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Sept 9, 2010 9:37:11 GMT -5
Post by Georgina on Sept 9, 2010 9:37:11 GMT -5
Martin Cruz Smith has a new book out called Three Stations and, of course, I had to have it right away. I tend not to be a fan of popular fiction but there's just something about Cruz Smith's main character, (who we've wandered through Communist Russia with through to the present day and he hasn't aged one bit) Arkady Renko, that is so engaging, once I pick up his books, I can't put them down. I get a Cruz Smith book, and an entire weekend is scheduled. So I have that one. Franzen has a new book out too. That's on order.
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wheelspinner
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Sept 9, 2010 18:27:10 GMT -5
Post by wheelspinner on Sept 9, 2010 18:27:10 GMT -5
I wasn't aware that Cruz Smith was still writing Renko books. I read Gorky Park, but never realised there were sequels.
I've now picked up The Family Law, a memoir by gay Chinese-Australian tyro Benjamin Law. It promises to be a lot like David Sedaris, only with an injection of the ethnic Chinese experience in Australia.
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Sept 9, 2010 23:47:42 GMT -5
Post by Georgina on Sept 9, 2010 23:47:42 GMT -5
From memory: Gorky Park, Polar Star, Red Square, Havana Bay, Wolves Eat Dogs, Stalin's Ghost, and now Three Stations. Hah! Yep, I like Renko.
Although that's the only character that Cruz Smith writes. He just gives him different names in Stallion's Gate and Rose (which was an excellent book, by the way). Cruz Smith seems only capable of that one sort of protagonist, but he does that character so well that I forgive him.
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Pax
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quod erat demonstrandum.
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Sept 10, 2010 6:45:46 GMT -5
Post by Pax on Sept 10, 2010 6:45:46 GMT -5
Off topic a bit, but I feel the same about Michael J. Fox. No matter what character he plays, he's always Michael J. Fox. Not a lot of range, but, he hits the note every time. That's worth something.
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Sept 10, 2010 7:15:10 GMT -5
Post by patchoulli on Sept 10, 2010 7:15:10 GMT -5
I've tried to skim back through all the pages on this thread to see if anyone has read the trilogy The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest. (Too fast skimming made me think I read Pax asking Wheel how communists made him want to take a trip. So no more skimming today. ) I've finished the first two so please don't tell me how the third ends. I loved the books. Usually not into action/drama but I love Solander because she isn't a big-boobed blonde and she doesn't wear Prada or wear tall heels. The writing isn't the best in the world (some quality I think is lost in the translation and I have to think "Svedish words, Svedish words" on some of the longer street names) but the guy sure could scheme up a plot. Too bad he died. I also just finished Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo. Something about the way he writes makes me feel cozy. Looking forward to reading Freedom by Franzen. I loved The Corrections.
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Pax
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quod erat demonstrandum.
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Sept 10, 2010 9:05:58 GMT -5
Post by Pax on Sept 10, 2010 9:05:58 GMT -5
I haven't read them, but my wife devoured them. It's a shame that the author died before he could complete all 11 that he'd planned.
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Sept 12, 2010 20:13:40 GMT -5
Post by Georgina on Sept 12, 2010 20:13:40 GMT -5
I've now picked up The Family Law, a memoir by gay Chinese-Australian tyro Benjamin Law. It promises to be a lot like David Sedaris, only with an injection of the ethnic Chinese experience in Australia. Okay I missed this part before. That sounds intriguing. Is he as hilarious as Sedaris? I read one David Sedaris and immediately had to own everything of his. Then I infected everyone I know with his books. A friend of mine -- who read Sedaris as a result of my loans -- found out that he had a book-signing pending in Vancouver. I couldn't get away, so she flew to Vancouver for the weekend (the cow) and took two of her adult children to his reading. Her kids are now Sedaris fans too. Even though I didn't get to go, I now own a copy of Sedaris' Naked that's signed by him and is inscribed, "To Georgina. I'm so angry I missed you." And his squiggle. Funny guy! Edited to add: Benjamin Law's book does appear available here at any local bookstores. Amazon.com carries it, but not .ca. I'll put it on my TBR list and look for it again later.
