Constant Reader discussion

Here's a new thread for your discussions in March and April. What are you reading these days?

I'm flying to Japan in a few hours--a very long flight--and I'm grateful to Constant Reader because my kindle is now loaded with some recommendations from this list. I haven't started, but will soon be reading: Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson, Wilder's The Ides of March, which were suggested here and added to my list. I'm also reading Updike's Gertrude and Claudius and Rachel Joyce's The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (for my in-person book group). Here's hoping I get quiet seat mates and am able to disappear into a few of these! Best wishes to all, and happy March!

While I don't envy you the long flight in close quarters, I'm glad you've got some good reading to fill the time, Rachel. Safe travels!

I hope you get a chance to come back with comments on your reading, Rachel. And, Japan! How exciting. We had friends who lived in Tokyo for a number of years and extended an open invitation for us to visit. I've always regretted not taking them up on it.

I read Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes.
It is supposed to be a retelling of the myth of Medusa. But it really wasn't. Haynes was all over the map with the too many characters, too much happening. Medusa was relegated to a relatively minor role. Medusa's head interrupts the narrative to address the reader in a sort of chummy tone. Really weird. It was a disappointing read for me, especially since I enjoyed Haynes' A Thousand Ships.

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I appreciate that review, Tamara. I’ve replaced Stone Blind with A Thousand Ships in my library hold list.

You're welcome, Donna.
I read a few reviews of Stone Blind after I posted mine. I saw some people liked it. So it could just be me. Honestly, I found it hard to believe the same woman wrote both novels.
I hope you enjoy A Thousand Ships.

Thanks, Lynn and Barbara for the good wishes! Barbara, I hope you can still take your friends up on their invitation--I'm sure you wouldn't regret it. We're in Kyoto now, wandering the markets and eating. I started John Updike's Gertrude and Claudius on the plane and am halfway through--it's excellent. His writing is so powerful, his use of metaphor just transfixes me, so that sometimes I have to go back and read the same sentence again and again. While I'm not always enthusiastic about how Updike portrays Gertrude, I'm just loving this novel!

Tamara wrote: "I read Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes.
It is supposed to be a retelling of the myth of Medusa. But it really wasn't. Haynes was all over the map with the too many ch..."

Good to know, Tamara. I have no problem with “adapting” or reworking famous myths, but this one sounds a tick or three too odd for my taste.

Hope you have a wonderful time in Japan, Rachel. I'm going to Florida on Friday for some sister and beach time. I hope to finally finish Wolf Hall, I got halfway and had to return it to the library. I also want to read The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida. I got to page 20 last night but fell asleep while reading it. The narrator is dead.

I look forward to your reaction to Wolf Hall, Gina. I really loved it but I know there were some mixed reactions.

I really liked Gertrude and Claudius a lot, and will be wary of Stone Blind but may have to try it anyway. Retellings and shifts in perspective are powerful hooks to me (and Medusa was sort of a nickname of mine long ago.)

Tonya wrote: "I really liked Gertrude and Claudius a lot, and will be wary of Stone Blind but may have to try it anyway. Retellings and shifts in perspective are powerful hooks to me..."

I love reading and writing mythic retellings, especially if they are retellings of myths from Ancient Greece and Rome. At last count, I had read over 65 of them!

If you haven't read anything by Natalie Haynes, I recommend you start with her A Thousand Ships. In it, she gives voice to nearly two dozen females ranging from slaves, wives, mothers, daughters, sisters, nymphs, and goddesses. The backdrop is the causes, duration, and aftermath of the Trojan war. I thought it was a much better book than Stone Blind.

For sure, Tamara, A Thousand Ships goes on the list.

I looked over Haynes titles, it seems I haven't read any of them. You surely love the Greek and Roman retellings much more than me; I'd be happy to throw in just 1 or 2 in a year. Now the perspective shift, like Gertrude and Claudius, that gets my attention more; but I'd still not focus on just that. So many books! (And I'm a very slow reader.)

High Tide In Tucson – Barbara Kingsolver - 4****
Kingsolver was already a successful novelist when this collection of essays was published. She relates her thoughts on family, home, politics, nature, social issues and personal responsibility with humor, compassion, wit and integrity. Her training as a scientist is evident, as is her talent as a poet.
LINK to my full review

Thanks, Tamara, for recommending A Thousand Ships. I've added it to my list. I also love ancient and mythic retellings, and books like March or A Thousand Acres, that take characters from a classic and tell things from a different perspective. I welcome recommendations for more of these! Have a great time in Florida, Gina, and let us know how you like The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida. (The only novel I've read with a dead narrator is The Lovely Bones...) We walked along Kyoto's Philosopher's Path today, and stopped at a temple garden with a pond, where my brother saw a frog jump into the pond. I had the great delight of pulling up Basho's haiku and reading several translations to my brother and stepfather, and to the frog as well. Best to all!

