Heaven: Books we're reading in 2022

245

Comments

  • TrudyTrudy Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    I've always struggled with Michael Ondaatje. Warlight started well for me -- I was initially interested and engaged -- but then it went off the rails and I struggled to finish. "It all seemed a bit pointless and I didn't care about anyone" sadly sums up not only my attitude towards this book, but toward most of his novels, which are apparently excellent, but they just don't connect with me for some reason.
  • NenyaNenya All Saints Host, Ecclesiantics & MW Host
    Thank you @Trudy ; I'm glad it's not just me.
  • MaryLouiseMaryLouise Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    I'm with you @Trudy and @Nenya. My love affair with Ondaatje began with his brilliant Sri Lankan family in Running in the Family and the poetry of The Cinnamon Peeler, but I struggled with The English Patient, despite passages of great beauty. Anil's Ghost was unconvincing, as was The Cat's Table. In Warlight I found that the more withdrawn Nathaniel became in his search for the hidden lives of his mother Rose and Marsh Felon, the less connected I felt. Ideas and memory tropes put before characters?
  • TrudyTrudy Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Running in the Family is the only Ondaatje book I've ever fully enjoyed -- I felt drawn in, rather than distanced as I generally do with his writing.
  • In the background, I am reading Murray Bookchin "Ecology of Freedom". Just in case you think I only read light fluffy stuff.

    It is incredibly intense, hard work with big words, in big sentences. And big ideas incorprated in them. But also, really fascinating, especially about the role of various faiths (although especially Christianity) have prooted a patriachal structure, and so an oppressive (i.e. unfree) society.

    He writed, in case you are interested, from a broadly anarchist perspective.
  • anoesisanoesis Shipmate
    I've just finished reading "All Day is a Long Time" by David Sanchez. It's an account of his decade of addiction to psychoactive substances (pretty much all of them at one time or another).

    I read a review of it in The Guardian and thought I'd give it a go. It's quite something - he really knows how to write, and how to take the reader all the way inside his head. I found it equal parts compelling, frightening, and...familiar...I too have one of those brains that literally never quit and that I would very much like a rest from, from time to time.
  • I've begun reading Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan tetralogy. It's very good but it makes me realize how much I've gone off modern realist fiction in the past few decades.
  • Enjoy! I watched the TV series based on the first two books before reading the whole quartet, and although I enjoyed the books, ended up feeling like the TV version was the definitive version - I kind of wish I'd read them first. But I'm looking forward to the third series, which should be out on DVD in a couple of months.
  • cgichardcgichard Shipmate
    I've been enjoying the writing of Gillian Tindall and wishing my library could obtain more than the two titles they have.
    The Pulse Glass is an exploration of family memories across generations, some of them linked to specific possessions that survive.
    Give them all my love was completely different: moving between France and England over many decades, it explored the central character's growing obsession with taking revenge.
  • TukaiTukai Shipmate
    I'm now half-way through Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood. It's about Berlin in 1929-33, when many part of it had to (say the least) a "decadent" artistic and sexual culture, of which the author was part, but was of course ruthlessly suppressed by the Nazis. It's a "modern classic", which I've not read before, but already I can see why: beautiful prose, and a fairly short series of vignettes.

    The book was the basis of the musical and film Cabaret.

    The same background is a sizeable component of the more ambitious and complex recent German novel Babylon Berlin by Volker Kutscher set in the same period. This was made into a even more complex German TV series (#1 in Germany and available on Netflix with subtitles).
  • Tukai wrote: »
    The book was the basis of the musical and film Cabaret.
    And before Cabaret, the play I Am a Camera.

  • NenyaNenya All Saints Host, Ecclesiantics & MW Host
    My next real-life book group book is Richard Flanagan's The Narrow Road to the Deep North. I tackled it this morning. I can't really be said to have read it but I did look at every page...
  • Gee DGee D Shipmate
    Tukai wrote: »
    I'm now half-way through Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood. It's about Berlin in 1929-33, when many part of it had to (say the least) a "decadent" artistic and sexual culture, of which the author was part, but was of course ruthlessly suppressed by the Nazis. It's a "modern classic", which I've not read before, but already I can see why: beautiful prose, and a fairly short series of vignettes.