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Sept 12, 2010 20:26:09 GMT -5
Post by Georgina on Sept 12, 2010 20:26:09 GMT -5
Patchoulli, that series of books has really caught fire since the author died. I hadn't heard thing one about them and then, bang! They're everywhere. That, quite honestly, makes me leery of them. You're enjoying them, though? Would you recommend them?
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wheelspinner
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Sept 12, 2010 22:04:33 GMT -5
Post by wheelspinner on Sept 12, 2010 22:04:33 GMT -5
Patch, I've read all three of them.
They work great as thrillers, but I think it helps to bear the author's oriignal intention in mind. He was a crusading left wing journalist, and his aim was to write books exposing institutionalised violence against women in Denmark. (The original title of the first book was Men Who Hate Women. So they are more than just a thriller.
The Danes have already filmed them and the films are supposed to be great. Hollywood is going to do their own version (with Daniel Craig as Blomqvist) which no doubt will suck mightily.
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Sept 15, 2010 7:34:34 GMT -5
Post by wheelspinner on Sept 15, 2010 7:34:34 GMT -5
Finished Ill Fares the Land. This is the last book historian Tony Judt will ever write; he is dying, and had to dictate this one.
So he has put together a book reflecting on just where society has gone wrong in the pursuit of material self-interest. He pulls together his research of the post-war years through to the present day and presents his thoughts on what we should be doing to repair some of the damage. (Both left and right are the subject of his critique).
It's not a book of searing insights, but it is thoughtful and interesting. His conclusion says a lot, I think:
As citizens of a free society, we have a duty to look critically at our world. But if we think we know what is wrong, we must act upon that knowledge. Philosophers, it was famously noted, have hitherto only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it.
Judt is passing the baton here; hopefully others will pick it up.
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Sept 16, 2010 5:49:52 GMT -5
Post by patchoulli on Sept 16, 2010 5:49:52 GMT -5
"They work great as thrillers, but I think it helps to bear the author's oriignal intention in mind. He was a crusading left wing journalist, and his aim was to write books exposing institutionalised violence against women in Denmark. (The original title of the first book was Men Who Hate Women. So they are more than just a thriller."
That makes the books even better, Wheel. It is evident in the reading that Larsson leaned far to the left which is very fine by me. I just purchased the third book and have just started it. Georgina - oh yeah, I definitely recommend!
Has anyone read Naomi Klein's 'Shock Doctrine'? I think it's about 3 or 4 years old now but I think I would like to read it. If you read it do you recommend?
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Sept 16, 2010 6:54:58 GMT -5
Post by wheelspinner on Sept 16, 2010 6:54:58 GMT -5
Has anyone read Naomi Klein's 'Shock Doctrine'? I think it's about 3 or 4 years old now but I think I would like to read it. If you read it do you recommend? It's on the desk right in front of me as I write. Part of a towering stack of books iorta read soon. I will get there.
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Sept 16, 2010 9:17:31 GMT -5
Post by patchoulli on Sept 16, 2010 9:17:31 GMT -5
Hmm, think I'll buy it and then you and I can discuss. It will be added to my stack, too, but winter's coming on (I hate winter but it's a good time for reading).
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Post by wheelspinner on Oct 4, 2010 3:44:39 GMT -5
My holiday reading.
Let the Great World Spin, by Corum McCann. I loved this book; it's the best I've read this year. McCann reminds me of Raymond Carver in his ability to imbue ordinary lives with great tragedy without descending into bathos. One chapter in particular, about a girl's reactions after being involved in a fatal hit-and-run, reminded me of Carver's So Much Water So Close To Home.
The Complaints, by Ian Rankin. Rankin's first post-Rebus detective story. Frankly, it's pretty ordinary. Just another police procedural, and utterly lacking in the unique sense of place that was such a hallmark of the Rebus books.
