Back to trying to write up the books I read last year before I completely forget them!
Book 26 - The Book of Separation: a Memoir (Tova Mirvis) [Audio]
As I am married to a Jew and had a Jewish grandfather (who died long before I was born) books about Jewish life interest me so I used one of my monthly Audible credits on The Book of Separation. Born and raised an orthodox Jew, Tova Mirvis married an orthodox man and continued to follow the way of life expected within that community. Over time, she came to chafe against the constraints imposed on her and to lose her faith. This eventually came to a head and she left her family to start a new, secular life. I found the book less interesting than I thought I would. I found it difficult to relate to her experiences, and I'm afraid I found her voice (she narrated the book herself) rather hard to listen to. Perhaps I expected a kind of modern, Jewish version of Monica Baldwin's I Leap Over the Wall which I had read a few weeks earlier, and the book didn't live up to that expectation.
*** 3 stars
Book 27 - Lincoln in the Bardo (George Saunders)
I picked this book as it had won the Man Booker Prize for 2017 and the premise sounded intriguing. Abraham Lincoln's son Willie has just died and his father visits him in the crypt where he is buried. Willie, however, is aware of these visits as he is in the "bardo", a kind of interim state between life and death (or rebirth?), along with many other residents of the graveyard. Much of the book is written in their voices. The tone is very odd - the phrase "experimental novel" should have been a clue! I didn't love it and I didn't hate it. I also didn't struggle to get through it. Probably a three and a half star book for me.
*** 3 stars
Book 28 - The Heretics: Adventures with the Enemies of Science (Will Storr)
This exercise of writing book reviews over a year after I read the book is very good for me, forcing me to think hard to recall what I read. Sometimes I have to cheat and check the book description and this is one of those times. Will Storr travelled the world exploring why intelligent people believe the unbelievable, and concluded that many people are more likely to believe stories with which they identify than facts. I wish I remembered the book better, as I enjoyed reading it.
**** 4 stars
Book 29 - The Girls of Slender Means (Muriel Spark) [Audio]
I think the only other book by Muriel Spark I have read is The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie which I very much enjoyed. The Girls of Slender Means was a bit of a disappointment. The "girls" are residents of a hostel for young working women in London in 1945, whose characters I mostly found rather irritating. I also felt I might have enjoyed this more in print than as an audio book.
*** 3 stars
Book 30 - I Shall Wear Midnight (Terry Pratchett)
I came late to Terry Pratchett, and I am working through his Discworld series as and when I feel in the mood for light fantasy reading. There are actually multiple Discworld sequences, as different characters and settings have their own individual series of books. I Shall Wear Midnight is the fourth book in what is probably my favourite sub-series, about young witch Tiffany Aching. In the first book, The Wee Free Men, the child Tiffany discovers both that she is a witch, that she has acquired a fan club of extremely combative and persistent miniature blue men who speak in Scottish accents and think she is the new leader of their clan. In I Shall Wear Midnight Tiffany visits the capital city of Ankh Morpork, is attacked by an evil spirit known as the Cunning Man, and is locked up in a dungeon. All typical, fast moving Terry Pratchett, readable and enjoyable.
**** 4 stars
CRAZY PAVING: "A form of paving, as for a path, made of slabs of stone of irregular shape fitted together."
2 comments:
I would have a hard time writing up book notes a year later! Because it is important to me to have a record, and because I know that I need the written notations in order to hold on to the memories and the lengthy list of books read, I am diligent about keeping notes as I go along — both in paper journals and at my blog. I share this not at all as a point of pride, but more to share that it can be a struggle. I know that I regret it when I fall behind. On the other hand, I don't generally like writing up reviews of books, so my notes are often rather spare! :-) I am quite passionate about reading, and love hearing about books, and always enjoy seeing what other folks are reading. So thank you very much for making the effort to write about the books you've read!
I am having a hard time doing it! I also don't really like doing reviews but want a more detailed record than just giving a book stars on Goodreads. I wish I was more organised about it. Writing a year behind is ridiculous, and I often have to refer to descriptions of the book to jog my memory.
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