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Post by bjd on Oct 24, 2020 9:21:24 GMT
I am reading The Transparency of Time (my translation) by Leonardo Padura. I gave up on a few of his later books because they just went on and on, but this one features his former policeman in Havana, Mario Conde, so I kept at it. Interesting comments on the changes in Cuba over the past decades, the inequalities, the high costs, etc. I really liked Padura's earlier books and don't understand why he has become so wordy as he gets older.
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Post by Biddy on Oct 24, 2020 14:23:37 GMT
I just finished Jo Nesbo's 'Knife' which I liked alot. I have read most of his Harry Hole series. My one criticism is that the various story lines were too conveniently 'tied up' by the end of the novel.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 24, 2020 16:13:07 GMT
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Post by Biddy on Oct 24, 2020 21:42:47 GMT
Bixaorellana - Thank you I will check those threads.
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Post by breeze on Nov 2, 2020 13:00:28 GMT
I just learned about archive.org and it’s my new thrill. I had no idea such a website existed, a place that offers digital access to books, websites (presumably defunct ones?), movies, software, video, audio, TV shows, music, and maybe other things.
My husband has for a long time had an interest in Apples of New York, a collector's item we couldn't afford to collect. I learned that it was on archive.org, looked it up, and there it was, the illustrations bright and clear and probably better than the library copy we almost bought.
For years I've kept a list of books I want to read. I'm only rarely a book buyer, but I'm a steady borrower of library books. Some books have stayed on the list for years since none of the libraries in my area, or even the biggest libraries in the state, has them. I brought out my old notepads and looked through them. It turns out dozens of books I'd given up hope on are available. My winter's reading is all lined up.
A group of major publishers has sued internet archive. IA’s defense is that they operate the same as a library, lending only one copy of a book at a time. I’ve decided to use it only for out of print books.
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 2, 2020 15:33:21 GMT
Most interesting, breeze ~ thanks! Can I ask you to please cross-post #2014 into the Online Library thread? It's a much shorter thread, so the information might be easier to find there in the future: anyportinastorm.proboards.com/thread/623
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Post by kerouac2 on Nov 2, 2020 16:03:06 GMT
After a series of unsatisfying French novels, I am now reading The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling). I'm just into the first 10-15% so far and am not yet fascinated, but there will probably be interesting developments soon.
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Post by htmb on Nov 2, 2020 18:21:22 GMT
I’ve just finished Steinbeck’s “The Winter of Our Discontent,” after finding an unread copy lying around the house. Then quickly read “My French Platter,” written by a New Zealander who moved to the South of France with her husband to work as property caretakers.
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 2, 2020 19:37:26 GMT
Hmmm. Kerouac's post reminded me that I have an as-yet-unread "Robert Galbraith" novel stashed digitally. I'd forgotten all abut it, but will seek it out.
Htmb, talk about a little of this, a little of that! Are you catching up on all kinds of things you always meant to read?
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Post by htmb on Nov 2, 2020 19:47:30 GMT
Bixa, I am reading (and watching) anything I can find to take my mind off of you know what (even visiting the doctor). I continue to be grateful for the wonderful distractions I had four years ago, and I hope to never be in the US again during election time.
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 2, 2020 21:10:20 GMT
Ain't that the truth!
The other day I was really bummed out about you-know-what, then realized I had a new episode of The Great British Bake Off -- An Extra Slice to watch. I watched it and it was like swallowing a bottle of happy pills. The inspired mixture of cleverness and silliness had me laughing and ever so grateful that not a word about the US was mentioned.
My current reading does not affect me in the same way, since it's the final installment of Mantel's trilogy on Thomas Cromwell. Henry VIII is Donald Trump! Still, this is the most wonderful book. I read somewhere that the Booker Prize has never been given to the third in a trilogy. Well, she got it for the other two volumes, but not for this one, which mystifies me, as The Mirror and the Light is absolutely cogent yet dreamlike, gorgeous yet borderline gritty, and completely brings another world and time to life.
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Post by casimira on Nov 3, 2020 12:50:19 GMT
I’ve just finished Steinbeck’s “The Winter of Our Discontent,” after fining an unread copy lying around the house. Steinbeck wrote that novel in my hometown during a period of time when he and his wife kept a house there. I picked up a copy of Paul Theroux's The Stranger At The Palazzo D'Oro.I haven't read any of Theroux's work in a long time and was unfamiliar with this particular work of his.
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Post by htmb on Nov 3, 2020 13:40:09 GMT
Very interesting, Casimira. I first thought Steinbeck was writing about a town in Connecticut, then later realized it must have been on Long Island. Do you think the book is loosely based on your town?
I was dumbfounded as to where my copy had originated, but have finally figured it out. My youngest daughter, who is now 32, confirmed it was part of her high school reading requirement from senior year. So, the book had been on my shelf for 14 years and is now headed to the Friends of the Library for the enjoyment of others. I just wish I’d read it when she was taking the class so we could have discussed. She had some great high school teachers and I often enjoyed many of their summer required reading books.
