The Great Gatsby Read-a-Long :: Week Four (Final Review)
Welcome to the The Great Gatsby read-a-long! We’re reading this book through January. You can see the reading schedule and guidelines on the Starting Post Page.
If you would like to participate in the Twitter viewing party of watching the 1974 Robert Redford/Mia Farrow movie version of The Great Gatsby, we will be watching it on Sunday, February 5th at 1:00 pm PST. If you do not have a version of this movie, it is available to rent on Amazon.com for $2.99 (I will be renting it as well, as I can’t find a free version and it’s not on Netflix). We will be tweeting using the hashtag #Gatsby. Will you do me a favor and let me know in the comment section if you’re planning on joining in? Thanks!
Week Two: Read to The End
Discussion:
Not many things have stayed the same in the past 16 years, since I first read this novel. My age (for starters) has changed, as has my pant size (I’m no longer a teenager, give me a break), my experiences, my responsibilities, and so on. What has stayed the same? I still think The Great Gatsby is one of the best books I’ve ever read, I still hate Daisy (maybe even more than Tom, but I hate him too), I still think Fitzgerald had one of the keenest abilities to pack a punch with the greatest economy of words, and I still think the last line is one of the most truthful/heartbreaking/insightful sentences that I’ve ever read… it still almost makes me want to cry. Almost.
Oooooh I had forgotten about Myrtle. Stupid, sad Myrtle. And I had forgotten who was driving the car; pathetic, irritating Daisy. And I totally forgot the ending… I thought it was only Wilson who had died — in fact the entire impact didn’t fully click for me until a few pages after it happened! What I love is that Fitzgerald didn’t just leave us with weak, flawed women (how prosaic would that have been?), he left us with weak, flawed characters. Not one character (not even Nick) showed strength or true grace in this book. Though Nick got the closest (in my opinion) he was the narrator, therefore biased, and he kept his mouth shut too many times when he shouldn’t have. All that said, it is truly amazing that Fitzgerald could make such a work based around characters who weren’t meant to be liked. There was no hero in this novel… yet he has kept readers hanging on his words for over a century! How impressive is that?
Instead of talking about the twenty or so talking points I marked with sticky notes this week, I’m going to leave the discussion open for you to talk about what you thought of the ending. My only questions (just out of pure curiosity) are: Was there any character whom you actually liked by the end of the book? Which character did you like least, and why? Did you notice the use of “holocaust” at the end of chapter 8… how that word worked perfectly in a sentence which was written before World War II, but would mean something entirely different today (so interesting how words can change)? Have you weighed in on the conversation of the casting for the new movie version coming out?
It is said that at F. Scott Fitzgerald’s visitation (before his body was taken to Maryland for the burial), Dorothy Parker murmured “the poor son-of-a-bitch,” the line that Owl-eyes said about Gatsby at Gatsby’s funeral. There are plenty of lines that she could have said, though this one might be fitting at anyone’s funeral, but since Parker herself was a writer, and a crafty woman, I can’t help but wonder why she chose this particular line wen she easily could have chosen a more beautiful one, or said something of her own creation. Perhaps I’m looking to deeply into this, but after some reading, I’ve found there is a vague parallel Gatsby and Fitzgerald at the end of Fitz’s life (in love with an unstable woman whom he couldn’t fully have, corroding effects of wealth and a decadent lifestyle, egoism, and a fierce protection over other’s versions of his life being told). Any thoughts on that?
The last line of The Great Gatsby is etched into the grave stone that Fitzgerald and his wife, Zelda (who were estranged at the time of his death), share. It’s an incredibly famous line – one that I think deserves its accolades. So I’ll end our reading and this post by quoting the haunting yet beautiful sentiment that Fitzgerald left us with…
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.
Who’s Reading Along:
** Please don’t forget to come to this blog each Friday and share your thoughts in the comments section of the weekly The Great Gatsby discussion (see below for more information).**
Jacqueline Manni
kim
Meg @ A Bookish Affair
Melissa Caldwell
readingwithtea
Megan Granger (@MegsGranger)
Ashley J.
nancy
Johanna
Sarah B
Cindy
Jill
Sarah Williams (@sawcat)
Deborah Morgan
TFrances @ Wading Through the Ocean of Life
Julia L
Ashley W.
