Better Than Starbucks discussion

Bad or Good, post what you are reading here for December.
uplandpoet started this discussion 3 months ago. ( edit | reply | permalink | delete | lock thread )
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tapbirds
tapbirds
“Chernobyl Voices” by Svetlana Alexievich ★★★★★
Nobel prize winner Svetlana Alexievich interviewed over 500 eyewitnesses of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident in this riveting account (excellent English translation by Keith Gessen). These eyewitnesses included “liquidators” (cleanup team volunteers and conscripts), physicians, scientists, helicopter pilots, communist leaders, wives, and children. The accident occurred in 1986 during the reign of Mikhail Gorbachev in the waning years of the Soviet communist era. The immediate reaction to the event was a cover-up as an attempt to maintain Soviet superiority over Western ideology. However Alexievich documents how many of the liquidators considered it a chance to exhibit bravery and loyalty to the Russian motherland. Sadly, the liquidators died horrific deaths within a few years of their duty. The opening and closing “monologues” of the book were written by wives who witnessed the painful deaths of their loved ones. As one wife noted, “No one asks what we’ve been through. What we saw. No one wants to hear about death. About what scares them.” Fortunately, Alexievich did. Many of the eyewitnesses compared Chernobyl to the events of 1937 when the Soviet Union was fighting Hitler’s advances. Others likened it to their time fighting in Afghanistan. It had the aura of a war effort. Another witness wondered at “the level of lying, this incredible level, with which Chernobyl is connected in our minds, was comparable only to the level of lies during the big war.” Some maintained their faith in communism as they fought the ferocious enemy, the atom. Others turned to God, “I read the Bible. I go to church – it’s the only place they talk about eternal life. They comfort a person.” Regardless of their worldview, “Chernobylite” (as they became known as refugees) lives were never the same. This is a moving work of compassion, by an author who was only able to collect accounts during the 1990’s post-Soviet, anti-Communist era. The world has been enriched by Alexievich’s writings, much as it was enriched by a previous Russian Nobel winner, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.
posted 3 months ago. ( reply | permalink | delete )
Beginnings
Beginnings (edited)
Hi Taps,
Have to check my public library's catalog-I asked them to buy another one of Svetlana Alexievich's books. Thanks for the reminder. "Voices from Chernobyl" was an extraordinary read-was it not? Check it out people-if you choose not to you are definitely missing out on a meaningful read.
posted 3 months ago. ( reply | permalink | delete )
Beginnings
Beginnings (edited)
Thank You so much for your review Taps. I read "Voices from Chernobyl" quite some time ago, and remember Svetlana Alexievich's writings as far and away ahead of her time and astute beyond measure.
posted 3 months ago. ( reply | permalink | delete )
tapbirds
tapbirds
Yes, it was indeed an extraordinary work. I am very much looking forward to your thoughts on Alexievich's other work, Beginnings.
posted 3 months ago. ( reply | permalink | delete )
Rina
Rina
Thank. You
posted 3 months ago. ( reply | permalink | delete )
tapbirds
tapbirds
You're welcome!
posted 3 months ago. ( reply | permalink | delete )
Riddley
Riddley
Great review Taps. Another for that infinite wishlist.
posted 3 months ago. ( reply | permalink | delete )
tapbirds
tapbirds
Thanks, Riddley. As the old saying goes, "too many good books, too little time."
posted 3 months ago. ( reply | permalink | delete )
mita
mita
Thank you Taps for this insightful review. This definitely has to be read.
posted 3 months ago. ( reply | permalink | delete )
tapbirds
tapbirds
You're welcome, mita. I know at least two of us on this board highly recommend it.
posted 3 months ago. ( reply | permalink | delete )
Beginnings
Beginnings (edited)
Currently Reading:
http://www.shelfari.com/books/5852101...
Library Request 4 Today-
A cat, a man, and two women : [stories] / Junʼichiro Tanizaki ; translated by Paul McCarthy
posted 3 months ago. ( reply | permalink | delete )
Rina
Rina
I can't wait to hear what you think of this. The title is intriguing
posted 3 months ago. ( reply | permalink | delete )
tapbirds
tapbirds
Oops, I almost thought that the translator was Paul McCartney :)
posted 3 months ago. ( reply | permalink | delete )
Beginnings
Beginnings (edited)
Me too Taps.:) After choosing to read the book I discovered the author is also a translator and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in literature. The author of "A cat, a man, and two women" translated
the nove l" ....The Tale of Genji (源氏物語 Genji monogatari?) is a classic work of Japanese literature written by the noblewoman and lady-in-waiting Murasaki Shikibu in the early years of the 11th
century, around the peak of the Heian period. It is sometimes called the world's first novel, the first modern novel, the first psychological novel or the first novel still to be considered a classic..." Credit
Wikipedia
posted 3 months ago. ( reply | permalink | delete )
Karin
Karin
On a quick glance, I thought it was translated by Paul McCartney, then I took a second look.
