October (second half) 2015 Reading

October turned out to be a month totally devoted to reading library books. I really didn't intend to let everything else pile up, but that's what happened. The library filled a bunch of my requests and since most were new books, they had short loan periods.  There's quite a variety here--some really great books were released recently.  I was going to start November with something from my owned book TBR stack, but I got a notice that Orham Pamuk's new book A Strangness in My Mind was waiting for me on the holds shelf. So I'm starting off the month with it. (I'm liking it.)

So here's what I read during the last couple of weeks:

The Sorrow Proper; Drager, Lindsey
I closed the book and said "Wow" or was it "Whew"? I gave it 5 stars. I can't say why I liked it so much because I can't talk about it. I need to hold it and savor it because if (or when) I re-read it, it will be a different book. Maybe I should buy the Kindle version.  This is an amazing cover, especially when viewed on a black background.
Appropriately, because it is partly about libraries, I read it as a Library book.



A House of My Own: Stories from My Life; Cisneros, Sandra
I enjoyed most of the selections in this collection of miscellaneous writings by the author of The House on Mango Street. Lots of reflections on writers and the writing process, growing up as an American of Mexican descent, living in various places, and living alone (and liking it). Library book.

Our Endless Numbered Days; Fuller, Claire
A gripping story, hard to put down. One of those books that you are sorry to see end. I'm looking forward to her second book,  Swimming Lessons, which will be released in late 2016 or early 2017. Library book.

England and Other Stories; Swift, Graham
Very good collection. The twenty-five stories are set in England. Most are less than ten pages but Swift says a lot in that space. Library book.

In the Country: Stories; Alvar, Mia
Another very good story collection. This one about the lives of  Filipinos both at home and abroad (US and Middle East). Library book.

Mrs. Engels: A Novel; McCrea, Gavin
Lizzie Burns was the companion of Frederick Engels. In this novel Lizzie tells the story of their relationship. Whether the narrator is reliable or not makes little difference; she tells a good story. This is Gavin McCrea's debut--I'm looking forward to what he does next.
Library book.


Battle of the covers: I prefer the US (left) to the UK (right)



Sweet Caress; Boyd, William
Sweeping novel about a female professional photographer. Perhaps a bit too sweeping. I liked it a lot, right up to the part about Viet Nam. Library book.

The Hollow Land; Gardam, Jane
Not short stories, but episodes in the lives of two families. It reads almost like linked short stories, and it's delightful. Library book.

The Ladies of Managua: A Novel; Gage, Eleni N.
Three women, a grandmother, her daughter, and her grand-daughter tell this story in alternating chapters. Each has a secret. I liked the book, but it could have been a bit shorter and the grand-daughter's secret really came as no surprise. Library book.


 Mislaid; Zink, Nell
The cover looks like something out of late 50s suburbia, but the story isn't suburban. It starts at a small  southern women's college known for attracting lesbians. A student gets knocked up by a poetry teacher when he momentarily forgets that he's gay (and she forgets that she's not really interested in men). So they marry, have a son and a few years later a daughter. The marriage is doomed, he threatens to have her committed, and she flees with the daughter. The plot thickens (muddles?) when she disguises herself and her blond daughter as being black. No, they don't go into blackening their skin, it's more complex than that. It's offbeat, a bit goofy, a little silly and fun with serious underlying themes. Library Book.


Orphan Train; Kline, Christina Baker
Interesting novel based on a little known bit of  US history. Library book.

Church of Marvels; Parry, Leslie
An ok read, circus performers, an undertaker, a night-soiler, a baby broker, stumble around the seedier parts of turn of the century (19th to 20th) New York. Full of strange people, weird coincidences, and grim locals;  it didn't really work for me. Library book.

Come Hell or Highball (Discreet Retrieval Agency, #1); Chance, Maia
A pleasant fluff. New York in the 1920s, the rich get poorer, actors act (badly), there are a couple of murders, a cute dog, and lots of gin and whiskey. A so, so beginning to a series I probably won't follow. Library book.

September 2015 Reading

Bunches of library books this month.  A mixed bag, several really good, some so-so, and some I just couldn't get into. Other than the one at the top and the four at the bottom, they are listed in no particular order.

The ones I finished

Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights; Rushdie, Salman  

Yes! this is the book I wanted to read! 

And I'll read it again.  

I much prefer the US cover (left) to the UK cover (right).

Like all the books listed below, it is from a local (Connecticut) public library.

Prodigies: a novel; Gorodischer, Angélica; Sue Burke (Translation)
A short book with long, complicated, beautiful sentences. All about a boarding house and its residents. I loved it!
Library book.

