Book Nook Cafe discussion

This the thread for general book discussions for October 2023

Tell us what you just read, are currently reading or plan to read. Tell us about your favorite author. Have you read some book news? Share it with the group. Anything related to books and reading, we want to hear all about it !
:)

Last night I finished reading the memoir Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World by Christian Cooper

Christian Cooper, you may recall, was involved in an incident back in 2020 at the start of Covid in New York's Central Park. Cooper has been an avid bird watcher since he was a child. On the Memorial Day weekend he was bird watching in the park's Ramble, which is a protected area and requires that dogs be kept on the leash. There he encountered Amy Cooper (no relation) who had her dog off the leash. He asked her to leash the dog and she refused and called the police and said she was being assaulted by a black man. The video of the incident went viral.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3662...

This incident is only a very small section of the book. About a chapter at the end of the book.

The books main focus is on birding and his experience as a gay black man. I enjoyed the memoir as I know nothing about birding and little of the hardship that a gay black man in American experiences. I liked reading about his experiences traveling the world birding. His also explains how his experience as a closeted gay man until he was an adult shaped who he was. I think the blend of the three topics serves the memoir well.

The writing is clear and well done. No surprise as he is a Harvard grad. He also was a writer for Marvel comics. I'm not really interested in super hero comics but he still makes those sections enjoyable to read.

I wish the book contained photos of some of the birds he mentions. Fortunately, I have a Kindle Fire and was able to easily go to YouTube to see and hear the birds he mentions.

He now hosts the show Extraordinary Birder.

Extraordinary Birder | Teaser Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0DLJ...

I found this to be a thoughtful memoir and I would recommend it.
I gave it 4/5 stars.

Calico by Lee Goldberg

A police detective in a California desert town investigates a strange death coupled with an inexplicable disappearance.

Good mixed genre thriller. 4 stars

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Alias Reader wrote: "Last night I finished reading the memoir [book:Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man ..."

This sounds good. It reminds me of a comedy movie I saw about birdwatching, called The Big Year (2011) which was very good.

Alias Reader wrote: "Last night I finished reading the memoir [book:Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man ..."

Nice review. I myself am not drawn to the outdoors let alone to nature, but I have heard of this incident.

Alias, i'm glad you enjoyed Cooper's book as much as i did. I'd forgotten he was a birdwatcher, so those bits were fascinating. His connection with Trek was a pure delight, i must say.

Presently i'm reading a mystery about a Canadian birdwatching detective who now lives in Norfolk, UK. It's different from Cooper's exuberance as he writes about the birds but also instructive in how watching & listening for birds occupies their minds. In this book, the detective is doubting his career, contemplating a change toward studying birds. Nice twist. A Pitying of Doves--Steve Burrows

Barbara wrote: "Calico by Lee Goldberg

A police detective in a California desert town investigates a strange death coupled with an inexplicable disappe..."

I got a big laugh with your "male fantasy writing" comment, Barbara. This novel sounds novel. I may have to grab me a copy. Thanks for the fun review.

madrano wrote:

a Canadian birdwatching detective ..."

That sounds unique ! I also like the title of the book.

As to Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World I wrote up my notes from the book yesterday and I had quite a lot. Always a good sign. I also watch an episode of the Nat. Geo show that he does. It took place in Puerto Rico. I enjoyed it and will watch more of his travels.

Speaking of nature, I just started to read A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future by David Attenborough. Who by the way is 97 years old !

I'm annoyed with myself that I didn't watch the Netflix show that is based on the book. I just started to read the book and I'm only a handful of pages in but so far I'm enjoying it.

Alias Reader wrote: "madrano wrote:

a Canadian birdwatching detective ..."

That sounds unique ! I also like the title of the book..."

Each book in the Burrows series is titled using a different collective noun, such as A Siege of Bitterns and A Tiding of Magpies. So much to learn. The series has a focus on environmental changes of today’s world, as well.

It’s a delight to read the enthusiasm birders present in their books!
Attenborough does the same but across species.

National Book Month is held each October. The month-long celebration focuses on the importance of reading, writing and literature. National Book Month is also a time to honor the country’s best books and authors.

Yay for National Book Month. ✨🎈✨🎈✨

After the Funeral by Agatha Christie

This is a classic Agatha Christie plot involving intrigue within a family. 3 stars

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Barbara wrote: "After the Funeral by Agatha Christie

This is a classic Agatha Christie plot involving intrigue within a family. 3 stars

My revie..."

I appreciate the honest review, Barbara.

Telling it like it is, Barbara! Thank you for that honesty.

October Reeses Book Club Pick is Starling House by Alix E Harrow! This book has everything you could possibly want this fall ... a cursed town, a haunted house, a vivid & eerie setting — plus, characters willing to risk everything.

