by Nancy It's a little difficult to know what to write for this month's post.
I guess if we discuss why we chose our book, basic story line our likes and dislikes and most importantly would we recommend it to others.
I know for me I jumped around from choice to choice until I've finally settled on a Haruki Murakami novel Gracie recommended.
We can also discuss if we actually like free choice month or if we prefer our traditional format. I must say there is something comforting about knowing my choices in advance !!
Hello Ladies. Hope you're both well. Things have been crazy here as I'm sure you've heard in the media. So I buried myself in two novels this month. The first was Goodnight Nobody by Jennifer Weiner and the second was Abomination by Colleen Coble. Both novels were murder mysteries. The first one being more of a "whodunit" and the second being more of a good guy chasing bad guy type novel.
ReplyDeleteI'm really not sure when I purchased Goodnight Nobody but it's been sitting on the unread side of my book shelf for quite a bit. I opted to read it since I needed to grab something for January. I'm sure you both remember Ms. Weiner from Little Earthquakes. I quite enjoyed that book and I enjoyed the movie "In Her Shoes" which is based off her novel by the same name. So I figured I'd enjoy another of Ms. Weiner's books. For this novel, we have a bored suburban house wife raising three children after having lived in the hustle and bustle of New York City where she was a journalist. While going to a neighbor's house for a playdate, she finds the neighbor murdered. While at the scene she finds the phone number of an old love interest.
This clue and the curiosity of who murdered this seemingly perfect house wife lead Kate Klein (our heroine) to play detective.
On the whole, it was a good read. I was a little disappointed in the killer and his/her reasoning for the crime. What was more interesting was that the dead woman, Kitty, was working on a mystery of her own before she was murdered. Kate picks up her search thinking it could be connected to Kitty's
death. I didn't care for the ending as we are left in a limbo of what Kate is going to do regarding her personal life. I enjoyed Little Earthquakes more than Goodnight Nobody but Ms. Weiner's work has made me consider picking up In Her Shoes and giving that a read too.
Abomination was a much more page turning novel. A woman is found on the side of the road badly hurt with a toddler and no memory of how she got there. We also have a serial killer who wants to finish what he started with the injured woman and a police officer on his tail. I had a hard time putting this down. I wasn't able to guess who the killer was until he finally manages to recapture our heroine. I think the only part I didn't care for was the fact that the killer was killing other women when ultimately he only wanted our mystery woman. The background story regarding the toddler and its resolution was a little contrived but it did not take anything away from the rest of the story. I did hand my copy of Abomination to a coworker so I guess that means I would recommend it, haha.
I look forward to hearing what you both chose to read and your thoughts on those books.
Hello Ladies
ReplyDeleteI sympathise with you, Katie. Our political situation is awful too. But it looks like you found two books that provided excellent escapism. I am grateful for your recommendations. Personal situation is not good either. Mum made a partial recovery, went in to a home with Dad, then Dad broke his hip, so he is now in hospital. I, too, have escaped into books. However, misunderstanding the instructions, I have written about a number of books rather than one book in detail. I do apologise. Over the months, as I read, I made a few notes and this is the result. Once more, I have perhaps written too much. I write the way I talk – at excessive length. So, this will be more than one ‘message’. Feel free to stop reading at any stage.
My Name Is Lucy Barton, by Elizabeth Strout
This novel was identified in my favourite newspaper’s survey of their favourite writers’ favourite books of 2016.
Essentially, it considers the relationships between the first person narrator (Lucy Barton) and her family, particularly her mother, and their impact on Lucy’s subsequent relationships. Stories, recollections of the past and Lucy’s own reflections take us out of the hospital room that is providing the time and space for Lucy’s review of her life so far.
The novel must have taken a long, draining time to write. Its deceptively simple style vividly portrays characters and scenes that remain long in the mind. The father’s treatment of his gay son (pp.118-120), the mother’s inability to express affection (p.138) and her daughter’s desperate need of it, are haunting. The isolation that poverty brings (pp.11-14), and its consequences are captured, unusually, in the narrator’s relationship with her husband, her mother-in-law and evidenced in a subsequent dream (pp147-151). Inevitably, all this has a great impact on Lucy’s relationships with her own daughters. Understandably, the narrator sees childhood in general as a time of pain, her own being just one example: “But I think I know so well the pain we children clutch to our chests, how it lasts our whole lifetime, with longings so large you can’t even weep. We hold it tight, we do, with each seizure of the beating heart. This is mine, this is mine, this is mine.” (p.190)
Despite Lucy achieving both success and a relative degree of happiness in later life, this is a deeply sad book. Its truthfulness is awful.
A Spool Of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler
ReplyDeleteThis was publicized as probably Anne Tyler’s last novel. Finding a copy in Beverley’s Oxfam shop, I seized on it.
