What Are You Reading in October 2016?

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What Are You Reading in October 2016?

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1ted74ca
okt 2, 2016, 11:07 pm

I finished 2 books in the past 2 days. One I just loved and couldn't put down: The Girls by Lori Lansens. The other I had started last year and put away as I wasn't enthused-picked it up again last week and actually quite enjoyed it: The Casual Vacancy by J. K. Rowling.

2Cecrow
Redigeret: okt 3, 2016, 8:44 am

I liked The Casual Vacancy. I'm not a fan of detective stories, so I hope she tries her hand at something more like this again eventually.

3LynnB
okt 3, 2016, 4:03 pm

4LibraryCin
okt 3, 2016, 11:34 pm

The Cat's Table / Michael Ondaatje
2.5 stars

Michael, at 11-years old, is on a ship. He makes friends with two other 11-year old boys at his table, “The Cat's Table”. This tells the story of their trip, and some of the other people they met on that trip.

Ok, that may not quite be the gist of the story, but it's what I got from it. I wasn't expecting to like it, as the other book(s?) I've read by Ondaatje, I found boring (In the Skin of a Lion). I may or may not have also tried Anil's Ghost, but I can't quite recall.

Anyway, it started off well. I thought it was going to be better than I expected, but not too long into it, it went downhill for me. It jumped back and forth in time, so I often missed where we were. It also jumped around a bit, focusing on different people. In the end, it just wasn't interesting enough for me to pay attention, so I missed much of it as I skimmed.

5Cecrow
okt 4, 2016, 7:44 am

I took a university course that was all Michael Ondaatje, I guess around the time he published The English Patient since it culminated with that (yup, I'm getting that old). It's disconcerting to sign up for a course like that and realize just two or three books in that you really don't care for this author.

6LibraryCin
okt 4, 2016, 7:13 pm

>5 Cecrow: Oh no!!! That would be awful. :-(

8Nickelini
Redigeret: okt 8, 2016, 2:11 am

>5 Cecrow: It's disconcerting to sign up for a course like that and realize just two or three books in that you really don't care for this author

Yikes! I had a similar experience in that there was a specific course that I wanted to take for years (I went to uni as a mature student, so my undergrad took 8 years, as I went part time and scheduled around my family). Each time the course focused on a different city, and I was looking for a time it fit my schedule AND focused on a city I was interested in. I finally got to take it during my last term at uni, and the topic was "Rome". I reckoned this would be good as my husband is Italian (northern), and I'd been to Rome three times, although it wasn't really a favourite. So I thought "maybe after taking this course I'll embrace Rome!", and it was taught by a prof who I really liked and figured she'd sell me on it. Yeah, lots of reading, discussion and lecture . . . still not a fan of Rome. Worth visiting for sure, but not a favourite place.

So, I feel your pain. That said, I rather like Ondaatje, and of the books I've read, The English Patient is my least favourite, despite the accolades. I do like the movie though, and watch it every so often (it is very long). I love the romance between the nurse and the sapper, and also, Colin Firth is in it, and the rest of the cast are favourite actors of mine.

Anyway, just finished October by Richard B Wright (Giller and Dublin IMPAC nominee). Now I'm starting The Natural Way of Things, by Charlotte Wood. I bought this because I'd heard fabulous things about it, but it sounds . . . uncomfortable? However, today I bought tickets to see the author at the Vancouver Writer's Festival, so I must read it before the event!

9SylviaC
okt 8, 2016, 6:10 pm

I'm just starting The Concubine's Children for book club. I have no idea what to expect.

The most disappointing course I ever took was Children's Literature. I had been looking forward to it ever since I was about eight years old, when my mother was taking it as part of her degree, and shared her books with me. It just seemed like the greatest thing ever! Then I finally got to take it in second year university, and the professor was a really terrible lecturer. She was great with small groups on the rare occasions that she joined our seminar group, but the lectures were sheer torture. And the graduate student who led our seminar had some rather...narrow...interpretations of the books, and did not encourage discussion. Thus was one of my lifelong dreams crushed.

10vancouverdeb
okt 10, 2016, 11:55 am

Reading Wonder by Emma Donoghue. It is short listed for the Giller Prize.

11LynnB
Redigeret: okt 10, 2016, 4:26 pm

I'm debating whether to read that one, vancouverdeb. Let me know what you think.

I'm starting Wild by Cheryl Strayed.

12rabbitprincess
okt 10, 2016, 4:35 pm

I've been spending the weekend knocking off unfinished books. Yesterday I finished Smallwood: The Unlikely Revolutionary, by Richard Gwyn, and today I finished The Game of Kings, by Dorothy Dunnett.

13ted74ca
Redigeret: okt 11, 2016, 10:41 pm

I finished two books over the long weekend and both were pretty good. Different Class by Joanne Harris, whom I've not read before but definitely will again & Raven Black by Ann Cleeves. I've just started reading Ann Cleeves this year, but find the fact that I've already seen the TV adaptations of her Vera series and the Shetland series on PBS spoils the novels a bit for me.

