Torontoc reads from her TBR tower in 2017

Conversazioni2017 ROOT (READ OUR OWN TOMES)

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Torontoc reads from her TBR tower in 2017

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1torontoc
Dic 31, 2016, 12:37 pm

I'll try to read from the books in my possession that are over 6 months old- and resting in TBR towers! My goal will be 30 books- I don't like to stress over reading so I might surpass this goal.

2cyderry
Dic 31, 2016, 12:40 pm

Glad you are back for another year!
Will you be adding a ticker?

3torontoc
Dic 31, 2016, 12:49 pm

Hmm, I might if I can figure out how to do it- will you put the instructions in a thread here?

4cyderry
Dic 31, 2016, 1:34 pm

How to get a ticker?
1. Go to tickerfactory.com
2. Select create a new ticker.
3. Make your fun selections for the strand and the moving part
4. Copy the code (HTML) for the ticker when you are finished
5. paste it in your opening post as well as the ticker thread.
6. each time you want to update right click on your ticker and select open in a new tab, enter your password, adjust your total and hit save - tickerfactory.com will automatically update here and on the ticker thread!

5torontoc
Dic 31, 2016, 2:01 pm

Thank you!

6rabbitprincess
Dic 31, 2016, 9:55 pm

Welcome back and good luck!

7Tess_W
Gen 1, 2017, 4:27 am

Happy rooting in 2017!

8klarusu
Gen 1, 2017, 8:44 am

Happy New ROOTing Year!

9Familyhistorian
Gen 1, 2017, 6:45 pm

Good luck ROOTing in 2017.

10MissWatson
Gen 2, 2017, 4:43 pm

Happy ROOTing!

11avanders
Gen 2, 2017, 7:45 pm

Welcome back & Happy 2017 ROOTing!

12torontoc
Modificato: Gen 3, 2017, 10:34 pm

My first ROOT and yes I will get a ticker!

1.The Singapore Grip by J.G. Farrell I sometimes look at reviews of books that I have finished reading-especially ones that have had a strong effect on me. One reviewer of this book called the style and plot a cross between Monty Python and Tolstoy. I have to agree. This very long ( 568 pages) novel describes the state of life in Singapore just before the fall of the city to the Japanese during the Second World War. Sometimes the changing narrators describe the intricacies of the rubber trade and the role of the prominent British trading companies or the hour by hour bad decisions made by the British in confronting the Japanese army. Other times the reader learns about the trivial concerns of the Blackett family as the head of the family and trading company , Walter, tries to marry off his daughter Joan to the just arrived son of his late company partner, Matthew Webb. Walter's son Monty is a person of loose morals and opportunistic plans. Matthew is an idealist who used to work at the League of Nations and seems to pick the wrong time to declaim about what the world's nations should have done. Meanwhile the reader is confronted by comic relief in the wrong headed actions of the Blackett family, Matthew's blundering in matter of love and then the very serious problems and suffering of Singapore's population as the Japanese bomb the city and almost everyone is in flight from the fighting. There are a number of memorable characters. The information about harvesting rubber, monopolies and defence tactics is very intense. Overall I had a not too easy time at the beginning of the novel but eventually I was hooked. A good read.-and I have read two out of three in Farrell's trilogy.

13MissWatson
Gen 4, 2017, 4:52 am

Congrats on your first ROOT! I've got this on my TBR, too. So little time, so many books.

14avanders
Gen 4, 2017, 10:05 am

Yeah congrats on your first ROOT pulled already!

15connie53
Gen 5, 2017, 10:39 am

Welcome back and Happy ROOTing.

16torontoc
Feb 16, 2017, 1:33 pm

I am reading many new books ! but I will get back to the pile waiting for me!

2. Mayflower A Story of Courage, Community and War by Nathaniel Philbrick This is a blow by blow account of not only the voyage of the Pilgrims from England ( and Holland) to the New World but also a very detailed telling of the wars between the Natives and English settlers. The author relates the story of the different groups that made up the passengers of the ship, the Mayflower. The landing was supposed to be at a different place than off the coast of Cape Cod. In fact the ship tried a few different landing spots before the ship anchored in Cape Cod Bay. There was tremendous loss of life as the survivors started to contract settlements in the new world. The relationships with the natives of Cape Cod are told from the first encounters to the ruinous King Philip's War. Philbrick shows that both Natives and English made mistakes that resulted in death and destruction on all sides. This book is a very good history of the time.

17torontoc
Mar 16, 2017, 10:32 pm

I have been seduced by my new books! But I will start reading from my TBR piles ( books that have been there for over 6 months ) soon---really...soon

18MissWatson
Mar 17, 2017, 5:02 am

The same is happening to me at the moment...so many temptations!

