As the Page Turns (the Book Thread)

[MsZem]

Lisa Jewell is now officially off my favourite author list along with Marian Keyes. I don’t remember if I posted re the last Marian Keyes novel I bought (“Grown Ups”) but for the first time, instead of struggling along with it I actually gave up before I even got halfway through. Huge amount of characters to keep up with and needed a good edit.

Keyes pretty much peaked with Rachel's Holiday. I wonder how well that one holds up, it's been years since I read it.

Rats - I sat down to read the 9th Karin Slaughter Will Trent book. It's about a white supremacist paramilitary group that kidnaps a woman who works for the CDC. I can't. Maybe I'll put it back on my list and get it again in a year or two.

I read a romance novel a few years back in which white supremacists (IIRC) kidnap the daughter of the VP candidate to force him to drop out of the race. Kidnap plots are pretty standard in suspense/thrillers, aren't they?

 

[Susan1]

Keyes pretty much peaked with Rachel's Holiday. I wonder how well that one holds up, it's been years since I read it.

I read a romance novel a few years back in which white supremacists (IIRC) kidnap the daughter of the VP candidate to force him to drop out of the race. Kidnap plots are pretty standard in suspense/thrillers, aren't they?

Yeah, but it was just written last year. And it's too close to what is going on now. It started out as a kidnapping of a single mother, then there was an unrelated bombing at a hospital - standard stuff. Till they figured out who she was and that they were not unrelated and who was responsible. Blowing things up for a distraction (like they would have done to the bridge in MI). They were talking about putting uncover cops in the groups and everything. When they discovered she worked at the CDC, the first thing I thought of was they might want her to make a v*rus. And right before I closed the book, one of the cops said the FBI doesn't believe terrorists can be white. I felt like I was reading CNN or something. Not a good book for escaping into. I won't be able to read the 2020 Will Trent book till after I read the 2019 one. I guess it helps to know he lives for another book, but I don't want to read about anybody else getting killed there.

I started a Matthew Farrell book this morning. New author to me, and new to everybody in 2018. I like it so far. I have his 2019 and 2020 books on my list.

 

[ryanj07]

Marian Keyes is still one of my favorites but I agree it’s been awhile since she’s put out one of her all time best like Rachel’s Holiday, Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married or Anybody Out There? The good thing with her is that I’ve yet to read one that I absolutely hated, which is the case with most of my other favorite authors. Her latest is still on my tbr list though!

Then She Was Gone is the only Lisa Jewell I’ve read and it was very good but also really twisted as well if that makes sense lol.

 

[mattiecat13]

I've recently finished American Dirt and it was very good. And because of the TV series, I read The Handmaid's Tale and am currently reading the sequel, The Testaments. Both are very good and I would recommend them. However, I found both books quite disturbing, in light of the current US political climate. Never would I have thought such a scenario was possible until the last year or so. I also read The Daughters of Erietown by Connie Schultz (Sen. Sherrod Brown's spouse). I normally like her writing a lot so I was disappointed in this novel.

 

[genevieve]

I snagged The Glass Hotel, the latest from Emily St John Mandel, from my library's peak picks. As with her other books, the writing is gorgeous, the characters complex yet inscrutable, and it's chock full of random details and side stories. The center section, dealing with the main action, is the strongest, probably because it was based on something real and involved a lot of research.

I also read the meditative Days of Distraction by Alexandra Chang. If you want plot and action, this will be a frustrating read, but I really enjoyed it. I am tired of the fiction biography genre though. Either tell your story or don't!

After months of repeated messages from my library about extending due dates, and 'please don't hurry to return your books' even after opening up curbside pickup and drop-off, this week I received a terse request to bring all books back, and due dates will be enforced starting Nov 1. That was a little abrupt - plus, we no longer have library fines, so it's not like they can actually enforce due dates It did make me pick up a Peak Picks book I've had since March - Interior Chinatown, by Charles Yu - and yesterday I returned 2 other books I've had since then and had to admit I just wasn't jazzed to read. Still hanging on to one that I started and want to finish...eventually

 

[Cupid]

I am almost done reading Story of a New Name and also watching it on Netflix - its inspiring me to learn Italian via Babble. Author is Elena Ferrante.

 

[Finnice]

I am almost done reading Story of a New Name and also watching it on Netflix - its inspiring me to learn Italian via Babble. Author is Elena Ferrante.

I love Ferrante´s books, but I have to say that the English translations are not very good. I have read some in English, but orefer the Finnish translations. They are much better.
I wish I could read Italian without a dictionary. Le Sigh.

 

[Erin]

I finished The Herd, which a mystery in the vein of Gone Girl (with more likable characters, sort of). I liked it and read it one day. It relies a bit on the BIG DARK SECRET trope, but at least the secrets, when revealed, are interesting.

