In the High Peaks
















Monday, October 12, 2020

Four New Books in the Mail Today!

I so enjoyed my hardcover purchases in September (Monogamy by Sue Miller, The Darkest Evening by Ann Cleeves), that I bought another hardcover bunch, which arrived today.

My dear friend from Boston and her husband, who first introduced Ken and me to the Adirondacks, came to vacation in the area last week. She is a journalist, and more to the point of this discussion, was a former Boston Globe Book Review contributor of many years. Jan and I always  figure out a way to share books. When we met last week, she highly recommended Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld, which I believe was published earlier this year. We  sat in the sun and discussed how much we both were surprised by and loved Sittenfeld's American Wife. She urged me to read Rodham, which is a novel about Hillary Rodham's life, as if she had never married Bill Clinton. I will read it soon, though I am in the midst of a chunkster at the moment.

Other books in today's UPS haul: The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman, recently published, and which is reputed  to be lots of fun and well done. "In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet weekly discuss unsolved crimes." And soon become knee-deep involved in one.

Then the recently translated German post WWII novel about warfare on the Eastern Front The Turncoat by Siegfried Lenz. Lenz was born in East Prussia in 1926, a land that became part of Poland after WWII. He was a deserter from the Wehrmacht in WWII. Lenz has won numerous prizes in Germany. This was published in Germany in 2016, and was just published in the U.S. this month.

My last book was an impulse purchase: Love in the Blitz: The Long-Lost Letters of a Brilliant Young Woman to Her Beloved on the Front by Eileen Alexander. I would so love to say more but Blogger is giving me fits.  I should stop complaining and do something about this blogging situation.

 

 

8 comments:

  1. I have heard of some of these books, but don't know much about them. I look forward to hearing what you think of them.

    I am reading a biography of Ross Macdonald, and The Night Manager by Le Carre, and a short story book called Detective Stories (chosen by Philip Pullman).

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    1. Hi Tracy,
      I must look up Ross Macdonald straightaway, because I don't of him. And I also am not familiar with The Night Manager. I definitely want to read more of LeCarre. I do hope someone somewhere plans to write his biography. From what I've read of his life and from his memoir, it would be fascinating reading.
      How is your air quality these days??? Would be interested to know because other issues are crowding our news these days, as you probably can imagine.

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    2. Sorry to take so long to reply, Judith. The air quality here is fine. There are still plenty of fires going in California, but not close to us and not as bad as before. Fires are still going in Oregon also, but the situation is much improved I think.

      All the news is very disturbing nowadays. Politics is worse than I ever imagined it could be. And the coronavirus numbers are going up in many places, Europe, etc. California's numbers are better than before, but other states are having a hard time.

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    3. Tracy,
      I'm so glad to hear that your air quality has improved. I know that worries still abound about the drought and wildfires ongoing, but am happy you've had a bit of a break.
      I agree with you about politics. Never in my lifetime did I think that things would get this bad. The thought of Trump's "poll watchers," perhaps armed, is frightening. I don't worry about that happening right where we live, but in lots of other places. Besides, we're voting absentee, due to Ken's health concerns.
      I think the hard thing about living right now is that friends are isolated from each other (and family), AND the fact that the future is so uncertain, in every area, it seems.
      What won't change is my afternoon ritual. At 2pm or so, I retreat to my bedroom to read, followed by a knitting session while listening to audiobooks. These 3 hours daily are keeping me sane, truly!

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  2. Glad you got to spend some time with your book-loving friend. Your new book haul sounds great; I especially like the sound of:: The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. I have Rodham on my Kindle but, I haven't read it yet. Hope your week goes well Judith.

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    1. Hi Diane,
      Yes, I am looking forward to reading The Thursday Murder Club. Probably soon, because I'm reading a number of heavier titles at the moment, so it will be nice to have a break with something lighter. Thanks for the good wishes. I hope your week goes well, too!

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  3. The Siegfried Lenz books sounds interesting, I might read that one for my personal books in translation project - sometime. The Thursday Murder Club is so popular at the moment so I'll probably dodge that one just now. I'm so glad you've been able to meet up with some friends.

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    1. Thanks, Katrina, it was very nice to see some good friends in person. And made me feel better as well.
      I'm planning to read the Siegfried Lenz book in November. And I can understand wanting to postpone a super-popular book. It's not as popular here as in the UK, but I often have the same reaction to a supremely popular, mass read.

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