19torontoc
Mar 23, 2017, 2:26 pm

3. Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler. This novel comes across as a very hallucinatory experience as the reader follows the life of Tess-a young woman who comes to live in New York City and her job in a very high end restaurant. The author takes the reader through the gruelling experiences that Tess has as a back waiter. She becomes entranced by two co-workers, Simone, the senior server and Jake, a very attractive and elusive bar tender. Tess does learn about wine and food but she also want relationships, friends with Simone and lover to Jake, without understanding their ties to each other. This is an exhausting book to read. The singleminded life that the staff have with the restaurant and the power plays that underscore the lives of those who work there are really the main themes. This is a very powerful first novel for the author.

20torontoc
Mar 28, 2017, 10:20 am

4. The Black Widow by Daniel Silva. I like the writing but the plot has a lot of violence and the character development is limited. I must admit reading Silva's works about once every two years after I finish a more taxing novel. I liked the stories better when there was an art theme to them.

21torontoc
Apr 7, 2017, 8:41 pm

5. Treasures of a People The Synagogues of Canada by Sheldon Levitt, Lynn Milstone and Sidney Tenenbaum I reread this book for this month's non-fiction challenge. The authors were architecture students who travelled across Canada and photographed synagogues both used and abandoned. They did this over three years in the late 1970's. This book illustrates a number of the photos ( all donated to archives collections in Canada) in a thematic way. We are able to see the differences and similarities in architecture and details of windows and more. The synagogues were very diverse from big cities to small towns on the Prairies. I was interested in that some of the synagogues I know from leading tours to them over the years. The authors help record a part of Canada's Jewish history- some of the buildings have been torn down or used for entirely different purposes. This is an essential document for readers interested in history and architecture.

22Tess_W
Apr 7, 2017, 8:57 pm

>21 torontoc: Sounds like a lovely book!

23floremolla
Apr 8, 2017, 4:46 am

>21 torontoc: that does sound lovely. I love photos of old streets and buildings and 70s photos have a colour quality of their own that makes me nostalgic for my teens!

24Jackie_K
Apr 8, 2017, 8:45 am

>21 torontoc: That does sound brilliant. When I worked in Romania a few years ago, the city I was living in was the European City of Culture that year (Sibiu, 2007), and so there were loads of cultural events on throughout the year. One day quite by chance I discovered that the synagogue was having an open day, so I went inside and got a tour from one of the members, and then was allowed to go upstairs to the balcony to take photos. They were so friendly, but the Jewish population in Romania has been very precarious (and much much smaller) since WW2.

Where I lived in Glasgow there was a synagogue just round the corner from my flat, but although I think it was still in active use I never saw it open when I passed, so was never able to venture inside, sadly.

25torontoc
Apr 11, 2017, 9:46 am

I know some of the synagogues photographed and also know about the improvements made to three older ones in Toronto.
Some of the synagogues open to the public during the " Doors Open" event in Toronto in the late spring.

6. New American Haggadah edited by Jonathan Safran Foer and newly translated by Nathan Englanderwith commentary by Nathaniel Deutsch, Jeffrey Goldberg, Rebecca Newberger Goldstein and Lemony Snicket, designed by Oded Ezer. After last night's seder at a relative's house, my nephew told me that he thought that the Haggadah used ( very old) was really not appropriate for the guests who were at the dinner. I thought about this and went to my collection of Haggadahs. I went through them and found newer ones that had gender neutral references to God and used more recent political and social events as a spring board for discussions. The one book that I hadn't gone through was this one-the " New American Haggadah" I read it last night and this morning. What makes this haggadah more timely is the commentary, great design and time line about references to Passover at the top of each page. I have mixed feelings about the translations by Nathan Englander. I understand from his comments that he was looking at the text in a traditional way-so the language is more updated, more poetic about belief but still using masculine references to God. The commentaries were the most important part of this book for me. The questions and references linked contemporary concerns with age old dilemmas. Each section of the book had commentaries written by the four authors. I liked the sometimes irreverent ideas of Lemony Snicket as well as the thoughtful questions posed by all the authors of this section. This book might not satisfy some of the concerns posed by my nephew but it does serve to provide a more timely look at an age old ritual.

26torontoc
Apr 16, 2017, 12:21 pm

7. An Empire of Their Own How the Jews Invented Hollywood by Neil Gabler. The author gives the reader the biographies of the heads of the original Hollywood movie studios. Gabler traces the stories of the men who started out on the east coast in New York City as very poor immigrants barely making a living. These men all had the good fortune to become involved in the development of the early motion picture theatres where for five or ten cents you could view a living picture. Eventually these men moved from developing theatres to producing the films. They fought with the trust set up by Thomas Edison to control film production. The move out to Hollywood and the setting up of studios is detailed down to the fight for power between boards in New York City and the actual production facilities in California. Gabler writes about the kinds of films produced that mirrored the dreams of these early executives to fit in and be accepted into American society. Each studio had a different style of production. Gabler does not mince words about the bad behaviour of many of these producers. He also writes about the beginnings of the House Committee on Un-American Activities and the impact on the film industry. This history is also useful as a reference to the beginnings of film production in the United States.