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Post by casimira on Nov 3, 2020 14:02:18 GMT
Upon reading it the first time in high school (required reading), I didn't really "catch it". When I read it again, I was much older and understood more. I made a point of reading it while I was up there on L.I. visiting my mother.(in the wintertime) It was only then that I could pick up on some familiarities that I had missed upon the first reading of. I would say it is "loosely" based on the village.
Steinbeck's wife Elaine continued to live in the village (and in NYC) up until her death in 2003. She made hefty donations and was very involved in the renovation of the local library.
She was a familiar figure in the town and was instrumental in the founding of a small theatre there, The Bay Street Theatre. Because of her connections in the literary and theatre world many top notch plays and other events were staged and performed there. (I went and saw Tina Turner perform there in the late 1980's)
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Post by htmb on Nov 3, 2020 14:06:39 GMT
That’s really cool, and what a perfect place for your second reading!
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Post by kerouac2 on Nov 3, 2020 16:04:53 GMT
Speaking of obligatory high school reading, I remember just two books that the teacher(s) managed to bring to life with the description of the style, symbolism, epoch, choice of words, rhythm, etc.
The Return of the Native The Great Gatsby
I know there were others, but those are the two that still stick in my mind so many years later.
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Post by htmb on Nov 3, 2020 17:50:48 GMT
I remember reading Great Expectations in12th grade and hating it so much I’m sure I’ve expressed my disdain on Anyport at some time in the past. I actually remember more about my friend getting pregnant and her sitting in that class as her belly expanded than I do about Charles Dickens’ masterpiece. You’d think, with a teacher whose last name was “English,” it would have been a better experience, but I was bored as hell and I can still remember her telling me I wasn’t living up to my “great potential” as a student. Mentally, I’m sure I’d checked out at the beginning of senior year. We also read Lord of the Flies in high school, but I’m guessing that was not an English assignment. Probably something we read in Psychology class.
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Post by bjd on Nov 3, 2020 18:54:20 GMT
I don't remember much of what we had to read in high school. Two books I do remember and hated were Steinbeck's The Pearl and The Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway. Have not touched a book by Steinbeck since then and still dislike Hemingway, although I think he was a better journalist than novelist.
Fortunately we never had to read any Dickens, so I was able to read some of his books later on without problem. Don't think I have read Great Expectations though.
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Post by casimira on Jan 31, 2021 14:42:18 GMT
I just started Paris In The Dark by Robert Olen Butler. It's part of the Christopher Marlowe Cobb Thriller series. Fascinating how he re-creates a 1915 Parisian milieu.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 31, 2021 17:21:34 GMT
I didn't know that he'd written a suspense series. I keep trying to get into Butler & need to give him another chance. Right now I am reading my first ever Bernard Cornwell book: The Winter King, which is a re-telling of the Arthur legends. One of the things I am particularly enjoying about it is how realistically primitive it is -- the only really royal-type palaces, for instance, are half ruined Roman villas, and customs, technology, etc. all seem appropriate to the 6th century. Another thing that seems appropriate is the fact that Arthur & some other main characters aren't truly likeable, even having serious character flaws in some cases. Cornwell's writing style is quite smooth, with excellent descriptions that are never flowery, nor self-indulgent. The dialogue is modern English, but with no jarring modern expressions to ruin the mood. www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-312-14447-0I'm reading this as an ebook. I just checked & it is available right now for the very attractive price of $2.99: www.amazon.com/Winter-King-Arthur-Warlord-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B006WOVK52/ref=sr_1_1The other book I am reading and very much enjoying is A Way to See the World, by Thomas Swick. This is a book I bought some time back & it's been languishing forgotten on my bookshelf for ages. Full disclosure: after re-doing the downstairs half-bath, I thought I'd better stick a bathroom book in there, and grabbed this one. In truth, it fulfills that duty handsomely, but deserves much more respect and attention. As a retired newspaper travel writer and editor, Swick's introduction to his book makes one think it will be a somewhat self-mocking and jocular account of his assignments. This is reinforced by the first essay, covering a cruise ship. Once through that essay, though, I had fallen under his spell and went on to be astonished at his literary knowledge and open-minded curiosity about everything. I am including this lengthy interview because the interviewer's review of A Way to See the World is so good. But also, a quote from Swick beautifully capsulizes one of the main tenets of Any Port in a Storm forum: Travel writing is writing about place, and as long as there are places there will be writing about them. Many of my favorite travel books are by people who write about where they live, albeit often as expatriates, and I always tell students in travel writing workshops that if they want to cut down on costs they should write about home (or places nearby). You don’t have to buy a ticket to write a travel story.
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Post by bjd on Jan 31, 2021 17:39:35 GMT
I have two books going at the moment. I found an old copy of Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne in a book box last time I was in Bayonne and am now halfway through. And I had brought with me a book by Alma Guillermoprieto, who is a Mexican journalist. It's about her time as a young dancer in Cuba in around 1969. I have only just started it: "The Revolution, Dance and I" in French but the original title was "La Habana en un espejo" (Havana in a mirror).