I read this one yesterday - I also liked it and read it in one day. There were a few little things I didn't care for, but thought it was solid overall. I agree about the "sort of" on the more likeable characters, but I can think of at least a few non-awful people in it, so that's something. I was a little distracted through the whole book about how to pronounce Mikki - is it like Mickey Mouse or Miki Ando or some alternate pronunciation?

I also tried reading The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson. I was curious to read it because of the controversy surrounding The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes, which came out a few months later on the same topic and supposedly had many similarities. Unfortunately, I didn't finish The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek - I got about 20% in and realized I was mostly skimming and wasn't invested in it. I do think I got enough out of the book to say that the two novels are sufficiently different in tone and characters, so I suspect any similarities are coincidence. The Kentucky Pack Horse Library is an interesting topic to cover and I'm glad I got the chance to learn something about it, but I didn't think either book was fantastic and the controversy is a lot of fuss over nothing.

 

[her grace]

I also tried reading The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson. I was curious to read it because of the controversy surrounding The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes, which came out a few months later on the same topic and supposedly had many similarities.

I heard about the controversy and am prioritizing reading The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek over The Giver of Stars because Kim Michele Richardson is from Kentucky, so I expect her book will be more authentic. #ownvoices. And I'm not sure I have the interest in the subject matter to read two novels about it.

Many of my recent books have been just okay. I did enjoy The Traveling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa. Sentimental, but not maudlin. And some cheeky humor provided by the cat narrator.

For Little House on the Prairie fans, Linda Sue Park has written a children's book Prairie Lotus, that is set in a South Dakota prairie town in the 1880's featuring a half-Asian child and her struggles to overcome racism in the small prairie community.

 

[Erin]

I heard about the controversy and am prioritizing reading The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek over The Giver of Stars because Kim Michele Richardson is from Kentucky, so I expect her book will be more authentic. #ownvoices. And I'm not sure I have the interest in the subject matter to read two novels about it.

Yes, I think that was my problem, that I also didn't have enough interest in the subject matter to read both novels. Your reasoning makes sense to me, and I likely would have done the same if I had known about both books in the first place, but I didn't find out about The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek until after I'd already read The Giver of Stars.

 

[puglover]

The new Jack Reacher book "The Sentinel" is out. This is the first one co-written by Lee and Andrew Child, his brother. I am only a few chapters in and so far he just seems to be a more talkative Reacher. It seems to give you a better idea of what he is thinking - maybe?

 

[Susan1]

For those of you who read YA novels, have you read Caroline B Cooney? (She wrote The Face on the Milk Carton. I've watched that movie on t.v. 4-5 times. There are five more thriller/romances about Janie I might have to read.)

Anyway, Before She Was Helen was in the September library magazine. (I keep forgetting to get an October one because I don't walk around in the library anymore. And it's time for the November magazine.)

So I looked her up. She's written tons of books. Too many of them are vampire things and romances. I can't tell from the standalones list which ones are thriller/suspense that an adult might like. I'll have to look at every one. But I got No Such Person, the one before the Helen one. I started reading it this afternoon. It's told from a 15 year old's perspective. And I knew exactly what was going to happen so far (who- and how-dunit). But I'm still interested to see how they figure it out.

 

[Susan1]

Just showed up as an ad on Yahoo -
The Law of Innocence by Michael Connelly - it says "The Lincoln Lawyer is Back" November 10.

 

[puglover]

I read the Jack Reacher book "The Sentinel" and just feel meh about it. I did finish it and if you love the character you may be okay but I found the story convoluted and hard to follow and somewhat boring. Not a great start for the new author - at least for me.

 

[emason]

I love Ferrante´s books, but I have to say that the English translations are not very good. I have read some in English, but orefer the Finnish translations. They are much better.
I wish I could read Italian without a dictionary. Le Sigh.

@Finnice Could you expand a bit on this? I read My Brilliant Friend in English (regrettably, the only language I know) and I did not like it at all. I'm wondering how much the translation contributed to this. How is the Finnish different?

 

[Finnice]

@Finnice Could you expand a bit on this? I read My Brilliant Friend in English (regrettably, the only language I know) and I did not like it at all. I'm wondering how much the translation contributed to this. How is the Finnish different?

In my view where English is not my native tongue and I only speak some Italian, the English translation kept too much the structure of the original language. So English was clumsy and incapable of showing the different accents and speaking modes the original has. The Neapolitan language differs so much from the way they speak in Rome, or Milan f.ex.
The culture in the 1950's working-class Naples was not very nice or friendly, but there is richness of colors that do show better in the Finnish translation, even though our language is in a lingvistic bubble on its own.

 

[emason]

Thanks, Finnice.

 

[hanca]

In my view where English is not my native tongue and I only speak some Italian, the English translation kept too much the structure of the original language. So English was clumsy and incapable of showing the different accents and speaking modes the original has. The Neapolitan language differs so much from the way they speak in Rome, or Milan f.ex.
The culture in the 1950's working-class Naples was not very nice or friendly, but there is richness of colors that do show better in the Finnish translation, even though our language is in a lingvistic bubble on its own.

