out loud, here.
Recommendation: I wouldn't have wanted to miss those really good stories, but I'm hard pressed to recommend this long novel for such small rewards.
"Would she really be able to come back and start again? Or was it, as everyone told her, and as she must believe, all in her head? And so, what if it was—wasn't everything in her head real too? What if there was no demonstrable reality? What if there was nothing beyond the mind?"—page 171
"In war, there ain't no morals. There are just winners, losers, and those that got their asses fried sunny side up."—pagINCREDIBLY GOOD STORYTELLING.
"In war, there ain't no morals. There are just winners, losers, and those that got their asses fried sunny side up."—page 205
Pat Conway's novel, THE GREAT SANTINI, is amazingly well constructed and well written. A very engaging and compelling read.
Protagonist, Marine, Fighter Pilot, Yankee, Irish, Catholic, Bull Meecham, is a character out of time and place, who is hard not to like—and equally hard, or harder, not to dislike. A warrior without a war. A bull in the china shop of family. And yet, he is 'The Great Santini'.
Recommendation: I've no idea what a 'southern' novel is—but this is one of the best 'southern' novels I've read.
"Bull wanted to pass on the gift of fury to his oldest son, a passion to inflict defeat on others, even humiliation."—page 157
Adobe Digital (ePub) edition. 445 pages.
Other quotables...
"Time had encircled her softly, enriched and deepened her beauty as the years tiptoed past her."—page 19
"He's a small little turd, but he's built like a fire plug, low, squat, and he's got the face of a man who likes to hit cripples"—page 184
"The Marine Corps takes a small ego and makes it gigantic, it takes a large ego and then steps back to see how large it can grow"—page 196...more
Thematically too dark and uncomfortable for my tastes, though compelling reading none-AN UNPLEASANT TALE.
"I am a time being about to expire"—page 343
Thematically too dark and uncomfortable for my tastes, though compelling reading none-the-less, A TALE FOR THE TIME BEING, by Ruth Ozeki is probably the best written novel I've ever almost been sorry I read.
Recommendation: If you liked THE DINNER, by Herman Koch, you'll most likely enjoy this tale.
"...and then they slid her into the oven like a pizza."—page 364
"It suited most men to believe that a virtuous actress was as likely as an honest thief."—page 49
Perhaps if I had a better knowledgeCOLOSSALLY BORING.
"It suited most men to believe that a virtuous actress was as likely as an honest thief."—page 49
Perhaps if I had a better knowledge of, and appreciation for, Charles Dickens, Victorian England, and the plethora of people and places of 1850s/1860s London/England named, I would have gotten more out of Claire Tomalin's gossipy and speculative biographical offering: THE INVISIBLE WOMAN: The story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens. But I doubt it.
Any story a highlight of which is the purchase of a dog collar in Paris�"Nelly did some shopping, or at least bought a blue collar with a silver bell for Lady Clara," page 191—begs the question: Why bother?
Recommendation: Why bother?
"No doubt he believed that, at the sensitive point where the theater met the outside world, hypocrisy became not only excusable but absolutely necessary."—page 155
I don't like stories (especially non-fiction) about seriously dysfunctional people doing stupid things, stupiNOT ALL THAT ENTERTAINING OR INTERESTING.
I don't like stories (especially non-fiction) about seriously dysfunctional people doing stupid things, stupidly. And so it was that I disliked large chunks of Cheryl Strayed's "powerful, blazingly honest" memoir of her twenties, WILD: LOST AND FOUND ON THE PACIFIC CREST TRAIL.
And, yet, on reflection, after listening to all of it, perhaps it wasn't really all that bad. Stories of flawed characters rising to meet tough challenges, even poorly, might have some redeeming value.
Recommendation: A solid 2.5 stars, with the advisory that you will not be missing all that much if you choose to pass on reading this one.
"They were absent children, absent of personality, absent of presence, and, except for holidays, largely absent from the house."—page 10UNFORGIVABLE.
