summer books

Tana French, Faithful Place, July 2010. First book read on an iPad. It's good but I think I liked her other two books better. Still, a good mystery, but I get tired of reading about drunks and the fallouts from alcohol.

Listened to Stone's Fall by Iain Pears, June 2010, in the car. Very long book. Would have preferred the print version, needed to go back and check dates and can't do that with the audio book. He's a good story teller though, interesting to move backwards in chunks in time. The prologue is set in 1951 and the first part is set in 1909, the second in 1891, and the last in 1867. Good plot, interesting characters, he keeps the question of Stone's Fall running in the background no matter which tale he is side-tracked on.

I am half way through David Mitchell's The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet June 2010, and like it very much. I know nothing of the Dutch East India Company, nothing of Japan's history at all so it's interesting to read about. Good writer. Novel is set in 1799, on the island of Dejima in Nagasaki Bay. The Dutch East India Company is the sole trading point between Europe and the isolationist Japanese and Jacob de Zoet is a clerk given the task of finding corruption.

The Betrayal by Helen Dunmore, 2010, is on the Booker long list and I was inspired to read it because it's the only book on the list that looked interesting, or approachable, and Ian Rankin mentioned in a tweet that he had not read one of the long list Booker books. Me either, until now. This one is good. Set in 1952 in Leningrad, tells the story of the mobster government dominating everyone's lives. Andrei, a young hospital doctor and Anna, a nursery school teacher, are trying to live after nearly starving through the war. Good characters, good book.

summer knitting

fours things on the go:


green cardigan


green alpaca mitt


blue sock, favorite Wendy pattern







Blue EZ Sweater

essays

Finished a very good book of essays by Zadie Smith, called Changing My Mind, 2009. A real mixed bag of things, literary essays, movie reviews, going to the Oscars...Good book.

And finished Solar by Ian McEwan and really liked it. Have not liked many of his other books but I did really like this one. Such a scathing sense of humour.

Started a couple of new books, one on my iPad - a different kind of reading. The Help, by Kathryn Stockett, 2009. It's good. And I'm listening to the latest Maisie Dobbs mystery in the car, The Mapping Of Love And Death by Jacqueline Winspear, 2010. It's enjoyable too.

good book

have yet to get the camera out to photo the latest knitting...
but just finished listening to Solar by Ian McEwan and thought it was a great book. Funny, in a very cutting and smart way. And the main character is so despicable but believable.

A Tortoise and a musician

Listening to Nick Hornby's Juliet Naked, 2009, in the car. It's a tale of musicians and messy relationships and it's good - very Nick Hornby - but good. Very well read so it's an enjoyable listen.

Just started Come, Thou Tortoise by Jessica Grant, 2009. I think I will like it. Took me awhile to figure out the Tortoise has a voice. The main character, Audrey, flies home to St. John's to deal with family. Not sure where the tortoise is going to end up, she's back in Portland being looked after. Found a good video clip of the author talking about the book. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGzjzl57hjE

books

Finished another pair of socks but no time for photos. In the car I had Benjamin Black's Elegy for April, 2010, playing and enjoyed it. Not sure why, it's as dark as all the others. Dark and cold in 1950's Dublin with alcoholic Quinn crashing his way through another dark inquiry. But like it I did.

Also finished the Tennis Partner by Abraham Verghese. I wish he had written more books. He writes very well. This one was hard to read at times, his descriptions of addiction being as raw as his descriptions of surgery are detailed. Good book set in El Paso in the early 90's. Found some good video clips on youtube of Abraham talking

And for a nice light change, I'm now listening to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and her niece, Annie Barrows, 2009. Very entertaining. So nice to read about book lovers.

Also reading Douglas Copeland's book on Marshall Mcluhan, in the Extraordinary Canadians series. There's a bit too much Douglas in there but it is interesting. What a strange person MM was.

a couple of abandoned mysteries

Gave up on two, and cannot even remember the name of one of them, popular Swedish author. It was an audiobook and I could not stand the reader so skipped the final 3 CDs. The Laughing Policeman, by Per Wahloo, that's what it was. The other I was reading and it was due at the library. Pretty good but didn't hold me enough to finish it properly. The Last Child by John Hart, 2010.
I am listening to a good one though, the Brutal Telling by Louise Penny. Characters I am interested in, and Quebec, which I am interested in.

And I have other good books on the go: The Imperfectionist​s: A Novel by Tom Rachman . Just started and really like it. Good writer.

Finished My Own Country and really liked it. Such a good writer. I've started his other book, The Tennis Partner and like it too. An interesting man who writes about the people in his interesting life.