posted 3 months ago. ( reply | permalink | delete )
Beginnings
Beginnings (edited)
Requested Library Book 4 Today:
Smoking cigarettes, eating glass : a psychologist's memoir / Annita Perez Sawyer, PhD
posted 3 months ago. ( reply | permalink | delete )
Beginnings
Beginnings
Has anyone seen this? As far as I am aware the shooters are still on the loose. The shooting started at a Regional Center for the developmentally disabled.
http://patch.com/california/lamesa/s/...
posted 3 months ago. ( reply | permalink | delete )
Ellen S
Ellen S
Currently reading The Mersault Investigation by Kamel Daoud. It's a novel that re-imagines Camus's The Stranger from the perspective of the brother of the murdered Arab.
posted 3 months ago. ( reply | permalink | delete )
tapbirds
tapbirds
Sounds interesting, Ellen. I can't help but wonder if it will be as existentially absurd (technical, not derogatory term) as Camus's Stranger. Also, you might enjoy another Camus spinoff, a Japanese film (subtitles) entitled "Who's Camus, Anyway?" You can watch it free if you have Amazon prime.
posted 3 months ago. ( reply | permalink | delete )
Rina
Rina
i read a review that gave it high praise but suggested not trying it without reading The Stranger first. i think it was Book Sexy which does books in translation
posted 3 months ago. ( reply | permalink | delete )
Ellen S
Ellen S
I would definitely agree that this book will make more sense to people who have read The Stranger. I suppose you'd pick up on some of the themes, but you'd miss all the references, even in the construction of the story.
And Tapbirds, it definitely has its existentially absurd side. At the same time is it an exploration of colonialism from the perspective of the colonized. So it works on several different levels simultaneously.
posted 3 months ago. ( reply | permalink | delete )
tapbirds
tapbirds
“The Museum of Unconditional Surrender” by Dubravka Ugrešić ★★★★
“In the Berlin zoo, . . .there is an unusual display. In a glass case are all the things found in the stomach of Roland the walrus, who died on 21 August 1961.” Thus begins these loosely connected vignettes regarding life in exile. The author, Dubravka Ugrešić, was born in what used to be Yugoslavia, and subsequently fled from her war-torn Croatian homeland to live abroad. I would assume that many, if not all of these stories are autobiographical in nature. The reader is encouraged to patiently await discovery of the connection between snippets, hoping that the meaning would “establish themselves of their own accord.” Sometimes this hope was realized; more often it was not. Rather the work seemed to convey a fractured patchwork, perhaps being a metaphor for the discordance faced by those who have had to flee their ancestral homelands due to the terror of war. One of my favorite sections explored the importance of photographic memories for those who have been uprooted. The chapter begins with a Susan Sontag quote, “To take a photograph is to participate in another person’s mortality, vulnerability, mutability.” Indeed, one Bosnian refugee went so far as to declare that “There are two types of refugees: those who have photographs and those who have none.” Photos and trinkets become atavistic symbols for survival. And survival can be elusive for the many who have been uprooted and displaced - a phenomena becoming all too common in today’s global experience. Ugrešić is the winner of the 2016 Neustadt Prize.
posted 3 months ago. ( reply | permalink | delete )
Ellen S
Ellen S
I have heard of Ugresic but never read her. Now I really want to. I lived in Zagreb when it was part of Yugoslavia and perhaps for that reason am interested in her experience with different identities and her take on the land that used to be her home. Thanks for the review.
posted 2 months ago. ( reply | permalink | delete )
Riddley
Riddley
Just started Super Cannes by J.G. Ballard and thus far it is up to the standard of his earlier masterpieces. Looking forward to really getting my teeth into it.
posted 3 months ago. ( reply | permalink | delete )
Beginnings
Beginnings (edited)
Still Reading: Compleat Cat(3 Volumes in 1)
Picking up a few readied library book holds today!
1) The heart goes last [text (large print)] / Margaret Atwood.

2) A cat, a man, and two women : [stories] / Jun'ichiro Tanizaki ; translated by Paul McCarthy
3) Smoking cigarettes, eating glass : a psychologist's memoir / Annita Perez Sawyer, PhD.
4) The road / Cormac McCarthy.
posted 3 months ago. ( reply | permalink | delete )
tapbirds
I will be interested to hear what you think of McCarthy's "The Road." It is tad dark, but for some reason I liked it.
posted 2 months ago. ( reply | permalink | delete )
Karin
Karin (edited)
I'll also be interested, because I only gave it 2 stars because it was so well written, otherwise it was a 1 star book for me, in great part because of its darkness, etc.
posted 2 months ago. ( reply | permalink | delete )
mita
mita
Hello Beginnings, I would like to know your views about the McCarthy book. I found it very disturbing. I liked it for its language and for its end.
posted 2 months ago. ( reply | permalink | delete )