The Dogs of Riga, by Henning Mankel. Continuing my love affair with Scandinavian detectives; this is the second of the Wallender novels. I liked it a lot, athough it stretches credulity at times. It made me want to read the first one, which I luckily found in a second-hand bookshop.
2011 Wine Companion, by James Halliday. Hey, when you're touring the Margaret River wine region you can't be flying blind. This book proved expensive - it made me buy two cases of expensive wines and ship them back to Victoria!
Still reading The Family Law and Palestine, which I didn't take with me.
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Post by wheelspinner on Oct 5, 2010 7:02:25 GMT -5
Finished The Family Law. Benjamin Law is not really another Sedaris, and he's not trying to be. He tells the story of an immigrant family in a pretty clear-eyed fashion. Sometimes it's laugh-out-loud funny, mainly because his mother is such an eccentric. But the book doesn't gloss over the racism, fear of the authorities, and family breakups that they encountered on the way. I don't think Sedaris would even try to write such an honest account of his Greek-American childhood.
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Post by wheelspinner on Oct 6, 2010 3:46:16 GMT -5
Started two new books today. My new non-fiction is Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine. (Thanks for the prompt patch). I've also started an Australian novel, Steve Toltz's award-winning first novel A Fraction of the Whole.
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Oct 6, 2010 13:16:10 GMT -5
Post by patchoulli on Oct 6, 2010 13:16:10 GMT -5
Since you've already got it (Shock Doctrine), I'll wait for your review before I buy it, Wheel. I finished the last of the Larsson trio. Excellent! The ending was not totally unexpected - it wouldn't be in character for Salander to ride easily off into the sunset.
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Oct 11, 2010 7:23:08 GMT -5
Post by wheelspinner on Oct 11, 2010 7:23:08 GMT -5
Finally got my hands on "I, Lucifer", through an inter-library transfer. So I have now dropped my other reads and am reading that.
Finished Joe Sacco's Palestine. Not as good as Footnotes in Gaza. This is more like a travelogue, with Joe in the middle, trotting out an endless litany of Israeli abuses. There is a sameness to it all that renders it boring (amazing, given the subject matter), whereas Footnotes in Gaza is about two specific incidents, which therefore gives it a narrative drive that Palestine lacks.
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Oct 19, 2010 6:50:37 GMT -5
Post by wheelspinner on Oct 19, 2010 6:50:37 GMT -5
Picked up another graphic novel: David B's Epileptic. It's his account of growing up with a severely epileptic brother.
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Oct 19, 2010 10:05:03 GMT -5
Post by patchoulli on Oct 19, 2010 10:05:03 GMT -5
About 40 pages into 'Freedom' by Franzen. So far excellent. I loved 'The Corrections'. He's good.
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Oct 24, 2010 5:56:38 GMT -5
Post by wheelspinner on Oct 24, 2010 5:56:38 GMT -5
Finished Epileptic. I found it very hard to warm to David B and his family. His incredibly credulous parents took their sick son through every nutjob cure imaginable - macrobiotics, magnetism, Lourdes, voodoo, etc - because they didn't trust Western medicine. No wonder he just got worse and worse.
The book itself is a triumph of black and white graphic art. David B's feverish mind conjures up a vast array of ghosts, monsters, heroes and warriors that reflect his attempts to deal with his brother's affliction and its impact on his family. These portrayals create a frenetic and detailed graphic style that is ideal for the subject matter.
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Post by wheelspinner on Nov 4, 2010 2:47:47 GMT -5
Finished I, Lucifer - just in time to get it back to the library.
Not bad; it reminded me a lot of Martin Amis, particularly Money.
