pontalba's 2014 Reading List

[Athena]

Great review, I'm glad you enjoyed 11/22/63! I have it on my TBR, though I might read some other Stephen King books first before I read this one. Is it necessary to know a lot about the history of US in the 60's? I know some things but not a lot.

[pontalba]

Gaia, Probably not. I wasn't reading with that in mind, but I believe King structures it in a way that tells what really happened. So prior knowledge is not really that necessary. Of course he does take some poetic license with some private conversations. But as far as I know, even those are based on some eyewitness accounts. And, geographically it is correct.

[Athena]

Thanks, Kate .

[Alexi]

Great review. 11/22/63 is on my TBR but I'm putting it off til I go to the US in September - seems apt!

[dtrpath27]

Great review. 11/22/63 is on my TBR but I'm putting it off til I go to the US in September - seems apt!

How fun!  What part of the States are you visiting?  Do you get to take a long trip?  I love to travel, but don't get to lately, so I have to live vicariously through others. 

[Michelle]

Great review, I'm glad you enjoyed 11/22/63! I have it on my TBR, though I might read some other Stephen King books first before I read this one. Is it necessary to know a lot about the history of US in the 60's? I know some things but not a lot.

I read it without any real knowledge, and I was drawn right in - it's brilliant story telling.

[Alexi]

How fun!  What part of the States are you visiting?  Do you get to take a long trip?  I love to travel, but don't get to lately, so I have to live vicariously through others. 

New York, Connecticut and Boston, so not the right part of the US, but more so than Northern England anyway

[Athena]

I read it without any real knowledge, and I was drawn right in - it's brilliant story telling.

x

Thanks, Michelle !

x

New York, Connecticut and Boston, so not the right part of the US, but more so than Northern England anyway

x

I envy you! I wish you lots of fun .

[pontalba]

Great review. 11/22/63 is on my TBR but I'm putting it off til I go to the US in September - seems apt!

 

New York, Connecticut and Boston, so not the right part of the US, but more so than Northern England anyway

 

Thanks, Alexi.   Oh, what a great trip!  How long do you plan on staying?  Have you been over here before?

 

 

I read it without any real knowledge, and I was drawn right in - it's brilliant story telling.

 

Ahh, thanks for that Michelle.  It's difficult for me to separate prior knowledge from what was actually said or intimidated in the book.  I was a young teenager when Kennedy was killed, so it really is part of my fabric.

[Little Pixie]

Hope you`re doing okay with those tornados.

[pontalba]

Hope you`re doing okay with those tornados.

 

Thanks LP, we are under a tornado watch, so not so bad, so far.  Lots of clouds and rain and wind though.  And!, the electricity hasn't failed yet!  Glory be!

 

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Visitation Street by Ivy Pochoda  4/5

 

Two teenaged girls set out in an inflatable boat off of the New York City, Red Hook shore. One survives, one does not. The effect of this girl's disappearance in the Red Hook area is described by the author, first in a series of third person narratives focused on each protagonist at the time, then in a more general narrative. The narrative seemed a bit choppy in the beginning, but slowly evened out as we learned the who, what, where and part of the why of everyone's situation.

 

Pochoda built the characters realistically, I cared about all of them, and wanted all to succeed in their endeavors. They are a ethnically diverse group, friends of the girls, shopkeepers, and neighborhood people interacting in a very true to life manner. I thought the author described a slice of New York life that is often overlooked in fiction.

 

The book was published by Harper Collins under the Dennis Lehane imprint. Lehane's involvement is really the reason I picked it up in the first place. I was not disappointed. Although I've wavered between a 3.5 star and 4 star review, I used the 4 stars above because giving it only three just didn't seem fair, or give it the credit it certainly deserves.

 

Recommended.

 

[Athena]

That sounds interesting! What time does it take place in (ie. it is past 2000s or in the 60's etc)? I'm glad you enjoyed the book, nice review .