There are reasons why Anne Tyler is so popular. Amidst what seems like such a casual, easy story telling style, one is brought up short by deeply unsettling insights. In one scene in this novel, a family is hoping their adult, errant son/brother will join them on holiday. Other holidaymakers arrive, who are mistaken for him. Tyler portrays this futile waiting in perhaps the saddest words I ever read: “It’s him!” you say. “He came! We knew he would; we always . . .” But then you hear how pathetic you sound, and your words trail off into silence, and your heart breaks.”
But there is happiness here, too, in the stories of three generations of a Baltimore family. I wasn’t entirely sure about the structure. The narrative is not chronological and divides into uneven sections - the last three sections feeling a bit like add-ons. (Part 2 starts on page 221, Part 3 on Page 263 and Part 4 on page 341 in my hardback copy of 358 pages.) Nevertheless, Tyler certainly provides insights into characters who had been marginal until they got their section.
The Great Lover by Jill Dawson was lent me by a friend and has since been returned. This means my comments will be brief. The novel centres on Rupert Brooke, an English poet who died in 1915, aged 27, so having time only to be a romantic poet. And lots of opportunity to be romantic given his fabled good looks and bisexual nature. This is a novel, though, not a biography, and is a fantastic read. The character of the maid through whose eyes, for much of the novel, we see Rupert Brooke is a terrific creation. Really enjoyed this.
The Naked Shore: Of the North Sea by Tom Blass is just brilliant. I got the library to order it based on a review I read. It’s a wonderful account of Blass’s travels around the British and European edges of the North Sea. The text considers some areas I know, and many, many I have never been to. His portrayal of the land’s geography and characters is wonderful. I thought the descriptions lyrical, but the Guardian reviewer thinks the writing sometimes ‘sinks like a lead line’. I disagree entirely, and think the reviewer has never seen foam like soapsuds borne aloft in a North East wind. I’m going to get my own copy of the book, I think so well of it. But I’m not sure how it would travel – I mean, I was fascinated by all these places near to hand that I could/should be investigating myself. The book’s content is half familiar; has, for me, an historical, geographical and personal context. It resonates. But the subject matter might not seem so interesting to you who live on enormous and glorious continents with which you, too, have personal history. I’m quite sure, for example, Jay would not be as absolutely delighted as I was by Mr. Blass’s book.
That’s the thing about novels, isn’t it? A good one has universal appeal.
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O’Farrell
ReplyDeleteSo, I conclude with a novel of universal appeal. Perhaps I should re-phrase that: a novel with which women (and I hope men) everywhere will empathise. A family saga, set mostly in 1930s Edinburgh, this is a story of misogyny. The motivations of its characters, the appalling impact of careless actions on subsequent generations, the sheer strength of Esme Lennox are depicted with great skill through a variety of viewpoints and, as one critic points out, different streams of consciousness. You don’t want to read on but you must. The conclusion is at once logical and awful.
So, which would I take to a desert island if I could only take one? Mr. Blass’s evocation of the shores of the North Sea: at heart, I’m very parochial.
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ReplyDeleteHello Ladies,
ReplyDeleteSorry for my lateness, all I’ll say is “bigger children - bigger problems”, and we now have Gracie living back home with us for awhile. This is of course lovely for me to be with her more and support her while she finds direction [frustrating for her].
Katie, I sympathise with your political situation at present and am following all the news, ‘fake' and otherwise to see how it all unfolds. It is very sad to see so much upheaval created for innocent people.
Sue, so sorry to hear of Bill’s fall and hospital stay. I hope he is comfortable and recuperating, my love to them both and hugs for you and Jay.
The novel I have chosen for this month was ‘Hard-Boiled Wonderland And The End Of The World’ by Haruki Murakami. He is a favourite author of Gracie’s and she encouraged me to read the novel which is so different and challenging to my normal choices. Go Grace!!
One of the back cover quotes is:
‘What emerges is simultaneously cooler than zero and unaffectedly affecting, a hilariously funny and deeply serious meditation on the nature and uses of the mind.”
I wasn’t even sure what that meant and I hadn’t even began the book !!
In the novel there were two parallel story lines running. One ‘at the end of the world’ which existed in the main character from the other story line’s imagination and where he was banished after a science experiment when wrong. This was a land of unicorns detached shadows and no memories or emotions.
The other storyline ran along the lines of a futuristic modern world where the main character was able to do amazing calculations with his mind using both left and right side separately, he was a ‘ Calcutec’.
There was goodies and baddies all after him and the professor who performed the operations on his brain for him to be able to do the calculations.
I know this sounds very confused and indeed I was!
The writing is very descriptive and I enjoyed that.
Murakami is a very prolific and popular author so I assume the problem is with me. I’m glad I tried something new, I probably won’t read another of his novels and probably won’t recommend this one to my friends. Gracie laughed about my opinion of this story.
Thank you both for your suggestions. I now have more titles to add to my ever growing wishlist.
love to you both