 |
| Love this cover! |
A really good reading month. There were some disappointments but even those weren't total losses as I did finish them, sort of.
I found some good online stuff this month. Oh, dear - the map thing!
Fiction:
There Are Rivers in the Sky by Shafak, Elif
A tale of two rivers (the Tigris and the Thames) is mostly set in two eras (1800s and 2010s) but it begins in Nineveh with a single raindrop and a stone tablet containing part of the Epic of Gilgamesh. A good read.
The Life Impossible by Haig, Matt
Good but not as good as The Midnight Library.
Mina's Matchbox by Ogawa, Yōko; translated from the Japanese by Snyder, Stephen B.
A year (1972) in the life of a twelve year old Japanese girl who goes to live with relatives while her mother studies. Her cousin, Mina, has a pet pigmy hippo.
The Rhino Keeper by Forsberg, Jillian
Advance review copy via LibraryThing. So-so.Split timeline with the historical (18th Century) being more rewarding than the modern one.
Burn by Heller, Peter
Dystopian novel set in Maine in the near future. Two hunters stumble into a civil war.
Scattered All Over the Earth by Tawada, Yōko; translated from the Japanese by Mitsutani, Margaret
Refugees form a sort of troop and wander around Europe looking for something. I enjoyed the trip.
The Fires of Autumn by Némirovsky, Irène; translated from the French by Smith, Sandra
A French family endures. 1918-1941.
The Most by Anthony, Jessica
A clever game of marriage.
The Love of My Afterlife by Greenwood, Kirsty
So. Much. Fun. meta-romance
West Heart Kill by McDorman, Dann
More. Such. Fun. meta-murder mystery.
The Golden Spoon by Maxwell, Jessa
Another fun mystery. In this one six contestents and the hostess/crator of a TV baking competition tell about a week of filming gone horribly awry. Love the cover!
Tell Me Everything by Strout, Elizabeth
Lucy, Olive, the Burgess boys, and all the other flawed folks from Crosby, Maine
Yerba Buena by LaCour, Nina
Sara, at 15, runs away from her Northern California home. Emelie lives a troubled life in Long Beach CA. They meet, part, meet again....
The Examiner by Hallett, Janice
Six students work an a group project whilst persuing an MFA degree but all are not what they say they are. In fact, nothing about their project is what it's billed to be. There is a mysterious radio, someone disappears, and the plot thickens.
The Library of Lost and Found by Patrick, Phaedra
Lots of family secrets in this one. Also it's never too late to come of age.
Sandwich by Newman, Catherine
What can I say? The family relationships in this struck me as unreal and creepy.
War by Candlelight by Alarcón, Daniel
Disappointing story collection by an author I usually like. Maybe it was the subject matter but I started skimming and skipping.
Contents: Flood; City of clowns; Third avenue suicide; Lima, Peru, July 28, 1979; Absence; Visitor; War by Candlelight; Science for being alone; Strong dead man.
Nonfiction:
Portable Magic: A History of Books and Their Readers by Smith, Emma
A fun read.
Dear Black Girls: How to Be True to You by Wilson, A'ja
The target audience, obviously, is black girls, but this would be a good read for teachers, coaches, counselors, and others working with black girls. I can see it being read and discussed in a mixed race environment.
The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Tan, Amy
Interesting at first but there was a bit too much. So she fed the birds and felt good about it. BUT. I was bothered by her horror at how outdoor domestic cats impact wild birds but was gleeful about turning her little dog loose to terrorize the squirrels and other creatures she didn't want in her yard. She also a bit judgemental about which are "good" birds and which are "pests." The pictures were nice.
The Seine: The River that Made Paris by Sciolino, Elaine
Lots of information about the river from it's source to the sea.
Online:
What Comes Along by Henry Gifford
"An arachnid in the corner carefully traipses through the crack, under where the baseboard just fails to meet the worn and oaky floor."
Impressions of the South of France by Hugo von Hofmannsthal; translated from the German by Henry N. Gifford
Interiors of Pastry Shops and Bakeries: Design Strategies that Integrate Functions, Users, and Materials by Agustina Iñiguez; translated by Antonia Piñeiro
The Greek-American Guardian of Neoclassical Athens by Tasos Kokkinidis
Spent almost as much time here as I did at the train thing.
I'm going to have to set aside a day or two (or more) to explore this. It has a search feature for text on the maps!
No comments:
Post a Comment