    The book was the basis of the musical and film Cabaret.

    The same background is a sizeable component of the more ambitious and complex recent German novel Babylon Berlin by Volker Kutscher set in the same period. This was made into a even more complex German TV series (#1 in Germany and available on Netflix with subtitles).

    I agree. Can I suggest that you move onto Mr Norris Changes Trains, which continues the journey. I first read them a half century or more ago, enjoyed them then and still do.
  • Just finished Light in August by Faulkner. What a bludgeoning, with a very bleak, Steinbeck kind of feel. And an annoying run-up to the end. Much prefer The Sound and the Fury (probably my fave of his) or Absalom, Absalom. As they say on Monty Python, "As I Lay Dying is right out."
  • TurquoiseTasticTurquoiseTastic Kerygmania Host
    A colleague recommended This Thing of Darkness by Harry Thompson. It's a novel about the life of Robert FitzRoy (captain of the Beagle amongst many other things) and how it intertwines with that of Charles Darwin. A very good read and highly sympathetic towards the tragic FitzRoy for whom (as the story presents him) the phrase "no good deed goes unpunished" might have been invented.
  • TelfordTelford Shipmate
    edited April 2022
    Sparrow wrote: »
    Telford wrote: »
    I have started reading the Inspector Morse novels in order of which they were written. I have finished 'Last bus to Woodstock'. I will now be reading 'Last seen wearing'

    At the same time I amd watching the tv episodes. The tv episodes have many changes to the books but I guess that it gives two stories instead of just one

    In the books, isn't Morse a sh!t!

    He drinks too much, smokes too much and has a mild interest in pornography. He still likes his classical music and crosswords. He is addicted to "The Archers". He often treats Lewis poorly and is slow to apologise. On the other hand Lewis idolises him. He is also slow to pay for his drinks. He has many hunches about the offender and only gets it right eventually.

    One thing not known about Lewis in the TV series is that he lives on Egg and Chips with the addition of a couple of sausages as an extra treat

  • DoublethinkDoublethink Admin, 8th Day Host
    edited April 2022
    Morse was soured for me by reading Last Seen Wearing, if you want to understand the culture that enabled Saville and other similar offenders you can find it in that book. The victim blaming attitude to child abuse is something else - as is Morse’s attitude to women.

    I specifically remember a scene where a woman opens the door to him, I think wearing just her dressing gown or something similar - and Morse regrets he “doesn’t have the courage” to reach out and touch her breast. So that would be your male police protagonist regretting he didn’t have the nerve for an indecent assault.
  • NenyaNenya All Saints Host, Ecclesiantics & MW Host
    edited April 2022
    I'm doing a lot of comfort rereading of some of my favourite children's books at the moment. I've just finished Frances Hodgson Burnett's A Little Princess and am starting Cynthia Harnett's The Wool Pack.

    Next up to read for my spiritual direction course is Sadhana, A Way to God by Anthony de Mello. He was my introduction to contemplative prayer and I really do want (and need) to read it but I keep picking it up, intending to start, and putting it down again.
  • jedijudyjedijudy Heaven Host
    After finishing Piranesi for the April Book Club, I'm reading The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb.

    My daughter recommended this book, and I'm hoping to enjoy it as much as she thinks I will! I've only read three chapters so far. Looking forward to keeping you all updated!
  • HelixHelix Shipmate
    I just had a lovely foray into Jasper Fforde's "A Constant Rabbit" - what a clever and funny book - utterly ridiculous but I laughed out loud. It was a welcome distraction from some of the intensity that surrounds.
  • TrudyTrudy Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Helix wrote: »
    I just had a lovely foray into Jasper Fforde's "A Constant Rabbit" - what a clever and funny book - utterly ridiculous but I laughed out loud. It was a welcome distraction from some of the intensity that surrounds.

    Yes, loved that, although I found the ending sadder than I expected from a Fforde novel.
  • Coming to the end of Barchester for the third time, trying to weigh up whether next is CP Snow or Angus Wilson.