Molly
jaynebooks
Whitney
Patty@Taleofthreecities
Peggy Joan
Friendly Reminders:
- If you are participating and I don’t have you on this list, please let me know in the comments section. I did not include people who said ‘maybe’ so if you have changed your mind and are definitely reading along with us, let me know so I can add you. Also, if you are not going to be able to join us anymore please let me know and I will take you off the list.
- Comments from the previous week’s reading will be closing Thursday afternoon (before the next discussion takes place on Friday). If you would like to be part of the discussion, please remember to comment before then.
- If you go for two weeks without commenting in my weekly update comments section, I will assume you are no longer participating and will take you off of the list (*NEW GUIDELINE*, in order to get back onthe list, you need to a.) Have missed no more than two weeks of discussion, b.) Let me know you would like to be on the list again, and c.) consistently be part of the discussion for the next two weeks after requesting to be put back on the list.). This is in no way to be discouraging, but helps to keep the read-a-long organized (and helps me remember who’s completed what read-a-long…there (ahem) might be something fun for different levels of participants at the end of the year! Thanks!
A Moveable Feast Read-a-Long :: Sign Ups & Starting Post
Throughout February we’ll be reading A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway for our Read-a-Long. It’s a book I have been meaning to read for a long time (and have kicked myself for not reading before going to Paris each time!). I plan to remedy this lack of reading and hope you’ll join me. Please note: at the bottom of the page, under “How it Works,” I’ve highlighted the new rules in purple… please take a moment to read them (even if you’ve done a Read-a-Long on Unputdownables before, as some are brand new).
Some Facts About the Read-a-Long:
- You do not have to be a book blogger to join.
- We will be reading the book in February (4 weeks), with the first discussion happening on Friday, February 3rd / the book is 210 pages (paperback, excluding introduction) so that’s roughly 8 pages a day.
- Don’t be intimidated. We will be going at a slow pace and discussing the book throughout our reading. The discussions are quite fun, and make the reading process very enjoyable!
What is A Moveable Feast about?
Published posthumously in 1964, A Moveable Feast remains one of Ernest Hemingway’s most beloved works. It is his classic memoir of Paris in the 1920s, filled with irreverent portraits of other expatriate luminaries such as F. Scott Fitzgerald and Gertrude Stein; tender memories of his first wife, Hadley; and insightful recollections of his own early experiments with his craft. It is a literary feast, brilliantly evoking the exuberant mood of Paris after World War I and the youthful spirit, unbridled creativity, and unquenchable enthusiasm that Hemingway himself epitomized.(description from goodreads.com)
Interesting tidbits about the author, Ernest Hemingway:
Ernest Hemingway was born in Oak Park, Illinois, in 1899, the son of a doctor and a music teacher. He began his writing career as a reporter for the Kansas City Star. At age eighteen, he volunteered to serve as a Red Cross ambulance driver in World War I and was sent to Italy, where he was badly injured by shrapnel. Hemingway later fictionalized his experience in Italy in what some consider his greatest novel, A Farewell to Arms. In 1921, Hemingway moved to Paris, where he served as a correspondent for the Toronto Daily Star. In Paris, he fell in with a group of American and English expatriate writers that included F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, and Ford Madox Ford. In the early 1920s, Hemingway began to achieve fame as a chronicler of the disaffection felt by many American youth after World War I—a generation of youth whom Stein memorably dubbed the “Lost Generation.” His novels The Sun Also Rises (1926) and A Farewell to Arms (1929) established him as a dominant literary voice of his time. His spare, charged style of writing was revolutionary at the time and would be imitated, for better or for worse, by generations of young writers to come… (more) (from spark notes.com)
Please let me know in the comments section of this post if you are interested! Hope you’ll join us, the more the merrier! Below is a break down of the reading schedule. Friday, January 27th will be the official starting day for reading, so if you’re joining you’ll want to grab your books by then (as our first discussion will happen the following Friday, February 3rd). Please take care to sign up with the name you are using for the rest of the read-a-long.
