Monday, August 19, 2019

Monday Malarkey



Recent arrivals (top to bottom):


  • Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko and
  • The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton - both purchased 
  • Summary of the Mueller Report for those too busy to read it all: Abridged and Introduced by Thomas E. Patterson - from the author for review
  • Cilka's Journey by Heather Morris - from St. Martin's Press for review
  • The Lost Man by Jane Harper - purchased
  • Renia's Diary by Renia Spiegel - from St. Martin's Press for review

I don't normally accept anything for review directly from authors, but I made an exception for the Summary of the Mueller Report because I just finished reading the full version and it's a slog. I figured it would be helpful and fun to read an abridged version (kind of a review/revise experience, if you will). Plus, having read the longer version I will definitely be able to tell readers whether or not you get the same basic gist out of the shorter abridged report. The author has assured me that the words are all directly cut from the full report. It's not an alteration (like a summary in his own words), in other words, title aside. Since the summary has arrived and I haven't yet written my review of The Mueller Report, I'm going to hold off and review both at the same time. That'll also give me time to work on organizing my thoughts about the Washington Post printing.

I bought Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko after reading that it was chosen for Wiley Cash's book club. Although I haven't been participating, I've found that his choices all interest me. Until I feel like I have the time to participate, I'm not going to buy them all, though. Ceremony intrigued me because it's Native American writing and I have a particular interest in all things Native American but have found it a little difficult finding recommendations for Native American writers or book titles. The Outsiders was a purchase I should have made ages ago. A friend is reading it with her kids and her post about the books she will be reading with her boys reminded me of just how long The Outsiders has been on my wish list. 10 years? Longer? It was on my PBS wish list for ages. I've never seen the movie, either, although I saw a tiny bit of it, one time, and it was a very emotional scene. At any rate, I'm glad to finally have a copy. Would you consider it a modern classic?

Cilka's Journey by Heather Morris is by far my most hoped-for and anticipated ARC arrival. Since my book group just recently read The Tattooist of Auschwitz (in which Cilka is a character) and there was some disagreement about whether or not she could be considered a collaborator, I'm very eager to read her story. 



Books finished since last Malarkey:


  • Normal People by Sally Rooney
  • Harry's Trees by Jon Cohen


Currently reading:


  • In Pain by Travis Rieder


I should say I have a bookmark in In Pain because I set it aside to focus on Harry's Trees and then had a week of not really reading and gobbled down Harry's Trees over the weekend. I hope to get back to reading In Pain tonight. Novel-wise, I'm kinda-sorta between books. I started reading my F2F group's discussion book (we meet this week) but I didn't get very far so I don't know if it'll stick, yet. It's The Silver Pigs by Lindsey Davis.  You'll hear more about it if I do manage to read it, obviously!


Posts since last Malarkey:





In other news:

Last week was a bad week for the Bookfool family and we have more bad weeks on the horizon, so my reading and blogging are likely to suffer. I guess we'll just have to let things unfold as they will. If I have to take an extended break, I'll let you know. Some days I can't read at all. One day at a time.

I didn't watch anything overly thrilling. A bit more of The Royal, some random episodes of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives, a little news. That's about it. Kiddo was home and he watched an old favorite, Father Goose starring Cary Grant, from our old DVD collection. I asked him to leave the movie in the DVD player and I'm hoping I can find the time to watch it, this week.



©2019 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

2 comments:

  1. The Outsiders is one of my favorites. I'm not sure what classifies books as a modern classic, though. I always had a hunch when the author wrote this, it was based on something she'd experienced. None of her other books were quite as good- I tried several of them. My teen had to read the Outsiders in school last year, and I was disappointed she didn't care for it. Something about the name of the rival gang made her laugh, and so she could never take the book seriously.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm not sure how you determine whether a book is a modern classic or not, either, but I'm thinking that the fact that it's been around for 50 years and is still widely published and read count. I tend to think of it that way.

      Oh, interesting about your experience with her other books and your daughter's reaction. It seems likely that she observed rival gangs before writing the book, if only because she was so very young when it was published. I'd love to find out the answer to whether or not that's the case.

      Delete

Thank you for visiting my blog! I use comment moderation because apparently my blog is a spam magnet. Don't worry. If you're not a robot, your comment will eventually show up and I will respond, with a few exceptions. If a comment smacks of advertising, contains a dubious link or is offensive, it will be deleted. I love to hear from real people! I'm a really chatty gal and I love your comments!