What have you read lately?

[lsmrlnds]

I'm determined to make it through the The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.  Started it a few years okay because my brother had a few of the books lying around, but I never did finish the series, although I've always wanted to.  I'm on Book 5 of 14....

[downer]

I read an advance copy of Becoming a Man, by P. Carl. It was smart and interesting. But it still left me wondering why it is OK for some to engage in such gender stereotyping.

[ab_grp]

I went through a huge Russo phase some years ago, and the similarities of settings, lifestyle fixtures, and character types that you noticed, ab_grp, are in all of the books. They are all set in a decaying New England town where the industry is gone but left behind carcinogenic pollution, and there's a wise-cracking cynic who's kind of an asshole, in many cases because some interaction of economic and family pressures meant that he had to give up his prospects for a better future away from the town. I remember loving Straight Man when I first read it, but on re-reading I decided that the wise-cracking cynic was too much of an asshole. One thing I liked about Nobody's Fool is that our wise-cracking cynical asshole is constantly being called out and criticized for his assholery, which doesn't happen in Straight Man.

I also remember putting down Empire Falls and thinking what an astonishingly depressing book it was, but then I was a junior in college at the time, and probably too young for many of the points about disappointment and compromise to resonate properly.

Of all of Russo's books, I think I liked Nobody's Fool the best. The ending was really satisfying.

I agree with so much (all?) of this! We finished Empire Falls last night.  I've been thinking about a couple aspects that I guess I shouldn't mention explicitly except to say that I wonder how the timing of the release of the book versus now would change the reception to it.  I also wonder about some of what I think are parallels in behaviors that in some cases I think are supposed to be supported and in others are supposed to be reviled.  There are a lot of great parts of this book.  The story builds pretty slowly, as in Nobody's Fool, but the end comes very swiftly, and I felt that the epilogue was tacked on to tie up loose strings (not in a very satisfying way, in my opinion).  I do think Nobody's Fool was the better novel.  It didn't seem at any time to be going for the cheap gags or feels.  I would say all three we've read have different mixes of character development, hijinx, and action.  Nobody's Fool seems to be on one end of the spectrum.  The characters felt very real to me, as if I would recognize them if I ran into them somewhere.  There was certainly hijinx, though not over the top.  There was very little in the way of what might be considered action (compared to the other two).  It was just a slow, layered, really engrossing, lovely, painful, wonderful story well told.  I would put Everybody's Fool down as medium character development (even though a lot of the characters are the same as in NF, I don't think they're as vivid at times here) and a hefty amount of hijinx and action.  I didn't think everything came together as well as it could have, and it felt more superficial, but still a good story that was great at times.  As for Empire Falls, it was really enjoyable overall and very well told through most of it.   The major action was foreshadowed pretty well as things evolved but was still quite powerful.   There was some hijinx, though it's not easy to place that right now.  I guess I just didn't really feel the characters as much as in the other books.  I didn't get a really good sense of who the main characters were, and some of the others were such caricatures that I could completely picture them but didn't care much about them.  It seemed as though there was an additional little mystery going on throughout, but that seemed to get sidelined and just written off hastily.  At the end, I just didn't care much where life would take most of the characters, which is a little odd given how similar the book initially seemed to NF.  I would happily read about Sully and crew's everyday life.   Maybe Russo will write a prequel to NF someday! I am looking forward to the other books recommended here.  I just looked him up, and apparently he has a PhD.  I wonder how common that is.

We started re-reading Catch-22 (Heller) last night as a palate cleanser.  I'm not sure if we will stick to that or move on to another new book.

[scamp]

Maybe I will read Nobody's Fool first, before picking up the novel version of Empire Falls. I enjoyed Straight Man as well, which is maybe another reason I was taken off guard by Empire Falls. I now live in the type of town he writes about, which adds an extra element when I read.

[wareagle]

Russo taught at Colby College for many years.  He's an academic as well as an author, which is why Straight Man is classic higher-ed literature.  It remains my favorite of his books, although Empire Falls is a close second.

[ab_grp]

We picked up both the recommended Russo books and look forward to reading them (and hearing what others have to say as they read his various books)!