    Yes, it is indeed 1962 here…
  • betjemaniacbetjemaniac Shipmate
    edited April 2022
    By the way, second Mr Norris Changes Trains but I prefer the seedier side:

    Julian Maclaren-Ross; Of Love and Hunger

    Patrick Hamilton; basically anything

    Anthony Powell; Books do Furnish a Room
  • HelixHelix Shipmate
    Trudy wrote: »
    Helix wrote: »
    I just had a lovely foray into Jasper Fforde's "A Constant Rabbit" - what a clever and funny book - utterly ridiculous but I laughed out loud. It was a welcome distraction from some of the intensity that surrounds.

    Yes, loved that, although I found the ending sadder than I expected from a Fforde novel.

    Yes it was sad - but when reading it I was scratching my head as to how it might end well!
  • SparrowSparrow Shipmate
    Telford wrote: »
    Sparrow wrote: »
    Telford wrote: »
    I have started reading the Inspector Morse novels in order of which they were written. I have finished 'Last bus to Woodstock'. I will now be reading 'Last seen wearing'

    At the same time I amd watching the tv episodes. The tv episodes have many changes to the books but I guess that it gives two stories instead of just one

    In the books, isn't Morse a sh!t!

    He drinks too much, smokes too much and has a mild interest in pornography. He still likes his classical music and crosswords. He is addicted to "The Archers". He often treats Lewis poorly and is slow to apologise. On the other hand Lewis idolises him. He is also slow to pay for his drinks. He has many hunches about the offender and only gets it right eventually.

    One thing not known about Lewis in the TV series is that he lives on Egg and Chips with the addition of a couple of sausages as an extra treat

    Lewis in the books is a completely different character - a Welshman of around Morse's age, and really as thick as a brick. You can see why the writers of the TV series wanted to completely change that and have a much younger man.

  • EigonEigon Shipmate
    I've been enjoying The Marches by Rory Stewart - he's the Conservative MP who went walking across Afghanistan a few years ago. This book is about walks along Hadrian's Wall and around the Scottish Borders and Lake District, but it's really about his relationship with his father, who served in the Black Watch in the Second World War and went on to become an intelligence officer in Malaysia. Lots of thoughts about cultural differences across borders, too.
  • TurquoiseTasticTurquoiseTastic Kerygmania Host
    I would certainly recommend "The Places In Between" by the same author in which he walks across Afghanistan just after the fall of the Taliban.
  • EigonEigon Shipmate
    At the moment I'm half way through Engel's England, by Matthew Engels, which has a chapter for every county in England, so perfect for picking up and putting down.

    The latest fiction I'm reading is The City We Became by NK Jemisin, about the birth/creation of the avatars of New York City and the Ancient Evil which is attacking the city to stop them from coming into their power. So far I've met New York himself, a homeless Black kid, Manhattan (who becomes the borough on his way into the city to take up a university place), and Brooklyn, a Black woman who is a city councillor, and Staten Island.
    It's great fun in the fantastic bits, and doesn't flinch away from the racism that the characters have to deal with or in the case of the white woman who is Staten Island, believe unquestioningly; go across on the ferry and the city is full of druggies and immigrants, and otherwise unsavoury people - far better to stay on Staten Island where it's safe.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Have you read Neil Gaiman Neverwhere which includes the characters Old Bailey and the Angel Islington?
  • EigonEigon Shipmate
    I love Neverwhere!
  • TukaiTukai Shipmate
    For a touch of cosmopolitan, I commend Aunty Lee's delights by Ovidia Yu. Aunty Lee is a motherly type who runs a popular cafe/ restaurant in Singapore, and has an instinct for reading people and solving mysteries. The book is written with a wry touch, and gives what seems to me to be a good picture of Singapore's multi-cultural society.
  • I have just finished a very interesting book on mysticism and drone metal.

    Go on, find me a more niche book than that. One that you have actually read, I should point out.
  • HedgehogHedgehog Shipmate
    I just finished About Time: A History of Civilization in Twelve Clocks by David Rooney. I am seriously considering listing in in the other thread about books I shouldn't have read.