You're welcome, Rachel.
If you want more recommendations on mythic retellings, you can click on my name in Goodreads, scroll down my bookshelves, and you'll find a shelf I have labeled Mythic/Historic Retellings. There are over 60 books on that shelf for you to choose from. I've posted reviews on all of them if you want to learn a little about each.
Hope you enjoy. Happy reading.

Thank you so much, Tamara! I am delighted to find your list. I think I'll start with Bright Air Black by David Vann, but there are many to tempt me. What a treat!

Good choice! I thought Bright Air Black was excellent. But I have to warn you, it is pretty gruesome.

Thanks for the heads up. I can usually navigate gruesome fairly well in books (less so in movies). I'm amazed by how many books you've read. Best wishes, Rachel

I've just finished The Chaos Machine: The Inside Story of How Social Media Rewired Our Minds and Our World by Max Fisher, a riveting and eye-opening account of the impact of social media platforms on human and societal behavior.

Link to my 5* review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

The Four Winds – Kristin Hannah – 4****
As she did in The Nightingale , Hannah uses female characters to tell a bit of the history of a time and place. In this work, the timeframe is 1920s to mid-1930s, and the place is America, specifically the Great Plains and California. I loved the three central women in the books: Elsa, her daughter Loreda, and her mother-in-law Rosa. Very reminiscent of Steinbeck’s masterpiece The Grapes of Wrath
LINK to my full review

Last night I started A Place We Knew Well, which came to my attention months ago when Jane mentioned that the author was appearing at an event. It's set in the days surrounding the Cuban Missile Crisis (October, 1962) and has drawn me right in.

One thing that has already become clear to me is that I didn't have much awareness of the event at the time - probably because I was only 9 years old, and of course I lived a long way from Florida, where people were right in the lap of the crisis. I hope to reduce my ignorance on the subject as I follow the Avery family through the crisis.

Lynn wrote: "Last night I started A Place We Knew Well, which came to my attention months ago when Jane mentioned that the author was appearing at an event. It's set in the days surrounding the ..."

I was 12 at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. It was the first time I realized there were things my parents couldn't fix for me.

I read Medea: A Modern Retelling by Christa Wolf, translated from the German by John Cullen.
Wolf recasts Medea as a compassionate healer who is blamed for crimes she did not commit. She uses the myth as a vehicle for political commentary, demonstrating the extent to which people will go to hold on to power, including scapegoating and othering those who look different. I thought the retelling was excellent.

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

The World That We Knew – Alice Hoffman – 4****
Hanni Kohn recognizes the imminent danger the Nazi’s pose, so she goes to a rabbi for help. But it is the rabbi’s daughter, Ettie, who offers to make the mystical golem who will protect Hanni’s daughter, Lea. Once Ava is brought to life, she will join with Lea and Ettie to escape to France. Although separated their paths are fated to intersect. I was skeptical about reading another WW2 story, but Hoffman’s writing captured my attention and kept me interested and engaged throughout
LINK to my full review

I read Norwegian by Night by Derek B. Miller.
An unusual mix of a crime novel; a chase across scenic Norway; Kosovor war criminals on the hunt; a veteran's haunting memories of war; and a delightful, eighty-year-old curmudgeonly grandfather prone to hallucinations and talking to ghosts as its central figure.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I read Norwegian by Night some time ago, attracted t r because my husband was from Norway. I enjoyed it.

It's not the type of book I normally read, Ruth. But I really enjoyed it. I was intrigued by the description. Plus, it had the added benefit of being set in Norway, and I have a passion for books set in Iceland and Scandinavia.

