I found Hillbilly Elegy a slog. I thought it was repetitious, poorly written, and I didn’t learn much that I didn’t already know. I had heard so much about it before I read it and it was a bit of a letdown.
Crossing. By PAJTIM STATOVCI. This was a really good audio book. Well worth putting on your library list.
Has anyone read “Unfollow:A memoir of loving and leaving the Westboro Baptist Church”?
I find the subject fascinating and it’s getting good reviews. Haven’t picked it up yet though.
I read an interesting memoir (Little Sister) by Patricia Walsh Chadwick. The author grew up in a Catholic cult-like group led by Leonard Feeney (an excommunicated Catholic priest). Feeny and his followers first lived together in an urban environment, but eventually moved to a rural area. As the group became more isolated, Feeny imposed some onerous regulations–children couldn’t live with parents and married couples took a vow of celibacy. Plus, children couldn’t speak to their parents. The author, who left the group involuntarily, tells a fascinating story of growing up in this environment. She eventually made her way to Wall Street where she was quite successful.
I saw the author of Unfollow read at our local book fest. Fascinating stuff, and the readings and her perspective were certainly interesting.
2 dollars a day: Living on almost nothing in America by Kathryn Edin and H. Luke Schaeffer
Read testaments (Atwood sequel to handmaid’s tale) in one night. Loved it, so great to get the back story and learn how things end. Wonder how it will affect the show, now.
Recently finished Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner. Not lifechanging, but was a good read–likeable characters and thoughtful writing.
I also thought that Hillbilly Elegy was poorly written, or poorly edited. My theory is that it was rushed to get out after the presidential election, which was a hot market time for it,marketable at that time, but needed work to be a better book. Heartland is on my list. I’m currently reading The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides (Virgin Suicides, Middlesex). It’s pretty good, set in college and post-grad, and really has me wondering, as a business school major, if English majors really do have so many conversations about literature in their spare time LOL.
Thanks to this thread I will take The Weight of Ink off my list and I don’t feel so bad about being so lost throughout Evelyn Hardcastle! I listened to it on audiobook, which does give me a lower level of comprehension, and I won’t rewind to try to understand something like I would reread in a book.
Anyone has new year “resolution” for book readings?
Mine is to (re)read more classics. I was at Barnes&Nobles recently and on one of their recent notable shelves, I was counting the books that I have read this year (8), and I found I only liked one or two of them well enough. So maybe it is time to let TIME do a little trick of its valuable testing, don’t rush to read the hottest books of the moment Life is too short. ?
Just finished The Alice Network. Wanted to love it more than I did. Based on some true WWI female spies but also partly set right after WWII. Parts of the plot were just cheesy for me. Felt like it was being written for the screen? 3 and a half stars.
Loved The Water dancer on audio book.
Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love. It’s a pretty fast read (I read it over the course of a [long] day of flying). The genesis of the author’s story- a discovery about the past thanks to a DNA test- is happening to a surprising number of people. It’s roots are also increasingly familiar to a modern audience, and Shapiro seems to echo Tolstoy’s “each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way”.
Actually, I think Shapiro is the real variable here: imo, anybody who has written 5 memoirs before they are 50 has a particularly introspective bent! But she is a good writer, and it’s interesting to follow the story (though I suspect that there is more to the Kodak story than she included- starting with ‘why’), and the ethical questions are interesting (both now and how the ways that people answer those questions change over time- and not just on this topic).
Long way around saying ‘thanks’ for the recommendation!
My reading plans for next year:
Read about 50 books like I did this year
6 will be whatever the CC bookclub chooses (or more if we do a pairing)
16 will be the Liaden books by Sharon Lee and Steven Miller, I am rereading the whol series in series chronological order
a handful will be new books by authors I love
another handful will be some of the books already on my list of things to read
I’d like to read a few more Hugo and Nebula prize winners
I’d like to read a bit more non-fiction
I just finished my 100th book of the year. My goal will be to read 100 again next year (have been doing this for several years now). I am in three book groups and read whatever they pick (two are monthly - one is more like 8 times a year). I have a big stack of free books on my book shelf that are my to read list, but instead I usually get distracted and read something else which somebody recommends.
Man’s 4th Best Hospital is terrific, I am a huge fan of House of God and I am really enjoying this on audio.
Did anyone post yet about “Disappearing Earth”? It is set in the Kamchatka peninsula in far eastern Russia. The basic story is how the disappearance of two young girls impacts many different characters, primarily women. I just finished it having been on the ebook list from my library since Aug 1. I really liked it and found it very interesting and complex, set in an area I knew nothing about. While it is a novel, the chapters focus on a variety of characters, some of whom are only peripherally related to each other and the main plot. It is on a lot of best books of the year lists.
My 2019 reading goal was 19 books with at least 3 of them to be young adult books (there are some GREAT YA books!). I haven’t added up my book #'s yet but I know I’ll be short - which is fine - because I still read more than usual. And I read 2 YA books!
This goal will be rinsed and repeated for 2020 - 20 books in some shape or form.
Spare time reading should be what you want it to be - not someone else’s opinion of what you should read. Classics, not for me.
^^ Funny - I just finished “Disappearing Earth” last night. It’s not the sort of book I normally read, but I was swayed by all the recommendations from those “Best of 2019” lists.
I really enjoyed it.
My New Years Resolution this year: READ EVERYTHING ON MY NIGHTSTAND. (I just counted. 31 books. It’s a big nightstand.)