"They were absent children, absent of personality, absent of presence, and, except for holidays, largely absent from the house."—page 10
Perhaps no effort or experience is ever really a complete waste of time, but reading this novel, MAY WE BE FORGIVEN, by A. M. Homes—the narrative of which mostly oscillates in a range from 'lame and unpleasant' to outright 'stupid and disgusting'—comes very close.
Recommendation: I'm sorry I read it. And, now that I have, I'd be ashamed to recommend it to anyone else.
More cute, than charming; more engaging than compelling; THE ROSIE PROJECT, by Graeme Simsion is a delightful, light, romantic comeA FAST AND FUN READ
More cute, than charming; more engaging than compelling; THE ROSIE PROJECT, by Graeme Simsion is a delightful, light, romantic comedy. I hope Sony will turn it into the movie it was originally written to be. I'd go see it.
Recommendation: A very good choice for book clubs.
“But a world without disasters and violence—be it the violence of nature or that of muscle and blood—would be the truly unbeaDARK, UGLY & UNPALATABLE.
“But a world without disasters and violence—be it the violence of nature or that of muscle and blood—would be the truly unbearable thing.”—page 152
One of the unlikable (they’re all unlikable) characters in Herman Koch’s novel, THE DINNER, poses the premise that, with so many “victims� in the history of the world, not all of them, certainly, could have been “innocent.� Surely some of them must have deserved their fate—even worse.
And, with just such a rationale, all manner of sick and sadistic idiocy becomes excusable.
Recommendation: I’ll give this novel two-stars, but I’ll be damned if there’s anyone to whom I’d recommend it.
“But we’re not talking here about civilized people. These are people everyone would be relieved not to have around anymore.”—page 210
Adobe Digital [ePub] edition, 238 pages. On loan from: ...more
“Though intelligent and learned, especially for an autodidact, she was by no means brilliant.”—page 15
The first hundred or so pages—thCOLOSSALLY DULL.
“Though intelligent and learned, especially for an autodidact, she was by no means brilliant.”—page 15
The first hundred or so pages—the entire first three chapters—of ‘The Queen Bee of Tuscany: The Redoubtable Janet Ross,� by Ben Downing, are a mind-numbing miasma of proper nouns, and should be skipped. You'll lose nothing and would thank me profusely for sparing you the boredom, if you knew just how relentlessly dull those three chapters were.
Recommendation: If after skipping the first three chapters you decided to also skip the remaining three you would be doing yourself a big favor.
“She is awfully handsome, in a utilitarian kind of way—and an odd mixture of the British female and the dangerous woman—a Bohemian with rules and accounts.”—page 156
NOOKbook edition from Barnes and Noble, 367 pages...more
"Mother always says, 'Happiness is the first sign you're living wrong.' --page 264
Edward Kelsey Moore's debut novelDELIGHTFUL, WHIMSICAL AND ENGAGING.
"Mother always says, 'Happiness is the first sign you're living wrong.' --page 264
Edward Kelsey Moore's debut novel, THE SUPREMES AT EARL'S ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT is a humorous and endearing story—in a FRIED GREEN TOMATOES AT THE WHISTLE STOP CAFE / STEEL MAGNOLIAS sort of way—that revels in the warmth and wonder of lifelong friendships. It's an absorbing, gossipy, read; an excellent bit of storytelling; and the characters are some of the most likeable, ever. Very enjoyable and entertaining.
RECOMMENDATION: Chick-lit? Maybe, sorta. Great choice for a book club read? Absolutely. All else? You should enjoy it too.
"She applauded, clapping her hands together until they ached, as Ray Carlson, King of the Pretty White Boys, swayed in the sun and danced the blues."--page 283
Adobe Digital (ePub) edition, 307 pages, on loan from: ...more
"The things that we do, that make us so black, and leave us feeling so blue."—page 314
Dark and depressing is not my favorite flavDARK AND DEPRESSING.