If you are choosing to join us after this week, please just let me know in the comment section of the most current week, thanks! (Please note that since this is such a short read-a-long selection, you will need to be caught up with us in order to join late – as we only have four discussions.)
***
The following is the reading and posting schedule for this read-a-long. Please note, we will be reading roughly 53 pages per week (about 8 pages a day). I have excluded the introduction (as it will be different with each edition), but have included the extra chapters at the end of the newer editions (The “Additional Paris Sketches”). If your copy does not include these sketches, your reading will end after chapter 19 (which will basically be after the second week of reading). Might I encourage you to pick up a version with the extra sketches so you can enjoy more of this book? (The edition I am reading is The Restored Edition by Scribner (a division of Simon & Schuster)… the cover image shown above in this post shows the cover of this edition. You can order it by clicking on the cover in right hand column of this blog under the title ”February Read-a-Long Selection.” You will be supporting Unputdownables by doing so as I make a small commission by referring you to Barnes and Noble through that link.
Schedule:
Beginning Friday, January 27th and ending Friday, February 24th.
READING SCHEDULE:
Week #/ dates :: Place in which to STOP
Print Readers:
Week One/ January 27- February 3 :: Chapter 9
Week Two/ February 4-10:: Chapter 17
Week Three/ February 11-17 :: “Ezra Pound and His Bel Esprit”
Week Four/ February 18- 24 :: (The End)
POSTING SCHEDULE:
Post #/ date post should be up on blog:
Start up Post/ Today!
Week One/ February 3rd
Week Two/ February 10th
Week Three/ February 17th
Week Four/ February 24th (Final Review)
** Please don’t forget to come to this blog each Friday and share your thoughts in the comments section of the weekly Read-a-Long discussion (see below for more information).**
How it Works:
- Each week, on Friday, share your thoughts about the previous week’s reading. If you are stuck on what to comment about, you can respond to my post or others’ comments. Regardless, you MUST check in each week (two weeks without a response and you will be taken off of the list — see below for details on why). You may have only one “off week” (which may not be the last week of reading for obvious reasons) and still be kept on the list, but you must let me know in the comment section by saying something like, “I’m catching up,” or “I’m still reading.” ***for all week’s discussions please refrain from posting ahead, even if you have read ahead, as to not spoil the book for others***
- As these Read-a-Longs grow, so do the amount of people who participate – yay, all the more fun!!! Also, all the more keeping track of who is still reading. As you know – if you have been absent from discussion for two weeks, you will be removed from the list. However, now, in order to get back on the list, you need to a.) Have missed no more than two weeks of discussion, b.) Let me know you would like to be on the list again, and c.) Consistently be part of the discussion for the next two weeks after requesting to be put back on the list. Am I trying to be mean? Absolutely not! I LOVE having you all read a long. It is, however, a lot of work to keep track of who’s still reading, and to keep taking names off and putting them back on the list. Most importantly though, consistency is good for the group; we tend to get to know each other through discussions and rely on the conversation to keep us reading. (Plus, at the end of the year I tally those who have done read-a-longs and they get honorable mention on the Read-a-Longs page.)
- Feel free to post reviews of the each week’s reading on your own blog (if you are a blogger), and to visit each other’s links. If I, or other readers, have extra time we will gladly try to visit your blog if you also leave a link to your post about this book. However, please make sure to share your thoughts here on this blog, as this is where the main conversation will be happening.
- Comments from the previous week’s reading will be closing Thursday afternoon (before the next discussion takes place on Friday). If you would like to be part of the discussion, please remember to comment before then.
Are eReaders In or Out?
Just curious…
I imagine there are many of you who use two (or all three) of these avenues for reading. I’m wondering which you use the very most on a consistent basis (including travel, gym, home, waiting room, public transport, etc.). I am, obviously, excluding audio devices, so if that is the avenue in which you read most often – please let me know in the comments section!
