All About Books discussion

Nidhi wrote: "Greg, Covenant of Water is long but language and style is lucid, very easy to grasp, stories are good. I hope you find time to read it in near future."

Greg wrote: "LauraT wrote: "It is long indeed - and these days I've not so much time to read; but I hope to manage before the end of the month"

Hope you enjoy it Laura, and I hope your work problems are gettin..."

Not really - the working problems I mean. But, as usual in life, you sort of get used to them, and learn to cope...

For the book, I totally agree with Nidhi!

I finished my book called The Fixer by Joseph Finder

I finished La Neve dell'Ammiraglio (this is in Italian) first chapter of The Adventures and Misadventures of Maqroll by Álvaro Mutis.
Now I started The Maniac by Benjamín Labatut.

Wow, I was completely blown away by Veniss Underground (Jeff VanderMeer), such a gorgeous book! Though, the description on the back cover that describes it as having an "almost Boschian intensity" is exactly right. Plenty disturbing and gory but well worth it, for me anyway.

I also ended up very much enjoying The Razor's Edge, though you couldn't find a more different book than Veniss Underground. Maybe that made them a good pairing. When I needed a break from Veniss, I stepped into Razor for a bit more restraint.

I rated both of those 5★.

Next up, I'll be starting The Night Before Christmas (Nikolai Gogol), The Sound of Waves (Yukio Mishima), and Imperium: A Fiction of the South Seas (Christian Kracht).

LauraT wrote: "Not really - the working problems I mean. But, as usual in life, you sort of get used to them, and learn to cope...

For the book, I totally agree with Nidhi!"

Sorry to hear about that Laura. :(

As far as the book, it's good to hear your and Nidhi's recommendations! I will try to fit it in!

Started Piranesi today.

Finished The Night Before Christmas (Nikolai Gogol) (2.5★) and Imperium: A Fiction of the South Seas (Christian Kracht) (3.5★) and my reaction to both was mixed.

The Gogol was full of the sort of slapstick humor that I don't usually appreciate, and the social commentary wasn't nuanced enough to be interesting. And the Kracht had some beautiful passages and some extremely evocative writing, but the themes were all over the place and the main analogy felt a bit strained and unfair to me.

Now, I'm reading The Sound of Waves (Yukio Mishima), An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving & Other Stories: Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag, Vol. 6 (Louisa May Alcott). And after I finish those, I'm planning to start The Memory Police (Yōko Ogawa)

Just started The Invention of Morel (but the Italian version) (Adolfo Bioy Casares)

I finished my book called Wreck the Halls by Tessa Bailey

I finished my book called The Doctor's Widow by Daniel Hurst

I finished my book called Season of Wonder by RaeAnne Thayne

Finished The Sound of Waves (Yukio Mishima) (4.0★) and An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving & Other Stories: Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag, Vol. 6 (Louisa May Alcott) (2.5★).

Finally, a book by Mishima that I really liked! Yes, it's less psychologically dark, but that's not the main reason. I feel like Mishima's obsessions, fetishes, and thirst for attention/shock value completely took over The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea. But here, with those urges toned down, he was able to get at some things that were more substantial.

The Alcott was fairly forgettable, though I imagine her major works must be better? Probably not a smart choice to begin with this one.

Now, I'm reading The Memory Police (Yōko Ogawa), which I am absolutely loving! And I'm reading The Cabin at the End of the World (Paul Tremblay), which is suspenseful and almost perfectly paced, but I feel hostile to aspects of the story and I'm not sure what I'm going to think; I'm keeping an open mind until I finish.

Next up after these two will be Men Without Women (Haruki Murakami)

I finished my book called Sugar Pine Trail by RaeAnne Thayne

I finished my book called Jingle All the Way by Debbie Macomber

The Christmas Party by Mikayla Davids

I finished my book called A Lake House Holiday by Megan Squires

I'm reading an italian book I doubt it has been translated, but a really nice one: Il cognome delle donne

I'm reading The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn by Colin Dexter (but Italian version).

I finished my book called The Christmas Party by Mikayla Davids

Ocean City Baby Parade by Fred Miller

I finished my book called Home for the Holidays by Sara Richardson

Two thrillers: The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman and A Loyal Character Dancer by Qiu Xiaolong

LauraT wrote: "Two thrillers: The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman and A Loyal Character Dancer by Qiu Xiaolong"

I enjoyed both of those, though not top tier. Hope you did too.

I have been rereading the Sherlock Holmes books via audiobook narrated by Stephen Fry. I started because I didn't want to listen to Doctor Zhivago in the car driving to my brother's house (too difficult to keep track of what was happening!) and now I can't stop

I finished my book called The Arrangement by Robyn Harding

I finished my book called Never Lie by Freida McFadden

Reading The Adolescent (1875) by Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-81).

I finished my book called Ward D by Freida McFadden

I finished my book called The Wife Upstairs by Freida McFadden

I finished my book called The Locked Door by Freida McFadden

I finished my book called The Housemaid's Secret by Freida McFadden

I started Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. I've heard a lot of good things about it.

I finished my book called The Girl Who Lived by Christopher Greyson

The Girl Who Survived by Lisa Jackson

I finished my book called A Christmas Memory by Richard Paul Evans

Currently listening to The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride, January 2024's fiction group read for this group.

Just started Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson. I probably got it in an Audible sale a while ago as it's been sitting on my app for a long time, I didn't realise it was the fourth book of the series. But I'm looking forward to listening to it, even if it is a big book.

I'm working my way through The Wheel of Time series and am currently on book 4 The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan.

Rhett's Make-Believe Marriage by Liz Isaacson

Charbel wrote: "I'm working my way through The Wheel of Time series and am currently on book 4 The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan."

Fun Charbel!

I was thinking of doing that myself, but there are so many of them and they are so long! I think it's about 8,000 pages for the whole series or something like that?

Greg wrote: "Charbel wrote: "I'm working my way through The Wheel of Time series and am currently on book 4 The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan."

Fun Charbel!

I was thinking of doing..."

It's a very daunting series to get into, and the first book can be very slow, but I am enjoying it.

Charbel wrote: "I'm working my way through The Wheel of Time series and am currently on book 4 The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan."

Alannah wrote: "Just started Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson. I probably got it in an Audible sale a while ago as it's been sitting on my app for a long time, I didn't realise it was the fourth ..."

Both great epic sci fi/fantasy series! I actually got into Sanderson's Stormlight series because he was the author Jordan chose to finish up the Wheel of Time series when he discovered that he (Jordan) was ill. Both series had some aspects that annoyed me but not enough to make me stop reading them and even rereading them.

I have started a readalong with the Super Carlin Brothers who are going through the Harry Potter series in great detail. So I'm currently reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

I'm sure these books will take me a long time as the videos seem to be released a month apart with a few chapters discussed within the video. The Philosopher's Stone has been done so I'm playing catch-up for now.

I just finished And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer by Fredrik Backman. I nearly started crying on the train.

Meet Me in Milan by K.D. Sherrinford

Just started reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling as part of the Super Carlin Brothers readalong. This will take me longer as I will be reading a chapter a week.

I once again have too many books in progress at the same time... I am proceeding slowly but surely with The Diary of Samuel Pepys, less surely with Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West (mostly due to how sad it makes me).

In fiction, I am not getting very interested in my fantasy book City of Dragons and may end up ditching it. The Black Sheep is okay but taking me a while... My audiobook So Big is interesting though not what I expected (I think that I confused Edna Ferber with Erma Bombeck when I selected it!).