What are you reading? May 2024 Edition
Stacey_mb
15 days ago
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faftris
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kculbers
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What are you reading? May 2022 Edition
Comments (75)I just finished While Paris Slept by Ruth Druart. 2.0 stars, and that's being generous. I only finished because a friend recommended it and I thought it was worth sticking it out, but it really wasn't. It's a story that goes back and forth between 1944 Paris and 1953 Santa Cruz, CA. A newborn Jewish infant is handed off to a kindly French railway worker as his parents are being herded into a train car headed for Auschwitz. Nine years later the Jewish parents, who survived, want him back. Coincidentally I lived in Santa Cruz at one time and it's not very accurately portrayed, other than being on the coast and having a boardwalk. At one point one of the characters takes a short taxi ride to the airport to fly to Paris and the nearest one at that time would have either been San Jose (only a municipal airport then), but more likely San Francisco, over 70 miles away. It's a lot of reading for not much story. The writer used "ironic" 8 times, enough to make the word go ding-ding. What was "ironic" about what a person said was never explained. The author used "play date" for two kids getting together in 1953. My daughter was born in 1976 and we didn't use that term. Google said it came into being in 1975, but I missed the boat. Anyway, I hate it when authors use anachronistic terms....See MoreWhat are you reading? June 2022 Edition
Comments (110)I didn't care for this, but DH is liking it: Await Your Reply, Dan Chaon I'm halfway into The Alienist, Caleb Carr (1994), which I came across in a list of historical mystery novels. The search for a serial killer is set against a detailed look at Manhattan in the late 19th Century. The killer is only differently repellent from the 'powers that be' in this rough and tumble period of crime bosses and protection racket cops preying on impoverished immigrants. Police Commissioner Teddy Roosevelt struggles to allow a pioneer psychiatrist (the 'alienist') as he builds a motivational template to identify the killer of very young boys employed as prostitutes. 4+ Stars....See MoreWhat are you reading? May 2023 Edition
Comments (63)Rho, I did not care for Lessons in Chemistry at all. It was a silly attempt to shoehorn a classic autistic-but-goodhearted modern protagonist complete with 21st century feminist values into a 1960s setting. And some of the plot contrivances simply were impossible to accept Came here to share something I am happily absorbed in, a book recommended in the NYT summer reading guide. Courting Dragons is tons of Tudor mystery fun complete with a very winning protagonist. Will Somers was an actual person, King Henry VIII's fool, who served him for many years. The book makes Will the focus of a mystery in Henry's court, set during the King's Great Matter AKA the effort to get Henry divorced from his first wife Catherine of Spain so he could marry Anne Boleyn. Will is a terrific character-sharp witted, warm hearted with a VERY active bisexual love life which is a bracing new angle for fans of Tudor England LOL. Definitely recommend this for all of us who love books set during this period of history. Lots of details about life at court, personalities of the great nobles including the King, Anne etc. ETA: This is the first of a new series and the authors note says she is already working on the second book...See MoreWhat are you reading? February 2024 Edition
Comments (60)Just finished The Winter Soldier. I liked it very much, 4 stars. Thanks to those who mentioned it in the January thread. You guys have the best recommendations. I was hoping for a different ending, but it was a just ending. It's the first Daniel Mason book I've read and love his writing. Straightforward but evocative. I have North Woods on hold. Turns out Mason is my daughter's age and is from Palo Alto....See Moreanj_p
15 days agoanj_p
15 days ago
Olychick
14 days agoStacey_mb
14 days ago
lily316
14 days ago
Annie Deighnaugh
14 days agolast modified: 14 days agoAnnie Deighnaugh
14 days agolast modified: 14 days ago
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