Think you can guess which I use most? I may surprise you! (The link will be live after 6:15 am PST/ 9:15 am EST)
Book vs. Movie
Since many of us like movies almost as much as books (ok, some of you like them more), and we know that more and more movies are being based off of books — I’m happy to share this fun site with you today!
Books vs. Movie (run by Brynne) lets you know which movies (based on books) are coming out and when, if the movie was as good as the book or (gasp!) better, and gives advice on must see movies (girls night anyone?).
The movies I’m most looking forward to are: One for the Money (out January 29th), The Hobbit (December 2012), and Austenland (no set date). All three are based off of books I’ve loved, so I am excited to see how they create them on the big screen. The only one that will draw serious numbers is The Hobbit, but the hands it has been put in have proven to be trustworthy — the other two on this list will just be light and fun (and would be hard to ruin considering they don’t have high expectations behind them).
Movies I’m least looking forward to? Anna Karenina (I’m working my way through this right now, and in no way, shape, or form does Keira Knightley come close to what I’ve imagined Anna to look like… I have nothing against Keira, she just doesn’t fit the bill in my opinion. We shall see.), Les Miserables (they cast Taylor Swift in an important role — enough said), and The Great Gatsby (Really? Leonardo DiCaprio is going to be Gatsby? I guess if you have enough money and clout in Hollywood you get to do whatever you want. I’m wondering if F. Scott Fitzgerald is rolling over in his grave now or if he’s going to wait until December when the movie comes out.)
Lest you think I have something against important pieces of literature being made into movies, let me explain it this way: I think beautiful pieces of literature can be made into beautiful movies… but I also think beautiful pieces of literature can be ruined by celebrities (notice I didn’t say actors) taking on roles they have no business taking on, just so studios can use big names to try to pull money into a suffering industry.
She now steps of her soapbox and runs for the hills, while yelling the following question over her shoulder…
What about you? Which movies (based on books) are you looking forward to in 2012?
Big Book Bang
Lately, I’ve been reading quite a lot of big books. And by big I mean 700+ page books. I seem to not be able to walk into a bookstore and pick something reasonable — the ones that catch my eye are all huge. And then, I bring them home and start reading them, only to dig into one or two more at the same time (because with reading A.D.D., you can’t just stick to one book). With all of these fat books going at one time, it gets very hard to finish anything. I know I’m not alone in this, there are others who have been down this road and some who feed my addiction by lending me some of the said chunksters.
Because of this “affliction” (which really isn’t an affliction considering more book can mean more goodness), I have been channeling Sir Mix-a-Lot recently. Want to hear my song? (link will work after 6:15 am PST/ 9:15 am EST)
The Great Gatsby Read-a-Long :: Week Three
Welcome to the The Great Gatsby read-a-long! We’re reading this book through January. You can see the reading schedule and guidelines on the Starting Post Page.
Week Two: Read to page 135
Discussion:
Each week, there are more layers to and more action in the plot. I would have loved to be a fly on the wall as Fitzgerald began laying out his plans for this book: Did he outline? Did he just write from the hip? I wish I knew.
At the beginning of this week’s reading, Daisy and Nick are at Gatsby’s house as he shows off his spoils to the woman he still loves. He is, obviously, showing off – trying to impress her. What man do you know who brings out all of his clothes to show his guests? And, in this case, begins “throwing them, one by one” until his guest cries? I see here that Gatsby is almost trying to punishing Daisy. It’s as if he wants to say, “look at me… look at what you’ve missed out on.” The maniacal need to impress Daisy feels dangerous to me, and is inflated as we read on. After Daisy attends the party at Gatsby’s house (a little after the shirt episode), Gatsby is so insecure about Daisy having possibly not liked the party, that his night is ruined. “He was silent, and I guessed at his unutterable depression. ‘I feel far away from her,’ he said. ‘It’s hard to make her understand.’” Later in the reading, we realize he is trying to have her understand that he is powerful and rich. What is worrisome is the length he goes to trying to prove this, along with the depth of his insecurity.