Starling House by Alix E. Harrow

FYI
For Michael Lewis fans, he published a book today !

Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon by Michael Lewis

From the #1 best-selling author of The Big Short and Flash Boys, the story of FTX’s spectacular collapse and the enigmatic founder at its center.

When Michael Lewis first met him, Sam Bankman-Fried was the world’s youngest billionaire and crypto’s Gatsby. CEOs, celebrities, and leaders of small countries all vied for his time and cash after he catapulted, practically overnight, onto the Forbes billionaire list. Who was this rumpled guy in cargo shorts and limp white socks, whose eyes twitched across Zoom meetings as he played video games on the side?

In Going Infinite Lewis sets out to answer this question, taking readers into the mind of Bankman-Fried, whose rise and fall offers an education in high-frequency trading, cryptocurrencies, philanthropy, bankruptcy, and the justice system. Both psychological portrait and financial roller-coaster ride, Going Infinite is Michael Lewis at the top of his game, tracing the mind-bending trajectory of a character who never liked the rules and was allowed to live by his own―until it all came undone.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ W. W. Norton & Company (October 3, 2023)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 288 pages

Alias Reader wrote: " . . . From the #1 best-selling author of The Big Short and Flash Boys, the story of FTX’s spectacular collapse and the enigmatic founder at its center...."

There is a very good article on Sam Bankman-Fried, his companies, and his parents in the October 2nd New Yorker. The author, Sheelah Kolhatkar, mentions that Bankman-Fried gave Michael Lewis "unrestricted access for a book . . .".

Alias Reader wrote: "October Reeses Book Club Pick is Starling House by Alix E Harrow! This book has everything you could possibly want this fall ... a cursed town, a haunted house, a vivid & eerie setting — plus, char..."

It sounds perfect for this month but does nothing for me personally. Is anyone here going to read it? If so, I look forward to learning what you think about it.

Alias Reader wrote: "FYI
For Michael Lewis fans, he published a book today !

Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon b..."

Good timing! Planned, no doubt.

finishedThe Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million

My review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/5879616972

James wrote: "There is a very good article on Sam Bankman-Fried, his companies, and his parents in the October 2nd New Yorker. The author, Sheelah Kolhatkar, mentions that Bankman-Fried gave Michael Lewis "unrestricted access for a book . . .".
..."

Thanks, James. I'll check it out.

Anthony Scaramucci (White House Director of Communications) also talks about him on his podcast, Open Book. He got involved with him as his company Sky Bridge invested with SBF.
https://www.thestreet.com/investing/s...

As to Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon by Michael Lewis
The reviews are mixed. The NY Times seem to say he went very easy on him.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/02/bo...

There aren't many reviews on Amazon, but they are skewing negative.

I still put a library hold on it. Do you plan to read it, James ?

Dem wrote: "finishedThe Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million

My review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/5879616972"

I appreciate the balanced review, Dem.

Dem wrote: "finishedThe Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million

My review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/5879616972"

I appreciate your review, Dem. I wondered if his excesses were due to him being a novice writer but he has a number of books under his belt. It’s sad that there were several parts to skim. Thanks for warning potential readers about this.

Alias Reader wrote: ". . .As to Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon by Michael Lewis The reviews are mixed . . .
I still put a library hold on it. Do you plan to read it, James ? ..."

Not immediately, Alias, but I likely will get in the queue for the ebook when it is available from my library network.

I read We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson today, and was very disappointed in it. My review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Kiki (Formerly TheGirlByTheSeaOfCortez) wrote: "I read We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson today, and was very disappointed in it. My review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."

This can't be read for its plot because there is barely a plot


I thought I read this book but it's not listed on GR. Perhaps I DNF'd it.

Sorry to learn it wasn't a winner as it's a title I hear of often. As you warned of no plot, this will be a pass for me.

Alias Reader wrote: "Kiki (Formerly TheGirlByTheSeaOfCortez) wrote: "I read We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson today, and was very disappointed in it. My review is here: h..."

There's really no plot, which would be okay with me if there were character development or development of a theme, but there is neither.

Finished Beloved My review:
www.goodreads.com/review/show/5447379135

Dem wrote: "Finished Beloved My review:
www.goodreads.com/review/show/5447379135"

Not a favorite book of mine either, Dem.

Nobel Prize in Literature

Jon Fosse Is the 2023 Laureate
The Norwegian writer was honored “for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable.” The prize is awarded for a writer’s entire body of work.

Jon Fosse

Congratulations Jon Fosse. ✨🎈✨🎈✨

The Blue Monsoon by Damyanti Biswas

During monsoon season, police in Mumbai investigate a vicious and bizarre murder in a Hindu temple.