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Post by rikita on Feb 3, 2021 22:08:29 GMT
due to my currently long commute i have some time to read (unless i decide to rather watch some netflix on my phone). this will change once schools open and i move back home, i suppose, as then i will probably cycle to work again ... anyway, recently finished "unorthodox" by deborah feldman. now reading the current issue of the german alpine associations journal, but will see what book i start next ... maybe the book my godmother gave me on my last birthday ...
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Post by htmb on Feb 3, 2021 23:29:39 GMT
I had thought about reading the book Unorthodox, Rikita. I watched the film version on Netflix and found it fascinating, the acting superb.
I rarely read fiction, but a friend recommended a detective series written by an American. Most of the story lines focus on a small French town in the Dordogne and the life of the local policeman. Of course, the stories are all exaggerated and formulaic, but they’re fairly well-written and have been a nice pandemic escape. That’s the most important part. The author is Martin Walker, who has an international journalist background, and the books are known as the “Bruno detective series.” Each book is fairly fast reading and I think I’m on book twelve, at least.
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Post by mossie on Feb 7, 2021 9:59:19 GMT
I had almost given up reading but when I saw the review of a new book called Frostquake, by Juliet Nicolson, which was about our very hard winter of 62-63, I had to have it. As it turns out it is very interesting, a mini history, of a time when this country was dragged, kicking and screaming, from the ‘40’s into the ‘60’s. Brought back the memory of following a young lady and being mesmerised by the glimpses of bare flesh above her stocking tops as she strode along.
Anyway, it is subtitled “The frozen winter of 1962 and how Britain emerged a different country”
The road making firm for which I then worked did no proper work from the Boxing Day when the snow first fell, until March 9th. But I was having to drive on all sorts of odd jobs practically every day in a car with NO HEATER.
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Post by mickthecactus on Feb 7, 2021 12:47:08 GMT
I had almost given up reading but when I saw the review of a new book called Frostquake, by Juliet Nicolson, which was about our very hard winter of 62-63, I had to have it. As it turns out it is very interesting, a mini history, of a time when this country was dragged, kicking and screaming, from the ‘40’s into the ‘60’s. Brought back the memory of following a young lady and being mesmerised by the glimpses of bare flesh above her stocking tops as she strode along. Anyway, it is subtitled “The frozen winter of 1962 and how Britain emerged a different country” The road making firm for which I then worked did no proper work from the Boxing Day when the snow first fell, until March 9th. But I was having to drive on all sorts of odd jobs practically every day in a car with NO HEATER. I remember it well because I was playing in a football trial on Boxing Day and the ground was like concrete. Cycling home it started to snow and didn't stop for 2 days.
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Post by rikita on Feb 7, 2021 17:16:22 GMT
I had thought about reading the book Unorthodox, Rikita. I watched the film version on Netflix and found it fascinating, the acting superb. i recommend it. it's quite different from the netflix series (which is inspired by the book, but a fictional version), but also fascinating. a big part is about her childhood and youth, and to me it was very interesting to get to see an upbringing and life very different from my own ...
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Post by htmb on Feb 7, 2021 17:58:30 GMT
I’ll certainly give it a look!
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 8, 2021 19:12:37 GMT
I'm currently reading La Terre des Morts by Jean-Christophe Grangé. He is a very popular author of crime novels, many of which have been translated but not this one yet. It is extremely gritty and upsetting and I had trouble continuing with it at first. Two women from a strip tease club are brutally murdered and disfigured. The descriptions are horrible and the investigation continues into sex clubs and the "extreme" porn industry with all sorts of details that I didn't necessarily want to learn. (I found out what "pegging" was, for example.) Anyway, the police investigator did not take too long to figure out who the murderer must be. But the case fell apart on technicalities and they had to release the suspect, who continued to laugh in their face even though it's obvious that he must be guilty. On top of that, the estranged wife of the investigator is a Bulgarian slut who was clearly in relation with the suspect at some time (and on top of that they are having a custody battle over the son!).
I was tempted at first to just abandon the book, but now I am hooked, particularly since I am only halfway through, and it is impossible to figure out where the plot is going. At the moment, the police investigator has just followed the suspect to Blackpool...
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 8, 2021 19:15:34 GMT
My formerly lengthy reading attention span vanished with Covid-19. It's funny, because it has caused me to read more than ever -- more than I had in the last 10 years or so.
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Post by Kimby on Feb 9, 2021 3:42:13 GMT
My formerly lengthy reading attention span vanished with Covid-19. It's funny, because it has caused me to read more than ever -- more than I had in the last 10 years or so. My reading attention span has been totally ruined by Facebook. What they say about the addictive nature of these pocket computers is absolutely true. I can’t be bothered to start reading a book - and can barely make it through the day’s newspaper - because pretty soon the phone will buzz and there’s another little mini-reward there. I keep the ringer off, but it lights up and vibrates when “news” comes in.
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