And the plot thickens… it is this week that we learn Jay Gatsby is really James Gatz. Ready with a pseudonym and personality to match, how long had he been planning this? Since he fell in love with Daisy? His whole life? Just waiting until someone came along who could help him re-create himself? What if he hadn’t found needy, old Dan Cody… what do you think he would have done to turn himself into Gatsby? Do we think he did it for Daisy, or would he have used her to do it if needed?
Tom says a couple of choice lines in this week’s reading, revealing more of his “charming” character. I couldn’t help but jot them down:
- By God, I may be old-fashioned in my ideas, but women run around too much these days to suit me. They meet all kinds of crazy fish. (p.103)
- Nowadays people begin sneering at family life and family institutions, and next they’ll throw everything overboard and have intermarriage between black and white. (p. 130) (I love the way Fitzgerald is able to simultaneously make Tom ridiculous in this sentence – while satirically making a point about the absurdity of being against interracial marriage… it shows us even more about how broad Fitzy’s ideas were for the time period in which he was writing.)
And now, a word from Jacqueline on Great Gatsby Cocktails…
I’m not quite sure why people have Great Gatsby parties. I have heard about everything from posh Country Club fundraisers to Joe and Mary in their living room throwing these titular bashes. Please, don’t. I mean, unless you want a bunch of strangers drinking you out of house and home, rifling through your books, crashing their cars, making scenes, and perhaps, never leaving. Why not have aRoaring Twenties or Jazz Age party if you want to dress up in a dropped waist dress or cloche, do The Charleston and and say things like the bees knees?
On the other hand, if you would like to imbibe some cocktails as you read The Great Gatsby, I completely approve! Here are a few drinks that are in The Great Gatsby, or which Fitzgerald enjoyed, or are something that I think he would have loved if he were around presently.
Champagne:
Too much of anything is bad, but too much Champagne is just right.”
-F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Great Gatsby simply flows with Champagne. In my research, I could not find anything about which Champagnes were enjoyed by Fitzgerald, or even popular in the 1920s. I did learn that Pol Roger Cuvée Winston Churchill is still made in the 1920s style, but yikes, I am sure it’s a bit too expensive for most of us! Instead, I will recommend that you seek out a store in your area that carries the wines of traditional winemakers. Ignore the big box wine stores, and the luxury Champagne brands which will cost you an arm and a leg. Small and authentic is the way to go. For example, I love this one.
Champagne is, of course, only from the Champagne region of France (repeat after me, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS CALIFORNIA CHAMPAGNE!) but there are some amazing French sparkling wines that are priced well and will make you swoon. The bubbles still go right to your head, no matter where the grapes were grown. That is not to say that you should drink cheap Champagne! That is what they call ChamPAIN if you get my drift!
Here is a Champagne cocktail that you can make which has a great story attached to it. Supposedly, this cocktail was invented in 1917 at the Seelbach Hotel, a place that Fitzgerald frequented as he wrote The Great Gatsby. It is said that Gatsby is modeled on someone he met at the hotel bar. Oooh!
Seelbach Cocktail
1 oz bourbon
0.5 oz Cointreau
7 dashes angostura bitters
7 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
5 oz chilled brut Champagne
Assemble in a Champagne flute, stir, add champagne, stir again and garnish with an orange twist.
Gin:
Gin, bathtub or otherwise, was extremely popular in the 1920s. Gin Joints and Speakeasies abounded. Often, your gin would be served in a teacup in case of a raid!
Gin was a favorite of Fitzgerald, and this was his absolute favorite drink, the Gin Rickey:
2 oz. gin
3/4 oz. lime juice
Top with club soda
Lime wedge
Pour gin and lime juice into a chilled highball glass filled with ice cubes. Top with club soda, and stir gently. Garnish with lime wedge.
Sadly, gin makes me violently ill. I would have had to stick to Champagne if I were a flapper. I’m not complaining!
St. Germain:
A liqueur that was not around in the 1920s, but one which I think would have been very, very popular, because it is very, very delicious, is St. Germain. Is that not a beautiful bottle? It mixes well with club soda, like the Gin Rickey, and is sublime with Champagne, like the Seelbach. In fact, there are myriad cocktails you can make with it, each one more delicious than the next. I heartily recommend you pick up a bottle to add to your bar. I’ve mixed it with Prosecco to serve with brunch, with lime and seltzer on a hot summer day, and I think that it sounds like it would be delightful to be curled up in your favorite reading chair with The Great Gatsby and a Le Père-Bis.