27torontoc
Apr 16, 2017, 2:47 pm

8. The Stalin Epigram by Robert Littell This well constructed novel examines the life and trials of the Russian poet Osip Mandelstam Each chapter is narrated by a different person who had a relationship with Mandelstam. The story begins in 1934 when Mandelstam writes a brief poem that attacks Stalin- it is not meant to become public but it does and the poet is arrested and interrogated in Lubyanka prison. The narration is carried by his wife Nadezhda, his mistress, his great friend and poet Anna Akhmatova, the poet Boris Pasternak, and two others who will fit into the poet's story. The reader learns about Mandelstam's torture and his exile. The life that people led in 1930's Russia is marked by secret trials, mass deportations to Siberia and the Gulag and the seemingly absurd accusations of secret plots against Stalin. Certainly , Stalin plays a key role in this novel with Mandelstam's real or hallucinatory accounts of meeting him. The story seems very real and the structure gives the reader a sense of the lives led under Stalin's rule. A really good read for me.

28Tess_W
Apr 16, 2017, 4:11 pm

>27 torontoc: That is certainly a BB for me!

29torontoc
Modificato: Apr 16, 2017, 5:40 pm

>28 Tess_W: I really enjoyed this book!

30Tess_W
Apr 16, 2017, 8:13 pm

>29 torontoc: I have a Master's in History and my minor was in Russian History, specifically the Stalin era so I'm quite familiar with the show trials, etc. I've read the biography of Eugenia Ginzburg, titled Journey Into the Whirlwind which was her account of torture and gulags under Stalin.

31torontoc
Apr 17, 2017, 7:11 pm

>30 Tess_W: Journey into the Whirlwind goes onto my wishlist! Thank you

32Tess_W
Apr 17, 2017, 8:40 pm

>31 torontoc: Make sure you get the COMPLETE version. She started it after Stalin died and then it ended abruptly and then mysteriously several years later it was "finished." No word on why this occurred.

33connie53
Apr 23, 2017, 1:42 am

Hi, just stopping by to see what you are reading. Happy weekend.

34torontoc
Apr 26, 2017, 9:48 am

Thank you- I was really stuck on this book ( below) I should have dropped it but for some reason wanted to finish.

9. Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-eight Nights by Salman Rushdie. I usually like Rushdie's works but not this one. I felt as if I was reading for two years eight months and twenty-eight days! The story combines fantasy, storytelling and myth but too many times I felt like saying " get on with the narrative". There were too many digressions, interruptions and endless descriptions that interfered with my reading of the plot. ( a confession- I liked good plots)A female jinn at the centre of the action, Dunia, sleeps with a mortal and has many children. She goes back to her world until there is a catastrophe caused by other jinns who are out to destroy the world-there are many( too many graphic descriptions on how this is done. The cast of assorted descendants of Dunia- a gardener, a woman seeking revenge and more helps Dunia save the world. The language is really interesting but too much! That is all I have to say- I am going back to the books by the author that I really liked-Shame and Haroun and the Sea of Stories.

35connie53
Apr 27, 2017, 2:16 am

Good for you to plug along in a book you did not really like, torontoc.

36floremolla
Apr 27, 2017, 3:59 am

>34 torontoc: well done on persevering! I loved Midnight's Children but abandoned The Moor's Last Sigh - so you've reminded me I have a 20 year old ROOT (ouch!) that needs to be dealt with. :/

37Jackie_K
Apr 27, 2017, 7:13 am

My book group read Midnight's Children many years ago (before I joined it) and still talk all these years later about how much they all hated it! I have Haroun and the Sea of Stories on my TBR on another friend's recommendation, but haven't got to it yet.

38torontoc
Mag 12, 2017, 10:36 am

>37 Jackie_K: I stopped reading Midnight's Children in the middle and always wanted to get back to it- but I did see the film made and liked it!
10. Henna House by Nomi Eve. O.K. I read this book because someone chose it for my book club. I liked the details of the lives of Jews who lived in Yemen during the 20th century. I also liked the explanation and descriptions of henna and the application among women. However, I found the actual storyline a little melodramatic despite elements of the story that probably happened in the history of the Yemeni Jewish community. The author would foretell a few of the later details of plot in the beginning of the story-so the reader would have a hint of some later events. I will see what the book members thought about this novel- I was happy to finish and get back to books that I am eager to read.

39floremolla
Mag 12, 2017, 11:22 am

>38 torontoc: I know what you mean - my RL book folded after 12 years - I miss it for the social side and some great book recommendations...but not for those books I had to slog through because they just weren't my thing!