[pontalba]

That sounds interesting! What time does it take place in (ie. it is past 2000s or in the 60's etc)? I'm glad you enjoyed the book, nice review .

Thanks, Gaia.

 

Present day. It was present day for when it was written.........I believe 2011.

[Athena]

Present day. It was present day for when it was written.........I believe 2011.

x

Thanks !

 

Stay safe out there with the weather, Kate!

[pontalba]

Naoko by Keigo Higashino  4/5

"He didn't see it coming. At all." The very first line allows the reader know that even though all seems pretty idyllic, that won't last long. Heisuke and Naoko have a happy marriage, and a beautiful daughter, Monami. Their lives are shattered by a horrific accident that takes the life of one of the two latter ones mentioned. It appears that Monami has survived, she is in a coma and when she awakens, refuses to speak. Therein lies the human mystery.

How these two, Heisuke and Monami, deal with their very unusual situation is the heart of the book. Love and sacrifice are explored, thoroughly.

I've read two other books by Higashino, The Devotion of Suspect X and Salvation of a Saint. This author knows how humans think and operate, and is able to put that knowledge to use on the page.

Highly Recommended.

[Athena]

That sounds very intruiging ! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[pontalba]

Thanks, Athena. 

 

 

Saw this today, and just couldn't resist posting and keeping it.   I love the deep cynicism. 

 

Waiting For The Barbarians
by Constantine P. Cavafy

--What are we waiting for, assembled in the forum?

The barbarians are due here today.

--Why isn't anything going on in the senate?
Why are the senators sitting there without legislating?

Because the barbarians are coming today.
What's the point of senators making laws now?
Once the barbarians are here, they'll do the legislating.

--Why did our emperor get up so early,
and why is he sitting enthroned at the city's main gate,
in state, wearing the crown?

Because the barbarians are coming today
and the emperor's waiting to receive their leader.
He's even got a scroll to give him,
loaded with titles, with imposing names.

--Why have our two consuls and praetors come out today
wearing their embroidered, their scarlet togas?
Why have they put on bracelets with so many amethysts,
rings sparkling with magnificent emeralds?
Why are they carrying elegant canes
beautifully worked in silver and gold?

Because the barbarians are coming today
and things like that dazzle the barbarians.

--Why don't our distinguished orators turn up as usual
to make their speeches, say what they have to say?

Because the barbarians are coming today
and they're bored by rhetoric and public speaking.

--Why this sudden bewilderment, this confusion?
(How serious people's faces have become.)
Why are the streets and squares emptying so rapidly,
everyone going home lost in thought?

Because night has fallen and the barbarians haven't come.
And some of our men who have just returned from the border say
there are no barbarians any longer.
Now what's going to happen to us without barbarians?
Those people were a kind of solution.

[Alexi]

Thanks, Alexi.   Oh, what a great trip!  How long do you plan on staying?  Have you been before?

I've been to the US a few of times - love it! I did LA/Vegas/San Francisco last time I went, and I've been to Colorado a couple of times, and New York once, when I was about 10 and therefore far too young to appreciate it! Going with my OH who adores the US and NY, I'm really excited

 

Naoko sounds great - another for the wish list!

[pontalba]

A Very Long Engagement by Sebastien Japrisot  3/5

The World War I French battlefields vie for the most terrible time and place in all of the history of war. Horribly enough so called enemies fight each other, but when your own turn upon you and so callously treat you.....well, that is the epitome of horror.

Five French soldiers, hands tied behind their backs, accused of self-mutilation to get out of service are put into No Man's Land.....the area between the armies. They are left to die by whatever means the enemy can muster.

The story revolves around whether or not one, or any, of the men actually manage to survive. The fiancé of one of the men searches for the truth, never giving up until she can find what has actually happened to her man. The Army, for obvious reasons, wants to keep the secret and has done it's bureaucratic best to do so. Her quest forms the nugget of the tale. It takes her into many directions, some false leads and finally, the truth.