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Nov 14, 2010 6:20:45 GMT -5
Post by wheelspinner on Nov 14, 2010 6:20:45 GMT -5
Don't know if any of you are cryptic crossword fans. I am, and I'm now reading a great book about them. It's called Puzzled, by David Astle. Under the moniker DA, Astle has been setting some of the most fiendish cryptics in Australia over the past few decades. The book is a cross between a memoir and a kind of guide as to how to solve his puzzles. Very different type of book, and a lot of fun.
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Nov 18, 2010 3:02:38 GMT -5
Post by wheelspinner on Nov 18, 2010 3:02:38 GMT -5
Since you've already got it (Shock Doctrine), I'll wait for your review before I buy it, Wheel. As promised... This wasn't the book I was expecting it to be. Without knowing too much about it, I assumed Klein was writing about the Shock and Awe tactics deployed in Iraq. This book is about something else entirely, although Shock and Awe does get discussed. The Shock Doctrine Klein is writing about is the economic shocks delivered by neo-liberals to struggling economies. Klein's thesis is that Chicago School economics have been imposed on a vast array of countries by Friedmanites in the US Treasury, World Bank and IMF, with devastating results. She makes the case that, since these economic reforms always imply depriving poor, vulnerable locals to benefit rich, overseas companies, they can only be implemented by administering devastating shocks to the populace to prepare the ground for radical change. These shocks have taken the form of death squads, torture, kidnappings, war, hurricanes, tsunamis etc. Klein makes it very clear that Friedmanites have a massive blind spot when it comes to admitting the massively adverse human consequences attending their ministrations. Klein refers to this opportunism as "disaster capitalism" and makes a pretty powerful case that, by making aid funds contingent on implementing Friedmanite reforms (often at the point of a gun), US-dominated institutions have opened the way for US firms to pillage the economies of other nations when they are vulnerable. A few examples will suffice: . For all of the billions spent in Iraq on reconstruction, only 15,000 Iraqis were employed on reconstruction projects. All the jobs went to overseas contractors on inflated rates, who then subcontracted. Most of these projects were complete failures, delivering nothing of what was promised. . The outgoing apartheid regime in South Africa, in its negotiations with the ANC, secured the right to an independent Reserve Bank, run by their cronies. At the behest of the IMF and the Reserve, economic policy was dictated to the new government forcing them to adopt mass privatisations and slash spending. This was negotiated in secret by Thabo Mbeki, in breach of the Freedom Charter that formed the centre of ANC policy. South Africans never received the benefits of having one of the wealthiest resource economies in the world. . Victims of the tsunami in Sri Lanka were moved away from the beaches into temporary accommodations. A global campaign raised record amounts of money for the displaced villagers to be rehoused. With the connivance of the government, global hotel chains were able to use the aid money to build tourist resorts where the villages had been. The temporary accommodations eventually became shanty towns, and the people we all donated money to had their land and livelihoods stolen from them with their aid money. One can't help but be enraged when you read this book. Klein shows the pernicious influence of the Chicago School and its adherents over decades of malicious interference on a global scale, from Latin America, to Indonesia, South Africa, Russia, Poland, Iraq and elsewhere. The bitter irony of an economic theory being described as "freedom" by its advocates that has only ever been implemented by the subjection of the populace to major force is palpable.
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Nov 18, 2010 3:03:54 GMT -5
Post by wheelspinner on Nov 18, 2010 3:03:54 GMT -5
Now that I have finished The Shock Doctrine, my new non-fiction read is The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Great so far.
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Nov 29, 2010 6:32:03 GMT -5
Post by wheelspinner on Nov 29, 2010 6:32:03 GMT -5
Finished The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. What a great book!
This is one of the most original ideas for a biography that I've ever encountered, and a very topical one. It's the biography of the most successful stem-cell line in medical history, known as He-La.
Author Rebecca Skloot traces He-La back to the impoverished black woman the cells were first taken from, Henrietta Lacks.
Lacks died very young of a highly invasive cervical cancer, and her cancerous cells have proved capable of endless growth in the laboratory, providing a fantastic resource for research. He-LA cells have played a major role in the Salk polio vaccine, AIDS research, gene mapping and radiation therapy. More than 60,000 articles on He-La research have been published, valuable patents have been taken out on He-La research results and He-La cells have been to the moon.