40torontoc
Mag 12, 2017, 11:27 am

>39 floremolla: I am able to recommend books to my group- but in this case I was not at the " book choosing" meeting!

41floremolla
Mag 12, 2017, 1:34 pm

>39 floremolla: oh that was unfortunate! Hope it's not too long till the next one!

42Tess_W
Mag 12, 2017, 2:09 pm

Can't catch up, but will start anew here! Happy reading!

43torontoc
Mag 22, 2017, 10:30 am

This was a fun read- i have to get the first book!
11. Bachelor Brothers Bed and Breakfast Pillow Book by Bill Richardson. This book is one I have had for ages but I am glad to get around to reading it. Twins Hector and Virgil run a bed and breakfast on an island off British Columbia. The novel introduces the reader to a number of eccentric characters- Mrs. Rochester the parrot who quotes scripture, Altona, Hector's editor ( of The Occasional Rumour newspaper )girlfriend, handy man Caedmon who has a mute rooster and the poetry of Solomon Solomon whose books include Hygiene for Boys: Good Clean Verse for Growing Minds and the newly discovered Tight Jeans for Boys : Probing Poems for Pubescent Punks. The story is composed of letters to the bed and breakfast, recipes and stories and chapters narrated by one of the characters. The reader learns of Solomon's construction of an enormous ball of cigarette foil papers, the ambush of the bed and breakfast by the editor of the magazine Interference, the folly of the Solomon Solomon Commemoration Day and more. The gentle humour made the book a really good read.

44torontoc
Mag 27, 2017, 7:35 am

12. Leonardo's Nephew Essays on Art and Artists by James Fenton I have read James Fenton's writings on other topics- his travel writing- especially his piece on "The Fall of Saigon" -and his adventures with fellow writer and traveller, Redmond O' Hanlon. I enjoyed these essays on artists and art. Fenton talks about Picasso, Degas, Seurat, Jasper Johns, Egyptian mummy portraits and indeed ,Leonardo's nephew, Pierino, who was an artist. He has insights and opinions on the work described and other critics as well. There are references to specific art shows that I wish I had visited. The essays were informative and raised questions about intent and some commonly held assertions on style and history. This was a really good read for me.

45torontoc
Giu 18, 2017, 8:57 am

13. The Virgin Cure by Ami McKay I liked the first book that I read by the author and this one is also really good. Moth is a young girl living in poverty with her mother in a tenement in Lower Manhattan in 1871. Her mother is a fortuneteller who barely makes a living as Moth's father had abandoned them. Moth does get a surprise when her mother sells her to a wealthy woman as a maid when she is twelve. Her treatment at the hands of this deranged woman leads Moth to run away. She lives on the street until she is rescued or found by a young girl who takes Moth to Miss Everett's house. Miss Everett runs a " training" brothel for young women- they are valued for their virginity. Miss Everett treats the girls very well as she teaches them how to be ladies and eventually sells their innocence to men. In the narrative, Moth seems to understand and be willing to become a prostitute as a way to live a better life. The story is also told by a woman doctor. Dr. Sadie, who treats the very poor and the girls in Miss Everett's house. Dr. Sadie tries to persuade Moth to leave Miss Everett's. Throughout the book there are inserts that tell the story of life in the 1870's as well. The title of the book refers to the belief that sleeping with a virgin is a way to cure a man who has syphilis. ( interesting that the same belief is prevalent today in part of Africa with AIDS). The novel is interesting for the epilogue as well- McKay learned that her great-great grandmother was a doctor in New York. She researched her history and the times as background for this book. Moth is lucky that she has friends in the side show business and Dr. Sadie who do provide her with a way to escape. The story is about choices in a world where there are few opportunities for the very poor.

46Tess_W
Giu 18, 2017, 9:53 am

>45 torontoc: On my TBR pile....might move up a few notches!

47torontoc
Giu 30, 2017, 2:52 pm

14. Mysterious Fragrance of the Yellow Mountains by Yasuko Thanh. This novel won the Writers' Trust 2016 Fiction Award. The story is set in Vietnam in 1908. The French are ruling the country but there is trouble from the various groups of rebels. Dr. Nguyen Georges-Minh is wealthy and able to treat the very poor in his clinic. However, he hates his position of privilege and plots with some of his friends to poison French troops. Georges-Minh's friends have their own issues- they either unfaithful to their wives or make bad decisions. These individual stories are about lack of trust, addiction, and just plain bad luck. Georges-Minh finds himself in trouble as one of his friends takes action without any plan and fails in the poison attempt. The stories of the journeys that the various characters take are more about the descriptions of the countryside and the suffering of the Vietnam people than the direction of the plot. The language is amazing and this deserves the attention of the Writers' Trust Prize.

