flight paths discussion

new month a a new cluster of books

The Innocents by an old favourite author Michael Crummey

One Amazing Thing by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni by a new fave. This is my second book by her and I love her calm compassion.

John Pass is a glitch in the system but I found a book of his poems that I mislaid for weeks and am enjoying very mucj.

I will decide in a few minutes what non fiction to tackle along with It's All in Your Mouth: Biological Dentistry and the Surprising Impact of Oral Health on Whole Body Wellness

how is the change of season affecting your reading pattern?

Magdelayne, that's a lot of books to juggle at one time. I'm in awe of your abilities to read that many at once. My max is three and then only if they are very separate in storylines so that I don't mix them up.

I'm currently reading The War of the End of the World and for something lighter Bury the Lead.
On audio, during my runs, I have started listening to The Glass Hotel.

I'm not sure whether the seasons affect my reading. I sometimes read a horror type book at Halloween or a Christmas story at Christmas but, other than that, I can't say I read anything specific for any season or Holiday.
What about you, Magdelanye? Is your reading affected by the seasons?

the main effect of the seasons on my reading revolves around the possibilities each offers for reading outside.
I sure hope there will be more opportunities for that before winter shuts it all down.

I loved the glass hotel. I remember however the frequent need to go back and check some passages. How does that work for you?

I too endeavor to make sure that the books I am reading dont overlap so that I have a nice variety.

I haven't had to go back and check anything yet but I'm only at the start of the book. I'm glad you enjoyed it. That's a good endorsement.

The runners for Holiday packing are:
The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
The Seagull by Ann Cleeves
The World According to Bertie by Alexander McCall Smith
Deadly Deceit by Mari Hannah

Looks like a nice array Ice. I see you have your beloved Abercrombie and an AMS. Should be ready from any occasion.

Petra re Glass Hotel I think I read the first chapter 3 times before I was ok to move on.

I am finding that the book I have just began requires the re-reading of almost every sentence. This is a book Ive started a few times and is due on Saturday. The World Goes On by László Krasznahorkai It's quite electrifying but as happens after an electric shock one wants to go off alone and nurse your connection to reality.

Hmmm....maybe I should go back and read that first chapter again, just in case. I may have missed some details while listening (although I haven't been stumped yet....I think).

I finished reading Ben, In the World: The Sequel to the Fifth Child. I was intrigued with Ben's character in The Fifth Child and had to know how he faired in Life. I'm glad I read the book and found out.

Everyone is reading such interesting books! Petra, I'm especially reading Ben--I too found Ben interesting in the first but either never knew or forgot there was a sequel. (And I thought I had read all of Lessing's non-science fiction work!)

Currently reading:

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

The Secret Adversary (also Christie)

Speedboat by Renata Adler (this is actually a reread but it's been 30 years and I remember nothing about it)

Your Life Is Meditation by Mark Van Buren

Still reading
When Christ and His Saints Slept
The Savage Detectives

Finished Primary Speech which I thought fantastic. I am now working on a "letter" to my poetry teacher in which I take passages from the book and discuss them as they effect me personally and as I think they are important to writers in general.

Ellie, I hope you enjoy Ben. He's such a misunderstood character.

I finished a light mystery, Bury the Lead. I like the main character and his friends. They are warm and friendly and caring. These are "feel good" mysteries.
I've read a few from this series and have enjoyed each one.

Another short read (5 pages) was an essay by George Orwell, Bookshop Memories. It's a comical look at working in a Used Bookstore.
Did you know that Used Bookstores used to have a Lending section, which acted like a library? Interesting idea.

I'm still reading The War of the End of the World. It's such a long book that it'll take me awhile.
Also, I'm on the fence about how I feel about it. I like the writing and the story but feel like I'm missing something because I am not from Brazil. This book is based on actual history, which I know nothing about, so I feel as if the novel is saying something about this history, perhaps in a critical way (?), and I'm missing that connection.
Still, an interesting story, so far. Lots of characters.

Petra, I'm interested in your ultimate reaction to War of the End of the World. I've started it a few times (but not in years) and given up pretty quickly. I've wondered if it's one of those books you really need to stay with for a while to understand and enjoy. One of those books that teaches you how to read it.

