What are you reading this week of October 4, 2015?

[hermetic]

Me: The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen. This is a BIG book, in many ways. and not one for everyone. No book is, of course, but I've read a lot of reviews and quite a few people seem to be reading it right now and many find it hard to appreciate. It is "a rather staggering description of a dysfunctional family. A little overwhelming but nevertheless a compelling read."

Being told by different first persons narrating and jumping around in time does make it a bit disconcerting. But I'm hanging in and look forward to see how it all wraps up.

What is your pleasure this week?

[scarletwoman]

1. Hi, hermetic! Thank you for starting this thread!

I just finished Entry Island by Peter May. I really enjoyed it. The story moves between a modern-day murder investigation in Canada, to the fate of the main protagonist's Scottish ancestor during the "Clearances" of the mid 19th century.

The historical elements were both fascinating and painful. Definitely a learning experience, as the events that were recounted were things I had known little to nothing about. I'm always delighted when I can learn new bits of history from a novel, and this book did a wonderful job of it.

The modern-day murder mystery parts were also well done - as a reader, I was just as befuddled about whodunnit as the investigator protagonist.

By the end of the book, the two strands of past and present had woven together to a nicely satisfactory conclusion. All in all, this book was a pleasure to read.

I've now started on the 8th and final book of the Inspector Shan Tibetan mystery series. I have a feeling that once I have finished this one, I may just turn right around and start the whole series over. These books have captured my heart like no other books have ever done.

[Enthusiast]

3. Good evening, scarletwoman! Thank you for the nice review of Entry Island.

[scarletwoman]

4. Hi, Enthusiast!

I thought Entry Island was a very worthwhile read. There were a lot of mixed reviews about it on GoodReads, but I am firmly in the "pro" camp.

I like the author, Peter May, so I think I will probably start requesting some of his other books from my library.

[Enthusiast]

5. If you are in the pro camp I figure I will be in the pro camp as well.

[japple]

7. For some reason or other, I found myself losing interest the book I started

reading last week--Thomas Maltman's Night Birds. I'll come back to it soon and will probably be surprised that I couldn't get into it on the first go-round.

Don't know where the recommendation came from, but am grateful that I found the one for Jewelweed by David Rhodes. The writing and storytelling are just blowing me away. Here's a synopsis from amazon.

When David Rhodes burst onto the American literary scene in the 1970s, he was hailed as “a brilliant visionary” (John Gardner), and compared to Sherwood Anderson and Marilynne Robinson. In Driftless, his “most accomplished work yet” (Joseph Kanon), Rhodes brought Words, WI, to life in a way that resonated with readers across the country. Now with Jewelweed, this beloved author returns to the same out-of-the-way hamlet and introduces a cast of characters who all find themselves charged with overcoming the burdens left by the past, sometimes with the help of peach preserves or pie.

After serving time for a dubious conviction, Blake Bookchester is paroled and returns home. The story of Blake’s hometown is one of challenge, change, and redemption, of outsiders and of limitations, and simultaneously one of supernatural happenings and of great love. Each of Rhodes’s characters—flawed, deeply human, and ultimately universal—approach the future with a combination of hope and trepidation, increasingly mindful of the importance of community to their individual lives. Rich with a sense of empathy and wonder, Jewelweed offers a vision in which the ordinary becomes mythical.

[Enthusiast]

8. Thank you, japple.

I thought I would order a copy of Driftless to try out David Rhodes.

[japple]

9. Oh boy! I am just in awe of his writing. Will look forward to seeing

your review of Driftless.

[hermetic]

12. Hi Japple.

Jewelweed sounds like my kind of book. Thanks for telling us about it.

[hermetic]

11. Thank you!

My library doesn't have any Peter May books but I for sure want to read Entry Island. Need to find myself a good online used book store. My "want that one" list is getting rather lengthy.

[Enthusiast]

2. Hello, everyone! Thank you for the thread, hermetic.

Hermetic, I ordered a used copy of The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen. Should be here this week.

I am reading Last Bus to Wisdom by Ivan Doig.

Mrs Enthusiast is reading The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver. She is thoroughly engrossed.

[hermetic]

13. Hey Enthusiast

Thanks for always being here to keep the conversations going. Hope you enjoy The Corrections. It's getting to be quite lol funny.

[Enthusiast]

15. Thanks for all you do. We have enjoyed many books we learned about on the fiction group.

I don't know when I'll get to The Corrections. I am quite backed up. But now I have it.

I spend too much time on the internet and stuff.

[Number9Dream]

6. Finally finished "Dune: The Butlerian Jihad" by Brian Herbert & Kevin Anderson

"Dune: The Butlerian Jihad" review.

Although the book could be enjoyed as a stand-alone, it's much more enjoyable after having read the original "Dune" by Frank Herbert. In addition, it's the first book of the Dune prequel trilogy. There are two books after this one detailing the war against the "thinking machines". If you've read Dune, this is interesting in that the book introduces ancient ancestors of the Atreides and Harkonnen bloodlines. We also discover the first Arrakis resident to ride a sand worm, and how melange became the most precious substance. There is constant action, and the plot moves along quickly (even at 612 pages). In general, for fans of the original Dune series, I would say that this book is worth a read. On the negative side, for me personally, this book was much more dark than the original Dune, and more violent and gruesome. Also, the authors run maybe eight or nine story lines simultaneously, and it was a bit hard to keep track.

[Enthusiast]

10. Thank you, Number9Dream.

[hermetic]

14. Thanks for the update.

Yeah, I'm gonna want to read that. I'm pretty adept at skimming over violent and gruesome stuff without losing track of the story.

[Zorro]

16. Finished Dan Brown's latest page turner Inferno earlier this week

Not great literature of course, and bit of a shaggy dog story where no one is who they seem to be at the outset, but it has its entertaining moments in foreign locales where one learns some interesting tidbit about history and art.

[Enthusiast]

17. We liked Inferno. It is the only book by Dan Brown that I have read.

How do you feel it stacks up to his other books? I know The Da Vinci Code is the one that gets all the attention.

I felt that sense of "foreign locales" was strong in Inferno.

[Zorro]

18. I think it is probably his second best effort

A more fun read than The Lost Symbol, almost on par with The Da Vinci Code.

His books do border on the ridiculous with sinister villains in high places (none more so than Angels & Demons), but they have their entertaining moments. They ain't Shakespeare, though.