Monday, September 15, 2014

It's Monday, September 15 . . . What Are You Reading?

Good morning, fellow book lovers!

Last week, I noticed a lot of talk in the book blogosphere about the need for a new, more creative kind of blogging about books (see Andi's post at Estella’s Revenge and Shannon's at River City Reading, and the great comments to both of those posts . . . so many good thoughts, and really interesting reading!). Well, I don't know if I have any particularly creative ideas for content--I am still getting my feet wet as a book blogger--but I'd like to do my part at helping to generate discussion. With that goal in mind, I thought I’d periodically throw out a discussion topic for book lovers. Here's my first effort at that: my post on When You Don't Like a Book That Many People Love.

Last week on the blog, I posted reviews of these two books:

My review of Jessie Burton's The Miniaturist is here. I had high expectations for this debut novel, and although there were elements that I truly appreciated, I felt the novel failed to fully live up to is promise. I had a much better reaction to Ian McEwan's latest novel, The Children Act, which I found to be thought-provoking and sharply written. My review is here. I was having a bit of a McEwan moment last week, so after I finished The Children Act, I read his 2007 novel On Chesil Beach--I loved it!

Here is what I am reading now:

Garth Stein's latest, A Sudden Light, will be published at the end of the month. I'll be honest, I'm having a tough time with this one so far . . . maybe that will change as I read more.

This post links to the "It's Monday" meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. What's on your reading agenda for this week?

19 comments:

  1. I just finished A Sudden Light. I would agree that it is a bit of a struggle to read. It gets better at the end, I will say.

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    1. Oh, I hope so! It hasn't been exactly what I expected . . .

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  2. The Children Act sounds good and perhaps I would enjoy it. I read Garth Stein's previous book Racing in the Rain, and enjoyed that one as a dog-lover. I look forward to more discussions on your blog. Enjoy the week.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by . . . I hope I can think of more discussion topics! Yikes, it's great to call for more discussion . . but then we have to think of what that's going to be, right?

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  3. I've read two McEwan novels and I liked both of them. Glad to know you liked his latest. Thank you!

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    1. I'm on a McEwan kick at the moment, that's for sure! With all this talk of novels that are too long and meandering, it's awfully refreshing to read a sharply written, tightly focused book! McEwan knows how to edit himself. :)

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  4. I think The Miniaturist has been a disappointment to many folks. My son wasn't impressed with it. I haven't read it yet, and may not. :)

    The Children Act sounds good...I have never read anything by this author. Looks like I need to check him out.

    I so want to read Garth Stein's book. I loved Racing In The Rain.

    ENJOY your reading week...hope it is as good as this past week for you.

    Thanks for stopping by my blog earlier. I am going to have to check out the creative posts you are referring to.

    I like your title about When You Don't Like A Book That Most People Do. That will be interesting. THANKS.

    Elizabeth
    Silver's Reviews
    My It's Monday, What Are You Reading

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  5. Oh, that's interesting your son didn't like The Miniaturist. I think the idea of the novel--and then the cover!--just seemed so promising! Maybe it's a case of expectations being too high. But how do we manage our expectations about a new book, when it sounds so so good?!

    Thanks for dropping by! Have a great week!

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  6. All the sudden I have been seeing Children Act everywhere. I need t go check it out and see what its all about

    Here's My Monday post!

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    1. Yes, McEwan's latest is a good one, and one of the big fall releases in the lit fiction world, anyway. Thanks for stopping by!

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  7. Book blogging is a strange thing, isn't it? The point of it is to review books but only reviewing books gets tedious quickly!

    I really liked your post about books you didn't like that other readers love. Great stuff!

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    1. Ha, right! And I keep reading bloggers say that they feel like no one reads their reviews. I DO read a lot of reviews, and I try to comment on them . . . but maybe the problem is that a review is not always the best way to encourage discussion. Then again--that isn't necessarily the point of a review, which is more informative (at least that's how I look at them). So, if we want more discussion in the blogging community, then perhaps we need people to post more open questions or issues to discuss ! And I really hope other folks (who are no doubt far more creative and technically-inclined than I am) will have other ideas . . .

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  8. I just read a book that talks about The Children Act (the law), so I'm really interested to read Ian McEwan's book.

    Fab name, BTW. Our parents had great taste :-)

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    1. Hi Leila! I don't run into many others with the same name!

      Yeah, you would probably really enjoy McEwan's novel if you were reading about the law--definitely check it out.

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  9. I must check out these bloggers thoughts on book blogging. I'm in quite a bit of a rut myself. Eek!

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    1. This seemed to be a hot topic recently . . . I can really understand the desire to do something different with content. But what? I hope to see the issue discussed more by those who have more creative impulses (and technical skills) than I do . . . . and then I will just try to keep up!

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  10. I won an ARC of The Miniaturist but lent it to my mom - will have to see what she thought! And I have never read a McEwan novel, can you believe it?? I really need to remedy that - maybe I'll start with this latest one. I've been hearing good things about it.

    Enjoy your books this week - and thanks for stopping by my blog yesterday!

    Sue

    Book by Book is now on Facebook!

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    1. Yes, do try The Children Act, since it's getting so much buzz! But I think I liked On Chesil Beach even more. :)

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