I'll let you know, Ellie. I'm just going with the stories right now and not worry about not knowing the actual history of the events. The stories will eventually come together (I hope).

Llosa is near the top of my intruiging authors list. This one sounds pretty dense. I will have to check which of his titles I've accumulated.

Petra it may be sheer coincidence but you also may be aware of the Orwellian group Bionic Jean has reactivated. It sounds cool, low key she says with a discussion about a different essay each month.
As for Doris Lessing, I staunchly love her in spite of a few really dubious efforts. Im afraid fifth child is one of her lesser works but the sequel is even worse. I guess the algorithms will give us a different array of reviews, but if you look you might find some really interesting comments.
BTW, I know its easy to dismiss her science fiction but her multiple volume space opera is thrilling.

Finally, I am well into The World Goes On. Apparantly Laszlo Krasznahorkai is a famous author and it is recommended that this book NOT BE the introduction to his work. too late. Its quite dazzling. Some of his paragraphs fill a page.

Magdelanye, the Orwell essay was read for Jean's group. It is a laid back group. This is the first group read we've had and quite enjoyable.

I enjoy Science Fiction and will look up Lessing's works in this genre.

I enjoyed The Fifth Child and Ben, In The World.
Ben is an interesting character. I think there are fewer reviews for the sequel because many people were turned away by Ben in The Fifth Child. I felt sorry for him and wanted to see how he fared.

Oh wow what an interesting list of books people are reading! Ellie And Then There Were None is one of my all-time favourite Christie books. I hope you enjoy it! Ice I have the first two Ann Cleeves' Vera Stanhope books on my nighstand in my "...one of these days" piles. Petra, I am in awe of your science fiction genre reading. It's not something I've read alot of, and part of me wonders if it's because I don't know where to start... Magdelayne, Michael Crummey is one of my favourite Newfoundland authors. I love his books.

I've had a slow start to reading in September. I'm not sure if my reading slump is back a little, or if I had such a strong reaction to the Robert Pickton book that I needed some mental and emotional space.

To that end, I just finished a cozy mystery called The Twelve Clues of Christmas. It's the sixth in a series that I go to when I need to be entertained and not necessarily challenged, and it fit the bill perfectly. I've donwloaded the next in the series, Heirs and Graces, just in case the attention span issues linger.

I am vacillating between reading The Subtweet, Boundless: Tracing Land and Dream in a New Northwest Passage and Letters Across the Sea I have also just discovered that BritBox has a rendion of Little Dorrit that I would love to watch. Alas, I have never read - or should I say finished - the book, and I want to read the book before watching the series, even if it does delay the enjoyment I get out of wathcing Matthew McFayden in period dramas. I've also shamefully never finished Mansfield Park, and I have that moved to my "current reads" pile because a good friend is reading it and wants to discuss it. I have no shortage of options. I just have to pick and get down to it!

Natasha, I would suggest Dune. It's certainly sci-fi but with enough "real world" elements to keep it grounded.
It's a classic, which sometimes means that gender roles are a bit more defined than in today's world but Dune has strong female characters (within the world they live in). The Bene Gesserit (a female group) are power moguls, in their quiet way.

There are more books in the series, which have a really intriguing storyline, but the first book can stand on it's own.
I never finished them to find out how it all ends. I'd have to start at the beginning again. Details are important....and I've forgotten them.

Petra wrote: "Natasha, I would suggest Dune. It's certainly sci-fi but with enough "real world" elements to keep it grounded.
It's a classic, which sometimes means that gender roles are a bit mo..."

Thanks, Petra!

Something Science Fiction and Light Ender's Game, something close to virtual reality: Tad Williams Otherland Series. If you want classic HG Wells (Time Machine), Aldous Huxley (Brave New World).

Ice, that's a great recommendation! Ender's Game was really good. I also enjoyed the next of the trilogy (?), Speaker for the Dead.
It's also a better length for a dipping of the toe into any new genre.