If you are going to try some of these drinks, please remember the words of Fitzgerald:
“First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you.”
So, whatever cocktail you decided to sample, only have at the most, two. 
Who’s Reading Along:
** Please don’t forget to come to this blog each Friday and share your thoughts in the comments section of the weekly The Great Gatsby discussion (see below for more information).**
Jacqueline Manni
kim
Meg @ A Bookish Affair
Melissa Caldwell
readingwithtea
Megan Granger (@MegsGranger)
Ashley J.
nancy
Johanna
Sarah B
Cindy
Jill
alexandra.m.patterson@gmail.com
Sarah Williams (@sawcat)
Deborah Morgan
TFrances @ Wading Through the Ocean of Life
Julia L
Ashley W.
Molly
jaynebooks
Whitney
Patty@Taleofthreecities
Peggy Joan
Friendly Reminders:
- If you are participating and I don’t have you on this list, please let me know in the comments section. I did not include people who said ‘maybe’ so if you have changed your mind and are definitely reading along with us, let me know so I can add you. Also, if you are not going to be able to join us anymore please let me know and I will take you off the list.
- Comments from the previous week’s reading will be closing Thursday afternoon (before the next discussion takes place on Friday). If you would like to be part of the discussion, please remember to comment before then.
- If you go for two weeks without commenting in my weekly update comments section, I will assume you are no longer participating and will take you off of the list (*NEW GUIDELINE*, in order to get back onthe list, you need to a.) Have missed no more than two weeks of discussion, b.) Let me know you would like to be on the list again, and c.) consistently be part of the discussion for the next two weeks after requesting to be put back on the list.). This is in no way to be discouraging, but helps to keep the read-a-long organized (and helps me remember who’s completed what read-a-long…there (ahem) might be something fun for different levels of participants at the end of the year! Thanks!
Bookish Wallpaper: The next best thing to an actual library.
In The Marriage Plot, I picked up a very cool idea (one of the few pluses of reading the book). When the main character was a child, her favorite book was Madeline. As a gift for her, her mom had wallpaper (for her bedroom) specially made, depicting the scenes from the famous children’s book. What a very cool idea! But, say you don’t have the funds to have wallpaper specially made? Try one of these on for size…
via Mr. Perswall (click image to be taken to site).
How about that — instant wall to wall library!
Or…
via Bouf (click image to be taken to the site)
Instant cozy reading room! What a great idea to split the wallpaper to make it look like TWO bookshelves (or continue the wallpaper along a full wall for a larger library look).
If I were handy (and still had my own place), I would put one of these up in an instant. I’m partial to the second one (especially with it split around the fireplace like that). What do you think?
Independent Literary Awards :: The Short Lists
Thank you so much to those of you who took the time to nominate your favorite titles of 2011! We have the Short Lists made and the judges are hard at work reading the titles. They’ll be reading and discussing these books for the next couple of months, and coming to a conclusion mid-March. When they do, we’ll announce the winners and (hopefully) get winner interviews for you to read.
Have you read these titles yet? If not — they’ve come highly recommended by your reading peers! With so many genres represented, your sure to find something that interests you. Keep the list for next time you go to the bookstore!