    The title is a lie. It is not a "history of civilization" and the hook of "twelve clocks" is strained at best (and there are far more than twelve clocks discussed). The author in the introduction admits that it is not a conventional history of clocks and watches, nor is a sweeping account of the history of civilization. Rather, "it is a personal, idiosyncratic and above all partial account." And he isn't joking. He inserts himself personally into every chapter, usually for no good reason. Like, when he discusses attending an international conference on the science and technology of time, and writes: "I reached the university campus by a one-hour drive in a gleaming Chevrolet Suburban SUV..." No, the make & model of the vehicle is irrelevant to the rest of the story...as is the length of the drive, for that matter. Personal. Idiosyncratic.

    And that doesn't even get into his views about the inherent evil of clocks: "The standardization of time and space is all about maintaining order, controlling people's behavior, making money, securing political power, building empires and waging war." Yes, rather a lot of the book is about how the point of clocks is to grind the faces of the poor--except for the chapter when he bemoans that a distant relative of his did not get to be selected as the voice of the "talking clock" (you know, "At the sound of the tone the time will be precisely....") because the selection was based more on sex appeal than a pleasant voice.

    Personal. Idiosyncratic. But the real problem with the book is that it is a bore.

    Now, you might think a book about clocks and timekeeping would necessarily be boring, but I love clocks. And I know that it is possible to write a truly interesting book about the development of timekeeping and its effect on shaping civilization. It has already been done: Revolution in Time: Clocks and the Making of the Modern World by David Landes is a fascinating read that I highly recommend. About Time, though, is a waste of time.
  • TelfordTelford Shipmate
    Eigon wrote: »
    I've been enjoying The Marches by Rory Stewart - he's the Conservative MP who went walking across Afghanistan a few years ago. This book is about walks along Hadrian's Wall and around the Scottish Borders and Lake District, but it's really about his relationship with his father, who served in the Black Watch in the Second World War and went on to become an intelligence officer in Malaysia. Lots of thoughts about cultural differences across borders, too.

    Would have been a fine PM.

    I'm halfway through Alaska by James Michener.
  • Hedgehog wrote: »
    I just finished About Time: A History of Civilization in Twelve Clocks by David Rooney. I am seriously considering listing in in the other thread about books I shouldn't have read.

    The title is a lie. It is not a "history of civilization" and the hook of "twelve clocks" is strained at best (and there are far more than twelve clocks discussed). The author in the introduction admits that it is not a conventional history of clocks and watches, nor is a sweeping account of the history of civilization. Rather, "it is a personal, idiosyncratic and above all partial account." And he isn't joking. He inserts himself personally into every chapter, usually for no good reason. Like, when he discusses attending an international conference on the science and technology of time, and writes: "I reached the university campus by a one-hour drive in a gleaming Chevrolet Suburban SUV..." No, the make & model of the vehicle is irrelevant to the rest of the story...as is the length of the drive, for that matter. Personal. Idiosyncratic.

    And that doesn't even get into his views about the inherent evil of clocks: "The standardization of time and space is all about maintaining order, controlling people's behavior, making money, securing political power, building empires and waging war." Yes, rather a lot of the book is about how the point of clocks is to grind the faces of the poor--except for the chapter when he bemoans that a distant relative of his did not get to be selected as the voice of the "talking clock" (you know, "At the sound of the tone the time will be precisely....") because the selection was based more on sex appeal than a pleasant voice.

    Personal. Idiosyncratic. But the real problem with the book is that it is a bore.

    Now, you might think a book about clocks and timekeeping would necessarily be boring, but I love clocks. And I know that it is possible to write a truly interesting book about the development of timekeeping and its effect on shaping civilization. It has already been done: Revolution in Time: Clocks and the Making of the Modern World by David Landes is a fascinating read that I highly recommend. About Time, though, is a waste of time.

    This is good to know as it's a subject I like but the two approaches would make or break it for me.
  • TukaiTukai Shipmate
    The Tolstoy Estate by Steven Conte (2020).