Mumbai - and the social situation in India - provides an interesting backgound for this police procedural/thriller. 4 stars

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Barbara wrote: "The Blue Monsoon by Damyanti Biswas

During monsoon season, police in Mumbai investigate a vicious and bizarre murder in a Hin..."

That does sound like an interesting setting. Thanks for the title.

If I am understanding Amazon correctly this is book #2 in the series.
#1 is The Blue Bar

Alias Reader wrote: "Barbara wrote: "The Blue Monsoon by Damyanti Biswas

If I am understanding Amazon correctly this is book #2 in the series.
#1 is The Blue Bar.."

That's correct. This is my review of The Blue Bar

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Thanks, Barbara !

Kiki (Formerly TheGirlByTheSeaOfCortez) wrote: "I read We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson today, and was very disappointed in it. My review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."

Certainly disappointing, given the author. I'm glad you told us about it, Kiki. This isn't my favorite genre but i surely appreciate your alternative selections. Smart.

Dem wrote: "Finished Beloved My review:
www.goodreads.com/review/show/5447379135"


I was glad i read it, but i can understand your frustration with it, Dem. It was a challenge but there were parts i just needed to see to the end.

Has anyone here read anything written by Fosse? Awarding the Laureate to him will widen his audience, that's for certain. Thanks for the news, Alias.

Barbara wrote: "The Blue Monsoon by Damyanti Biswas

During monsoon season, police in Mumbai investigate a vicious and bizarre murder in a Hin..."

It sounds as though readers get good insights into India today. Thank you for the informative review, Barbara. I guess "Blue" will be in the title of all books of this series. Neat.

madrano wrote: "Has anyone here read anything written by Fosse? Awarding the Laureate to him will widen his audience, that's for certain. Thanks for the news, Alias."

I haven't. There aren't too many Amazon reviews.

The NY Times article noted, "Fosse’s publisher in the U.S. is so small it has only four staff members."
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/10/....

The article also quotes him as saying:
"His work is spare and existential, often focusing on the interior lives of rather solitary characters. Winding, run-on sentences are common; so are fishermen. “You don’t read my books for the plots,” he told The Financial Times in 2018."

I don't think that is for me.

The article, in case you can't view it, gives a guide to his major works.

NOVELS

Septology I-VII
Written in the wake of Fosse’s conversion to Catholicism, the seven novels in the extraordinary “Septology” series track an aging artist’s reckoning with the divine, and represent his most significant novelistic work. “Each novel begins, midthought, the same way, with Asle reflecting on how to finish his painting of the St. Andrew cross; each one ends the same way, mid-Latin prayer, at least until something else happens in the final book,” Randy Boyagarda wrote in his review.

Morning and Evening
This short, powerful novella opens with the birth of Johannes, whose parents hope he will become a fisherman like his father. Years later, as an old man, Johannes reflects on his family and close friendships. (Yes, he did end up becoming a fisherman.)

Melancholy I-II
These novels fictionalize the life of Lars Hertervig, a 19th-century Norwegian painter, as he careens into madness. While studying in Dusseldorf, Hertervig is paralyzed by anxiety about his talent and is left essentially homeless after his attraction to his landlady’s daughter leads him to outrageous sexual delusions.

Aliss at the Fire
A woman named Signe thinks back to more than 20 years earlier, when her husband set out by boat and never came back. Soon, her thoughts take on a metaphysical quality, and even include the memories of family members from generations prior. The fjord where Signe lives is a constant across all of the memories of loss and grief.

A Shining
Late at night, as an unnamed narrator drives aimlessly through the remote Norwegian woods, his car becomes mired in the rutted road. Hopelessly lost, he finally gets out of his car, only to see a strange creature, “a shining whiteness,” approaching him.

Fosse’s literary agency calls the work, which will be released by Transit Books in the United States on Oct. 31, “a brilliant novel about the border between life and death.”

Boathouse
After a man — more or less a hermit — encounters an old friend and his wife, the three become enmeshed in a sinister love triangle.

PLAYS

“I Am the Wind”
Fosse has been said to be the most performed of living European dramatists, though English adaptations are less common. “I Am the Wind” is an existential play centered on two men in a fishing boat. “Fosse’s terse, rhythmic script captures a gut-level anxiety about elemental questions of identity,” a critic for The Times wrote in 2014.

“A Summer Day”
This may remind you of “Aliss at the Fire” — the emotional center of this play is a woman waiting plaintively for her husband to return from a fishing trip. Even with a clear, unabiding sense of dread, the play “exerts a strong but stealthy undertow, a distinctive dramatic momentum,” the Times critic wrote.

“Someone Is Going to Come”
In this play of jealousy, sexual tension and paranoia, a couple move to a remote, tattered old house by the sea where neither can shake the thought that “someone is going to come.”