Skloot describes Henrietta's tough life, and she introduces us to her descendants; all of them live extremely tough lives. The family have been scarified by their unexpected discovery of what was done with their mother's cells without her knowledge.
The book covers a lot of ground, including racial issues in the Jim Crow South, medical and journalistic ethics, the history of cellular research and the controversy surrounding gene patents.
The irony in this book that constantly belts you around the head is that this family's mother has done an enormous amount for medical science and the health of all of us, but they cannot afford their own health insurance, and their severe medical problems go untreated. Hopefully this book will shame some institutions into rectifying that.
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Dec 10, 2010 21:51:33 GMT -5
Post by wheelspinner on Dec 10, 2010 21:51:33 GMT -5
Finished A Fraction of the Whole. Not bad for a first novel. The narrator, Jasper Dean comes from a notorious family. His uncle Terry is a psycopath who, enraged by revelations of match-fixing, guns down the Australian cricket captain in the middle of a Test match. He then embarks on a crime wave of killing and maiming sports cheats of all stripes. Australians, mad about their sports, make a national hero of this vigilante because he is cleaning up sport when nobody else will.
Meanwhile Jasper's father Martin becomes embittered by only ever being noticed as being the brother of Terry and having all of his achievements overshadowed by his brother. He becomes an eccentric recluse, and raises Jasper in a weird home environment that almost guarantees Jasper will become as twisted as he.
The book is full of highly original characterisations, has some very funny moments and a couple of good plot twists. I'll certainly read Steve Toltz's next attempt.
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Dec 10, 2010 21:54:45 GMT -5
Post by wheelspinner on Dec 10, 2010 21:54:45 GMT -5
Next up I embark on my annual Booker Prize reading festival. I've started with the winner, Howard Jacobson's The Finkler Question. My bookshelf of current reading is getting very full; I'd better get some serious reading done over the holidays.
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Jan 18, 2011 6:43:21 GMT -5
Post by wheelspinner on Jan 18, 2011 6:43:21 GMT -5
Finished my latest eBook, Craig Silvey's Jasper Jones.
Silvey won a stack of awards here for this book. I was looking forward to it greatly; it has been described by many as Australia's To Kill A Mockingbird.
Those comparisons are valid to an extent; Silvey obviously has picked up on a lot of Lee's themes: small country town, narrated by a young protagonist, a mysterious recluse reviled by the neighbours, a father who defies a lynch mob, etc. The similarities sometimes appear to be a few too many.
Furthermore, the character of Jasper Jones reminds me hugely of Huck Finn. A young boy with no mother and a drunken father who has to survive on his own and is an outcast from polite society, blamed by everybody in the small mining town of Corrigan for everything that goes wrong.
The adventure that draws Jasper and the narrator, Charlie, together is a very Tom and Huck type thing as well - while hiding in the bush Jasper discovers a dead body. Afraid that he will be blamed, he inveigles Charlie into helping him hide the body and find the real killer. Jasper is certain that he knows who it is, and drags Charlie along.
While you might wish for a bit more originality, this is a good story. Jasper is a great character, as is Jeffrey Lu, Charlie's Vietnamese neighbour who struggles against racism and the bitterness of the Vietnam War that his family are recent refugees from.
The book deals with big issues of racism, class, the impact of war on non-combatants, family breakdown and the need for peer approval. It's an excellent read, well worth the time.
My next eBook is Tony Judt's The Memory Chalet. In the realm of "real" books, I am reading Henning Mankel's first Wallander novel, Faceless Killers.
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Jan 21, 2011 7:10:58 GMT -5
Post by wheelspinner on Jan 21, 2011 7:10:58 GMT -5
Well I wolfed down Henning Mankel. Now moving onto another of my Booker reads, Andrea Levy's The Long Song.
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