Read more about the Independent Literary Awards here, and find out why I started them. (link will be live at 6:15 am PST/ 9:15 am EST)
2011 Short Lists
Biography/ Memoir
- Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua (Penguin)
- Bossypants by Tina Fey (Reagan Arthur Books)
- I Pray Hardest When Being Shot At by Kyle Garret (Hellgate Press)
- Little Princes by Conor Grennan (William Morrow)
- Tolstoy and the Purple Chair by Nina Sankovitch (Harper)
GLBTQ
- Well With My Soul by Gregory Allen (ASD Publishing)
- Swimming to Chicago by David Matthew Barnes (Bold Strokes Books)
- Songs for the New Depression by Kergan Edwards-Stout (Circumspect Press)
- Nina Here Nor There: My Journey Beyond Gender by Nick Krieger (Beacon Press)
- Huntress by Melinda Lo (little brown books for young readers)
Fiction
- Dance Lessons by Aine Greaney (Syracuse University Press)
- Cross Currents by John Shors (Penguin Group: NAL Trade)
- The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (Knopf/Doubleday Publishing Group)
- Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill)
- The Last Time I Saw Paris by Lynn Sheene (Penguin Group)
Mystery
- Missing Daughter, Shattered Family by Liz Strange (MLR Press)
- The Cut by George Pelecanos (Reagan Arthur/LIttle, Brown)
- A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny (St. Martin’s Press)
- The Two Deaths of Daniel Hayes by Marcus Sakey (Dutton)
- Fun & Games by Duane Swierczynski (Mulholland Books/Little, Brown)
Non-Fiction
- Berlin 1961 by Frederick Kempe (Putnam Adult)
- In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson (Crown)
- Lost in Shangri-La by Mitchell Zuckoff (Harper)
- Physics of the Future by Michio Kaku (Doubleday)
- The Social Animal by David Brooks (Random House)
Poetry
- Beyond Scent of Sorrow by Sweta Vikram (Modern History Press)
- Catalina by Laurie Soriano (Lummox Press)
- What Looks Like an Elephant by Edward Nudelman (Lummox Press)
- Three Women: A Poetic Triptych and Selected Poems by Ramos, Emma Eden (Heavy Hands Ink)
- Sonics in Warholia by Megan Volpert (Sibling Rivalry Press)
Speculative Fiction
- A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness (Candlewick)
- The Magician King by Lev Grossman (Viking)
- 11/22/1963 by Stephen King (Scribner)
- Among Others by Jo Walton (Tor Books)
- Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (Crown)
Homicide in Hardcover & If Books Could Kill by Kate Carlisle
Homicide in Hardcover and If Books Could Kill are the first two in the Bibliophile Series by Kate Carlisle. These are very light and easy reads. They aren’t so light that they’re boring, but they won’t be a brain challenge. The most fun thing about them is the bookish aspect. I’ve marked down places to visit, and bookmarked extra bookish sites because of these two books! While I’m not speeding through the series, I do own the next two and will save them for when I need a tried and true easy, comfortable reads.
Homicide in Hardcover: In the first book, we meet Brooklyn Wainwright and the quirky cast of characters that inhabit this series. Brooklyn is a book binder and the protagonist of the series. After her mentor has been murdered, she is hired to take over a highly important client. While working on rebinding the (cursed) copy of Goethe’s Faust, she is also on the hunt for her mentor’s murder. It’s murder, bookbinding, and love in this initial book of the series.
If Books Could Kill: In the second book we are taken to Scotland for the Edinburgh Book Festival. Brooklyn’s ex shows up with a knowledge of a secret book. After a meeting with Brooklyn, he is killed. Once again Brooklyn is in the middle of trying to figure out who the killer is before she is the next victim. Fun descriptions of the book festival and Scotland itself add to the enjoyment of reading this installment.
Oh, (Big) Brother!
Something really interesting came up last week. I was reading Jill’s blog, where she informed her readers that her library gave her a warning while she was trying to reserve books. In the comments section, it came up that the warning was part of the Patriot Act Section 215. I wasn’t aware of this part of the act (hello, had heard of the act, but not read the 215-plus sections). I’m directing you there today to read her post and the comments below, and then to my BookRiot piece highlighting this issue. It is up to you to decide what to do with the information (or whether you care), but you should at least be informed about it considering you either borrow or buy books (fair assumption considering you are reading a book blog?). Sorry to get serious, but I think it’s wise to know who has access to your private information. And I think there should be a freedom in what we read, same as there is a freedom in what we say…
1.) Article from Jill’s blog: Library rant.
2.) My article at BookRiot addressing this issue: Why Readers Should Care About Section 215 of the Patriot Act (link will be live at 6:15 am PST/ 9:15 am EST)