14vancouverdeb
Redigeret: okt 11, 2016, 11:01 pm

>11 LynnB: Lynn, I've yet to write a review on The Wonder but I really enjoyed it. I had not really expected to enjoy it - I was only middling about Room - too trite or something for me. But The Wonder is definitely a page turner worth reading. Is it a Giller Winner? Not sure one way or another, but a enjoyable yarn for certain. I think it will have a wide appeal.

15LynnB
okt 13, 2016, 4:29 pm

16vancouverdeb
okt 13, 2016, 7:50 pm

Reading The Parcel by Anosh Irani. It's up short listed for the Governor General's Literary Prize, as well as the Rogers Writer's Trust Prize ( or whatever that prize is properly called .

18rabbitprincess
okt 15, 2016, 9:10 am

Very much enjoying The Idiot Brain, by Dean Burnett. An entertaining look at the weird and wonderful things the human brain does.

19Cecilturtle
okt 15, 2016, 10:25 am

I'm finishing Watchman by Ian Rankin, set during the 1980s IRA terrorist bombings in London.

20ted74ca
okt 16, 2016, 8:45 pm

The latest by one of my favourite crime writers: The Trespasser by Tana French.

21Nickelini
okt 17, 2016, 12:50 pm

Finished The Natural Way of Things, by Australian Charlotte Wood. Definitely going to make my top 5 list of the year. Now on to something a little lighter -- Northanger Abbey, the rewrite by Val McDermid.

23ted74ca
okt 20, 2016, 4:40 pm

The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena. So-so, every character unlikeable.

24LynnB
okt 21, 2016, 1:29 pm

25Nickelini
okt 21, 2016, 2:12 pm

>24 LynnB: Let us know how that one is. I've had my eye on it since it was published.

26rabbitprincess
okt 21, 2016, 6:53 pm

Just received my copy of Peter Davison's memoir, Is There Life Outside the Box?: An Actor Despairs. This is one of the few books that I have started reading immediately after getting it.

27vancouverdeb
Redigeret: okt 21, 2016, 7:42 pm

I finished reading and created brief reviews for The Wonder by Emma Donoghue as well as The Parcel by Anosh Irani. I preferred The Wonder to Room. The Parcel is a real eye opener and very gritty. Both are up for Can Lit awards for this year.

28ted74ca
okt 22, 2016, 9:25 am

So-so, quick read, a psychological thriller. The Other Child by Lucy Atkins

31Nickelini
okt 25, 2016, 2:27 pm

I'm now reading I'm Not Scared by Niccolo Ammaniti.

32ted74ca
Redigeret: okt 26, 2016, 8:58 pm

Eeny Meeny by M.J. Arlidge. A somewhat grisly but not really thrilling crime fiction novel, 1st in a series.

33ted74ca
okt 26, 2016, 8:58 pm

Also finished a book from the motley collection in our break room at work and this was not worth the time it took to read it: The Midwife's Sister by Christine Lee. I enjoyed the Call the Midwife series but definitely not this one.

34vancouverdeb
okt 28, 2016, 1:30 am

Finished Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrick Backman. Quite disappointing and not worth the time.

Also finished Wenjack by Joseph Boyden and it is a beautifully told novella of a young Ojibwe boy who runs away from a residential school. Very touching.

35ted74ca
okt 28, 2016, 10:35 pm

Two more books read this week during my sleepless times at night:
The Widow by Fiona Barton, which didn't live up to my local librarian's great review, and Blood Harvest by S. J. Bolton which was somewhat better.

36LynnB
okt 29, 2016, 10:26 am

I'm reading Play Ball and Carry On by Gregory Rom.

37Nickelini
okt 30, 2016, 10:37 pm

Just finished A Monster Calls. I see why it's so highly acclaimed. Powerful and unique, and the art is fabulous.

38vancouverdeb
okt 31, 2016, 3:26 am

Nearly finished Another Brooklyn by Jaqueline Woodson. An excellent read.

Happy Halloween everyone!

39vancouverdeb
Redigeret: okt 31, 2016, 3:26 am

duplicate post. sorry!

40LynnB
okt 31, 2016, 8:02 am

41ted74ca
okt 31, 2016, 12:55 pm

Just finished a lovely novel Clara by Kurt Palka. I realized a few pages into it that I had already read this book, so checked on Library Thing to discover I had indeed, back in 2012, under the title Patient Number 7. Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed it again, and was even tempted to start re-reading it this am, but too many books await me in my bedside stack.

42LibraryCin
nov 1, 2016, 11:24 pm

Bride of New France / Suzanne Desrochers
3.5 stars

It’s the mid-1600s. Laure grew up in a hospital in Paris that housed orphans. When some of the girls are chosen to be sent to New France (Canada) to become wives for the many men who are already there, Laure is one who is chosen to go. The girls have heard horror stories about New France, including about the “savages” and don’t know what to expect.

I enjoyed this. I listened to the audio, and the narrator spoke very slowly, but I only noticed that once in a while. I suppose it did also help with the few French words that were thrown in. The plot itself doesn’t move quickly and it took me a little bit of time at the start to get interested, but once I was interested, I did enjoy it. It was interesting to learn about the colonization of French Canada hundreds of years ago, and for me, it’s always more interesting through the eyes of a woman.

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