    A beautifully written and characterised novel about a German field surgical unit on the eastern front in World War 2. The unit sets up in the historic and estate of the famous 19th century author Leo Tolstoy, which is regarded by the Bolshevik regime as a national cultural treasure. The Russian caretaker, Katerina Dimitrievna, is a very vocal opponent of the German invaders, and repeatedly reminds the Germans (in fluent German) of what happened to a previous invasion led by Napoleon. That invasion , which is at the centre of Tolstoy's masterpiece War and Peace failed in part because the leader failed to appreciate just how cold Russia is in winter. But eventually she falls in love with one of the surgeons, Paul Bauer, who has read that book and is humanitarian enough to perform a caesarian delivery for one of the Russian women still on the estate.

    Although I am among the few shipmates to have actually read War and Peace, to appreciate this new novel you don't need to know anything about that book beyond what I said above.
  • SarasaSarasa All Saints Host
    The Tolstoy Estate sounds interesting @Tukai . I'm looking for something new to read so might give that a go.
  • EigonEigon Shipmate
    Jim Al-Khalili was at Hay Festival last week, (from Radio 4's The Life Scientific) so I picked up a copy of Pathfinders, his book about the history of Arabic science. My knowledge of the period is restricted to Haroun al-Rashid and Arabian Nights, and he does appear in the book, but at the moment I'm immersed in the reign of his son Al-Ma'mun, who encouraged scholars of all sorts, as well as translation of many Ancient Greek texts into Arabic (also Indian mathematics, and Persian works).
    It's quite heavy going, with a lot of unfamiliar names, but absolutely fascinating.
  • Gee DGee D Shipmate
    Eigon wrote: »
    Jim Al-Khalili was at Hay Festival last week, (from Radio 4's The Life Scientific) so I picked up a copy of Pathfinders, his book about the history of Arabic science. My knowledge of the period is restricted to Haroun al-Rashid and Arabian Nights, and he does appear in the book, but at the moment I'm immersed in the reign of his son Al-Ma'mun, who encouraged scholars of all sorts, as well as translation of many Ancient Greek texts into Arabic (also Indian mathematics, and Persian works).
    It's quite heavy going, with a lot of unfamiliar names, but absolutely fascinating.

    Our first thoughts were of Hay NSW - a fine country town and centre of a rich grazing district.....
  • EigonEigon Shipmate
    This is the Hay on the Welsh Marches, with 20 bookshops and an International Literature Festival!
    But we are in the midst of a rich grazing district - after all, Hereford cattle come from this area!
  • Eigon wrote: »
    Jim Al-Khalili was at Hay Festival last week, (from Radio 4's The Life Scientific) so I picked up a copy of Pathfinders, his book about the history of Arabic science. My knowledge of the period is restricted to Haroun al-Rashid and Arabian Nights, and he does appear in the book, but at the moment I'm immersed in the reign of his son Al-Ma'mun, who encouraged scholars of all sorts, as well as translation of many Ancient Greek texts into Arabic (also Indian mathematics, and Persian works).
    It's quite heavy going, with a lot of unfamiliar names, but absolutely fascinating.
    Oh, thanks for that. I'm a big fan of Jim and enjoyed his related BBC series.
    What I really should look out for is a book on the history of Arabic Medicine. I studied the history of medicine a few years ago and it is discussed in some of my books but I should look for a dedicated one. There's a university lecturer in Arabic studies living in the next street (she is occasionally interviewed on BBC history programmes and I think she was on Jim's series) so perhaps I should ask her.
  • SarasaSarasa All Saints Host
    After @Tukai recommending The Tolstoy Estate, I thought I'd give it a read. It's not available (yet) for my kindle so I'm not sure if it's been published in the UK.
    If just read Kate Atkinson's A God in Ruins which is a companion novel to Life after Life which was on the BBC a few weeks back. I liked the writing and some of the scenes, though reading about bombers crashing into the north sea is not necessarily the best thing to read when you're on a plane. However I found the lack of plot a trifle irritating, and couldn't totally get a grip on the main character.
  • NenyaNenya All Saints Host, Ecclesiantics & MW Host
    I'm coming to the end of my umpteenth reread of The White Witch by Elizabeth Goudge for the Ship's book group. I have in waiting Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason for my real life book group. I also managed yesterday to purchase a secondhand copy of Tolkien's The Silmarillion at one of our local charity shops. I was sure I had a copy but I can't find it anywhere.