I am noticing very often that some books are better in the original language the author wrote them, and some I like more in my birth language, regardless of what language they were written. I guess it depends a lot on how good the translator was. Some languages have better vocabulary to express some things, and there may not be the exact equivalent when translating it into another language. And some translators are so concentrating on not changing the wording of the book, that the outcome might be word from word translating but something important get lost in the translation. People in that other language don’t speak that way and therefore it may not feel natural.

 

[Jenny]

I found this discussion of how translations can vary in interpretation of the original text very interesting. It's an NY Times Book Review regarding new (at the time) translations of Anna Karenina.

 

[hanca]

Mind you, it can also make a difference which book I read first. For example, Harry Potter I enjoyed so much more in English than in my birth language, but I first read it in English. I am wondering whether I would feel the same if I first read it in my birth language. Because, for example, the Lord of the Rings I first read in my birth language and when I read it later in English, I was so much aware that I liked it in my birth language more.

 

[Jenny]

I think when you read it can also make a difference - what you read before, maybe even where you are at the time, and certainly if there is some time between readings. Tastes change, perspectives change, potentially your appreciation for the prose and characters can also change over time.

 

[missing]

I just started reading Little Lindy Is Kidnapped today, a Columbia University Press book about how the media covered the Lindbergh kidnapping story.

The first chapter (which is all I read) covers how Lindbergh burst into stardom and how worshipped he was by the American people because he represented a beautiful version of how Americans were (Nordic pioneers) and what they also were (strivers, adventurers, celebrities). All this was fine and very interesting and I look forward to reading the entire book (it was published yesterday; I've been waiting for it for a couple of weeks).

On the first page of the book is a description of what went into Lindbergh's transatlantic flight. The author explains The Spirit of Saint Louis was named in honor of the support the people of that city gave to his flight. Only some mix up in copy editing attributes the name to the great pubic support the people of Saint Louis gave.

None of the rest of the first chapter had any mistakes, glaring or otherwise. But you have to wonder who copy edits these things. If I were the author, I'd be dying of embarrassment. It's not even hidden away deep in the text. Nope, it's smack on page 1 for even the most casual reader to see (and laugh loud and long at, which I certainly did).

 

[Peaches LaTour]

For some reason which I cannot understand, I love to read in the summer but lose interest in reading during the winter.

That said, I have been rereading all my magazines. I hope that counts for something.

 

[Jenny]

@missing do let us know how the rest of the book goes - I've read a lot of Lindbergh books over the years, so always interested in a new perspective

 

[puglover]

New Michael Connelly book out tomorrow - "The Law of Innocence" - a Lincoln Lawyer novel - Book 6. For me, he is one author who has continued to put forth quality writing and interesting plots and characters. Here's hoping for another good one....

 

[Susan1]

I haven't read since last Sunday.

 

[missing]

@missing do let us know how the rest of the book goes - I've read a lot of Lindbergh books over the years, so always interested in a new perspective

I finished reading Little Lindy Is Kidnapped yesterday. There was one more noticeable typo but nothing as classic as pubic support.

I liked the book a lot. I think this was my first Lindbergh book so I only knew the basics of the crime. The author says straightaway that he thinks Hauptmann did it and acted alone, so it's not a let's reexamine the evidence book. The focus is on how newspapers, radio and newsreels covered it, and how the press covered the press itself (for example when the AP got the verdict wrong and the Daily News held off on publishing its extra edition, The March Of Time covered that). I learned about a pre-code movie named Miss Fane's Baby Is Stolen, which I had never heard of and which has an ending the exact opposite of what the ending would be nowadays.

It also has a lot of pictures neatly interspersed with the text. There was a picture of a Daily News headline that simply said (in bold tabloid lettering) BABY DEAD.

If you're interested in Lindbergh or in mass media, it's a good read.

 

[Jenny]

I'm interested in both - thanks for sharing!

 

[Erin]

This week, I read The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, aka the prequel to The Hunger Games. I thought it was OK - not as good as The Hunger Games or Catching Fire, but way better than Mockingjay. I did find it a bit of a chore to read - I barely got it done in the time before it was due back at the library. I feel like it could have been a lot shorter. So it’s not a ringing endorsement, but it’s not bad either.

 

[genevieve]

I only recently learned about the new HG book - surprised that it hasn't gotten more fanfare. Maybe because others found it as so-so as you did? Or maybe the shelf life of Hunger Games was just a lot shorter than, say, the HP series. But 5 years ago I would have been all over a prequel that might give some history on the creation of Panem - and now I can't even be bothered to look up if that's the focus of the new book

I scored the latest Tana French on Peak Picks from the library this weekend. Another stand-alone, not part of the Dublin Murder Squad series. Liking it so far, even though she's starting to get that same-same protagonist everyman feeling that came with the latter half of Dick Francis's output