What are you reading: September 7, 2024.

Wrapping up Warships after London and making the big push on Moscow 1937.

Starting The Last Cavalryman, with The Stardust Grail to follow.

I'm about 50 pages into The Guermantes Way, the third massive novel in Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time opus. Lots of great passages, but slow reading overall.

I'm reading The Library Book by Susan Orlean about the largest library fire in US history.

Finished Destroyer Captain by James D. Hornfischer.
Now reading Island Cooking, Recipes from the Caribbean by Dunstan A. Harris. It has history as well as recipes.

I finished The Strategists by Phillip O'Brien earlier this week. It was an excellent book on how the personalities and life experiences of Churchill, Roosevelt, Mussolini, Stalin, and Hitler shaped their war strategies. It was a fast and engaging read. It makes our current leaders seem weak and irresolute in comparison.

I'm about to finish The Silver Bone by Andrey Kurkov. It's an historical mystery novel set in Kyiv in 1919. It's a pleasant mystery, and the political background of the story is well rendered. Kyiv changed hands multiple times leading to a lot of social disruption.

>3 PaperbackPirate: I enjoyed The Library Book but my considered opinion is that her book on orchid-fanciers is better, and far more outlandish! The Orchid Thief is the name of it.

I'm reading 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami. It's a big book - nearly 1,200 pages - but so far it has proven itself to be excellent and very readable.

started this audio via Libby ~

Mrs. Quinn's Rise to Fame: A Novel
by Olivia Ford

I'm still reading The White Ship by Charles Spencer (now that life has slowed down. A bit), and also started Volume II of Les Miserables by Victor Hugo.

>6 ahef1963: Thank you for the recommendation! I'm sure I'll be adding it to the tbr.

The Chris Farley Show: A Biography in Three Acts
Tom Farley Jr.
3.5/5 stars
This is the biography of Chris Farley who made it big on Saturday Night Live and in films. However, his addictions doomed him and he died early! Well written but sad! A Dozen Film And TV Books

>3 PaperbackPirate: I read and enjoyed a library copy of the book.
I remember reading somewhere the book was to be adapted as a limited run series.

The Widow Spy by Megan Campisi

The Haunted Forest Tour
James A. Moore
3.5/5 stars
This is the story of the Haunted Forest Tour. Riders will be amazed at the creatures on this Halloween night. However, something goes terribly wrong with the tour which is supposed to be very safe but the creatures in the night will see that won't be true! I enjoyed this book! Horror Novel

The Hive and the Honey – Paul Yoon
3***

From the book jacket: On Sakhalin Island, a boy searches for his father, a prison guard. In Barcelona, a woman is tasked with spying on a prize-fighter who may or may not be her estranged son. A samurai escorts an orphan to his country men during the Edo period. A formerly incarcerated man starts a new life in a small town in upstate New York and attempts to build a family.

My reactions:
I like this kind of literary fiction. This is a collection of short stories, all featuring Koreans. The settings and time frame vary, from Europe to Asia to North America, from the 19th century to contemporary times.

What they have in common is the way in which Yoon depicts his characters. We learn about their dreams, aspirations, disappointments, frustrations through the actions they take.

The Comfort of Crows by Margaret Renkl. Essays on nature and aging.

Margaret Renkl presents a literary devotional: fifty-two chapters that follow the creatures and plants in her backyard over the course of a year.

The new thread is up over here.

>11 princessgarnet: It would be fun to see it all brought to life like that!