48torontoc
Lug 9, 2017, 5:11 pm

15. What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt I had trouble getting into this story( in fact I put it down for a few months) but once I got through the first 50 pages, I was hooked. The story of art historian Leo, his wife college professor and writer Erica, their son Matt, and artist Bill, his son Mark and Lucille-Bill's first wife and then Violet-Bill's second wife and sometime model became so engrossing to me. I don't want to give away any spoilers as major events in the novel should be discovered by the reader. Leo narrates twenty five years in the lives of his family and that of Bill Wechsler. The author has written a very credible story of the life and art created by Bill. The descriptions of Bill's art are very realistic and capture the style of the 1970's and 80's in New York City. Even the excesses of the 1980's art scene are woven into the novel. I found the narration of Leo- who undergoes some very traumatic situations- very touching. A very good read for me and I will try to read more by Hustvedt.

49floremolla
Lug 9, 2017, 5:30 pm

>48 torontoc: great review! I bought this book a few months ago so it doesn't qualify as a ROOT for me, but I think I'll be moving it up the queue now :)

50torontoc
Lug 13, 2017, 9:11 am

>49 floremolla: I really liked this book and will look out for more of Hustvedt's writings!

16. The Moor's Account by Laila Lalami. The author has written an account of the ill fated expedition led by Spanish Captain Narvaez to Florida in 1527. Originally there had been five ships but there were only four survivors after 1 year. There were accounts written by three of the survivors. Lalami imagines the account written by the fourth man- a Muslim slave originally from Morocco- Mustafa or Estanbanico renamed by the Spaniards. The story of bad decisions, terrible treatment of the indigenous natives of Florida and the quest for gold are major themes in the stories told by Mustafa. Many of the survivors lived because they worked with the Indians and lived in their villages. The hardships of life in the wilderness defeat the Spanish leaders. At crucial pints the leader separated the big group, and made assumptions that were totally wrong. Lalani gives her character Mustafa the space to describe his life as a merchant before he is compelled to sell himself into slavery in order to save his family from starving. I found the book to be a very good read and illuminating about life in the early days of the Spanish rule in the Americas.

51Tess_W
Lug 13, 2017, 10:03 am

>50 torontoc: Sounds like a winner, it goes on my wishlist!

52torontoc
Lug 18, 2017, 10:33 am

> 51 it was a good book!

17. Rhapsody in Schmaltz Yiddish Food and Why We Can't Stop Eating It. by Michael Wex I must admit that I have read other books by this author and I was expecting something entirely different- Wex has written some very funny books. This book is really a very scholarly history of Jewish food. Wex links certain foods to their origins and some passages in the Torah as well as commentaries. So challa, cholent, bagels, chicken soup and more are traced back through history. The author shows the changes from Eastern Europe to the United States and Canada. In a way this book is also a social history of Eastern European Jews and their food.

53torontoc
Lug 20, 2017, 9:38 am

18. Let Me Be Frank with You by Richard Ford. I had read Canada by this author but hadn't heard of the other books that he wrote featuring the character Frank Buscombe. After a slow start , I really appreciated the writing style and the personality of the narrator, Frank. The book is made of four episodes in the life of Frank- aged 68. The reader learns of some of Frank's past history as a real estate agent as he agrees to meet the man who had bought his sea-side beach house years ago. However, it is now just after Hurricane Sandy and the house has been upended and destroyed. The next episode has Frank inviting a woman ,who used to live in his present house, to look around and of course relate the history of her family's life many years ago. In another chapter Frank visits his first wife in her senior's complex although they had been divorced for a very long time. And the last chapter has Frank visiting someone-Eddie- who he hasn't seen in many years.Eddie is dying and for some reason wants to see Frank. Each story has Frank giving the reader some clues about his own past history, and opinions. This book makes me want to track down the first three that Ford wrote about Frank Buscombe.

54connie53
Lug 21, 2017, 3:17 pm

Hi T, just stopping by to say Hi. I've been away from LT for some time due to RL things. But now I'm back trying to keep up with threads.

55torontoc
Lug 21, 2017, 8:18 pm

>54 connie53: Thank you! I have had some good books to read these past months!

56torontoc
Lug 31, 2017, 12:24 pm

19. The Mark and The Void by Paul Murray. This a funny and tragic novel about financial messes that bank institutions get into. Claude is an analyst at the Bank of Torabundo in Ireland. He is a Frenchman with no family connections who moved to take the job and seems happy with his all encompassing work. A writer named Paul asks to follow Claude at his workplace -Paul wants to write a novel about a banking everyman and he says that Claude fits the bill. Of course Claude discovers that Paul is lying. At the same time the bank gets a new chairman whose business practices soon put Claude and his co-workers into a perilous situation. In addition Claude deals with his unrequited love for a waitress, his concern for Paul's family and the morality of the new regime at the Bank of Torabundo!
A Great satire.