    These last two books will be coming away on holiday with me next week, along with a few others yet to be decided. I never take enough books away with me on holiday and end up reading Mr Nen's; we don't share a taste in books so this is far from satisfactory. The White Witch won't be coming as my copy is too old and precious - held together with several layers of sellotape.
  • la vie en rougela vie en rouge Purgatory Host, Circus Host
    I've just finished Stefano Mancuso's Verde Brillante (Brilliant Green), which I found fascinating. I read it in French (three cheers for the public library) but an English translation is also available.

    Mancuso is an eminent botanist in Italy, who studies the field of plant intelligence, which I had no idea was even a thing. Plants, according to Mancuso, are usually regarded as inanimate objects, but in fact they are capable of perceiving their environment, and communicating with it. They also make up more than 99% of the planet's biomass. I have a newfound respect for my garden.
  • SojournerSojourner Shipmate
    Gee D wrote: »
    Eigon wrote: »
    Jim Al-Khalili was at Hay Festival last week, (from Radio 4's The Life Scientific) so I picked up a copy of Pathfinders, his book about the history of Arabic science. My knowledge of the period is restricted to Haroun al-Rashid and Arabian Nights, and he does appear in the book, but at the moment I'm immersed in the reign of his son Al-Ma'mun, who encouraged scholars of all sorts, as well as translation of many Ancient Greek texts into Arabic (also Indian mathematics, and Persian works).
    It's quite heavy going, with a lot of unfamiliar names, but absolutely fascinating.

    Our first thoughts were of Hay NSW - a fine country town and centre of a rich grazing district.....

    And the seat of the ( Anglican) Bishop of the Riverina
  • SojournerSojourner Shipmate
    As in Hay, Hell and Booligal according to Andrew Barton ( Banjo) Paterson, who needs no introduction to us Orstraylians
  • I have just read The Barbarossa Secret by Christopher Kerr. I would class it as moderately entertaining, trailing the idea that the UK and Germany nearly made peace and that post 1945 it becomes essential to keep this a deep secret. All sorts of cloak and dagger activity across various eras, involving (mostly) real people.
  • Sojourner wrote: »
    Gee D wrote: »
    Eigon wrote: »
    Jim Al-Khalili was at Hay Festival last week, (from Radio 4's The Life Scientific) so I picked up a copy of Pathfinders, his book about the history of Arabic science. My knowledge of the period is restricted to Haroun al-Rashid and Arabian Nights, and he does appear in the book, but at the moment I'm immersed in the reign of his son Al-Ma'mun, who encouraged scholars of all sorts, as well as translation of many Ancient Greek texts into Arabic (also Indian mathematics, and Persian works).
    It's quite heavy going, with a lot of unfamiliar names, but absolutely fascinating.

    Our first thoughts were of Hay NSW - a fine country town and centre of a rich grazing district.....

    And the seat of the ( Anglican) Bishop of the Riverina

    The former seat - all diocesan functions are now centred on Griffith after the registry was moved from Narrandera on the appointment of my dear friend +D. The church at Hay has now been deconsecrated and sold due to its dilapidation, and two stained glass windows transferred to Christ Church St Laurence. Another friend who is currently rector of Deniliquin/Moama has had oversight of Hay for several years, taking occasional services there and the outlying centres of Booligal, Carrathool and Oxley. The parish is now in a cooperating relationship with the Uniting Church.
  • SojournerSojourner Shipmate
    Thanks for the update: must check out the windows at CCSL.

    Many years since I visited those parts: 1996 for Deniliquin and 1983 for Griffith

    Amazing to think that the (RC) diocese of Wilcannia-Forbes extends all the way down there. There is now a small ultra-traditionalist Carmelite monastery of nuns down in Mathoura,not far from Deni.
  • Sojourner wrote: »
    Amazing to think that the (RC) diocese of Wilcannia-Forbes extends all the way down there. There is now a small ultra-traditionalist Carmelite monastery of nuns down in Mathoura,not far from Deni.

    The rector of Deniliquin/Moama is also commissioned as the Uniting Church pastor of Mathoura. My friend Fr. W. has mentioned the monastery in passing.
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