The Chicken Sisters – K J Dell’Antonia – 3.5***
Two competing chicken restaurants founded a century ago by sisters are the subject of a reality-TV “food war.” In addition to the long-running family feud continues with a current “feud” of sorts between sisters Amanda and Mae. There are some family secrets that come out, a new hunky chef, a manipulative TV producer who wants more conflict, and more than one effort to sabotage the competition which all serve to keep the plot moving forward with surprises, twists and insights into the family dynamic. There can only be ONE winner of “Food Wars” and in this case, it’s the reader.
LINK to my full review

Thoroughly enjoyed two detection thriller by Swiss writer Joël Dicker - The Enigma of Room 622 and his previous The Disappearance of Stephanie Mailer . Page turners each in my opinion, back and forth timelines, but I found them easy enough to follow because I was so engaged. More details at Enigma of Room 622 and Disappearance of Stephanie Mailer

Gina wrote: "Hope you have a wonderful time in Japan, Rachel. I'm going to Florida on Friday for some sister and beach time. I hope to finally finish Wolf Hall, I got halfway and had to return it to the library..."
Funny you fell asleep, everyone I know who started this has stopped very quickly. It is somewhere on my to be read list still

Tamara wrote: "I read Norwegian by Night by Derek B. Miller.
An unusual mix of a crime novel; a chase across scenic Norway; Kosovor war criminals on the hunt; a veteran's haunting..."

Another added to my to be read list

Hope you enjoy it, Sheila.

I just finished Jersey Breaks, Robert Pinsky’s autobiography. I have thought his books on the sounds of poetry were so helpful and informative, so wanted to read this. Interesting to know that even as a boy, he was fascinated by the sounds of spoken English and used to tap out the rhythms of phrases he heard on the wall at night. I posted a review, but I don’t know how to form a link. I’ll keep trying.
Now on to The Marriage Portrait , by Maggie O’Farrell for book club.

Shirley, we are going to be talking about The Marriage Portrait here as well. Discussion starts April 15th on the Reading List conference. Hope you join in.

Barbara, thank you for reminding me. Perfect timing! I’ll be traveling, but will try to check in. CR’s discussions are always enlightening, not to be missed.

I’m on various lists waiting for Marriage Portrait but I don’t know if I will get it in time for the read. I didn’t with Shrines of Gaiety.

I didn't either Sue, but I did enjoy Shrines of Gaiety. There are now five people in front of me for The Marriage Portrait.

Looking for a fast escapist read for a few rainy days, I read Louise Penney's latest, A World of Curiosities. Once again, "peaceful" Three Pines becomes a place of murder and mayhem.

For a local book club, I'm in the midst of White Teeth. It is very long and almost a bit of a chore so far in its longwindedness, but I'm plowing ahead with it hoping for a payoff.

I think there are at least 8 in front of me for the kindle then I thought to look for an actual physical book. It’s harder to tell how many are waiting in that list but I’m there too now.

I enjoyed Shrines of Gaiety too.

I am first in line for a hard copy of The Marriage Portrait at my local library so I think I'll have it in time for the April 15 start date.

Invisible Women – Caroline Criado Pérez – 5*****
Subtitle: Data Bias In a World Designed For Men. The author explores how the gender data gap harms women, sometimes with life-threatening results. Criado Pérez has done extensive research but she does more than just present her findings. Her writing is clear, logical, and compelling. Read this book!
LINK to my full review

I picked up The Marriage Portrait on Thursday at the library. Now to get reading !

I just finished The Marriage Portrait. Imaginative plot, superb prose. Such an excellent writer! I enjoyed this book even more than Hamnet.

Shirley wrote: "I just finished The Marriage Portrait. Imaginative plot, superb prose. Such an excellent writer! I enjoyed this book even more than Hamnet."

Thanks for posting! I loved Hamnet so that's a great recommendation.

I just finished Lone Women by Victor LaValle. It’s an historical fiction, western, horror novel of a 30 year old black woman. In 1915, she leaves California and moves to northern Montana to homestead land, bringing only a large, heavy trunk. She has a very large secret which we learn about slowly. I really enjoyed reading this. The horror wasn’t over the top and the writing was very good. I recommend it if there are any readers here that read “light” horror books.

As always, I appreciate all of the comments in this group. I am a "lurker" for the most part, but I truly gain a lot of insight from this group.

I am currently reading Brodeck by Philippe Claudel and Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies by Maddie Mortimer.

So far, they are both quite good and very original.

I recently read Philippe Claudel's Monsieur Linh and His Child and thoroughly enjoyed it, I have his The Investigation in my To Be Read pile. Let me know how you find Brodeck

Sheila wrote: "Thoroughly enjoyed two detection thriller by Swiss writer Joël Dicker - The Enigma of Room 622 and his previous The Disappearance of Stephanie Mailer ....."

I cannot recall the last time I did this! I am now on my third book by Joël Dicker this one is The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair and have his The Baltimore Boys on my TBR pile!