57torontoc
Ago 3, 2017, 8:21 pm

20. Madame Sadayakko The Geisha who Seduced the West by Lesley Downer I read this biography because it was in my book pile and I hadn't got to it in a while. The story was interesting for the descriptions of the life of a geisha. A girl who became a Geisha might have a glamorous life but she was restricted in many ways. Sada Yakko was different. She travelled with her husband to the US and Europe and performed as an actress. She also brought back Western ideas of theatre to Japan and seemed to inaugurate many new theatre practices at a time when it was unusual for a woman to act on the stage. The story of Sada Yakko's life was one that could be performed in a film- return to first love, adulation in Europe and sacrifice to established tradition in Japan. I enjoyed the read but the overall writing style was not as good as other biographies that I have read.

58torontoc
Ago 15, 2017, 4:13 pm

21. Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien This is one terrific book. I can see why it won the Governor General's Literary Award, the Giller Prize and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. Thien has written a wonderful layered story that takes in momentous events in China- from the Red Guards to the 1989 Tiananmen Square protest and later massacre. Kai is a pianist who seems to work the system for his survival and later emigrates to Vancouver. His daughter, Marie later looks for the clues to find out about her family's history and that of her friend Ai-Ming- a young woman who flees to Canada after Tiananmen and later leaves to disappear into the United States and back to China. The reader learns about Ai-Ming's father Sparrow- a gifted composer whose life is changed by the Cultural Revolution- his niece Zhuli, a violin prodigy and their relationship to the escaped Wen the Dreamer and his wife Swirl. The story of survival of all the key people in this novel relates to their love and talent in music and literature. In fact the love of western composers is key to the destroyed livelihoods of Sparrow, and Zhuli. The story weaves past and present into a saga of life in China, past and a little present.Read this book.

59Tess_W
Ago 15, 2017, 4:42 pm

>58 torontoc: Music and history....a win win! Goes on my wishlist.

60Jackie_K
Ago 15, 2017, 4:43 pm

>58 torontoc: it's on my wishlist! I haven't read a bad review of this one yet.

61floremolla
Ago 15, 2017, 6:11 pm

>58 torontoc: this one has been on my radar too, good to read such a positive review!

62torontoc
Ago 28, 2017, 9:57 pm

22. The Improbability of Love by Hannah Rothschild This was a fun book to read- I liked the different characters and the narration by the painting at the centre of the plot- a small personal work by Watteau. Annie is a young woman who has just moved to London after a traumatic separation from her boyfriend of many years. She cooks for a living and doesn't have much money. She spots a small painting in an antique shop and buys it as a present for a new love interest ( that really ends before it starts). This acquisition leads her into the world of art dealers who have really bad backgrounds, an auctioneer who is desperately looking for the next big deal, a Russian who is learning to become a very rich patron, and her unruly and drunk mother who disturbs her life. And a very nice man who helps Annie and wants to become her boyfriend. The story mixes satire on those who acquire very historic artworks and the underground of underhanded dealings in art.

63floremolla
Ago 29, 2017, 4:06 am

Another BB for me!

64Tess_W
Ago 29, 2017, 10:36 pm

>62 torontoc: On my list it goes!

65torontoc
Modificato: Ott 5, 2017, 4:51 pm

23. The Long Ships by Frans G. Bengtsson I read this book for two reasons- good recommendations by LT members and in memory of my father. He had a habit of re-reading his favourite books every couple of year. One of them was this book. ( He also reread The Black Rose) I thoroughly enjoyed this adventure story about the travels and battle of Red Orm and his fellow Vikings. Orm fought across the Europe of 980-1010 AD. He was master of his own ship, was a bodyguard of a famed Arab leader Almansur and became a follower of Christianity. The stories of victory and loss were really interesting and I really liked the connections between the many civilizations of the time.
Actually I have been reading this for all of Sept! but just finished it

66torontoc
Ott 14, 2017, 8:50 pm

24. Rough Crossings: Britain, The Slaves and The American Revolution by Simon Schama. This was a history that I knew nothing about. Schama, a historian who I admire for his work, traces the history of black involvement in the American Revolution, exile to Nova Scotia and immigration to Sierra Leone. Black slaves did take sides during the American Revolution. Many fought for the British as they were promised land and freedom. The British used black volunteers and abandoned them just as quickly when there were too many escaped slaves to house. So there were abuses on both sides. When the British lost the war, they did make sure that Blacks were taken to Nova Scotia. However they were not treated very well in terms of land allotment and promises were broken. Schama describes the actions of many Englishmen who fought for the abolition of slavery in the British Empire. The book traces how John Clarkson was charged with finding Black families living in Nova Scotia and convincing them to sail to Sierra Leone where they would be given land and would create a new colony. The descriptions of the rough journey, the challenges of settling in Africa and the town of Freetown, the admirable work done by Clarkson and the change that took place with a new governor added to my understanding of a complex history of Black settlement. Schama describes how the political structure of Freetown contributed to the creation of a prosperous society. A very good read.