"The things that we do, that make us so black, and leave us feeling so blue."—page 314
Dark and depressing is not my favorite flavor of novel. And, yet, I couldn't put it down�
After reading his second novel, SONGS OF WILLOW FROST, I just want to say, "shame on you, Jamie Ford." Shame on you for treating such wonderful characters, in such a cinematic setting, so shabbily—and filling their lives with such desolation, desperation, and despair. These are the (fictitious) folks who put the food on your table, after all. They deserve better. You really do need to change your breakfast menu.
Ford's first novel, HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET, as I remember it, was a delightful, engaging, life affirming, love story. SONGS..., by comparison, has all of the unloved, 'life's a bitch...,' bitter; and little of the sweet.
And, yet, I couldn't put it down...
Recommendation: I just don't know... To whom could I recommend so much sadness? (Albeit well researched and well written sadness.)
" 'We don't get to choose our parents,' Sunny said. 'If we did, some of us might choose never to be born at all.' "—page172
NOOKbook edition, from Barnes and Noble, 331 pages. ...more
“Her whole life was spent riding at breakneck speed along the wilder shores of love.”—page 136
There are, undoubtedly, books more boring MOSTLY BORING.
“Her whole life was spent riding at breakneck speed along the wilder shores of love.”—page 136
There are, undoubtedly, books more boring to read than this one; but my hope is that neither of us will ever have to read any of them.
Admittedly, Arabian nights and Turkish delights have never held much excitement for my fancy, so the setting of Lesley Blanch’s four-woman, biographical vignettes, THE WILDER SHORES OF LOVE, combined with her stilted, formal, presentation, may have been a part of the reasons I found it rather uninteresting.
Let me borrow from goodreader, Elizabeth’s October, 2012 review of this book in which she wrote, “I really enjoy stories about strong, independent and adventurous women!� So do I.
The four women whose stories are told in ‘Wilder Shores�,� however, are far more unusual than remarkable—and quite seriously uninteresting. I’ll possibly except Aimee Dubucq De Rivery—kidnapped by pirates at twenty-one and given, as a gift, into a Turkish harem, there to rise to Sultana—in this instance. She, who was a cousin to Joséphine Bonaparate, was the only one of these four women I might like to read more about.
Recommendation: Unless you’re a total Lawrence of Arabia / French Foreign Legion fan, you might want to pass on this one.
“…her vapidity was as remarked as her beauty.”—page 151
Quality Paperback Book Club edition, on loan from the Los Angeles County Public Library, 332 pages
“No social being is less protected than the young Parisian girl—by laws, regulations, and social customs.—Le Figaro, 1880IMAGINATIVE AND ENTERTAINING.
“No social being is less protected than the young Parisian girl—by laws, regulations, and social customs.—Le Figaro, 1880”—page 9
Cathy Marie Buchanan’s historical novel, THE PAINTED GIRLS, offers a very imaginative and entertaining speculation on the lives and times of the van Goethem sisters—Antoinette, Marie and Charlotte—in 1878-1881 Paris. It was Marie van Goethem who was the real-life model for Edgar Degas’s famous sculpture. ‘Little Dancer Aged Fourteen.�
After a sometimes slow-moving first two-thirds of this novel, the pace picks up and it becomes quite a page-turner.
Recommendation: Especially for anyone who enjoys Degas’s pictures and sculptures.
NOOKbook editions from Barnes and Nobel, 338 pages...more
“There was a certain safety in being the plain one…”—page 34
Melanie Benjamin is a five-star storyteller and her fictionalized biogCOMPLELLING BUT SAD.
“There was a certain safety in being the plain one…”—page 34
Melanie Benjamin is a five-star storyteller and her fictionalized biography of Anne Morrow Lindbergh: THE AVIATOR’S WIFE: A NOVEL, despite its patina of sadness—some overwhelming, all discomforting—is a compelling five-star read.
Recommendation: An especially good read for history buffs and for book clubs.
“Only the weak need � heroes � and heroes need � those around them to remain weak.”—page 288
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