I really did have a post planned for today, but my vertigo hit last night, and the valium solution seems to keep me from puking every time I breath (yeah!!), but, hey, it’s valium so I’m a little or a lot loopy. I can’t tell.
Okay, a lot. Every time I type a sentence and then go back and proof it, I find a missing work, missing ending. Drugs!
So I can’t form many coherent sentences, but I can read. I’ve been enjoying a lot of books that have been recommended here, and I know we have done some great book recommendation posts in the past. Thanks to whoever turned me on to the Charlie Parker series, I’m loving the first one I’m reading, and can’t wait to start another. My mom also started reading them.
So what book are you reading now or reading recently that you loved or hated. Sometimes telling someone to avoid a crap book is as good as a recommendation!
I’ve recommended A Gentleman in Moscow many times. A compelling read and the plot turns will keep you guessing!
I enjoy the books of Alexander McCall Smith, who writes six different series plus a bunch of one-offs. He’s highly prolific, so you never have long to wait for another one of his books. They are gentle mystery-slice of life types. The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency is set in Botswana, South Africa. And the Isabel Dalhousie series is set in Edinburgh, Scotland. I love both series. His writing style is humorous, uplifting and full of “the triumph of the human spirit,” plus they are female-centric stories. Recommended.
Currently reading The Other Black Girl….I have about 60 pages to go and am having trouble putting it down (but my Kindle is on 15% so having to wait). I like psychological thrillers so it’s right up my alley.
Charlie Parker books are wonderful. All great characters, but especially the main one plus Angel and Louis. You might also like Elly Griffiths’ Dr Ruth Galloway series. Great concept and more great characters.
I just finished Sympathy for the Traitor by Mark Polizzotti (probably spelled his last name wrong lol) which is a series of essays about the art of translating from another language — what counts as “true to the original?” It’s actually lively reading and raises some interesting questions, and I found it fascinating as someone who reads a lot of translated books. (The title is a reference to an old pun, I guess translator and traitor are almost the same word in Italian.) I recommend it for light but interesting nonfiction!
A River of Stars by Vanessa Hua is a gripping story about a Chinese woman sent to the states to give birth so the child will have US citizenship. When it becomes clear that the father will take the child from her, she goes on the run. A beautiful story about fierce motherhood and chosen family.
That sounds awesome, actually.
‘Varina’ by Charles Frazier. (Cold Mountain; 13 Moons) She marries widower Jefferson Davis, who becomes the president of the Confederacy – not what she expected as a young bride.
‘The Spanish Bow’ by Andromeda Romano-Lax begins in the early 1900s in a small village. A physically impaired boy inherits a bow, for a cello. Music. Spanish Civil War. Elegant prose.
Oh, anything by Mark Twain when I need cheering up & humor, but especially “Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offenses.’
I am reading two I am loving. If you want something incredibly poetic and literary that is intelligent and challenges you to look up words and see allusions because it was written back when people were well-read and smart then try this one: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/253984.A_Time_of_Gifts I am a literature major up to the Ph.D. level, and this challenged and stunned me with its beauty and brilliance. I was looking up words left and right. Increasing my vocabulary even in older age! Lifelong learner. And for the light fun YA fantasy stuff, I love this author, and this book is a fine one: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50623864-the-invisible-life-of-addie-larue