67torontoc
Ott 15, 2017, 10:08 pm

25. The Underground RailRoad by Colson Whitehead This is an excellent story. The author takes the facts of slaves and what happens to them after they run away from the plantations in the south and imagines a real underground railway. Cora runs away after she defended a fellow slave from a beating. She doesn't want to stay and endure more punishment. She also wants to find out what happened to her mother, Mabel. Cora escapes but kills one of the slave catchers. She travels from Georgia to South Carolina on a real underground train. Whitehead also imagines a seemingly safe haven where Blacks have work and are treated in a more humane manner. Cora discovers a disturbing fact about this society that she has taken refuge in. While she travels and escapes from the slave catcher who is tracking her, Cora learns about the sacrifice that ordinary people make in order to safeguard runaway slaves. Part fact and part fantasy, the author writes about the desire for respect and the injustice and horror of punishment to those who break the law and hide fugitives. Colson Whitehead is a great storyteller

68floremolla
Ott 16, 2017, 1:25 pm

>67 torontoc: sounds promising - I've acquired it recently so it's already jostling for position on the TBR shelves :)

69Tess_W
Modificato: Ott 17, 2017, 4:34 pm

>67 torontoc: Great review. It's on my TBR pile somewhere..........

70torontoc
Ott 17, 2017, 10:24 pm

>68 floremolla: >69 Tess_W: it is one of the best books I have read this year so far.

71torontoc
Modificato: Ott 20, 2017, 12:46 pm

26. The World of Suzie Wong byRichard Mason Well,I went through my TBR pile and found this very easy to read novel. It is interesting to read and look at the time when it was published-1957. Attitudes were very different in terms of class, race and sexual freedom. Mason writes about a man living in a hotel that catered to prostitutes and the sailors that were their clients in Hong Kong. Robert was an Englishman who had worked in Malay plantations but was determined to use his saving to paint and improve his art. He met all the Chinese girls and women who hung out (what a 21st century term) at the the Nam Kok Hotel. He meet Suzie Wong and becomes her friend. The reader learns about the different societies that exist in the then British colony and we follow Suzie and her friends. Robert and Suzie soon fall in love and weather some tragedies and eventually find happiness. I feel that if this story was updated to today the story would not end as well. But it was a good but dated read.

72torontoc
Ott 23, 2017, 12:16 pm

27. I reread The Aleppo Codex by Matti Friedman for my book club this week. I really liked the structure of the investigation that Friedman conducted in order to find out what happened to the codex in the transfer from Syria to Jerusalem and the unsolved mystery of what happened to 40% of the book.

73Tess_W
Ott 23, 2017, 6:48 pm

>72 torontoc: Looks like a great read. I read a historical fiction about this in the last couple of years, but for the life of me I can't recall it's name. Now I'll be searching my lists for it!

74torontoc
Ott 24, 2017, 10:37 pm

28. An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore I read this book because it was in my TBR pile and I was curious to see how it stands up today. Although published in 2006, this work is frightening in that the predictions that Al Gore wrote about have all come true -from the increase force of hurricanes to the warming of the ice caps. The photos, charts and graphs all contribute to the fact of global warming changing our planet for the worse. I think that this book really should be read as a primer in schools as it shows how our civilization's actions have changed our geography. A very compelling read.

75floremolla
Ott 25, 2017, 9:29 am

I feel I ought to have read this but somehow missed it a decade ago - thanks for highlighting it and prompting me to get it on my wishlist!

76Jackie_K
Ott 25, 2017, 12:46 pm

I've seen the film, I hadn't realised there was an accompanying book. I've also got the film on DVD, must dig that out again for another watch.

77torontoc
Ott 25, 2017, 10:33 pm

>75 floremolla: >76 Jackie_K: I feel that this book is a good reference book for today

78Tess_W
Ott 26, 2017, 3:03 pm

As an aside, the science teachers and professors I work with said there are many errors in Gore's book. The one that I can remember is the ice sheets melting in Antarctica and Greenland are not melting due to global warming but to volcanic activity at their base. Again, at my uni, may of the profs feel Gore's book is fear-mongering and that much of what is happening are natural occurrences. They do NOT discount global warming, though. I don't know any more than that about it!

79torontoc
Ott 26, 2017, 4:28 pm

If anything, Gore has highlighted the concern for climate change in the public eye.

80floremolla
Ott 26, 2017, 4:28 pm

>78 Tess_W: I agree there are likely natural forces - unmonitored and maybe even unknown - affecting the melting of the ice caps and consequently sea levels. And then there's the changing weather patterns - frighteningly rapid - how much of that is man made and how much natural? The more we talk about it, posit theories and restrain our use of diminishing natural resources the better chance we have of understanding and tackling the issue. I'm open to all theories!