After re-reading a bit of Catch-22 that evening, we chose to move on to Foundation and Empire (Asimov).  Neither of us found it as engaging as Foundation was, and we had some issues with how things played out.  I am interested to see what happens in the next book, as this one introduced another intrigue beyond the more straight-forward sci-fi of the first.  What I liked so much about the first book, the military and political strategy and some of the philosophical aspects, were not as much represented here, in my opinion.  The new threat seems more of a fantasy element, and while the gist of it makes sense with respect to what Hari Seldon could or could not predict through psychohistory, I am skeptical of whether it will seem as compelling to me.  Although I grew up with all the Asimov books that my father loved so much, I never read them because at the time they seemed way too sci-fi and technical for me from the book blurbs.  I was excited to find that Foundation (read about 1.5 yrs ago) worked on so many other levels that I could relate to, even as a relatively novice sci-fi reader.  I didn't think this book's characters or the plot pulled me in as much.  There was a review I read on Goodreads afterward that pretty much summed up my thoughts on it, and the review is also posted here: https://notbadmoviereviews.wordpress.com/books/foundation-2/.   A major plot twist seemed pretty easy to figure out fairly early on, and the Scooby Doo "all about me and how I did it" type of explanation at the end was just ugh.   But, it was worth reading, and we will be reading Second Foundation sooner or later to find out what happens next.  Asimov had so many neat ideas.

Next up is Sarah's Key (Tatiana de Rosnay), which I read quite a while back. 

[ab_grp]

I'm a few books behind now, so maybe everyone else has also been too busy reading to update!

Let's see.  We read Sarah's Key, as I mentioned in my last post.  It's a very tragic story, and the historical parts are difficult but important to think about (sadly, relevant today).  I was not as much a fan of some of the wrapper (modern timeline) story or most of those characters.  The older storyline takes place mostly in 1942 in Paris around the time of the Vel d'Hiv' round up, detention, and deportation (mainly, ultimately, to Auschwitz, it seems) of thousands of Jewish men, women, and children.  A tale worth reading for the history if not as much for the other stuff.

We then read Blood Music (Greg Bear).  Definitely a strange book. It's basically about a scientist who does some genetic manipulation outside the bounds of his role at the company he works for.  He gets in trouble once he's discovered by his employers but decides he can't kill what he's created, so he injects himself with it on the sly, and mayhem ensues.  It's very creepy at times, and I think fairly thought provoking in some ways, but I wasn't thrilled with it overall.  I think it started as a short story, and maybe it should have stayed that way.

Now we are reading Out Stealing Horses (Per Petterson), which I read a couple years back.  This takes place in Norway, and though I do not remember much of it, it seems to be a remembrance of a tragic and eventful summer.  It's pretty gripping so far, and I really like the writing. 

[downer]

The Dutch House, by Ann Patchett. I enjoyed it, to be sure, but basically I found it undemanding and not as deep as so many reviews say it is.

[Tine0625]

The Cook by Maylis de Kerangal. It's very interesting for people like who loves novels about food :)

[wareagle]

I recently finished Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend.  Highly readable and creative.

[Second Chance]

For novels, i sort of liked The weight of ink (prof is main protaganist) and liked the style of Where the Crawdids sing (written by a naturalist). For non-fiction, I forced myself to read Sapiens, since a friend of mine who loved it recently passed away. Waiting for a library (kindle) copy of Pollin's latest book. Nothing has blown me away lately. Kindle has changed the way I read.

[ab_grp]

We finished Out Stealing Horses a few nights ago.  It was hard to put down at times, and the writing is really splendid in some places, but we both felt that the story was a bit lacking.  Maybe it just didn't seem to come together well? But we really enjoyed reading the book. 

After that, we started on Agent to the Stars (Scalzi).  As I have said elsewhere, I absolutely loved his Fuzzy Nation but thought that Red Shirts wasn't quite as good as I expected.  This book seems a bit funnier than RS (which also had some pretty touching parts).  We are barely into it, but I'm anticipating hijinx.  I think that all three of these books have interesting concepts, so I always appreciate seeing where he'll take them.

[mamselle]

Parts of 56 books I set aside at the OSU music and dance library, which I've also scanned, over the past three days.

Heaven....

M.

[ab_grp]

We finished Agent to the Stars.  Overall, I'd probably put it second in the list of Scalzi books we've read.  It was very funny at times, had an interesting premise that was pretty well executed, and some surprisingly touching points (which Scalzi seems to be good at inserting into otherwise humorous tales).

Since then, we've been reading Black Swan Green (David Mitchell), which I read a few years ago.  I remember it as being pretty good but not great.  I think I am enjoying it more this time.  Really, reading to each other has been eye-opening.  It has changed how I've thought of so many books!

[archaeo42]

I finished Thick: And Other Essays by Tressie McMillan Cottom the other night. I wish it was longer. I really enjoy the way she weaves in theory with popular writing.