Of all the prequels (still being written) and sequels, I think Speaker for the Dead gets to the podium just below Ender's Game.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

Is anyone moving onto a new book for the weekend?

finally! Finished The World Goes On. It did go on and on and perhaps, for all its brilliance, one of the most confusing and challenging books I have ever read.
I was really looking for something rather simpler but next up...because its gone overdue, I am grappling with Arkady Martines' A Memory Called Empire. More like moving into a new world.
sorry no links on the fone.
In a while I will have to decide which of the tantalizing titles of my nf pile to dive into next. Trees on Mars might be the one.

Natasha there are plenty of women writing sci fi and fantasy. Petra and Ice gave good suggestions but dont omit the less lauded. In addition to the classics like Ursula le Guin and Marion Zimmer Bradley check out Carol Berg, Sharon Shinn and Becky Chambers. I really could go on and on.

Need to mention I finished Nomadland. Its an interesting book and almost makes me wish I had a drivers lisence. I would so like that kind of nomad life.
Very telling are her accounts of working in an Amazon warehouse. Now that I would never consider. what a truly horrible place.

so Natasha what did you go for?

Magdelanye, I finished The Glass Hotel and really enjoyed it. At the end, I immediately flipped back to the first chapter. What a perfect ending and beginning! It reflected what I've been thinking about the circles within circles within circles in this story.

I'm still chipping away at The War of the End of the World. Long book and, despite some good writing, it feels long. I'm hoping the story speeds up soon.

I'm also reading The Last Camel Died at Noon, another Amelia Peabody book. I found a cheap copy of the next book in the series and snapped it up.

Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century sounds intriguing. Thanks for the title, Magdelanye.

Natasha, if you decide to dip your toe into SciFi, please let us know which book you chose. I'd be interested in your thoughts, as would others, I'm sure.

Petra wrote: "Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century sounds intriguing. Thanks for the title, Magdelanye."

I certainly will, Petra. I just watched "The Jane Austen Bookclub", and for that reason alone I'm drawn to Ursla le Guin. :) But I will definitely let you know.

Magdelanye wrote: "so Natasha what did you go for?"

Hi Magdelayne. I finished Heirs and Graces because I needed to give myself the grace necessary to read a lighter book. It was what I needed to get back on track.

I am know halfway done Letters Across the Sea, and I'm disheartened by yet another chapter of Canadian history that disappoints. I have to admit I haven't read much about how the Jewish population in Canada was treated during Hitler's rise in Germany, and throughout and following the war. I'm aware of the concern over a global humanitarian crisis after the hostilities ended. But not much more. It's a gap in my education I need to fill. This book services as an okay start, but I'll follow it up with some non-fiction as well.

I have also started Little Dorrit, but I'm not reading it with any pressure or time frame in mind. I read as much as I enjoy in one sitting, and I put it down. I read last night, but I hadn't in the couple of days before that. But Dickens, for me anyway, is an experience rather than a simple read, so I always take my time with his books.

Next up for me is Fight Night. I always enjoy reading Miriam Toews so I'm looking forward to diving into that one. I may get a chance to finish Letters Across the Sea while I wait for the Atlantic Canada polls to close and the election results to start rolling in.

oh the election. I am not following this exercise in futility alto I did vote in the advanced polls.

Nothing wrong with a play read. What I love is when a play read coincides with something real that I am concerned about. Letters fom the sea sounds compelling.

I have been on line too much the last while and its cut into my reading time. I am finally enjoying A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine. It took a bit of work to orientate, but somehow AM is so engaging that I can more or less tolerate the wtf is going on here factor.
Archaeology from Space: How the Future Shapes Our Past which is a sort of appropriate companion read.
I started Sarah Parcak

Natasha, light reads can be a life saver. We need them.
I'm currently reading The Last Camel Died at Noon. There's hardly anything lighter than an Amelia Peabody adventure. :D

If you are interested, the Dicksonians! group did a group read on Little Dorrit last year. The threads are interesting to read through and easy to manoeuvre through without spoilers.

I am such a fan of Miriam Toewes' books. I'm looking forward to reading Fight Night. I think you'll really enjoy it, Natasha.

Magdelanye, A Memory Called Empire sounds interesting, as does Archaelogy From Space.