Despite losing almost three days of reading time last week to in-state traveling, I managed to finish one of the longest books I've read all year, Paul Murray's The Bee Sting, along with a much shorter book that wasn't even on my radar when the week began, Halcyon by Elliot Ackerman.
Coming in to this new week, I'm concentrating on the first three in particular:
Craig Johnson's Sheriff Walt Longmire novels are true comfort reads for me. This is the nineteenth book in the series, and I've already read each of the previous eighteen. I'm really loving this chapter of Walt's story because most everything is happening in Walt's home county for a change. That means that all of the great side characters in the series are getting the time they deserve - including Cady, Walt's daughter. But even at home, Walt's is being threatened by some very powerful people who want to kill his efforts to solve a cold case going all the way back to 1948.
If I Survive You is one of the 2023 Booker Prize nominees that I've mentioned several times before. I've read four of the eight interconnected short stories in the book to this point, and I'm impressed with how well Johnathan Escoffery paints the immigrant experience. In this Jamaican family only the youngest son was born in the U.S., and that makes him different from everyone around him, including his parents and brother on the one hand, and all of his fellow public school students on the other.Even though I'm in no particular hurry to finish The Blues Brothers, by reading one chapter every night just before bedtime I've now read almost forty percent of the book. I'm past the dual biographies of John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, and have moved into the section of the book covering the creation and early seasons of Saturday Night. Despite having watched and enjoyed the pair, especially Belushi, for a long time, I'm kind of stunned to learn that Belushi's obvious out-of-control drug abuse was allowed to go on for so long without anyone stepping in and getting the man the help he needed to save his life.
I've had my eye on Benjamin Hall's memoir about the war injuries he suffered in Ukraine for a while, but didn't expect to be reading it this week. But then I decided to treat myself to a Kindle Scribe tablet/reader a couple of days ago, and that purchase came along with a free 90-day trial of Amazon Unlimited where Saved was the first book to catch my eye. I've seen Hall interviewed about his experiences and how tremendously lucky he is to have survived the bombing that killed the two colleagues of his who were in the car with him when bombs fell into the street, so I expect this to be a very powerful memoir.
Three or four other books are already clamoring for my attention because I'm running out of check-out time on them, so I imagine I'll be juggling the lineup again well before the week is over. Those include The Raging Storm by Ann Cleeves, America Fantastica by Tim O'Brien, and In Ascension (a Booker Prize nominee by Martin MacInnes), and The House of Doors (a Booker Prize nominee by Twan Eng Tan).
...and then, too, there's Thanksgiving with family on Thursday and a Texans football game to drive to on Sunday. What a great week ahead!
Happy reading, everyone.
Hi Sam, the books that Interest me are If I Survive You and Saved. I've heard good things about the former and the latter book Saved i agree is going to be a powerful memoir. Benjamin Hall is such a brave reporter and the injuries he suffered in Ukraine were so traumatic. How does a person pull themselves through that? I have downloaded his book on kindle to find out.
ReplyDeleteKathy, I'm finishing up If I Survive You this morning, and I found it to be a very pleasant surprise. The eight stories are interconnected in something very near chronological order and that gives a good feel for the individual ways that the four main characters experienced their "Americanization" process. None of them do very well, really, and it's easy to understand why that is.
DeleteI've only read about 10% of saved, but it's so well written that I'm having a hard time putting it down. I can barely imagine the mindset that war reporters have. I'll look forward to your thoughts on it.
Another week full of interesting reads... If I Survive You sounds really good. My mother had the same reaction to Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, but she set it aside. Now she wants me to start it and encourage her to pick it up again. Maybe I'll wait to hear about your experience! (no pressure, really!) Enjoy the turkey and the football... doesn't get much better. Happy Thanksgiving!
ReplyDeleteJoAnn, If I Survive You is a winner. I'm enjoying these rather sad stories way more than I expected I would just based on the reaction of others who have read it. I think I'm ready to move it up to number 2 on my Booker Prize List.
DeleteI've gone a step further with Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by returning it to the library. Something just had to give due to time restraints, and that was the book on hand that I felt least compelled to go back to despite having read right at 100 pages. That kind of surprised me. Happy Thanksgiving.
Not read any of them so I enjoyed reading your reviews.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mystica. If you do read any of them, do let me know what you thought of them.
DeleteIf I Survive You sounds like a challenging book, but since it is relatively short, I would like to give it a try. Maybe not right away, but someday.
ReplyDeleteA couple of the early stories in the book are a little challenging, at least for me, because they are written in Jamaican dialect and phonetic spelling. But once I got into the rhythm and slang a bit, those stories turned out to be just as compelling as the later ones. It's an interesting look at this country through the eyes of the only first generation American in a family of immigrants.
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