“The Name”
A young pregnant girl moves to her parents’ home, along with the child’s father. Her parents don’t know that she’s expecting, adding to the play’s sense of claustrophobia and the tension of the unsaid.

Show less
Alex Marshall
Oct. 5, 2023, 9:28 a.m. ETOct. 5, 2023
Oct. 5, 2023
Alex MarshallEuropean culture reporter

Norway’s King Harald has congratulated Jon Fosse. Whereas Fosse sometimes writes paragraphs that last pages, King Harald decided to keep it brief, with a simple: “I would like to convey my heartiest congratulations in connection with the award of the Nobel Prize for Literature.”

Boards trodden by Shakespeare found under floor of Norfolk guildhall
Oct 05 2023

Boards trodden by Shakespeare have been discovered under layers of flooring at England’s oldest medieval guildhall as it undergoes a big refurbishment.

The 600-year-old oak floorboards are believed to be the only surviving stage from the Bard's time.

The discovery was made at St George’s Guildhall in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, which was a religious meeting house in the early 15th century. It later became a theatrical venue and it is claimed Shakespeare performed there.

In 1593, when London’s theatres were closed because of an outbreak of plague, Shakespeare and his company of actors were on tour in King’s Lynn. A note in the theatre’s account book shows Shakespeare’s company were paid by the borough to perform there.

Source: The Guardian

Luffy (Oda's Version) wrote: "Alias Reader wrote: "Last night I finished reading the memoir [book:Better Living Through Birding: No..."

I don't think I could live without the outdoors. LOL My youngest sister says she wouldn't care if the whole outdoors turned into an indoors. Not sure how that would work, but that's how she feels. LOL

Alias Reader wrote: "Boards trodden by Shakespeare found under floor of Norfolk guildhall
Oct 05 2023

Boards trodden by Shakespeare have been discovered under layers of flooring at England’s oldest medieval guildhall ..."

Interesting, Alias. Thank you.

madrano wrote: "Kiki (Formerly TheGirlByTheSeaOfCortez) wrote: "I read We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson today, and was very disappointed in it. My review is here: h..."

It's not my favorite genre, either, Madrano, but I find I kind of gravitate to it around Halloween.

Alias Reader wrote: "October Reeses Book Club Pick is Starling House by Alix E Harrow! This book has everything you could possibly want this fall ... a cursed town, a haunted house, a vivid & eerie setting — plus, char..."

The Reese and Oprah stickers put me off when I bought physical copies. This book has such a lovely cover except for the sticker. They should put them on the back cover.

I only read ebooks now, so the stickers don't bother me. I don't read many Reese picks, though. She goes for the more popular stuff that is too easy to read. Thin on theme, etc.

Kiki (Formerly TheGirlByTheSeaOfCortez) wrote: "Luffy (Oda's Version) wrote: "Alias Reader wrote: "Last night I finished reading the memoir [book:Bet..."

Both your sister and you have an excellent point.

Kiki (Formerly TheGirlByTheSeaOfCortez) wrote: "The Reese and Oprah stickers put me off when I bought physical copies. This book has such a lovely cover except for the sticker. They should put them on the back cover...."

I'm the same ! When I used to belong to the Oprah Book Club on AOL (AOL no longer has message boards) we had someone who worked in a bookstore that used to give us a heads up so we could get the book before the announcement and the sticker.

I guess they put it on the front because it helps to sell the book. Perhaps a removable sticker would be better.

I, too, now rarely buy paper books. Since the pandemic I've become an eBook reader.

Alias Reader wrote: "madrano wrote: "Has anyone here read anything written by Fosse? Awarding the Laureate to him will widen his audience, that's for certain. Thanks for the news, Alias."

I haven't. There aren't too m..."

Thank you so very much for the information about Fosse's writing. Several sound good to me. I'm glad his US publisher was somewhat prepared, in that a hungry audience will await October 31 release date for A Shining.

Alias Reader wrote: "Boards trodden by Shakespeare found under floor of Norfolk guildhall
Oct 05 2023

Boards trodden by Shakespeare have been discovered under layers of flooring at England’s oldest medieval guildhall ..."

Yet another reason to return to England to cover Norfolk & surrounding areas, which we've missed in the past. How thrilling to have discovered that, whether WS ever trod them or not.

The series about Norfolk archeaologist and professor Ruth Galloway, The Crossing Places and more, written by Elly Griffiths shares enough about the area, its weather & marshes, that i already had it on my TBV list (To Be Visited, of course!).

Additionally, my latest series of mysteries, known as "the Birder Murder" series, written by Steve Burrows is set there. Since his detective is Canadian, now working there, we get a descriptive sense of the place...and weather. And bird life, naturally.

Long way to thank you, Alias, for the info.