The Gods of Tango; Robertis, Carolina De
I keep changing my mind on this one: three or four Goodreads Stars? I liked it, but did I really like it? I enjoyed the story, Italian immigrants in early 20th Century Buenos Aires, with music and some LGBT elements.  Maybe there was a little too much background information on some of the minor characters. It seemed to be filler and made those characters seem like they would be more important to the the story than they turned out to be. So it's three stars on Goodreads, maybe 3 1/2 on LibraryThing.
(one week later-the more I think about this, the better I like it. upping to 4*)
Library book.

The Incarnations; Barker, Susan
Another one I'd put between three and four stars.
(one week later-the more I think about this, the less I like it. 3*)
Library book.

A Sudden Light; Stein, Garth
Gothic, ghosts, coming of age, some surprises but mostly predictable. An "OK" to "good" read.
Library book.

The Perfect Comeback of Caroline Jacobs; Dicks, Matthew
Like the book above (A Sudden Light) this is an inter-generational story with a teenager being oh so much cleverer than his/her parent. Uh, sure. And the grandparent? marginalized.
Library book.

Alys, Always; Lane, Harriet
I read this, Lane's first novel, because I really liked Her.  I wasn't disappointed. This one also features a scheming woman, though Frances is not quite as venomous as Nina, the protagonist of Her.
Library book.

Did You Ever Have a Family; Clegg, Bill
four or five stars?
Library book.

Smaller and Smaller Circles; Batacan, F.H

Billed as the first Philippine crime novel, this is a procedural featuring two Jesuit priests. One is a forensic anthropologist, the other is a psychologist. I really liked this although the subject matter was disturbing--serial killer of young boys.

Library book.

Black-Eyed Susans; Heaberlin, Julia
Another serial killer, another book I couldn't put down. Told in alternate then/now chapters by a victim that survived.
Library book.

Rubbernecker; Bauer, Belinda
An offbeat crime novel with an unusual "investigator"  --Patrick Fort, a medical student with Asperger's Syndrome. Happy to see that I can get Bauer's other books from the library.
Library book.
 
The Debt of Tamar; Dweck, Nicole
Not sure why I'm lukewarm on this historical/present day novel. From the Spanish Inquisition, to the Ottoman Empire, to occupied Paris, to Israel, to modern day Istanbul, to a New York cancer ward. Too many notes, played unevenly?
Library book.

The Little Paris Bookshop; George, Nina; Simon Pare (Translator)
A bit predictable and sentimental but a pleasant, gentle read.
Library book.

Wind/Pinball: Two Novels; Murakami, Haruki; Ted Goossen (Translator)

Guess it's time to admit that I'm not a Murakami fan. These two short novels are early works and not too taxing.

Library book.

The Daughters; Celt, Adrienne

Because I'm careful in selecting my reads and am not shy about not finishing a book I don't find interesting, it is rare that I give only one or two stars to a book I've finished. This one got two stars. It was pleasant reading but when I was done I shrugged my shoulders and said "So what?" By tomorrow I won't remember what it was about and by this time next week I'll have forgotten that I read it.

Library book. 

The watchmaker of Filigree Street;  Pulley, Natasha

 Debut novel. Not quite steampunk, but close. Slow going and a bit confusing at times, but interesting characters and situations.
 Library book.

Short Stories

The Woman Who Borrowed Memories: Selected Stories; Jansson, Tove; Thomas Teal (Translation), Silvester Mazzarella (Translation)
Terrific collection!
Library book.

Swim Back to Me; Packer, Ann
Good collection of stories set in Northern California. Some are connected. 
Library book.

A Paris Affair; Rosnay, Tatiana de; Taylor, Sam (Translation)
Eleven stories about infidelity, most told from the wronged wife point of view. Some wit, some irony, a  lot of "getting even."  Toward the end of the book it became as tedious as a stale affair. Gave it two stars.
Library book.

Fortune Smiles; Johnson, Adam
I skipped and skimmed and didn't like a single one of these stories. I was about to give up on it when it was long-listed for the National Book Award. I decided to give it another try, still didn't find anything to like.
Library book.

The ones I returned to the library unfinished
 (three I will pass on and two I will get again)

The beautiful bureaucrat : a novel; Phillips, Helen
   Don't remember how far I read, maybe three chapters. Not interesting.

Girl Waits with Gun; Stewart, Amy 

   I just kept thinking "Speed it up, speed it up!" and finally I gave it up. Maybe some other time...but probably not.

 In the language of miracle; Hassib,  Rajia
   Got about a third of the way through--didn't care for the writing style. Frustrating.

Book of numbers : a novel / Joshua Cohen.
 I do want to read this, but just couldn't give it the time it deserved. Will get it again. 

A Manual for Cleaning Women: Selected Stories; Berlin, Lucia; Stephen Emerson (Editor), Lydia Davis (Foreword)

I'm really enjoying these stories. It's a large collection that I want to read in small doses so it's going back to the library (other people are waiting for it) and onto my Kindle wish list.
Library book.