A certain amount of repetition is necessary to the story, but I did find it bit much after a while. I would have appreciated more depth to the characterization of at least the main protagonists. I felt I didn't know any of them as well as I could or should have. In some ways they were stock characters. The plucky heroine, the avuncular family friend, the simple soul, and more.

I've read several other novels of WWI, recently A Long Long Way by Sebastian Barry, which was far more evocative of the feelings and effects of the so called Great War. And there is, of course Pat Barker's fantastic Regeneration Trilogy that just hits the ball right out of the ball park. For me A Very Long Engagement did not show the effects, it told of them. It could have been so much better.

[pontalba]

A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr   4/5

Tom Birkin, World War I veteran arrives in the Yorkshire area in the summer of 1920. He is there to uncover and restore a mural in a local church that has been covered over for, probably, hundreds of years. He is the right man for the job, and the bucolic countryside is soothing to his shell shocked psyche.

The author beautifully portrays a man searching for peace. A man that has been through hell and managed to survive. Barely. The relationships that Birkin forms are healing to his body and his soul. His month in the country is that oasis of peace he so desperately needs.

Recommended.
 

[pontalba]

The Return of the Solider by Rebecca West  4/5

Chris returns from the WWI battlefields of France, a man that cannot remember his wife, deceased child, or the last 15 years of his life. His last memory before being injured is that of a lost love.

West beautifully portrays the agony and rethinking of each of their lives. Her prose is evocative, yet rather straightforward. She shows us the agony of the women in Chris's life, and makes us feel it. She shows us the motivations, for good or bad of each woman without telling us.

Recommended.
 

[pontalba]

How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny  4/5

The 9th in Penny's Chief Inspector Gamache series does not disappoint. It brings resolution to some of the overarching storylines of the series and opens up fresh possibilities.

Of course there is a murder that brings Gamache to the beautiful but slightly mysterious village of Three Pines. But Penny's interweaving of the long running stories plays a large part as well. To say more would get into spoiler country.

Recommended.

[pontalba]

Drive by James Sallis 4/5

 

The protagonist of this story is not named, he is only known by what he does.  Drive.  He drives.  A man alone, not necessarily lonely.  He drives stunt cars for the movies, and on the side he sometimes drives a getaway car for burglaries.  Nothing else, he isn't in on the planning or execution of said crimes.  He drives.  But sometimes, as we all know, the best laid plans of mice and men go astray.  Involvement, or more importantly, perceived involvement, is inescapable.  Blame is laid, consequences follow. 

 

Sallis grabs the reader by the throat on the first page, and doesn't let go. 

 

Recommended.

Edited May 7, 2014 by pontalba

[pontalba]

Driven by James Sallis 4/5

 

The sequel to Sallis's Drive has just as much nail biting action as it's predecessor.  It's 7 years later and Drive has taken a name, Paul West.  Although we don't see much of that name as Drive has to fade into the background again as sins of the past are catching up to him.  Seemingly out of nowhere killers are after him again, and it's a cat and mouse adventure ride.  Nothing makes sense to him, the facts just don't jive. 

 

Sallis, again, gives us a fast paced, concise adventure.  Lots of action and lots of driving.

 

Recommended.

[Little Pixie]

How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny  4/5

 

The 9th in Penny's Chief Inspector Gamache series does not disappoint. It brings resolution to some of the overarching storylines of the series and opens up fresh possibilities.

 

Of course there is a murder that brings Gamache to the beautiful but slightly mysterious village of Three Pines. But Penny's interweaving of the long running stories plays a large part as well. To say more would get into spoiler country.

 

Recommended.

 

Ooh, sounds good. I`ve ordered books 2, 3 and 4 in the series after being enchanted by the first book. Glad that she keeps up the goodness of the writing. 

 

Hayfever - brain not accessing wordies.