What are you reading the week of October 3, 2020?

Still reading Dead Man in a Ditch, Cleo McDougal Regrets Nothing, The Devil You Know, and Or What You Will. Hit a little reading slump again.

I finished Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J. D. Vance, which I thought was flawed but worth reading. My full review is on my 50-Book Challenge thread. Next up will be the second book from my friend Kim Nalley's list of books about African American history and racism in America: Capitalism & Slavery by Eric Williams.

My latest is Love In The Time Of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and I am loving it!!

>3 aussieh: It’s been many years since I read it, but I absolutely loved Love in the Time Of Cholera.

My current read is The Decent Inn of Death by Rennie Airth. I’ll be sorry when it ends.

Just finished The Prodigal Tongue: The Love-Hate Relationship Between American and British English by Lynne Murphy.

>4 cindydavid4: LOVED that book! What did you think?

>2 rocketjk: Now that you've read Hillbilly Elegy, try Rick Bragg's All Over But the Shoutin'. It's what Hillbilly Elegy shot for and missed ... IMHO!

>7 LyndaInOregon: Im not very far in, but so far really loving it. Im not big on pioneer stories but thought the premise of this very interesting esp since it comes from her own family history I suspect I'll finish it this weekend so I'll keep you posted. Have you read her other work the Ragged Edge of Night?

Just finished listening to The Women of The Copper Country, an excellent piece of historical fiction.

Next up for listening is Dutch House by Ann Patchett.

>8 LyndaInOregon: Thanks for the recommendation. Maybe one of these days . . . . :)

I finished The Old Man Who Read Love Stories which I'm sure I heard about here but don't remember who. It's a short but poignant novella juxtaposing the positions of living in harmony with nature and attempting to conquer it. It is also a love story in itself, a love of books, nature, and some humans.

I just started reading The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. I loved The Angel's Game so I'm looking forward to it.

New member here. Currently reading Mondher Sfar’s “In Search of the Original Koran”. Have also begun “Batla House” by Karnal Singh on how a dangerous group of Indian Mujahideen terrorists were neutralised in Delhi & the irresponsible politics that followed.

A New History of the American South
Edward L. Ayers
4/5 stars
This is part of the Great Courses series and covers the history of the American South. This comes with a Course Guidebook and DVD lectures covering the 100 years of the struggles of African Americans that they undergo while living and working in the United States. Very informative, eye opening and interesting. Ayers narrates the DVDs and does a great job of it.

Yesterday I started the novel How to Stop Time by Matt Haig. It is a unique and intriguing story of a man with a condition in which he ages so slowly that he is about 500 yrs old.

Finished Cleo McDougal Regrets Nothing by Allison Winn Scotch. Liked it. Added Peace Talks by Jim Butcher to my rotation.

Finished The Sceptred Isle Club by Brent Monahan
I gave it a 5 star.

The Midwife Murders
by James Patterson
(OverDrive audio)

>7 LyndaInOregon: Well, Im having to give Blackbird a break. Way to much description and repetition for my taste. Also really hating the character of Nettie Mae, yes I get her grief but she comes across as a bitter witch. Suspect this eases up later but Im tired of reading her complaints. I'll probably come back to it since Im interested in what happened

Oh you mentioned Hillbilly Elegy we read that for a book group, most of us didn't like it but I don't remember why.

>10 hemlokgang: Im leading a discussion of that for next week. Curious what you think

>14 Carvaka: welcome!

Edible Stories
Mark Kurlansky
4/5 stars
This is quite an interesting book. Kurlansky has written 16 tales (short stories) and each one highlights a different food. The stories are quite odd but it kept my attention to see how they end and I loved that all the characters were quite different with their own personalities and quirks! I have read several of Kurlansky's non-fiction books and loved them but I never knew he wrote fiction too.

A Study in Death by Anna Lee Huber
#4 in the Lady Darby Mystery series.
I've read the 1st 3 books so far and am enjoying it. (I've been to Scotland three times--twice to Edinburgh) Ah, the fun of binge reading a series from the library!

>8 LyndaInOregon:
>2 rocketjk:

I loved all over but the shoutin'.

And another by Bragg - best cook in the world: tales from my momma's table

Finished Peace Talks by Jim Butcher. Comfort read. Added Battle Ground to my rotation (which isn't really rotating at the moment.)

>21 cindydavid4: Which book?

>3 aussieh: Great book!

>27 hemlokgang: dutch house!

now reading Lady Clementine and am enjoying it. Didn't make it through Only Woman in the RoomBut plan to try again after I finish this. I know next to nothing about Churchill, let alone his wife and family, so glad to be reading this!

From Local Library

The Curse of the House of Foskett by M.R.C. Kasasian

A Keeper by Graham Norton (High hopes with this one)

The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende a re-read from many moons ago!!!

>29 cindydavid4: Just finished Dutch House, the best novel by Ann Patchett in a while!

Next up for listening is The Gentleman From Peru by André Aciman.

Ready for a Brand New Beat: How Dancing in the Street Became the Anthem for a Changing America
Mark Kurlansky
4/5 stars
In this book, Kurlansky explores the phenomenon of how Motown and the song “Dancing in the Street” changed music in a turbulent time in the US in the 1960’s. Kurlansky also explores the events of the time period including the rise of the Beatles, Vietnam, the Civil Rights Act and changes in politics. Kurlansky is never boring to me and I enjoy his unusual book topics!

>20 cindydavid4: Sorry you felt you had to take a break from One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow. Yes, Nettie Mae is a thoroughly unlikeable character -- as the book progresses, you can see that she's had many bitter disappointments, and now the difficulties her small family is facing are coming from the actions of her husband (another betrayal) and from Cora's weakness. (Actually, I disliked Cora more than I disliked Nettie Mae! She just seemed very "poor-little-me" helpless until toward the end.) I felt like Nettie Mae's change was believable -- she didn't become Little Mary Sunshine, but she did get out from under some of the anger she had been carrying around.

Currently reading The Silence of the Girls, by Pat Barker, which is about Briseis, the captured Trojan woman over whom Achilles and Agamemnon fell out. Well-written and character-driven view of an event (the Trojan War) which is more often written about as a story of battles rather than of people.

Gave up on Superior Women, by Alice Adams. Very clichéd, very slow, and nothing to raise it out of the ordinary.

And read Orchids and Lies for an LTER. Pretty run-of-the-mill murder mystery, again without much new to say about an old formula.

>33 LyndaInOregon: Oh I probably will go back to it. I did see Cora as the poor little me which bothered me just as much as netties bitterness. Let me finish the books I am in them iddle of, and try again; and get back to you :)

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