81torontoc
Ott 26, 2017, 4:45 pm

This has been a good reading month for me!
29. Burial Rites by Hannah Kent. I believe that many LT members have read this book. I got my recommendation from some of the threads here. This is a remarkable story and told well. The author uses the history of the last person to be publicly beheaded in Iceland in 1820's. Agnes is a young woman who has lived and worked as a servant in the northern part of Iceland after being. abandoned by her mother a child. She has been convicted of killing ,along with two other servants, her former master and burning the house . At the beginning of this story, Agnes is sent to live with a family for a year until the official documentation of her execution is sent from Denmark. The family is horrified by the thought of sharing their home with a convicted murderer. Throughout the novel the reader learn about Agnes's history and the events that led up to the killing. We see her as a victim and as someone caught by circumstances. Agnes has a young priest visit her but his influence is not noticeable until the days before the execution. The story is told with attention to the lifestyle of the very poor people trying to make a living and with sympathy for the very hard life that Agnes has endured. A really interesting story.

82floremolla
Ott 27, 2017, 4:05 pm

>81 torontoc: another one wishlisted!

83Tess_W
Ott 27, 2017, 8:51 pm

>81 torontoc: on my TBR pile!

84torontoc
Nov 5, 2017, 8:59 am

Here it is- goal reached!
30. Vera ( Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov) by Stacy Schiff. The author has written a biography about a woman who tried to erase her presence many times. This is an unusual story about Vera Nabokov and her novelist husband , Vladimir. Her life is filled with handling the business of managing her husband's affairs from aiding in his lectures when he taught, translating and correcting the many publications of his novels, to writing many letters in his name to publishers, family and friends when he was a famous writer. In a way Schiff used the theme of dislocation to view her subjects- Vera and her husband. The author makes the point that one cannot write about one without the other. Both Vera and Vladimir had lived in Berlin as a part of the Russian community who fled Russia after the 1917 revolution. Always in a state of flux, the Nabokovs never put down roots, living in rented houses or hotels in France, United States and finally in Switzerland. The success of the novel Lolita allowed the couple to live comfortably and give up lecturing at American colleges. The intensity of their lives devoted to Vladimir's writing was the focus of the novel as well as their very strong opinions on politics and literature. A very interesting read although I think that the biography could have been a little briefer as the themes were repeated many times throughout the book.

85rabbitprincess
Nov 5, 2017, 9:01 am

>84 torontoc: Congratulations on reaching your goal!

86Jackie_K
Nov 5, 2017, 9:07 am

>84 torontoc: Congratulations! I'm hoping to join you in the reached-our-goal club this coming week.

87Tess_W
Nov 5, 2017, 9:08 am

Congrats!

88floremolla
Modificato: Nov 5, 2017, 6:45 pm

Well done on reaching your goal! :)

89torontoc
Nov 6, 2017, 8:01 am

Thank you! I am on to reading book #31

90torontoc
Nov 9, 2017, 7:40 pm

31. Tell by Frances ItaniThis is a beautifully written novel about a number of people living in the very small Ontario town of Deseronto right after World War 1. Kenan is a young man who was terribly disfigured during his time as a soldier in the battlefields in France. He does not speak of his experiences or anything else to his wife Tress. Tress's uncle, Am, manages the town clocktower and has his own secrets that keep him from communicating to his wife Maggie. The reader learns of the stories that keep both couples from complete relationships during the course of the novel. Kenan does form a bond with Am as does Maggie with her friend Zel and the newly arrived musical director of the town choir. This is a gentle story of coping with tragedy and learning how to move on with lives that have been shattered.

91connie53
Nov 12, 2017, 3:51 am

Congrats on reaching your goal! Waving at you from the Netherlands!

92Tess_W
Nov 12, 2017, 6:33 pm

>90 torontoc: You throw so many BB's at me!

93torontoc
Nov 12, 2017, 7:20 pm

Thank you! I liked Frances Itani's writing style and her descriptions of small town Ontario.

94torontoc
Dic 12, 2017, 8:39 am

32. Cafe Europa: Life After Communism by Slavenka Drakulic This is book of essays on changes in life after the fall of Communist leaders and governments in the former Yugoslavia. Published in 1996-99, The author looks at her own life juggling living in Croatia, Austria and Sweden and makes comments on how she and others cope. Drakulic covers politics and the contrasts of attitudes. This content is dated but still very interesting.

95Jackie_K
Dic 12, 2017, 8:50 am

>94 torontoc: I really like her writing, and Cafe Europa is on my wishlist. I read How We Survived Communism, And Even Laughed quite a few years ago, and likewise the content is dated but it's a fascinating look at everyday life under communism.